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Tag Archives: Bigotry

Is Josh Hawley a theocrat or an intolerant fanatic. Or are they the same thing?

06 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

abortion, Bigotry, contraception, Hobby-Lobby, Johnson amendment, Jopsh Hawley, LGBT protections, Religion and politics, Theocracy

The English Oxford Living Dictionaries defines a fanatic as one who exhibits “excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause.”

So what’s a theocrat? According to Mirriam-Webster, it’s “one who rules in or lives under a theocratic form of government,” which is defined as “government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided.” In other words, a theocrat is a religious fanatic who wants to make sure we all defer to his God and jump to order when he legislates what he believes to be his God’s preferences.

An example of a wannabe theocrat here in Missouri is our current Attorney General and Republican Senatorial candidate, Josh Hawley.

Many have noticed that Hawley is just a bit uninspired when it comes to his regular duties as AG – such as fulfilling promises that he would fight against Jefferson City’s culture of corruption. But Hawley doesn’t always run on empty; what gets the the boy’s blood primed is any perceived slight to the power of the state to insist that we we all defer to his brand of Christianity.

Hawley calls it defending religious liberty. Others have pointed out his religious liberty amounts to repression and a license for bigotry. But judge for yourself; here’s a few examples of our AG’s religious crusades:

  • Hawley’s current bête noire is the Johnson Amendment which he wants to eliminate. so that churches can make official political endorsements and still retain tax-free status. He seems to believe that it violates his and like-minded folks religious liberty and freedom of speech if I, a nonbeliever, don’t have to subsidize their political views via a tax exemption for their politicized churches – a point of view, by the way, with which most Americans and numerous religious bodies disagree. And, of course, GOP candidates like Hawley are salivating over all the dark money that will be funneled into campaigns via donations to churches once the Johnson Amendment is history and the total politicization of religious life – along lines they favor – has been achieved.
  • Hawley, while running for AG, advocated for state legislation to “ensure that churches and businesses will not be compelled to “participate” in same-sex marriages” – a bit bizarre since the Fist Amendment clearly protects churches from such coercion already, and, since Missouri does not provide anti-discrimination protection for LGBT people, there could be no possible legal grounds to try to force the issue. He may have finally figured this out since, so far as I know, we’ve not heard about it since he won the AG race.
  • Hawley also claims credit for his somewhat nominal participation in the famous Hobby-Lobby case which gave “closely-held” businesses permission to refuse to provide their female employees with insurance that paid for birth-control if doing so clashed with the owners religious or “moral” beliefs.
    • He attributes his support for this decision to his belief that “abortion is not a right,”[… .] It is a violent act against the defenseless. It violates every principle of morality and should be barred by American law.” Immoral? Yes. Because Hawley’s believes his God says so.To hell with my God.

What are the implications for regular people if their AG – or, God forbid, their senator – is a religious zealot? Consider the following:

A 34-year-old painter is suing Dahled Up Construction, a company based south of Portland, Ore., for allegedly firing him after he refused to join a Christian Bible group for employees. [… .]

Coleman told The Washington Post that when he explained to the company’s owner, Joel Dahl, that he had different beliefs, Dahl said: “If you want to keep your job, everybody needs to attend. If not, I’m going to be forced to replace you.”

Where do you think AG Hawley would come down? Do you trust him to understand what we’re supposed to be in America?  Theocrats want the power of a specific religion to be pervasive and all-encompassing – and bear in mind that the desire of persecuted religions – those not endorsed by the ruling theocrats – to escape theocratic rule is one of the reasons that our country exists.

 

At noon today in Warrensburg

12 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bigotry, missouri, protest, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Westboro

A press release:

Statement Regarding Westboro Baptist Church Protest

The views of Westboro Baptist Church should not be considered those of the University of Central Missouri. UCM, however, supports freedom of speech, and ask campus members to seek out positive, productive, non-violent ways to express differing points of view. Students, faculty and staff also are encouraged to reflect on their own values when confronted with divisive rhetoric that is not conducive to the friendly, welcoming campus environment that so many members of the UCM family enjoy.

###

Ah, hit a run picketing. Today from approximately noon to 12:30 p.m.:

The tiny demonstration drew a considerable police presence (University of Central Missouri and Warrensburg), a number of counter protesters, and a few curious bystanders. A few individuals tried to engage some of the Westboro individuals in conversational debate.

“Sitting in Silence. For equality, peace and love…in the Quaker tradition.”

“Skate fast…”

Let it go:

And then they walked away.

Roy Blunt plays the odds

30 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bigotry, Donald Trump, executive order, immigration, Muslims, Roy Blunt, Steve Bannon, Terrorism

So we’re two days into the fallout from The Donald’s Muslim ban (and, dear folks, all his denials aside, it is a Muslim ban). We’ve always known that he would feel compelled to pander to anti-Muslim bigotry and that his efforts would be in character, that is, cruel, unnecessary and stupid, but did this particular effort need to be so inept? Harold Pollack sums up the shear incompetence embodied in the President’s Executive Order (EO):

The President’s team had months to prepare this signature immigration initiative. And they produced…an amateurish, politically self-immolating effort that humiliated the country, provoked international retaliation, and failed to withstand the obvious federal court challenge on its very first day.

Given the despicable nature of this effort, I’m happy it has become a political fiasco. It also makes me wonder how the Trump administration will execute the basic functions of government. This astonishing failure reflects our new President’s contempt for the basic craft of government.

Given the scope of the mess our amateur hour president and his flunkies – racist Bannon’s dirty fingerprints are all over the EO – have made, don’t you think that those Republicans who moaned and whined about Obama’s relatively modest executive orders might have something just a little harsh to say about what Mr. Trump has produced? And some do. Some can only manage to whimper a little about how it’s “too broad” or offer some other anodyne criticism. Some, however, like Pennsylvania’s Charlie Dent, have enough intestinal fortitude to make a reasonably strong statement condemning the nasty little exercise.

Of course, a few GOPers think this EO is just what the doctor ordered. Missouri’s own Republican Senator Blunt, for instance. He thinks the EO is just hunky-dory:

He is doing what he told the American people he would do. I would not support a travel ban on Muslims; I do support increased vetting on people applying to travel from countries with extensive terrorist ties or activity. These seven countries meet that standard. Our top priority should be to keep Americans safe.

Blunt just holds his nose and pretends that Muslim-baiting isn’t the real goal and he’s good to go. You gotta admit, this old boy knows who butters his bread.

But is that greasy bread worth demonizing a few million Muslim Americans? Or turning one’s back on desperate people fleeing death and chaos? Especially when it was another bad American president, George W. Bush, who pushed Humpty Dumpty off the Middle Eastern wall. Don’t we owe these people something besides lies about the need for “very, very strict vetting” that are used to cover up the fact that President Orange Buffoon needs to fire up the bigots who voted for him?

Kevin Drum suggests that the turmoil over the EO is just what Steve Bannon wanted:

… Bannon wanted turmoil and condemnation. He wanted this executive order to get as much publicity as possible. He wanted the ACLU involved. He thinks this will be a PR win. [… ]  Liberals think middle America will be appalled at Trump’s callousness. Bannon thinks middle America will be appalled that lefties and the elite media are taking the side of terrorists. After a week of skirmishes, this is finally a hill that both sides are willing to die for. Who’s going to win?

It’s pretty clear where Roy Blunt is putting his money.

Why congressmen and women need to boycott the inauguration

19 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bigotry, corruption, Donald Trump, Inuguration, Lacy Clay, missouri, Russia

As of 10:29 am to day, Jan. 19, 2017, 65 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have announced that they’ll be skipping Trump’s inauguration. Rep. Lacy Clay (D-1) is one of the 65. He’s the only one of the three Missouri Democrats who is standing up and refusing to normalize the incoming Trump administration.

It takes guts to make your line in the sand as clear as these 65 representatives have done. Inevitably there are those who bridle self-righteously and claim to be above the vulgar fray, insisting that the inauguration celebrates the peaceful transfer of power in our democracy, not the dangerous clown who will assume the office, and that that fact means that we have to pretend that it’s business as usual.

There’s also another popular excuse for refusing to draw a line in the sand at the outset against the Trump Mafia, one expressed by Missouri’s other Democratic member of the House, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-5), as well as in a recent editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

This newspaper opposed Trump from the beginning. We have yet to see anything to change our belief that he is misguided. But far more abhorrent is the notion that he doesn’t even deserve a chance to succeed. Americans, regardless of ideology, must enter the Trump era with minds open to the possibility that he could actually foment positive change.

Opponents should not decide in knee-jerk fashion that anything with the Trump stamp is automatically wrong. Measure the new administration by its results, not just its abrasive words.

This piece of self-righteous twaddle holds that one must hope for the success of the incoming president no matter what doubts that president inspires in otherwise sane individuals. Naturally, this line of thought rarely bothers to define what Trump’s “success” might mean in what business people designate as operational terms.

Neither of these arguments address the well-founded doubts that many entertain about the legitimacy of Trump’s incipient presidency. Don’t we – and by extension our elected representatives – have an obligation to oppose the peaceful transfer of power to compromised individuals? Should we or they sit back with averted eyes and pretend that there’s even the remotest chance that we could ever get a silk purse out of this especially filthy sow’s ear?

First, in spite of efforts to ignore it on both sides of the political aisle, there’s the serious problem of Trump’s Russian connections. At this moment, our President-elect’s Russian ties are under investigation by  six different government agencies – and we’re expecting our representatives to politely applaud when he’s handed the keys to the well-being of the nation? We cannot treat the ascension of a candidate already compromised by foreign entanglements as if it’s the usual business of democracy.

Second, Trump has massive financial conflicts of interest that potentially present a threat to American policy and security . As the owner of Trump Towers in Washington he will be violating the law the minute he becomes the President of the United States – a fact that is well known to him and his staff and which they consistently blow off as immaterial. He may well be in violations of the emoluments clause of the constitution when he takes office – there’s a reason that Trump will not release his tax return.

These problems have been well-aired, but our future President has failed to make a serious effort to address them. We do not need to wait to see what corruption of the sort that Trump will embody on day one of his presidency will do to destroy the ethical norms that have governed American political life up to this point. We need to make our opposition to his arrogance and his contempt for ethical norms known now, not after the fact when the problem has become institutionalized and we have become citizens of the United States of Corruption.

Third, we cannot overlook the fact that we now have a President-elect who managed to secure his position by dredging up the worst type of ugliness from America’s racially tormented past. We cannot in anyway normalize the presidency of a man who secured the job by virtue of mobilizing hate and bigotry. Nor, even for the duration of the inauguration ceremony, can we turn our face away from such moral corruption and the chaos it promises to bring.

None of the three reasons listed above for protesting the peaceful transfer of power that we all esteem stem from opposition to Donald Trump’s likely political goals, terrible though they may be to me and like thinking people, and which can easily be surmised from the sad set of corrupt and inept cabinet nominees he has selected – a lineup characterized by Paul Waldman as “worst cabinet in American history.” Reasons to protest the inauguration simply and purely address the fact that our president-elect is seriously compromised before he takes the office.

Donald Trump’s Russian entanglements were not known prior to the election. Nor did he make clear his intentions to ignore ethical norms – although one did not have to be terribly astute to figure out what was on the way. These issues could have been addressed, however, when the members of the electoral college took its vote. This type of situation, in which a manifestly unfit candidate manipulates democratic process to secure office, is exactly what that body was designed to deal with. Unfortunately, the electoral college has so fallen under the sway of partisan politics that it has become meaningless and we are left with no recourse but to signal our opposition in the only ways available to us.

So thank you Representative Clay. I’m not in your district, but you are still my representative because you are representing my interest in maintaining an uncompromised democracy. Sadly, you may be the only real representative I have in Missouri.

Cross-posted in slightly edited form to Daily Kos.

One of two things

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bigotry, facebook, Mike Moon, missouri, religion

Pants wetters or cynical bigots. Maybe both?

From Representative Mike Moon (r) via Facebook:

MikeMoonFB120715

Mike Moon 22 hrs

This is the right policy! Until our government officials can ensure immigrants entering our country are peaceful and are willing to assimilate, they must be prohibited from touching U.S. soil.

Missouri must take measures to ensure the safety of our residents, too. This is no time to sit back and take chances….

So, Donld J. Trump (r) said “all Muslims”.

Some of the responses are illuminating:

[….] When a religion advocates murder as part of the free exercise thereof, it fails the constitutional test.

Wow, just wow.

[….] When its a threat to our National Security I have a right as do all Americans to defend ourselves. You are not thinking as protecting me or my family and friends [….]. You let more of these un vetted Muslims that believe in Shariah law over what you just quoted then it is you that is ignorant and unlearned! You should know better! Dont you think that there are places over there to help these people and send them instead of bringing them to the USA? There is a lot we can do. Why is this president so hell bent on defending Islam and Muslims ? Have you studied their religion? I have! They consider shariah law higher then what our government laws are. So they want to rape or behead infidels they can. They can do what they want. How are you going to defend that once we get 100’s of thousands of them here ? We are at war sir!

In response to someone who took issue with the bigotry:

[….] your wanting Americans to give up our Liberty and Freedoms for who? What about our freedoms? Do you hear yourself talk? They consider you an infidel. Why dont you give up your freedom and liberty and go live among them? You would be lucky to last a week. Stop asking Americans( actually your not asking your forcing them on us) to give up our freedom and liberty! And your asking us to pay for it to ! Stop the madness!

[….] Your an idiot! Christians are under attack. 14 Jews and Christians just lost their lives. What about the Christians and Jews that are losing their lives and are being targeted in Syria and Iraq and other places now? Know your history! Know whats going on in the world now! Learn to make sentences for yourself instead of pulling one or two lines from history. Interpret history as a whole. Guess you want to take my guns too?

You’re wondering what that’s all about? Your guess is as good as mine.

And this:

[….] I agree, Mike Moon!! By the way, Muslim isn’t a religion….

And Representative Moon (r) replied:

Mike Moon You are correct, [….]. Thanks for chiming in.

Back to business, responding to the individual who took issue with their bigotry:

[….] You can lol! All you want [….]. You go live with them and see how accommodating they are. You tell me after a year how that goes.

Uh, we live with “them” now.

[….] You are completely correct Mike. I get so tired of the left be so willing to give the full benefits of our free society to non citizens!

Really? You mean like in the Constitution? Did we just stumble on to the set of Starship Troopers? Just asking.

And then, this:

[….]I disagree with you [….]..muslim countries should be taking them…we certainly did not accept all germans during world war 1 or 2 And we did not open our doors to imigrants from italy or japan during he war How would this be different?.

To the world’s eternal shame many nations in the world, including the United States, denied sanctuary to persecuted minorities. As a result millions lost their lives. Uh, we actually interned American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II, to our shame. I’m beginning to wonder about that last part.

[….] I just wonder, during WW11, how many German people were allowed to immigrate to this country??just asking..

And how many died?

[….] I agree. I think we might need to go one more and close our boarders.

“Trailer for sale or rent, rooms to let, fifty cents.
No phone, no pool, no pets, I ain’t got no cigarettes
Ah, but, two hours of pushin’ broom
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room….”

Oh, wait…

[….] Their ideology doesn’t fit here, in fact, many of their “religious” beliefs and acts are illegal in the United States. Ending the war in their country or even keeping them in a country that practices that ideology is the best bet. I would however consider allowing Christians to come here, those people need protection.

Uh….

Previously:

HB 216: Agenda 21! (December 15, 2014)

HCR 54: derp, derp, derp, derp… (March 13, 2015)

Dent County, Missouri

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bigotry, Dent County, gay marriage, marriage equality, missouri

From the United States Census Bureau:

Dent County, Missouri

Population, 2014 estimate 15,655 [Dent County]

[….]

Persons 65 years and over, percent, 2013 19.8% [Dent County] 15.0% [MO]

[….]

Per capita money income in past 12 months (2013 dollars), 2009-2013 $18,544 [Dent County] $25,649 [MO]

Median household income, 2009-2013 $36,311 [Dent County] $47,380 [MO]

Persons below poverty level, percent, 2009-2013 20.9% [Dent County] 15.5% [MO]

Private nonfarm employment, percent change, 2012-2013 -2.6% [Dent County]

Building permits, 2013 21 [Dent County]

[emphasis added]

From the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

MO DENT [Medicare – 2013]

Beneficiaries with Part A and Part B [Medicare] 3,598

[….]

Percent Eligible for Medicaid 22.08

[….]

[emphasis added]

With all the challenges they face the County Commission in Dent County, Missouri apparently had bigger fish to fry:

COUNTY COMMISSION: Presiding commissioner says flag decision to be rescinded

Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 2:25 pm | Updated: 7:01 am, Tue Jul 14, 2015.

Andrew Sheeley

The Dent County Commission voted unanimously Monday to observe one year of “mourning” over the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision that gay couples have the constitutional right to marriage.

Tuesday morning, Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said the commission will meet in special session Tuesday or Wednesday to rescind that order “out of respect for veterans and those currently serving in the military.”

He said all three commissioners are expected to vote to rescind the decision.

The observance of mourning was to come in the form of lowering the flags at the Dent County Courthouse and Judicial Building to below half-staff on the 26th day of the month from July 2015 to June 2016.

The vote Monday came after Skiles filed a letter into the public record protesting, “the U.S. high court’s stamp of approval of what God speaks of as an abomination.”

The letter details Skiles’ opposition to gay marriage and proposes lowering of the flags so “all who see these flags at this lowered position be reminded of this despicable Supreme Court travesty,” he wrote….

[….]

The original vote did cause quite a stir and generate a lot of attention.

“…all three commissioners are expected to vote to rescind the decision…”

Will people ever learn the futility of trying to unring the bell?

Previously:

Marriage Equality in America (June 26, 2015)

Conversations like this are taking place today in courthouses across Missouri and America (June 26, 2015)

Recorders Association of Missouri: issuing marriage licenses for same sex couples in Missouri (June 26, 2015)

Rep Vicky Hartzler (r): has another U.S. Supreme Court sad – today it’s marriage equality (June 26, 2015)

Missouri marriage license tracker – from PROMO (June 27, 2015)

Not ready to retire it just yet (June 30, 2015)

As near as we can tell the smiting hasn’t begun (July 13, 2015)

Image

Wing-Nut of the Year

25 Friday May 2012

Tags

Bigotry, Dont Say Gay, Education Politics, Gay rights, Homosexuality in Politics, Missouri Education, Missouri GOP, Missouri Legislative Session, Missouri Legislature, missouri political cartoon, Missouri politics, Rep. Steve Cookson

Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

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