Tag: State Politics

Closing Thought–20Sep21

I live in Mississippi and the Covid thing is running rampant……and our governor, Tate Reeve, has done little to protect the people of the state he rules….

CNN’s Jake Tapper interviewed the governor and handed the do-nothing politician his ass….

CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed the governor of Mississippi regarding the rate of Covid-19 infections and deaths in his state and what his administration was doing to address the most recent surge of the virus during an interview on State of the Union.

As the two talked on Sunday, Mr Tapper repeatedly questioned Mr Reeves about what specific measures beyond spreading messages of personal choice and responsibility the state of Mississippi was doing to protect its residents from the Delta variant of Covid-19, which is spreading rapidly in parts of the US, and in particular in communities where vaccination rates are low.

“If Mississippi were its own country, you would be second in the world only to Peru in terms of deaths per capita,” Mr Tapper told Mr Reeves, adding: “With all due respect, governor, your way is failing; are you going to try to change anything to change this horrible statistic from what you’re doing already?”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/cnn-s-jake-tapper-clashes-with-mississippi-governor-over-covid-rate-b1922996.html

I applaud Tapper for bring the governor to task.

Mississippi is still suffering and there is NO leadership from the governor or the legislature.

Mississippi will continue to suffer with such ineffectual leadership.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Who Needs Infrastructure?

There has been a wealth of back and forth debate on the amount of money needed for infrastructure……some even think it is not needed…..but maybe Mississippi could use a bit of that federal cash….

Two people were killed and 10 others hurt after heavy rain likely related to Hurricane Ida washed away part of a highway near the town of Lucedale, Miss., on Monday night. A hole about 50 feet long and 20 feet deep was created, and several vehicles went in, CNN reports. “I’ve never seen anything in my 23 years in law enforcement like this,” a trooper says. Three of those injured were in critical condition.

Ailing highways and bridges need repair or replacement….but it is more important to chase damn silly issues like abortion and prayer in school than to see to the safety of the residents as they go about their mundane lives.

To answer the original question….Mississippi that is who!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

F*ck Israel!

Closing thought–29Jul 21

AS the states try to protect Israel from any criticism…..New York as tried to ‘sanction’ Ben and Jerry’s because of their action to punish Israel for land theft, deaths and violence on the West Bank and Gaza…

US states continue to take action over Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories. The New York Post reported Friday that the main pension fund for New York state’s government workers warned that it might divest funds from Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s UK-based parent company.

Over 30 US states have passed legislation against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that advocates for global boycotts to pressure Israel for its occupation and war crimes against Palestinians. New York hasn’t passed BDS legislation, but in 2016 Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order requiring state agencies to divest from organizations and companies that boycott Israel. At the time, Cuomo said passing legislation was a “tedious affair” and that he wanted to take “immediate action” against BDS.

Liz Gordon, executive director of corporate governance of the $254.8 billion New York pension fund, sent a letter to Unilever CEO Alan Jope. According to the Post, the pension fund has $73 million invested in Unilever. Gordon said state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli “is troubled and concerned” by Ben & Jerry’s decision.

…

Ben & Jerry’s said they would stop selling ice cream in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” after a contract with a distribution expires at the end of next year. The company said they would still sell products in Israel, so the ban only applies to illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

After the announcement, Israel urged the governors of the US states with anti-BDS laws on the books to enforce them against Ben & Jerry’s, and some seem happy to comply. So far, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and Illinois are considering action against the ice cream company.

(antiwar.com)

Let me get this right…states are telling companies what they can do with their business….that pretty much craps on the lie of free markets…..

When will the US stop protecting Israel from their crimes?

See what cash in the pockets of slugs in politics gets you.

It is their, Ban and Jerry, money and their business…..what they do is of no business to the corrupt official in politics.

I refer to the title.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi Sets The Stage

My state of Mississippi has the distinction of many things…..we lead the nation on child poverty, one of the most unhealthy of states, most littered state,….on and on…..

Now Mississippi trying to be known as the state that brought down Roe v Wade…..

The Mississippi attorney general on Thursday asked the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, a challenge to the 1973 law that’s been expected since May, when the high court agreed to hear a case involving a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. Lower courts blocked the law, known as the Gestational Age Act, and the state is appealing, NBC News reports. Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the Roe v. Wade ruling, as well as the other major ruling legalizing abortion in the US, 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, were “egregiously wrong.” She said there is an “overwhelming” case to be made for overruling them, CNN reports.

“The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition,” Fitch said in a new brief to the justices. The request is notable, because when Mississippi asked SCOTUS to hear the case, it said doing so did not “require the court to overturn either Roe or Casey.” Politico says this brief “raises the stakes,” but notes that court watchers tend to think the justices are more likely to stop short of overruling Roe, while continuing to allow states to place an increasing number of restrictions on abortions. Axios points out the possibility that President Biden will protect abortion rights via an executive action if Roe is overturned. Oral arguments are expected in late fall or early winter, with a decision possible by June.

With a conservative ideologues on the Court this could well be the death throes of Roe v Wade….

And Mississippi will be the final nail in the coffin of reproductive rights.

I am so proud….(that is sarcasm in case you missed it)

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–09Jul21

As an old protester from the 60s and 70s I am always interested in the attempts by government to try and silence the people’s right to protest….and 2021 has been an active year to try and silence people from taking the politicians and attempts to task…..

This June, a dangerously low-flying helicopter operated by the Department of Homeland Security descended on the largest civil disobedience action yet against the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. In an attempt to disperse the crowd, hundreds of demonstrators were pummeled with debris — and misdemeanor trespassing charges. If Minnesota Republican House Members Shane Mekeland and Eric Lucero had their way, demonstrators and anyone involved in the organizing process would have been hit with serious felony charges, a $5,000 fine, and liability for any damages incurred by the multibillion-dollar company Enbridge.

Mekeland and Lucero, who introduced these measures in a bill in late February, aren’t alone in their repressive ambitions. Rather than address the onslaught of police violence against Black people or catastrophic environmental degradation, Republican state politicians continue to attack the people rising up against those systemic injustices. As many as 225 anti-protest bills have been introduced in 45 states since 2016 according to the International Center for Non-Profit Law U.S. Protest Law Tracker. More than 100 have been introduced since Black liberation demonstrators took to the streets in June 2020. Thirty-four such bills have been enacted since 2016.

Lawmakers in Tennessee, Montana and Oklahoma passed the latest anti-protest laws. Bills in Iowa, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio progressed within the last two months.

Over 100 Anti-Protest Bills Have Been Introduced Since George Floyd Rebellion

Looks like Repubs are running scared (as typical for cowards) for the protests are doing their job and making people open up their thinking about the injustices and inequalities in the US…after packing state legislatures with like minded cowards they can now set about making protest illegal…..

Is that what America has become….more a political abortion from the original thinking of the Founders?

Watch This blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Assault!

In this case I am not posting about the danger of the 06 January…..I am not saying that the insurrection was not a danger to our republic just that another assault could be much ore dangerous and hazardous to our beloved nation.

The assault that I am talking about is that assault on the voting rights of our citizenry…..

Attorney Marc Elias explains the dangers…..

Democratic attorney Marc Elias has been quite aggressive when it comes to filing lawsuits against Republican voter suppression efforts. But when Elias, the founder of Democracy Docket, appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Thursday night, June 3, he warned that lawsuits alone are not going to be enough to defend voting rights in the United States.

Elias’ appearance on Maddow’s show came at a time when Republicans in state legislatures all over the U.S. are pushing voter suppression bills and many Trump supporters in the GOP are continuing to promote the Big Lie and the false, debunked conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump was the victim of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. In fact, now-President Joe Biden won the election decisively, picking up 306 electoral votes and defeating Trump by more than 7 million in the popular vote.

Elias told Maddow, “It’s not realistic to assume that every provision of every bad law is going to get struck down by court. We won more than we lost in 2019 and 2020 — we did better than in the post-election. But you can’t assume that when state after state after state throws the kitchen sink at voters and makes restricting voting rights their top priority, that the courts are going to be there to bat them all back.”

https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/voting-rights/

The Dems need to stop trying a failed policy of bi-partisanship….they need to stop pussy footing around and step up and fight harder for the people’s right to vote without obstruction.

Instead they cling to the dinosaur of all policies in the Congress….that of bi-partisanship….that compromise on major issues is as dead as the do-do.

“It is worth remembering that it is illegal under state and federal law to change vote outcomes,” Rubin writes. “This is the basis for the ongoing investigation of the former president’s phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, in which the election’s loser pleaded with the Republican official to ‘find’ sufficient votes to change the state’s outcome…. In addition, federal law says that any person who ‘knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process’ has committed a felony.”

Rubin continues, “It also makes it a crime for a ‘person acting under color of law’ to ‘willfully fail or refuse to tabulate, count, and report’ legal votes. In other words, simply putting control of elections in the hands of partisan Republicans does not mean they can flip election results at will. However, the potential to disrupt and discredit elections is great. And in the case of federal elections, some state legislatures might seek to certify their own slate of electors claiming the voters’ choice was invalidated by fraud.”

https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/voting-rights-2653239925/

Voters need to arm themselves with factual information not the manure spread by morons on social media about election fraud….then get involved with the changing of the crap you must endure to vote.

You have the power…..but you must use it or lose it!

And lose it you will and if you look around you will see your right being subdued and eventually removed.

Is that what you want?

If so then sit on your ass watching crap on reality TV….but do not bitch if you are not involved.

(sound of crickets)

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Screw Civics!

I have personally thought that all this division in our government comes from the lack of civics education….our students have no idea how the government works and why.

I begin this post with a quote from Fran Herbert, author of the Dune series…….“Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders.”

So far Red States have proven that their leaders are there solely to press onward some out dated ideology…..they no longer work for the entire country just a small portion that they embrace.

I have made my thoughts on numerous occasions about our failure to educate our children on Civics……

https://lobotero.com/2020/07/14/american-mind-civics-class-part-one/
 
 
 
I rehash all this civics stuff because the governor of Florida has just vetoed a bill that would require students to have civics literacy…..
Would have required the state to develop a civics literacy course study that includes participation in outside activities and a research paper describing the experience. The Citizen Scholar Program would have been headquartered at the University of South Florida. DeSantis said the measure would have promoted the “preferred orthodoxy” of USF. Democratic state Rep. Ben Diamond, the bill’s sponsor, said DeSantis was “demonizing” universities. “There is no reasonable explanation for vetoing legislation that had unanimous, bipartisan support and is aimed at improving students’ understanding of government and the importance of civic engagement,’’ Diamond said in a news release.
Here is the letter that DeSantis issued on the veto…..
 
What are these tools afraid will happen when the children learn civics?
 
Apparently these slugs want to keep the indoctrination in place for our children for if they learn more about how this country works then the archaic ideology they embrace will disappear and a more inclusive society will prevail….they cannot have that.
 
DeSantis is embracing the Orwellian concept….”Ignorance is strength”
 
Let ignorance prevail!
 
Watch This Blog!
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Screw The Damn Voter!

Once again the majority on the Supreme Court has proven that they are a pack of gutless spineless ideologues.

That is basically what the US Supreme Court has just stated!

Red states are running rampant with a wide array of bills on issues such as gender and abortion and education and then there is the big push to suppress the vote.

State after Red State has spent all of 2021 so far finding ways to suppress the voter access to their right.

This is what we get when we embrace a party and not the needs of the nation’s people…..people with an agenda and NO actual policies.

I say this is what you get because of the latest decision handed down by SCOTUS.

It is what we get when we allow some agenda driven group like the ultra-conservative Federalist Society pick the judges that will interpret the Constitution for the nation.

What the Hell am I ranting about?

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld voting restrictions in Arizona in a decision that could make it harder to challenge other voting measures put in place by Republican lawmakers, per the AP. The court, by a 6-3 vote, reversed a lower court ruling in deciding that Arizona’s limits on who can return early ballots for another person and refusal to count ballots cast in the wrong precinct are not racially discriminatory. The federal appeals court in San Francisco had held that the measures disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic, and Native American voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for a conservative majority that the state’s interest in the integrity of elections justified the measures. The court rejected the idea that showing that a state law disproportionately affects minority voters is enough to prove a violation of the law.

In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court was weakening the landmark voting rights law for the second time in eight years. “What is tragic here is that the Court has (yet again) rewritten—in order to weaken—a statute that stands as a monument to America’s greatness, and protects against its basest impulses,” she wrote. “What is tragic is that the Court has damaged a statute designed to bring about ‘the end of discrimination in voting.’ I respectfully dissent.” Kagan was joined by the court’s other two liberal justices. The challenged Arizona provisions remained in effect in 2020 because the case was still making its way through the courts. President Biden narrowly won Arizona last year, and since 2018, the state has elected two Democratic senators.

The Supreme Court is suppose to be the arbiter of the laws of the land….a neutral umpire if you will….so far they are failing in that duty….when decisions made according to political ideology and not the spirit of the Founders wishes…this is what we get…..disenfranchisement of a portion of society.

I apologize if this post reads like a disjointed mess…..but when I read this decision I went into a screaming rant……

These old farts have just basically made it much harder for the people to exercise their right as a citizen…..these tools should be making it easier to vote not helping find ways to suppression a portion of our society from exercising a basic right.

This what we get!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–25Jun21

I thought Texas was about the worse state government in this country….sadly Florida is closing in on that distinction……

If that idiot Ron DeSantis gets his moronic way,,,,professors ans students will have to declare their political sway……

Public universities in Florida will be required to survey both faculty and students on their political beliefs and viewpoints, with the institutions at risk of losing their funding if the responses are not satisfactory to the state’s Republican-led legislature. 

The unprecedented project, which was tucked into a law signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, is part of a long-running, nationwide right-wing push to promote “intellectual diversity” on campuses — though worries over a lack of details on the survey’s privacy protections, and questions over what the results may ultimately be used for, hover over the venture.

Based on the bill’s language, survey responses will not necessarily be anonymous — sparking worries among many professors and other university staff that they may be targeted, held back in their careers or even fired for their beliefs. 

https://www.salon.com/2021/06/23/desantis-signs-bill-requiring-florida-students-professors-to-register-political-views-with-state/

Seriously?

What will they do to me if I refuse to register my political views?

Mr. DeSantis……BITE ME!

This could become a thing for all Red legislatures….but sorry my political views are just that….MINE!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Closing Thought–21Jun21

“Texans need guns”

With at least 300 gun violence incidents in 2021…the last thing we need (anywhere in this country) is more lax gun laws.

But do not worry…..Texas gives a sh*t about this stat…..

Gov. Abbot made this claim at a signing of a new bill…..

Gov. Greg Abbott invoked not just the imagery of the Alamo when he signed a package of legislation relaxing gun control laws in Texas—he called on the head of the National Rifle Association to line up with him. The governor staged a bill-signing ceremony Thursday in San Antonio, a day after actually signing the bills, the Austin American-Statesman reports. One of the new laws allows anyone 21 or older to carry a handgun in public without a permit. Until now, a permit was required, as was training and a criminal background check. “There is a need for people to have a weapon to defend themselves in the Lone Star State,” Abbott said, per the AP. Wayne LaPierre, NRA boss, said: “People want to be able to protect themselves. And thank God that Texas is leading the way for the country.”

At the same time, demonstrators including Moms Demand Action protested the new laws outside the governor’s mansion in Austin. The other six measures, all of which take effect Sept. 1, per the American-Statesman, will:

  • Prohibit government contracts with any entity that discriminates against the firearm industry.
  • Keep hotels from enacting restrictive gun policies.
  • Grant people carrying handguns more choices on which holster to wear.
  • Take firearm suppressors off the list of prohibited weapons under the Texas Penal Code.
  • Decree firearms manufacturers and sellers essential businesses.
  • Bar state and local governments from enforcing new federal gun regulations.

The head of the Texas Municipal Police Association says the new legislation will make it tougher for officers to determine whether someone carrying a gun is allowed to, per Reuters.

Now that is what we need…..more and easy access to carry guns for morons with half a brain.

This will do nothing to help the spiraling upwards of incidents of gun violence and it is now Summer and it will only get worse.

Not to worry……

This will become the poster child for more GOP states to do something that means nothing to the livelihood of the people.

Let stupidity prevail!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”