Stories from My Political Pollution Page on Facebook

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m'eye thoughts:  How, how, HOW could he and his fellow Republicans not see this coming?

"North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory's life since he passed the new (Anti-Gay) Law HB2, has been less than stellar.  The avalanche of backlash from social media and business leaders came to a head this week when the threat of boycott turned into a reality.  Here is a short list of what went down..."

Read more at Liberal America

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Matt Bevin (R), a man with no experience in government, was sworn in as Governor of Kentucky in January, 2016.  Just a month later, in February, he had already made himself so unpopular that a petition to impeach him was circulating the state.  Now this.

So, how's that governor thing going so far, Matt?

Read more at WDRB

Mississippi Digs Deeper, Finds More and Better Ways to Discriminate

Methodist Chaplain Rev. Chris Donald
speaks at a protest of the anti-LGBT bill last week. 

Many states have considered bills that enable discrimination against the LGBT community, but Mississippi's proposed legislation is perhaps the most explicit in this regard.  HB 1523 spells out in storied detail all the different ways that a person should be able to mistreat people for being LGBT without consequences from the government.

The bill does not pretend to be neutral; it only protects people with anti-LGBT religious beliefs and nobody else...

...(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;
(b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and
(c) Male (man) or female )woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.

eye'm thynkin':  Nine months ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that same-sex marriage is a right.  Just this past week, a U.S. District Court Judge struck down Mississippi's ban against same-sex couples adopting. But the Mississippi legislature isn't going to let a little thing like judicial rulings or moral fairness stand in the way of state-sponsored discrimination.  In fact, this new bill goes into such far-reaching specifics of government sanctioned discrimination that other anti-LGBT states are going to be pea-green with envy. 

Of course, in their zeal to make sure all protections for LGBT people are eliminated, Mississippi seems to have gotten a little carried away (or maybe it was purposeful, who knows) and left loopholes large enough that will allow evangelical Christians in their state to discriminate against just about anyone.

Specifics like:  "Any person can choose not to provide treatment, counseling, or surgery related to gender transition or same-sex parenting."

So when a gay teen with suicidal thoughts seeks counseling, some right-wing nutcase can refuse to help.  How proud Mississippi must be to make sure that the opportunity to increase the number of teen suicides will now be provided by state law.

Or this: "Any person can establish 'sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming...'"  

Obviously aimed at the trans-gender community, the Mississippi legislature has technically left the door open for an employer who doesn't like women in pants to set "sex-specific standards," and to insist that all female employees wear dresses and heels. A woman who fails to comply can be fired with no legal recourse. 

Conservatives have lost the fight against same-sex marriage, so now they're falling all over themselves to be the loudest voice against transgender people.  No evidence of the existence of a problem in need of a solution is necessary, only a Bible-thumping zeal to castigate anyone who is different.  It's like the Republican voter ID thing.  They can't actually come up with any examples of a transgender person committing violence against a straight person (especially in a restroom), but they're sure it's out there somewhere and they're going to protect their women, their children and their God against it!

Read more, including a list of Mississippi's many, specific "Get Away with Discrimination Free" cards at Think Progress

Saturday's Stories from Political Pollution

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m'eye thoughts:  The American Democracy Legal Fund, apparently unaware of how super-duper special Mr. Rich White Trash is, has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Criminal Division.

Read more at Addicting Info

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"Yes, poor Mitch the sad turtle now is dealing with a real problem.  Over 25 percent of Senate Republicans are now prepared to have a hearing and vote on Obama's SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland.  He totally promised that this is the very thing that would not happen on his watch, and now here it comes raining down directly on him.  It's truly beautiful."

I do not feel bad.

Read more at Winning Democrats

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The Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission had a vacancy.  Governor LePage voiced his preference for who he wanted to fill it.  The Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee chose someone else.  So the Governor decided to act like the nasty, petty, infantile, spoiled brat he is and canceled the swearing in ceremony for newly-elected state senator, Susan Deschambault (D).  Mitch McConnell must be so-o-o-o-o jealous.

Read more at news.groopspeak

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Oh, and I sent this to Donald (Stubby Fingers) Trump's Twitter account.  Petty and silly, I know; but it kinda made made my day.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

Ohio's High Black Infant Mortality Rate - Don't Blame Me Says Kasich

Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) 

On Wednesday night during MSNBC's town hall, host Chuck Todd asked Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich (R) about his record on minority issues in his state.  He quoted a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation that ranks Ohio as the sixth worst state for a black child to grown up and where the income gap between Ohio blacks and Ohio whites is reported to be $20,000.  He pointed out that Cleveland is one of the top ten most segregated cities in the country. 

As Winning Democrats reported: 

What followed is arguably one of the most racist remarks this campaign has seen thus far.  Kasich first stated that he didn't think the statistics were true, but then he went into a bizarre, racist rant on infant mortality.  Kasich said that his infant mortality program was having great results with white people, so the issue must (obviously) be because black people aren't good at "partnership," as Kasich suggested when he said: 

"So I don't know about all that study.  I will tell you this.  The issue of infant mortality is a tough one.  We have taken that on and one of the toughest areas to take on is in the minority community. And the community itself is going to have to have a better partnership with all of us to begin to solve that problem with infant mortality in the minority community, because we're making gains in the majority community."... 

...Apparently, because there have been "gains in the majority community," it's black people's fault that results haven't been seen in their communities...  The major causes of infants deaths are "prematurity and congenital anomalies"--all of which have definitely been affected by the fact that Kasich defunded Planned Parenthood and put an end to the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies program, which was the largest infant mortality prevention program in Ohio!  Of course, Kasich mentioned none of that.

what eye thynk:  Kasich is a typical conservative Republican who gets away with calling himself a moderate simply because the other two candidates exist somewhere right of the Ayatollah.  

He doesn't care about women, minorities, the environment, or gay people.  Just as he failed to mention the cancellation of the Healthy Babies program on Wednesday evening, at other campaign stops around the country, Mr. Kasich conveniently fails to mention the nearly 20 anti-abortion bills he has signed into law, or the number of Planned Parenthood clinics he has forced to close.  He doesn't mention that the facilities he told Ohio voters would be able in pick up the void in women's healthcare created by the closing of PP clinics included dermatologists, dental offices, and school nurses. (Do you want to get your pre-natal care at your dentist's office or would you prefer to stop in at your local middle school on a day when the nurse is in?)

Mr. Kasich doesn't bother to mention that Ohio is the only state to reverse the renewable energy program put in place by his predecessor.  He doesn't mention that his administration got caught partnering with the gas and oil industry to sell the benefits of fracking.

He will tell you how he allowed same-sex marriage to begin in Ohio--but fails to mention that was only after the Supreme Court handed down its decision (and after Ohio refused to drop its case against marriage equality even after losing in District Court.)

Minorities in Ohio are mainly centered in large cities--cities like Cleveland where Kasich is highly unpopular.  He doesn't mention that either; and sadly, political pundits like Chuck Todd don't seem to want to look too deeply, perhaps fearing what they'll find. On Wednesday night, Mr. Todd actually went on to praise Gov. Kasich for the work he has done for Ohio's minorities--despite the fact that the only evidence of this "work" was the silence John Kasich uses like a shield to hide his true conservative roots.

Watching the GOP Squirm...

...is like watching a team of blindfolded NFL linebackers play Quidditch above an empty pool with rules written by the U.S. Diving Association. They're either going to drown on their own hot air, or hit bottom in one ugly splat. 

A Few More Stores I Found Interesting Today

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m'eye thoughts:  Another step...

(Mississippi)  U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan: "It also seems highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits--expressly including the right to adopt--would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit."

Read more at HuffPost Politics

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Seems that ban on Muslims isn't so absolute after all.  If you have enough money and you're in business with Mr. Rich White Trash, you'd be welcomed with open arms. 

(No privilege here, really.)

Read more at Liberal America

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King Combover proves once again that he has no idea what he's talking about.

A few weeks ago he said, when it came to Supreme Court nominees, he would let the "Heritage Foundation and others" make up a short list from which he would choose.

This week he told ABC's Good Morning America: "Well, I'd probably appoint people that would look very seriously at (Hillary Clinton's) email disaster because it's a criminal activity, and I would appoint people that would look very seriously at that to start off with."

As this article points out, "It's not how the court works.  Trump seems to believe jurists on the nation's highest court play some kind of prosecutorial role, which is a failure of Civics 101."

Read more at MSNBC