This week at progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should be watching.Here is the October 15 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents.
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lowkell at Blue Virginia writes—Trump Supporter EW Jackson Cites “Pajamas Media” Race Baiter, Falsely Claims “Scary” Voter Fraud Going On:
This is who 2013 Virginia GOP Lt. Governor nominee and Trump supporter EW Jackson is citing, by the way: author at the far-far-far-right “Pajamas Media;” also his “New York Times bestselling book is Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department (Regnery).” According to MediaMatters:
In his forthcoming book, Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department, former Department Of Justice attorney and Republican activist J. Christian Adams desperately tries to maintain his credibility by doubling down on accusations of racially charged corruption in the Civil Rights Division. The book is filled with falsehoods, misrepresentations, and baseless allegations.
Also see some of the glowing reviews for this racist by extremists like Michelle Malkin (Adams “single-handedly exposes how Barack Obama and Eric Holder have systematically perverted the rule of law—for patently unjust, un-American, race-based ends. Adams witnessed first-hand the hijacking of the DOJ by radical leftist ideologues and interest groups. Now he reveals everything: the full story of Holder’s coddling of New Black Panther Party poll thugs, corruption run amok in the Civil Rights Division, open borders advocacy, selective law enforcement, and much more”) and Andrew Breitbart himself (“Adams shows how the institutional Left has turned the power of the Justice Department into a weapon against the rule of law.”).
Kind of says it all that EW Jackson would cite this racist nut, huh? And also that the Virginia GOP would have nominated EW Jackson for Lt. Governor of Virginia in 2013. Sadly, the party hasn’t improved since then, as its steadfast support for raging misogynist, racist, sexual abuser, extremist, authoritarian, etc, etc. Donald Trump demonstrates.
Tom van Alten at Fort Boise of Idaho writes—Shooting from the hip:
Tim Macy, Chairman of Gun Owners of America, is given some editorial space on Viguerie's Conservative HQ, and deconstructs Hillary Clinton’s Five Point Plan to Destroy the Second Amendment. If you thought the 8 year jamboree of gun and ammunition sales driven by frothing pronouncements about the black man in the White House coming to get you was over, brace yourselves. I'm guessing you ain't seen nothing yet. GOA's market research estimates "80 to 100 million gun owners in America (about a third of the electorate)," and imagines one coordinated bloc "could put an end to the political aspirations of the current generation of Clintons." (But guess who's old enough to run for President already: the Next Generation!)
There is the Supreme Court, of course. Macy recognizes that the judicial activism of Heller might not withstand a post-Scalia court. "If Hillary wins, you can all but kiss the Court's recognition of that individual right goodbye." "Stacking the courts with anti-gunners" is of course just the beginning of his fantasy. (Pause for a moment to appreciate the projectile beauty of "anti-gunner" as an epithet.)
Scalia enjoys saintlike powers from beyond the grave. As an "originalist," every one of his opinions is of course, uh, original, and suitable for use as a stone-painted prop for Charlton Heston. But let's move on to that 5-point plan, shall we?
#1 Comprehensive Background Checks, a.k.a. "an unprecedented expansion of the police state";
#2 Gun Show Loophole which by the way doesn't exist people;
#3 The Online Loophole, which is also fake, and we have plenty of laws that bad guys with guns are already breaking so why do we need more;
#4 The Charleston loophole (You knew he'd show up, and the federal governments carte to "delay firearms sales" should make us all blanche); and last but not least,
#5 Bankrupting the Firearms Industry
That's rich, given the decade-long boom it has just enjoyed. Quick search turned up this market research report from IBISWorld (with the good stuff locked up behind a paywall) for the $16 billion industry with 4.7% growth from 2011-2016. Their free-for-all summary is that "after recent sales surge, demand will normalize as fears of gun control subside," but the Gun Owners of America aren't having any of that! Why be normal?
Dan Burns at MN Progressive Project writes—Why I think the rural/urban divide is drivel:
OK, not entirely “drivel.” It must be acknowledged that on the whole city and country residents have tended to vote differently. (It’s been that way for a long time, though one could well get the impression from establishment punditry that the “divide” has only become really fundamental to Minnesota politics pretty recently, just as things are really starting to look demographically bleak for conservatism. Coincidence, no doubt.) But the phrase “rural/urban divide” is primarily a misleading construct being used politically, especially by corporate media, to help continue to con people into voting for conservatives.
(It actually should be “rural/metro divide.” The idea is to keep outstate residents angry at the Twin Cities metro, which supposedly gets all of the political attention and goodies, and not at places like St. Cloud and Red Wing. But since “rural/urban” has been established as the standard, albeit a (probably deliberately) misleading one, it’s what I’m using here.)
My parents grew up on farms, which stayed in the families and where close relatives still live. I’ve sometimes lived in densely populated settings, but mostly in small-town ones. I suppose that this background helps fuel my take (which, as always, is just my take, not some pretense to complete, final, and absolute truth). Which is that when you get right down to it, people—people with families in particular—pretty much have the same problems and concerns, wherever they live. And they share the same kinds of frustrations when those are not being addressed. It’s not just inner-city public school infrastructure that needs a big upgrade. And plenty of metro streets and roads also drive like something out of Wagon Train. And everyone wants good jobs, wherever they live. And so on.
Peter Schorsch at Saint Peters Blog of Florida writes—Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee looking dumb and dumber for abandoning Patrick Murphy:
About a week ago, I used this space to offer an honest critique of national Democrats turning their backs on Patrick Murphy.
At the time, Murphy was lagging behind by about four points; at least one poll showed it was even closer. With Donald Trump cratering, it only seemed logical to this writer that abandoning Murphy was a dumb move.
And now, we have new variables to consider.
First, there is another poll, this one from Quinnipiac, showing the race tightening to two points (last month, these same folks had Rubio up four.)
Second, there is a solid debate performance by the lesser known Murphy (who was expected to get clobbered by the hugely experienced Marco Rubio).
I am not suggesting, by any means, that Murphy won the debate.
But for a lesser-known candidate who did not have the experience of (what certainly felt like) several dozen presidential debates, I think we can all agree at a minimum he held his own.
Third, a rough count shows team Rubio outspending Murphy by about 5:1.
And yet, the race resides well within the margin of error.
And now, we also learn Democratic voters are stunningly on par with GOP voters regarding vote-by-mail requests and returns, something that has happened since … well, since, never. It has NEVER happened before.
Plus, we also see declining enthusiasm among GOP voters (I am told by more than one well-respected pollster). That makes sense, given how Trump continues to open his mouth.
What should this mean? With three weeks left, the Democrats should be getting ready to pounce. This seat should be ripe for a win.
Crickets.
Dave Bradley at Blog for Iowa writes—Oxymoron Of The Year:
Every time I drive by a political sign for Grassley that says “ Grassley Works” I have to laugh my butt off.
He works doing what exactly?
All he has done for the past 8 years is stop any progress that could be made.
Who can forget his crazy stand on the stimulus package as our country and the world stood at the bring of major depression.
How about his nutty blocking of any solution of to the health care crisis? Who can forget his “pull the plug on grandma” line during his last re-election.
Right now his work is to block any nominees to the federal bench just waiting for the glorious nominees of President Trump. Does anyone really think he won’t just move his obstruction game to vex another opponent if he is still in charge of the Judiary Committee.
Seriously, Grassley Works. What a joke.
He works about as well as the Corvair I had in college. I had to push it, then hop in and pop the clutch to get it started. I guess the analogy stops there. While my Corvair needed some special attention to get it running, there seems to be nothing that can get Grassley to do his job.
Randy Shaw at Dick and Sharon’s L.A. Progressive writes—GOP Already Discredits Hillary’s Victory:
Last week, two prominent GOP opponents of Donald Trump said that almost every other member of the Republican primary field other than Trump would have beaten Hillary Clinton.Rich Galen, a former press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich, told CNN that if another Republican were the nominee the current polls showing Clinton pulling away “would likely be reversed.” MSNBC commentator Steve Schmidt, a top McCain campaign official in 2008, said virtually all of the GOP candidates other than Ben Carson could have beaten Clinton.
These are not isolated comments. They are part of a growing media narrative that sees the 2016 presidential election as entirely a referendum on Donald Trump, and not the parties’ respective policies.
In other words, GOP pundits and their media allies are already discrediting Hillary Clinton’s election. Forget how the GOP’s anti-immigration reform position has alienated Latino voters. Ignore that the economy is booming compared to the Bush years. Make believe young people don’t care about climate change, marriage equality, and other issues where the GOP’s views are out of touch with the broader electorate. [...]
The truth is that Donald Trump’s views on most issues were little different from those he defeated. [...]
GOP political leaders are keeping distance from Trump not because they strongly disagree with him, but because they believe he will lose. And keeping this distance enables them to discredit the election as a vote against Donald Trump, not a vote for Hillary Clinton’s agenda.
The attempted delegitimizing of the 2016 election has begun, and will become a stampede starting on election night.
vmars at Blue Jersey writes—Hate To Say We Told You So … Oh, No We Don’t:
Back when Chris Christie was considered a super hero — including being compared to Spider Man (not kidding!)—there was one place where he was massively unpopular: BlueJersey.com.
We laid out the facts about Christie’s time as US Attorney and his abuse of power dropping subpoenas on Bob Menendez weeks before an election that amounted to nothing, using his office to slam state Senators for using the power of their offices legally, and somehow not getting fired despite being on a list of US Attorneys scheduled to get tossed. And lots of other stuff.
Now, a decade later, the people of New Jersey have come around. Only twenty one percent of New Jerseyans, according to an FDU poll, approve of Christie and a whopping 43 percent think he should resign. Wow.
All we can say is, glad you finally got here.
Zach Roberts at The Mudflats of Alaska writes—Trump Made SNL Relevant Again:
I’ve actually started watching Saturday Night Live again. That’s a statement I didn’t think I’d say ever again.
Thanks to the very timely death of the Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and Steven Colbert being bought out to move to his desperately unfunny standard late night show and several lame imitations (Samantha Bee, namely) there is a huge gap for politically orientated comedy shows. Now of course we have John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight which is a blessing – but honestly it’s already come to be a news program that is funny – not a comedy show that talks about politics. As a journalist that works on long form investigative work – I’d name Last Week Tonight as one of the most important news programs on today. Which is both a statement on the state of TV news and a compliment to the researchers on the show.
But back to SNL. In a year that live feed video of Trump rallies and the GOP debates act as their own humor many of the regular comedy programs have been struggling to figure out how to mock them. Most have failed. Maybe it’s the format, or maybe it’s the new staff of players and writers but SNL has somehow found a way to be funny again. First it was with Larry David’s fantastic spot on Bernie Sanders that found a way to make fun – but not mock the outsider Senator. Same goes with Kate McKinnon stressed out Hillary Clinton. The addition of a non SNL actor in Alec Baldwin as Trump was the perfect addition.
But what do you think? In a year like this – we all need the extra laughs.
Waterwarriors at Uppity Wisconsin write—There Is Something Wrong with Big Ag, So Let's Beat: Them:
"We are at a crossroads in Wisconsin. Our water, air and quality of life is threatened by industrial agriculture and its factory farming. You only have to look at Kewaunee County and their polluted wells; the DNR's(link is external) incorporation of Attorney General Brad Schimel’s opinion on the cumulative impacts of high capacity wells; Midwest Environmental Advocates Petition for Corrective Action(link is external); or theLegislative Audit Bureau's report on the DNR's wastewater permitting and enforcement (link is external)to see that the CAFO, (massive, polluting and cruel industrialized agriculture operations), way of doing business is causing harm across this state."
So reads the beginning of a call to rally at the state capitol on Oct 22, Saturday, 10 a.m. - Noon, (Facebook(link is external)).
In central Wisconsin, (as across Wisconsin), the message is clear. Folks are fighting for a way of life, and the right to clean and safe water and air.
Picture yourself driving through idealistic, rustic countrysides ringed by rivers and lakes, and splat, you're hit with the unbearable stench of manure wafting through the air, and insinuating itself in our surface and ground waters.
We're there, folks.
Jim Fuglie at The Prairie Blog of North Dakota writes—Death By A Thousand Cuts:
Pipelines Leak.
If North Dakota didn’t have such an awful reputation for not enforcing its environmental regulations in the Oil Patch, maybe we wouldn’t have a few thousand people camped out along the Cannonball River protesting the mother of all North Dakota pipelines, Dakota Access.
Pipelines have been leaking oil and dangerous fracking salt water all over western North Dakota for about ten years now, and while our state’s own environmental protection agency, the North Dakota Department of Health, has a pretty incredible rapid response team ready to go out and monitor spills and subsequent clean-up efforts, they are hampered by superiors in higher pay grades who let the on-the-ground enforcers do little, if anything to punish the polluters who are despoiling our landscape.
It is the policy of North Dakota state government, under orders from the state’s highest elected officials—the governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner who make up the North Dakota Industrial Commission—to slap oil companies on the hands rather than take a board to their backsides when they make their messes in western North Dakota.
It’s pretty easy, and also pretty accurate, to paint the Industrial Commission with a broad brush, as tools of the oil industry, so eager for the campaign contributions they provide and the economic riches they’ve brought to the state that they forego environmental enforcement, so today I’m going to cite some specific examples of why I and others more concerned about our land, water, air and wildlife than about dollar signs are so upset with Jack Dalrymple, Wayne Stenehjem and Douglas Goehring.
Bob Plain at R.I. Future.org writes—RI arrests black people for drugs almost three times as often as white people:
Black Rhode Islanders are almost three times as likely to be arrested for drug charges than white Rhode Islanders, according to a new analysis by the American Civil Liberties Association of Rhode Island.
“The glaring racial disparities in enforcement of these laws have been going on for too long and must be addressed,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU. “This report is yet another wake-up call about both the overcriminalization of private conduct and the significant racial disparities that permeate our criminal justice system at just about every level.
The report looks at all 50 states done by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch that showed black adults are arrested 2.5 times more often than white adults. In Rhode Island, that ratio is even higher, with 2.9 Black adults arrested for every white adult that is arrested.
Brown said this was “especially troubling” because the report also shows Rhode Island has one of the lowest arrest rates in the nation “per overall population.”
While almost three black Rhode Islanders are arrested for every one white Rhode Islander, there are more than 14 white Rhode Islanders for every one black Rhode Islander.According to the 2010 census, there are 856,000 white Rhode Islanders and only about 60,000 black Rhode Islanders.
A staffer at NH Labor News writes—Social Security COLA Falls Short for Seniors:
Small cost-of-living increase triggers huge Medicare Part B premium hike for many retirees
American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. is calling on Congress to pass emergency legislation to prevent massive increases in Medicare Part B premiums for millions of retirees next year.
The government today announced a 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment for federal retirees and Social Security recipients. The COLA is based on the year-over-year change in the prices for goods and services purchased by hourly and clerical workers.
This small COLA has inadvertently triggered a massive increase in Medicare Part B premiums for the 30 percent of beneficiaries who do not currently receive Social Security benefits.
Premiums for Medicare Part B are expected to increase 23 percent next year, from $121 a month to $149 a month. A so-called “hold harmless” provision prevents Medicare Part B premiums from increasing by more than the dollar increase in an individual’s Social Security payment. But for the 16 million retirees who don’t receive Social Security, including 1.6 million federal retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System, the full increase must be paid unless Congress acts.
“Congress must act now to prevent a massive increase in Medicare Part B premiums for this group of retirees,” Cox said. “Although most seniors would be protected, this group will have to pay more solely because of the uniqueness of their pension system.”