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 June 17 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents. |
Martha Jackovics at Beach Peanuts of Florida writes—Sen. Nelson And Sen. Rubio Weigh In On GOP Senate's AHCA Disaster:
[...] Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio went with his usual smoke and mirrors approach, pretending to be concerned about something he'll no doubt vote for regardless, simply because he would do anything to erase President Obama's legacy, which provides a bonus if it ends health insurance for millions while making his donors that much wealthier:
“Senator Rubio will decide how to vote on health care on the basis of how it impacts Florida. He has already spoken to Governor Scott, Senate President Negron and Speaker Corcoran about the first draft of this proposal. He has instructed his staff to share with state leaders the first draft and has asked them to run numbers and provide input on how this initial proposal would impact Florida’s Medicaid program and individual insurance marketplace. He has invited them to send staff to Washington next week to help us formulate changes and amendments to this proposal. He will continue to reach out for input and suggested changes from Florida providers, insurers and patient advocate groups.”
Rather than read the bill himself, Rubio will just outsource that job to his Republican friends in Florida. You know, the ones who never found an excuse to cut people's health care they didn't love and embrace without a thought. Rubio would very much like them to crunch the numbers and see just how many people need to be cut off from health care in Florida to satisfy their greed posthaste so Republicans can vote on it next week and get on with their next taxpayer funded recess. As for Gov. Rick Scott, well, does Rubio really need his input? After all, this bill would be like Christmas to the governor, and any Republican governor who might follow him into office, especially when you consider that under the Senate plan governors can waive Medicaid without any legislator's action, period. What's not to love?
As for Rubio reaching out to Florida "providers, insurers and patient advocate groups," let's get serious. The Republicans in D.C. also barred providers and patient advocacy groups from meetings even though there were numerous requests to be included, and for good reason. They're all against the Republicans' plans. As for insurers, they'll no doubt be on board with the plan, after all, Republicans want to sweeten the deal by eliminating caps on insurance executive's compensation.
Carla Hanson at Blue Oregon writes—PRIDE-ish:
In an 11th hour controversy, NW Pride Director Debra Porta asked Portland Police and Sheriff Deputies planning to march in this weekend's Pride parade to do so not wearing the uniform. Porta reported that the Northwest Pride Board was prompted to take the action by community members who'd had issues with police:
"...We have two things true at once..." said Porta in a letter to Portland Police and Multnomah Sheriff's Office, "LGBTQ people have made tremendous strides, in being able to serve in law enforcement as out individuals AND we have a great many in our community still traumatized and targeted by law enforcement, as a whole. Given both of these things, we at Pride Northwest, as the entity entrusted to represent and honor ALL of our community, find ourselves caught in the middle. We have been approached by many in our community, who don’t feel safe at their own Pride, with a great many planning not to participate at all."
Porta, the long-time leader in one of the hardest jobs in our LGBT community, rightly recognized the Board's untenable position - no matter what was said or decided, there were folks who were going to be pissed and hurt. Porta tried to thread the needle; while asking law enforcement to bag the uniforms, she also promised that no cop would be turned away, and later emphasized that the no-uniform thing was simply a suggestion.
But the effort to make the ask more kindly and gentle fell flat. Multnomah Sheriff's Office pulled out of the parade, other than assigned details, and individual Portland LGBT police officers responded with predictable hurt.
"To have my own gay community tell me to hide a part of who I am seems to be against everything they stand for,'' said Lt. Tashia Hager of PPB in a recent OregonLive article. [...]
Dannial Budhwani at Left in Alabama writes—An apology for white liberals:
On Wednesday, Josh Moon at Alabama Political Reporter published an article titled “An apology for white people”.
His article is in response to Hanceville, Alabama’s white mayor requesting New Orleans’ mayor to send their Civil War monuments which honor the Confederacy to his town. Moon criticizes this mayor’s racist request and says that “such ignorance shouldn’t be a surprise to us.”
He says, “If you’re white and you’ve lived in Alabama for any significant period of time, you’ve found yourself in the white scrums, where the racism – after glancing around and lowering the voices – bubbles to the surface.”
Moon fixates on these private, racist conversations that white people have, how “ignorant” these people are and how “dumb” racism is. He laments the “complacency” which allows racism to continue, and calls for us to speak up more in these social occurrences.
But if Moon’s analysis is correct, then how should we, as citizens of Alabama, address racism today? Instead of racism being a public problem that shapes the economic and political institutions in our state, Moon gives an account of racism that trivializes it into the private conversational habits of white people.
Civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael gives a sharp rebuke to this view of racism: “If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.”
Instead of looking at power, Moon looks at racism in Alabama as a knowledge problem, where “ignorance is cultivated and allowed to survive”. But I don’t think the political and economic leaders of Alabama were ignorant in any way about the racist policies that have shaped our state today. [...]
El Jefe at Juanita Jean’s of Texas writes—If Only He Could Use Google Instead of Twitter …
Oh y’all, at the rally last night, Trump said that legal immigrants who enter the United States should not be eligible for welfare benefits for five years.
Sounds like a good deal to me, because BILL CLINTON PASSED THAT LAW IN 2006. (Sorry for hollering but my forehead hurts from banging it on the desk every damn day.)
Yeah, that’s been the law since 1996.
“The time has come for new immigration rules which say that those seeking admission into our country must be able to support themselves financially and should not use welfare for a period of at least five years,” Trump told a crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at the U.S. Cellular Center.
The president said his administration would be “putting in legislation to that effect very shortly.”
So, is he going to claim that he time-traveled back to 1996?
I can’t take it.
Michael Bersin at Show Me Progress of Missouri writes—Planned Parenthood #PinkOut in Kansas City – June 21, 2017:
Last night in midtown Kansas City well over a hundred supporters of Planned Parenthood, most dressed in pink, demonstrated in support of women’s health care on Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard. This was one of many #PinkOut actions across the country. [...]
The demonstration lasted over an hour until sunset. […]
Toward the end of the demonstration the occupants of a passing car stopped in the street and joined in. [...]
Women are leading the resistance.
John Michael Spinelli at Plunderbund of Ohio writes—Ohio On Track In 2017 For Slowest Job Growth Since 2009:
For all Ohioans who are still looking for a job, but who can’t find one because Gov. John Kasich can’t create them nearly fast enough even though he has a billion-dollar, hand-picked, private job creation group (JobsOhio) exempt from public scrutiny at his beck and call, keep holding your breath.
While reports last week on monthly job creation figures released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) spawned headlines about a very minor downward tick in Ohio’s unemployment rate, the news buried in the data shows that the governor’s production of jobs after just five months is a paltry 11, 700. [...]
As Cleveland research analyst George Zeller explained, this pace puts Ohio on track to perform even slower than it did last year, when Kasich spent a third of the year selling himself as a GOP hopeful for president who promised to do for the nation what he’s done in Ohio.
The 2017 rate of job creation, if it continues, will mark an even slower growth performance than Ohio had during 2016, a presidential year in which the great swing state produced the smallest yearly job increase since the Great Recession in 2009.
Joe Rubin at Capital & Main of California writes—Promise Breakers: Introduction to a Public Health Scandal:
A Capital & Main investigation has confirmed five cases of lead poisoning that were linked to Sacramento’s James Mangan Rifle and Pistol Range. As we reported last December, the 54-year-old gun range was padlocked in January 2015, after tests showed toxic levels of lead dust in nearly every corner of the building. The recent indictments of state officials in Michigan for involuntary manslaughter related to the lead contamination of the city of Flint’s water supply shows what can happen when there is resolve across the political spectrum to hold officials accountable for environmental crimes. But what happens when the spotlight is dimmer — or, in the case of Sacramento, nonexistent?
[See These Stories — How Regulators Failed to Stop a Sacramento Lead Hazard; Questions About Missing Cash and a Toxic Gun Range; Video: Scenes From a Regulatory Failure.]
Today independent health experts caution there could be dozens — perhaps hundreds — of undiagnosed cases connected to the gun range, which was located on the grounds of a public recreation park. While internal city emails cited “sky high” levels of lead as the reason for its closure, public notices simply announced the building, situated in a working-class residential neighborhood, was “temporarily closed.” There was no mention of the word “lead.”
Yet documents obtained as part of our investigation show that officials in California’s Department of Public Health (CDPH) knew as far back as 2002 that workers at the range had levels of lead in their blood so high they could lead to organ shutdown and death. A federal directive on lead hazards in the workplace says that such extreme cases are “high-gravity, serious” and “must be handled by inspection.” Because hazards inside the range required millions of dollars in fixes to bring it up to safe federal standards, an inspection would have almost certainly led to the facility’s permanent closure. Instead of referring the case for inspection, CDPH decided to trust city assurances that Sacramento would do better.
A staff writer at Colorado Pols writes—Daily D’oh: Tapes, What Tapes?
There is so much breaking news lately on the ever-widening allegations about Russian ties to the Trump campaign that it can be difficult to keep track of everything. With that in mind, we’ve created what we’re calling “The Daily D’oh!” to help you stay up-to-date on President Trump and the rest of the White House staff as more news emerges about Russia, James Comey, Robert Mueller, special investigations and everything else related to this ongoing crisis…
♦ D’OH!
This bit of news should not get lost in today’s discussion about the Senate healthcare legislation. From the New York Times:
President Trump acknowledged Thursday that he had not recorded his conversations with James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired amid the Justice Department’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia.
“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking, and illegal leaking of information,” Mr. Trump said in a pair of tweets shortly before 1 p.m., “I have no idea …. whether there are ‘tapes’ of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, such recordings.”…
…The president’s Twitter messages on Thursday left open the possibility that the conversations may have been taped without his knowledge. But they largely confirmed the suspicions of outsiders that Mr. Trump had been leveling a baseless threat at Mr. Comey on May 12, when he wrote, “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
It took 41 days for President Trump to publicly deny the existence of taped conversations with former FBI Director James Comey. Trump quite literally could have done this at any time in the last 41 days.
Brian Sewell at the Front Porch Blog of Appalachian Voices writes—All the ways this White House props up coal:
The steps taken by these agencies in line with Trump’s priorities range from the trivial to the truly terrifying. One day EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt says on national television that carbon dioxide is not a “primary contributor” to climate change; the next, web content about basic climate science vanishes from the agency’s website. Then it gets worse. Trump rescinds the Stream Protection Rule, signs an executive order to unravel federal climate policies and indefensibly withdraws the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. [...]
On June 19, Energy Secretary Rick Perry was asked the same question on the same show and, like Pruitt, falsely said that CO2 is not the “primary control knob” of climate change. According to Perry, “most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.”
I would suggest we count the steps the Trump administration has taken thus far to dismantle public health, environmental and climate protections that disadvantage coal but, after just a few months, that’s becoming difficult. Columbia University’s Sabin Center has set up a climate deregulation tracker, though, and the list keeps growing. When taken together, the less reported and much-publicized moves make up one of the most coordinated efforts across an executive branch that otherwise seems, let’s say, disorderly. [...]
Another reminder that this administration will do coal’s bidding came last month at an energy conference held in Disney World — where “dreams come true,” apparently even for the coal industry. As reported by S&P Global, Mandy Gunasekara, a senior policy adviser at the EPA, told an audience of industry representatives, “I’m here to talk to you to make sure what we’re doing in D.C. is beneficial for you. If it’s not working, I want to hear about it so that we can work it out.”
That’s the message coming from political appointees that also frequently accuse the previous administration of letting a political agenda dictate our energy policies
Rob Schofield at NC Policy Watch’s Progressive Pulse writes—NC government will give $300K in public funds to religious anti-abortion advocacy group:
It’s bad enough that North Carolina lawmakers are preparing to give a bunch of money to so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” that mislead women by implying that they provide actual health care when their entire mission is to convince them to carry their pregnancies to term, no matter what the circumstances of the pregnancy or health risks. Now, they’re prepared to make things worse by earmarking $300,000 to a Texas-based anti-choice advocacy outfit that exists to outlaw all abortions. This is from the folks at the nonprofit watchdog Media Matters:
“Human Coalition is an anti-abortion organization that uses internet marketing strategies to deceive so-called ‘abortion-determined’ women in an attempt to steer them to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), facilities that try to convince pregnant persons to reject abortion. According to a February 2017 Live Action News profile of the group, the organization’s goal is to ‘make abortion unthinkable and unavailable’ by directing patients to a network of CPCs — some of which are operated by Human Coalition itself. In 2007, founder Brian Fisher and his friend Tim Kachuriak piloted the idea of ‘targeting the people making [pro-abortion] searches with ads for life-affirming resources,’ theorizing that they could use ‘internet search engine marketing’ to stop abortion. The organization was referred to as Online for Life until 2016 when it rebranded itself as Human Coalition. In a March 2017 speech for the hate group Family Research Council (FRC), Fisher told attendees, ‘Human Coalition is one of the larger pro-life groups in the country that no one has ever heard of.’”
This from the group’s website:
“Abortion is a stain on America. And the God who gives life will not hold us guiltless.”
Now, under the new proposed state budget, if it becomes law:
“$300,000 in nonrecurring funds for each fiscal year of the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium shall be transferred to the Human Coalition, a nonprofit organization, to develop and implement a two-year continuum of care pilot program…
Tom Von Alten at FortBoise of Idaho writes—A thousand points of light:
No big surprises in the Lucky 13 Senate healthcare bill, apparently still trying to steer between "mean" and a semblance of legitimacy. It's a warmed-over version of the House's cat puke. Or is there some nicer lipstick you can think of for "this huge tax cut for people who don't need it 'funded' by taking away healthcare insurance for 20 million people who do need it" that I'm missing? The "Live Free and Die If You Can't Afford Healthcare" tranche including the likes of Rand Paul and Richard Viguerie's Conservative HQ are afraid that it might only be "cosmetic surgery." They exhort their readers to call the Capitol Switchboard (1-866-220-0044) and urge your Senators to make it meaner!
Remember, no more than two defectors can be allowed.
Here's an interesting twist: a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad tucked into CHQ's bulk email. How many of their readers will take the jump to CONDEMN TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON THE EPA, do you suppose? Are they testing me? If only I had more javascript turned on, maybe my CHQ-to-DCCC click-through could have been duly registered to update my voter profile.
Anyone who helped themselves to the massive trove of Deep Root Analytics' work whoopsadaisy exposed on the 'net will need to update that item of mine, among the ten billion (give or take) data points characterizing the hive mind of the electorate.
If your glass is half-full, take heart that "there is no indication that the database had been tapped by any other unauthorized parties while it was unprotected." If your glass is half-infested with waterborne bacteria, ask yourself how the careless data stewards would even know about "indications" they'd been compromised? Let alone honestly report facts to a third-party or the L.A. Times? [...]
Trish Nelson at Blog for Iowa gave the Iowa Democratic Party a spot to respond to Donald Trump’s Wednesday speech in Cedar Rapids: Why Does Iowa GOP Love Trump More Than Iowa?
Well President Trump’s event in Cedar Rapids went as expected.
The President took the stage and spent the entire event bragging about problems he hasn’t solved, policy he has no knowledge of, and results that he hasn’t achieved.
President Trump doesn’t understand what the people of Iowa need. He hasn’t spent any time in the fields behind the wheel of a combine or in a classroom teaching children math and science. He doesn’t know what it is like to work from sunrise to sunset to earn an honest paycheck.
He proved it to us tonight. His comments on the reckless withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord show his lack of understanding on how vital clean energy is to Iowa. He mocked wind energy in the state with the 2nd highest wind energy production in the country.
Even more, Trump claimed, “The two parties should come together and come up with a great deal on healthcare.” That is coming from the highest office holder in a party holding secret, partisan negotiations on healthcare reform that will put 1.3 million Iowans at risk of losing their coverage. This is not a good example of “coming together”.
And what’s worse? Iowa GOP leaders are standing right there with Trump. Iowans need leaders who will represent Iowa values and not stand by while President Trump destroys all the progress we have made.
Commit to call our elected officials and tell them to start standing up for Iowa values.