Quick Hits: Volume CLXXVII

- It's been opined in this space many a time that "progressives" will support members of the LGBT community and their ability to live open and freely as long as they toe the leftist political line. In his piece written recently at The Federalist, gay conservative Chad Felix Greene affirms this by indicating his right wing political worldview receives far more scrutiny than his being gay.

In a reaction to Greene's post, one of the foul-mouthed cretins at sports site Deadspin (which often delves into leftist political opinions) penned a column entitled "Conservative Gays Need To Shut The F--k Up."

An excerpt:

Opportunities that would have been previously unavailable for out gays in fields like business or politics are opening up like never before, giving LGBT people newfound power to create change within the systems that previously oppressed them. But wealthy and mostly white gay men have all too often been afforded the choice not just to shed the “oppressed” label, but to become oppressors themselves. Their sexuality, then, becomes a tool used to help uphold the anti-feminist, white supremacist, wealth-favoring status quo, and they need to f--king stop.

There really is no need for Mr. Greene to write a follow-up to his piece given this buffoon at Deadspin encapsulated Greene's premise perfectly.


- This is.......odd.

Four Republican representatives are parting ways with the House Republican Caucus to form their own caucus.

Reps. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Cal Bahr of East Bethel, Tim Miller of Prinsburg, and Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal formally announced the formation of the New House Republican Caucus Monday.

The members decided to start their own caucus in the “pursuit of a positive working environment” that will “support transparency and accountability.” This, the members hope, will help them better serve their constituents.

These four reps better hope pinning the word "New" ahead of their caucus name isn't met with the same fate as New Coke. In fact, I say that Minority Leader Kurt Daudt ought to launch a preemptive strike by referring to his group as the Classic House Republican Caucus.


- Between his presidential campaign and now his time as the White House's current occupant, Donald Trump has done and said many things which would have torpedoed any other campaign or administration. Nevertheless he has weathered pretty much any P.R. or legal sh-t storm to come his way.

That said, I'm having a difficult seeing how he'll successfully navigate this.

The [U.S. Attorney’s] Office also announced today that it has previously reached a non-prosecution agreement with American Media Inc., in connection with AMI’s role in making the above-described $150,000 payment before the 2016 presidential election. As a part of the agreement, AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election. AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.

As Allahpundit noted in his Wednesday post at Hot Air, this press release would fly in the face of any Trump attempt to spin this payment as an attempt to protect his family as opposed to a campaign finance violation. That's assuming Trump would even admit to directing AMI and its CEO David Pecker to help his campaign in that manner. Thus far he (surprise!) denies this.

I believe Allahpundit accurately reflects the sentiment of many Americans when speculating on what lies ahead.

I can’t believe we’re headed for another national debate over whether a president should be impeached for lying (to the FEC this time) about sex.

Indeed.

----------------------------------------