Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Portrait of a Liar

The Trump/Pence regime is full of liars, the worse, of course, being Trump himself.  Following closely behind him is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a case study of why anyone honest and decent should not want to wear the "Christian" label if it puts them in the same category as Sanders. About the only thing that can be said in Sanders' defense is that she was raised in a household where lying, con-artistry, and hucksterism were the norm and embodied in the person of her father, Mike Huckabee, a man devoid of any moral compass save self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment often achieved by preying on the ignorant and gullible (i.e., evangelical Christians). Now, Huckabee Sanders is leaving her role as press secretary to the worse, most dishonest occupant of the White House in history and rumors are afloat that she will run for governor of Arkansas - her election would show that state as a place to be avoided - no doubt trying to lie her way into office.  A piece in Politico reminds us of Huckabee Sanders moral bankruptcy.  Here are excerpts:

If Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ departure as White House press secretary meant she would be leaving public life, I’d be toasting her goodbye this week. Unfortunately, since it probably represents only a brief pause in her now well-established history of sliming people, a firm marker should be laid down about her right now.

Sanders reportedly is considering following in her father’s footsteps and running for governor in her home state of Arkansas, where Mike Huckabee served from 1996-2007. With high built-in name ID and the benefit of riding President Donald Trump’s coattails in a ruby red state, she is already talked about as the favorite in the race, which isn’t until 2022. This says far more about the sorry state of our political system than it does about any merits she has as a potential candidate. The barrage of lies she told from the White House podium would disqualify her from any industry but politics.

[A] lot of politicians lie. Sanders, however, has participated in mean-spirited, personal and cruel lies that have hurt people.

Back in the spring of 2016, in the height of the GOP presidential primary, the National Enquirer, a rag we now know took tremendous efforts to support Trump, published my likeness on its front page and insinuated that I had had an affair with my former boss and Trump’s then-campaign rival, Senator Ted Cruz. It was 100 percent false without a shred of evidence supporting the allegation. Still, Trump supporters furiously fanned the falsehood online. I was abruptly confronted by a Trump supporter about the story on CNN, where I work as a contributor, and was forced to respond live on air.

Trump claimed he had nothing to do with the story, but he said the tabloid had been right to expose other affairs and suggested Cruz was an evangelical hypocrite. . . . A cacophony of pro-Trump forces had come together to gaslight me and feast on the media explosion.

As so often happens when a woman is unfairly attacked, the burden fell on me to clear my name. It was an absolutely infuriating position to be in, but I was not about to be driven from the public space over something that had never happened. Trump supporters wanted nothing more than to force me, a committed NeverTrumper, off the air.  So, I went back on television to defend myself . . .

That afternoon, Sanders happened to be scheduled for an interview with Tapper as well and was asked about fake news her campaign was pushing. Sanders, a wife, a mother, a conservative, a [faux] Christian and a political staffer—just like I am—twisted the knife. . . . She also claimed to have no knowledge of what Scavino had done. Then, she chalked up the entire thing to the scummy business of politics at large and slammed Cruz’s team as “one of the dirtiest and nastiest campaigns out there.”

Sanders has outright lied throughout her time as press secretary. She had the jaw-dropping audacity to lie about FBI agents in spring 2017, when she stood in front of the national press corps and offered an absurd pretense for the firing of Director James Comey, saying that “countless” agents had “lost confidence in their director” over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Under oath, she later admitted she had made up the statement “in the heat of the moment,” and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators concluded her statement “was not founded on anything.”

These are just two examples in a long line of Sanders’ casual smears against perceived opponents. Let’s not forget how she tweeted a video that analysts said had been doctored to suggest that CNN correspondent Jim Acosta had inappropriately grappled with a White House intern over a microphone during a live briefing. Or how Sanders adopted Trump’s talking point that the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct or assault are lying. Or how often she deflected legitimate questions by suggesting that those who posed them had nefarious motives.

Sanders never rose to the level of professionalism exhibited by diligent, respectful people who previously held her position. She became an echo of internet trolls.

Many Republicans will say Sanders performed about as well as anyone could under a difficult boss who demands total loyalty and under the most challenging of circumstances. I do not accept that. She is a woman in control of herself, and she willingly opted to make disrespect for others the defining characteristic of her tenure as White House press secretary. That’s all on her. She wasn’t conscripted into service for Trump; she enthusiastically volunteered.

It’s obvious Sanders is not a bit sorry for her disgraceful work. . . . there is no reason to believe Sanders would change her ways if elected governor. Arkansas, you’ve been warned.

GOP Bills in Arkansas Would Make It "Illegal to be Transgender"

With all the serious and pressing issues facing states and the nation, one would think that Republicans would have more important things to do than continue their anti-transgender jihad.  But that assumption would be wrong in many states - including Virginia, home of Side Show Bob Marshall - but especially so in Arkansas where pending GOP bills would make being transgender more or less illegal and set individuals up for fines and jail time.  Can't you just feel the "Christian love" behind these bills introduced to pander to Christofascists?  A piece in Salon looks at the anti-transgender animus at work.  Here are excerpts:

The clock is ticking on a trio of bills that LGBT advocates in Arkansas claim would make it effectively “illegal to be transgender” in the state.

Republicans have until March 31, which marks the end of the 2017 legislative session, to pass House Bill 1986, Senate Bill 774 and House Bill 1894 before these proposals are tabled for the year. SB 774, known as the Arkansas Physical Privacy and Safety Act, is similar to North Carolina’s controversial HB 2. It forces trans people in the state to use public restrooms that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificate when entering government buildings and other entities owned by the state. That legislation is currently awaiting a vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

That bill has been opposed by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, which has warned that legalizing discrimination could trigger massive economic backlash in the state. After passing HB 2 exactly a year ago, North Carolina has lost an estimated $600 million in revenue . . .

The bathroom bill, though, is just the tip of the iceberg. Further legislation being pushed by conservative lawmakers threatens to target trans individuals by making it extraordinarily difficult to be in public at all.

Often referred to as the “bathroom bill lite,” HB 1986 actually goes further than the Physical Privacy and Safety Act by allowing individuals to bring charges against trans people for “indecent exposure.” Such actions are already a crime under Arkansas law, but HB 1986 would expand existing law on the subject. The bill defines indecent exposure as an instance in which an individual “knowingly exposes his or her sex organs to a person of the opposite biological sex: (A) In a public place or in public view; or (B) Under circumstances in which the person could reasonably believe the conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm.”

“If a transgender man has top surgery, his chest could be viewed as a sexual organ, according to the the language used on the bill. Anywhere his chest is in public view — like at a public pool or going to a spa — he could be in violation of the law and be arrested.”

Under HB 1986, trans people could face a hefty fine, as well as jail time, if another individual feels that the alleged assailant has exposed themselves in a way that would cause “affront or alarm.” If convicted of indecent exposure, transgender folks in the state would be subjected to a $2,500 penalty, in addition to a maximum sentence of a year in prison.

A third anti-trans bill has been reintroduced after being voted down by the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor earlier this month. HB 1894 would bar transgender people from amending their birth certificates to match their gender identity. “If I decided I don’t want to be white, well, do I get to pick my race?” asked Representative Mickey Gates, who authored the legislation, . . .

Should this bill become the law of the land, it would be next to impossible for any trans person in Arkansas to escape the aforementioned cycle of legal harassment and criminalization. Gwen Fry, president of the Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition, argued that these bills are an attempt to “legislate the trans community out of existence.”

Southern Judges Continue to Reject SCOTUS Marriage Equality Ruling

Alabama Capitol

While Muslims are the current favored bogey man and target of hatred for the Republican Party, LGBT Americans remain another favored target, with Christofascists demand special "right to discriminate" laws under the ruse of "religious freedom."    But the anti-gay efforts of the GOP go even further.  Here in Virginia hysterically anti-gay Del. Bob Marshall (who was distressingly reelected in November) has introduced HB77  which provides that for the purposes of the Virginia Human Rights Act, an ‘unlawful discriminatory practice’ shall not include conduct that violates any federal administrative policy, rule, or regulation adopted on or after January 1, 2012.  Blue Virginia has noted:

“Sideshow Bob” wants Virginians to continue being able to discriminate against people based on their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. And yes, this really is what the guy’s focused on, along with his relentless crusade against a woman’s right to choose, his concern that Virginia might need to create its own currency, etc. What a guy, huh?

But the problem goes beyond a lunatic homophobic legislator, especially in the South where elected judges - many, surprise, surprise, Republicans - have decided that they can ignore the United States Supreme Court in Obergefell and refuse to perform or allow same-sex marriages.  Kim Davis is still just the tip of the iceberg.  A piece in The Advocate looks at the religious based batshitery still going on.  Here are highlights:

It’s been nearly five months since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges guaranteed the freedom to marry for same-sex couples throughout America. Most state courts with pending marriage cases promptly implemented the ruling. Today, around 99.9 percent of Americans live in counties issuing marriage licenses to all couples. But in the counties where same-sex couples continue to be denied the right to marry, elected judges are casting aside their duty to follow the law for political reasons.

In Alabama — where justices run in partisan races — probate judges in 13 counties still refuse to issue any marriage licenses. Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate judges not to issue licenses to same-sex couples, despite a federal court ruling the state’s marriage equality ban unconstitutional.

Politicized, big-money elections create more pressure on judges to rule in a way that pleases voters. Thirty-eight states conduct some kind of election for their supreme courts — and these races are increasingly indistinguishable from elections for the political branches. Alabama is a prime example: the state has a history of expensive, politicized judicial elections, with supreme court candidates raising more than $58 million since 1993.

Meanwhile, elected justices in Mississippi and Louisiana have issued divided rulings in marriage-related cases, with dissenters arguing for defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court. A disturbing dissent from Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jefferson Hughes — who was elected with campaign ads claiming that he was “pro-life, pro-gun, pro-traditional marriage” — not only suggested that he would not comply with Obergefell, but went on to imply that same-sex parents shouldn’t be trusted to adopt children of the same sex.

In a recent 5-4 decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court recently granted a divorce to a lesbian couple.  . . . .  Justice Randy Pierce, who put politics aside and joined the majority, also minced no words regarding the political forces at work: “As an elected member of this court, the politically expedient (and politically popular) thing for me to do is to join my colleagues' separate statements and quote the dissenters in the Obergefell case.” 

Judges must decide cases based on the law, not on politics, popular opinion, campaign contributions, or super-PAC spending. In order to protect individual rights, judges must sometimes issue unpopular rulings. While we expect governors and legislators to reflect the will of the majority of voters, judges must protect the constitutional rights of individuals, regardless of the political cost. Judicial elections make that exceedingly difficult — if not impossible. 

Big Business is Dragging the GOP into the Future on Gay Rights

I left the Republican Party for a number of reasons, the most important of which was the GOP's refusal to recognize the concept of separation of church and state.  Loosely related to this issue was the GOP's growing insistence to denigrate gays and make LGBT Americans forever legally inferior via so-called "marriage amendments."  Neither of these agendas fit with the Party's supposed allegiance to personal freedom and a smaller, less intrusive government.   As a column in Politico notes, the GOP has lost the battle against gay rights and big business has been a major factor in this defeat.  Moreover, some Republicans - namely, the non-Christofascists - are pleased with the outcome.  Here are some column highlights:

I'm not among those Republicans who have “evolved” on the issue of gay rights. I didn’t need to. I’ve always been attracted to the GOP message of more freedom and less government, but thought it hypocritical and counter to the core of our philosophy that Republicans would not apply those tenets to gay rights. But of course I was often the black sheep in campaign meetings during the 1990s and 2000s.

[T]he wedge issue [of gay rights] has now lost its edge, even, I would argue, in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. No Republican can win the nomination without the support of the business community. And Big Business is now at odds with the social conservative faction of the Republican Party over gay and transgender equality — and Big Business is winning.

Look at what’s happened in four states dominated by the GOP in the past year.

Weeks before the Super Bowl kickoff in 2014, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill allowing businesses to refuse service to gay customers. This “religious freedom” measure made it OK for business owners to kick customers out of their establishments if they opposed homosexuality on religious grounds. Scores of corporate titans in the travel and tourism industry, together with the NFL, opposed the bill. Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed it.

In Indiana this March, lawmakers tried to pass similar legislation, followed by a hell-hath-no-fury response led by Eli Lilly, Salesforce and Angie’s List, which canceled a $40 million project planned for Indianapolis. Marriott’s CEO said the legislation was “pure idiocy from a business perspective.” Gov. Mike Pence modified the bill, but the damage was done. (The state has since hired a global PR firm to resuscitate its image following the brouhaha.)

In Arkansas, same story. Seeing the firestorm that occurred in Indiana, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson didn’t sign the original bill that hit his desk after calls for him to veto it came from his own son, and from Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, which said the bill ran counter to the company’s values. In the end, the governor signed a less toxic, less controversial bill.

And this week, Texas became the latest to join the fray.  The Lone Star State just wrapped its legislative session, which included two “religious freedom” constitutional amendments. Learning from what happened in the above states, industry groups and major businesses went out pre-emptively — let me say that again: pre-emptively — before such bills made it too far in the Legislature. The conservative state chamber of commerce, the Texas Association of Business, took the lead.

The amendments “would devastate economic development, tourism and the convention business,” said Bill Hammond, TAB’s CEO.

More than 250 Texas companies — American Airlines, Dell, Texas Instruments, Dow Chemical, the Dallas Mavericks — went on record with a general pledge in support of treating gay and transgender Texans fairly and equally under the law — and that welcoming and inclusive communities are essential to their bottom line.

Both amendments in the Texas Legislature died a quick death.

So: four states, same story and same result. If the “religious freedom” strategy can’t work in Texas — the bastion of conservatism and beacon for business — where can it work?

Elections are always about the future, never about the past. And so my advice to GOP candidates is to recognize that since our society has largely moved on, and business has moved on, so should the party of Abraham Lincoln, who fought a civil war over civil rights.

Discrimination is now simply bad for the bottom line and bad for any brand, whether a company’s or a state’s. When it comes to recruitment and retention, the millennial generation, which will be 75 percent of the workforce by 2030, doesn’t have much tolerance for anti-gay anything. In fact, it’s become somewhat of a litmus test. 73 percent of millennials support LGBT nondiscrimination, according to Public Religion Research Institute. Surely, they use it as one criterion when deciding where to work.

Negative national headlines on religious freedom continue to fuel a negative image of the entire party. Both in my private conversations with and in public (and private) polling, conservatives are moving ever closer to supporting full equity for LGBT Americans.

Shockingly, it’s still legal in the United States of America, even as we may be on the brink of having marriage equality in all 50 states, to fire and evict gay and transgender folks — and kick them out of a restaurant — simply for being who they are. This is patently wrong and needs to be fixed.

Democrats and Big Business are at work fixing it, together. That would have been an odd pairing years ago. The GOP position is untenable — and out of step with one of its key constituencies. It’s time to stand up to the social conservative wing and move into the future.

Tom Cotton and the Republican/Christofascist Cavalcade of Hate

One aspect of the controversy over the "license to discriminate laws" being pushed by the Christofascists and their political whores in the Republican Party is that perhaps at last the general public and self-loathing gays who still vote Republican may finally understand just how foul the Republican Party and the "godly folk" have become.  Leading the charge of hate and loathing is GOP Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas who stated that gays needed to "get some perspective" and realize that discrimination should impliedly be acceptable since we are being executed as in Iran.  Meanwhile, after the Indiana GOP and Mike Pence have hurriedly enacted a "fix" to Indiana's "religious freedom restoration act," the godly folk have been spewing anti-gay hate and attacking the businesses that condemned Indiana's foul legislation.  First, here are highlights from The New Civil Rights Movement on Tom Cotton's unbelievable statement:

Freshman Republican U.S. Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, made headlines recently when he convinced 46 of his GOP colleagues to sign an open letter to the leaders of Iran, essentially denouncing President Barack Obama and his attempts to secure a nuclear deal.   That of course ended disastrously for the GOP.

Now, Sen. Cotton is making headlines again, this time for telling gay people they're lucky to be alive.  "I think it’s important we have a sense of perspective about our priorities,” Sen. Cotton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wednesday. "In Iran, they hang you for the crime of being gay."

Think Progress, which first reported on the story, notes that "While Cotton is correct that LGBT people in America are not routinely executed, violence against LGBT Americans remains a significant problem."

And in an Editor's blog post titled "Really Stupid People," Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall called Cotton "a one-noter."

Cotton, in his Iran comment, seemingly only stated what the "godly folk" would like to do to gays.   Fanning the flames of hate are some of the usual suspects from "Christian" organizations.  Meanwhile, others in the GOP piled on.  Here is a sampling:

Mike Huckabee:  Huckabee told FRC president Tony Perkins, the host of the program, that the gay community has turned the controversies surrounding “religious freedom” legislation in Arkansas and Indiana into a “phony crisis.”

Perkins contended that gay people who are denied service by a business should simply try to find another shop that will serve them rather than filing a lawsuit against discriminatory business owners. “Where will it stop?” he asked Huckabee.

“It won’t stop until there are no more churches, until there are no more people who are spreading the Gospel,” Huckabee replied, “and I’m talking now about the unabridged, unapologetic Gospel that is really God’s truth.”


Mat Staver: Mat Staver once again compared gay rights advocates to terrorists, telling WND radio host Greg Corombos that the LGBT community won’t stop until it wins a “special, protected, preferred status for homosexuality” and “then if they get that, boy are they going to come and hammer you hard with it.”

“Their agenda doesn’t stop until they are completely dominating anybody who ultimately does not not only agree but promote and affirm their lifestyle,” Staver said. “Their agenda will not stop, it will ultimately result in fines and prosecution. This is an intolerant agenda.” He went on to liken gay rights supporters to the Hamas terrorists.

Pat Robertson: Hampton Roads' own village idiot again shot off his mouth to the embarrassment of the entire region:.   Pat Robertson repeated his criticism of the gay community in the wake of the controversy surrounding a new Indiana law which gives businesses the right to deny service to LGBT customers, among others. 

This led Robertson to a tirade about how gay people will force others to embrace anal sex and bestiality.  “It doesn’t matter what custom you’ve got, it doesn’t matter what holy thing that you worship and adore, the gays are going to get it,” Robertson said. “They’re going to make you conform to them. You are going to say you like anal sex, you like oral sex, you like bestiality.

There are many more chilling and/or insane quotes.  The take away?  There is little wonder that 33% of Millennials have walked away from religion.  Frankly, I cannot blame them.  It is far, far past time that religious belief and the "godly folk" cease to be afforded any deference whatsoever.

Indiana Drags GOP Presidential Hopefuls into the Culture Wars

Many in the Republican Party had hoped that the 2016 presidential campaigns and elections could skirt the culture wars and thereby avoid divisive social issues that, outside of the lunatic Christofascist base of the GOP, typically cost Republicans votes in the general election.  Thanks to Mike Pence and Indiana - and now the Arkansas GOP - that hope is likely shot to Hell and would be Republican presidential candidates are being dragged into the culture war fray.  Some like the always despicable Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum welcome it, others realize that they are in a catch 22: they must court the Christofascists to win the nomination, yet by doing so, they decrease their chances on election day in November 2016.  A piece in the Washington Post looks ate what's happening.  Here are highlights (I wish the Post would drop the "social conservatives" label and call these people what they are: bigots and religious extremists):

The national debate over an Indiana religious-liberties law seen as anti-gay has drawn the entire field of Republican presidential contenders into the divisive culture wars, which badly damaged Mitt Romney in 2012 and which GOP leaders eagerly sought to avoid in the 2016 race.

Most top Republican presidential hopefuls this week have moved in lock step, and without pause, to support Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) and his Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which has prompted protests and national calls for boycotts by major corporations.

In Arkansas on Tuesday, Republican legislators approved a similar measure that Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) is expected to sign. The action prompted the chief executive of Arkansas-based Walmart to ask Hutchinson to veto the bill . . . 

The agreement among the likely GOP candidates illustrates the enduring power of social conservatives in early-voting states such as Iowa and South Carolina, which will help determine who emerges as the party’s nominee next year.

But the position puts the Republican field out of step with a growing national consensus on gay rights, handing Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats a way to portray Republicans as intolerant and insensitive. Some Republicans also fear that Indiana is only the first in a series of brush fires that could engulf the party as it struggles to adapt to the nation’s rapidly changing demographics and social mores.

“This is another case where the Iowa caucus beckons,” veteran GOP strategist John Weaver said. “Politically, it’s a difficult issue for a general election. After watching the Romney campaign in 2012, a lot of people said, ‘Do no harm to your general-election chances while trying to win the nomination.’ Having said that, you have to win the nomination first.”

As Steve Deace, a conservative talk-radio host in Iowa, put it: “This is the first litmus test of the race. Everyone in the party is watching to see how the candidates respond. For evangelicals, this is the fundamental front of culture issues.”

Vin Weber, a former congressman and Bush ally, said he is concerned about the general-election implications and whether the Indiana debate damages the Republican brand with moderate and independent voters. “Everyone likes Mike Pence, and they’re concerned about the primary politics of the marriage issue, but I’m a little worried they’re not thinking of the broader perceptions of the party,” he said.

But other Republican strategists argued that the Indiana imbroglio could have the opposite effect. They suggested that the harsh reaction to the law has become a rallying cry for the tens of millions of evangelical voters. 

After Pence’s rocky appearance Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Christian conservative leaders around the country organized a frantic outreach effort to pressure likely candidates to defend the legislation, according to several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private communications.

Personally, I think the size of the so-called evangelical vote is over estimated.  Moreover, seeing what the GOP is doing to gays reminds Hispanics and other minorities - and many women - that the GOP likewise has no use for them and, if allowed to do so, would trample on their rights as well.  Aging, far right white bigots is not the face of the GOP that will win in November 2016.  I hope the Christofascists - the GOP's own self-created Frankenstein monster - will lead the GOP to yet another defeat in November 2016.  I suspect Hillary s smiling to herself as she watches this circus of spittle flecked bigotry.

Arkansas Seeks to Follow Indiana's Deference to Bigots

The fat tub of lard on the right is an author of the Arkansas bill

Even as Indiana is facing national criticism, the cancellation of convention, bans of state sponsored travel to Indiana by a number of other states, the Arkansas legislature has passed a bill substantially the same as Indiana's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" and sent the bill to GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson who has promised to sign it.  Even Arkansas based Walmart is calling on Hutchinson to veto the bill.  But there seems to be no limit to how low the Republicans will go to prostitute them selves to the Christofascist element of the GOP base.  A piece in the New York Times looks at Arkansas' rush to make itself a pariah to the national business community.  Here are excerpts:

The Arkansas legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a bill described by proponents as a religious freedom law, even as Indiana’s political leaders struggled to gain control over a growing backlash that has led to calls to boycott the state because of criticism that its law could be a vehicle for discrimination against gay couples.

The Arkansas bill now goes to the state’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who expressed reservations about an earlier version but more recently said he would sign the measure if it “reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states.” Tuesday afternoon, Doug McMillon, the chief executive of Walmart, the state’s largest corporation, said Mr. Hutchinson should veto it.

The passage comes as Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana responded to the criticism of his state voiced by business interest groups, advocates for same-sex marriage and others. He said that he wanted the measure clarified . . . . “I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to discriminate against anyone,” Mr. Pence, a Republican, said at a news conference in Indianapolis. He acknowledged that the law had become a threat to the state’s reputation and economy . . . 

The bill in Arkansas is similar to the Indiana law, with both diverging in certain respects from the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act that was passed in 1993 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, Arkansas’s most famous political son.

Both states’ laws allow for larger corporations, if they are substantially owned by members with strong religious convictions, to claim that a ruling or mandate violates their religious faith, something reserved for individuals or family businesses in other versions of the law. Both allow religious parties to go to court to head off a “likely” state action that they fear will impinge on their beliefs, even if it has not yet happened.

The Arkansas act contains another difference in wording, several legal experts said, that could make it harder for the government to override a claim of religious exemption. The state, according to the Arkansas bill, must show that a law or requirement that someone is challenging is “essential” to the furtherance of a compelling governmental interest, a word that is absent from the federal law and those in other states including Indiana.  “It has way too broad an application,” said John DiPippa, a professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock law school,

Though Arkansas has now joined Indiana as a target of criticism from businesses, condemnation of Indiana’s law continued to grow. . . . . Business executives, notably leaders of tech companies like Apple and Yelp, have spoken out against the law, and Angie’s List cited it in canceling plans to expand its facilities in Indianapolis. Entertainers have canceled tour dates in the state, a gaming convention is considering going elsewhere and the governors of Connecticut, New York and Washington have imposed bans on state-funded travel to Indiana. Even the White House joined in.

[T]he chief executive of Acxiom, a marketing technology company based in Little Rock that employs nearly 1,600 statewide, described the bill as “a deliberate vehicle for enabling discrimination.”

The future of similar measures elsewhere remained unclear. In Georgia on Tuesday, where the legislature will adjourn for the year on Thursday, opponents of a pending proposal rallied outside the state Capitol. Although the bill’s path has been turbulent — a Monday committee hearing about the measure was canceled — supporters and critics alike said it could be approved in the session’s final hours. North Carolina is far earlier in its debate. Religious freedom proposals surfaced last week in both the House and the Senate, and neither has faced a vote at even the committee level.

These bills and the Christofascists who  are demanding them from the GOP are a cancer on society.  We need to return to the Founding Father's concept of freedom of religion - .i.e, no forced support of an established church, no civil penalties for failure to belong to a particular church, and freedom to attend a house of worship of one's choice - and send a loud message to the Christofascist that their days of special rights and undeserved deference are over.

Religious Freedom Restoration Acts Are Not About Religious Liberty

Negative reactions to Indiana's disingenuously named Religious Freedom Restoration Act continue, yet similar acts are making their way through legislatures in Georgia and Arkansas - Arkansas' governor has said he will sign the foul act if it gets to his desk - all in the supposed name of "protecting religious freedom."  Such claims are a lie and are nothing less than an attack on the religious freedom of non-Christofascists and a special license to allow the "godly folk" to discriminate and mistreat others.  A piece in Patheos looks at the hypocrisy and lies behind these acts.  Here are highlights:

There has been a firestorm in the media over the past 24 hours as Indiana’s House of Representatives passed a bill that exempts individuals and businesses from having to comply with the discrimination rulings based on their religious convocations. At the same time in Georgia, another RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) has been approved by the House judiciary subcommittee and is rapidly moving towards becoming law. Advocates are promoting both bills as necessary legislation to bolster religious freedom and protect business owners and private citizens from being forced to provide services to anyone that they disagree with on the basis of their faith.

But embedded in this logic are a number of untruths that, when exposed, unravel the entire argument. First, almost every state in the country already has comprehensive and sufficient religious freedom protections. In no state is it viable to suggest that a Christian pastor could face legal action if they refuse to perform a gay wedding. Our first amendment rights alone offer substantial coverage from such actions. However, it is true that in many states, if a business owner refuses to extend their business to a customer on the basis of religious beliefs, they could face legal action for discrimination, as they should.

Since the founding of our country, we have strived to be a nation that upholds the fundamental dignity of every individual. Yet, when a lesbian couple walks in to a bakery to order a cake for their wedding and is turned away because of their sexual orientation, this act of discrimination clearly undermines their equality and dignity as American citizens and human beings. If a business owner believes that Islam is a “false religion”, he could refuse to provide services to any Muslim patron who walks through the door of his business. This too dehumanizes individuals and reinstitutes principles of discrimination and segregation. It is clear that these bills open Pandora’s box, allowing for discrimination to flourish and setting back our country decades in our progression towards equality.

Despite the fearful picture that is being painted by many legislators and religious leaders about the future of our country once marriage equality is passed, this reality remains true: The religious beliefs and convictions of all Americans are fully protected by both national and state law in all 50 states. No individual will ever be forced to promote or renounce a religious belief and no churches will ever be made to offer sacraments to those they deem unfit. 

It is true, however, that public businesses and corporations that serve the general public will be required to offer fair and equal treatment and service to all people- regardless of their race, creed, political party, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity. And it is this that new RFRA bills are subversively trying to dismantle.

Can you imagine walking up to a store window and seeing a sign that says, “No LGBTQ People Allowed”. Would you want to support that retailer? What if it said, “No Jews Allowed”? This is essentially what RFRA’s will allow businesses across their state to do, recreating the climate that existed in our country prior to the Civil Rights Movement.

[E]ven though legislators in Indiana and Georgia are claiming to be “bolstering the protection of religious liberty”, they’re really just trying to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ and any other individuals that they disagree with.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton - Insane Batshitery is Now the GOP Normal

Sen. Tom Cotton - traitor or brainless idiot?

In the wake of the infamous letter to Iran signed by 47 Republican Senators, all kinds of accusations of treason and lesser offenses are being thrown at the Republican cretins who signed the letter - most probably in a quest to prostitute themselves to the white supremacist base of the party.   Meanwhile, even more focus is coming to bear on Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton who was behind the letter in the first place.  And the picture of Cotton which is emerging is not pretty.  Deliberate lies, extremism and a disregard for truth and veracity seem to be the norm for Cotton.  As The Raw Story is reporting, Cotton even told one uninsured constituent not to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Health Care Act because, if she did, Russian mobsters would steal her identity.  Here are story highlights:

Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton has been in the news for spearheading a coalition of 47 Senators who are trying to kill any deal with Iran by warning its leadership that Obama is only in office for another 21 months.

But long before Cotton had fame and his seat in the Senate, he was a little-known member of the House of Representatives. On November 23rd, 2013, he held a town hall meeting in his district in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the Clarion Lake Resort. The meeting was organized primarily to discuss the Affordable Care Act, most specifically the mishaps with the websites governing the health insurance exchanges.

At one point, a constituent submitted a question mentioning that her insurance plan had been cancelled and she refuses to utilize the exchanges that Obama, who she calls a liar, set up.  Rather than telling her that she has an obligation for her own health to seek insurance, Cotton goaded her on, telling her that he himself wouldn’t use the exchange website because “Russian mobsters” may steal his identity.

COTTON: I have to say I share Tammy’s concerns about her personal information. I have to buy any kind of insurance plan that I might buy through the exchange. And I am certainly not going on the exchange to shop right now. I  did in early October just because I knew that it would crash and I would prove a point. But I certainly wouldn’t put my Social Security number or my tax information in there right now until I’m 100% confident that it’s not going to be stolen by Russian mobsters and I’d have my identity stolen and sold on the black market internationally.

For a man who has railed on a supposed threat from the dangers of Iran, he is awfully comfortable subjecting his own constituents to the dangers of no health coverage.

In short, as more information comes out, it becomes increasingly obvious that Cotton is unfit to even hold a high school student council position much less a U.S. Senator.  All of which, of course, means that Cotton is perfectly fit to be a darling of the GOP base.  Once upon a time - e.g., before the take over of the GOP by the Christofascists/Tea Party - someone like Cotton would never has risen to hold a u.S. Senate seat.  Now, mental midgets and extremists like Cotton are the norm in today's GOP.  My Republican ancestors must be spinning in their graves. 

Arkansas' New Unconstitutional Anti-Gay Law

Arkansas is out to prove that Virginia and Alabama are not the only states controlled by GOP legislatures that ignore the fact that federal law - and U.S. Supreme Court rulings - ALWAYS trump state law.  How else to explain Arkansas' passage of a bill that bars localities from enacting anti-discrimination laws that protect gays from being fired or refused accommodations simply because they are gay?  The law is much like the one passed in Colorado in 1992 which led to the ruling in Romer v. Evans which struck down the animus motivated Colorado measure.   Frankly, it is all part and parcel with the Christofascists' increasing belief that they are above the laws that govern the rest of us and/or that they are entitled to special rights.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the work of the Arkansas Christofascists and their political whores in the Arkansas GOP.  Here are excerpts:

Social conservatives are losing the moral battle on LGBT equality—but they’re not giving up without a fight.

More specifically, they’re starting to look like cornered animals, lashing out with everything they’ve got. We’ve already seen Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore pull a Governor Wallace and order probate judges to disobey a federal court order. And this week, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback abruptly stripped LGBT state employees of nondiscrimination protection.

The latest entry in conservative anti-gay desperation? Arkansas, which just banned any city in the Natural State from protecting its LGBT residents from discrimination. (The legislature passed the bill Friday, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson has announced that he will neither veto nor sign the bill, but allow it to become law without his signature.)

Not only can you now be fired from your job for being gay, turned away from a hotel because you’re gay, and barred from visiting your sick spouse in the hospital because you’re gay—now, even if the enlightened city of Fayetteville (whose nondiscrimination ordinance sparked the effort) wanted to help you, they can’t.

If Arkansas’ new bill sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Back in 1992, Colorado did something very similar. Outraged that liberal enclaves Aspen and Boulder had passed measures protecting gays from discrimination, the state’s citizens passed Amendment 2, prohibiting any state or municipal agency from protecting gays from discrimination.

You may also remember that this is unconstitutional. In the 1996 case of Romer v. Evans, the Supreme Court held that Amendment 2 was unconstitutional, since there was no basis for it other than animus against gay people.

Well aware that Amendment-2-style actions are unconstitutional, the Arkansas bill cleverly bans local governments from extending civil rights protection to “any class not covered in state law.” Paraphrasing Mayor Quimby here, “that could be any protected class that we don’t like.” Not just homosexuals.

The trouble for Arkansas is that there’s now a huge legislative record that shows that, drafting notwithstanding, this bill is about LGBT people. All the statements, pro and con, show that. 

Even in Romer itself, the Court noted various anti-gay statements on the part of Amendment 2’s backers, which comprised some of the evidence that Amendment 2 was motivated by anti-gay animus.

Nor would the case for “uniformity” really fly either. Arkansas, like all states, has all kinds of laws that vary from place to place.

Like the Brownback Rollback [in Kansas], Arkansas’s “Don’t Save Gays” law is an act of desperation. It plays to the hard right base, and if it’s ultimately a losing battle, that resonates with conservative evangelicals’ martyr complex, and their widely-held apocalyptic belief that America is going to hell in a big gay handbasket.

Arkansas Marriage Ban Struck Down

The dominoes continue to fall despite the Sixth Circuit's seemingly white supremacist inspired ruling.  Today, Arkansas joined the list of states where anti-gay animus inspired marriage bans have been ruled unconstitutional.   Unfortunately, the federal judge handing down the ruling has stayed the ruling's effectiveness pending an appeal by state officials eager to prostitute themselves to Christofascist elements of the population.  Here are  excerpts via Towleroad:

A federal judge has struck down Arkansas' ban on same-sex marriage, the AP reports:

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled in favor of two same-sex couples who had challenged a 2004 constitutional amendment and earlier state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, arguing that the ban violated the U.S. Constitution and discriminated based on sexual orientation.

But Baker put her ruling on hold, and the state is expected to appeal it to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis.

Baker wrote in her ruling that the state's marriage laws violate the U.S. Constitution by "precluding same-sex couples from exercising their fundamental right to marry in Arkansas, by not recognizing valid same-sex marriages from other states, and by discriminating on the basis of gender."

Arkansas' State Supreme Court is also currently considering a challenge to the state's same-sex marriage ban. The justices will decide whether to uphold Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza's ruling which struck down the Natural State's marriage ban or to find in favor of the state and reverse that decision. Piazza's ruling made it possible for 541 same-sex couples to say "I do" earlier this year until the state Supreme Court intervened and ordered the marriages to cease until it could review the matter.

The full ruling of the federal District Court can be found here.  Here are some highlights from the opinion:

This Court acknowledges that some courts have recently concluded that  Baker  is still  binding precedent.   See, e.g.,  DeBoer, 2014 WL 5748990. This Court determines that the Sixth Circuit’s reasoning is not as persuasive on this point as that of the Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits. . . . it is difficult to reconcile the Supreme Court’s statement in Windsor  that the Constitution protects the moral and sexual choices of homosexual couples, Windsor, 133 S. Ct. at 2694, with the idea that state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage do not present a substantial federal question.  For the foregoing reasons,  Baker does not bar the Court from reaching the merits of plaintiffs’ claims. 

[T]he drafters of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments “knew times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.”   Lawrence, 539 U.S. at 579.  Accordingly, this Court finds that the Jernigans and Austins have adequately described their asserted right to marry. Directed by Supreme Court and Eighth Circuit  precedents, this Court concludes that the right to marry is a fundamental right.

This Court finds that the Arkansas marriage laws at issue here overstep this constitutional limit. The Due Process Clause prevents the government from infringing upon a fundamental right “unless the infringement is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest.”   Reno, 507 U.S. at 302. Likewise, under the Equal Protection Clause, if a state makes a classification that “impinge[s] upon the exercise of a fundamental right,” then the state must “demonstrate that its classification has been precisely tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest.”

Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 217 (1982).

Defendants’ other rationales focus on connections between marriage and  procreation and the interests of children. These rationales run afoul of the basic tenets of the state’s marriage system, one that does not distinguish procreative from non-procreative couples. Further, the Supreme Court has held that married couples have a right not to procreate and that the Constitution protects the right of individuals to marry regardless of their ability or desire to  procreate, including those who are elderly, infertile, and incarcerated.

This Court finds that the principal purpose of Amendment 83 and the challenged statutes “is to impose inequality, not for other reasons like governmental efficiency.”  Windsor, 133 S. Ct. at 2694. Amendment 83 of the Arkansas Constitution and Arkansas Code Annotated §§ 9-11-107, 9-11-109, and 9-11-208 unconstitutionally deny consenting adult same-sex couples their fundamental right to marry in violation of the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.