Monthly Archives: December 2016

Have a Great Day!

19 Monday Dec 2016

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Missouri’s republican Presidential Electors met in the Senate Lounge in the capitol building in Jefferson City today to cast their votes.

About eighty individuals opposed to Donald Trump gathered in the morning outside in sub freezing temperatures on a public sidewalk near the capitol building underground parking entrance. Public speech is always accessible on a public sidewalk, even when you don’t have a permit for the capitol grounds.

There were other protesters inside the building.

For some reason there was an unmistakable Russian air to the proceedings.

In Russian – “We are so fucked”

Yeah, on hearing the translation of that sign and reading the English underneath it several of us shared a gut busting laugh – which probably caused permanent physical damage.

The driver of one vehicle, passing by away from the capitol, rolled down his window and yelled, “Build that wall.” There were a number of passersby who honked car horns, waved, and gave a thumbs up. There were fewer who scowled and a few others who extended their middle fingers.

Make Our Children Proud.

Make Our Children Proud.

A passenger in a passing car rolled down her window and told a protester with a sign, “You should be ashamed.” The protester responded, “You should be ashamed.”

“We are watching, comrades.”

A Trump paraphernalia bedecked supporter came out of the building to watch the proceedings and take some pictures with his phone. He turned to me while I was photographing the demonstration and said, “It’s a great day.” I didn’t respond. Later, his phone rang. He explained to the individual on the other end of the call that he had acquired a seat in the Senate Lounge to watch the proceedings.

20161219-img_4199

Then the real power in Missouri and America showed up:

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Tell that to Chris Koster.

In Russian: “Make America Great Again”:

20161219-img_4304

At one point a passing vehicle stopped further down the line, the occupants yelling at protesters, some who responded. As he proceeded down the line the driver shouted, “Get a job!”

That is so last decade.

“Get a job!”

Dude, you were there at the same time. You get a job.

20161219-img_4185

Vote Your Conscience.

Vote Your Conscience.

A conversation (not a Trump supporter):

20161219-img_4261

Dump Trump.

Dump Trump.

This was not going to change any republican Elector’s mind or vote. The reality of this vestigial institution is that partisans fulfill the ceremonial role. They got there because their party put them there. They were never going to and never will change their vote.

Trump’s true believers, like their savior, demand that everyone else acquiesce and accept his ascension. It drives them insane when others don’t. Doubly so when they and he are mocked in public.

It’s going to be a long four years. They should get used to it.

Previously:

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Electors (December 16, 2016)

The resistance (December 18, 2016)

The resistance

18 Sunday Dec 2016

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“…All we really have in the end is massive resistance. That is where we are heading–acquiescence or resistance. You and I will all need to make our choices about whether we will stand up against oppression in ways that a lot of our ancestors did not stand up…” – Erik Loomis

Protest sign – “Make America Great Again” – in Russian.

Tomorrow the Presidential Electors will meet in capitols to cast their votes for the President who will take office on January 20, 2017.

The individual who will take over the reins of government on that day lost the national popular vote (to date) by 2,864,978 votes.

The people currently planning on taking over the government also plan on dismantling every aspect of social, political, economic, diplomatic and environmental progress which has been accomplished over the last century.

The people planning on taking over will set the course of the United States Supreme Court for the next half century.

The people planning on taking over on January 20th are authoritarians.

You can acquiesce or you can resist.

Masha Gessen has some advice:

Autocracy: Rules for Survival
Masha Gessen

[….]

I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now:

Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization.[….]

Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.[….]

Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. [….]

Rule #4: Be outraged. If you follow Rule #1 and believe what the autocrat-elect is saying, you will not be surprised. But in the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. This will lead people to call you unreasonable and hysterical, and to accuse you of overreacting. It is no fun to be the only hysterical person in the room. Prepare yourself. [….]

Rule #5: Don’t make compromises. [….] In an autocracy, politics as the art of the possible is in fact utterly amoral. [….]

Rule #6: Remember the future. [….]

Donald Trump is uninformed, uncurious, and a narcissist. Believe it when he and his say they will dismantle access to affordable health care and cripple Medicare and Social Security. Believe it.

The national network infotainment complex and their local affiliates will promote the normalcy of it all. Old media will normalize the white supremacist right. Because they worship at the alter of false equivalence and false balance.

Don’t count on institutions to step up for you or others. Media? Forget it. They’re afraid of losing access. Our elected officials? Forget it. They worship at the alter of compromise with those who never compromise. Without the first two our other public institutions will fall into line.

If you’re still outraged you’re still noticing our institutions normalizing all of this. Old media will tell you that all is well. If you disagree by pointing out inconvenient truths you will be labeled, at best, as a difficult malcontent and, at worst, as an unstable person.

Be prepared to fight the good fights. Be prepared to lose. A lot. Be prepared for the people who you thought and hoped represented you pulling the rug out from under opposition movements. Because, for them, comity is more important than holding the line.

For now there are more of us than thee are of them. For now. There may be a future. There may not.

Sarah Kendzior also offers advice:

We’re heading into dark times. This is how to be your own light in the Age of Trump

[….]

Write down what you value; what standards you hold for yourself and for others. Write about your dreams for the future and your hopes for your children. Write about the struggle of your ancestors and how the hardship they overcame shaped the person you are today.

Write your biography, write down your memories. Because if you do not do it now, you may forget.

Write a list of things you would never do. Because it is possible that in the next year, you will do them.

Write a list of things you would never believe. Because it is possible that in the next year, you will either believe them or be forced to say you believe them.

[….]

And, write down whether you will choose to acquiesce or resist.

If you resist, every thing you do, small or large, may save something, someone, and the world. If we all acquiesce we save no one.

I choose #resist.

Previously:

Resist (November 18, 2016)

The more things change, the more they remain the same (November 23, 2016)

The more things change, the more they remain the same – part 2 (November 23, 2016)

The more things change, the more they remain the same – part 3 (November 24, 2016)

The more things change, the more they remain the same – part 4 (November 25, 2016)

#resist (November 27, 2016)

It’s like déjà vu all over again. (December 11, 2016)

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Electors (December 16, 2016)

Democrats are limping toward the Trumpocalypse

17 Saturday Dec 2016

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Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-5) was pretty emphatic that he isn’t planning to “attend any meeting in any hotel or elsewhere to plot the failure of the President-elect.” The reference, of course, is to the infamous meeting that took place shortly after the inauguration of Barack Obama wherein congressional GOPers laid out the plan for the eight years of obstruction that followed. Some other wannabe high-minded types, so-called “centrist” Democrats, however, do seem to have gotten together in order to coordinate the rhetoric they’ll use to explain why, like Cleaver, they’re going to roll over and play nice whenever they can in the four years ahead.

Missouri’s Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill replied to a letter I wrote her asking that she support an independent investigation into Russian tampering with the last election by informing me that, “no matter who wins or loses, elected officials have an obligation to serve all constituents, not just their supporters.” She added that she is proud of her “record of working across the aisle to help all Missourians.” Fast upon the heels of McCaskill’s response, I heard Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) claim in an interview with NPR’s Audie Cornish that his “job isn’t to represent the Democrat Party or the Republican Party. It’s to represent Hoosier families.”

Do you see why I think there’s some coordination? Same message, slightly different words, intended to let these timid souls off the hook. Because these two responsible adults have taken the moral high road they can condescend to childish democratic voters and, at the same time, fiddle while Trump puts the match to Rome.

There are, however, two misleading claims packed into their rhetorical stance:

(1) The voters have spoken, but was Trump the message?:

  • Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes – the largest margin ever by which a candidate has won the popular vote but lost the electoral college. Trump’s electoral college win in the three states that put him over the edge was razor thin, less than 80,000 votes in all three states together.
  • The legitimacy of the election is questionable given the covert actions of Russia, directed by Putin, and confirmed by both the CIA and FBI, to aid Trump. If Trump or his campaign entourage were complicit in the Russian meddling – which may be the case – they were guilty of treason and he is unfit to hold the office of President.
  • There was clear-cut evidence of voter suppression in crucial swing states.

(2) The preferences of Trump voters should be honored because he won the election and Democrats should try to cooperate with Republicans:

  • These Democrats were presumably elected by folks who knew their party affiliation, which means they were elected because they stand for certain values and principles that they are expected to embody in their legislative demeanor.
  • These principles are not compatible with the idea of bipartisanship when the other party is as ruthless, ideologically rigid, and as corrupt as the Republican party has shown itself to be. High-minded ideals are useless when the other guys come armed with brass knuckles and shivs, determined to protect and extend their territory.
  • Many of the folks who were energized by Trump’s explicitly nationalist and white supremacist messages were overt racists and covert racist sympathizers – folks who were driven into a frenzy by America’s first black president. Should these voices be honored?
  • Other Trump supporters are folks who were misled by Trump’s populist rhetoric – which is already belied by the elitist wrecking crew he is assembling around him. Isn’t deference to a president who won by lying abut his intentions a bad thing?
  • Trump and his cabinet mafia are promising to destroy vitally important institutions – Medicare, Social Security, Obamacare, public schools – the list goes and on and on – and will ultimately hurt every one of us, including many Trump voters. Will bipartisanship in these cases really help everyday families? Have our so-very-nice Democrats ever heard of Neville Chamberlain and the Munich Pact?

An article about Obama’s weak response to RussiaGate at Slate Magazine has the subtitle “he [i.e. Obama] has his dignity and his faith in civic norms. Republicans have the government.” The same could be said abut the weak response to the Trumpocalypse on the part of several centrist Democrats.They’ll stand by their one-sided principles and we’ll pay the price. They don’t seem to realize that the rules of the game, civic and political norms, if  you will, were broken over the past eight years and all the king’s men and all the king’s horses can’t put them back together again.

There are Democrats who are rising to the challenge, calling for an independent investigations of RussiaGate, or readying challenges to Trump’s mostly insane cabinet picks. Elizabeth Warren and  few others have filed a bill that would force Trump to “disclose and divest” businesses that represent conflicts of interest. Legitimate and consistent opposition that focuses on true abuses should not excite the scruples of our more easily intimidated Democrats – if they really mean what they say about representing the needs of their constituents.

Which is why Missouri Democrats need to know if Claire McCaskill will stand up for them, or if she intends to continue busying herself with minor bean-counting issues, good in their way, inoffensive, but in the face of our current challenges, almost irrelevant. If she prefers to confine her activities to avenues that don’t rile the short-fused Trump supporters, and goes AWOL when she is most needed, perhaps she should have to depend on Trump supporters come next election.

Of course, that would require Missouri Democrats to be as hard-headed as Missouri Trump supporters – when Republican Rep. Ann Wagner turned up her too-nice nose at the prospect of Donald Trump, they threatened to vote for Bill Otto, her Democratic opponent, instead. And they were willing to carry through; I saw signs for Otto go up in yards sporting Trump signs. And guess what? Wagner snapped into line. Keep it in mind.

*Edited slightly for clarity. Third bullet point added under (1). (12/17, 4:23 pm)

товарищ Trump losing the popular vote by 2,864,978. Never going to be a “mandate”. Ever.

17 Saturday Dec 2016

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Compiled by David Wasserman, Cook Political Report:

mbersin121716

Michael Bersin ‏@MBersin
National Popular Vote (to date) – Hillary Clinton (D) 65,844,594 – Donald Trump (r) 62,979,616 – margin for Hillary + 2,864,978
8:26 AM – 17 Dec 2016

Hack that, Kellyanne.

Previously:

Still counting (November 21, 2016)

Still counting – losing the popular vote by 2,017,563 ain’t a “mandate” (November 23, 2016)

Still counting – losing the popular vote by 2,103,941 is still not a “mandate” (November 24, 2016)

Still counting – losing the popular vote by 2,126,705 isn’t even close to a “mandate” (November 25, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,228,232. Nope, still not a “mandate”. (November 26, 2016)

62,409,389 (46.5%) of your fellow Americans (to date) voted for this moron (November 27, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,235,653. Still not a “mandate”. Trump is still delusional. (November 27, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,243,231. What color is the sky in their world? (November 28, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,358,925 (November 30, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,366,367. Still not a “mandate”. (November 30, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,526,184. Still not a “mandate” by any stretch of the imagination. (December 1, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,564,274. Still not a “mandate”, but now China is pissed off. (December 2, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,567,625. Still not a “mandate”, and he still fumes at Saturday Night Live. (December 4, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,620,649. Still not a “mandate”, and China is still a thing. (December 5, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,654,233. Not even a hint of a “mandate”. (December 6, 2016)

Still counting – Trump losing the popular vote by 2,676,670. And still no hint of a “mandate”. (December 9, 2016)

Still counting – товарищ Trump losing the popular vote by 2,835,808. No hint of a “mandate”, except from the Кремль. (December 9, 2016)

Still counting – товарищ Trump losing the popular vote by 2,841,862. Still not a “mandate” (December 10, 2016)

Still counting – товарищ Trump losing the popular vote by 2,843,362. Never going to be a “mandate” (December 13, 2016)

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Electors

16 Friday Dec 2016

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On Monday, in Jefferson City:

Meeting Notice
Office of the Missouri Governor
Electoral College of Missouri
Date: Monday, December 19, 2016
Time Begin: 2:00 PM
Venue: Senate Lounge
Missouri State Capitol
201 West Capitol Avenue
Jefferson City, MO 65101
[….]

The Electors will cast their votes for President.

As near as we can tell there are going to be separate (but probably merged) silent protest groups on the sidewalks of the Capitol starting at 8:00 a.m. and going until 2:00 p.m.

Another dispatch from the gun culture

15 Thursday Dec 2016

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Rep.-elect Nick Schroer (R-107) has filed a bill, HB 96, that would allow “law abiding” gun owners to sue businesses that ban guns. It “would apply when a person who is authorized to carry a firearm, is prohibited from doing so by a business and is then injured by another person or an animal.”

Recently an employee at a Sunset Hills Home Depot was accidentally shot by a gun carrying customer. The store has a hybrid approach to guns:

… our policy is that we do allow customers to carry firearms into our stores as long as it is in accordance with local law. We do not allow associates (employees) to carry firearms.

Since turn and turn about is fair play, under the logic of Schroer’s HB 96, shouldn’t that injured employee be able to sue the Missouri legislature that made it legal for any Tom, Butterfingered Dick and Idiot Harry to carry a gun without a permit, evidence of training or basic common sense?

Shouldn’t he also be able to sue his employer – the one who permitted said Butterfingered Dick or Idiot Harry to bring a lethal weapon into the employee’s place of work?

Would a special law even be necessary to enable such lawsuits? Isn’t criminal negligence grounds enough?

Of course, if Home Depot were to drop that pesky ban on employees carrying guns, the employee in question might have been able to blast our butterfingered gun-owner to Kingdom Come before anyone knew what going on, thus taking care of the whole issue of who litigates whom, when.

Previously:

HB 96: gun humpers in the General Assembly want to hold everyone else hostage (December 8, 2016)

Сделать Америку великой Снова.

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

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Well.

U.S. Officials: Putin Personally Involved in U.S. Election Hack
by William M. Arkin, Ken Dilanian and Cynthia McFadden
Dec 14 2016, 6:31 pm ET

U.S. intelligence officials now believe with “a high level of confidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.

Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies, the officials said.

Putin’s objectives were multifaceted, a high-level intelligence source told NBC News. What began as a “vendetta” against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to “split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn’t depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore,” the official said….

So, we’re a client state then?

HB 361 (2009): creating a REAL ID mess for Missourians – HB 151 and HB 166 (2017): sort of try to fix it

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

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In the news:

TSA begins notifying travelers of 2018 REAL ID Act requirements for security checkpoints
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 by HPN News Desk

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently began posting notices at airports to inform travelers that the agency will begin enforcing REAL ID requirements at airport security checkpoints beginning in Jan. 2018.
The REAL ID program stipulates that any traveler suing their state-issued driver’s license or identification card for boarding commercial aircraft may only use such documents if they are issued by a REAL ID-compliant state or a non-compliant state with an extension.
The notification follows a recent announcement issued by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson regarding the final phase of the REAL ID Act. While REAL ID-compliant documents will become the standard for commercial air travel, passengers may continue to use other forms of identification such as a passport, military ID or permanent resident card.
“At present, 23 states are fully compliant with the REAL ID Act, and the department has used its authority to grant states extensions when they demonstrate steps toward compliance,” Johnson said in his original announcement. “Thus, 27 states and territories have been granted extensions for a period of time to become compliant. Six states and territories – Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington, and American Samoa – are noncompliant and do not currently have extensions.”
[….]

[emphasis added]

Missouri ID is noncompliant.

During the George W. Bush (r) administration:

Passed by Congress in 2005, the REAL ID Act enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.” The Act established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for official purposes licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet these standards…..

From the Missouri General Assembly in 2009:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION
[TRULY AGREED TO AND FINALLY PASSED]
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 361
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

0637L.03T                                                            2009
 

AN ACT

To repeal section 302.171, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to noncompliance with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

[….]

302.183. 1. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter that requires an applicant to provide reasonable proof of residence for issuance or renewal of a noncommercial driver’s license, noncommercial instruction permit, or a nondriver’s license, an applicant shall not have his or her privacy rights violated in order to obtain or renew a Missouri noncommercial driver’s license, noncommercial instruction permit, or a nondriver’s license.
            2. Any data derived from a person’s application shall not be sold for commercial purposes to any other organization or any other state without the express permission of the applicant without a court order; except such information may be shared with a law enforcement agency, judge, prosecuting attorney, or officer of the court, or with another state for the limited purposes set out in section 302.600 or for conducting driver history checks in compliance with the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act, 49 U.S.C. 31309. The state of Missouri shall protect the privacy of its citizens when handling any written, digital, or electronic data, and shall not participate in any standardized identification system using driver’s and nondriver’s license records.
            3. The department of revenue shall not amend procedures for applying for a driver’s license or identification card in order to comply with the goals or standards of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, any rules or regulations promulgated under the authority granted in such act, or any requirements adopted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators for furtherance of the act.
            4. Any biometric data previously collected, obtained, or retained in connection with motor vehicle registration or operation, the issuance or renewal of driver’s licenses, or the issuance or renewal of any identification cards by any department or agency of the state charged with those activities shall be retrieved and deleted from all databases. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any data collected, obtained, or retained for a purpose other than compliance with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005. For purposes of this section, “biometric data” includes, but is not limited to:
            (1) Facial feature pattern characteristics;
            (2) Voice data used for comparing live speech with a previously created speech model of a person’s voice;
            (3) Iris recognition data containing color or texture patterns or codes;
            (4) Retinal scans, reading through the pupil to measure blood vessels lining the retina;
            (5) Fingerprint, palm prints, hand geometry, measuring of any and all characteristics of biometric information, including shape and length of fingertips or recording ridge pattern or fingertip characteristics;
            (6) Eye spacing;
            (7) Characteristic gait or walk;
            (8) DNA;
            (9) Keystroke dynamics, measuring pressure applied to key pads or other digital receiving devices.
[….]

[emphasis in original]

“…The department of revenue shall not amend procedures for applying for a driver’s license or identification card in order to comply with the goals or standards of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, any rules or regulations promulgated under the authority granted in such act…”

Who voted for and enabled this paranoid mess?

From the Journal of the House [pdf], April 16, 2009:

Fifty-sixth Day–Thursday, April 16, 2009 1104
On motion of Representative Guest, HCS HB 361 was read the third time and passed by the following vote:
AYES: 083
Allen Brandom Brown 30 Brown 149 Bruns Burlison Cooper Cunningham Davis Day Deeken Denison Dethrow Dieckhaus Diehl Dixon Dougherty Dugger Dusenberg Emery Ervin Faith Fisher 125 Flanigan Flook Franz Funderburk Gatschenberger Grisamore Guest Hobbs Hoskins 121 Icet Jones 89 Jones 117 Keeney Kingery Koenig Kraus Lair Leara Lipke Loehner McGhee McNary Meiners Molendorp Munzlinger Nance Nieves Nolte Parkinson Pollock Pratt Riddle Ruestman Ruzicka Sander Sater Schaaf Schad Scharnhorst Schlottach Schoeller Self Smith 14 Smith 150 Stevenson Stream Sutherland Swinger Thomson Tilley Tracy Wallace Wasson Wells Weter Wilson 130 Wright Yates Zerr Mr Speaker
NOES: 069
Atkins Aull Biermann Bivins Brown 50 Brown 73 Burnett Calloway Carter Casey Chappelle-Nadal Colona Corcoran Cox Curls El-Amin Englund Fallert Fischer 107 Frame Grill Guernsey Hodges Hoskins 80 Hughes Hummel Kander Kelly Kirkton Komo Kratky Kuessner Lampe Largent LeBlanc Liese Low McClanahan McDonald McNeil Meadows Nasheed Norr Oxford Pace Quinn Roorda Rucker Scavuzzo Schieffer Schoemehl Schupp Shively Silvey Skaggs Spreng Still Storch Talboy Todd Viebrock Vogt Walsh Walton Gray Webber Wildberger Wood Yaeger Zimmerman
PRESENT: 003
Bringer Harris Witte
ABSENT WITH LEAVE: 008
Holsman Jones 63 LeVota Morris Parson Salva Webb Wilson 119
[….]

From the Journal of the Senate [pdf], May 13, 2009:

Journal of the Senate 1804
[….]
On motion of Senator Purgason, HCS for HB 361 was read the 3rd time and passed by the following vote:
YEAS—Senators Barnitz Bartle Bray Callahan Champion Clemens Crowell Cunningham Days Dempsey Engler Goodman Green Griesheimer Justus Lager Lembke Mayer McKenna Nodler Pearce Purgason Ridgeway Rupp Schaefer Shields Shoemyer Smith Stouffer Vogel Wilson Wright-Jones—32
NAYS—Senators—None
Absent—Senators Schmitt Scott—2
Absent with leave—Senators—None
Vacancies—None The President declared the bill passed.
[….]

Governor Jay Nixon signed the bill.

And that’s why, children, Missourians can’t enter a federal courthouse, military facility or nuclear power plant using their Missouri Driver’s License as identification. And, come January 2018, Missourians won’t be able to fly on a commercial aircraft unless they have another form of identification, like their U.S. Passport.

So, who gets to clean up this paranoid mess? Your right wingnut republican controlled Missouri General Assembly.

A bill, filed in the House last week:

HB 151  
Requires the Department of Revenue to issue REAL ID compliant driver’s licenses unless the applicant requests a license that is not compliant with the REAL ID
Sponsor: Corlew, Kevin (014)
Proposed Effective Date: Emergency Clause
LR Number: 0401H.01I
Last Action: 12/06/2016 – Prefiled (H)
Bill String: HB 151
Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled
Calendar: Bill currently not on a House calendar

Gee, there’s an emergency clause. Don’t think that retroactively fixes your Missouri Driver’s License. If the bill passes, you’ll get compliant ID when you renew. Unless you want to pay to renew earlier.

The summary [pdf] for HB 151:

HB 151 — REAL ID COMPLIANT LICENSES
SPONSOR: Corlew
This bill requires the Department of Revenue to amends its procedures for applying for a driver’s license or identification card in order to comply with the federal REAL ID Act. The department is currently prevented from complying with the act. This bill requires that the department give applicants the option of either a compliant license or a license that is not in compliance with the federal REAL ID Act. The department will be required to inform applicants of the differences between the compliant and non-compliant forms of license, specifically that the REAL ID compliant driver’s license can be used for federal purposes such as domestic air travel and gaining access to military bases and most federal government facilities while the non-compliant license cannot. The bill specifies that any biometric data collected for these purposes will be retained only for the purposes of complying with the REAL ID Act. This bill is similar to HCS HB 2235 (2016).

Another bill, filed in the House last week:

HB 166  
Requires the department of revenue to issue REAL ID compliant driver’s licenses unless the applicant requests a license that is not compliant with the REAL ID
Sponsor: Davis, Charlie (162)
Proposed Effective Date: Emergency Clause
LR Number: 0184H.02I
Last Action: 12/07/2016 – Prefiled (H)
Bill String: HB 166
Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled
Calendar: Bill currently not on a House calendar

There’s that emergency clause.

The summary [pdf] for HB 166:

HB 166 — REAL ID COMPLIANT LICENSES
SPONSOR: Davis
This bill requires the Department of Revenue to amend its procedures for applying for a driver’s license or identification card in order to comply with the federal REAL ID Act. The department is currently prevented from complying with the act. This bill requires that the department give applicants the option of either a compliant license or a license that is not in compliance with the federal REAL ID Act. The department will be required to inform applicants of the differences between the compliant and non-compliant forms of license, specifically that the REAL ID compliant driver’s license can be used for federal purposes such as domestic air travel and gaining access to military bases and most federal government facilities while the non-compliant license cannot. The bill specifies that any biometric data collected for these purposes will be retained only for the purposes of complying with the REAL ID Act. This bill is similar to HCS HB 2235 (2016).

Good luck getting that through the General Assembly. Meanwhile, if you want to count on flying after January 2018 you might want to get your U.S. Passport.

HB 203: Suffer little children…

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by in Missouri General Assembly, Missouri House

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A bill on legislative micromanagement filed in the House on Monday:

HB 203  
Forbids the placement of refugees without the approval of the Missouri General Assembly
Sponsor: Pogue, Jeff (143)
Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2017
LR Number: 0295H.01I
Last Action: 12/12/2016 – Prefiled (H)
Bill String: HB 203
Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled
Calendar: Bill currently not on a House calendar

The complete bill text:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 203
99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE POGUE.
0295H.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 21, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the general assembly.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 21, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 21.008, to read as follows:
21.008. In order to maintain security and conserve peace in this state, the Missouri general assembly shall approve any refugees that are to be relocated within this state.

[emphasis in original]

Maintain security? Conserve peace? That’s rich.

The reality:

The Screening Process for Refugee Entry Into the United States

1. Many refugee applicants identify themselves to the U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR. UNHCR, then:
​​Collects identifying documents
Performs initial assessment
Collects biodata: name, address, birthday, place of birth, etc.
Collects biometrics: iris scans (for Syrians, and other refugee populations in the Middle East)
Interviews applicants to confirm refugee status and the need for resettlement
Initial information checked again
Only applicants who are strong candidates for resettlement move forward (less than 1% of global refugee population).
2. Applicants are received by a federally-funded Resettlement Support Center (RSC):​​
Collects identifying documents
Creates an applicant file
Compiles information to conduct biographic security checks
3. Biographic security checks start with enhanced interagency security checks
Refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States.
​​U.S. security agencies screen the candidate, including:
National Counterterrorism Center/Intelligence Community
FBI
Department of Homeland Security
State Department
The screening looks for indicators, like:
Information that the individual is a security risk
Connections to known bad actors
Outstanding warrants/immigration or criminal violations
DHS conducts an enhanced review of Syrian cases, which may be referred to USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate for review. Research that is used by the interviewing officer informs lines of question related to the applicant’s eligibility and credibility.
4. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/USCIS interview:
Interviews are conducted by USCIS Officers specially trained for interviews​​
Fingerprints are collected and submitted (biometric check)
Re-interviews can be conducted if fingerprint results or new information raises questions. If new biographic information is identified by USCIS at an interview, additional security checks on the information are conducted. USCIS may place a case on hold to do additional research or investigation. Otherwise, the process continues.
5. Biometric security checks:
Applicant’s fingerprints are taken by U.S. government employees
Fingerprints are screened against the FBI’s biometric database.
Fingerprints are screened against the DHS biometric database, containing watch-list information and previous immigration encounters in the U.S. and overseas.
Fingerprints are screened against the U.S. Department of Defense biometric database, which includes fingerprint records captured in Iraq and other locations.
If not already halted, this is the end point for cases with security concerns. Otherwise, the process continues.
6. Medical check:
The need for medical screening is determined​​
This is the end point for cases denied due to medical reasons. Refugees may be provided medical treatment for communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.
7. Cultural orientation and assignment to domestic resettlement locations:
​​Applicants complete cultural orientation classes.
An assessment is made by a U.S.-based non-governmental organization to determine the best resettlement location for the candidate(s). Considerations include:
Family; candidates with family in a certain area may be placed in that area.
Health; a candidate with asthma may be matched to certain regions.
A location is chosen.
8. Travel:
​​International Organization for Migration books travel
Prior to entry in the United States, applicants are subject to:
Screening from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center-Passenger
The Transportation Security Administration’s Secure Flight Program
This is the end point for some applicants. Applicants who have no flags continue the process.
9. U.S. Arrival:
​​All refugees are required to apply for a green card within a year of their arrival to the United States, which triggers:
Another set of security procedures with the U.S. government.
[….]

[emphasis in original]

Apparently some individuals in the General Assembly believe they can implement a more thorough screening system in their spare time. Reality has never been a consideration for right wingnuts.

From a November 17, 2015 Department of State briefing:

….Half of the Syrian refugees brought to the U.S. so far have been children; [2.5%] are adults over 60. And I think you will have heard that only 2 percent are single males of combat age. So we – there’s slightly more – it’s roughly 50/50 men and women, slightly more men I would say, but not – not a lot more men. So this is normal that as you’re – as we set a priority of bringing the most vulnerable people, we’re going to have female-headed households with a lot of children, and we’re going to have extended families that are maybe missing the person who used to be the top breadwinner but have several generations – grandparents, a widowed mother, and children….

HB 214: Dynasties? What dynasties?

13 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by in campaign finance, Missouri General Assembly, Missouri House

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Representative Tracy McCreery (D) [2016 file photo].

Representative Tracy McCreery (D) [2016 file photo].

A bill on one aspect of campaign finance filed today in the House:

HB 214  
Prohibits candidate committees from transferring funds to relatives of the candidates
Sponsor: McCreery, Tracy (088)
Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2017
LR Number: 0417H.01I
Last Action: 12/13/2016 – Prefiled (H)
Bill String: HB 214
Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled
Calendar: Bill currently not on a House calendar

Uh, oh.

The bill text:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 214 [pdf]
99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MCCREERY.
0417H.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To repeal section 130.034, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to funds held by candidate committees, with penalty provisions.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 130.034, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu 2 thereof, to be known as section 130.034, to read as follows:
[….]
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any other section, a candidate committee shall not:
(1) Expend or transfer funds from the committee, for any purpose, to any person related, within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, to the candidate who formed the candidate committee; or
(2) Expend or transfer funds from the committee, for any purpose, to any entity wholly or partially owned by a person related, within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, to the candidate who formed the candidate committee.
[….]

[emphasis in original]

Wait, you mean like this?:

C161200 12/06/2016 TEAM JUSTIN BROWN Dr. Dan Brown for Senate PO BOX 934 Rolla MO 65402 12/5/2016 $200,000.00

Previously:

Campaign Finance: Team Keep It All In The Family (December 6, 2016)

Campaign Finance: Team Keep It All In The Family – part 2 (December 7, 2016)