Trump Voter Fired for Racist Rant

Per the last two posts, really I have no use for Trump supporters who, despite their gyrations to explain their vote in terms other than racism and bigotry, are fooling no one other than themselves.  One Trump supporter in Alabama was honest enough to clearly state her reasoning.  Her honesty - and open racism - cost her her job and rightfully so given her position dealing with the public, which in Alabama includes many blacks.  AL.com looks at Regions Bank's decision to fire this KKK member want to be.  Here are highlights:

A Regions Bank senior-level employee who was labeled "Racist of the Week" on social media after posting comments on Facebook derogatory of President Obama and his family, some of which alluded to slavery, is no longer with the company, the bank says.

June Pridmore was senior vice president of loan operations since 2008, according to her LinkedIn profile, which has been deleted.

"I voted [Trump] in," she wrote, in part. "I like him. He has a beautiful wife unlike the ugly and embarrassing woman (for lack of a better word), in the White House now. Ms. Trump's face would make Michele (sic) O'Bama (sic) a Sunday face." . . . .

Not surprisingly, the comments, like the spate of similar racists thought expressed through social media since President-elect Donald Trump's victory, ignited a social media firestorm.

Regions, headquartered in Birmingham, initially said it launched an investigation and revealed its response today.

Bank spokesperson Jeremy King said: "We appreciate the concerns shared about offensive social media comments that were made through an associate's personal Facebook account. We want you to know that we share those concerns. Those comments do not reflect our values as a company or the way we do business. The associate is no longer an employee of the company."

Pridmore's comments also raised concerns about whether her apparent biases might have influenced any loan approvals.

I can only imagine what Ms. Pridmore thinks of gays and Jews, not to mention Hispanics and non-Christians. 

Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association Launches Campaign for Medicaid Expansion

Here in Virginia, the Virginia GOP - like the national party - opposes anything related to Barack Obama, including Medicaid expansion which would extend healthcare coverage to roughly 400,000 working Virginians and give desperately needed financial relief to many of Virginia's hospitals.  Perhaps such racist inspired conduct against America's first non-white president should not be surprising in the state that pioneered "Massive Resistance" and the closure of public schools rather than allow black children attend school with withe children.  But what is amazing is the fact that the Virginia GOP is willing to threaten the continued existence of many hospitals, especially in rural areas where the GOP retains power by playing on voter racism, homophobia and anti-immigrant bigotry.  To fight back, the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA), has launched  a statewide public awareness campaign to "alert Virginians to the financial challenges confronting Virginia hospitals" and indirectly to alert Virginians to the damage being done to health care in Virginia by the Virginia GOP obstructionism and willingness to kick working families into the gutter.  Blue Virginia has highlighted some top points of the campaign's message:

*Virginia hospitals are vital both to people's health and to the economy; they generate $35.8 billion in economic activity, employ 115,026 people with a payroll of $7.9 billion and rank among the top five employers in 60% of Virginia counties.

*Virginia hospitals are facing significant economic headwinds. This is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, receiving over 60% of its revenue from either Medicaid or Medicare. In Virginia, Medicaid pays about two thirds of what it costs hospitals to provide care, and more cuts in reimbursements are likely. "This is a non-sustainable situation."

* One-third (31 of 88) of Virginia’s acute care hospitals operated in the red in 2013.

*"We're here today to begin a dialogue to try to bring to the public's attention that there's a problem, that we are facing serious headwinds, and that there are a lot of health systems and hospitals in the state that are bailing water pretty seriously."

*The goal is to engage "all parts of the political spectrum" to come up with a "Virginia solution that will be sustainable for the long term."

*Virginia hospitals contribute to the overall health and well being of the Commonwealth, so "the ripple effects of policies that harm hospitals reach much farther and wider than hospitals or health care systems."

*"This isn't a partisan issue at all, this is truly a health care issue and a community issue."

*Today, there are "challenges that we've never faced before in the health care system, and it's becoming more and more difficult to meet the needs of the underserved while keeping our hospitals fiscally sound, and that's sometimes especially true in rural areas."

*Hospitals "want to start a dialogue about the real problems that exist and the need for resolution to preserve Virginia's vitally important work of health care...and the significant economic contributions we make."

*Rural hospitals are typically the largest employers in their area. Just about half of rural hospitals operate in the red in Virginia...and they're all very much challenged in terms of their sustainability, their ability to continue to be there for their communities..."

 I've written on this issue before and it is one of the issues addressed in my September, 2015, column in VEER Magazine which is on the shelf now.  Sadly, supporting the Commonwealth's hospital system should not be a partisan issue, but given the intransigence of the Virginia GOP, it has become one.  The one irony is that many GOP dominated rural areas will end up losing not only easily accessible health care, but will also see their region's largest employers close down.  Their stupidity, racism and overall bigotry will ultimately be the root of their own undoing.  Karma can indeed be a bitch.

The GOP Presidential Field's Crazy Talk

If many of the Republican 2016 presidential nominee contenders sound crazy and ready for a mental asylum, it's actually a symptom of a much more widespread problem: the overall insanity of much of the GOP base where ignorance is worn like a badge of honor and facts and objective reality count for nothing.  Add to that the virulent hatred of the GOP base towards Barack Obama largely because of his skin color and one gets a truly toxic brew.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the sad state of affairs and why crazy talk wins points with the party base.  Here are highlights:

Was he under the influence of Koch? Or was it evidence of a deeper disorder?
Whatever the cause, something made Scott Walker give birther to another round of conspiracy theory over the weekend. The Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential candidate, appearing at a gathering of conservative donors hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers, said he couldn’t be sure President Obama is Christian.

The furthest Walker would go was to “presume” that Obama is what he claims — and not the Kenya-born Muslim we all know him secretly to be.

To most folks who have heard Obama talk about his Christian faith, or heard him sing “Amazing Grace” at a South Carolina church, this is crazy talk. But Walker’s answer was a logical appeal to the Republican primary electorate.

Fifty-four percent of Republicans last year said they thought that “deep down” Obama was a Muslim, and 29 percent said they didn’t know, according to a poll by political scientist Alex Theodoridis, who writes for The Post’s Monkey Cage blog.

Walker’s encouragement of the Muslim myth was another case of a dynamic that could be problematic for the eventual Republican presidential nominee: Saying zany things is rational strategy.

Chris Christie talking about his wish to punch a teachers union in its collective face? Ted Cruz saying the Obama administration is becoming the “world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorists”? Mike Huckabee talking about Obama marching Israelis to the “door of the oven”? Rand Paul declaring that highly taxed people are “half-slave”? Or Donald Trump, who still doesn’t know whether Obama was born in America, insulting everything from Mexican immigrants to John McCain’s war record?

Paul, the libertarian candidate in the GOP field, explained the Trump appeal on CNN: “This is a temporary sort of loss of sanity, but we’re going to come back to our senses and look for somebody serious to lead the country at some point.”

He’s right about the insanity part. But it may not be temporary. The gap between those who vote in GOP primaries and the rest of the electorate is growing.

In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, from mid-July, fully 88 percent of Republicans said the country is on the wrong track, close to the record-high 93 percent for Republicans in late 2011. So many Republicans think the country is on the wrong track that it may be causing them to come off the rails.

In 2008, there was a 33-point gap between the percentage of Democrats and Republicans who thought the country on the wrong track, and a 12-point gap between Democrats and independents. Now, the corresponding gaps between Republicans and the others are 46 points and 19 points.

This Republican sliver of the electorate, growing isolated and angry, is inclined toward exotic views. Trump, rather than causing the insanity Paul speaks of, is exploiting it.

While Jeb Bush alone tries to keep his head, others have responded to Trump by raising their own levels of crazy. Graham, who justifiably calls Trump a “jackass,” warns of the Iran deal empowering “religious Nazis.” Cruz says that “data and facts don’t support” global warming. Rubio says Obama “has no class.” Huckabee suggests he might use federal troops to block abortions. 

This is what it takes — not only to trump Trump but to appeal to the peculiar tastes of the Republican primary electorate. 

My Republican ancestors must be rolling over in their graves.  And when did this sickness first begin to take hold?  When the Christofascists hijacked much of the party base.  They remain a metastasizing cancer in the GOP.