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 Feb. 24 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents. |
At Blue Virginia, lowkell writes—Rep. Dave Brat (Extreme “R”) Likes Tweet Asking “Who Is Paying” Marjory Stoneman Douglas H.S. Student David Hogg:
We always knew Rep. Dave “I’m an economist!” Brat was an extremist and also a wackjob, but this one takes the cake: liking a post which de facto accuses Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School David Hogg of being a “crisis actor” — see below. And yes, Brat really is the “wurst” – let’s boot him outta Congress this November!
At Bleeding Heartland of Iowa, desmoinesdem writes— "A corpse in Iowa would have more rights than women and girls":
Iowa Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen has been a champion of reproductive rightsfor years. Her plea to reject the most extreme anti-abortion bill ever to come to the Iowa Senate floor was one for the ages.
Senate File 2281 would forbid doctors from performing abortions “if a fetal heartbeat is detectable” other than “in the case of a medical emergency.” A physician violating the law could be charged with a class D felony. For this bill’s purposes (but not elsewhere in Iowa Code), a medical emergency is defined as “a situation in which an abortion is performed to preserve the life of the pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy, but not including psychological conditions, emotional conditions, familial conditions, or the woman’s age.”
As Bleeding Heartland discussed here, a broad coalition including medical groups and the Iowa Board of Regents oppose the bill, which is clearly unconstitutional. [...]
Petersen’s ten-minute demolition job was memorable, especially when she noted that prison inmates and even corpses and livestock would have more medical rights than Iowa women and girls under this bill. Senate Democrats released a transcript of Petersen’s prepared remarks on the abortion ban. I made minor edits to reflect the speech as delivered. Scroll down to watch or read in full.
All 29 Republicans and independent Senator David Johnson voted for Senate File 2281, while all 20 Democrats voted against it.
At Eclectablog, LOLGOP writes—There’s no good argument against letting 16-year-olds vote:
The NRA is too powerful, many assumed. If we did nothing when 20 children no older than 7 were massacred in a classroom, why should we do anything now?
But like the #metoo movement, the students of Parkland, echoing what many black teens have been saying for years, woke us into some reality. The future isn’t predetermined. A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can still change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Our job is to support them as they take on power structures many assumed were unassailable only five months before. But there is something we can do, a new goal we can make part of our agenda for saving democracy:
Let’s give older teenagers the best civics lesson there is. Sixteen-year-olds should have the right to vote.
I came to this thought around the same time as former Missouri secretary of state and current Majority 54 host Jason Kander and former-Obama speechwriter and current Pod Save Americaand Love It or Leave It host Jon Lovett, both affiliated with Crooked Media. Sometimes I fear I’m the Rupert Pupkin of Crooked Media. And often, even that seems like grandiose fantasy.
So I thought I’d let Lovett’s excellent piece stand as the definitive argument for the enfranchisement of sixteen-year-old Americans. He fisks and defenestrates most of the arguments against expanding the franchise.
At MN Progressive Project, Dan Burns writes—What are Trump & Co’s real plans for the VA?
One one hand the Trump budget calls for a big boost in the Veterans Administration budget, which is a rare bit of positive news from that for the most part extremist wish-list. On another:
But others in the administration want a much more drastic change: They seek to privatize vets’ health care. From perches in Congress, the White House and the VA itself, they have battled (VA secretary David) Shulkin. In some instances, his own subordinates have openly defied him.
Multiple publications have explored the turmoil and conflict at the VA in the wake of the inspector general report. Yet a closer examination shows the roots of the fight stretch back to the presidential campaign and reveals how far the entropy of the Trump administration has spread. Much has been written on the “chaos presidency.” Every day seems to bring exposés of White House backstabbing and blood feuds. The fight over the VA shows not only that this problem afflicts federal agencies, too, but that friction and contradiction were inevitable: Trump appointed a VA secretary who wants to preserve the fundamental structure of government-provided health care; the president also installed a handful of senior aides who are committed to a dramatically different philosophy.
(ProPublica)
There was a report yesterday that one of Shulkin’s top staffers tried to get him fired.
At Miscellany Blue of New Hampshire, William Tucker writes—GOP lawmaker: Mass shootings are result of children being taught theory of evolution:
State Rep. Gary Hopper believes teaching children the theory of evolution results in a “hopelessness” that is one of the primary factors motivating teenagers to commit mass shootings.
In Hopper’s telling of evolutionary theory – which he recounted during an episode of his online talk show, “Rock, Paper, Hand Grenades” – “there was nothing, and out of some freak accident, everything.” The earth “just happened to be exactly in the right location for life to be created there,“ he said. “Life was an inadvertent accident.”
“If you are a child raised in a situation and you’re depressed, you could look at that particular piece of information and conclude that we are no better or worse than any other parasite on the planet,” Hopper said. “And if you follow the logic of the science in school today, not only are you a parasite on the planet, you are destroying the host that you are born on.”
“So that’s one variable. Hopelessness. No point. You have no point in your life,” Hopper concluded.
The eight-term Republican from Weare acknowledged there is no single factor responsible for mass shootings. “It’s a problem that has many facets,” he said.
Hopper identified three additional factors that, in his mind, lead to mass shootings: boys without a father figure in the home, the use of psychotropic drugs and media glorification of the shooters.
At Green Mountain Daily of Vermont, BP writes—After Parkland shooting Congress takes action: funds bulletproof vests…for themselves:
A Congressional committee has voted to expand funding that provides bulletproof vests and other safety measures for fellow members even while speaker Ryan rules out gun control.
At a news conference after recently meeting with students representing victims of the Parkland high school shooting, House Speaker Paul Ryan said: Republicans would focus on law enforcement failures, not tighter gun control, in the wake of the latest mass shooting, which left 17 children and educators dead at a Florida school Feb. 14.
The house did attach incentives for better sharing of gun crime data through the existing National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS to a bill passed last December called “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act,”. But Senate Democrats considered the NRA promoted expanded concealed carry act, a non-starter and the bill remained in the House.
But ‘ in-House’ safety concerns come first it seems. The Hill.com reports that nine members of the Congressional Committee on House Administration (six Republicans and three Democrats) by voice vote, have arranged to spend more money to keep themselves and their colleagues safe from gun violence. [...]
At The Progressive Pulse of North Carolina, Lisa Sorg writes—Company surveying Atlantic Coast Pipeline route in NC lacks a current state license:
The Thrasher Group, which has been surveying areas in Nash County along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route, is not licensed to practice in North Carolina. Andrew Ritter, executive director of the state’s Board of Examiners for Engineers & Surveyors, confirmed that the firm allowed its license — No. C-4054 — to lapse in 2016.
The Thrasher Group is based in Bridgeport, WV, and has offices throughout the mid-Atlantic, including Smithfield, in Johnston County. Doug Richmond, a senior survey manager for Thrasher in its Smithfield office, initially told Policy Watch that the firm “is licensed.” After Policy Watch learned of the firm’s failure to renew, it contacted Richmond again. He said he was unaware of that the license had expired and that he would “call the corporate office.”
Although Richmond’s license is in good standing, Ritter said that Richmond can’t survey “under the corporate shield” of Thrasher.[...]
Ironically, since Thrasher is currently unlicensed, the board can’t reprimand or fine the firm until it renews. Instead, if Thrasher continues to survey without a license, either the state Attorney General’s Office or the district attorney’s office in the counties where the firm is working would pursue the case. The board ultimately could request that a court issue an injunction against the company, Ritter said.
Board investigations of licensed surveyors and engineers are confidential. However, since Thrasher is not licensed, the details are public record.
At Juanita Jean’s of Texas, El Jefe writes—The Tipping Point on Gun Violence:
I have always been a Second Amendment supporter, but have also also believed that gun policy should be established and enforced by adults, not gun nuts and weirdos, which is our current reality in the US. Unfortunately, with the sole exception of the assault weapons ban, we’ve been going backwards on gun policy since the late ’80s. We took a giant step backwards when Congress stupidly allowed the ban to expire in 2004, marking the beginning of a new and growing chapter of gun violence in America. About five years ago, I established a Facebook group called Gun Owners for Reform, to discuss gun ownership and public policy around guns. For those five years, we have been calling for gun law reform, attempting to be a resoned voice to balance gun rights with common sense. [...]
For over 30 years, the NRA has maintained a stranglehold on Congress and statehouses all over the country. Since then, we’ve seen research on gun violence at the CDC and NIH banned, a porous background check system implemented which includes the odd feature of making state crime reporting to the database voluntary. It has vehemently defended the private sale and gun show loopholes, which allow private sales and exchanges of weapons without background (or even ID) checks. It has pushed internet sales of guns and ammo in unlimited quantities. It has bribed state politicians all over the country to weaken, and even eliminate gun safety laws. Ironically, as pointed out by the Smithsonian, gun laws in Tombstone Arizona are now weaker than when Wyatt Earp was the town marshall in the 1880s.
The NRA has even pushed the US government to turn a blind eye to the threat of “ghost guns,” those that are assembled from partially finished parts and components, completely circumventing ATF laws and regulations. Even worse, they have steadfastly pushed the proliferation of assault style weapons like the AR-15 and variants. [...]
I’ve finally decided that enough is enough. The Second Amendment is a relic of 18th century America in a time of slave-holding. The Amendment was added to the Constitution to defend the states and the new federal government from standing armies (like the British). The US was never supposed to have a standing army, but now we do, rendering the Second Amendment unnecessary. [...]
I’m not naive enough to think repeal, at least for now, is very likely; however, banning assault style weapons and associated ammo, is. Also, enacting universal background checks for ALL gun transfers is common sense that the vast majority of Americans support. Limiting magazine capacity, making crime and mental date available in the NICS (instant background check system) should have been done decades ago. All of these steps should be enacted immediately.
At The Montana Post, Don Pogreba writes—Repugnant Montana Republican Figures Out The Cause of Mass Shootings: It’s the Gays, Of Course
I’ve read some stupid shit from Montana Republicans in my life, but Kalispell Representative Matt Regier has just offered the most singularly stupid observation about a political discussion I’ve read in years. And that’s saying something, given that his father Keith once compared pregnant women to cattle in a debate on abortion.
In an editorial to the Missoulian dripping with the kind of smug self-satisfaction that comes when a person has no damn idea what he is talking about, Representative Regier rejected the idea that access to weapons of war was to blame for the number of mass shootings in America. No, the issue, according to Regier, is that we tolerate the LGBTQ community in the United States:
We have to go beyond the surface and critically think. Ask ourselves the question: Have we as a society had a shift in the past 50 years as to what we value and how we think? From ignoring basic human biology to questioning centuries-old structure of marriage, how we as a society think has ramifications.
That is some social science right there, so I thought I would check the data. According to the indispensable Wikipedia, the first four countries that legalized gay marriage were:
- The Netherlands
- Belgium
- Canada
- Spain
Surely, given his impeccable reasoning, these countries must be veritable shooting galleries, with hundreds, if not thousands of people dying each month, their nation riven by the gun violence created by “ignoring centuries-old structures of marriage.” Just how brutal is the toll, I wondered. [...]
At Capital & Main of California, Gustavo Arellano writes—The 2018 Oscars are Woke, But Hollywood Can Get Woker by Recalling Its Past:
At first glance, this year’s Academy Awards ceremony and nominations seems as woke a lineup as the Oscars has ever offered. [...]
The 2018 nominations show we’re in a golden age of African-American characters, stories, and talent, and that a purge of the industry’s toxic masculinity translates into better films. But it’s as if Hollywood feels that tackling those two longstanding problems absolves it of trying to address anything else. Just look at today’s pressing issues that big-budget films in 2017 ignored: homelessness, class inequity, the housing crisis, gentrification, climate change and more.
And in an age where diversity matters more than ever, Hollywood’s depiction of Mexicans remain problematic. The touching Pixar film Coco (nominated for Best Animated Picture) notwithstanding, Hollywood still doesn’t seem to want to cast Mexicans as anything else than the maids, janitors and security guards that executives and screenwriters encounter in their public and private lives, and the criminals that the media and politicians obsess over. Chris Rock’s ruthless 2014 Hollywood Reporter essay on the lack of representation still rings true: Hollywood keeps Mexicans in a “slave state.”
The studios need to look at their own past to see that reflecting society’s people and problems are an easy moneymaker. Consider the films of the Great Depression, more relevant than ever. Films like I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, The Grapes of Wrath, Sullivan’s Travels, Gold Diggers of 1933 became beloved because they openly attacked the institutions that dared afflict the afflicted. Same with the 1970s: Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, Coming Home, Network and others harshly depicted the Me Decade all the way to the Oscars and massive ticket sales.
Two of this year’s most prominent Best Picture nominees show a way forward for producers. The Shape of Water (directed by proud Mexican Guillermo del Toro) used a supernatural parable to critique our federal government’s xenophobia. Get Outsimilarly used the horror genre to deliver its message. Both are in some ways the most Old Hollywood of the Best Picture bunch, as they recalled Universal Studios’ historic monster movies (imagine a ride based on Get Out? Actually, you don’t have to: it’s called South Orange County).
At ProgressNow NM, a staffer writes—Doña Ana County Commission John Vasquez has resigned after continued public pressure:
Facing what news outlets described as “heavy criticism for his treatment of women and calls from top leaders in his own party to resign, Doña Ana County Commissioner John Vasquez stepped down on Thursday.”
This comes less than a week after ProgressNow New Mexico issued a public petition calling for his resignation.
Vasquez had faced direct actions from residents at the two most recent county commission meetings after he engaged in an “inappropriate” conversation with a local activist on Facebook wherein he made “your momma” jokes as well as using racist and misogynist language.
Just hours after the most recent county commission meeting, news broke that Vasquez was being accused of “inappropriate sexual misconduct” by a woman within the Democratic Party of New Mexico. Vasquez denied the accusations but in his resignation letter admitted he needs to “focus on my marriage.”
While Vasquez is a registered Democrat, he has not always voted or spoken in ways that reflected those values, often maligning “progressives” especially. At the first public meeting at which his accusers openly called for his resignation, he used his Commissioner input time on the dais to openly call for so-called Right to Work laws at the local level.
At Plunderbund of Ohio, Abe writes—Trump in Dante’s Hell:
The chronicles of America’s nightmare:
In a blink, President Trump managed to (1) trash a cancer-stricken Republican senator, (2) blame Barack Obama for all of the country’s systemic problems, (3) boast of his own courage if he had been outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the massacre, (4) praise the NRA for wanting to do what’s right, and (5) strategically insert the success of the washing machine business in the heart of his vacant blusters about gun control.
It’s possible that no other human being could get away with his hopscotching fable to make America great again.
His dreadful attack on John McCain without even mentioning the Arizonan by name was a zero on a scale that would only show up in Dante’s rings of Hell; his frequent gusts remain a yearning for another campaign in which he would, Putin willing, win the popular vote that eluded him the last time. [...]
Yet although a wide majority of Americans are expressing their disapproval of Trump to pollsters, they are reluctant to openly speak out against him, preferring to serve by also standing and waiting — for what? The time is here and now to let his sycophantic gang of candidates know that you’re mad as hell and will do everything within your power to defeat them in November.