The Justice Department Bends Over Backwards to Craft Special Rights for Christofascists

Jack Phillips - the face of a bigot demanding special rights

I have previously noted how the Trump Department of Justice has intervened in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that has the goal, if successful, of carving out an exception to public accommodation and non-discrimination laws for right wing Christian extremists - those I refer to as Christofascists.   While the effort is largely without precedent, it comes as no surprise given (i) Donald Trump's selling of whatever soul he has to Christofascists during a a June, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower, and (ii) Jeff Sessions' decades old racism and homophobia (Sessions and I were both in the Mobile, Alabama legal community decades ago and, in my opinion, the man has only become more foul with the passage of time).  Given the obsession of the conservative justices on the court with pandering to the myth of Christian persecution and "protecting religious freedom" (Gorsuch is particularly obsessed in this regard), there is a frightening chance that the effort will succeed and the civil rights of many minorities, not just gays, will suffer as a consequence.  The Washington Post editorial board rightly lets loose of Sessions - and by extension, Trump.  One can only wonder how long it will be before blacks - or perhaps Jews given Trump's seeming love for Neo-Nazis - can be targeted for discrimination as long as the bigots claim their religious beliefs justify the mistreatment and segregation.  Here are highlights: 

SHOULD A Colorado baker have the right to turn away a gay couple seeking a custom wedding cake if he disapproves of their upcoming marriage? According to the Justice Department, the answer is yes.

The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments over the conduct of this unwilling baker in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Though the federal government isn’t a party to the case, the Justice Department has made a point of weighing in on the side of Jack Phillips, the “cake artist” whose religious opposition to same-sex marriage led him to refuse to design a cake for a gay couple.

The Justice Department’s legal brief has — rightly — faced criticism from civil rights groups appalled by the government’s argument that Mr. Phillips’s religious beliefs grant him a constitutional right to discriminate against gay customers, despite a Colorado public-accommodations law prohibiting unequal treatment on the basis of sexual orientation. Indeed, the brief is a dispiriting signal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s priorities. The government went out of its way to side with Mr. Phillips, but it has been quiet on any number of other significant cases before the Supreme Court this term.

Masterpiece Cakeshop isn’t really a religious-freedom case at all — though Mr. Phillips’s attorneys do point to their client’s constitutional rights on that front. Because Colorado lacks legislation raising the standard for state infringement on religious belief — unlike many states and the federal government — Mr. Phillips is left with what’s likely a losing argument.

That’s why both Mr. Phillips and the Justice Department focus on the baker’s freedom of expression, arguing that crafting a cake for a same-sex wedding would force Mr. Phillips to celebrate a ceremony of which he disapproves.

The Justice Department’s effort to craft a narrow exception to public-accommodations law risks blowing a hole through the fabric of that law entirely. Mr. Phillips is providing a service to his customers for pay. While he does so, he should be subject to anti-discrimination laws like every other business is.

Two years after Obergefell, cases such as Masterpiece Cakeshop have been relatively unsuccessful and few and far between — a sign of a nation moving forward. The Supreme Court should now resist the Justice Department’s effort to turn back the clock.

The take away?  Fundamentalist and evangelical Christians are not nice or decent people and the mainstream media needs to start facing the reality that these people are self-centered bigots who think that they are above the laws.  Perhaps while exposing their nastiness, an effort should be made to repeal the tax exempt status of churches - the rest of the citizenry should not be forced to indirectly financially subsidize these foul institutions. 

Trump Makes an Ass of Himself at Annual Al Smith Fundraiser

UPDATED:  An other article in the Times sums up Trump at the event:

It seemed clear to everyone else. Mr. Trump was being booed at a charity dinner.

As regular readers know, I do not hold the Roman Catholic Church in very high esteem even - or perhaps because - I am a former Catholic.   I hold New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan (a/k/a Porky Pig) in even lower esteem given his past actions prior to coming to New York to screw over victims of priestly sex abuse in his prior diocese.   That said, in New York City there is a long tradition of politicians attending the Al Smith Fundraiser to raise funds to benefit disadvantaged youth through Catholic outreach programs. Driving home from dinner with the husband and friends I happened to catch a portion of Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's remarks at the event.  Trump apparently failed to read the memo about being self- deprecation and being funny.  His comments for the most part brought no laughs and many boos, especially as he launched into Hillary Clinton.  In comparison, as has been the case in the presidential debates, Clinton showed herself to be a class act. The New York Times looks at the evening and Trump's leaden performance.  Here are highlights:

Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump appeared together Thursday night for a ritzy gathering, delivering remarks at the white-tie Al Smith charity dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan.

In most presidential campaigns, the dinner, which benefits Roman Catholic charities, functions as a welcome respite, a forum for levity and self-deprecation in the throes of a heated election.

This year, it just so happens that two New Yorkers can also be found at the top of the ballot.

Here are the highlights:

• And so they came, in tails and fuchsia. The introduction of Melania Trump (sans pussybow), then Mrs. Clinton (to cheers and applause), then Mr. Trump (to slightly less effusive cheers, and scattered boos).

• Just like in the last two debates, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump did not shake hands. Instead they beamed and ignored one another, until the evening’s M.C., Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, performed a veritable act of God — inserting himself between the two rivals, with no physical altercation.

• Alfred E. Smith IV, the chairman of the dinner, seemed to offer a preview of what may await Mr. Trump as he tries to return to New York society life should he not win the White House in November.

“Before the dinner started, Trump went to Hillary and asked how are you,” Mr. Smith said, setting up the punch line. “She said, ‘I’m fine — now get out of the ladies’ dressing room.’”

Finally, he turned the podium over to Mr. Trump. “No matter how the coin toss ended, our next speaker was going to say it was rigged,” Mr. Smith said, to laughter. “Donald, the microphone is yours and it’s working.”

• Mr. Trump seemed to miss the self-deprecation memo . . . .

“Last night I called Hillary ‘a nasty woman’” Mr. Trump said, reprising a line from Wednesday’s debate that many found sexist and offensive. “But this stuff is all relative. After listening to Hillary rattle on and on and on, I don’t think so badly of Rosie O’Donnell anymore. In fact, I’m actually starting to like Rosie a lot.”

• Mrs. Clinton began with the traditional self-deprecating joke: “I took a break from my rigorous nap schedule to be here.” The audience, she added, should be grateful: “Usually I charge a lot for speeches like this.”

• Mrs. Clinton later turned cutting, with a biting edge of hard truth.
“It’s amazing I’m up here after Donald,” she said. “I didn’t think he’d be O.K. with a peaceful transition of power.”

Then, she spoke of the Statue of Liberty, recounting how for most Americans, the green lady of freedom represents a shining beacon and welcome for immigrants arriving on the nation’s shores. But Mr. Trump, she added with a glint of steel, “sees the Statue of Liberty and sees a four.”

• The person who seemed to enjoy the evening least was Mr. Trump. He sat with his arms tightly folded as Mrs. Clinton spoke, a similarly taut smile across his face. But when Mrs. Clinton returned to one of his favorite themes — her health — he seemed momentarily buoyed.

Mr. Trump, the Democratic nominee said, had chivalrously sent a car to ferry her to the dinner. “Actually, it was a hearse,” Mrs. Clinton said.  And finally, Mr. Trump laughed with real joy.

I think I despise Trump more with every passing day.  As for his supporters, I am aghast at how they allow their racism and misogyny to cause them to support a vile individual like Trump.  I am beginning to believe that the belong in the same category as Christofascists: they should not be welcomed in sane and polite company. 

Mike Pence’s Fantasy Running Mate

click image to enlarge

As noted in the previous post, one of the take aways from last night's vice presidential debate is the willingness that GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence has shown to lie and disclaim reality and behavior of his running mate that is captured on video.  In my view, it should surprise no one since Christofascists like Pence can generally be assumed to be lying if their lips are moving.  The New York Times editorial board correctly takes Pence to task on his dishonesty.  Here are excerpts:

We’ve seen presidential candidates in the past try to defend an unlikely choice of running mate. But we’ve never before seen a vice-presidential candidate try to defend a bizarre choice of nominee.

Yet that was the daunting task that Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana faced on Tuesday night, as he labored to defend Donald Trump, a nominee with contempt for many of the principles, much of the policy agenda and all of the dignity of the Republican Party that Mr. Pence cherishes.

Mr. Pence simply ignored the Donald Trump we have seen on the trail for more than a year — the one who would build a wall against Mexico, the one who would disregard our security treaties and tear up our trade agreements, the one with a crush on Vladimir Putin — and instead dreamed up a more conventional, right-wing Republican, a Republican, that is, very like Mike Pence.

Mr. Pence has his own political aspirations and abandoned his re-election bid for governor to sign on with Mr. Trump when he was surging.

Since then, Mr. Pence has been engaged in the same compromising maneuvers that Republican leaders like Paul Ryan, the House speaker, and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, have been performing almost daily since they reluctantly embraced their party’s standard-bearer.

On Tuesday night, Mr. Pence resorted at times to repeating some of Mr. Trump’s own thin claims, including his preposterous justification for not releasing his tax returns. And he simply ducked rather than try to address questions about Mr. Trump’s egregious attacks on women and minorities; instead, he accused the Democrats of unleashing “an avalanche of insults” on his running mate.

McConnell's Belligerance on Nomination Could Cost GOP the Senate

As noted in other posts, I find Senator Mitch McConnell distasteful at best and now he has turned into a shameless whore for the ugliest elements in the GOP base with his pledge to block any nominee for the Supreme Court to fill the now vacant see of Antonin Scalia, long a toxic force in the American judiciary.  As a piece in the New York Times notes, McConnell's games may cost the GOP control of the U.S. Senate by setting the stage for constant attacks on Republican senators already facing an uphill battle for re-elections. I for one hope McConnell's self-prostitution blows up in his face and that in 2017 he will find himself Senate minority leader at best.  Here are article highlights:

Senator Mitch McConnell’s strategy to maintain the Republican majority has been clear: trying to prove that his party can govern. But by saying he will block a Supreme Court nominee who has not even been named, Mr. McConnell is headed toward partisan warfare instead.

The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has energized a right flank that has been long suspicious of Mr. McConnell and forced him into a fight that is likely to derail his smooth-functioning Senate. The tactic could alienate moderate voters and imperil incumbent Republicans in swing states, but in the supercharged partisanship of a Supreme Court fight, he probably had no choice.

He has spent his leadership of the slender Republican majority balancing the demands of conservatives, who view Mr. Obama’s presidency as an eight-year constitutional crisis, and his obligations to vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year. He has chosen the conservatives.

But events in the coming months could confound that decision. Mr. Obama’s nominee will put a face on what Democrats will call a clear case of obstruction, giving them someone to rally around. And a divided court must render decisions on abortion-clinic access, affirmative action at universities and Mr. Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Every deadlocked 4-to-4 decision will spotlight the Senate’s inaction, amplifying Democrats’ cries of irresponsibility but also highlighting the stakes for conservatives set against enabling a left-leaning court majority.

Mr. McConnell’s strategic affront — announcing just hours after Justice Scalia’s death that he would refuse to even consider a replacement — was presaged by other Republican moves over the last two years. A week ago, the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees said the president’s budget director should not be allowed to testify at their budget hearings, a move without modern precedent.

Mr. McConnell, who has spent most of his career steering away from ideological positions, has been known to take fast turns to the right in early stages of a public debate, such as when he endorsed Senator Rand Paul, his fellow Kentuckian, for president in the incipient stages of his now-suspended campaign. He has also tended to tilt right in debates on the Senate floor on policy issues.

In a twist, the greatest beneficiary of Mr. McConnell’s strategy may be the Republican White House candidate he and his Senate Republicans like the least — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a former Supreme Court clerk whose quick and stalwart opposition to any confirmation is certain to resonate with the most tuned-in Republican primary voters.

Mr. McConnell’s move makes for uncomfortable times for someone like Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, who has a very late primary in a swing state and on Sunday released a statement that said she supported Mr. McConnell’s decision. Endorsing Mr. McConnell’s strategy could hurt her in the general election , especially if 4-to-4 decisions on the Supreme Court start piling up.

Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, who is also up for re-election, issued a statement of condolence to Justice Scalia’s family without mentioning the ensuing confirmation fight already engulfing Washington.

“McConnell’s precipitous action is reminiscent of his statement in 2010 that his prime goal was to prevent Mr. Obama’s re-election,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. “Obama hadn’t presented his proposals for the upcoming Congress; now he hasn’t named a nominee for the court. He realizes it’s better for his senators up for re-election to show he is working in a bipartisan way, but any efforts in that direction have been undone by that action.”

Mr. Schumer and other Democrats note that two of the justices on court — Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas — were nominated by Republican presidents and confirmed when Democrats held the majority in the Senate.

Virginia Republicans Compete to See Can Most Be Anti-LGBT

Del. C. Todd Gilbert

For years Delegate Bob Marshall has been an embarrassment to the Commonwealth of Virginia and brought negative national and international news coverage to Virginia. This session of the Virginia General Assembly there is apparently a contest among Virginia Republicans in the General Assembly to see who can propose the most anti-LGBT legislation and at the same time offer the most special rights to far right Christians - whom I refer to as Christofascists.  GOP Delegate C. Todd Gilbert  (who represents a backwater district in the Shenandoah Valley) seemingly is trying hard to outdo Bob Marshall in lunacy and anti-gay animus by introducing HB 773 which proposes the utterly ridiculously named "Government Nondiscrimination Act" which would allow "sincerely held religious belief" to be invoked to ignore any LGBT non-discrimination law that one did not like.  

In addition, the HB 773 would (i) undercut all pro-Transgender legislation and policies by focusing on what is between one's legs at birth, (ii) bar the revocation of licenses by licensing authorities, if a party's failure to comply with ethical and licensing requirements was based on religious belief or moral conviction," and (iii) eliminate the typical requirement that one must exhaust applicable administrative appeals processes before filing a lawsuit.   This latter provision would seemingly allow therapists and clinicians to engage in witch doctor like practices - e.g., ex-gay "cure" or reparative therapy practices - condemned by state licensing authorities so long as they could claim that they were acting in accordance with their religious beliefs.  

Here are some excerpts from Gilbert's bill that is nothing more than a license to discriminate law masquerading as a law to protect religious freedom:

§ 57-2.3. Protection of the free exercise of religious beliefs and moral convictions.
A. Notwithstanding any other statute, regulation, or administrative order to the contrary, a government entity shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, in whole or in part, on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that (i) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman and (ii) the male sex and the term "man" and the female sex and the term "woman" refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics of the individual at the time of birth.

C. Any person that would otherwise be accredited, licensed, or certified for any purpose under state law but for a determination against such person, in whole or in part, on the basis that the person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction set forth in subsection A shall be considered to be validly accredited, licensed, or certified in the Commonwealth.

§ 57-2.4. Judicial relief.
A. A person may assert a violation of this chapter as a claim or defense in any judicial or administrative proceeding and obtain compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other appropriate relief. A person that prevails in any proceeding to enforce a provision of this chapter in any proceeding against a government entity, excluding criminal prosecutions, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs.

In the past religious belief has NEVER been utilized to gran complete exemptions from compliance with generally applicable non-discrimination laws.  Now, with the Republican Party having become a sectarian party that has nothing but contempt for religious freedom except when invoked by the party's Christofascist base,   Gilbert's bill is disgusting and shows how far the GOP is willing to prostitute itself to religious extremism that are as motivated by hate almost as much the Islamic extremists that the GOP so loudly condemns.   The only good news is that Gov. Terry McAuliffe would veto the bill if it manages to pass the General Assembly. 

Personally, my contempt for the Republican Party of Virginia continues to grow  as does my revulsion for the self-anointed "godly folk."

African Bishops Reveal Catholic Church's Hypocrisy

Anti-gay douche bag and hypocrite

With science increasingly confirming that sexual orientation is no more of a choice than eye color or skin color, the anti-gay stance of anti-gay religious denominations is becoming increasingly clear as to what it is: blatant discrimination conflated with a deliberate embrace of ignorance.  Hence why the Roman Catholic Church is only growing in backward and ignorant areas of the world such as Africa. Adding to the ugliness of such discrimination is the fact that homophobia in Africa was imported by Christian missionaries who rode rough shod over indigenous cultures.  Yet at the Vatican synod on the family, homophobic African bishops are demanding that they and their ignorant followers need “time to deal with” homosexuality and other “issues from our own cultural perspectives.”  That's akin to white Southerners demanding time to get over viewing blacks as inferior and wanting to maintain Jim Crow laws.  The Washington Blade looks at this batshitery.  Here are highlights:

Vatican Radio reported that and brutalize of Archdiocese of Accra said countries need “time to deal with” homosexuality and other “issues from our own cultural perspectives.” He also highlighted the need for “the dignity and rights of all God’s sons and daughters need to be upheld,” as Vatican Radio reported.

Palmer-Buckley’s comments come four days after he and other Catholic bishops began a three-week gathering in Rome during which they will vote on a document that specifically addresses the family. 

Leaked drafts indicate that it reiterates the church’s opposition to unions between gays and lesbians.

Davis Mac-Iyalla, a gay Nigerian man who received asylum in the U.K., was among the LGBT Catholics who gathered in Rome earlier this month ahead of the start of the bishops’ meeting.

Mac-Iyalla on Thursday noted to the Washington Blade the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria has supported anti-LGBT measures in his homeland, including a 2014 law that punishes those who enter into a same-sex marriage with up to 14 years in prison. 

Mac-Iyalla added African religious leaders should “stop colluding with governments in persecuting LGBT people.” 

If  Archbishop Palmer-Buckley wants the freedom to discriminate against and brutalize gays, then lets grant white supremacists the same rights. There is really no difference. Both bigoted mindsets arise from ignorance and a fear of those who are different, so Palmer-Buckley needs to support anti-black bigotry if he wants to support anti-gay bigotry.  The man is a disingenuous douche bag. 

 

Scott Walker Rushes to "Clarify" of His Anti-Gay Boy Scout Remarks

Faced with a swift and hard hitting backlash against his statement that the soon defunct Boy Scouts of America policy that barred gay scoutmasters "protected children" - which implied that gays were pedophiles and child molesters - Scott Walker's minions have rushed to do damage control and "clarify" what Walker really meant.  Walker and his handlers obviously think most of us are complete morons because for anyone who saw the video of Walker or read the text of his remarks, it was crystal clear what he meant, and it wasn't what Walker's spin masters are claiming.  Most folks are buying Walker's bull shit excuse/clarification and, if we are lucky, it is only one of many gaffes that Walker will make that show him to be an utter douche bag.  Bottom line, Walker is so full of shit that it's a wonder he hasn't exploded.  Here are highlights from Think Progress on Walker's damage control effort:

The Wisconsin governor declared his entrance into the 2016 race with a promise to be a bold conservative who wins on principle, but on only his third day out he’s already waffling on his commitment to targeting the LGBTQ community for discrimination.

On Tuesday, [Walker] came out in opposition to the Boy Scouts of America’s unanimous decision to overturn its ban on gay troop leaders only one day after announcing his candidacy. One day later, the Republican Wisconsin Governor attempted to walk that position back.

On Wednesday, after widespread media coverage noted Walker’s suggestion that gay adults are child predators, Walker rushed to mitigate the damage, claiming he never meant that the ban protected boy scouts from gay leaders but actually protected the children from the debate Americans who want to discriminate against the LGBTQ community force upon the nation.

[D]uring a press conference in South Carolina today, the New York Times reports that Walker himself attempted to clarify his remarks, saying the ban protected children “from being involved in the very thing you’re talking about right now, the political and media discussion about it, instead of just focusing on what Scouts is about, which is about camping and citizenship and things of that nature.”

When Walker was specifically asked about his comment supporting the ban, explicitly calling out his claim that “it protected children” on Tuesday, Walker doubled down, citing the fact that his mother was a den mother and calling the ban “perfectly fine”

Jeb Bush’s Plutocratic Fantasy Land

Bush vacation "compound" Kennebunkport, Maine - Meanwhile, Jebbie wants us to "work longer hours"

Not to beat a news item to death, but Jeb Bush's statement that working Americans suffering from declining wages need to "work longer hours" underscores just how out of touch he is from reality, especially the reality most Americans live in.  Making matters worse, Jebbie supports more GOP voodoo economic measures that will benefit the very wealthy and screw over average Americans even more.  A piece in Salon lays out the case that Jebbie is living in a "plutocratic fantasy land."  Here are excerpts:

It’s possible that you can forgive Jeb Bush for not knowing about regular people, when in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader on Wednesday, he demonstrated a complete lack of appreciation for how hard Americans work — and for how little. Perhaps you can also forgive him for not recognizing that, in fact, Americans work more than their counterparts in other industrialized countries, that we get less vacation time, less maternity leave, and retire later than most anyone else, and that that trend is only intensifying. He’s from a family of millionaires, after all, whose parents were the millionaire children of yet other millionaires before them. It’s an unfortunate reality that the elite who enjoy that sort of privilege simply don’t have the means to understand the lives of those above whom they reside in luxury.

So perhaps you can think of him more like a prince than a former governor: Princes perform their princely duties to uphold the family’s prestige. That’s just the way it goes.

[W]hat shouldn’t be forgiven is when someone like Jeb Bush, entirely ignorant of how the rest of us live, seeks to tell us what we’re doing wrong; when he blames us, indicts us and thereby makes demands. And what’s most egregious is when it’s in the service of his fellow elites, when telling us to work even harder and longer is precisely what fills the pockets of his wealthy friends and supporters. It shifts the blame from the banks and the job off-shorers onto everyone else, and then presents the solution as something that hurts us more and pads the profits of those very same culprits.

[Bush is seemingly] unaware of how U.S. worker productivity has risen some 80 percent since the 1970s, or that we’re actually the most productive workforce in the world, yet with little in the way of commensurate wage and salary increases since the time his father joined President Reagan in the White House in 1980.

Jeb? I seem to remember a Wall Street crisis in the last year of your brother’s tenure, and millions of people losing their jobs because of it, but I don’t remember any sort of “productivity crisis” or “laziness crisis” on our end. I saw a crisis of financial capitalism in which the capitalists wrecked the ship and we lost our jobs. We didn’t abandon them. We’ve been taking care of our end of the bargain, us workers. It’s your lot that’s dropping the ball.

Mr. Bush. You have a multimillion-dollar vacation estate built by your great-grandfather. Your campaign donors are a who’s who of corporate elites. A career spent with some of the biggest banks in the world and your own private equity firm has people comparing you to Mitt Romney. And now you’re telling us that we’re the problem. Please proceed, Governor.

He and his ilk aren’t the problem, goes his logic, but rather that “high-sustained growth means that people work 40 hours rather than 30 hours.” You don’t know why Americans are kept working 30 hours per week? How can you not know that? They don’t choose to work less, it’s that their employers (you know, your buddies) have weekly thresholds that determine full-time work, and full-time work means that the company must provide benefits in addition to wages.

The blame he assigns to workers is moral, though: We choose “being dependent on government,” he says, “rather than getting in line.” It’s a moral failing that he’s comfortable assigning to us in what was supposed to be an attempt to mend the mistake he’d made earlier. 

It’s still our fault, according to Bush. A dynastic front-runner of the GOP, swimming in millions and millions in corporate and Wall Street elite donations and literally swimming at his vacation estate, tells us that we’re the problem, that we’re living too easy. 

I'm sorry, but Bush is an arrogant, despicable ASSHOLE.  We do NOT need him in the White House. Hillary has her faults, but at least she grew up in a normal American household and still remembers where she came from.  Unlike Jebbie, she is not utterly out of touch with reality.

 

Jeb Bush: "People Should Work Longer Hours"

Like so many others born with a silver spoon in their mouth who have NEVER known the financial struggles and what life is like without a financial safety need has a message to hard working Americans: you need to work longer hours.  Many of us are maxed out time wise and don't have the luxury of finding jobs falling into our laps because of who are daddy or granddaddy are/were.  The man is an asshole - not to mention hostile to gay rights, including employment non-discrimination protections. Message to Jebbie: Americans already work longer hours than citizens of advanced countries and we have crappy health care coverage and now less social mobility than in Europe.  Talking Points Memo looks at Jebbie's statement which I hope will go down with Mitt Romney's 47% remark as symbolic of how clueless Bush and his entire family are to the concerns and neeeds of regular working Americans.  Here are story highlights:

In an interview with the Manchester Union-Leader, the first-in-the-nation primary state's most-read paper, former Florida Gov Jeb Bush insisted “people should work longer hours", as a key part of his plan to drive higher economic growth.

The comment is already being treated as a gaffe. But it is actually an accurate if perhaps over-candid explanation of his economic plan, which seeks to combat stagnant or declining wages by getting people to work more hours.

Bush has argued that his economic plan could allow the US to achieve average growth rates of 4% "as far as the eye can see", a figure most economists believe is unrealistic for a mature economy like the United States. The "longer hours" comment was in reference to the historically low labor force participation rates the United States has seen in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis.

But numerous public opinion surveys and economic studies have shown that US workers log more hours than workers in any other industrial economy. The majority of Americans already work more than 40 hours a week. In fact, a 2014 Gallup poll found that 40% currently work more than 50 hours a week. The average American worked 11 hours per week more in 2006 than they or the equivalent worker did in 1979.

In response to criticism from Democrats, Bush's spokesperson replied: "Only Washington Democrats could be out-of-touch enough to criticize giving more Americans the ability to work, earn a paycheck, and make ends meet."

Under Bush's plan we will be further along the way on the GOP plan of returning America to the evils of the Gilded Age when the few had fabulous wealth and the rest of us worked our asses off to scrape by.  The Sun-Sentinel has this on target quote from the DNC chair:

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, said Florida knows Jeb Bush best, having watched him as governor.  

 "Jeb Bush only looks out for himself and people like him. He never has, and never will, fight for middle class families,'' she said, portraying him as an uncompromising political bully who "always thinks he's right'' and would be incapable of breaking the logjam in Congress.

"We used to call him King Jeb,'' said Wasserman Schultz, who served in the state Legislature during part of Bush's governorship.  "No matter what the voters, or the Legislature, or the courts say, at the end of the day Jeb Bush is going to get things his way, come hell or high water.''

Rick Santorum Cites "God Hates Fags"

Hysterical, self-loathing closet case Rick Santorum will seemingly do anything to remain in the public eye as he moves towards another insane presidential campaign, the real purpose of which may be to keep himself on the speaker circuit and maintain a nice income rolling in.  Now, Santorum while appearing on Face the Nation has used the "God Hates Fags" slogan of the late Fred Phelps to (i) justify license to discriminate laws, and (ii) stay in the media eye.  The man is an utter douche bag and demonstrates how religious brainwashing can literally make one crazy.  The Raw Story looks at Santorum's new low.  Here are highlights:

Likely Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Sunday quoted Westboro Church’s infamous “God Hates Fags” slogan in defense of an Indiana law that allowed Christian businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. 

“I think the current language that the federal law is — and now Indiana is — has been held to have a pretty limited view of religious liberty — religious freedom is in the workplace,” the former Pennsylvania senator insisted. “And I think we need to look at, as religious liberty is now being pushed harder, to provide more religious protections, and that bill doesn’t do that.”

Santorum argued that wedding planners should not be forced to serve same-sex couples because “tolerance is a two-way street.”  “If you’re a print shop and you are a gay man, should you be forced to print ‘God Hates Fags’ for the Westboro Baptist Church because they hold those signs up?” he asked. “Should the government — and this is really the case here — should the government force you to do that?”

“And that’s what these cases are all about.
However, Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign told O’Donnell that Santorum seemed to misunderstand the law. 

“The legislation would have done no such thing,” she said. “It explicitly allowed individuals to use their religious beliefs to undermine other types of laws that provide protection, not only against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, but against other religious minorities and in some instances, against African-Americans and Asian-Americans.”

I wish someone would "out" Santorum and remove him from the political stage once and for all. 

Gaming Convention Threatens to Boycott Indianapolis

Indiana - home of special rights for Christofascists

The Republican controlled Indiana legislature has passed a license to discriminate law that would grant special rights to Christofascists in order to enable them to refuse service to or interaction with those who offend their religious beliefs. It is part and parcel with the larger agenda of the Republican Party to shamelessly prostitute itself to hate-filled, ignorance embracing, knuckle dragging "godly Christians" in order to (i) protect its elected officials from primary challenges and (ii) get the spittle flecked, Kool-Aid drinking set to turn out on election day.  The tawdriest of whores is virtuous compared to today's Republicans.  But the political prostitutes may be hitting the first of many downsides of their disgusting self-prostitution.  The Gen Con gaming convention has sent a letter to Indiana governor Mike Pence threatening to pull its convention from Indianapolis if Pence signs the legislation into law.  Here are excerpts from Gen Con's letter to Pence:

“Legislation that could allow for refusal of service or discrimination against our attendees will have a direct negative impact on the state's economy, and will factor into our decision-making on hosting the convention in the state of Indiana in future years. . . .Gen Con proudly welcomes a diverse attendee base, made up of different ethnicities, cultures, beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds,” she wrote. “We are happy to provide an environment that welcomes all, and the wide-ranging diversity of our attendees has become a key element to the success and growth of our convention.”

We ask that you reconsider your support for SB 101.

Candidly, Pence is a nasty piece of work and he is likely to sign the bill.  If that happens, Gen Con needs to follow though on its threat and find a new location for its event.  Hopefully, other organizations will join suit and Indiana will pay a real financial price for its backwardness and bigotry.

P.S. For those in states that have enacted such laws, please read the language of the applicable statute carefully.  If the wording is broad enough, these laws need to be used to discriminate against far right Christians by citing "religious belief" - e.g., they are the modern day version of Biblical Pharisees and need to be shunned.  If (i) I lived in a state with such a law and (ii) I still had my own firm, nothing would give me more joy that showing a Chridstofascist to the door and telling them that they are unwanted.