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 May 19 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents.
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David Gordo at Blog for Arizona writes—Evolution, Climate Change, and The Big Bang Theory to be Eliminated From Arizona K-12:
Later this year, the Arizona State Board of Education will consider adopting new K-12 standards in both Science and History/Social Studies.
The consideration of standards for these core subjects has nearly always met increased scrutiny and controversial consideration from segments of the population with different perspectives because these disciplines touch on topics that can potentially challenge a person’s or group’s belief system.
This year is no exception as the new proposed Arizona K-12 Science Standards have invited negative reactions from members of the mainstream education and science community because of the terms and concepts it has attempted to strike away and the closed-door process Superintendent Diane Douglas’s unknown internal reviewers adopted after being presented with the original draft version of the standards.
Forbidden terms, reworded behind closed doors.
Evolution is the most prominent term altered in the proposed new Arizona K-12 Science Standards. Stricken mostly wherever it is mentioned and redefined as the Theory of Evolution, the word is not even included among the many key terms the reviewers added.
Joe Henderson at Florida Politics writes—Publix will survive this, but Adam Putnam? We’ll see:
If Adam Putnam’s [Republican primary] campaign for Governor ultimately crashes on the rocks, historians will note the time of 8:27 p.m., July 25, 2017, as the point where it began to unravel.
That’s when he sent out a fateful tweet that was equal parts of bravado and miscalculation. It read: “The liberal media recently called me a sellout to the NRA. I’m a proud #NRASellout!”
Putnam may have believed he was invincible at that point. He didn’t have a serious challenger looming for the Republican nomination and, well, don’t GOP candidates always win the Governor’s race in Florida?
He had money, folksy charm, name recognition, along with the perception by many that this was just his time. After serving in Congress and two terms as state Agriculture Commissioner, this fifth-generation Floridian with small-town Bartow roots seemed to have everything going his way.
But that changed on Valentine’s Day when 17 people were shot to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Trish Nelson at Blog for Iowa writes—ALEC And The Destruction Of Net Neutrality:
We shouldn’t be surprised that the biggest corporate advocates of destroying Net Neutrality — Verizon, Comcast and AT&T — are also deeply involved in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which provides “template” voter suppression legislation and other Republican-friendly bills for state legislatures. Could a cell phone users campaign to ditch these providers get them to back away from their big bucks opposition to net neutrality and support of voter suppression?
A bit of temporary good news for Democrats — and for everyone who doesn’t want to pay more for internet service, as reported in Cecilia Kang’s “Senate Democrats Win Vote on Net Neutrality, a Centerpiece of 2018 Strategy” in The New York Times: “The Senate passed a resolution in a 52-47 vote to overturn a decision last December by the Federal Communications Commission to dismantle Obama-era rules that prevented broadband providers like Verizon and Comcast from blocking or speeding up streams and downloads of web content in exchange for extra fees. The commission’s repeal of net neutrality is set to take effect in a few weeks.” However, “the rare victory for Democrats is sure to be short-lived, with a similar resolution expected to die in the House, where Republicans have a larger majority. Only three Republican senators voted in support of the resolution [Collins, Murkowski and Kennedy]. However, “The effort to stop the repeal of net neutrality rules is part of a broader political strategy by Democrats to rally young voters in the November elections.”
Mark Hefflinger at Bold Nebraska writes—Groups Challenge Trump Administration’s Rubber-stamping of Keystone XL Permit:
Environmental and landowner groups today argued in federal court that the Trump administration’s rubber-stamp approval of a cross-border permit for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline violated environmental laws and should be vacated.
The lawsuit challenges the U.S. Department of State’s inadequate and outdated environmental review of the pipeline. That review relied on an old environmental impact statement from January 2014 and failed to consider key information on the impacts of the 1,700-mile pipeline, which would carry up to 35 million gallons of oil a day from Canada’s tar sands — one of the world’s dirtiest energy sources — across critical water sources and wildlife habitat to Texas refineries.
Plaintiffs Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club filed the lawsuit in March 2017. The case is being argued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.
Beginning in February, the court ordered the Trump administration to disclose additional documents related to the project, which the court found had been improperly withheld. Last night, on the eve of oral arguments, landowners and pipeline opponents hosted a rally at Elks Riverside Park on the banks of the Missouri River.
Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass of Kentucky writes—The Only Issue is Corruption:
Forget the ridiculous details. Forget even the Russians. It's the Corruption, Stupid.
Via Digby.
This piece by Adam Serwer clarifies the big question about how to think about this gusher of Trump scandals:
The sheer volume of Trump scandals can seem difficult to keep track of.
SNIP
There are not many Trump scandals. There is one Trump scandal. Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal accountability.
SNIP
In each of these cases, the president or one of his associates was seeking to profit, personally or financially, from their official duties and powers. When that conduct has potentially run afoul of the law, Trump has sought to bend federal law enforcement to his whim, the better to protect himself and his associates from legal accountability. The president’s ongoing chastising of his own Justice Department, and his war of words with current and former FBI officials, stem less from any coherent ideological principle than from Trump’s desperate need to protect himself. An authoritarian model of law enforcement,where the president personally decides who is prosecuted and who is not based on his own political agenda, is simply the best way for Trump to shield himself and his inner circle from legal consequences.
Also via Digby, Michael Tomasky Michael Tomasky predicting dem losses in November unless they attack the Orange Menace directly. He concludes:
The president is lawless. His lawyer is lawless. Both of his lawyers. All they know is to lie, deny, distort, extort, and bully. The country is being governed by Mafiosi values. If the Democrats are unwilling to say that, they’ll let down millions of Americans who are counting on them to defend the law, and they’ll lose, and deserve to. History sometimes presents moments when caution is called for. This isn’t one of them.
A staffer at Progress Texas writes—Three Big Progressive Takeaways from the Texas Primary Runoff:
#1 Democratic turnout was the highest it’s been in a decade.
Turnout in the Democratic primary runoff was higher than it was in 2016, and more than twice as high as 2014. In fact, it was the highest turnout for a Democratic runoff in a decade. Though runoff elections are generally low turnout affairs and voter participation in these contests has been declining in certain years (which is why we recently argued to get rid of them altogether) this year’s spike in turnout should be taken as a sign of Democratic enthusiasm. [...]
#2 Progressive women won big.
[...] At the top of the ticket, Lupe Valdez made history — breaking barriers as the first Latina and first openly gay candidate to win a major party’s nomination for governor in Texas.
If Gina Ortiz Jones, a former intelligence officer, beats incumbent Republican Will Hurd in Texas Congressional District 23 in November — one of the state’s most competitive districts — she will become the first lesbian, first Filipino, and first Iraq war veteran to represent Texas in Congress. And in another flippable congressional district — CD 7 in Houston — Lizzie Pannill Fletcher will take on nine-term incumbent Republican John Culberson. [...]
# 3 Republican extremists - and their special interest backers - lost big.
A staffer at The Left Hook of California writes—Pierluigi Oliverio’s Deceptive Campaign Mailer:
Voters in Santa Clara County Supervisorial District 4 recently received a mailer from candidate Pierluigi Oliverio that misleadingly asserts in large print “Democrats Support Pierluigi Oliverio for Supervisor.” No Democrats are named in the piece as supporting Oliverio’s candidacy, and contrary to the implication of the piece’s title, the Santa Clara County Democratic Party does not support Oliverio in the race. In fact, the Party has publically condemned Oliviero’s candidacy.
Earlier this month, the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee adopted a resolution that condemned Oliverio’s conduct regarding the sexual and verbal harassment alleged in a lawsuit filed by his former chief of staff while a Councilmember, and denouncing his candidacy in the supervisor’s race.
Delaware Dem at Blue Delaware writes—Smart Justice Campaign Evaluates the AG candidates:
The #VoteSmartJusticeDE Campaign is organized by a coalition of organizations and individuals who advocate for a criminal justice system that fosters public safety by reducing mass incarceration, recidivism and racial disparities. Those organizations include the ACLU of Delaware, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Coalition to Dismantle the New Jim Crow, Delaware Center for Justice, Delaware United, H.E.A.D.S. U.P. in the 302, Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, and Network Delaware.
The campaign plans to use public education, community organizing and grass roots advocacy to challenge a criminal justice system that has for too long a culture of maximum punishment that is based upon the identity of the suspect or defendant. To wit: African Americans are 22 percent of the population in Delaware, but they are 51 percent of prisoners. This is the direct result of the combining a “tough on crime approach,” mass incarceration, and racial bias. You can read their full platform here.
As part of this campaign, they sent questionnaires to the four Democratic Attorney General candidates. I am sure they would have sent one to a Republican Attorney General candidate, but there is no Republican Attorney General candidate. I have read through the candidates answers, and will highlight some of the most important questions here, so you can spot the differences between the candidates.
Montana Hat at Montana Cowgirl writes—Matt Rosendale’s Accent is So Bad Even His Staff Can’t Understand Him: “”
Everyone’s favorite speech therapy patient Matt Rosendale is out with a new television ad. In hit, he tries desperately to sound and look like a Montanan.
He’s got his trademark borrowed work jacket. He’s got someone else’s barn. He’s even got some cows!
Rosendale displays his new and moderately improved accent as well as a basic failure of 8th grade government.
He talks about how Senator Tester falls in line with Nancy Pelosi, ignoring the fact that Pelosi serves in the lower chamber of Congress and has nothing to do with the Senate. As a former legislator and someone who presumably has a high school diploma, Rosendale should know better. That is of course, unless Rosendale was taking orders from Speaker Knudsen while he served in the Montana state senate.
Rosendale’s lack of basic understanding of American government aside, it seems his accent is so bad that whoever writes his tweets couldn’t even understand him.
Rosendale’s campaign twitter account had a little trouble understanding Rosendale’s fake ranchin’ terms
Andy Schmookler at Blue Virginia writes—Incontrovertible Proof that Our Side Needs a Stronger Messaging Campaign:
My writings over the past 14 years show it clearly: I’m a worrier. [...]
And now, mid-spring of 2018, I’m worrying anew — at this extremely fraught and dangerous moment, with Donald Trump wielding the powers of the President of the United States – that Liberal America is once again failing to fight the necessary battle with all the strength and boldness this crisis requires.
And here’s one clear and troubling sign of that failure: public opinion on the Mueller probe has lately been moving in the wrong direction.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported (in an article titled “The number of people who say the Mueller investigation should continue is shrinking”):
The Monmouth University poll finds 54 percent of Americans saying the special counsel’s investigation should continue, with support down from 60 percent in March and 62 percent in July. A 43 percent minority says the investigation should end, up six points since March and 10 points since last summer.
To those of us who know without any doubt that the Mueller investigation is of utmost importance to the preservation of our system of government and the rule of law, this movement of 6-10 percent of the American people away from support of this essential work should be quite sufficient to prove that more must be done to reach the American people with that essential truth.
Zach W at Blogging Blue of Wisconsin writes—Matt Flynn to sexual abuse survivor: “Knock it off”
This is both troubling and disgusting all at once.
Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor Matt Flynn denied any role in the transfer of sex abuser priests to new assignments within the Catholic church, comparing accusations against him to McCarthyism and telling a survivor of abuse to “knock it off.”
Flynn and Peter Isely, a founding member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, had a heated, eight-minute exchange during a forum held in downtown Milwaukee on Tuesday, May 22.
Perhaps Matt Flynn wants to gloss over his role in both profiting from and protecting the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from claims made against it by survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of priests now that he’s running for governor, but his campaign seems to me to be fundamentally and irreparably damaged by his history of defending the Archdiocese.
Matt Flynn’s mere candidacy is an insult to those victims he defended the church against, and his leaving the gubernatorial race can’t come quick enough.
Juanita Jean Herownself at Juanita Jean’s of Texas writes—Fun With Guns: Flambé Style Edition:
Okay, Florida, you win.
Robin Garlock, who is 44 years old, hid his revolver in the broiler when his kids came to visit him.
He neglected to tell his girlfriend.
She pre-heated the oven for something she planned to cook later that evening.
She heard a gunshot. Then more gunshots. She ran for cover and called Garlock, who faced a grim situation.
“It’s too hot,” Warren Police Detective Wayne Mackey told the Vindicator. “The gun literally spun around because it’s going off.”
He was burned as he tried to retrieve the gun. Handy kitchen hint: Use spot holder when trying to catch your revolver in the oven. Those suckers run!