Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy took his hood off during an interview about his state having the highest rate of maternal mortality in the country, saying that Louisiana’s maternal mortality rate isn’t all that bad if you “correct out population for race”. So by neglecting all of the Black and other POC populations and only focusing on white people, things aren’t that bad according to Cassidy.
“Republican Senator Bill Cassidy gave a jaw-dropping answer to a question about the maternal mortality rate in his home state of Louisiana, pointing out — among other things — that it’s not so bad if you don’t count all the Black women. Cassidy sat for a lengthy interview with Politico Reporter Sarah Owermohle, who asked Cassidy about a variety of health-related subjects, including the Justice Samuel Alito-authored draft opinion that would overturn the constitutionally right to abortion should it become final. But early in the interview, Owermohle drew out a startling response from Cassiday when she asked about the high rate of maternal mortality in Louisiana. He pointed out that his state’s maternal mortality rate is not an “outlier” if you “correct our population for race,” and also said that some definitions of maternal mortality include “someone being killed by her boyfriend””
The Republicans get into office and they return to the racist ways the left tried to retire. Hugs
A Virginia board is considering restoring the names of two schools that were originally named for Confederate generals but were changed in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.
The Shenandoah County School Board voted in 2020 to change Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run Elementary School.
But in the two years since, community members — especially alumni — have expressed opposition to the name changes, school board member Cynthia Walsh said.
More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to change the names back, Vice Chair Dennis Barlow said at a board meeting, where the issue was discussed at length last week.
Walsh is one of three members who were on the board when the name changes were approved. The current, all-white board is made up of six members.
Some new board members say they feel the decision to change the names was rushed and that it did not consider the opinion of the community.
Barlow — who characterized those who were in favor of changing the names as outsiders who are “creepy,” “elitist” and from “the dark side” — said the school board’s decision was “undemocratic and unfair.”
He added that he regards Jackson as a “gallant commander.”
Walsh, who said she does not think the names should be changed back, argued: “Most people who vote for elected officials then count on them to do the right thing on their behalf.”
“We do have a representative democracy. We don’t have a direct democracy,” she added.
“Times have changed. The makeup of our schools has changed,” Walsh said. “And I sincerely believe that revisiting the name change is not what’s best for kids.”
The board decided at the meeting that it would poll constituents about whether they believe the names should be changed back. But the board could not settle on whether to poll the entire area or only the residents of the areas served by the schools in question.
Kyle Gutshall, a recent high school graduate who was elected to the board this year, argued: “In my opinion if you’re doing it countywide, you might as well throw the students out, because they don’t care.”
But other board members were adamant throughout the night that the decision first has to be what’s right for the students.
“No. 1 criteria: what is best for kids,” Andrew Keller said earlier in the meeting. “The kids we’re going to teach today and the next 25 years.”
They also didn’t settle on what options would be in the survey, which they mostly agreed should have these questions:
Do you want to keep the names?
Do you want to restore the original names?
“I suggested a compromise: adding a third” option, Walsh said. “I did not agree to the name change, but I do not think we should change it back, and that’s where we left it that night, but we didn’t vote on it.”
The next school board meeting is June 9.
The board likely won’t vote on the issue then, because it is still hammering out the details of the survey, Walsh said.
If the vote is split, the issue is likely to be tabled for a year or until there is a new board, she said.
Shenandoah County Public Schools declined to weigh in on the matter.
“It is the responsibility of the Shenandoah County School Board to determine the name of schools, school facilities, and areas of school facilities or grounds in the division. We do not have a comment or statement as a division at this time,” the district said in a statement.
The system serves about 6,000 students. More than 75 percent of them are white, and about 3 percent are Black, according to the state Education Departmenr.
But Walsh said the statistics don’t show the full picture. “In one of our elementary schools, there are 10 languages spoken,” she said. “There is diversity.”
Virginia’s all white board wants to change school name back to white supremacist confederate generals.😳
So discussing America’s history of racism & white supremacy is banned, except when praising America’s history of racism and white supremacy.🤔https://t.co/DGt6q0lOnR
I hate canned hunts. Every hunter I know hates them. A helpless animal who is use to humans drawn in to be suddenly killed by a person who has not skill to track or hunt an animal. Every time I hear of these hunts I think of the scene in Jurassic Park where the goat is tied out to bait the T-Rex. These “hunters” are shooting the tied goat, and then claiming they are some great alpha male. Really? To me they are simply the sniveling losers that couldn’t really cut it. Hugs
Utah hunting guide Wade Lemon faces five years in state prison for the death of a Carbon County bear killed during a guided hunt on May 18, 2018. But Lemon, a well-known guide didn’t pull the trigger — Donald Trump Jr. did, according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Trump Jr. is not named in a recent filing against Lemon, but the DNR confirmed his identity as the person named in the felony complaint as Lemon’s “client” on the hunt. Prosecutors have indicated there was no evidence showing Trump Jr. would have known about the alleged baiting that went on during the hunt.
Trump Jr. was in Utah to help launch Hunter Nation, a hunting advocacy group. That group would later launch its own super PAC, Hunter Nation Action, which spent $96,997 in ads against Democrats in the 2020 election, according to the campaign spending transparency site Open Secrets.
Utah hunting guide Wade Lemon is facing up to 5 years in prison for using pastries to illegally bait a bear killed on a hunt by Donald Trump, Jr. https://t.co/tIIhTOG8an
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) May 21, 2022
Wade Lemon Hunting has been investigated eight times for allegedly breaking the law to ensure a successful hunt, though he was not charged with a felony until Tuesday, according to DNR.https://t.co/i2ZtI0H0lV
Wade Lemon Hunting has been investigated eight times for allegedly breaking the law to ensure a successful hunt, though he was not charged with a felony until Tuesday, according to DNR.https://t.co/i2ZtI0H0lV
At least 357 sitting Republican legislators in closely contested battleground states have used the power of their office to discredit or try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a review of legislative votes, records and official statements by The New York Times.
The tally accounts for 44 percent of the Republican legislators in the nine states where the presidential race was most narrowly decided. In each of those states, the election was conducted without any evidence of widespread fraud, leaving election officials from both parties in agreement on the victory of Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The Times’s analysis exposes how deeply rooted lies and misinformation about former President Donald J. Trump’s defeat have become in state legislatures, which play an integral role in U.S. democracy.
In NYT interview, Ex-President Trump, who won 7 million fewer votes than Joe Biden, spread blame for his 2020 loss to several targets, including VP Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell & state lawmakers.
44% of GOP legislators in 9 closest states used official power to try discrediting or overturning 2020 election. And I pathetically scrounging for hope look at this chart & think, “Well, only REALLY problematic in PA, not too bad in GA, NC, fine in NV, FL. https://t.co/UWqJ3V2I9q
Does she mean if they are not maga enough. Plus in her mind Sheriff’s are able to decide what laws are constitutional and have a choice over which they will enforce and which they can ignore. Totally false. Hugs
“We’re not making backroom deals with sheriffs. They’re the highest constitutional office in their county and they’re gonna do the will of the people.
“I don’t mind handcuffing them either. I mean it. I’ve had it from sheriff corruption all over this state. We’ve got some awesome sheriffs and praise the lord for ’em.
“Pray for them. Even if you have a corrupt one, pray for them. And pray that they’re replaced really quickly if they’re corrupt. But I don’t care. I don’t mind handcuffing any single person who breaks the law and goes against our government.
“The Constitution says when you commit treason, it’s death by firing squad. I didn’t write it! It’s in there! It’s serious!
“When you swear to God that you’ll uphold a document that says you’ll do the will of the people and you will honor every single thing in that Constitution, do you that.” – Kandiss Taylor, candidate for Georgia governor.
Rather obviously, the Constitution says nothing at all about executions by firing squads.
Taylor last appeared on JMG earlier this week when she declared that the Founding Fathers “destroyed” Native Americans so that people can “worship Jesus freely.”
Taylor first appeared on JMG when she dramatically ripped up photos of Gov. Brian Kemp and former Sen. David Perdue, declaring “I believe in Jesus, guns, and babies.” Taylor is a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University.
GA Gov candidate Kandiss Taylor says she will execute Sheriffs by firing squad if they don’t “do the will of the people. I don’t mind handcuffing them either .. The Constitution says when you commit treason, it’s death by firing squad. I didn’t write it – it’s in there.” pic.twitter.com/zZxWxEOctD
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) May 22, 2022
Fourteen GOP legislators warned Lyft that they’d seek to ban companies that pay for abortions from doing business in Texas. The extent of support for the idea is unclear.
State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and 13 other Texas House Republicans have laid out their legislative priorities in a letter to the Lyft CEO. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune
With Texas poised to automatically ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, some Republicans are already setting their sights on the next target to fight the procedure: businesses that say they’ll help employees get abortions outside the state.
Fourteen Republican members of the state House of Representatives have pledged to introduce bills in the coming legislative session that would bar corporations from doing business in Texas if they pay for abortions in states where the procedure is legal.
This would explicitly prevent firms from offering employees access to abortion-related care through health insurance benefits. It would also expose executives to criminal prosecution under pre-Roe anti-abortion laws the Legislature never repealed, the legislators say.
Their proposal highlights how the end of abortion would lead to a new phase in — not the end of — the fight in Texas over the procedure. The lawmakers pushing for the business rules have signaled that they plan to act aggressively in the next legislative session. But it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to get a majority on their side.
The members, led by Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, laid out their plans in a letter to Lyft CEO Logan Green that became public on Wednesday.
Green drew the lawmakers’ attention on April 29, when he said on Twitter that the ride-share company would help pregnant residents of Oklahoma and Texas seek abortion care in other states. Green also pledged to cover the legal costs of any Lyft driver sued under Senate Bill 8, the Texas law that empowers private citizens to file lawsuits against anyone who assists in the procurement of an abortion.
“The state of Texas will take swift and decisive action if you do not immediately rescind your recently announced policy to pay for the travel expenses of women who abort their unborn children,” the letter states.
The letter also lays out other legislative priorities, including allowing Texas shareholders of publicly traded companies to sue executives for paying for abortion care, as well as empowering district attorneys to prosecute abortion-related crimes outside of their home counties.
Six of the 14 signers, including Cain, are members of the far-right Texas Freedom Caucus. How much political support these proposals have in the Republican caucus is unclear. House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, declined to comment. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott did not respond.
Since the legislative session is more than seven months away, Cain said in an email that “a quickly drafted and sent letter can hardly be said to reflect the pulse of my Republican colleagues.” He was confident, however, that his ideas would find some support in the Senate.
“Knowing that chamber and its leadership, I’m willing to bet legislation targeting this issue will be promptly filed in January,” Cain said.
But doing so would likely mean targeting companies that the state has wooed as potential job creators. Tesla, for instance, announced this month that it would pay for employees’ travel costs when they leave the state to get an abortion. Abbott celebrated the electric car company’s move to Austin last year and this year urged its CEO, Elon Musk, to move Twitter’s headquarters to Texas, too, if he completes his purchase of the social media firm.
Republican politicians have to tread much more carefully on abortion politics if Roe v. Wade falls, said Florida State University professor Mary Ziegler, who wrote a book on abortion law in the United States. Whereas in the past, lawmakers could pass any number of abortion restrictions that were bound to be struck down by courts, that backstop would no longer exist.
Ziegler said while a broad conservative coalition wants to ban abortions in Texas, there is disagreement over how aggressively to enforce related criminal laws or to attempt to prevent pregnant residents from leaving the state for the procedure. Republican politicians, therefore, have an incentive to remain quiet on the issue until they can determine which course of action is the most politically prudent.
“It’s not easy to be a Republican anymore,” Ziegler said. “Before, everyone was like, ‘Yes, let’s get rid of Roe v. Wade.’ Now, if you can do whatever you want, what is it that you want to do?”
Lyft did not respond to a request for comment. Several other large companies, including Amazon, Uber and Starbucks, have also said they would help employees or customers seek abortion care outside of Texas. None responded to requests for comment.
Concerns from the business community helped derail a push by Republican lawmakers to enact the so-called bathroom bill in the 2017 session, which would have required people to use the facilities that corresponded with their sex assigned at or near birth. Moderate Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, rebuffed requests from Patrick to make the bill a priority.
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said that although Straus has since retired, she hoped a coalition of Democrats and centrist Republicans would form to block abortion-related laws that place new restrictions on businesses.
“There were opportunities for business-minded Republicans and business-minded Democrats to come together and prevent these kinds of extreme policies,” Howard said of Straus’ tenure. “I’m hopeful that will happen again. … We’re at a pivotal point here of doing severe damage that’s going to be hard to undo.”
The Texas Association of Businesses, Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives and Greater Houston Partnership either declined to comment or did not respond to questions about the abortion-restriction proposals in the Republicans’ letter.
It's worth noting that Briscoe Cain sneaked into last year's Texas Democratic convention with a handgun and tried to hand out yard signs inviting shooters to attack Democrats' houses.
This man is not well and should not be a state representative, OR own guns. https://t.co/zcJc0EEMuT
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Scottie's Playtime 