Tag: State Politics

Open Letter To The Voters Of Mississippi

This was originally posted in my other blog, Gulf South Free Press, I post it here for all my visitors that may not be following my other blog.

What are you thinking?

For decades you have voted for Republican candidates and what has that giving the state after all those years in power?

Let’s look at where the state of Mississippi stands in relation to the country.

Total living standards Mississippi ranks 48th

Health care–ranks 48th

Obesity–1st

Teen Pregnancies–#1

Education–#45

Children’s poverty—-28.7%

People living with hunger–15%

Disposable income–$37,834 ranks 50th

Minimum wage at $7.25 per hour which is the lowest possible wage.

Per capita disposable income, also known as disposable personal income (DPI), is the amount of money that a person has available for spending and saving after accounting for income taxes. Disposable income is regarded as a key economic indicator used to gauge the overall state of an economy. Mississippi’s DPI in 2018 was $37,834 which places it 50 out of all 50 US states.

State budget depends on Federal funds for 34.8% of the total which ranks 3rd

Our economic outlook we rank 49th

Our Fiscal stability we are not that good……Mississippi ranks 41 out of 50

The Gross State Product (GSP) does not look promising and has not for the last 5 years…growth rate during that time was 0.8%…..that is less than 1% growth.

Mississippi’s GSP in 2019 reached $104.2bn, with growth of 0.8% over the five years to 2019. Mississippi’s GSP growth ranks 44 out of all 50 US states. GSP is a measurement of a state’s output, or the sum of value added from all industries in the state. It is a common indicator used to track the health of an economy.

Where is that lie of ‘economic development’ we are promised with every election?

So far the only true economic development has been for land speculators, real estate agents and contractors.

Whatever gains anticipated for the year are expected to even out by the start of the new year. The forecast report shows that the number of Mississippi workers on payroll jobs is expected to remain stagnant for the next four years.

(mississippitoday.org)

Sorry for the length but this illustrates what you have got for your vote….very little.

Mississippi to rank at the bottom or near to the bottom of almost every economic sector….and yet the voter continues to believe the lies and vote the purveyors of the lies into office.

Why?

Easy answer…..wedge issues.

The voter is duped by issues like bathrooms and education and other such silliness….none of these moves the people of this state forward.

Please before you vote look around at your neighbors has all the economics of the past actually done anything to make their lives better?

Your vote is sacred….please use if wisely.

Our future does not look bright for the near future…..but you can change all that….your wisely placed vote can make all the difference for your and your family.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Chuq  (Gulfport)

2024–A Look Ahead

I know the general election is a couple of months down the road…..but the way this situation is setting up there are a few things we need to look at before the day.

Let’s say that Biden runs against Trump and wins (again)…..but with all the leis about a stolen election will repeat itself and grow louder.

Could we have yet another insurrection similar to 06 January?

I think not. Those mental midgets may have learned a valuable lesson. No I think it will be more of a legislative assault of the election results. By that I mean there is a chance that some states could actually succeed where the rabid mob failed.

Late last month, in one of its final acts of the term, the Supreme Court queued up another potentially precedent-wrecking decision for next year. The Court’s agreement to hear Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina redistricting case, isn’t just bad news for efforts to control gerrymandering. The Court’s right-wing supermajority is poised to let state lawmakers overturn voters’ choice in presidential elections.

To understand the stakes, and the motives of Republicans who brought the case, you need only one strategic fact of political arithmetic. Six swing states—Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina—are trending blue in presidential elections but ruled by gerrymandered Republican state legislatures. No comparable red-trending states are locked into Democratic legislatures.

Joe Biden won five of those six swing states in 2020. Donald Trump then tried and failed, lawlessly, to muscle the GOP state legislators into discarding Biden’s victory and appointing Trump electors instead. The Moore case marks the debut in the nation’s highest court of a dubious theory that could give Republicans legal cover in 2024 to do as Trump demanded in 2020. And if democracy is subverted in just a few states, it can overturn the election nationwide.

Republican lawyers, taking note of their structural advantage among battleground-state lawmakers, set forth the “independent state legislature” (ISL) doctrine. The doctrine is based on a tendentious reading of two constitutional clauses, which assign control of the “Manner” of congressional elections and the appointment of presidential electors in each state to “the Legislature thereof.” Based on that language, the doctrine proposes that state lawmakers have virtually unrestricted power over elections and electors. State courts and state constitutions, by this reading, hold no legitimate authority over legislatures in the conduct of their U.S. constitutional functions.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/moore-harper-scotus-independent-state-legislature-election-power/670992/

There is a real possibility that SCOTUS will help in the desire for the election to be overturned….

The voter needs to consider many things before they vote (most do not) and now there is more that they need to be aware of before they vote.

Pay attention and vote for the country not some orange tinted dipshit.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi Primaries.

Today is voting day in Mississippi….the primaries that is. It will be another sweltering day of 105+ temps so the turn out will probably be low and unimpressive.

One must vote straight ticket during the primaries…..if you like a certain candidate then you will vote for all in that party.

That brings me to one certain candidate but it pretty much sums up what most Repubs in this state are pushing in their campaigns…..he is running for Lt. Gov, Chris McDaniels (GOP).

I have written about the issues and the voters in Mississippi…..

Is Poverty A Political Choice?

Now armed with that information….this info is straight from the Daniels Campaign….

He Fought to secure our elections by pushing for a stronger voter ID law (meaning….make it harder for people of color to vote)

Led the challenge against Obamacare

Protected rights of our children to religious expression in schools (meaning….forced prayer)

Promoted school choice and parent’s rights in the classroom

Spearheaded legislation to protect children who have been sexually abused and kidnapped, increased sentences against anyone who has killed a minor (this sounds great and is needed but in the same bill was the usual diversion of bathrooms and squashing transgender rights)

Passed EVerify and introduced bills that would prohibit the creation of a sanctuary cities and federal and state benefits for undocumented workers (the last part is pure illusion….there are no undocumented workers getting any kind of state benefits)

Finally voted against any bill that he believed was wasting taxpayer money (you mean like everything above this line?)

Not one word on this flyer about jobs he created (very few) or the business that he helped come to Mississippi….basically he did little to help the economic picture of Mississippi.

Why would anyone vote for this clearly racist asshole?

There is more….his opponent is another Repub, Delbert Hoseman…..McDaniels accuses Delbert….

Being a secret Democrat

Did not support Trump

Supported Obamacare

Supported forced vaccinations

All in all sounds like Delbert might have been looking out for all Mississippians…but that is just a cursory observation….after all he is a Repub.

The sad situation in Mississippi will not change for these people will not alter their ignorance and neither will the voter.

This is what we get in Mississippi….manure spread by idiots.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi Stands Alone

I have pointed out many times that my state, Mississippi, is always at the bottom of every good situation and the top of every bad….once again Mississippi will remain the one state that stands against fornication.

Michigan was in the running as a pillar of unlawful coitus….that is until recently….

Unmarried couples in Michigan are a step closer to being able to legally live together as lewdly and lasciviously as they want to. The state Senate voted 29-9 Wednesday to repeal a law that makes it a misdemeanor for an unmarried man to live with an unmarried woman, the Detroit News reports. The bill would strike a provision against “lewdly and lasciviously associating and cohabitating together,” though it would retain a provision banning any individual from “engaging in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior,” reports WWJ. The law hasn’t been enforced for a long time, but under federal law, a person can’t claim somebody as a dependent on their taxes if their relationship violates state law.

Unmarried couples are now free to cohabitate in Michigan. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation repealing a 1931 law that banned unmarried couples from living together, with penalties of up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine, per the Michigan Advance. Though it’s been a long time since the law was enforced, some Republican lawmakers wanted it to remain in effect, fearing the societal effects of a decline in marriage. Still, the bill easily passed the state House and Senate. Democratic Sen. Stephanie Chang, who sponsored the bill, said the signing brings Michigan “into the current century”—one marked by a record-low US marriage rate. Mississippi is now the only state left with a similar law on the books.

Mississippi stands alone…..there will be no unlawful fornicating in my state.

We still think it is 1950….not long ago Mississippi got rid of the ban on interracial marriages.

There should be a sign on the borders of Mississippi advising people to set their clocks back 150 years.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Magical Time In Mississippi

College of Political Knowledge

Mississippi series

In about a month Mississippians will go to the polls and vote in their respective primaries.

2023 is election year for Mississippi….it is magical because the idiot voters will fall for the manure spread….every election the voter falls for the crap….

For instance there is Delbert Hoseman running for re-election as lt gov…..this from his campaign.

Lieutenant Governor Hosemann is committed to serving the public with open and fair government. Since he was elected, he has worked to enact the largest tax cut in the State’s history, provide teachers with a competitive salary, support law enforcement to ensure safe communities, and make Mississippi more business-friendly and attractive for economic development. Lieutenant Governor Hosemann is not a lifelong politician. His career in the private sector has made him a proven and effective leader uniquely qualified to move the State forward.

Business friendly?

If it is so damn good then why is Mississippi at the bottom of the economic list if it is so friendly where are the companies rushing to the state?

When it comes to the US economy, a variety of factors underlie its health (or lack thereof), with the economies of individual states playing a significant part. WalletHub wanted to see which ones are really pulling their weight when it comes to contributing to the national coffers, so it looked at all 50, plus the District of Columbia, examining more than two dozen metrics in three main categories: economic activity, meaning factors such as GDP changes, exports per capita, and startup activity; economic health (e.g., unemployment rate, median household income, and share of the local population in poverty); and innovation potential, which looks at such factors as the share of high-tech jobs and entrepreneurial activity.

Mississippi ranks 48 out of 50 in economic activity…..in start up activity it ranks 49….ranks 47th in household income….high tech jobs we are at 48 out of 50….

And yet the GOP politicians talk to us about business friendly….nothing about their grand plan has done anything to help the average Mississippian and yet they are voted in almost unchallenged.

Just one question for the voters of Mississippi….what are you people thinking?

Is it ignorance?  Or just massive laziness?

There will be more from me on this election in my state.

Learn from Mississippi’s laziness/stupidity….don’t let this infect your state.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi New Laws

It is Friday I am hot, it is 107 outside and I am lazy….so this is my lazy post.

My state of Mississippi has ended its latest legislative session….and these are our new laws…..

Mississippi Laws That Take Effect July 1

Absentee ballots — Senate Bill 2358 prohibits handling large numbers of absentee ballots. A lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Mississippi and other plaintiffs seeks to block the law, arguing that it could disenfranchise voters who have disabilities by preventing them from receiving help from people they trust.

Postpartum Medicaid — Senate Bill 2212 ensures an entire year of Medicaid coverage for women after they give birth. Mississippi usually allowed two months of postpartum Medicaid coverage. The state allowed a full year of coverage after the COVID-19 public health emergency started in 2020, although many patients said the state did little to let them know coverage continued after two months. The longer coverage was approved after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal protections for abortion in a ruling on a Mississippi case last year. Conservative lawmakers across the country have pivoted on Medicaid expansion as part of an anti-abortion agenda.

State fruit — House Bill 1027 designates the blueberry as Mississippi’s official state fruit. Fourth graders from Madison County lobbied for law.

School Guardians — Senate Bill 2079 authorizes school employees to carry concealed guns on campus if they have a concealed-carry license, complete firearms training from a law enforcement agency and are trained in CPR and first aid. Identities of so-called “school guardians” are exempt from public disclosure.

Online porn — Senate Bill 2346 requires people to verify they are at least 18 before using websites or apps where at least one-third of the content consists of pornography. An adult entertainment group is suing over a similar law in Louisiana. House Bill 1315 says vendors providing online resources or databases to K-12 schools must block access to pornography.

Fentanyl testing — House Bill 722 specifies that fentanyl testing materials are no longer considered illegal drug paraphernalia.

Adoption — Senate Bill 2696 creates an income tax credit of up to $10,000 for adopting a child who lives in Mississippi and $5,000 for a adopting a child from outside the state.

Foster families — House Bill 510 is designed to increase transparency for foster parents and make employees from the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services more readily available to them.

Sexual assault evidence — House Bill 485 is intended to set faster timelines for law enforcement agencies to process evidence kits from sexual assault cases. One section of the bill becomes law July 1, and other sections become law Dec. 1.

Real estate — Senate Bill 2073 allows people to enter contracts to purchase real estate at age 18; the previous minimum age was 21, unless the minor was emancipated.

Pet insurance — Senate Bill 2228 authorizes the sale of pet insurance.

Pecan theft — Senate Bill 2523 increases the penalties for stealing pecans that are being grown as crops. Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson says thieves have taken loads of pecans from some farmers.

Laws That Took Effect Earlier

Gender-affirming care — House Bill 1125 bans gender-affirming health care for transgender people younger than 18. It became law when Reeves signed it Feb. 28.

Pregnancy centers — House Bill 1671 expands a tax credit from $3.5 million a year to $10 million a year statewide for people or businesses who donate to centers that provide diapers, clothing and other assistance for pregnant women. The law is retroactive to Jan. 1.

Baby drop-off — House Bill 1318 allows cities and counties to establish safe drop-off boxes for babies who are up to 45 days old. The bill became law when Reeves signed it April 19.

State gemstone — Senate Bill 2138 designates the Mississippi Opal as the state gemstone. It became law when Reeves signed it March 3.

Laws That Take Effect Jan. 1, 2024

Elections — House Bill 1310 authorizes the secretary of state to conduct audits of election results. It also speeds up the process for local election commissioners to remove the names of inactive voters from the voter rolls. Critics say the “use-it-or-lose-it” approach endangers the rights of people who want to vote in some but not all elections.

Campaign finance — House Bill 1306 bans candidates for running for office if they have failed to file all required campaign finance reports within the previous five years. It also says fraudulently requesting or submitting an application for an absentee ballot is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Read them and comment on the ones you think are odd or called for…..

Have a great weekend and holiday….be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Win For Anti-Banning

There is been a spat of states that are leading the movement to ban certain books that they say are offensive….is anyone fighting back, well besides us bloggers that rant constantly about the moronic idea of banning or burning of books?

Illinois lawmakers greenlighted a bill Wednesday that says libraries in the state must adopt an anti-book banning policy to receive state funding, in a vote that fissured along party lines. The measure, spearheaded by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, represents a counter-movement to growing efforts to restrict books on topics such as race, gender, and sexuality in schools and libraries across the US. The legislation has passed both chambers and now heads to the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker, who said he looks forward to signing it, the AP reports. “This landmark legislation is a triumph for our democracy, a win for First Amendment rights, and most importantly, a great victory for future generations to come,” said Giannoulias in a news conference Wednesday.

The bill requires libraries, to be eligible for state funding, to adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which holds that “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation,” and “should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” Libraries may also develop an alternative policy prohibiting the practice of banning to receive the funds. The measure cleared the Senate on a party-line vote, per the AP. Democratic Sen. Laura Murphy, one of the bill’s sponsors, celebrated its passage.

“Librarians are trained professionals, and we need to trust that they will stock our libraries with appropriate materials—they were hired for their expertise, and they deserve our respect,” Murphy said in a statement. All 19 Senate Republicans voted against the measure, including Sen. Jason Plummer, who called it an effort by Democrats “to force their extreme ideology on communities across this state” and would wrest control from local libraries. Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries hit a record high in 2022, according to a March report from the American Library Association.

Good for them!

Somebody needs to do something to counter the morons that are afraid of books and any ideas they may present.

If you celebrate the Cinco de Mayo then drink carefully and Be Well….Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

How To Crap On The ‘Happiest Place On Earth’

I see that immature little petty dictator in Florida has extended his feud with Disney.

He is trying to pull out all stops to make Disney’s time in Florida as miserable as he can.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, apparently hell-bent on showing Mickey Mouse who’s boss, announced new measures Monday in his ongoing feud with Walt Disney World. The Republican governor said new legislation would block the company’s attempt to circumvent control by a DeSantis-installed board. DeSantis said he also plans to give the state greater oversight of the park’s rides and possibly build on land next to the park, NBC reports. “People have said maybe create a state park, try to do more amusement parks, someone said another state prison, who knows?” the governor said. “The possibilities are endless.”

DeSantis—who often slams Disney as a “woke” corporation—said a bill next week would restore power to his appointees in Disney’s tax district, the New York Times reports. Last month, it emerged that the outgoing Disney-controlled board had stripped the new board of most of its powers. “They talked about a development agreement that would render everything we did null and void,” DeSantis said Monday. “Well, that’s not going to work. That’s not going to fly.” The AP reports that another bill proposed by DeSantis would end an exemption to state inspection of rides at Disney, but not other theme parks in the state. Critics noted that the inspectors Disney currently uses likely have greater expertise in the kinds of rides involved than state inspectors do.

With DeSantis expected to announce a 2024 White House bid, Donald Trump has been stepping up his attacks on the governor, NBC reports. In a Truth Social post Saturday, the former president referred to the surprise Disney move—and to the governor’s failure to visit flood-hit Broward County. “First Ron DeSanctimonious got outplayed, outsmarted, and embarrassed by Mickey Mouse and Disney, and now, while Fort Lauderdale is facing the worst flooding in 100 years, DeSanctus is on tour with his ‘shadow’ campaign for president, instead of taking care of the people of Florida,” Trump wrote.

What part of this mash up doing the best for Floridians?

This just illustrates how infantile the GOP has become.  PERIOD!

This is what my friend John wrote on his log today.

https://limingslynkz8.blog/2023/04/17/disatanist-is-after-disney-again/

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

This Is What Happens

Does anybody remember the protests by legislators in Tennessee?

Probably not so let me enlighten your mind….

In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest that called for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. The House, where Republicans have a supermajority, voted to expel Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones. A vote to remove Rep. Gloria Johnson failed by a single vote, the AP reports. The chamber has used the punishment only a handful times since the Civil War. Most state legislatures possess the power to expel members, but it is generally reserved for lawmakers accused of serious misconduct, not used as a weapon against political opponents. In a tweet, President Biden called the expulsions “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”

Republicans said the punishment was in response to the Democrats’ behavior last week as hundreds of protesters packed the Capitol to call for passage of gun-control measures. While demonstrators filled galleries, the three Democrats approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant. The protest unfolded days after the shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school where six people were killed, including three 9-year-old children.

Apparently it is a damnable sin to protest the murder of children…..at least in Tennessee.

This seems a bit extreme considering the number of ‘violations’ some of the legislators have had in the past and still held their positions….

What violations?

The Tennessee House chamber where Republicans expressed outrage this week at a breach in decorum was filled daily, for years, by the sound of their colleague ringing a cowbell to mask the lack of applause. A lawmaker’s office chair was urinated on by a fellow Republican, a reporter who used to cover the GOP-controlled House writes in Politico. The quick expulsion of two Democrats on Thursday for supporting a protest was of a piece, Natalie Allison says. “The place has been defined by partisan vitriol, pique, scandal, racism and Olympic-level pettiness for years,” she writes. Here are other actions committed by Republican House members in the past that did not lead party leaders to remove them:

  • Lynching suggestion: In a committee hearing in March about capital punishment, Rep. Paul Sherrell asked if he might offer an amendment to include “hanging by a tree” as a method of execution; the state has a history of lynching. An uproar followed, but Sherrell has not been reprimanded or censured.
  • Sexual assault allegations: Three women accused Rep. David Byrd of sexually assaulted them when they played on a basketball team he coached. They were minors at the time. Byrd denied the accusations, but a recording captured him apologizing to one of the women without specifically saying what he was sorry for, per WSMV. GOP leaders twice blocked attempts to remove Byrd, per the Washington Post. “You have to balance the will of the voters and overturning the will of the voters,” said Speaker Cameron Sexton in 2019.
  • Historical revision: Rep. Justin Lafferty described the Three-Fifths Compromise as necessary to end slavery during a 2021 debate on the House floor. Historians were among those who objected to that interpretation.
  • Slurs: Republicans joked twice publicly in 2020 about Black people eating fried chicken. A lawmaker speaking about his bill on sanctuary cities used the term “wetback.” The chief of staff for a former House speaker texted, “Black people are idiots.” Other texts showed the speaker endorsing disparaging and sexual comments the aide made about women.
  • Mean tweets: An investigation in 2019 found that Rep. Rick Tillis was behind an anonymous Twitter account filled with gossip and criticism of lawmakers and staffers. It was his chair that eventually was soaked with urine.

This situation is pathetic…is this what has become of our so-called democracy?

I weep for this country.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–22Mar23

This state senator has never met a hungry person….ergo there are no hunger issues.

It’s not clear exactly how many Minnesotans state Sen. Steve Drazkowski has met in his lifetime or during his 16 years in politics, but they have apparently all fallen into one category: well-fed. “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry,” the Republican said Tuesday prior to a vote on providing free school meals for all K-12 students. “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don’t have access to enough food to eat.”

  • He followed it up with a joke: “Now, I should say that hunger is a relative term. I had a cereal bar for breakfast. I guess I’m hungry now.”
  • About the bill: HF 5 passed 38-26 and is expected to get Gov. Tim Walz’s signature, per NBC News.
  • Food stat I: Per a tweet from state Sen. Heather Gustafson, who authored the bill: “1 in 5 students in Sen. Drazkowski’s district qualifies for free and reduced lunch.”
  • Food stat II: Business Insider cites Feeding America’s count that roughly 340,000 Minnesotans are facing hunger, nearly a third of them children.
  • Food stat III: The nonprofit Hunger Solutions Minnesota says food pantries in the state logged 5.5 million visits in 2022, a record high, reports the Washington Post.
  • Less charged criticism: Per the Post, other critics of the bill didn’t dismiss food insecurity issues but said the bill’s $200 million annual cost would be better spent on other educational needs, such as special education, mental health support, and maintenance.

I love these guys….they sit on their high horse so everybody is as fortunate as they.

Call it lack of empathy, compassion whatever….the idiots open mouths and fire it off before brain is loaded.

At what point do these d/bags take off the blinders and see what is around them?

Just wondering.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”