Carl Higbie – Photo: Corporation for National and Community Service, via YouTube.
A Trump appointee to the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps and other national service programs has resigned after news media published past remarks he made disparaging African-Americans, Muslims, LGBTQ people, women, veterans with PTSD, and undocumented immigrants.
Carl Higbie, the chief of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service, had served for just under six months when he resigned on Thursday after CNN unearthed various comments he made prior to his appointment that have been characterized as racist, anti-Muslim, sexist, and anti-gay.
In one of the comments uncovered by CNN, Higbie said you could “guess the color” of a family he described that lived in his condo association.
“I told this story the other day on my show. Somebody who lives in my condo association that has five kids, and it’s her and her husband with the five kids and the mother, the grandmother of the kids, and they don’t have jobs, they’re there all the time — I bet you can guess what color they are — and they have no job,” he said.
In 2013, Higbie worked on the “Sound of Freedom,” a right-wing Virginia Beach-based Internet talk radio show, where he expressed disdain for the term “African-Americans,” saying that most people who classify themselves as such “have never been to Africa.” He also said, during another show, that black women think “breeding is a form of government employment,” that blacks were “lax of morality,” and that culture “is breeding this welfare and the high percentage of people on welfare in the black race.”
Higbie also has a history of anti-Muslim comments, saying he doesn’t like Muslims “because their ideology sucks,” adding that he was fine if people characterized him as racist for making those comments.
“I just don’t like Muslim people. People always rip me a new one for that. ‘Carl, you’re racist, you can’t, you’re sexist.’ I’m like Jesus Christ,” Higbie said on the radio show.
He also appeared on another podcast, Warrior Talk Radio, in 2014, where he bragged about being labeled an “Islamophobe.”
“I was called an Islamophobe and I was like, ‘no, no, no, no, no, I’m not afraid of them. I don’t like them. Big difference,'” he said on the show. “And they were like, ‘Well, you’re racist.’ I was like, fine if that’s the definition of it, then I guess I am.'”
Higbie, a former Navy SEAL, also derided military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as having “a weak mind.” His comments about that community were particularly concerning, as several CNCS are intended to support veterans and their families by helping them transition when they return from service abroad.
“I’d say 75 percent of people with PTSD don’t actually have it, and they’re either milking something for a little extra money in disability or they’re just, they honestly are just lying,” he said on a third radio show.
On the “Sound of Freedom,” Higbie said that Americans with guns should be legally allowed to shoot undocumented immigrants who attempt to cross into the United States at the border.
“You cross my border, I will shoot you in the face. … I’ll volunteer to go down there and stand on that border for, I don’t know, a week or so at a time and that’ll be my civil duty.”
He called California Sen. Dianne Feinstein a “bitch” for her advocacy of gun reform measures like background checks, and said he’d love to smack her and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s heads together.
He also blasted the legalization of gay marriage in Rhode Island, saying: “Congratuf’in’lations, you suck, Rhode Island. Why would you do that? I mean, you are breaking the morals, the moral fiber of our country. You know, I don’t like gay people. I just don’t.”
Both CNCS and the White House have declined to comment on the situation surrounding Higbie’s resignation.
Higbie later took to Twitter to issue a full apology, tweeting: “I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that my words were published. I am sorry I said them in 2013. Those words do not reflect who I am or what I stand for, I regret saying them. Last night I informed the White House that I was resigning so as not to distract from POTUS’ many successes. #noexcuses.”
I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that my words were published, I am sorry that I said them in 2013. Those words do not reflect who I am or what I stand for, I regret saying them. Last night I informed the WH that I was resigning so as not to distract from POTUS’ many success. #noexcuses
A new rule from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could effectively criminalize transgender people who attempt to buy firearms, raising concerns about their ability to exercise Second Amendment rights.
The move stems from an executive order by President Donald Trump declaring that the federal government will recognize only two sexes -- male and female -- based on biological anatomy at birth.
Under the change, all gun buyers would be required to list their sex assigned at birth on purchase paperwork, even if they have legally changed their gender or undergone gender confirmation surgery. That would force transgender people to either "out" themselves or risk lying on a government form -- a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or up to 10 years if the lie is deemed "material" to the sale.
The United States government will allow the rainbow Pride flag to fly permanently at the Stonewall National Monument after settling a lawsuit brought by New York and LGBTQ nonprofits over its removal earlier this year.
The flag was removed in February to comply with federal guidance from the U.S. Department of the Interior barring so-called "non-agency" flags within the National Park System. The memo specified that "only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags" could be flown on park property flagpoles.
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched investigations into three dozen Illinois school districts, alleging that they may have failed to allow parents to "opt out" of lessons involving LGBTQ content.
The investigations, announced last week by the department, will also examine whether 35 school districts and Chicago's largest charter school network allow transgender students to use bathrooms or participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity, rather than their assigned sex at birth.
In its news release, the Justice Department said it would determine whether the districts are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funds.
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A Trump appointee to the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps and other national service programs has resigned after news media published past remarks he made disparaging African-Americans, Muslims, LGBTQ people, women, veterans with PTSD, and undocumented immigrants.
Carl Higbie, the chief of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service, had served for just under six months when he resigned on Thursday after CNN unearthed various comments he made prior to his appointment that have been characterized as racist, anti-Muslim, sexist, and anti-gay.
In one of the comments uncovered by CNN, Higbie said you could “guess the color” of a family he described that lived in his condo association.
“I told this story the other day on my show. Somebody who lives in my condo association that has five kids, and it’s her and her husband with the five kids and the mother, the grandmother of the kids, and they don’t have jobs, they’re there all the time — I bet you can guess what color they are — and they have no job,” he said.
In 2013, Higbie worked on the “Sound of Freedom,” a right-wing Virginia Beach-based Internet talk radio show, where he expressed disdain for the term “African-Americans,” saying that most people who classify themselves as such “have never been to Africa.” He also said, during another show, that black women think “breeding is a form of government employment,” that blacks were “lax of morality,” and that culture “is breeding this welfare and the high percentage of people on welfare in the black race.”
Higbie also has a history of anti-Muslim comments, saying he doesn’t like Muslims “because their ideology sucks,” adding that he was fine if people characterized him as racist for making those comments.
“I just don’t like Muslim people. People always rip me a new one for that. ‘Carl, you’re racist, you can’t, you’re sexist.’ I’m like Jesus Christ,” Higbie said on the radio show.
He also appeared on another podcast, Warrior Talk Radio, in 2014, where he bragged about being labeled an “Islamophobe.”
“I was called an Islamophobe and I was like, ‘no, no, no, no, no, I’m not afraid of them. I don’t like them. Big difference,'” he said on the show. “And they were like, ‘Well, you’re racist.’ I was like, fine if that’s the definition of it, then I guess I am.'”
Higbie, a former Navy SEAL, also derided military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as having “a weak mind.” His comments about that community were particularly concerning, as several CNCS are intended to support veterans and their families by helping them transition when they return from service abroad.
“I’d say 75 percent of people with PTSD don’t actually have it, and they’re either milking something for a little extra money in disability or they’re just, they honestly are just lying,” he said on a third radio show.
On the “Sound of Freedom,” Higbie said that Americans with guns should be legally allowed to shoot undocumented immigrants who attempt to cross into the United States at the border.
“You cross my border, I will shoot you in the face. … I’ll volunteer to go down there and stand on that border for, I don’t know, a week or so at a time and that’ll be my civil duty.”
He called California Sen. Dianne Feinstein a “bitch” for her advocacy of gun reform measures like background checks, and said he’d love to smack her and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s heads together.
He also blasted the legalization of gay marriage in Rhode Island, saying: “Congratuf’in’lations, you suck, Rhode Island. Why would you do that? I mean, you are breaking the morals, the moral fiber of our country. You know, I don’t like gay people. I just don’t.”
Both CNCS and the White House have declined to comment on the situation surrounding Higbie’s resignation.
Higbie later took to Twitter to issue a full apology, tweeting: “I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that my words were published. I am sorry I said them in 2013. Those words do not reflect who I am or what I stand for, I regret saying them. Last night I informed the White House that I was resigning so as not to distract from POTUS’ many successes. #noexcuses.”
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