Contributors

Showing posts with label Mike Pence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Pence. Show all posts

Saturday, September 02, 2017

Pence...Not

It was a mild breath of fresh air to see our VP act like a human being in response to the devastation down in Houston. Trump is down there today hoping for a do over. As I was watching Pence, I puzzled at why the GOP in Congress doesn't want to cut bait from Trump and just have Pence. After all, they could impeach Trump whenever they want to, right? Then they would have a true conservative.

Then it hit me.

A President Pence would mean that they would lose all those people that voted for Obama twice and then Trump in those key districts in the Rust Belt. There are just aren't enough conservative votes out there for Republicans to win anymore. They need Democrats to bring them over the top.

What does that say about their party?

Sunday, July 24, 2016

The Most Powerful VP in History

Over the course of the last week or so there have been some seriously disturbing reports that Trump's vetting process for VP essentially boiled down to one question.

How would you like to be the most powerful VP in history?

Essentially, Mike Pence took the job knowing that he would run all foreign and domestic affairs while Trump's job would be to make America great again (see below for the meaning of this). This gibes with the larger story that has been gaining a great deal of traction in which Trump doesn't really want to be president. He just wants to win and then let someone else do all the work. He gets to be the authoritarian figure and spew edicts but not actually do any work.

Of course this raises another issue that has been bothering me for the last few weeks. Donald Trump has managed to become the candidate that has captured the dark heart of American nationalism. The people that support him want an authoritarian leader who is going to bring us back to the time when the blacks knew their place, the gays were in jail, and women had dinner ready on time. That's what "Make America Great Again" really means and it's surprising to me that the same people who fret over Nazi like takeovers of the government are cheering for this one to happen.

That's what I saw on display all last week at the GOP convention and this latest story about who will actually run the country pretty much nails what Trump is all about.

Thursday, April 02, 2015

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

The Indiana Backpedal

Governor Mike Pence has caved.  He wants "clarification" legislation on his desk this week so there can be no mistake that Indiana SB 101 will allow discrimination against gays and lesbians.

So, once this gets all sorted out, how will businesses then be allowed to exercise their "religious freedom" if they view homosexuality as a sin? It seems to me that any clarification legislation will nullify the very goal of the law. Yet, conservatives are telling us that this was never the goal nor will it be so in the future. If this is the case, what was the goal?

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Indiana A Go Go

Let the mad scramble to "explain" the new Indiana law begin!

I've watched with great amusement as conservatives in Indiana and across the nation have been falling all over themselves to reassure folks that their law does not allow discrimination against gay people. They've foamed at the mouth about "narratives" (code for "shit, we got caught with the truth again") and made false equivalencies to other laws which are supposedly the same thing. If they had only followed their own ideology of laws and unintended consequences, perhaps it might have turned out differently.

Instead, they passed a law to protect the thousands (see: absolutely fucking no one, misleading vividness) of people (see: Christians) being persecuted by the state (see: Obama...somehow) for their religious beliefs (see: making a cake for a gross gay couple) across Indiana. Didn't they realize that the free market (oh, hee hee hee ho ho...giggle fit complete with stomach grab) and the FIRST FUCKING AMENDMENT might not work in their favor?

Well, now Republican legislators are scrambling to add language to the bill that won't allow for discrimination against gays and lesbians. Shit...there goes the whole "I hate gays and won't serve 'em cuz my religion says so" point of this law!

AP has a nice summation of all of the latest, including this most excellent part.

Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Long stressed that the new law is based on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which has been upheld by courts. But the Human Rights Campaign said it's disingenuous to compare the two laws. 

The campaign's legal director, Sarah Warbelow, said the federal law was designed to ensure religious minorities were protected from laws passed by the federal government that might not have been intended to discriminate but had that effect. The Indiana law, she said, allows individuals to invoke government action even when the government is not a party to a lawsuit. It also allows all businesses to assert religious beliefs regardless of whether they are actually religious organizations.

Disingenuous...shocking!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Fine Tuning the Gay-Dar

Indiana passed a law this week allowing business to refuse customers due to religious objections. Essentially this means that if a business owner sniffs out the gay on someone, the state won't be allowed to compel them to serve said sinner.

There are a number of profoundly stupid things about this law and we are now seeing the fallout. Businesses are scrambling for "We Serve Everyone" stickers. Angie's list is cancelling their plans to expand into Indiana. The NCAA is reconsidering its place in Indianapolis and for future Final Four events. Indiana tourism are worried that the 4.4 billion dollar a year/75,000 jobs industry is going to be hit. Even Indiana businesses, the ones that conservative ideologues in the state are saying they are "protecting" are in full on pants shitting mode.

But the one thing I can't figure out is this. How can someone who is one of these "religious freedom riders" tell if someone is gay who enters their store? Men carrying photos of themselves with a vagina? :)

Monday, November 01, 2010

Wednesday, November 3rd.

Tomorrow is the election. So what are our choices? A friend of mine on Facebook put it best.

Republicans - Toxic economic ideas, more interested in obstruction, power, and "winning the game" than actually helping people. Democrats -- Spineless. Unable to lead, inspire, or communicate the few good ideas they do have. Tea partiers -- Mostly too insane to hold office. Yay! Let's all go vote next Tuesday!


I completely agree. I think that many Americans do as well and that's why voter turnout will be low tomorrow. This, of course, favors the Republicans. If they win both or either house, what can we expect?

The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one term president.----Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader.


So, it's not serve the American people. Winning is more important. What else can we expect?

This is not a time for compromise, and I can tell you that we will not compromise on our principles. ---John Boehner, likely Speaker of the House should the GOP win.


There will be no compromise---Mike Pence, GOP leader and Congressmen from Indiana.


Contrast this with what President Obama said would happen if the Republicans win.

If the Republicans don't agree with me on fiscal policy, maybe they'll agree with me on infrastructure. If they don't agree with me on infrastructure, I'll try to see if they agree with me on education. So I'm just going to keep trying to see where they want to move the country forward.


The answer, Mr. President, is nowhere. They want you to fail. They want you and the Democrats to lose. They could give two shits about the American people. All they care about is power and money. Why are Democrats so naive in thinking otherwise?

Another one of my Facebook friends had this question pose of him recently.

If all these things are so great, then why are so many Democrats shunning the President and running against him as well as Nanci Pelosi???

His answer was perfect.

Short Answer: "Poll Shows Americans Don't Know"

Longer Answer: We wouldn't have needed a stimulus package, had nearly 10% unemployment, we would have better than 2% growth if the economy had been managed properly during the previous administration.

Thank deregulation, lack of financial iindustry oversight, unnecessary, expensive and poorly executed wars/quagmires, and a ballooning government (have any idea how much the Department of Homeland Security cost?) during the Bush years. Instead of squandering the Clinton tax surplus and in-debting ourselves to China, it should have been used to pay down our debt and invested in infrastructure, energy independence and education.

The Republican platform that got us into this mess has not changed. There is no way to cut taxes and reduce the debt at the same time. There is no free lunch, Republicans. This isn't socialism, it's reality. Why don't people get this? Poll Shows Americans Don't Know

He's right. Take a look at this poll. And it's this lack of knowledge that the Republicans have exploited with fear and anger.


--Let’s have more tax cuts, unlinked to any specific spending cuts and while we’re still fighting two wars — because that worked so well during the Bush years to make our economy strong and our deficit small.

--Let’s immediately cut government spending, instead of phasing cuts in gradually, while we’re still mired in a recession — because that worked so well in the Great Depression.

--Let’s roll back financial regulation — because we’ve learned from experience that Wall Street can police itself and average Americans will never have to bail it out.

--Let’s have no limits on corporate campaign spending so oil and coal companies can more easily and anonymously strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its powers to limit pollution in the air our kids breathe.

--Let’s discriminate against gays and lesbians who want to join the military and fight for their country.

--Let’s restrict immigration, because, after all, we don’t live in a world where America’s most important competitive advantage is its ability to attract the world’s best brains.

--Let’s repeal our limited health care reform rather than see what works and then fix it.

--Let’s oppose the free-trade system that made us rich.

--Let’s kowtow even more to public service unions so they’ll make even more money than private sector workers, so they’ll give even more money to Democrats who will give them even more generous pensions, so not only California and New York will go bankrupt but every other state too.

--Let’s pay for more tax cuts by uncovering waste I can’t identify, fraud I haven’t found and abuse that I’ll get back to you on later.

For those of you who wonder why I vote for Democrats, look to the statements in bold. The Democrats aren't perfect (and I do stand with Friedman on both of the issues he lays at their feet) but the Republicans are a fucking nightmare.

They will try their hardest (and may succeed) in adhering to every one of Friedman's statements that I have bolded. Make no mistake about it: all of these ideas are completely terrible for this country and are going to make our current situation worse.

As each of you head to the polls tomorrow, think long and hard about which party represents your interests...your best interests. And which one will do the best for your country.

It's abundantly clear to me.