Free Republic

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday warned the U.S. against turning its back on Ukraine, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) suggested that Russia’s war in Ukraine should not be one of America’s “vital national interests.”“If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin loses in Ukraine, then the world resets in all the right ways,” Graham tweeted. “If he wins in Ukraine and the west capitulates just like in the past, more conflict is coming.”“When it comes to Putin, you either pay now or pay later,” Graham said, adding, “If you do not understand that success by Putin in Russia invites aggression by...

The United States Navy has announced another vessel will be renamed in order to cut association with its Confederate namesake. The US Navy will rename the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury, which was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury is considered by many to be one of the foremost pioneers of oceanography in history. He was a decorated U.S. naval officer for decades until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he refused to fight against his home state and joined the Confederacy. The USNS Maury will be renamed in honor of Marie Tharp, a 20th century cartographer and oceanographer...

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro renamed the Naval Academy building, formerly named after a member of the Confederacy, after the only U.S. president to attend the institution. Maury Hall, which was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, considered the father of naval oceanography who joined the Confederacy, will now be known as Carter Hall, named after former President Jimmy Carter, who graduated from the academy in 1946, reads a Navy press release. “When Secretary Austin directed us to implement the recommendations of the Naming Commission, he instructed us to give proud new names. Names that echo with honor, patriotism,...

Actor George Takei took to Twitter on Friday to tell Americans that they “can endure higher prices for food and gas” if it means retaliating against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The actor went on to call the raising prices “a patriotic donation.” “Americans: We can endure higher prices for food and gas if it means putting the screws to Putin. Consider it a patriotic donation in the fight for freedom over tyranny,” Takei wrote. The actor was quickly slammed in the comment section of his post, with one Twitter user proclaiming, “Unnecessary pain/suffering by the middle class isn’t ‘patriotic’ you...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that the latest $928 billion infrastructure offer from a group of Senate Republicans was “a good sign” in the negotiations on President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion plan. Buttigieg said, “We met the urgency of confronting COVID with the rescue plan. Now, we got to meet the urgency of preparing the American economy to succeed for the next many decades with the American Jobs Plan and generational investment in the infrastructure we count on from the tradition of stuff like roads and bridges to newer things like the internet, access for...

Pete and Chasten Buttigieg celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Sunday. You know this if you’re among Pete’s roughly 1.1 million Twitter followers or Chasten’s 340,000, because they traded sweetly effusive missives, as they frequently do. Pete gushed: “One year ago I married the love of my life. I’m so thankful I found you, Chasten, and can’t wait to spend the rest of our life together.” Chasten posted pictures of the two of them with their arms around each other, which he introduced by writing that he was on his way “to find this cute guy on the trail. Can’t...

Chasten Buttigieg, husband to South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), said he's proud of the progress that has been made in the gay rights movement leading to his husband's presidential candidacy, but warned that there is still a long way to go "for equality." "The fight for equality is far from over," Buttigieg said Monday at a Democratic National Convention gala for LGBTQ rights in New York. "I wish I could stand here and tell you that all of the responses to my husband running for president have either been positive or that the criticisms have simply been about...

Mayor Pete Buttigieg doesn’t believe he’ll be the first gay president if elected in 2020. “I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay — we just didn’t know which ones,” he told “Axios on HBO.” “I mean, statistically, it’s almost certain.” Asked if he possibly knew which commander-in-chief was playing for the other team, the Democratic hopeful said: “My gaydar even doesn’t work that well in the present, let alone retroactively. But one can only assume that’s the case.”

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 2020 presidential hopeful South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg said the Trump administration’s low credibility is adding doubt that Iran was behind the attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East. Buttigieg said, “I think what we have seen is compelling. There seems to be more information that we haven’t had a chance to see. It’s a little distressing to think that because this administration’s credibility is so low in general, I think a lot of people are thinking twice at a moment when America’s word should be decisive.

Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg doubled down on his support for getting rid of the Electoral College in an interview that aired Thursday on NBC News, calling the institution "undemocratic." "Twice in my young lifetime I've seen the American people overruled by the Electoral College," Buttigieg said. "It's time for that to go because it's undemocratic." Pressed by NBC's Harry Smith on whether Republicans would back scrapping the institution, Buttigieg suggested making the reform years down the road. "So maybe when we make this reform, we set it to take effect in the 2030s, when...

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said on Saturday that there were so many Democrats in the race, they “might as well carpool.” Buttigieg was speaking at an education-focused meet-and-greet on the back porch of a home in Des Moines, Iowa, as he and much of the nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates swarmed the state, whose caucuses top the 2020 primary calendar. Buttigieg offered a unifying tone at the event, saying he did not view the massive field “as having opponents so much as competitors.” “You would be surprised how often we are in dialogue with each other,” Buttigieg...

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Monday he would not have called for then-Sen. Al Franken's resignation in 2017 over sexual harassment allegations before having the opportunity to learn more about the claims. The comment puts Buttigieg at odds with a number of his opponents in the Democratic primary, including New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who was the first to issue the call, California Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "I think it was his decision to make, but I think the way we basically...

As another Memorial Day came and went, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was criticizing President Donald Trump for reportedly considering pardons for several service members accused of war crimes. He called the idea “slander against veterans that could only come from somebody who never served.” The 37-year-old Democrat mocked the president, saying, “I don’t have a problem standing up to somebody who was working on Celebrity Apprentice when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan.” Mayor Pete also defended NFL national anthem protests, declaring, “Trump would get it if he had served.” He claimed he’d “put his life on the line” for...

In recent remarks, Pete Buttigieg, Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, remarked that his same-sex “marriage” to Chasten Glezman has brought him closer to God. His remarks were directed toward Vice President Mike Pence, who is on record as opposing such “marriages.” Buttigieg said: Being married to Chasten has made me a better human being because it has made me more compassionate, more understanding, more self-aware and more decent. My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man. And yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God. This raises a question: To what...

Editor's note: This column was authored by Kristiana Bolzman. Few words are better known in American political thought than the following: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg suggests removing author Thomas Jefferson’s name from the Jefferson-Jackson dinners, so as not to show Jefferson, a slave-owner, undue honor.At best, Buttigieg’s comments evidence an agenda pushing more political correctness. At worst, they undermine the very laws America is built upon.If...

During an interview in Washington on Thursday, The Post’s Robert Costa tried his best to get Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg to say something negative about fellow candidate Joe Biden. Part of the old guard? Defended credit card companies? Responsible for mass incarceration as a result of the 1994 crime bill? But each time, Buttigieg calmly sidestepped the invitation to go after the former vice president, while using the opportunity to lay out policy differences (“I have a difference of opinion with anybody who favors credit card companies over consumers”), and demonstrating his wonkish knowledge....

The 29-year-old political spouse said there was a lot of judgement when he came out as gay to his family, claiming to remember one of his brothers uttering, “No brother of mine …” during the conversation with his mom and dad, both of whom are nominally Catholic and were, according to Rhyan, very accepting of Chasten’s orientation. “That was a long time ago, but that’s not what I would say. That’s not my character, that’s not my brother’s character,” Rhyan said. “Nobody ever rejected him at all. … I would say they embraced him even deeper.” Chasten also told the...

Mayor Pete Buttigieg revealed his plan Thursday of how to compete with President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. “What we’ve got to learn is how to kind of stiff-arm him, it’s almost sort of a ‘crazy uncle’ management,” he said. Buttigieg commented on his future plans to debate Trump in a conversation with Washington Post reporter Robert Costa. He said that Democrats should correct Trump during debates but not get distracted by his controversial views. ~snip~ Buttigieg accused Trump of faking a disability to avoid getting drafted into the Vietnam war. “I don’t mean to trivialize disability, but I...

It’s hard to conceive of just how monumental Milk’s 1977 election was in 2019 terms. Openly LGBT individuals have now held some form of elected office in all 50 states, the last midterm election brought a “a rainbow wave” of advancements, and Pete Buttigieg, who is gay, is in the field of contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination. But the late 1970s were a time of radical gay activism and conservative crusades. This was the age of Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” campaign and the Briggs Initiative, a California ballot measure that would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching...

<p>In the south, it has been traditional for a young lady (debutante or “female beginner”) of high status to “come out” into adulthood. It’s a formal rite of passage into society of an educated, wealthy, sophisticated young lady now ready for the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood. It is a recognition of her availability of being a wife and mother—in that order. This coming out takes place at a ball and elegant dinner. During the evening, the debutante displays her ability to walk, sit, dance, and eat without tripping over her gown or dropping a croissant down the front of her dress.</p>