Cowardly Bevin Terrified of Icky, Scary Transpeople

If we're going to start discriminating on the basis of gender identity, then let's start with cis, hetero white men.

And top of the list to be fired will be Gov. If You Don't Have a Penis That You're Proud Of, Drop Dead.

Think Progress:

A group of sixteen states has filed a brief calling on the Supreme Court to rule that it’s legal to fire people for being transgender.

SNIP
 
The states represented in the suit include Nebraska, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming, as well as Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R), Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R). Utah and Maine have state laws protecting against anti-LGBTQ employment discrimination, but none of the rest do.

There has already been significant backlash against the brief.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (D), who refused to sign the brief on behalf of the state, called Bevin’s decision to sign on “surprising” given that Kentucky state employees do enjoy protections against anti-LGBTQ discrimination, thanks to an executive order that Bevin has not rescinded. The Fairness Campaign, Kentucky’s state LGBTQ group, has also decried Bevin’s decision.

 Shut up, Andy: you'll give the motherfucker ideas.

Southern Towns Try Just Killing Off All the Browns

So the places that committed treason in defense of slavery and are still proud of it are now denying basic human rights to non-whites.  Big surprise.

Think Progress:

Sixteen localities in six southern states have been restricting access to basic utility services, including gas, water, and electricity, according to nonprofit advocacy organization Project South, which sent letters to the cities Monday demanding an end to discriminatory practices like requiring U.S.-issued photo identification and social security numbers in order to receive public services.

Project South asserted that Latinx immigrants in various cities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, who cannot provide social security numbers and IDs have been overwhelmingly impacted by the restrictions, which have left countless residents without the basic utilities needed to live.

Not because they're not paying their bills.  Just because they are not White, and don't give me that "illegal immigrant" bullshit.  Show me Just. One. public official who is full-blooded Native American. 'Cause everybody who is NOT full-blooded Native American is a fucking immigrant.

The practice of requiring photo ID and social security numbers is not mandated by local or state law. It also violates federal laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974, which forbids the denial of government services on the basis of a person’s refusal to share their social security number, as well as the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits policies that discriminate on the basis of a number of factors, including race.

“Access to water and utilities is a human right, It’s a fundamental human right,” Shahshahani added, pointing to the fact that the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognize access to basic utilities as linked to the right to life and human dignity. “Every human being should have access to water regardless of their immigration background.”

It Will Be Anarchy

And anarchy is exactly what the freakazoids want.

 

LGM:

Although the Court could reinvigorate the principle it stated in the Boy Scouts case, the consequence would be anarchy. It would allow anyone to violate any law if obeying it would conventionally be taken to convey a message with which the objector disagrees.

There is a similar absurdity in Phillips’s claim that the state is discriminating on the basis of viewpoint because the antidiscrimination law, as applied, “favors cake artists who support same-sex marriage over those like Phillips who do not.” The law makes no reference at all to viewpoint. It just prohibits discrimination. It is true that the law favors those who oppose the conduct it prohibits over those who would like to engage in it. But that is true of every law. Again, there is no way to articulate the principle behind this claim that is not an invitation to chaos.

But Wonkette really nails it.

If You Cared About Houston, Care About Puerto Rico.

They are Americans, goddammit.  Native-born American citizens. And everything around them is destroyed.

Digby:

 I'm pretty sure the president doesn't consider Puerto Ricans to be Real Americans what with their "foreign" language and all. But he could at least show some mild interest in the fact that 3 million people are living in what is being called apocalyptic conditions.

(CNN)Days after Hurricane Maria pounded the island of Puerto Rico, killing at least 10 people, authorities are starting to see firsthand the scope of devastation that left the US territory off the grid.
Without power and communications in much of the island, millions of people, including city leaders and first responders, have been cut off from the world since Maria hit Wednesday.
Authorities flew over the island Saturday, and were stunned by what they saw. No cellphones, water or power. Roads completely washed away and others blocked by debris, isolating residents. 

"It was devastating to see all that kind of debris in all areas, in all towns of the island," Jenniffer González, the island's non-voting representative in Congress told CNN.
"We never expected to have a lot of debris in so many areas. A lot of roads are closed, older ones are just gone," she added.
At least 10 people have been confirmed killed by the storm, according to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's office.
Roselló met with more than 50 mayors and representatives from across Puerto Rico on Saturday. Some described the conditions in their communities as "apocalyptic" and said there have been incidents of looting in both homes and stores.
"We know a little more today than we did yesterday," Rossello said. "This is going to be a long road."
A dam is in danger of collapsing, adding to the crisis.

SNIP

To donate to help:
Unidos por Puerto Rico
“Unidos”: A Hurricane Relief Fund for Hurricane Maria Victims in Puerto Rico

More inportantly, call your member of Congress and tell them to make sure Puerto Rico gets all the FEMA help and infrastructure rebuilding it so desperately needs. 

KY So Bigoted, California Bars State Travel Here

Of course the bigotry is disguised as "religious freedom." Next up: Freakazoid beats gay person to death on live video and isn't even arrested, because "religious freedom."

USA Today:

California's attorney general blocked state-funded travel to Kentucky and three other states on Thursday in response to what he considers anti-LGBT rights laws enacted this year.

Chris Hartman, the director of Louisville's Fairness Campaign, said that the bill the California AG is retaliating against, Senate Bill 17, could have indirect repercussions on the LGBT community in one of the nation's more gay-friendly cities. 

"This is a clear example of the unforeseen consequences that even a vaguely anti-LGBT bill can have," Hartman said. "This is a bill that we opposed, and here we have a real-world economic consequence of passing this bill."

The worry is that SB 17, which goes into effect this summer, could lead to scenarios where LGBTQ students are prevented from joining a Christian club led by students who disagree with homosexuality.

Trumpie Bevinism Fires Teacher for Being Bisexual

Confidentiality, my ass.  It's a convenient cover for anti-gay hate.

Valerie Honeycutt Spears at the Herald:

Montgomery County middle school chorus teacher Nicholas Breiner posted on Instagram recently that he is bisexual. Breiner said he did that to lend comfort to some of his LGBT students who had been suicidal.

“I felt that they needed to know there was someone in the room that understood and supported them, regardless of who they were. As terrifying as it was to admit, I had to value someone else’s well-being over my own privacy,” his Instagram post said.

Breiner’s teaching contract was not renewed for the 2017-18 school year. Montgomery County Superintendent Matthew Thompson said there was no connection between Breiner’s coming out and losing his job at McNabb Middle School.

Some people in Mount Sterling, however, thought otherwise, and they protested Saturday outside the county courthouse.

“We all really feel that it comes down to his sexuality, and that’s a load of crap,” parent Megan Johnson said. “He’s a great educator. There were several parents who showed up with their kids. Several past students.”

Thompson, however, said, “There is a great deal of misinformation about this situation.”

Breiner “was not fired or terminated,” he said. “The employment decision relating to his non-renewal was not in part, or in whole, because of his sexual orientation. However, I am unable to answer specific questions about the non-renewal due to confidentiality.”

According to Breiner, Thompson told him to remember "we live in a small town."

In 2014, the population of Montgomery County was 24,474.  That puts it in the top third of Kentucky counties. There are 83 counties in Kentucky with smaller populations.  Statistically, between 247 and 2,447 people who live in Montgomery County are LGBT. 

Montgomery County, your school superintendent is a lying, gay-hating piece of shit.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article157539444.html#storylink=cpy

How Did KY Repugs Fuck You Over This Year?

 Every anti-worker, pro-rich, corporatist, freakazoid, homophobic, misogynistic, unconstitutional way they could.

Tom Loftus at the Courier:

Charter schools
House Bill 520 will allow publicly funded charter schools to operate in Kentucky beginning next school year, although none are expected to begin operation until 2018-19. (All students who need extra help because of disability or poverty will be shunted into unfunded public schools.)

Education reform
Senate Bill 1 is a sweeping measure streamlining how students are taught and tested and how teachers are evaluated. It will give local schools more control over teacher evaluations and create a new way for intervening in low-performing schools that gives more authority to local school districts. (There is no end to the mischief this law allows: creationism, bibble inerrancy, forcing trans students to piss and shit themselves in class, encouraging students to harass and attack non-straight, muslim and/or immigrant students ... the horrors are endless.)

Right-to-work
House Bill 1 prohibits membership in a labor union or payment of union dues as a condition of employment. (No, this law takes away the last protections workers have from wage-stealing employers.)

Prevailing wage repeal: House Bill 3 repeals a law that requires a regional prevailing wage rate be paid as a minimum for workers building public schools and other state or local public buildings. (Back to minimum wage, you workers!  Thanks to the above, your union is dead.)

Abortion: House Bill 2 requires doctors to display and describe the details of an ultrasound to a woman prior to an abortion procedure. Women can decline to look at the ultrasound image or listen to the fetal heartbeat if they choose. (This law mandates doctors commit object rape on their own patients.)

Abortion: Senate Bill 5 bans abortion beginning with the 20th week of a pregnancy. The prohibition does not apply when an abortion is needed to save the life or prevent serious risk of permanent bodily harm to the mother.

Planned Parenthood funding: Senate Bill 8 puts Planned Parenthood at the end of the line behind other health care providers for getting any federal family planning funds. (Are you a minimum-wage worker who needs a mammogram or a pap smear? Tough shit. Get back to work before your cancer metastasizes.)

Medical malpractice:  Senate Bill 4 will require that a panel of doctors review malpractice complaints before the complaint goes to court.  (Did your stoned-on-oxy surgeon cut off the wrong let?  Tough shit.  His doctor buddies will protect him from your lawsuit.)

And more.

No freedom for muslim students in Kentucky

Xian Dominion does not arrive like a lightning bolt.  It arrives one minor step at a time.  Like this one.

Zandar:

Meanwhile the bill most likely to go to court is the state's new "student religious freedom" law, which among other things allows students in public schools to openly participate in religious activities while on campus and would allow student religious organizations at publicly-funded schools and universities to openly discriminate against LGBTQ students for membership.

The law, Senate Bill 17, will allow students to engage in religious activities and to express religious views in public schools and in their assignments. It would also allow teachers to include lessons about the Bible in discussions of religion and history.

The legislation stems from a 2015 decision to remove references to Jesus Christ from a student production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

But LGBT rights groups assailed the new law, which they say codifies legal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. One provision of the law allows student religious groups to set their own rules for membership, which LGBT rights groups say is a path to discrimination.

“No student should fear being excluded from a school club or participating in a school activity because they are LGBTQ,” said Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the Human Rights Campaign. “While of course private groups should have the freedom to express religious viewpoints, they should not be able to unfairly discriminate with taxpayer funds.”

The bill passed both the state Senate and state House with broad bipartisan support. Just three state senators and eight House members voted against the new law.

Bevin's not off the hook on this one even facing the veto-proof margin, he gladly signed it anyway.

But this is my state now, Bevin has signed dozens of new GOP laws and they'll take effect later this summer, and any hope that Kentucky wasn't totally the joke of the nation will disappear in a flash.  Anyone who isn't a Christian white male cop isn't wanted here, it seems.

By the way, the first time a public school kid in Kentucky decides they want to pray towards Mecca under this new law, I wonder how it will hold up.

All Non-Straight, Non-Males Report to Execution Stations Immediately

It's open season on everyone who's not a white, freakazoid, cis, straight, repug male.  And by open season, I mean lethal shootings in broad daylight.  

 

Everybody who thinks such murders by trumpians will be prosecuted as actual crimes, stand on your head.

 

Zandar:

I know we're still in 2017 can't be as bad as 2016 mode, but let's put that to bed. January is only the beginning of "much worse" in America and the suffering will strike most at those least able to resist it.

A federal judge in Texas on (Dec. 31) issued a nationwide injunction halting enforcement of Obama administration protections for transgender and abortion-related healthcare services just one day before they were due to go into effect.

The lawsuit — brought by Texas, a handful of other states, and some religiously affiliated nonprofit medical groups — challenges a regulation implementing the sex nondiscrimination requirement found in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation “forbids discriminating on the basis of ‘gender identity’ and ‘termination of pregnancy’” under Obamacare, as US District Court Judge Reed O’Connor wrote in his opinion halting enforcement of those provisions in the rule.

Explaining the lawsuit, O’Connor wrote, “Plaintiffs claim the Rule’s interpretation of sex discrimination pressures doctors to deliver healthcare in a manner that violates their religious freedom and thwarts their independent medical judgment and will require burdensome changes to their health insurance plans on January 1, 2017.”

The states and nonprofits in the healthcare lawsuit allege that the regulation violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) — which sets the rules for federal government rule-making — and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

O’Connor found that the plaintiffs had standing to bring the lawsuit because they “have presented concrete evidence to support their fears that they will be subject to enforcement under the Rule.”

Spokespersons from the Justice and Health and Human Services departments did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The next steps from the administration could include seeking to appeal the injunction or asking O’Connor to limit his order to the plaintiffs in the case, although it was not clear — with 20 days left in the Obama administration — what the government would choose to do.

In other words, trans folks can't be allowed to exist because it pisses off imaginary sky dude.  If this sounds insane, understand that we have laws that are broadly used to allow discrimination against trans folks because not discriminating against them violates "religious freedom"  What would have been a solid Supreme Court showdown with a Clinton-appointed justice to replace Scalia is now almost certainly going to end in federal law demanding that people be given special dispensation to deny housing, employment, good and services, and pretty much anything else to LGBTQ folks in America, and that's probably going to happen within the next couple of years.

In other words, all those state protections in places like California and New York and other blue states are likely going to be stripped, including, I would think, a challenge to Obergfell and same-sex marriage on RFRA grounds.  It will be the same avenue used to end legal abortion services in the US as well.

Expect this, and be ready to fight it.

The Resistance: Doing It in Line at the Grocery

Just wishful thinking maybe, but still inspiring.

Public Shaming:  It's Fun, and It Works.

 

Democratic Underground:

LaydeeBug (8,011 posts)

So I'm in line at the grocery store, and the lady in front of me used Food stamps and the guy in back of me started hemming and hawing. He said, "My god, do you believe this?" like trying to get me and the others in line to participate in his disgust. As loudly, and roundly as I could, and my theatre background lets me PROJECT people:

"FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE"
He was shocked. I mean shocked. "I'D RATHER SEE MY HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS GO TO FEED HER OR ANY OTHER FAMILY INSTEAD OF LAUNCHING A 20 MILLION DOLLAR MISSILE AT A CAMEL'S ASS. SHE'S IN A VETERAN'S FAMILY, DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT? YOU HAVE THE FUCKING NERVE TO SPIT ON OUR TROOPS BY AIRING YOUR SHIT NOW?"
"You think it's me and *MY* mouth?" he said,
'TRUST ME. EVERYONE HERE IS MORE OFFENDED WITH YOUR LITTLE DISPLAY THAN MY BIG ONE. YOU ARE A FUCKING TRAITOR AND ASSHOLE AND YOUR ACTIONS TOWARD THIS WOMAN IS WAY WORSE THAN MY PROFANITY ANYDAY"
The cashier laughed. I got three thumbs up and a high five.
Really.
Today.
About an hour ago.
After I cashed out, the hoopla went down, the lady approached me in the parking lot and told me thank you. Then, with pride, her eyes glistened, she said, "My father served in the Navy and my husband was a Marine before he died. How did you know?"
"I am the daughter of a Veteran too, we just have to stick together now. My Daddy didn't fight on foreign soil to see ours starve here. That man is the worst type of man"
Then she hugged me.
And I cried.

This Is The Resistance, Too

Ninja Onion Choppers Alert!

Political Animal

If your faith in humanity has taken a hit lately, you’ll want to watch this as a way of restoring it just a bit. But fair warning: grab a kleenex first.

Karim Sulayman - I trust you from Meredith Kaufman Younger on Vimeo.

Lexington Police Recruit Class Missing Something ....

Thirteen white men, four black men and one white woman as far as I can tell from the photograph.  

 

 

 

Step it up, Lexington.  You needed nine more women and two Hispanics in that class.  But congrats on 22 percent African-Americans.

From the Herald:

Eighteen recruits graduated Thursday from the Lexington Police Training Academy.

The ceremony on the Bluegrass Community and Technical College’s Newtown Campus marked the end of 32 weeks in the academy.

The class increases the size of the police force to 546 sworn officers, police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said. Additionally, there are 12 recruits in the academy’s next class.

Repugs Care Only About the Economic Issues of Straight, Xian White Men

And their allies are the Blue Dog, surrendering "Democrats" who think the way to the White House goes through those same racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic piece-of-shit white men.

 

Via Political Animal:

* Rebecca Traister writes, “Identity Issues Don’t Distract From Economic Issues — They Are Economic Issues.”

The postelection period has seen an enormous amount of pushback against so-called identity politics — specifically the campaigns for social justice and representation for women and people of color — as a frustrating distraction from the serious economic concerns that affect a broad swath of Americans. If only we could get away from divisive “social issues,” goes this line of thinking, Democrats could win elections and be able to enact progressive economic policies that would help far more people. But the idea that fights over reproductive freedom, sexual assault and harassment, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, criminal-justice reform, and gender and racial bias can be somehow separated from larger progressive economic stances is a fiction. As most people engaged in this argument know perfectly well, economic inequality is deeply wrapped up with gender and racial bias. The impending rollback of social progress in a Trump administration will have a staggering economic impact on this country’s women, especially women of color, and regressive economic policies will take a disproportionate toll on those same populations.

Thankful for the ACLU

And the Freedom From Religion Foundation.  And proud, loud, courageous Freethinkers like Bennie L. Hart.

Because a state that issues "In god We Trust" license plates at no extra change to any random motherfucking freakazoid has no standing to refuse a far less offensive and obnoxious specialty plate to a follower of reason and freethought.

Bruce Schreiner at the AP:

An atheist's request to say "IM GOD" on his license plate was denied by the state of Kentucky, which said it might distract other drivers, could spark confrontations and would be in bad taste.

Bennie L. Hart says that by driving around with the "IM GOD" message, he simply wants to spread his views about religion — that it's impossible to disprove anyone's claim to being "God."

Besides, Hart says, he had the same plate for a dozen years when he lived in Ohio, without causing any problems.

Hart sued Kentucky's transportation secretary, Greg Thomas, on Tuesday on free speech grounds, asking a federal judge in Frankfort to strike down some Kentucky laws and rules for personalized plates.

"Under the First Amendment, government officials do not have the authority to censor messages simply because they dislike them," said William Sharp, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which helped file the lawsuit. "And in this instance, personalized license plates are a form of individual speech equally deserving of First Amendment protection."

State Transportation Cabinet spokesman Ryan Watts said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Hart, who moved to Kenton County in northern Kentucky in February, intends to reapply for the "IM GOD" plate, his suit says.

When Hart was first turned down in March for the "IM GOD" plate, an administrative branch manager for Kentucky's Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing cited state law and regulations forbidding vulgar or obscene personalized plates, the suit says. That characterization is "demeaning" to Hart and his views and amounts to censorship, the suit says.

"I simply want the same opportunity to select a personal message for my license plate, just as any other driver," Hart said in an ACLU release Tuesday. "There is nothing 'obscene or vulgar' about my view that religious beliefs are subject to individual interpretation."

Right now, the ACLU is the only thing standing between us and the Republic of Gilead. Donate today.

ead more here: http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article116478218.html#storylink=cpy

Taliban Matt Hits the Burka Trail

Skirts below the knee?  Are you fucking kidding me?

Let's see if we can figure out the real goal here.

Shame female employees?  Check.

Shame low-paid employees who can't afford the new fascist "professional" look?  Check.

Vague guidelines that make it easy for Bevin appointees to fire non-repug, non-freakazoid, non-white, non-straight and non-male employees without just cause?  Check.

From the Courier:

No flip-flops. No bare midriffs. No camouflage. And watch the hemline on that skirt.

Gov. Matt Bevin's administration is rolling out a new dress code for state workers, but some departments' individual tweaks to the rules – including a ban on  "extremely low necklines" – are raising eyebrows at the state workers' association.

Employees recognize that employers have the right to set standards, said David Smith, executive director of the Kentucky Association of State Employees, but who's to say what the proper length for a dress is? "You're dealing with a fashion issue, and fashion changes," he said.

Personnel Cabinet Secretary Thomas Stephens said in a recent memo announcing the new guidelines that the executive branch's roughly 31,000 employees should maintain "a neat, professional appearance" because they represent the commonwealth.

SNIP

However, agencies are free to tweak their dress codes since different departments do different kinds of work, and people can request accommodations if they have a medical, religious or disability-related need. Violations could result in employees being asked to leave the premises or being subjected to disciplinary action, including possible dismissal.

Stephens also is instituting several additional rules that only apply to the Personnel Cabinet's 206 employees.

Personnel Cabinet employees can wear casual dresses and skirts only if they are knee-length or longer and cannot wear spaghetti-strap dresses unless they're covered by a sweater, according to an early-October memo from Stephens. Tops with "extremely low necklines" are prohibited, as are pajama pants, exercise pants, camouflage-patterned clothes and shorts. Men must keep their dress shirts tucked in, although polo shirts don't have to be.

Smith said the association has members who work in every state cabinet and every state agency, and some employees – the majority of whom have been women so far – have reached out with concerns about the new dress codes.

SNIP

And the Personnel Cabinet cannot oversee how each agency and manager enforces these rules, Smith said. Supervisors potentially could use a dress code violation as an excuse to discipline or fire someone they dislike.

"Is it too interpretive, and do we believe it could cross a line? Absolutely," Smith said.

If someone has religious or personal views about what is modest or appropriate and what isn't, those ideas shouldn't be forced on employees, he said.

He also said state workers may have to buy new clothes to meet their agency's dress code if, for example, their skirts fall above the knee. Employees will make an effort to meet whatever requirements their agencies institute, Smith said, but professional clothes can be expensive.

Especially for employees hired since Governor Fascist Dictator cut the state employee minimum wage from $10.10 to $7.25 about 10 seconds after he was inaugurated.

KY Supreme Court Reviews Criminalizing Poverty

The technical issue is whether Lexington's disgusting law banning panhandling violates the First Amendmebant protection of free speech. But the real issue is why we are turning poor people into criminals instead of, you know, lifting people out of poverty.

From the Herald:

Lexington’s controversial ordinance to ban panhandling should be declared unconstitutional because it singles out only one type of speech — begging on streets and intersections —and not others, such as selling Girl Scout cookies or performances by street musicians, a state public advocate told the Kentucky Supreme Court. But assistant Fayette County Attorney John Jason Rothrock told the state’s highest court that the ordinance is needed to protect the safety of pedestrians and and those in vehicles.

How do we lift people out of poverty? By giving them the money we now give to already filthy rich people.

Done.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/#storylink=cpy

Dem Candidates Protest Farm Bureau Hate

In their bright orange protest shirts, no less!

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, and 6th Congressional District Democratic nominee Nancy Jo Kemper of Lexington joined about 40 protesters outside Thursday’s Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast at the Kentucky State Fair to urge the Farm Bureau to change “discriminatory” practices.

The protest was peaceful without any arrests. Last year, three protesters were arrested by state police on misdemeanor charges that were later dropped, and the three have a pending U.S. District Court lawsuit against the state police.

Yarmuth, wearing an an orange T-shirt that said, “No Hate in Our State; Kentucky Farm Bureau Big on Discrimination,” said the Farm Bureau had policies against gays, teachers, unions, pro-choice advocates and death penalty opponents.

“Most people in that room don’t know the Farm Bureau’s policies,” Yarmuth said while standing outside the Kentucky Exposition Center, where more than 1,600 people, including a lot of politicians, gathered for the Farm Bureau’s 53rd annual breakfast.

SNIP

Kemper, who is trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, in Central Kentucky’s 6th District, said she always has been for equal rights of all people.

She said she believes there are “gay kids in rural areas,” and the Farm Bureau should be concerned about them.

Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, said his organization and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, the Jefferson County Teachers Association and Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice joined in the protest.

Any Immigrant is More American Than Donald Traitor

Immigrants have to fight a mountain of obstacles to get to America.  They don't get born one day and find themselves birthright Americans.

Immigrants have to earn every dime they get, and by earn I mean bust their asses every day cleaning the disgusting toilets of privileged asses like Donald Traitor.  Who steals their wages anyway.

Immigrants have to endure the abuse and mistreatment and bigotry that every generation of immigrants endures, always from immigrant descendants who have forgotten where they came from.

Immigrants learn citizenship the hard way, by living it every day.  They don't get to ignore the rules like those who are born white, male and rich.

Immigrants have to want America bad.

Donald Traitor wants a bad America.

TPM:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) thinks Donald Trump needs to take a test before he is elected president.

In a press release Monday afternoon, Reid called on Trump to take the U.S. naturalization test – the test that immigrants must pass to become citizens of the United States. The test includes questions about the country's history, founding, laws and Constitution.

“Since Donald Trump wants to impose new tests on immigrants, he should take the one test every immigrant has to pass to become a United States citizen. He would almost certainly fail, given his general ignorance and weak grasp of basic facts about American history, principles and functioning of our government," Reid said. "The fact is, Donald Trump is nothing more than a spoiled, unpatriotic drain on society who has earned nothing and helped no one."

Reid said that unlike immigrants,"Donald Trump represents none of the qualities that make America great. "

"Immigrants work hard to get here and become Americans, while Trump inherited everything from his father and works hardest at Tweeting insults and ripping off hard-working people with two-bit scams," Reid said.

Reid also claimed that while immigrants must denounce loyalties to foreign governments to become citizens, Trump "plays footsie with Putin and invites the Russian government to launch cyber attacks against our country."

War in Kentucky on Freethought and Free Speech, Not Freakazoids

And big fat raspberries to the billboard companies too cowardly or freakazoid to take Atheist money.

 

Linda Blackford at the Herald:

A group of atheists based in Northern Kentucky raised $10,000 for a billboard protesting the soon-to-open Ark Encounter amusement park, a place where Christian scripture is taken so literally that a Noah’s Ark replica is being built using ancient measurements called “cubits.”

But two billboard companies have rejected the Tri-State Freethinkers’ interpretation of the story of Noah’s Ark as one of “genocide and incest.”

The proposed billboard design shows a Noah’s Ark with people drowning around it and the words “Genocide and Incest Park: Celebrating 2,000 years of myths.”

The advertisement has been turned down by Lamar, a national billboard company, and Event Advertising and Promotions LLC, a mobile billboard company.

“We default to accepting most all copy, but if there’s something we deem not appropriate then we don’t run it,” said Tom Fahey, manager of the Cincinnati office of Lamar. “It seemed more inflammatory in nature than anything else.”

Really?  How do you feel about child abuse, motherfucker?  Because that's what those freakazoid assholes are committing.

Event Advertising and Promotions told the Tri-State Freethinkers that the company was worried about its drivers’ personal safety, said Jim Helton, president of Tri-State Freethinkers. Company officials did not return calls seeking comment.

So, they're afraid the freakazoids will attack the drivers for working for a company that accepts filthy lucre from Atheists?  Who's the abuser in that scenario?  

And the company sure wasn't afraid of Atheists and liberals attacking them for taking filthy freakazoid money to display motherfucking lies and insults on their billboards.

In 2014, Lamar displayed several billboards around the state from Ark Encounter with the statement: “To all of our intolerant liberal friends: Thank God you can’t sink this ship.”

SNIP

Helton said the 1,500 members of his group from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana oppose the amusement park for several reasons, including its policy of hiring only devout Christians. The park recently received approval to claim $18 million in state sales tax credits, which Helton said is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution’s requirement for separation of church and state.

The Freethinkers also contend that the story of Noah’s Ark is not appropriate for children.

“God killed everyone,” Helton said. “And the second time he populated the world through incest,” because everyone was descended from Noah.

“We’re not saying they can’t build it, but it’s not an appropriate family park,” Helton said.

The Freethinkers formed in 2013, and soon made themselves known to Answers in Genesis, the parent company of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter, by adopting the highway in front of the museum.

SNIP

Helton said the group managed to raise the $10,000 in just a few days on the crowd-funding website IndieGoGo, and they continue to look for someone to display their billboard. He hopes the campaign will pick up national traction, especially since the Ark Encounter is not expected to hire openly gay employees.

“We had a record number of memberships once we said we’d do this,” Helton said.

Christian Superiority

Divine Irony:



↵ Reblogged from cure-your-delusions