Tag: Marco Rubio

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Quote Of The Day: Sen. Marco Rubio

Sen. Marco Rubio

In a recent interview with The Economist, Sen. Marco Rubio admitted the much-ballyhooed 2017 GOP tax cuts haven’t helped lower and middle class Americans:

“There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they’re going to take the money they’re saving and reinvest it in American workers. In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there’s no evidence whatsoever that the money’s been massively poured back into the American worker.”

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Highlights: Students, Parents & Teachers Face Off With Marco Rubio And NRA At Gun Violence Town Hall

Fred Guttenberg faces off with Sen. Marco Rubio

Last night’s Town Hall hosted by CNN was a rough ride for Sen. Marco Rubio and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch as they took questions from parents and students regarding the tragic gun massacre that took place last week in Parkland, Florida.

You can listen to and read a full transcript of the Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper here.

Just a few highlights:

• Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg who was killed in the shooting, told Rubio “your comments this week and those of our president have been pathetically weak.”

“Look at me and tell me. Guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in this school this week,” Guttenberg said. “And look at me and tell me you accept it and you will work with us to do something about guns.”

Rubio later tweeted, “Banning all semi-auto weapons may have been popular with the audience at #CNNTownHall, but it is a position well outside the mainstream.”

• Student Cameron Kasky asked Rubio to say he wouldn’t take more money from the NRA. Rubio has received over $3.3 million from the NRA over the course of his political career.

“Can you tell me you won’t take a single donation from the NRA?” Kasky said. “In the name of the 17 people who died, you can’t ask the NRA to keep their money?” Rubio did not answer, saying only “people buy into my agenda.”

• Student Ryan Deitsch asked Rubio why it’s fallen to students and young people to take up the cause of gun violence after our lawmakers have dodged the issue for so long.

“We would like to know why do we have to be the ones to do this?” Deitsch asked. “Why do we have to speak out to the [state] Capitol? Why do we have to march on Washington, just to save innocent lives?”

• And the insanely calm and confident Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma González asked NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch if the NRA supports making it harder to obtain semiautomatic and fully automatic weapons.

“Dana Loesch, I want you to know that we will support your two children in a way that you will not,” said Gonzalez. “The shooter at our school obtained weapons that he used on us legally. Do you think that it should be harder to obtain these semiautomatic and the modifications for these weapons that make them fully automatic like bump stocks?”

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News Round-Up: April 25, 2017

Instastud Tyler James

Some news items you might have missed:

• Well, hello Mr. Tyler James (above). Nice sheet you have there…

• Madonna is not very happy about a possible biopic about her early days in NYC that just got picked up by Universal. See her post from Instagram:

• 51 Republicans have written to the President asking him to sign an executive order that would legalize LGBT discrimination based on “protecting religious liberty.”

• Sen. Marco Rubio spoke out against the torture and murders of gay men in Chechnya from the floor of the U.S. Senate. #HellHasOfficiallyFrozenOver

• That pastor who declared that the victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre “got what they deserved?” He just got 35 years in prison for child molestation. #GotWhatHeDeserved

• Xavier Jugele, the 37-year-old police officer who was gunned down in Paris last week, was eulogized by his partner today in a moving memorial ceremony.

Watch below with subtitles.

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News Round-Up: October 25, 2016

Pita Taufatofua

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Tonagan Olympian Pita Taufatofua is still dancing in our dreams.

• Sen. Marco Rubio booed off the stage by Hispanic crowd at a campaign stop in Orlando, Florida.

• Professional d*ck Sean Hannity promises to fly Obama and family to Kenya on the condition they “can’t come back.”

• The Cook Political Report predicts Democrats will regain control of the U.S. Senate by picking up 5-7 seats this election cycle.

• In a blow to the RNC, the Trump campaign says it’s done with high-dollar fundraising events. “We’ve kind of wound down.”

• The Real O’Neals “Kenny” gets ready to celebrate his first Halloween as an openly gay teen – “The Gay Super Bowl!”

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Orlando: Marco Rubio Softens Anti-LGBT Rhetoric At Conservative Conference

Sen. Marco Rubio

In an eyebrow raising speech to the Liberty Counsel in Orlando today, virulently anti-LGBT Sen. Marco Rubio appeared to soften his rhetoric against gays and lesbians. His appearance had been criticized for the timing coinciding with the two month anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting that left 49 LGBTs dead.

As many know, Rubio has been a devout opponent of LGBT rights including marriage equality.

Today, he told Christian conservatives that they should take note of the consequences of intolerance.

From the New York Times:

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has faced widespread condemnation for agreeing to speak at a conference alongside Christian conservatives who have denounced homosexuality and gay rights, used his speech to the group on Friday to warn of the costs of intolerance.

His remarks in Orlando, Fla., not far from the site of the massacre at a gay nightclub in June, were his most extensive yet in public on the subject of prejudice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. And he struck a notably softer tone than during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, during which he repeatedly reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage.

While he repeated his belief that marriage should not be redefined to include same-sex couples, his speech touched on the history of discrimination against gays, which he asked his audience to consider.

“When it comes to our brothers and our sisters, our fellow Americans, our neighbors in the L.G.B.T. community, we should recognize,” he said, that American history “has been marred by discrimination against and rejection of gays and lesbians.”

He then walked through a list of examples that included discriminatory hiring practices by the federal government, raids of gay establishments by the police and the proliferation of anti-gay slurs.

I can’t imagine that this kind of speech is what the folks at the “Rediscovering God in America” conference were expecting from Rubio.

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DNC Denounces Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Attending Anti-LGBT Hate Fest

A joint statement from Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile and DNC LGBT Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes publicly denounces GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio for participating in today’s anti-LGBT hate fest in Orlando.

“Instead of honoring the memory of those we lost at Pulse two months ago, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have come to Orlando to headline a gathering of some of the nation’s most incendiary anti-gay bigots.

“We at the DNC join all people of good conscience in expressing our solidarity with the Orlando LGBT community as they continue to grieve the deadliest shooting in American history.

“We suggest Trump and Rubio disavow these anti-gay extremists who have likened gay people to Nazis and characterized HIV/AIDS as divine ‘penalties’ for being gay. Failing to do so will be yet another example of the utter lack of judgment that makes Trump unfit to serve.”

The “Rediscovering God in America Renewal Project”, a gathering of anti-LGBT pastors, is taking place exactly two months after the attack on LGBT Americans at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando which left 49 dead and dozens injured.

Twitter folks are not amused:

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Marco Rubio Apologized To Trump For Making Fun Of The Size Of His “Hands”

CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning’s State of the Union asked Sen. Marco Rubio about the moment Rubio’s presidential campaign seemed to “jump the shark” – when Rubio raised the issue of Donald Trump’s penis on the campaign trail, and thereby causing it to be read into the historical record at a subsequent debate.

Rubio revealed that he apologized to Trump for the incident, because “that’s not who I am”: I apologized to him for that. I said “I’m sorry I said that, it’s not who I am, and I shouldn’t have done it.”

(h/t JMG)

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Marco Rubio: “I Want To Be Helpful” To Donald Trump

After spending months attacking – sometimes to the point of belittling Donald Trump – Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has finally turned the corner, reworked the thoughts in his head, and is fully behind the Trumpster for president.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Rubio said, “I want to be helpful. I don’t want to be harmful, ’cause I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president.”

Once considered the great, young hope of the GOP, I think he looks a bit defeated still.

In related news, although Rubio has announced he will not seek reelection for his U.S. Senate seat in Florida, folks in the Sunshine State are worried the seat could flip.

And so, Republicans – including one-time foe Donald Trump – are urging Rubio to reconsider.

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Marco Rubio Gets Applause For Returning To His Job

After ending his presidential campaign Tuesday night, Sen. Marco Rubio returned to the U.S. Senate today.

His staff greeted him with applause as he made his way to his office.

Having missed 34 of 37 roll call votes in the Senate this year, you have to wonder if he remembered how to find his own office.

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Marco Rubio Wins Big In Puerto Rico’s Republican Primary

As I understand it, Puerto Rico’s rules allow anyone getting over 50% of the vote takes all 23 delegates.

This marks the second win for Rubio in this presidential primary season.