Finally Friday Reads: Have Maga Republicans lost their Humanity?

#KariLake #DollarGeneralBestSeller #Unemployed @Repeat1968, John Buss

Every day I read something new about some Maga Republican–elected officials or their enablers.  My first question is, what fucking century do they think they’re living in or want to live in?  The second is pretty brutal.  Have they lost all sense of what it means to be part of a community of human beings?

Here are some examples.  “Arizona Republican refers to Black Americans as ‘colored people’ in House floor debate.. Rep. Eli Crane used the derogatory phrase to describe his proposed military bill amendment. Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty asked that his words be stricken from the record.”  This is reported by NBC News.

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz. referred to Black people as “colored people” Thursday in floor debate over his proposed amendment to an annual defense policy bill, prompting a stern rebuke from the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve,” said Crane, who is in his first term. “It has nothing to do with any of that stuff.”

Lawmakers were debating a series of GOP-backed amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House aims to pass by the end of the week.

Crane said his amendment would prohibit the Defense Department from considering race, gender, religion, political affiliations or “any other ideological concepts” as the sole basis for recruitment training, education, promotion or retention decisions.

“The military was never intended to be, you know, inclusive. Its strength is not its diversity. Its strength is its standards,” said Crane, 43, a combat veteran.

“I’m going to tell you guys this right now you can: You can keep playing around these games with diversity, equity and inclusion. But there are some real threats out there. And if we keep messing around and we keep lowering our standards, it’s not going to be good,” he said.

If this Republican official had a better curriculum with real American history, he might’ve learned about the Buffalo Soldiers or the Tuskegee Airmen. For that matter, he could’ve watched a movie called “Glory,” showing the acts of bravery by the United States’ first African American Regiment, The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.  Actually, all three of these units were portrayed in movies.  He didn’t even have to go to a good school to know about them.  I wonder how he could manage to degrade the Navaho codetalkers who were an important part of the Asian theatre in World War 2.  Who the hell does he think he is?  With his time as a Navy Seal, I’m sure he most certainly served with a diverse military since he was born in 1980.

What does he think of the lack of a Marine Commandant whose assignment is being held up by the dumbest man we’ve seen in a long time, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama?  He’s now holding up 250 military promotions.  The Republican Party hates children and the military.  What’s up with that? Their energy policy, education policy, and love of Putin are simply not in line with America’s future.

This is from the Washington Post. “House narrowly passes divisive Pentagon policy bill. Nearly all Democrats voted against the $886 billion legislation, outraged by Republican-backed amendments targeting the military’s abortion policy and diversity initiatives.”

Congress’s decades-long streak of bipartisan support for itsannual defense policy and spending plan collapsed Friday, after House Republicans rammed through the most conservative National Defense Authorization Act in decades — restricting military personnel’s access to reproductive care and diversity protections, and imperiling lawmakers’ broader effort to set major national security priorities.

The House’s version of the bill, totaling $886 billion, passed on a vote of 219-210, carrying a razor-thin Republican majority. Four Democrats voted in favor of the legislation. The outcome sets up a showdown with the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to vote next week on its version of the legislation which lacks the divisive components pushed by House GOP’s hard-right wing.

Democrats and moderate Republicans predict that the defense bill, in its current form, will die in the Senate, raising uncertainty for the fate of major items that leaders from both political parties had identified as national defense imperatives.

The NDAA, which sets Pentagon policy and spending limits for the year ahead, includes increased investment in precision missiles, warships and newer technologies like artificial intelligence and hypersonics — necessities, leading lawmakers and the Biden administration say, as the United States directs greater attention toward China. It also authorizes a 5.2 percent base pay increase for military personnel and expanded support for their families through housing improvements, and broader access to child care, health care and education benefits.

“To have [House Speaker, Republican Kevin] McCarthy allow extremists to load up this bill with their wish list of extremist agenda items — so that we can’t in good faith pass this because we know it would harm the lives of servicewomen and service members’ families — is just a horrible place to be in,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) told reporters on a conference call Friday alongside Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), both U.S. military veterans.

“I don’t think, in good conscience, either one of us feel … that we could vote this through because of the damage it does to those who serve,” Sherrill added.

Iowa, a state that supported Barack Obama for President, has now gone crazy.  Judging from the number of protestors, Iowa may return to its Blue roots.  This is from The Guardian. “Iowa Republicans pass six-week abortion ban.  Legislation is latest in raft of anti-abortion laws passed in states across the country since supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.” It was one of those middle-of-the-night things.

Iowa’s state legislature voted on Tuesday night to ban most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy, a time before most people know they are pregnant.

Republican lawmakers, which hold a majority in both the Iowa house and senate, passed the anti-abortion bill after the governor, Kim Reynolds, called a special session to seek a vote on the ban.

The legislation will take immediate effect after the governor signs it on Friday and will prohibit abortions after the first sign of cardiac activity – usually around six weeks, with some exceptions for cases of rape or incest. It will allow for abortions up until 20 weeks of pregnancy only under certain conditions of medical emergency. Abortions in the state were previously allowed up to 20 weeks.

The bill passed with exclusively Republican support in a rare, one-day legislative burst lasting more than 14 hours.

“The Iowa supreme court questioned whether this legislature would pass the same law they did in 2018, and today they have a clear answer,” Reynolds said in a statement. “The voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer, and justice for the unborn should not be delayed.”

The legislation is the latest in a raft of anti-abortion laws passed in states across the country since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, ending the nationwide constitutional right to abortion. A number of states, including a swath of the southern US, have passed full bans on abortion without exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

Preparations were already under way to quickly file legal challenges in court and get the measure blocked, once Reynolds signs it into law.

It’s not only Republican officials and the Stupid Six on the Supreme Court that are testing the laws of the country to see how far they push their personal religious-based agendas.  The tale of the Michigan Hairdresser continues.  This is from USA Today. “Michigan hair salon Studio 8 turns away trans clients, limiting service for LGBTQ patrons.”

Less than two weeks after the nation’s high court ruled a Colorado website designer could refuse to make wedding websites for same-sex couples, a Michigan hair salon says it is refusing to serve some LGBTQ people.

The salon, Studio 8 Hair Lab in Traverse City in the northwestern part of the state, announced on social media it will no longer serve clients who identify “as anything other than a man/woman,” and made derogatory comments about transgender people.

The salon’s Instagram page, now set to private, says it is “A private CONSERVATIVE business that does not cater to woke ideologies.”

“You are not welcome at this salon. Period,” the salon wrote in a now deleted Facebook post. “Should you request to have a particular pronoun used please note we may simply refer to you as ‘hey you.'”

The salon’s owner did not respond to requests for comment from USA TODAY or the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. Christine Geiger, identified as a co-owner of the salon on LinkedIn, said in a Facebook comment reviewed by USA TODAY that she has “no issues” with lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

“It’s the TQ+ that I’m not going to support,” she said, referring to transgender and queer or questioning people. The comment, posted in a local Facebook group, used language often repeated by far-right conspiracy theorists to paint LGBTQ people as “groomers” dangerous to young people.

The products she has used in her salon will no longer be available to her per the company.  You can read that in the link above.  More seriously, the AG of Michigan has stated that she is violating the State’s Constitution.  This is from The Advocate. “Michigan AG: Salon Owner’s Refusal of Service to Transgender Clients Unacceptable.”

In March, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an amendment to the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, extending protections to people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is a lesbian, has received several complaints about Geiger’s explicit statements, a spokesperson for the department said.

“The Department and the Attorney General herself are aware of the Traverse City salon proprietor’s professed intent to discriminate against Michigan residents,” the AG’s press secretary Danny Wimmer told The Advocate.

“At the Department, we have received several complaints pertaining to the bigotry exhibited by the salon proprietor in Traverse City, and the Attorney General finds the comments to be hateful, reprehensible remarks that seek only to marginalize a community already suffering from discriminatory animus in Michigan and elsewhere,” he added.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, Nessel reiterated that the 303 Creative case did not affect LGBTQ+ MIchiganders’ access to most services in the state.

“This holding has no impact on Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) when it is applied to protect against discrimination in the provision of public accommodations that do not constitute speech,” Nessel said in a press release. “My office will continue to fight to enforce Michigan’s ELCRA consistent with the First Amendment to protect the equal rights of all Michiganders.”

America’s children continue to be targeted by the Far Right in a misguided effort to supposedly protect them from all kinds of things which are none of their damned business. Not all teachers appear to be on the side of all students. This story from New Jersey is horrifying. This is from The Daily Beast. “Teacher Accused of Mailing Afro Wig, White Face Paint to Mixed-Race 2nd-Grader. The seven-year-old, mixed-race student was left so humiliated and scared that he had to change schools, his parents said.”

A New Jersey family has filed a racial harassment complaint against a school district after the parents said their son’s teacher sent him an unsolicited package that included an afro wig and white face paint in an “act of intimidation.”

According to the July 6 complaint, Denise and Kevin Anderson say the package was sent to their seven-year-old son—only referred to as “J.A.”—by Amazon on July 9, 2021, but there was no sender information. During the 2021-22 school year, administrators of Woodland School in Warren had access to students’ addresses for remote learning, the complaint says. Denise determined that the package was ordered by her son’s second-grade teacher, Christine Rzasa, after speaking with Amazon’s customer service, the suit says.

The complaint says J.A.’s “appearance easily identifies him as a member of the mixed-race community.” His mother is Afro-Latina, and his father is white.

Following the delivery, the Andersons contacted Woodland School Principal Jeff Heaney, the Warren Township School District, and the district board. But the family claimed in their lawsuit that nothing was done regarding the alleged violation of the state’s harassment, intimidation, and bullying laws. Instead, according to the complaint, J.A. was retaliated against in a “hostile education environment.”

“As a result, [J.A.] was so fearful, humiliated and intimidated that he suffered emotional and mental damages for which he had to receive therapy, change of schools and suffer other damages,” the complaint says. “Rzasa’s conduct can be described as nothing short of outrageous.”

Where do these folks get these ideas?  Well, the fish rots from the head to the anus.  This is from Marc Caputo.  “‘Built On Muscle:’ The DeSantis Campaign’s Playbook to Beat Trump and Shock the Haters. Despite Trump’s commanding lead in many polls, the Florida governor’s campaign says its organization and messaging will carry the day.”  This primary is based on going to the lowest denominator possible.

DeSantis plans to meet with a group of about 30 pastors and their wives in Indianola, Iowa this weekend during his visit to the state. His campaign wants to have a pastor-surrogate in each of the state’s 99 counties as well as a campaign chair in each. He plans to visit all 99 counties as part of what’s known as “the full Grassley,” named in honor of the state’s senior Republican senator, Chuck Grassley.

The DeSantis team acknowledges Trump is ahead in Iowa and the early states, even in its own internal surveys conducted by DeSantis’s chief pollster and adviser, Ryan Tyson.

In a survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters in Iowa completed this week, Trump leads DeSantis 37%-21%, with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott in third at 11%; all other candidates running well behind in Iowa. Trump’s internal polling showed him with a bigger lead last month.

In a head-to-head matchup, Trump and DeSantis are virtually tied at 43%-42% in the DeSantis campaign poll. His campaign says this shows that the numerous other candidates in the race have little shot of winning but a big role in sapping votes from DeSantis to help Trump win.

Polls of Iowa are scarce, despite the fact that it plays a crucial role in primary season. Most polling in the race is of national Republicans, even though there isn’t a national primary, and sample sizes are usually smaller than 500 people.

The only independent public pollster to survey the race in Iowa recently, Adam Geller, found DeSantis receiving the same number as Tyson’s poll earlier this month: 21%. But Geller found Trump increasing his ballot share in a month to 44%. So Trump had a 23 percentage point lead instead of 16 points in the DeSantis poll by Tyson.

“The difference between 16 and 23 is close enough, depending on sample sizes, questions, dates, everything. I mean, that’s polling,” Geller said. “Sure, it’s early. But for DeSantis, he’s running out of time because in my polling, he’s losing to Trump among voters who like him. How do you win if the people who like you are voting for the other guy?”

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung mocked the DeSantis campaign’s internal polling by issuing a written statement that also intentionally misspelled the Florida governor’s name, which Trump insists on doing.

“So the DeSanctus campaign is pushing internal polling from unbelievable pollsters— the most favorable and most biased polling they have— showing them DOWN 16 points,” he said. “How moronic can this campaign be? At this point, anything their campaign does should be considered an in-kind contribution to us.”

Donald Trump is ever the patriot.  SIGH. This is from ABC News.  Of course, it’s all about him.  “Trump’s unprecedented campaign pitch: Elect me to get revenge on the government. “He’s declared war on them,” one GOP pollster said.”

Donald Trump has told supporters not to just see him as a candidate but as “your retribution.”

In his comeback bid for the White House, the former president — twice impeached but twice acquitted and now twice indicted — has vowed that if reelected, he will wield his power to personally remake parts of the federal government to a degree that historian Mark Updegrove said was unprecedented. Trump has promised to hamstring perceived enemies, including in the Department of Justice, which is currently investigating him, and target Republican bogeymen like President Joe Biden.

He swore in June to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” the Bidens and that he would “totally obliterate the deep state,” referring to a conspiratorial view of how the government operates.

“This is the final battle. … Either they win or we win,” he said in March.

Among Trump’s policy proposals is reviving an executive order from the final months of his presidency, revoked by Biden, that observers say would let him essentially turn broad swaths of federal workers into at-will employees whom he could fire and replace — rather than terminating them only for cause, such as bad performance, and after satisfying certain employment protections.

I’ll end with some good news from Bloomberg. Well, it’s kinda good news. “Biden Administration to Forgive $39 Billion in Student Debt.”

• Supreme Court struck down broader debt forgiveness plan

• Borrowers must have made 20 to 25 years of payments to qualify

You may find details in this Washington Post article.

The debt relief announced Friday affects borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans, whichallow forgiveness after making a certain number of monthly payments.

But the plans have drawn criticism over the years because of poor communication between the Education Department, loan servicers and borrowers. A NPR investigation in 2022 detailed failures in the program.

According to the Education Department, Friday’s action “also addresses concerns about practices by loan servicers that put borrowers into forbearance in violation of Department rules.”

In April 2022, the Education Department said it would offer a one-time adjustment to address any inaccurate payment counts.

“At the start of this Administration, millions of borrowers had earned loan forgiveness but never received it. That’s unacceptable,” Education Undersecretary James Kvaal said in a statement. “Today we are holding up the bargain we offered borrowers who have completed decades of repayment.”

In coming days, qualifying borrowers who have met the necessary threshold for forgiveness will be notified. Types of loans covered include Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans held by the Education Department, including Parent PLUS loans.

A lot of us will be under a severe heat dome next week.  Please try to stay safe, near air conditioning, and drink lots of water!  I look back on so many things that would be better if we had a President Gore and if Hillary hadn’t been drug through the mud and had, instead, become our President.  The sins of the Republicans are against humanity and its most vulnerable.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?