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 January 7 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents.
|
DocHoc at Blue Oklahoma writes—Oklahoma Extremism: Inhofe Claims Pruitt Ideal For EPA:
For the record, then, on the right-wing extremism issue, here’s Oklahoma’s own infamous global warming denier U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe official statement about Trump’s selection to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who is none other than Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, another climate change skeptic:
Scott Pruitt is the ideal candidate to lead the EPA. Pruitt has seen first-hand the abuses of power at the hands of this agency and has fought back to ensure environmental quality without sacrificing jobs. Scott is an expert in constitutional law, and understands the fundamental element of balance necessary between the states and the federal government. I look forward to working with Chairman Barrasso and the EPW committee to move Scott’s nomination swiftly and fairly through the committee and to the Senate floor.
What does this “balance” even mean? This is what I believe it means to Inhofe and Pruitt: States with deep fossil-fuel reserves should be allowed to damage the planet in local ways, such as all the earthquakes caused by the fracking process here in Oklahoma, to the larger concern of rising sea levels because carbon emissions are accelerating the greenhouse effect, which leads to the melting of Arctic ice. My argument is that Pruitt and Inhofe believe the profits of oil and gas companies render environmental arguments and evidence obsolete. Maybe they truly believe in their position, despite huge evidence that global warming is harming the planet, or maybe they simply don’t care.
Robert Mann at Something Like The Truth of Louisiana writes—Barack Obama’s amazing grace:
Among dozens of moments that define the historic, consequential presidency of Barack Obama was his moving eulogy of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., in June 2015.
Pinckney and eight of his parishioners had died days earlier, victims of a young man’s violent racism. It was a day that justified cries of rage and retribution from those in attendance. Obama, instead, appealed to what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.”
“This whole week, I’ve been reflecting on this idea of grace,” Obama said of the murders in the church’s basement. “The grace of the families who lost loved ones; the grace that Reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons; the grace described in one of my favorite hymns, the one we all know — Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.”
Obama ruminated further on grace and admonished mourners to focus not on their anger but, rather, on redeeming the tragedy. In particular, he urged banishing the Confederate flag (with which the killer had posed in a photograph) from the state’s Capitol.
“I’m convinced that by acknowledging the pain and loss of others, even as we respect the traditions, ways of life that make up this beloved country, by making the moral choice to change, we express God’s grace,” Obama said.
Obama suggested Americans also could find grace in the midst of pain by entering into a serious dialogue about our country’s history of racial division. “If we can tap that grace, everything can change. Amazing grace, amazing grace.”
And then Obama broke into song, leading the mourners in the first stanza of the hymn, written in 1772 by the Rev. John Newton, a former slave-ship captain. It was a stunning and emotional moment, one I will never forget for what it represented about what Obama and his presidency meant to the nation.
Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass of Kentucky writes—Need Help Finding a Job in KY? Gov. Billionaire Says Fuck You:
Here's the trick: Bevin is technically keeping them employed by just closing their satellite offices and transferring them to headquarters. But that means either moving their families hundreds of miles away or enduring a two- three-hour commute each way to work.
The ones who can't move or commute are thus unemployed "voluntarily" and ineligible for unemployment benefits. Bevin ass-fucks them both ways.
And that's before thousands of unemployed Kentuckians are suddenly unable to get job help in their communities.
James Rowen at The Political Environment of Wisconsin writes—5 ex-DNR Secretaries do not want agency broken up:
Rightwing GOP Gov. Scott Walker signaled recently he might break the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources apart and scatter the pieces across state government - - the dream scenario of the very special interests he's put in charge of the agency when he ordered it be run with a "chamber of commerce mentality" - - and now a bi-partisan group of former DNR Secretaries is publicly urging Walker to leave the DNR intact.
That's an important action, and needs to be buttressed with thousands of emails and letters to Walker, legislators, editorial boards, websites, and more, or else Walker will accelerate an even greater transfer of public assets into private hands, and a further reduction in pollution prevention and abatement in a state which has a unique environmental legacy - - John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Gaylord Nelson - - and an economy organized around the appreciation of the unspoiled nature those giants helped secure.
We'll know if Walker goes there when he when he releases his budget, but make no mistake about it:
Walker and his special-interest bellhops have done great damage to the DNR - - and to its mission of environmental stewardship on behalf of the people - - where now even censorship is policy - - and to the clean air, pure water and open space which belongs to the public as a birthright.
Sharon Wilson at TxSharon’s BlueDaze of Texas writes—Earthworks Damn Good Report:
Just moments ago, my Spidey sense told me to go troll Twitter where I soon learned about a “special report” that highlights Earthworks as fracking’s public enemy number one. The report was written by Fracking’s Joe Camel and will now be known as the Earthworks Damn Good Report (download copy at link)
The report starts with public enemy #1: Earthworks and rehashes the Frack Free Denton campaign that Denton voters won by a 60% democratic vote in a predominately Republican town. That’s how bad Texans hate fracking.
A few report highlights:
- Earthworks “receives money from an investment firm that helps clients invest in renewable energy.”
- Earthworks believes “The only surefire way to protect human health, clean drinking water and the global climate from coal, oil and gas is to keep them in the ground.”
- Earthworks supports The Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act. [...]
- Earthworks supports local control. [...]
In fact, this Earthworks Damn Good Report is so damn good, I’m going to use it as a fundraiser, right here and right now. Read the report, or take my word for it, and make a donation so Earthworks can continue being Damn Good.
Rob Schofield at NC Policy Watch writes—Will the GOP really sentence thousands of Americans to early deaths?
At the dawn of the Trump era in American politics, it’s important for caring and thinking people to guard against the use of hyperbole and alarmist rhetoric and to avoid making too many “the sky is falling pronouncements.” As was noted in this space last November, there are plenty of reasons to think that some of the worst components of Trumpism can be blunted or even defeated with a little luck and a lot of hard work. And, as North Carolinians have learned during six years of aggressive right-wing rule, the conservative movement is often a fractious, divided and mistake-prone crusade that is fully capable of committing absurd and self-destructive blunders. It can and will be defeated in the months and years ahead.
All that said, there is really no way to overstate the utter devastation – both to human wellbeing and economic stability – that is on the horizon if the President-elect and congressional Republicans make good on their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act without first developing and implementing some kind of realistic alternative. Simply put, thousands of people will die unnecessary and premature deaths and a large swath of the economy will suffer mightily.
How do we know this? It’s not really that complicated. According to independent experts, Obamacare has, for all of its many imperfections, saved (and is saving) tens of thousands of Americans from deaths they would have otherwise suffered. It’s done this by securing health insurance (and thus, access to decent, affordable health care for millions of people not previously covered) and by ushering in a host of other beneficial healthcare system changes.
WillyK at Show Me Progress of Missouri writes—McCaskill stood up. Blunt rolled over. Obamacare topples?
Since Donald Trump squeaked out an electoral college victory, I’ve probably written more columns about Claire McCaskill than I have about the Great Orange Buffoon, otherwise known as the President-elect who lost the popular vote. But, appearances aside, I don’t really obsess about McCaskill qua McCaskill. Every single Democrat in the Congress is important if there’s to be any kind of resistance against Trump and the ugly GOP juggernaut. Since she’s my Democrat, so to speak, I guess I feel I’ve got a responsibility to keep an eye on her.
Which is why I’m feeling good today (or as good as I can as we descend into era of the Great Orange Conflagration). Claire stood up and showed some backbone.
Senate Republicans began the process of paving the way for ACA repeal yesterday – hiding, of course, behind the Trump presser and the cabinet confirmation hearings that were, in turn, also overshadowed by the spectacularly horrible and embarrassing Trump press conference. They hoped we wouldn’t notice given all the noise generated by Trump and the confirmation hearings.
Senate Democrats met the first test. They stood together against the repeal bulldozer and even though they went down before it, they scored some points. They offered amendments that forced Republicans to go on the record against important Obamacare features like the provisions for preexisting conditions. And during the final vote, Democrats also tried, as well as they as they could given the repressive process enforced by the Republican Senate leaders, to voice protest.
McCaskill stood up with the rest; as Daily Kos’ Joan McCarter reported:
… One by one, senators from the whole spectrum of the Democratic party stood with their constituents to reject repeal. That includes the red and purple state senators up for re-election in 2018, the group that Republicans think they can peel away from Democrats. Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Joe Manchin (D-WV)—all stood in defiance of Republicans and their rush to repeal, with no replacement bill in sight.
Delaware Dem at Blue Delaware writes—Bernie Sanders takes his cue from Carper and Carney:
Replace Bernie Sanders’ name with Tom Carper or John Carney in the story below, and I know some Delawarean liberals who would be quite upset this morning. From CNN:
Sanders urged fellow Democrats against simply obstructing the incoming administration — demonstrating the difficulty progressives are having in deciding how to handle the incoming president.
Speaking at a town hall in Washington sponsored by CNN and moderated by Chris Cuomo, Sanders blasted Republicans for acting “shamefully and outrageously” by refusing to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court last year. He suggested
Democrats may not “do the right thing” and instead adopt the GOP’s tactics.
Sanders said he hopes Democrats don’t use the “obstruct, obstruct, obstruct” tactics against Trump that congressional Republicans deployed against Obama. “I don’t think that’s what we do,” Sanders said. “I think where Trump has ideas that make sense that we can work with him on, I think we should.”
Emphasis mine. If that is all Bernie is going to bring to fight Trump, then he ought to retire with his new ideological bedmate Tom Carper in 2018. The new Bipartisan Bernie doesn’t play well. I want someone who is going to fight Trump and the Republicans with every fiber of their being. New Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made similar noises several weeks ago right after the election and Progressives rightly criticized him for it. Now Bernie is sounding like a Third Way DLC Clintonian, and I hope he gets the same exact criticism. At least I am doing my part.
Sean Kitchen at Raging Chicken Press of Pennsylvania writes—Laid Off Unemployment Center Employees Protest Senator Wagner’s Announcement to Run for Governor:
Like it or not Pennsylvania, the 2018 Governor’s race has officially started, and the stakes cannot be set any higher. Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Tom Wolf is the only person standing between State Senator Scott Wagner and a conservative General Assembly turning the Commonwealth into a billionaire’s paradise. Senator Wagner is looking to follow the footsteps of Rust-Belt governors Scott Walker, Rick Snyder and Matt Bevin and turn Pennsylvania from a once democratic and union stronghold into a Republican operated right-to-work state.
In the weeks leading up to today’s official announcement, Senator Wagner forced Senate leaders to pull a bill funding the state’s 9 unemployment call centers on the last day of the session. The following weekend he attended the Republican Governor’s Association annual meeting and had lunch with billionaire mega-donor, and Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos. Last week, it was reported that he hired John Kennedy from Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania as his campaign chair. While Mr. Kennedy was the chair of the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, his organization received a total $1.09 million from Students First, a pro-charter school that is funded by Betsy DeVos, over the 2012, 2014 and 2016 election cycles.
I was not able to watch Senator Wagner’s official campaign announcement because I was not on the “invited media” list. It took the campaign staff of the self proclaimed well endowed Senator less than five minutes to remove me from the event. Outside of Wagner’s Penn Waste complex, a dozen former call center employees and SEIU Local 668 members were protesting Senator Wagner’s decision to force the layoffs and turn the issue into a political one.
One of the team at Progress Now of New Mexico writes—Will 2017 be the year marijuana is legalized in New Mexico?
Rep. Bill McCamley of Las Cruces is hoping that the fourth time is the charm when it comes to legalizing marijuana for recreational use in New Mexico. [...]
McCamley’s bill has been thwarted thrice before, once in 2015 and twice last year (including during the special session to specifically address the state’s abysmal economic situation) during the Republican controlled years of the New Mexico house. Now that Democrats are in control of the house once again, and have strengthened their position in the senate, McCamley is hopeful the bill has real legs this year.
He pointed out that over the last two years, his bill has been indiscriminately assigned to spurious house committees where it was “guaranteed” to die before ever reaching the house floor for discussion. [...]
His bill would need to pass the house and then the senate before then being signed into law by the governor, something Susana Martinez has in the past stated she wouldn’t do. But with the state’s economic situation somewhere south of dire and members of her own party stating their support for the economic benefits of recreational legalization, perhaps this year could be different.
Vern Nelson at the Orange Juice Blog of California writes—Did California Dems Really “Legalize Child Prostitution?” Or is Travis Allen a Sleazy Liar?
Well, that question is easy to answer. We’ve known for a long time that 72nd district Assemblyman Travis Allen is sleazy, just as we’ve known for a long time that he is a liar.
The one thing Travis HAS been consistently good at is throwing partisan bombs, bombs that’ll catch on in the right-wing media, and getting himself onto FOX News to talk shit on Democrats. And this latest from him, in a Washington Examiner piece penned by him, takes the cake:
Beginning on Jan. 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California. Yes, you read that right.
SB 1322 bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution, or loitering with the intent to do so. So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution.
It goes on, with additional lies and mistakes detailed by Capitol Alert and Wonkette, but the salacious headline and opening had the effect Travis wanted – getting echoed, amplified and exaggerated even more all over the far-right media, getting Travis some dearly desired attention, and providing more hate-fuel to Trump-types who are always eager to believe ANYTHING bad about Democrats no matter how far-fetched. [...] Congratulations Travis for being the latest purveyor of FAKE NEWS! This even proves, to some minds, that EVERYTHING THEY EVER SUSPECTED ABOUT US IS TRUE, up to and including Hillary Clinton’s child-prostitution Pizza Ring
Donna at Democratic Diva of Arizona writes—MSM Struggles to Cover Trump Because IOKIYAR:
Here’s a tale of two tweets:
For the record, I like and agree with both of these journalists. Both statements are correct: The MSM is flummoxed by Trump and the same MSM would be instantly un-flummoxed by a Democrat one tenth as corrupt and disgusting as he is.
As a refresher or for the uninitiated, IOKIYAR stands for “It’s okay if you are Republican”. It’s a close cousin to Both Siderism and, like it, is a dominant driver of how the media cover partisan politics. It’s such a prevalent ethos in the industry that even many good reporters become defensive and deny they’re doing it when you point it out to them.
And while this past election should have made it blindingly obvious to anyone – after two years of Trump being treated as an amusing curiosity and Clinton as a criminal who simply hadn’t been caught red handed yet – I still regularly encounter media people who refuse to acknowledge how their industry treats GOP politicians with utmost solicitude while scorching Democrats for minor or imaginary mistakes, often magnifying into enormous “scandals”, as we saw with Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.