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 March 25 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents.
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Grace at Progress Missouri writes—Moms Face Online Harassment After Visit to the Capitol:
Tuesday, volunteers with Moms Demand Action, a group that organizes around common sense gun reform, came to Jefferson City to talk with their legislators about an anti-business gun bill. It's a bill that has serious effects, but has made few headlines. That's partially why it is so odd a covertly taken picture of the volunteers ended up on a gun lobby Facebook page.
Volunteers for a Missouri moms group for gun control ended up in the crosshairs of a gun lobbyist's Facebook page.
The volunteers from the Missouri chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America visited the state Legislature Tuesday to talk to lawmakers about HB 96, a business liability bill. A photo of a volunteer ended up on the Facebook page of Missouri Firearms Coalition, a gun lobbyist.
Some of the comments others made on the photo call for shooting the volunteers. Another asked, "Why are these (expletives) still above ground."
Missourians who visit the Capitol to speak with their legislators should never be harassed for doing so. And while it is wrong for individuals to post threatening comments online, it is also inexcusable for group leaders to provide a platform for that kind of behavior, which the Missouri Firearms Coalition did by posting the unapproved photos and not deleting the offensive comments right away.
Chris Savage at Eclectablog of Michigan writes—Artist Michael D’Antuono’s latest piece illustrates who Republicans are actually bowing down before:
I’m a big fan of artist Michael D’Antuono and have featured his amazing paintings here at Eclectablog in the past.
His latest piece, “The Elephant in the Room”, is outstanding. It captures the capitulation of Republicans to the subservience of Donald Trump to the man he serves, Vladimir Putin [...]
“I just wanted to point out that at almost every turn, the same Republicans who have threatened to lock Hillary up, have somehow chosen to look the other way when it comes to Trump’s much more egregious offenses” said D’Antuono.
Ironically, the artist first entered the national stage, creating a firestorm of controversy on President Obama’s 100th day in office with his painting of the President wearing a crown of thorns.
To see more of his brilliant art and learn more about the artist himself, visit ArtAndResponse.com.
lowkell at Blue Virginia writes—Video: Corey Stewart Continues His Demagogic, Racist, Neo-Confederate Campaign for Virginia Governor:
Now, I agree with Corey Stewart that Ed Gillespie is “a K-Street insider lobbyist who stands for nothing, lost to Mark Warner three years ago and will lose again in November.” Other than that, though, Corey Stewart is just despicable – racist, xenophobic, demagogic, etc. – beyond belief. Also note that Stewart’s a liar (he “began airing the statewide radio ad and YouTube video on Wednesday that incorrectly says Gillespie told The Washington Post he is opposed to any state legislation that would bar local communities from removing Confederate monuments.”). Just pathetic any way you look at him. And, of course (it goes without saying), he’s a Virginia Republican…
Vern Nelson at the Orange Juice Blog of California writes—“Helicopter Rides!” HB Trump-Right Yearns for South American Genocides of the 70’s:
Can I add anything to the OC Weekly and Register coverage of the horrors of last Saturday’s Bolsa Chica Trump March, in my old hometown of Huntington Beach? Well, maybe a little […]
Some jerkoff made himself ubiquitous with a big “Da Goyim Know” – a contemporary anti-semitic slogan translating (from ebonics/Yiddish/English), “We gentiles are wising up to you Jews’ big conspiracy against us all, so you better watch your backs!” Members of the local white supremacist gang the Hammerskin Nation were out in force. “Faggot,” “pussy,” “bitch,” “homo,” and “commie” were the handy terms thrown at any dissenters. Most sickening though was the talk of “helicopter rides,” which took me a minute to figure out.
“You can’t run, you can’t hide, you get a helicopter ride!” the chant went, and drooling malevolent doofuses would just blurt out the words “Helicopter rides, huh-huh-huh.” That’s right – in the 1970’s, both the war criminal Pinochet in Chile (below) and the war criminal generals in Argentina’s Dirty War (both backed secretly and shamefully by Kissinger-era America) used to round up anyone critical of their governments, anybody pushing for positive change (all of which were telltale signs of a “Communist”), load them in a helicopter, and dump them in the ocean, thus leading to tens of thousands of “desaparecidos” – disappeared people.
So this is what these “Trumpenkriegers” would love to see, what they fantasize President Trump should and maybe someday will do – round up all of us “Communists” who disagree with his Muslim travel ban, his deportations and wall, his war on the environment and robbery of the poor, etc., and drop us off a helicopter to drown in the Pacific or Atlantic. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember ever wishing something like that on them.
Delaware Dem at Blue Delaware writes—HB110 – The Legalization of Marijuana:
Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, Rep. Helene Keeley, Rep. Paul Baumbach, Rep. John Kowalko, and Rep. John Viola, as well as Delaware’s lead Public Defender, Brendan O’Neill, announced the filing of HB110 this afternoon, which is bipartisan legislation that would legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana in Delaware under similar regulations to those governing liquor stores. [...]
The bill still prohibits driving while stoned, and it prohibits the purchase of marijuana by anyone under the age of 21. The bill would also prohibit the consumption and/or smoking of marijuana in public, and it would also still prohibit the growing of personal marijuana plants at home. [...]
[Sen. Henry said] “The prohibition of marijuana has grown our prison population to unsafe levels; it has derailed thousands of lives and wasted immeasurable potential; and it has perpetuated unacceptable racial disparities in our criminal justice system – all over a drug safer than alcohol, less addictive than tobacco, and easier for our kids to get their hands on than either. This policy has wreaked havoc on our communities, and it’s time for us to reverse course.”
A poll conducted by the University of Delaware last year found that more than 60 percent of Delawareans support full legalization of marijuana. But Gov. John Carney has his doubts.
Tom von Alten at fortboise of Idaho writes—Stop me if you've heard this one:
Jeanette works as a volunteer at the Boise Public Library! once a week, handling the considerable weight of donations it receives, and turning them into good things like tens of thousands of dollars to stock branch libraries and such. The library system's Friends "accept donations of materials which are in sellable condition. These materials may include books, records, DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes, software, and magazines. Some of these gifts are incorporated into the Library’s collection, while others are sold by the Friends to benefit the Library."
Some that donors may or may not have truly believed were in "sellable condition" are destined for the chop box, and recycled into their raw materials. A few of those unlucky items are intercepted before they succumb to that massive increase in entropy.
One such item is James E. Neal Jr.'s 9th edition of Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals, a surprisingly hefty handbook that enjoyed two printings as a first edition in 1978, and 54 more printings from 1981 to 2001. With new editions arriving on a 2 to 3 year cycle, we can only hope they kept a good journaled database to capture the historical evolution of management-speak in shaping subordinates to higher and better purposes. "Phrases are continuously added and revised to describe ever changing job responsibilities in today's workspace." Its contents are organized into six component chapters:
- Effective Phrases
- Two Word Phrases
- Helpful Adjectives
- Helpful Verbs
- Performance Rankings
- Time Frequency (from "always" to "never")
and culminate in VII. Guidelines for Successful Evaluations.
desmoinesdem of Bleeding Heartland of Iowa writes—Kim Reynolds applauds Terry Branstad's latest steps to hurt Iowa workers:
On Thursday Governor Terry Branstad signed two of the most mean-spirited bills to come out of the Republican-controlled legislature this year. House File 295 prevents local governments from raising the minimum wage, potentially affecting an estimated 85,000 people working in five Iowa counties. (Lee County supervisors voted this week to raise the minimum wage, following the example set by leaders in Johnson, Linn, Polk, and Wapello.) House File 518 overhauls the workers’ compensation system in ways that guarantee fewer Iowans will qualify for benefits, and those who do will receive less money, especially for shoulder injuries.
Amid several false or misleading statements in the news release on the latest bill signings, one true fact emerges: Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds enthusiastically endorses these new laws. She will own their every harmful consequence. [...]
D.C. DeWitt at Plunderbund of Ohio writes—Former White House Photographer Recalls 8 Years With President Obama:
What’s it like to spend eight years in close company with the President of the United States, in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room, on helicopters in the dead of night secretly flying in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Pete Souza provided exactly that insight during his first public speech about his work since serving as the chief White House photographer during President Barack Obama’s two terms in office.
Souza spoke Tuesday afternoon at Ohio University’s Schuneman Symposium for Photojournalism & News Media. The Baker Center Theater was so full for his talk that organizers set up an additional 200 chairs in the Baker Ballroom with a live-stream of the speech, and most of those seats were filled as well.
“I looked at my job as trying to show him as president and as a human being,” Souza said. “You guys all know the play, ‘Hamilton,’ and the song, ‘In the Room Where It Happens.’ I was always in the room where it happened. I took that seriously. I tried to do it as a documentary photographer with aesthetics in mind.” [...]
Another photo shows just President Obama’s hand pointing out a line of edits he made in a speech he gave to a joint session of U.S. Congress on the importance of getting the Affordable Care Act passed. Souza said Obama would spend hours with his speech-writers poring over every word and explaining his goals and thinking.
Souza choked up during several reflections on his time with the president. The idea of a former Beatle singing “Michelle” to the woman who grew up from Chicago’s South Side to become First Lady was one of them. [...]
A staffer at ColoradoPols writes—Developers Torpedo Best Construction-Defects Deal They’re Likely To Get–Again:
As the Durango Herald’s Luke Perkins reports, a once-heralded deal between Republicans and Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly to address the perennially fraught issue of making it harder for homeowners in multifamily developments to sue builders over defects in construction is coming apart:
The Homeownership Opportunity Alliance, which is a group of community leaders backing efforts to reform construction defects litigation, has pulled its support on two bipartisan measures aimed at easing the problem.
Assistant House Minority Leader Alec Garnett, D-Denver, said the alliance voted Tuesday night to pull its support from House Bill 1279, which would require a homeowners association gather a simple majority of votes from unit owners in order to pursue litigation for defects. [...]
This latest compromise between Democratic Rep. Alec Garnett and GOP Reps. Cole Wist and Lori Saine was hailed by House Speaker Crisanta Duran as the long-awaited solution to a problem that the legislature has been unable to “solve” for years running. The Build Our Homes Right coalition, which has consistently fought attempts to fully take away homeowners’ rights to sue while working in good faith, were prepared to accept it as a compromise that didn’t go too far against homeowners.
But just as we’ve seen in years past, nothing short of shunting all construction defect claims into arbitration will suffice for the builder industry.
countrycat at Left in Alabama writes— Only Two Alabama Representatives Vote To Protect Internet Privacy:
There’s no small amount of cognitive dissonance involved in typing these four words: “Good job, Mo Brooks.” And yet, Brooks (CD-05) joined with Rep. Terri Sewell (CD-07) yesterday to vote NO on a GOP anti-privacy, pro-telecom bill. Both the Senate and House voted to roll back landmark Obama-era Internet privacy regulations. (Bill numbers were SJ 34 and HB 230) The House vote was close: 205-210. Alabama’s other representatives could have stopped it, but chose instead to protect big telecom & big campaign contributions.
Essentially, they’ve given huge telecom companies carte blanche to collect your Internet browsing history and preferences, package that data, and sell it to advertisers. Campers, be careful what search terms you use because it’s about to be part of your consumer profile. [...]
Oddly, neither Representative has released a statement about the bill or even mentioned it in passing on their social media feeds. Brooks is busy displaying his tail feathers over his bill to repeal Obamacare (hey, one step forward and a giant jump backwards), while Sewell is busy stalking Trump’s tax returns and Rep. Nunes (you go, girl!).
In any case, for whatever reason, Sewell & Brooks voted to protect consumers and privacy. Too bad Alabama’s remaining representatives and senators chose to stand with big telecoms instead.
Jennifer Boylan at R.I. Future.org writes—Legislation keeping domestic abusers from accessing guns needs your support:
[...] Research on Rhode Island domestic abuse restraining orders released in 2015 by Everytown for Gun Safety showed that even in cases where an abuser presented a firearms threat, courts only ordered abusers to turn in their guns in less than 13 percent of cases. As a consequence, 325 abusers here in RI who appeared to have access to firearms were not ordered to surrender them – even though that same research showed that most of them were already prohibited from possessing guns by federal law. This leaves victims living in constant fear that their abuser maybe be armed and dangerous.
That is unacceptable.
The good news is that important legislation that would help protect Rhode Island domestic abuse victims has been introduced in the General Assembly. Representative Teresa Tanzi (Democrat, District 34, Narragansett, South Kingstown) and Senator Harold Metts (Democrat, District 6, Providence) have introduced bills H5510/S405 which would make sure that dangerous domestic abusers are ordered to turn their guns in for as long as they can’t legally have them.
The bill would bring Rhode Island law in line with federal law by prohibiting gun possession by abusers convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors. The bill would also bring Rhode Island law in line with federal law and that of 25 other states by prohibiting gun possession for domestic abusers that are subject to final domestic abuse protective orders. Finally, the bill would require all prohibited domestic abusers to turn in guns they already own.
Fifteen states—including Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York—have already enacted legislation like this to protect victims of domestic abuse. Given the overwhelming evidence that victims are safer if their abusers don’t have guns, our state is failing. [...]
Sally Jo Sorensen at Bluestem Prairie of Minnesota writes—Glenn Gruenhagen authors bill to ban gender inclusive workplaces, public accommodations:
On Tuesday, Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, a Republican from Glencoe, introduced a bill to ban transgender people from using the restroom at their place of employment as well in public places. HF2553 would also codify into law a male-female gender binary.
The bill updates the legal definition of “sex” to be “A person’s sex is either male or female as biologically defined.” The bill does not say what “biologically defined” is comprised of.
The bill also would impose a law on employers that would prohibit them from enacting gender inclusive workplaces and force them to label all multiple occupancy facilities as either male or female:
The provisions of section 363A.11 relating to sexual orientation as defined in section 363A.03, subdivision 44, shall not apply to the employment of any individual with regard to facilities such as restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, or other similar places. No claim of nontraditional identity or sexual orientation may override another person’s right of privacy based on biological sex in such facilities as restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, and other similar places, which shall remain reserved for males or females as they are biologically defined.
The bill does the same for public restrooms and other facilities:
The provisions of section 363A.11 relating to sex, or sexual orientation as defined in section 363A.03, subdivision 44, shall not apply to such public facilities as restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, and other similar places. No claim of nontraditional identity or sexual orientation may override another person’s right of privacy based on biological sex in public facilities such as restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, and other similar places, which shall remain reserved for males or females as biologically defined.
Finally, the bill doubles down on the prohibition on employers adopting gender inclusive workplace:
“Other than single-occupancy facilities, no employer shall permit access to restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, and other similar places on any basis other than biological sex.”