Tag: States

Closing Thought–24Mar21

I recently wrote about the possibility of DC becoming the 51st state…..and of course the GOP is trying hard to stop this from happening…..because they will mostly be Dem voters and we know the GOP does not want those people voting……for those that missed my post…..https://lobotero.com/2021/01/28/our-51st-state/

Most Americans did not realize that the people of DC have not participated in our democracy…..they have had to watch from the sidelines for over 200 years.

There is a real desire to see that District to gain statehood….

A new national survey out Monday morning shows that a majority of U.S. voters support granting statehood to Washington, D.C. and full congressional representation to the district’s more than 700,000 residents, a finding released just ahead of a historic House hearing on Democratic Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s proposal to do just that.

The poll (pdf) from Data for Progress and Democracy for All 2021 Action finds that 54% of voters—including 74% of Democrats, 51% of Independents, and 34% of Republicans—back the push to make D.C. the nation’s 51st state, the highest level of support recorded to date.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/22/democracy-dc-horizon-poll-shows-support-statehood-all-time-high

Not all Americans want statehood for DC……most are conservs that are afraid of the voter in in the District.

I have heard some interesting reasons why they should not be given statehood……some are sound reasoning and then there are the stupid that falls from the mouths of GOPers….but then once in awhile their reasoning is more moronic than usual.

A member of a conservative think tank argued on Monday that residents of the District of Columbia don’t deserve statehood because they already have yard signs and bumper stickers.

Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation made the remarks while testifying before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

“Framers also wanted to avoid one state having undue influence over the federal government,” Smith said. “There’s no question that D.C. residents already impact the national debate.”

“For the members here today, how many of you saw D.C. statehood yard signs or bumper stickers or banners on your way to this hearing today?” he asked. “I certainly did. Where else in the nation could such simple actions reach so many members of Congress?”

https://www.rawstory.com/dc-statehood-yard-signs/

Seriously?

Yard signs?

Is this not the absolutely moronic thing you have ever heard?

But then I expect stupid from the mouths of today’s GOP…..and some conservs…..

Even with the stupid spread by the GOP there is still overwhelmingly support for statehood…..(yes I know I have said this before….but it needs to be repeated)

A new national survey out Monday morning shows that a majority of U.S. voters support granting statehood to Washington, D.C. and full congressional representation to the district’s more than 700,000 residents, a finding released just ahead of a historic House hearing on Democratic Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s proposal to do just that.

The poll (pdf) from Data for Progress and Democracy for All 2021 Action finds that 54% of voters—including 74% of Democrats, 51% of Independents, and 34% of Republicans—back the push to make D.C. the nation’s 51st state, the highest level of support recorded to date.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/22/democracy-dc-horizon-poll-shows-support-statehood-all-time-high

This issue is popular with the people and yet it is a sticking point because it is about politics and not what fair and right for a people that have NO representation in our government.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Happened To States Rights?

A mainstay of conservatism has been states rights…..when dealing with abortion, voting and now a days it is all about the marijuana…..a huge cash crop for states and now the DOJ is flexing its muscle…..

The AP on Thursday morning reported Attorney General Jeff Sessions was going to go after legalized marijuana, and so it came to pass. Sessions says he is rescinding a policy instituted under President Obama that had allowed legalized marijuana to flourish in six states, with more considering the move. While the drug is illegal at the federal level, Politico reports the Obama-era guidelines “effectively limited prosecutions” of entities who sold pot in accordance with their own state law. As for whether those prosecutions will now surge, who knows? “I can’t sit here and say whether it will or will not lead to more marijuana prosecutions,” one Justice Department official tells Politico, which notes the announcement seemed to be “deliberately vague” about its own impact. In a memo, Sessions noted that federal prosecutors should decide on their own whether to devote resources to marijuana cases based on other demands in their districts, per the AP. Read on for more on the move and one senator’s very vocal pushback.

Sessions crapping on states rights could drive the US Congress to take up the marijuana issue….until then Sessions will stomp on a conservative pillar….will this become the new conservatism for the 21st century?

What say you?

Closing Thought–31Jul17

What is your mouth tongue?

We all speak English as our mouth tongue….but what is the next “tongue” in the state where you live…the second language if you will?

You might be surprised at the answers……

It’s probably not surprising that, once you take English out of the equation, Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the United States. But what if you also remove Spanish from the options? 24/7 Wall St. ventures into each state to see which other foreign language ranks highest, with German taking the top spot overall when all states are taken into account. Here, 10 states and their most prevalent foreign tongue:

  1. Alabama: Vietnamese
  2. Arizona: Navajo
  3. California: Tagalog
  4. Connecticut: Polish
  5. Florida: French Creole
  6. Idaho: Arabic
  7. Massachusetts: Portuguese
  8. Montana: German
  9. New York: Chinese
  10. Wisconsin: Hmong

Check out which foreign language dominates in your state here.

Idaho is surprising…….as well as Florida…..I figured my state would be Vietnamese since so many settled here in the late 70’s….but Tagalog for California took me by surprise.

Did you find any surprises?

Day is done…..nap time has begun…..I shall see you guys later…..peace out…..chuq

Closing Thought–12Jan17

Lately there is has been a wealth of stories in the news about Puerto Rico…most of it having to do with the island going bankrupt…..but there is a new twist to the story of this island state…..

Puerto Rico’s new rep to the US Congress filed a bill Wednesday that would turn the island into the 51st US state by 2025. The bill is the first step in a renewed quest for statehood that’s to include a referendum letting Puerto Rico voters choose between independence and statehood, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez tells the AP. She filed the bill less than a day after she was sworn in as Puerto Rico’s first female congressional representative, saying she aims to secure equal treatment for the more than 3 million US citizens living in the US territory. “We are treated as second-class American citizens,” says Gonzalez, a Republican who once served as speaker of the island’s House of Representatives.

The bill also aims to relieve a decade-long economic crisis that’s sparked a recent exodus of more than 200,000 Puerto Ricans to the mainland. If Congress ultimately accepts Puerto Rico as a state, the island would receive roughly $10 billion in additional federal funds a year, Gonzalez says. Puerto Rico became a US territory in 1898 and gained limited political autonomy when the US approved its constitution in 1952. However, islanders can’t vote in presidential elections, and their congressional representative has limited voting powers. Statehood is a top priority for Puerto Rico’s new governor, Ricardo Rossello, who has said he plans to hold elections to choose two senators and five representatives to Congress and send them to Washington to demand statehood, a strategy used by Tennessee to join the union in the 1700s.

The US has been raping the island for decades maybe it is time for them to enter into the union…..but first…..what says the people of Puerto Rico?

This should be their decision not some isolated fat cat in the Congress…..

Good day my friends…I look forward to your visits….

How Does Your State GDP Match-Up?

In these days of massive tax cuts for governments…..how does your state match-up with other countries……

Amazing how many states have the GDP of third world countries, huh?

Is America still Number One? Depends on which metrics you use. By at least one measure, China’s economy already is the world’s biggest (1). Other criteria still put the U.S. ahead, at least for a few more years.

This map presents another way to gauge the size of the American economy, and one less prone to the ‘declinism’ of the eternal comparison to China.

Source: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs | Big Think

Ain’t graphics grand?

You Have Got To Be Good At Something

Most of my regular visitors know that I live in a state of denial….Mississippi!

We are the most obese, most religious, most conservative, the poorest….in other words Mississippi is at the top of most worst lists and the bottom of most best lists…..I just found out that Mississippi spends the most time on porn sites we average 20 minutes a day and our most popular search word for these sights is “teens”…..a great day for the state……

And then there was this story about the state of Mississippi…….

It’s the stuff of, well, nightmares. Two absolutely massive alligators caught in Mississippi within just hours of each other. On Sunday in the Mississippi River, a 13 ft, 5.5 inch long, 723 lbs alligator was caught. That team of five hunters said they thought it was the Loch Ness Monster at first. (Via WBBH) And just hours later — a 13 ft., 4.5 inch alligator weighing 727 lbs. It was that hunter’s very first catch. (Via NBC) “He broke all the lines we could get in him. Finally got a snare on him … all in all probably took us four hours to actually catch him from the time we saw him.” (Via WLBT) So, that second gator now holds the record for being the largest alligator ever caught by a Mississippi hunter. It was previously 697.5 lbs. And, alligator hunting season is still well underway so…expect…more nightmares soon. (The Clarion-Ledger) The record for longest gator caught by hunters in the state still stands — 13ft 6.5 inches long.

There you have it……..does this create an air of coolness….would you want to visit?

Only In Mississippi

My home state is a constant source of befuddlement.  I know I have bad mouthed my state on so many occasions……but they have gone and topped themselves….it will be hard to be any more stupid.

First, let us look at the state of Mississippi……most obese state, the poorest state, the state with the most cases of diabetes… the state always has a higher unemployment rate than the nation’s…….poor education, health services, on and on and………

Now the media pundits, especially the millionaires, are all over trying to save us from ourselves by supporting a better nutrition program……and then there are those that push back…..but so far I have not seen a state tackle this subject…..that is until………. now!

From the NY Times…….

The Mississippi Legislature wants to be the sole government body that controls its buffets, barbecue and sweet tea.

To that end, the people who govern the state with the highest rate of obesity in the nation have passed a bill saying that any law that might restrict what Mississippians eat or drink has to go through them — barring federal regulations.

That means that cities or counties cannot enact rules limiting soda size, salt content, shortening in cookies, toys in fast-food meals for children, how a menu is written or just about any other aspect of the daily dining experience in Mississippi.

It is easy to view the new Mississippi law with an ironic eye. As Representative Omeria Scott, a Democrat, pointed out during the debate on the bill, “Mississippi is the fattest and most unhealthy state in the U.S.A.”

But the legislation is the latest and most sweeping expression of a nationwide battle in which some government officials, public health leaders and food supply reformers are pitted against those who would prefer the government quit trying to control what people eat.

Mayor Bloomberg of New York City commented……..

“You know, Saturday Night Live couldn’t write this stuff,” Mr. Bloomberg exclaimed. “How can somebody try and pass a law that deliberately says we can’t improve the lives of our citizens? It’s just farce. Nobody would believe it if you wrote it in the book.”

You may shake your heads and ask….what the Hell are they thinking?  Well, there is the problem…..thinking…….they do not do much of that in the South, especially in Mississippi.  And you thought your state was screwed up…….

Free The People From Taxation

An economic break from the dizzying world of Washingtonian politics…….this week will be all about economic issues….unless something major breaks on the political front…….enjoy.

This is a concept that almost all Americans will cheer for……but in the same breath they expect the government to live up to certain contracts that it has made with the population…….and then there is the cute little slogan that we will most likely hear a lot in the coming battle in the coming months….revenue neutral………

Louisiana wants to solve the problem and free the people……..

(Newser) – Bobby Jindal wants to do away with income and corporate taxes in his state—and raise Louisiana’s 4% sales tax to make up the difference, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. “It’s time to change that so people can keep more of their own money and foster an environment where businesses want to invest and create good-paying jobs,” the governor said yesterday in a statement. The move, which he described as a revenue-neutral one, would aim to keep the sales tax “as low and flat as possible.”

“Eliminating personal income taxes will put more money back into the pockets of Louisiana families and will change a complex tax code into a more simple system that will make Louisiana more attractive to companies who want to invest here and create jobs,” the governor said. One local report asserts that the sales tax would need to climb to 7% under the measure.

Who is Jindal working for with this proposal?  If we listen to the talking point then about 50% of the country pays no taxes……so he will make sure that those that pay no payroll tax gets it in the end by having to pay higher sales tax…….this that the plan?  The only people this will benefit are those corporations that will pay NO taxes at all….why?  Corporations can apply for and get a tax free status…….this will eliminate the burden of having to fill out paper work….which should make the state more stable.

This will just help accelerate the death of social programs….because there will be a shortage of revenue….this sounds so right and will be so wrong in application…..plus it will cost the poor more in the long run.  It is a gift to corporations.

Put The Limber In Your Johnson

I recall when in college I did many different things to earn money…..college kids always need more cash……I sold crap over the phone, delivered pizzas, tutored idiots, even sold a few things that made one happy…..but I never sold sperm….not that I would not just I never thought about it…………..

Why do I bring that up…..well there is a story developing in Kansas……your know that square state west of here that is pack full of whack-a-doodles….people that shoot doctors, bomb clinics, think guns in bars is a good idea…..a whole gambit of crazy crap…..but this shot is just scary………..

(AP) – A sperm donor in Kansas is fighting an effort to force him to pay child support for a child conceived through artificial insemination by a lesbian couple. William Marotta told the Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper he’s “a little scared about where this is going to go, primarily for financial reasons.” When the 46-year-old donated sperm to Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner in 2009, Marotta relinquished all parental rights, including financial responsibility to the child. But when Bauer and Schreiner filed for state assistance in Kansas this year, the state demanded the donor’s name so it could collect child support for the now 3-year-old girl.

The state contends the agreement between Marotta and the women is not valid because Kansas law requires a licensed physician to perform artificial insemination. Bauer and Schreiner have said they fully support Marotta’s efforts to fight the state’s request. A hearing on a motion by Marotta’s attorneys to dismiss the case is scheduled for Jan. 8.

Before you run out to earn a buck or two flogging your jolly….you might want to check on the laws in your state….you could owe back child support……

Secession Fever

By now I feel that everyone who is interested has heard that there are petitions for secession for all 50 states and I believe Texas (go figure) has the most signers at 100,000…….and there are those in other countries that want to break away from the motherland to form their own ……..the Kurds in Iraq, the Eastern half of Libya, lots of unhappy residents that do not like their governing body and think they can do it better themselves……

But at least one country has had success at the ballot box for secessionists…………

(Newser) – In a vote widely seen as a test of support for independence from Spain, a majority of voters in Catalonia have picked separatist candidates in regional elections. The result makes a genuine referendum on independence within the next few years more likely, but with the separatist vote split among four parties, it’s not clear who will spearhead the effort, the New York Times reports. The party of Catalan President Artur Mas, who wants the region to secede, has lost seats in the regional parliament and he will now have to strike alliances with smaller parties who agree on Catalan independence but little else.

“Mas managed to turn separatism into a burning issue, but then ended up being overtaken by more radical parties in this debate and now finds himself in a much harder position to govern Catalonia in a time of crisis,” a newly elected Socialist lawmaker says. Polls show that support for independence in the relatively wealthy region has more than doubled to 57% since Spain’s economic crisis began, though the government in Madrid has vowed to fight the independence movement every step of the way, the Telegraph reports.

Is this a view into the future?  Gimme your thoughts.