This week at progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Here is the July 1 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents. |
Nath Pizzolatto at The Bayou Brief writes—Garret Graves Wants To Treat Families On Food Stamps Like Felons On Probation:
On June 26th, Congressman Garret Graves, a Republican from Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, announced the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Reform Act of 2017, a bill which seeks to introduce work requirements for certain adults, and remove exemptions from those requirements for others, in order to receive SNAP benefits (more commonly known as food stamps).
Put simply, Graves proposes treating families who rely on food stamps like convicted felons on probation.
While Graves, in a press release, claims that this bill will both “protect resources” and “get capable people off the sidelines and involved in building America’s future,” the likelihood it will do either seems scant.
This program will obviously need agents to monitor it and verify that recipients are sufficiently seeking a job, creating more unnecessary bureaucracy and wasting precious public dollars.
If the goal is to help people on food stamps find jobs, why not spend this money on job training programs, instead of on giving more hoops for our most destitute to jump through to get the help they need, and punishing them if they can’t do it?
This comes back to what “food stamp fraud” and “welfare reform” are really about: race.
Pete Talbot at The Montana Post (formerly Intelligent Discontent) writes—Thursday roundup: Bodyslamming “distraction”:
Montana Public Radio’s Eric Whitney caught up with Rep. Greg Gianforte and asked Montana’s sole U.S. House member his opinion on Donald Trump’s latest video tweet. Whitney wondered if the image of Trump bodyslamming a wrestler with the CNN logo for a head was ” …worthy of an interview, and something that’s relevant for you to talk about?” (In June, Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for bodyslamming a reporter at a campaign event.)
Greg Gianforte: Would I have sent this tweet? I’m not sure. But the reality is, the administration is doing good work. I would probably categorize this particular tweet as a distraction.
EW: Some people interpreted the tweet as promoting violence against reporters. Did you interpret it that way?
GG: I would just say, I think the focus ought to be on the business of the people. And I would characterize – because we’re even talking about this, and not talking about some of the meatier issues and what the American people and Montanans want us to talk about, I would characterize it as a distraction.
He’s not sure if he would have sent the tweet? The administration is doing good work? The tweet is a distraction?
There goes any semblance of remorse for his actions or insight into the affairs of state we had hoped for out of Gianforte. It’s going to be a long 18 months.
Bob Lord at Blog for Arizona writes—Collective Punishment Passes House: The Downward Spiral Continues:
I’ve reached the point at which I’m less troubled by the outrages that are being reported than by those that are going unnoticed. [...]
Barely covered [...] was a House vote in favor of what really is a form of collective punishment, with many Democrats, including Kyrsten Sinema and Tom O’Halleran, joining the Republicans. That is an outrage of immense proportion. Yet most Americans are unaware.I’m referring to a measure commonly known as Kate’s law, named for Kate Steinle, who was brutally murdered by an undocumented immigrant.
In an appeal to the basest instincts of Americans, Trump campaigned on his proposal to impose harsh punishment on all immigrants who are caught crossing the border a second time without documentation, because Steinle’s murderer had done so. [...] It went without saying that millions of dimwitted Americans would buy in to Trump’s proposal. But our Congressional leaders are supposed to be better than that.
Sadly, they’re not. They voted overwhelmingly for a measure that would impose absurdly harsh punishment on people whose “crime” was crossing a border without the required paperwork.
Make no mistake. This is a step down a slippery slope that ends with mass atrocities.
Trish Nelson at Blog of Iowa writes—4th of July In Iowa Now A Nightmare For Many:
Worst 4th of July Ever/Branstad’s Final F*** You
I suppose we can be grateful we’re not living in an actual war zone. Pushed by Republicans, signed into law by Terry Branstad, SF 489 legalized the sale of fireworks in Iowa. Polls supposedly indicated support for fireworks among Iowans. I hope they re-poll after we get through the worst 4th of July ever and see if everyone still thinks this was a good idea.
All you have to do is go on Facebook for the horror stories. Next door neighbors launching fireworks that sound like cannons, terrified, shaking dogs hiding in closets, people leaving town to get away from the noise, families unable to put the kids to bed, pillows stuffed in windows, “duds” and debris from explosives on sidewalks, in parks, on your roof. Shut the doors and windows, close yourself in the house, don’t take your dog for a walk. 4th of July week has changed in Iowa from a pleasant family holiday with a few fireworks, to a pseudo-war zone, so some can make money on the sale of explosives and the state can make a relatively small amount in tax revenue.
An estimated million a year in tax revenue doesn’t seem like much considering how much Branstad’s gang has given away to corporations in tax breaks. For this we have to sacrifice our peace and quiet and put up with the sounds of war, not just for a couple of days in July, but in December too, because of course we need fireworks going on two weeks before Christmas through New Years.
WillyKay at Show Me Progress of Missouri writes—Ann Wagner implies that she’s afraid to run for the Senate – but not for the House:
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a couple of days ago Ann Wagner announced that she won’t be the Missouri Republican who will face Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in 2018, but will instead run to retain her 2nd district House seat. It has been widely assumed that she was persuaded (forced?) by Missouri Republican luminaries to stand down in favor of another candidate—Attorney General Josh Hawley seems to be the current fair-haired child of many of Missouri’s big GOP money and influence wielders.
Wagner offered the usual pablum about family considerations and, in typical treacly Wagner style, “love” for her 2nd district, as reasons for not taking up the cudgel against McCaskill – even though her intentions to do so had been obvious for some time. As the Post-Dispatch observed, she had already hired interns to handle the the added demands of the campaign.
Wagner also, however, seems to have hinted at another reason; the Post-Dispatch article implies that in the wake of the shooting of the Republican House Majority Whip, Rep. Steve Scalise, by a deranged individual a couple of weeks ago, Wagner intimated that she fears violence that could be directed at her and her family. This fear, it is implied, was the “significant event” that precipitated her decision not to run for the Senate [...]:
Do you see the problem with this suggestion? Why, if Wagner is really worried by the possibility that a run for the Senate might lead to violence against her and her family, is she still planning to run for the House? Are House candidates magically exempt from threats faced by candidates for the Senate?
Martha Jackovics at Beach Peanuts of Florida writes—Rick Scott And Ken Detzner May Be Handing Your Personal Voter Information To Trump:
Donald Trump and Mike Pence are using Trump's imaginary delusions about massive voter fraud giving the popular vote to Hillary Clinton during 2016 as a ruse to launch a voter suppression effort, and they're using Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a man well known for such efforts, to do it.
While launching his "Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity," Trump charged Pence with leading the effort, and moving forward, Kobach has written a letter to all the country's secretaries of state asking them to turn over voter information along with personal information without any details of how it will be used, nor how they will keep it secure. [...]
What are the chances Rick Scott and SOS Ken Detzner are not only willing to turn over all your personal and voter information to Trump and crew, but also asking them "How can we help?" Given their history of voter purge attempts and suppression efforts, I'm kind of surprised Scott hasn't been appointed an unofficial member of the commission, but the he's probably too busy trying to assist Trump and the GOP in taking away your health care.
A staffer at ProgressNow New Mexico writes—Steve Pearce joins fringe radicals calling for obliterating national monuments:
By this point, the news that Rep. Steve Pearce (NM02) has done something bad when it comes to America’s public lands is hardly earth shattering. So, imagine our surprise when it became known over the holiday weekend that Pearce joined with 17 radical tea-party Republicans calling on Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for the complete (nearly) undoing of national monuments all across the western United States. via GIPHY
Members of the so-called Western Caucus have for years been trying to dismantle land designations that protect important cultural and environmental resources within the 11 western states that compose the majority of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Led by stalwart Industry supporters like Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, the Western Caucus has pushed back against national monuments, wilderness, and supported extreme radicals like Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his ilk.
But what is a little surprising is this: Even this group of nearly 70 representatives has never gone so far as to call for the complete dismantling of protected public lands with such detail oriented calculation. Under their plan, the following monuments would be reduced or completely removed.
But Pearce and just 16 out of over 70 members signed onto the letter calling on Zinke to shrink or completely remove up to 30 national monuments across the West.
lowkell at Blue Virginia writes—With Hours to Go, Who Has Called for a Halt to William Morva Execution?
Here’s a partial list, with just a day to go (execution scheduled for 9 pm, July 6), of groups and individuals who have called for Gov. Terry McAuliffe to commute the death sentence of William Morva, who committed heinous crimes but is severely mentally ill.
- UN calls on Gov. McAuliffe to halt William Morva’s execution: “In a joint statement, UN special rapporteur for arbitrary executions, Agnes Collamard, and special rapporteur for mental health, Dainius Puras, said, ‘We are deeply concerned about information we have received indicating that Mr. Morva’s original trial did not meet fair trial safeguards.'”
- Former Democratic Lt. Governor candidates Gene Rossi and Susan Platt
- Sister Helen Prejean: “The whole world is watching, waiting to see if @GovernorVA @TerryMcAuliffe stops the planned execution of Will Morva, a mentally ill man.”
- Daughter of one of Morva’s victims seeks clemency for her father’s killer: “In an email to members of the media on Wednesday, Rachel Sutphin, daughter of Eric Sutphin, wrote: ‘I am against the death penalty for religious and moral reasons. I have fought and will continue to fight for clemency for all death row inmates until Virginia declares the death penalty unconstitutional.'” [...]
- European Union trying to block William Morva execution: “Both Hungary and the European Union have reached out to Governor McAuliffe to stop the execution. According to the Mercy for Morva Group, he is a Hungarian-American dual national.”
Wendy Strout at Blogging Blue of Wisconsin writes—The Wonder Women Around Us: Amanda Hall – Alder, CrossFitter, and Strongman Competitor:
I love when the Wonder Women around us use their powers to have a positive impact on the world. One of these Wonder Women is Amanda Hall. She is the alder for Madison City Council District 3. If you follow her on Instagram or are friends with her on Facebook, you know she is truly Wonder Woman. She pulls large trucks and can yoke carry 560 lbs across her shoulders! She competes in Strongman and is active in CrossFit. According to crossfit.com, “CrossFit is constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity.”
Like Wonder Woman, Amanda comes from a family with strength in their genes and a long line of strong women. Unlike Wonder Woman, Amanda is from Madison, Wisconsin. Using her athleticism, Amanda set off for the University of Iowa on a rowing scholarship. While Amanda loved rowing, she found politics calling her name. During the 2004 Iowa Caucuses, she took a break from rowing to work on John Kerry’s Iowa campaign. After the caucuses, Amanda decided to finish up her undergraduate degree in Green Bay. Once she finished law school, Amanda made it back to her hometown of Madison.
Not one to sit on the sidelines, Amanda participated in and graduated from Emerge Wisconsin, which trains Democratic women to run for office. Having witnessed elected officials do something she thought was wrong, Amanda knew she could do better. So, she decided to run for Madison City Council and is currently in her 2nd term.
As alder, Amanda has accomplished a variety of things. She has participated in having a global impact by helping to make Madison a sanctuary city. She has also had an impact focused specifically on her district, like saving a large oak tree by working with the developer who was going to cut it down. Instead of removing the tree, they made it part of the project that was going up.
Jason330 at Delaware Liberal writes—Bennett Screwed Up – Carney Set the Table:
I was wrong about [state Rep. Andria] Bennett. Her excuse for voting against the budget on Friday was so lame that I thought is was cover for something. Turns out, she was simply rolled by some conservatives. (Well-played defenders of the 1%. You found the weak link.) But Bennett is a symptom, not the disease.
A: “Government is the problem. Taxes are confiscatory.”
B: “Government plays an important roll in ensuring fairness. Taxes provide for vital services.”
Which of the above statements do you associate with John Carney?
When the Acting Gov Pete, John Carney, Quinn Johnson and many other so-called elected Dems associate themselves with option A – when they’ve internalized these right wing positions, any progressive change is facing hurricane force headwinds.
Even if Bennett became Bernie Sanders on Sunday after seeing how Friday played out, it didn’t matter. Even if John Kowalko becomes Jimmy Stewart in ‘Mr. Smith Goes’ to Washington and holds the house spellbound with his soaring oratory. It doesn’t matter. As long as Dem leadership is dedicated to discredited trickle down bullshit. It doesn’t matter.
As much as Bennett screwed up, the systemic problem is that thanks to Democrats like Carney and Schwarzkopf, “Democrat” doesn’t mean anything coherent.
Tom von Alten at FortBoise of Idaho writes—Timely Feature:
Kris Kobach was just featured in the NY Times Magazine last month, and here he is making a big splash with a conspiracy-theory inspired demand to all 50 states to cough up
"publicly available voter roll data, including, if publicly available under the laws of your state, the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available, addresses, dates of birth, political party (if recorded in your state), last four digits of social security number if available, voter history (elections voted in) from 2006 onward, active/inactive status, cancelled status, information regarding any felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information."
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One can only imagine how many Idaho heads would have exploded if President Obama's Vice Chair for the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity had made such a request during his time in office. Or hell, if there had even been a Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity formed. Haven't heard of any resistance in this state, but plenty of others are pushing back. 22 had "partly or completely rejected the commission’s request" as of yesterday, according to the NYT.
"[A] growing number of state election officials have indicated—sometimes politely, sometimes brusquely—that they will not or cannot comply. Among them, ironically, were Mr. Kobach himself and a second member of the commission, Secretary of State Connie Lawson of Indiana, both of whom disclosed on Friday that privacy laws prevented them from furnishing some personal voter data." |
Is that "irony" or "nuts" that Kobach is refusing his own demand? Wisconsin said they'd do it for $12,500. And hooray for bipartisanship: states from Mississippi to California are among the resistance.
Jason Saltzman at Colorado Pols writes—Where is Cory Gardner?
The Fourth of July weekend is always a popular time to find politicians outside shaking hands, kissing babies, and taking selfies with constituents. Congress is in the middle of its 10-day July 4th recess, and across the country elected officials (most of them, anyway) were marching in parades and pressing the flesh at community gatherings.
But not Cory Gardner.
As the New York Times reports, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) was nowhere to be found over the holiday weekend [...]
…At a late-morning parade in Ely, a small city in northern Nevada surrounded for miles by only sagebrush and juniper trees, Senator Dean Heller, who has come out against the bill, rode down Aultman Street on a horse…
...This was still more activity than anything done by Mr. Gardner of Colorado, who has not held a town hall-style meeting this year. Coloradans have noticed. In February, hundreds gathered for a mock town hall-style meeting in Denver, where they addressed questions to a cardboard cutout of the senator. Last week, wheelchair-bound constituents occupied his office for 60 hours in protest of cuts proposed in the health bill, before being dragged out by the police.
Mr. Gardner’s Fourth of July was devoid of public events, though on July 3, he could be seen on his front lawn in his hometown, Yuma, playing with squirt guns and smoke bombs with his children.
Prior to this year, Gardner had been a regular presenceduring the July 4th weekend in Colorado. One of Gardner’s Facebook accounts on Tuesday included a picture of the Senator marching in a parade along with the text: “Happy Fourth of July.” There was no mention of the fact that this photo was NOT a recent picture.
Gardner hasn’t held a town hall event in more than 462 days.