“the laborer is not worthy of his hire” Michael Grimm -
GOP Party Line
“the laborer is worthy of his hire” Saint John XXIII – JESUS Party Line
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It is well known among people who know and work with him that Scotto is gay. “Within the station community it’s pretty well known,” one colleague told Gawker. The 35-year-old political reporter didn’t ask Grimm about anything pertaining to sexuality, so it’s unclear, based only on the video, why Grimm issued a series of insults aimed at questioning Scotto’s masculinity—a common weapon of homophobes seeking to torment and marginalize gay men.
And the point here was to torment Scotto. “You’re not man enough,” Grimm seethes. “You’re not man enough.” And embarrass him, too. You can’t see it in the video, but his colleagues and other reporters were watching the entire thing from a few feet away.
We don’t know whether Grimm was aware of Scotto’s sexuality, and his office didn’t acknowledge our repeated attempts to contact the congressman. The men know each well enough, though. “He and Congressman Grimm have worked together professionally for a while,” NY1’s Washington bureau chief Jennifer Babich told Gawker. “But this is the first time [Grimm has] said anything like this.” (Babich added that the men “have had several interviews” together.) At the very least, they were known quantities to each other.
MayB #MichaelGrimm was hitn on him? Ive heard "BreakU LikeABoi" in tons of porn!ThreatsAgnst GayReporterHomophobic? http://t.co/mj3m3nBRE1.
— LA DeShane (@Lvng1Tor) January 30, 2014
The FBI probed a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee that involved drinking, numerous GOP freshmen lawmakers, top leadership staff – and one nude member of Congress, according to more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses.
During a fact-finding congressional trip to the Holy Land last summer, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) took off his clothes and jumped into the sea, joining a number of members, their families and GOP staff during a night out in Israel, the sources told POLITICO.
Other participants, including the daughter of another congressman, swam fully clothed while some lawmakers partially disrobed. More than 20 people took part in the late-night dip in the sea, according to sources who took part in the trip.
“A year ago, my wife, Brooke, and I joined colleagues for dinner at the Sea of Galilee in Israel. After dinner I followed some Members of Congress in a spontaneous and very brief dive into the sea and regrettably I jumped into the water without a swimsuit,” Yoder said in a statement to POLITICO. “It is my greatest honor to represent the people of Kansas in Congress and [for] any embarrassment I have caused for my colleagues and constituents, I apologize.”
Travis Smith, Yoder’s chief of staff, told POLITICO “Neither Congressman Yoder, nor his staff, have been interviewed by the FBI.”
These GOP sources confirmed the following freshmen lawmakers also went swimming that night: Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) and his daughter; Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and his wife; Reps. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.).
Many of the lawmakers who ventured into the ocean said they did so because of the religious significance of the waters. Others said they were simply cooling off after a long day. Several privately admitted that alcohol may have played a role in why some of those present decided to jump in.