Tag: Rick Santorum

CNN Cuts Ties With Contributor Rick Santorum

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CNN is parting ways with contributor Rick Santorum, the former Republican Senator and presidential candidate who has come under fire for remarks he made last month about Native American culture.

Speaking to an audience last month at an event organized by Young America’s Foundation, Santorum suggested Native American people had little influence on U.S. culture. “We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here,” he told a gathering of students. “I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”

The comments drew criticism from groups like the National Congress of American Indians. Santorum didn’t help matters when he appeared on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” and declined to apologize for the remarks or how they were interpreted, simply telling the anchor they were taken out of context. CNN confirmed a previous report in The Huffington Post revealing that the politician and the network were cutting ties. Santorum was first named a CNN contributor in 2017. Continue reading.

In Rick Santorum’s simplified version of American history, Native Americans are a footnote

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An underrecognized component of the presidency is the frequency with which presidents issue statements about arcane subjects. Most weeks and months are at some point designated as awareness months for various causes; many international events trigger formal responses that generally evade the American public’s attention.

On Saturday, though, the Biden administration issued a statement that actually raised some interest. In an annual statement about Armenian Remembrance Day, President Biden’s team inserted one controversial word: genocide.

“Each year on this day,” Biden’s 2021 statement read, “we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring.” Compare that with the phrasing in 2016, when Biden was vice president: “Today we solemnly reflect on the first mass atrocity of the 20th century — the Armenian Meds Yeghern — when one and a half million Armenian people were deported, massacred, and marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman empire.” Continue reading.

‘Well-connected’ GOP donor linked to Rick Santorum scored $65 million in government investment for one-person company

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It is going to take approximately half of forever to sort out the corruption of the Trump years—presuming we eventually get to that point. A new scandal of the sort that would in past years result in weeks of televised outrage seems to crop up every few days.

The Associated Press brings us yet another. A “well-connected” Republican donor managed to score up to $65 million in government investment for a new method of processing blood plasma, including plasma to be used for treating patients in the COVID-19 pandemic. That seems unsurprising on its face: Of course the government is interested in investing in technologies that could help fight the pandemic. But AP reporters dug a little deeper and, as with everything in this new era of Republican cronyism, things are not quite that clear-cut.

The blood plasma company in line to get $65 million, Plasma Technologies, does not have any physical facilities. It is registered at the South Carolina home address of “connected” Republican donor Eugene Zurlo, a man who has been attempting to sell his technology for some time with no success. It looks like it has never produced plasma. Continue reading.

Rick Santorum flattened by CNN’s Berman after calling Parnas bombshell revelations ‘extraneous’ to impeachment

AlterNet logoRick Santorum and CNN’s John Berman got into a frantic back-and-forth on Friday morning after the former Republican senator attempted to dismiss the revelations by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas as something that should not be submitted as evidence in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

Discussing the Senate trial expected to start next week, Santorum said the only testimony and witnesses that should be allowed are ones that came up in the earlier House hearings.

“The House’s responsibility to bring to us a case,” Santorum stated. “They’re the one who is said these are offenses that are worthy of the president being removed from office; here is the record, here are the charges. The Senate didn’t impeach, the House did, so we are going to look at the record the House presented us. We’re going to look at the witnesses and say are there are questions that we have for the people that brought this case forward and relied on these witnesses and look at their testimony.” Continue reading.

Why are Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum hanging out in Russia?

For thousands of dollars, you can join these former GOP stalwarts on a Baltic tour.

At a time when U.S.-Russian relations are at a post-Cold War nadir, former GOP stalwarts Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum decided to visit St. Petersburg. According to Huckabee’s Twitter feed, the two have spent the past few days in Russia, touring the city and visiting seaside restaurants.

The two are helping lead a for-profit cruise through the Baltic Sea — one that costs guests anywhere between $5,000 and $12,000 to attend.

On Facebook, Huckabee pitched the cruise as an “unforgettable trip to the Baltics,” noting that it would also be stopping in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

View the complete August 13 article by Casey Michel on the ThinkProgress website here.