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Trump drops IRS commissioner after less than two months in role

Trump drops IRS commissioner after less than two months in role

Washington | President Donald Trump has removed former US representative Billy Long as IRS commissioner less than two months after his confirmation, a White House official said on Friday (Saturday AEST).
The official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, spoke on condition of anonymity. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner, the official said. Long will instead serve as ambassador to Iceland, Long said in a statement on the social media site X.
AP
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Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote
Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote

Daily Telegraph

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Telegraph

Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote

Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. The man President Donald Trump chose to lead the US military has come under fire for sharing, in apparent approval, remarks by the leader of a radical church network who thinks women should be stripped of the right to vote, among other fringe ideas. Pete Hegseth, whom Mr Trump plucked from his job as a TV host to make him Secretary of Defence, posted a clip of a CNN segment featuring Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist and the self-appointed leader of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. 'All of Christ for All of Life,' wrote the Defence Secretary, who has publicly praised Mr Wilson in the past. The video Mr Hegseth shared mostly featured Mr Wilson, a pastor with an international network spanning more than 150 churches, though some other members of his church were also interviewed. The pastor defended his vision of a patriarchal society in which men are dominant and women submit to their husbands. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Picture: Cliff Owen/AP 'Women are the kind of people that people come out of,' Mr Wilson said. 'So you just think they're here to have babies. That's it? They're just a vessel?' interviewer Pamela Brown asked. 'No, it isn't. It doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce biologically,' said Mr Wilson. 'The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three, or four, or five eternal souls.' Ms Brown pointed out that she was both a working woman and a mother of three children. 'Is that an issue for you?' she asked. 'No it's not automatically an issue,' said Mr Wilson. Mr Wilson speaking to CNN. Pamela Brown's reaction to his description of women as 'people that people come out of'. Mr Hegseth attended the opening of Mr Wilson's latest church last month, which happens to be in Washington D.C., right at the centre of power in America's federal government. Sean Parnell, chief spokesman for the Pentagon, told The Associated Press the Defence Secretary was 'a proud member of a church' affiliated with Mr Wilson's network and 'very much appreciates many of Mr Wilson's writings and teachings'. Those teachings include the idea that the United States should become a Christian theocracy, with other religions driven out of public spaces – he has explained in the past that he thinks Muslims, for example, should still be able to pray in private, but mosques should not be allowed in American cities. In addition to that, he wants non-Christians to be barred from holding public office. Mr Wilson also believes women should not be able to vote, and he thinks homosexuality should be criminalised, as it was decades ago. In a book, which he wrote in the 1990s, he claimed slavery in America's South 'was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity'. 'There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world,' he wrote. 'The credit for this must go to the predominance of Christianity. 'In spite of the evils contained in the system, we cannot overlook the benefits of slavery for both blacks and whites. 'Slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say has never existed in any nation before the War or since.' The 'war' in question, of course, being the American Civil War. Writing in 2020, Mr Wilson conceded there had been 'abuses' under slavery, but insisted 'the benevolent master is not a myth'. Mr Hegseth. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP In the clip Mr Hegseth shared, CNN interviewed a few members of Mr Wilson's church, such as Josh and Amy Prince, who travelled across the US to join. 'He is the head of our household, yes, and I do submit to him,' Amy Prince said of Josh. Toby Sumpter, a pastor, said that 'in my idea society, we would vote as households', with the father ultimately deciding. 'I would ordinarily be the one that would cast the vote, but I would cast the vote having discussed it with my household,' he said. Another pastor, Jared Longshore said he would support repealing the 19th amendment to the US Constitution, passed in 1920, which granted women the right to vote. And Mr Wilson said that 'yep', he would like to go back to the era when 'sodomoy' was illegal in the United States. 'I'm not a white nationalist, I'm not a fascist, I'm not a racist, I'm not a misogynist,' he said. 'I'd like to see the town be a Christian town. I'd like to see the state be a Christian state. I'd like to see the nation be a Christian nation. I'd like to see the world be a Christian world. 'Every society is theocratic. The only question is whose 'theo'. In a secular society, it would be deimos, the people. In a Christian republic it would be Christ.' Originally published as Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote

Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote
Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote

News.com.au

time6 hours ago

  • News.com.au

Head of US military approvingly shares views of pastor who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to vote

The man President Donald Trump chose to lead the US military has come under fire for sharing, in apparent approval, remarks by the leader of a radical church network who thinks women should be stripped of the right to vote, among other fringe ideas. Pete Hegseth, whom Mr Trump plucked from his job as a TV host to make him Secretary of Defence, posted a clip of a CNN segment featuring Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist and the self-appointed leader of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. 'All of Christ for All of Life,' wrote the Defence Secretary, who has publicly praised Mr Wilson in the past. The video Mr Hegseth shared mostly featured Mr Wilson, a pastor with an international network spanning more than 150 churches, though some other members of his church were also interviewed. The pastor defended his vision of a patriarchal society in which men are dominant and women submit to their husbands. 'Women are the kind of people that people come out of,' Mr Wilson said. 'So you just think they're here to have babies. That's it? They're just a vessel?' interviewer Pamela Brown asked. 'No, it isn't. It doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce biologically,' said Mr Wilson. 'The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three, or four, or five eternal souls.' Ms Brown pointed out that she was both a working woman and a mother of three children. 'Is that an issue for you?' she asked. 'No it's not automatically an issue,' said Mr Wilson. Mr Hegseth attended the opening of Mr Wilson's latest church last month, which happens to be in Washington D.C., right at the centre of power in America's federal government. Sean Parnell, chief spokesman for the Pentagon, told The Associated Press the Defence Secretary was 'a proud member of a church' affiliated with Mr Wilson's network and 'very much appreciates many of Mr Wilson's writings and teachings'. Those teachings include the idea that the United States should become a Christian theocracy, with other religions driven out of public spaces – he has explained in the past that he thinks Muslims, for example, should still be able to pray in private, but mosques should not be allowed in American cities. In addition to that, he wants non-Christians to be barred from holding public office. Mr Wilson also believes women should not be able to vote, and he thinks homosexuality should be criminalised, as it was decades ago. In a book, which he wrote in the 1990s, he claimed slavery in America's South 'was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity'. 'There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world,' he wrote. 'The credit for this must go to the predominance of Christianity. 'In spite of the evils contained in the system, we cannot overlook the benefits of slavery for both blacks and whites. 'Slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say has never existed in any nation before the War or since.' The 'war' in question, of course, being the American Civil War. Writing in 2020, Mr Wilson conceded there had been 'abuses' under slavery, but insisted 'the benevolent master is not a myth'. In the clip Mr Hegseth shared, CNN interviewed a few members of Mr Wilson's church, such as Josh and Amy Prince, who travelled across the US to join. 'He is the head of our household, yes, and I do submit to him,' Amy Prince said of Josh. Toby Sumpter, a pastor, said that 'in my idea society, we would vote as households', with the father ultimately deciding. 'I would ordinarily be the one that would cast the vote, but I would cast the vote having discussed it with my household,' he said. Another pastor, Jared Longshore said he would support repealing the 19th amendment to the US Constitution, passed in 1920, which granted women the right to vote. And Mr Wilson said that 'yep', he would like to go back to the era when 'sodomoy' was illegal in the United States. 'I'm not a white nationalist, I'm not a fascist, I'm not a racist, I'm not a misogynist,' he said. 'I'd like to see the town be a Christian town. I'd like to see the state be a Christian state. I'd like to see the nation be a Christian nation. I'd like to see the world be a Christian world. 'Every society is theocratic. The only question is whose 'theo'. In a secular society, it would be deimos, the people. In a Christian republic it would be Christ.'

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