State Legislative Politics, 2-25-2024, State Representative Kevin West (R-OK) Proposes Creating A Government List Of Women Who Have Received An Abortion And Documenting How Many They’ve Received

The issue of abortion is already a ghoulish dichotomy in the United States where states like New Mexico have liberalized abortion access to the point of allying with the Satanic Temple and the bordering state of Texas is being sued for denying emergency abortion rights for women whose lives are in danger from their situation. While I am adamantly pro-life, I am also not so much of a stalwart on the issue that I would deny emergency operations for women that are physically suffering and are going to lose their children anyway. Those operations should be few and far between, … Continue reading State Legislative Politics, 2-25-2024, State Representative Kevin West (R-OK) Proposes Creating A Government List Of Women Who Have Received An Abortion And Documenting How Many They’ve Received

Religious Banter #73, State Representative Josh Schriver (R-MI) Attempts To Use Religious Fervor To Distract From Racist Comments, Losing Staff, And Committee Assignments

Having been ousted as the next Michael Cassidy wannabe from the far end of the Christian nationalist wing of the Republican Party (in other words, someone who would be wise to spend less time on Twitter and learning about personal boundaries), state representative Josh Schriver (R-MI) has had a bad week so far. He’s lost his staff and committee assignments after making racist remarks about minorities and now, realizing his political career hinges upon appealing to a select few zealots, has decided that some religious groups deserve tax-exempt status more than others. I’m sure the racist outbursts and being made … Continue reading Religious Banter #73, State Representative Josh Schriver (R-MI) Attempts To Use Religious Fervor To Distract From Racist Comments, Losing Staff, And Committee Assignments

Chromatic, 2-18-2024, Why Getting Upset Over A Mural On A Road Is Ridiculous (And Actual Public Policy Battles That Need To Be Fought)

Whenever I see a piece of street art, I immediately become tense. This isn’t because of some authoritarian urge to control the free expression of whoever wants to draw what message they want, but rather the fact that street art tends to get damaged because, well, people need to use the street. If you put a rainbow flag on the road where people will be driving, people can’t safely just turn around on the same road and go the other direction as they have to go through the rainbow drawing. The same goes for if someone who goes through shades … Continue reading Chromatic, 2-18-2024, Why Getting Upset Over A Mural On A Road Is Ridiculous (And Actual Public Policy Battles That Need To Be Fought)

Republican Banter #347, Updates From The Special Elections on February 13th, 2024 (NY-03 and Down-Ballot Elections)

As if the GOP didn’t need a flurry of bad news besides the snow in New York, they received it anyway in the form of several electoral defeats and/or near misses that were mitigatable if not for Donald Trump’s lag on the national party. The GOP officially lost the “toss-up” seat in New York’s 3rd Congressional District special election by about seven points despite supposedly being a nail-biter, likely owing to a combination to snow depressing Republican turnout and George Santos’s baggage dragging down the ticket overall. The percentages were roughly 53% Tom Suozzi (D), 46% Mazi Pilip (R). I’ll … Continue reading Republican Banter #347, Updates From The Special Elections on February 13th, 2024 (NY-03 and Down-Ballot Elections)

Town Hall, 2-11-2024, Seattle Raids Several Gay Bars In What Appears To Be A Discriminatory Crackdown

In news that crossed my radar by chance, the city of Seattle is currently facing backlash after a series of raids against local gay bars. While somewhat hard to believe in deep blue Seattle, the city had local and state inspectors walk into venues and search for what was likely evidence to use against either bar owners or for collecting purposes. However, the Liquor and Cannabis Board has recently passed a series of proposals that seek to prevent a similar crackdown on gay bars like what happened a few nights ago. Why is this important to mention and what relevance … Continue reading Town Hall, 2-11-2024, Seattle Raids Several Gay Bars In What Appears To Be A Discriminatory Crackdown

Strange Numbers #303, The Texas Fertility Rate Increased For Minorities After The Post-Dobbs Pro-Life Legislation

At the same time that I will be criticizing Texas politicians, I would like to complement a development that has happened as a result of the pro-life bills that have been allowed to pass because of the Dobbs decision in late 2022. While birth rates and fertility globally have been struggling, the Republican states that have passed pro-life bills have seen their fertility rates and numbers of births increase even as Democrats report decreases. Essentially, the GOP-led states are making up the future tax base of programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security that the Democrats are failing to produce … Continue reading Strange Numbers #303, The Texas Fertility Rate Increased For Minorities After The Post-Dobbs Pro-Life Legislation

State Legislative Politics, 2-4-2024, The Issue Of Compelled Speech Regarding Iowa House Study Bill 587

The legacy of the court case Engel v. Vitale is still fresh in the minds of Iowans where the state legislature signed legislation that forced students to have to say the Pledge of Allegiance which explicitly says, “one nation under God”, something that a student who identifies as an agnostic/atheist shouldn’t be compelled to say by government authorities. To understand why this minor gripe matters, consider that the start of the nation had irreligious people barred from holding office over purely superstitious reasons while their more religious ancestors were the bandwagoners who were executing people during the Salem Witch Trials. … Continue reading State Legislative Politics, 2-4-2024, The Issue Of Compelled Speech Regarding Iowa House Study Bill 587

State Legislative Politics, 1-28-2024, Kentucky Considers Moving Its Gubernatorial Elections To Even, Presidential Years

After the 2023 Kentucky gubernatorial election returned Andy Beshear (D-KY) to the governor’s office, the usual power dynamics between winners and losers played out as well as you could believe. The supporters of Beshear were ecstatic that his election was divorced from when the bulk of Republicans in the state would usually cast their votes for statewide candidates for President, Senate, and the state legislature. Republicans, on the flip side, pondered the same idea that New York Democrats had regarding their electoral process in changing the election year of the governor election to coincide with presidential year to ensure that … Continue reading State Legislative Politics, 1-28-2024, Kentucky Considers Moving Its Gubernatorial Elections To Even, Presidential Years

Republican Banter #344, Dusty Deevers (R-OK) Attempts To Gut Privacy Rights With Bill That Would Make “Obscenity” Punishable With A Felony

Whenever I criticize the cruelty of Democrats for the things that they say, the goal of the GOP shouldn’t be to say, “Hold by beer”. Nevertheless, there are more examples of this exact thing happening. In Oklahoma, state legislator Dusty Deevers (R-OK) is attempting to pass a law he acknowledges he is likely unconstitutional to see how far he can push a ban on what he views as obscenity. Instead of passing an age verification law and leaving it as a matter between a consenting adult and what happens within their private residence. Instead, the issue regarding privacy is being … Continue reading Republican Banter #344, Dusty Deevers (R-OK) Attempts To Gut Privacy Rights With Bill That Would Make “Obscenity” Punishable With A Felony

State Legislative Politics, 1-21-2024, Updates From Kentucky and Louisiana

There have been several new developments regarding state legislative politics in recent weeks. Kentucky state legislator Nick Wilson (R-KY) is sponsoring a bill to remove the stipulation that having sexual intercourse with your first cousin would count as incest while most people are just realizing that he was a contestant on “Survivor: David vs. Goliath”. In Louisiana, Governor Jeff Landry (R-LA) is considering changing the state’s open primary law to a closed primary law for elections with Independents crying foul over potentially being disenfranchised in a closed primary system. Let’s get to the stories.               Starting off with Kentucky, … Continue reading State Legislative Politics, 1-21-2024, Updates From Kentucky and Louisiana