Wrong Kentuckian for Supreme Court

From the Herald:

A group opposed to President Donald Trump's judicial picks is taking aim at a Kentucky judge who has made the president's short list of potential Supreme Court justices.

Demand Justice has rolled out an ad that seeks to paint Amul Thapar, who was confirmed last year to a seat on the federal appeals bench, as a friend of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a "far right" judge who authored a court decision that would allow wealthy donors to influence elections.

Yeah, he's a typical Trump-taint-licking motherfucker.

There's one Kentucky lawyer with the kind of boots-on-the-ground political experience that a court full of appellate judges who have never had to solve real-life problems desperately needs: Governor Steven L. Beshear.

Because if we're serious about Resisting, if we're going to stand our ground and fight everything this fascist un-government tries, if we're going to rally the voters we need to take back the Congress - and the state legislature! - in November, then we have to spit right in their faces with what WE want.

And we want Steve Beshear on the Supreme Court.

Who from your state do you want on the Supreme Court? 

The Resistance: Victory! Now, Get Back to Work

Repugs are sneaky motherfuckers and they haven't given up, but just for today let's bask in the win.

From the Courier:

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville said the collapse of the GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare on Friday "feels like vindication" and said that American citizens deserve a lot of the credit for its defeat.

“They walked out on a plank and somebody sawed it off," Yarmuth said of the Republican leaders who backed the failed plan. "It was really the American people that sawed it off.”

Yarmuth said that this is a big moment for the Americans who have banded together in the wake of Trump's election to oppose the new administration.

"I think this is going to further energize and empower the resistance movement," he said. "They deserve a lot of credit."

Former Gov. Steve Beshear, who led Kentucky's effort to create its own health insurance exchange and expand Medicaid coverage, proclaimed a victory for everyone who benefits from the programs, not only here but across the country.

"The winners today are the millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians who have been able to receive health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, many of them for the first time," Beshear said in a statement. "It's now time to put people over politics and collaborate across party lines to improve the (Affordable Care Act) and further reform our health-care system."

Bevin Gives Raises to Engineers; Ignores Minimum-Wage Workers

All state employees deserve raises; they've been denied their statutory raises since 2002.  But to reward just one group at the expense of everyone else is outrageous.

Especially since the rewarded group just happens to be whiter and more male than the lowest-paid group.

A Transportation Engineering Tech II start at $18.07 per hour ($36,000 per year).  A Tech III starts at $19.88 ($39,500 per year).  According to Bevin, those people need a $3.20 per hour raise, but the very lowest paid state employees, the ones making the state minimum wage of $7.25, not only do not get a raise of a single penny per hour, but also no longer can get the raise to $10.10 per hour that Gov. Beshear gave those workers in the summer of 2015.

Those would be the people who do the dirtiest work in the state, cleaning park resort rooms and washing dishes in park resort restaurants and bathing the veterans in state veterans homes.

Because Bevin doesn't give a shit about those - well, I doubt he thinks of them as "people."  Just "the help."  Not worthy of notice, much less a living wage.
 

From the press release: 0 Transportation Cabinet employees to receive salary adjustment

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 31, 2016) - Flanked by a platoon of statewide highway maintenance crews dressed in high-visibility gear, Gov. Matt Bevin today fulfilled his promise to increase the pay of over 2,600 Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) employees. The new salary adjustment will affect specialized maintenance job classifications including highway equipment operators, laborers, mechanics, machinists and welders, as well as engineering technologists.  Employees, depending on their classification, could see a salary increase of up to $3.20 per hour by Jan. 2017. “Whenever Kentucky's roadways are affected by weather, accidents or maintenance, it directly impacts the safety and well-being of all Kentuckians,” said Gov. Bevin. “Not often enough do we take time to thank the men and women who ensure that, both day and night, the rest of us to have clear and safe paths to work, school and elsewhere. This salary adjustment is long-overdue, and I hope will show at least a small measure of the gratitude we feel for the hard-working Transportation Cabinet employees who risk their own safety on our behalf throughout the year.”

After Inciting Election Violence, Bevin Tells Churches to Break Federal Law

Sigh.  Just a year ago, we Kentuckians were basking in the national admiration for how Governor Steve Beshear had created the finest, most effective and most powerful state program for implementing Obamacare.   Kentucky had the biggest drop in percentage of uninsured, and we were even starting to see a drop in the generational poverty that has bedeviled the Comnonwealth for centuries.

Then we elected a new Governor. And it's back to putting duct tape on the "Kentucky" on our license plates and pretending we're from (gag!) Tennessee.

From the AP:

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin urged a group of preachers to embrace political speech at the pulpit by telling them not to fear a federal law that prohibits candidate endorsements by tax-exempt churches.

Bevin called the federal law a "paper tiger" during an address to preachers at the governor's mansion last month. A group called Kentuckians Against Matt Bevin posted video captured by someone at the gathering. Bevin says no church has ever been punished under the law.

The governor calls the law "an absolute paper tiger and there is no reason to fear it, there is no reason to be silent."

The 1954 law says tax-exempt organizations, including churches, may not participate or intervene in any "political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office."

They can do political endorsements all fucking day long, Gov. Lying Coward; they just have to pay taxes for the privilege.  Just like the rest of us.

 

Charlie Pierce, as usual, nails it:

The presidential campaign of Donald Trump is most remarkable for the forces it has unleashed in the country, forces that we all thought long dead or, at the very least, tamed to the extent that polite political society never would indulge them again. For an example of how wrong we all were, and for an example of what 40 years of conservative politics have wrought on the country by believing that they could flirt with those forces without being consumed by them, you need only look down to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where Governor Matt Bevin is counseling his state's clergy to violate federal law.

SNIP
 

This is exactly the same argument that drug kingpins make to their crews regarding the federal narcotics statutes. But, whatever, it also demonstrates that, having swallowed up the remnants of American apartheid in the 1960s, the Republican party, and the conservative movement that is its only life force, never has given up on nullification, interposition, and the radical Tenther interpretation of the Constitution that lost so badly at Appomattox.

Matt Bevin is a pure product of that.

Kentucky famously never seceded from the Union or joined the Confederacy, although we kept our slaves throughout the war and were PISSED when it turned our we had to give them up just like Missi-fucking-issippi.

Governor Racist Motherfucking is doing his damnedest to get us into the modern Confederacy now.

President Abandons Kentuckians to Bevin's No Health Care for You! Plan

I don't understand.  Kentucky is the shining star of Obamacare.  The proof that it works not just to get health care to working people, but to start actually eliminating generational poverty. Without Kynect, Obamacare is just a liberal wet dream.

There is no excuse for this. But I know what's going to happen now.  Hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians will be unable to get health insurance because the mal-administration of Gov. Lying Coward will not just not lift a finger to help, but will throw obstacles in the path of anyone who tries.

We. Are. So. Fucked.

From the AP:

Federal officials have approved Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to dismantle the state health exchange.

The exchange, known as kynect, was launched in 2013 and has been a way for Kentucky residents to shop for health insurance or enroll in Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. After Nov. 1, people in Kentucky will use the federal health exchange to find coverage.

 The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/2dcPq3W ) said the approval was given Tuesday, but Andrew Slavitt of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department says the agency is concerned about the transition's impact on those who gained coverage through kynect. Slavitt said in a letter to Bevin that it's important the transition be clearly explained to consumers.

Bevin, a Republican, vowed to dismantle the health initiatives of previous Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat who took full advantage of federal health care law.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article105966102.html#storylink=cpy

Tell Feds to Reject Bevin's Murder Medicaid Plan

You've got only 30 days.  Go to Medicaid.org and click on “View Section 1115 Demonstration List” to find Kentucky. Don't know what to say?  Write this:

 

"Expanded Medicaid as implemented by the Beshear administration has made huge strides in improving health among Kentucky's working poor.  It has also started to do what no other effort in Kentucky's 224 years as a state has done: finally eliminate generational poverty in the Commonwealth. 

Please do not approve Governor Lying Coward's plan to kill 400,000 Kentuckians and bust a $2 billion hole in our state's budget."

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

The federal government told the Bevin administration Thursday that its Medicaid waiver proposal has “sufficient information to evaluate” and it now wants to hear from Kentuckians what they think about the proposal.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Press Secretary Marjorie Connolly said the agency has certified the completeness of Kentucky’s application for a Medicaid waiver, one of the first hurdles the proposal must clear.

She said the next step is a 30-day federal comment period.

“After the comment period and review and consideration of public input, the waiver process usually involves significant additional dialogue between HHS and states,” Connolly said. 

“We are prepared to continue working for as long as it takes to find a solution that builds on the historic progress Kentucky has made under Medicaid expansion and avoids moving backwards.”

To comment, go to Medicaid.org and click on “View Section 1115 Demonstration List” to find Kentucky.

Bevin submitted his proposal to the federal government last month for the program that provides health insurance for 1.32 million Kentuckians.

The most controversial measures include premiums and co-pays and a requirement that able-bodied adults be engaged in their communities for at least 20 hours every week, through a job, classes, volunteering or other specified activities.

Go to Medicaid.org and click on “View Section 1115 Demonstration List” to find Kentucky.  Stop reading this and do it now.  NOW.

Bevin Puts Out $500,000 Contract on Steve Beshear

Meanwhile, 400,000 Kentuckians are about to lose their health insurance.  Not that Gov. Trumpist gives a flying fuck about anyone who's not already rich.

This is the real waste, fraud and abuse, people. Because the real question is what Gov. Trumpist is trying to hide behind this smokescreen of lies.

John Cheves at the Herald:

Gov. Matt Bevin has awarded a two-year, $500,000 contract to an Indianapolis law firm to look for corruption in the administration of his predecessor, Steve Beshear.

Taft Stettinius & Hollister will work with Kenneth F. Bohac, the newly hired inspector general of the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet. The firm is charged with investigating possible violations of state spending rules and possible coercion of state workers for campaign donations, according to its contact. However, “the investigatory scope of the contact may be expanded ... to include additional violations of the public trust,” the contract states.

In April, Bevin, a Republican, held a news conference to say that his aides had uncovered “greed and oftentimes corruption” that occurred during the eight-year administration of Beshear, a Democrat. Bevin referenced the criminal case of Tim Longmeyer, who was Beshear’s personnel secretary and who pleaded guilty this year to his role in a kickback scheme involving a state employee health insurance contract.

SNIP

Beshear issued a statement hours later saying that Bevin’s accusations “have absolutely no basis in truth.”

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article93068177.html#storylink=cpy

Bevin Makes Dick Move That Is Insulting to Dicks

jesus christ even Trump is more mature than this.  What's next? Bevin leaving a flaming bad of dog shit on Beshear's front porch?

And shame on Governor Lying Coward for exploiting Gold Star families in his infantile temper tantrum against Governor Steve Beshear.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

The name of former first lady Jane K. Beshear has been removed from the Capitol Education Center on the grounds of the Kentucky Capitol.

Gone is the sign with her name in front of the building that serves as an education and welcoming facility for more than 60,000 guests to the Capitol campus every year. Gone are the plaques in the building that bore her name.

First Lady Jane Beshear introduced her husband Gov. Steve Beshear during the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 at the Capitol in Frankfort.  

 

The Bevin administration plans to rename the center, which sits adjacent to the Capitol and Executive Mansion, to honor Kentucky’s military heritage with the goal of special recognition to Kentucky’s “Gold Star” families, Pamela Trautner, spokeswoman for the state Finance and Administration Cabinet, said Thursday.

SNIP

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear named the center in his wife’s honor last November shortly before leaving office and soon after Republican Gov. Matt Bevin was elected to succeed him. Beshear said his wife was responsible for securing private donations to help outfit the center, including $250,000 from Duke Energy, and appliances for the center’s kitchen from General Electric.

Bevin and the Beshears have been at odds since early in the Bevin administration.

Bevin removed Jane Beshear in December as a member of the Kentucky Horse Park Commission, an appointment Steve Beshear had made. The two have accused each other of corruption in their administrations and the Beshears’ son, Attorney General Andy Beshear, has taken Bevin to court for making mid-year university budget cuts and revamping governing boards.

Steve Beshear said in an email Thursday night that “it’s certainly the governor’s prerogative to change the name on this building if he chooses.”

“I named it after Jane because she raised over $250,000 from the private sector to transform that old, abandoned building into a place where Kentucky schoolchildren visiting our Capitol could eat lunch and learn about different kinds of energy used in Kentucky,” he said. “She never sought any recognition for her efforts, but I was proud to surprise her by naming the building for her.”

Steve Beshear said he hopes Bevin leaves a plaque on the inside of the center “that tells how the first lady created it, because I’m sure our military families would want to know the story of how it came about.”

It's Class vs. Trash, and I don't have to tell you which is which.

Bevin runs crying to mommy, calling Beshears mean ol' doodyheads

Well, he never claimed to be Henry Clay.  Also, projection is an amazing drug.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

Gov. Matt Bevin said Thursday that former Gov. Steve Beshear is “an embarrassment” to the state and his law firm and that his son, Attorney General Andy Beshear, opposes him because “it’s clearly genetic.”

That's the same Governor Steve Beshear who was President Barack Obama's special guest at the State of the Union, the man lauded nationwide for this foresight and courage and plain genius in implementing kynect and Medicaid expansion,  the history-making leader who put Kentucky on the road to finally kill generational poverty.

Gov. Lying Coward is the one who is destroying working Kentuckians' last hopes and throwing a temper tantrum because Gov. Beshear isn't thanking him for it.

In response, former Gov. Beshear said in an email, “As a lifelong Kentuckian who gave over 30 years of public service to the people of this state, I have always worked to bring people together. As governor, even when there were disagreements on issues, we were able to have respectful and healthy discussion.

“Kentucky would be better off if Gov. Bevin followed that philosophy and realized that name-calling and insults do nothing to help Kentucky’s families.”

Attorney General Beshear said in an email that he has publicly disagreed with Bevin but has never attacked him personally. “His comments are beneath the dignity of that office. Kentuckians deserve better.”

Is Gov. Pants-Shitter trying to emulate the Orange Menace, or is self-destructive arrogance a side-effect of being filthy rich?

I know: both.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article85536627.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article85536627.html#storylink=cpy

Bevin Doesn't Know What the Fuck He's Doing, Part 2

Or maybe he does.  These are exactly the lies Sam Brownback spread to justify gutting Kansas' economy to further enrich the obscenely wealthy mooching people and corporations.

Tom Loftus at the Courier:

Gov.-elect Matt Bevin said Tuesday that he is inheriting a "financial crisis" from departing Gov. Steve Beshear.

"According to the Beshear administration, they are leaving Kentucky burdened with a projected biennial budget shortfall of more than $500 million," Bevin said in a news release naming John E. Chilton, of Louisville, as the new state budget director. "The appointment of a highly qualified budget director, therefore is of tremendous importance."

Asked to elaborate on Bevin's comment about a financial crisis, the Bevin transition office released an analysis of the state's 2016-18 budget outlook by the Beshear administration's budget office.

But Beshear said in a statement later Tuesday that there is no shortfall and that Bevin is simply confronting a problem he confronted repeatedly the past eight years of dealing with needs and requests that outstrip available revenues.

"I have had to balance and rebalance the state's budget 15 times," Beshear said. "We are leaving the state's finances in much better shape than what I was presented with my first year in office," Beshear said.

Steve Beshear Pulls Cruel Joke with Voting Rights Executive Order

That order will last all of seven 14 days, one hour and 48 minutes from signing. Because one second after Bevin is sworn in on Dec. 8, he'll reverse this order.  Even before he issues his promised "Kim Davis is the jeebusiest jeebus lover in the world" executive order.

Shame on Beshear for giving false hope to people unjustly denied the right to vote.

Gov. Beshear Signs Executive Order Restoring Right to Vote, Hold Office to Certain Offenders

Order excludes persons convicted of violent or sex crimes, bribery or treason

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 24, 2015) – Governor Steve Beshear today signed an executive order  that automatically restores the right to vote and hold public office to certain offenders once all terms of their sentences have been satisfied.

The order excludes persons convicted of violent or sex crimes, bribery or treason.

“The right to vote is one of the most intrinsically American privileges, and thousands of Kentuckians are living, working and paying taxes in the state but are denied this basic right,” Gov. Beshear said. “Once an individual has served his or her time and paid all restitution, society expects them to reintegrate into their communities and become law-abiding and productive citizens. A key part of that transition is the right to vote.”

Under the terms of the order, for felons who are currently incarcerated or under probation or parole supervision, the Department of Corrections (DOC) will verify prior to issuing a restoration of civil rights that there are no pending criminal cases, charges or arrests, or outstanding court-ordered restitution. Individuals meeting those criteria will be granted automatic restoration and a certificate of Restoration of Civil Rights will be issued.

Individuals who have already left the correctional system may pick up a restoration of rights form at any Probation and Parole office, or by contacting the Department of Corrections at 502-782-2248 or online at corrections.ky.gov, and return it to the address listed. DOC will verify whether they meet the criteria set out in the executive order. Offenders who do will have their voting rights restored “without undue delay” and receive a certificate of Restoration of Civil Rights in the mail.

Offenders who don’t meet the criteria for automatic restoration, including those convicted of federal crimes, may still individually apply to have the Governor restore their civil rights under the current restoration process.

“This approach strikes an effective balance between the need to re-enfranchise thousands of Kentuckians who have paid their debt to society, and the recognition that there are some crimes of such a nature that they require a more deliberative review,” Beshear said.

Under the state’s constitution, persons convicted of a felony are stripped of their rights to vote, hold public office, own a firearm or serve on a jury. Kentucky is one of only four states that does not automatically restore felons’ voting rights upon final discharge of their sentence. An estimated 180,000 Kentuckians have served out their sentence but lack the right to vote.

“Today is a wonderful day for all Kentuckians,” said former state Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, of Lexington. “The steps that Gov. Beshear has taken through this executive order will allow for democracy at its best.”

“Gov. Beshear should be congratulated,” said Sen. Gerald Neal, of Louisville. “Restoring the voting rights of ex-offenders enhances the credibility of the justice system in Kentucky. Kentucky now joins all but a few states in discarding this reactionary, useless restriction.”

“It has long been my belief that once offenders have paid restitution for their crimes, they deserve to have their voting rights restored,” said Sen. Denise Harper Angel, of Louisville. “As someone who has co-sponsored legislation numerous times to restore voting rights, I am very pleased that Gov. Beshear has taken this bold step to move Kentucky forward.”

“This is a major step toward fully re-integrating individuals into society who have paid for their past mistakes,” said Rep. Darryl T. Owens, of Louisville. “I appreciate the leadership of Jesse Crenshaw on this issue and I commend Gov. Beshear for taking this bold action.”

In signing the executive order two weeks before his terms ends, Beshear noted he has consistently supported legislative efforts to permit a constitutional referendum on restoration of rights, and wanted to allow that process to play out. When those efforts failed, he said, he waited under after the November election so as not to politicize the issue during the campaigns.

“The ACLU-KY applauds Gov. Beshear for taking an important step toward breaking down barriers to ballot boxes in Kentucky,” said Michael Aldridge, Kentucky executive director of the ACLU. “We know the Commonwealth’s disenfranchisement policies, some of the harshest in the country, have negatively impacted families and communities, especially those of color, by reducing their collective political voice. Studies have shown that individuals who vote are more likely to give to charity, volunteer, attend school board meetings, serve on juries and are more actively involved in their communities.”

“Today’s order transforms the process for restoring voting rights in Kentucky and makes it accessible to thousands of Kentucky citizens, some of whom have waited many years for this,” said Tomas Lopez, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. “Everyone eligible should act now to take advantage of this important reform.”

Governor: No Special Session for Davis; Do Your Damn Job

Steve Beshear leaves office on December 14, and Kentuckians will be at the mercy of either repug freakazoid Matt Bevin or DINO Jack Conway.

 

The General Assembly convenes in January and will ignore every pressing issue including the biennial budget until it considers the probable hundreds of bills giving freakazoid, homophobic county clerks get-out-of-doing-your-job-while-still-getting-paid cards.

 

Bills that Bevin will sign out of freakazoid ecstasy and Conway will sign out of DINO fear. 

The Supreme Court and U.S. Constitution be damned.

 

From Governor Beshear:

“There are obviously strong feelings on both sides of this issue, but the United States Supreme Court has spoken and same-sex marriage is now legal in Kentucky and the rest of the United States. Regardless of whatever their personal feelings might be, 117 of our 120 county clerks are following the law and carrying out their duty to issue marriage licenses regardless of gender. Same-sex couples are now being married in Kentucky and such marriages from other states are now being recognized under Kentucky law.

The future of the Rowan County Clerk is now in the hands of the courts. The legislature has placed the authority to issue marriage licenses squarely on county clerks by statute, and I have no legal authority to relieve her of her statutory duty by executive order or to remove her from office.

The General Assembly will convene in four months and can make any statutory changes it deems necessary at that time. I see no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money calling a special session of the General Assembly when 117 of 120 county clerks are doing their jobs.” – Gov. Steve Beshear

KY Caves to Traitors in Defense of Slavery

Jefferson Davis' only connection to Kentucky is that he was born here.  He grew up in Mississippi and lived in Tennessee.  His statue in the Capitol Rotunda serves one purpose only: to pander to modern confederates pining for slavery days.

And Cowardly Worm is back:

Gov. Beshear’s Statement on Jefferson Davis Statue  

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 5, 2015) – “The Historic Properties Advisory Commission by law has control over the statues in the Rotunda of the State Capitol, and recently I asked the Commission to review the appropriateness of the Jefferson Davis statue remaining in the Rotunda. 

The Commission received thousands of public comments and consulted with state historians. After reviewing all the information, the consensus it reached is that the Jefferson Davis statue represented a part of the state’s history and will remain in the Capitol. However, the panel voted to establish a committee that would determine ways to ensure the statues, including Jefferson Davis, are displayed in the appropriate historical context.

While many Kentuckians feel that it would be preferable for the Jefferson Davis statue to be in a museum setting, the addition of this educational and historical context is critical. The generations to come must understand the enormous toll of the Civil War that tore apart this nation and the tragic issue of slavery at the root of that war.

Kentucky played a unique historical role as the birthplace of the presidents of both sides of the conflict. We must ensure that dark chapter of our nation’s past serves to educate in ways that ensure such a tragedy can never happen again.” – Gov. Steve Beshear.

Beshear Whines Like a Little Bitch About Weak-Ass New Coal Rules

If every ounce of coal vanished tomorrow, life in Kentucky would go on without a hiccup. Steve Beshear, Jack Conway, Matt Bevin, Mitch McConnell and every other Big-Coal-cock-gobbling politician in the state knows it.

Gov. Beshear’s Statement on EPA Rule Announced Today

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 3, 2015) – “I am extremely disappointed and frustrated by the huge changes the EPA made from the proposed rule. What is being proposed for Kentucky is disastrous – disastrous for our declining coal economy and equally disastrous for our very important manufacturing economy. The EPA claimed that it listened to the comments received on the proposed rule for the Clean Power Plan. It is clear from the emissions numbers the EPA has set for Kentucky that the agency did not listen to us. This rule leaves the Commonwealth with few, if any, alternatives to formulate a plan without significant harmful impact to rate payers, manufacturing companies and the overall economy.

Attorney General Jack Conway and I will continue to fight this onerous rule in the courts. During my entire term as Governor, I have remained steadfast in my support of Kentucky’s important coal and manufacturing industries, and the affordable energy and good jobs they provide the Commonwealth and the nation.

This is an extensive rule, and we will be meeting with stakeholders to assess its potential impacts. We will, however, continue to explore ways for Kentucky to comply with the rule should it become law, because we believe that a Kentucky specific plan would be better than a federal plan imposed on us.” – Gov. Steve Beshear.

Lies, motherfucking lies, and motherfucking liars lying about fucking their mothers.

Meanwhile in Reality World, here's Kevin Drum:

But Michael Grunwald isn't buying the hype. He's not impressed with Obama's plan to reduce power plant emissions 32 percent by 2030:

That’s nice, but by the end of this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the power sector’s emissions will already be down 15.4 percent from 2005 levels — about half the anticipated reductions in just a decade, and before the plan goes into effect. In other words, even under the strengthened plan, the rate of decarbonization is expected to slow over the next 15 years. What, did you think the strongest action ever taken to combat climate change would actually accelerate the nation’s efforts to combat climate change?

....If you’re really ranking them, the Clean Power Plan is at best the fourth-strongest action that Obama has taken to combat climate change, behind his much-maligned 2009 stimulus package, which poured $90 billion into clean energy and jump-started a green revolution; his dramatic increases in fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, which should reduce our oil consumption by 2 million barrels per day; and his crackdown on mercury and other air pollutants, which has helped inspire utilities to retire 200 coal-fired power plants in just five years.

Kevin thinks that's a little unfair, but generally agrees on the main point.

In the meantime, Grunwald is right to say that the new mandates aren't really all that tough. At the same time, the fact that we have any power plant mandates at all really is a big deal. Just setting the precedent that the federal government should regulate carbon emissions from power plants is a critical first step, and if it survives court challenges and congressional temper tantrums it will likely lead to further cutbacks in the future. And that's a big deal.

No. Outlawing all fossil fuel use starting yesterday would be a big deal. Anything short of that is sucking Big Oil cock while the oceans rise.

Beshear: The Constitution Trumps Your Freakazoid Delusions

No, he didn't use those exact words. But that's the meaning, anyway.

From WKYT:

The day after a federal judge heard arguments over a Rowan County clerk refusing to issue marriage licenses, Governor Steve Beshear is standing behind his view on the issue.

Beshear, during a news conference Tuesday for the state budget, was asked about the clerks who claim their religious freedoms are violated by the new laws.

The governor stood by his previous statements, saying the clerks must comply with the Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states.

"When you voluntarily decide to run for office, and you win, and you raise your hand and you take the oath to uphold the Constitutions of the United States... that oath doesn't say 'I will uphold the parts of the Constitution that I agree with and won't with the parts I don't agree with,'" Beshear said.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who stopped issuing marriage licenses because same-sex marriage violates her religious beliefs.

Profile in Courage - No Snark

Or maybe not so much courage as the exasperation of a parent who has explained for the umpteenth time to his recalcitrant teenager why said teenager cannot drop out of high school to hitchhike through Afghanistan.

Gov. Beshear Statement on Today’s Meeting with Casey County Clerk

FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 9, 2015) – “This morning, I advised Mr. Davis that I respect his right to his own personal beliefs regarding same-sex marriages. However, when he was elected, he took a constitutional oath to uphold the United States Constitution. According to the United States Supreme Court, the Constitution now requires that governmental officials in Kentucky and elsewhere must recognize same-sex marriages as valid and allow them to take place. One of Mr. Davis’ duties as county court clerk is to issue marriage licenses, and the Supreme Court now says that the United States Constitution requires those marriage licenses to be issued regardless of gender. Mr. Davis’ own county attorney has advised him that his oath requires him to do so.

While there are two or three county court clerks still refusing to perform their duties, the rest of the county court clerks are complying with the law regardless of their personal beliefs. The courts and the voters will deal appropriately with the rest.

I will not be calling any special session on this topic and costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars doing so. Any proposal about the process of issuing marriage licenses that meets the standards of the Supreme Court ruling should be carefully thought out and could be considered in the regular session in 2016.” – Gov. Steve Beshear.

 Speaking of recalcitrant adolescents, Governor, don't give the legislature any ideas.

I'd like to say "We're done here," but I know it's not true.

Criminal Clerks: Freakazoid Freedom Law and Beshear's Pandering Enables Clerks to Refuse Licenses

Resign your positions, motherfuckers.  As for you, Kentucky "Democratic" Party:  Start finding out whether your candidates agree to FOLLOW THE FUCKING LAW before you let them run as Democratic candidates.

 

This was completely predictable.  First came the state's "Freakazoids Don't Have to Obey Any Laws" bill, then Dr. Jekyll Beshear told the clerks "no one can tell you what to believe," and they've take him at his word to refuse to extend human rights to human beings.

John Cheves at the Herald:

Defying the instructions of Gov. Steve Beshear, several county clerks around Kentucky said they won't issue marriage licenses anymore because of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-to-4 ruling Friday in favor of a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis said Monday that her Christian beliefs won't allow her to give marriage licenses to gay men or lesbians seeking to marry a member of the same sex. Rather than face claims of discrimination, her office in Morehead is refusing marriage licenses to all couples until further notice, Davis said.

"We've not had any applicants yet, but we've had several calls," said Davis, 49, a Democrat who took office in January.

"It's hard; I will tell you that," Davis said. "What has happened is that five lawyers have imposed their personal view of what the definition of marriage should be on the rest of us. And I, as a Christian, have strong views, too. And I know I don't stand alone."

Chris Jobe, president of the Kentucky County Clerks Association, said he has heard from several clerks who have religious objections to same-sex marriage, so they won't issue marriage licenses anymore.

Several more clerks are consulting with their county attorneys to determine whether they must obey the letter Beshear sent them Friday instructing them to comply with the Supreme Court's decision, Jobe said. Beshear's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on the governor's next move.

Lawrence County, where Jobe is clerk, likewise has gotten out of the marriage- license business, at least for now.

"We're exploring our options," Jobe said, citing the suddenness of the change. "We're still trying to sort it out."

Clerks in Kentucky's major cities, including Lexington and Louisville, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples within hours of the court decision Friday.

Boone County Clerk Kenny Brown, who had publicly supported the state's same-sex marriage ban, did not issue any marriage licenses Friday while he "digested" the decision. But Monday, his office was issuing licenses to all applicants, deputy clerk Amanda Oberer said.

Beshear sent a letter to all 120 county clerks Friday that read, in part, "Neither your oath nor the Supreme Court dictates what you must believe. But as elected officials, they do prescribe how we must act."

In Kentucky, marriage licenses must be obtained from and later filed with a county clerk.

Kentucky law includes a number of criminal penalties for people who violate the state's marriage laws, such as knowingly issuing a marriage license to two immediate family members or to a polygamous trio. But it does not appear to include any penalties for clerks who refuse to issue a marriage license.

But refusing to do the job for which you accept taxpayer dollars is criminal misfeasance.

Throw the motherfuckers in prison. Do it now.

Beshear Being Asshole on Gay Marriage, Too.

No, Dr. Jekyll, you do not get to claim credit for a decision you wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars trying to prevent. 

The letter to county clerks is in a PDF and locked against copying,  no doubt because Dr. Jekyll panders so shamelessly to the freakazoids in it. So you'll have to read it here.

Gov. Beshear’s Statement on Supreme Court Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 26, 2015) – “The fractured laws across the country concerning same-sex marriage had created an unsustainable and unbalanced legal environment, wherein citizens were treated differently depending on the state in which they resided.  That situation was unfair, no matter which side of the debate you may support.

Kentuckians, and indeed all Americans, deserved a final determination of what the law in this country would be, and that is the reason we pursued an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Today’s opinion finally provides that clarity.

All Cabinets of the executive branch have been directed to immediately alter any policies necessary to implement the decision from the Supreme Court.  

Effective today, Kentucky will recognize as valid all same-sex marriages performed in other states and in Kentucky. I have instructed the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives to provide revised marriage license forms to our county clerks for immediate use, beginning today.  We will report additional expected policy changes in the coming days.” – Governor Steve Beshear.

Linda Blackford's piece in the Herald includes this:

So far, Beshear's administration has spent $195,400 defending Kentucky's ban in court. He is represented by the Ashland law firm of VanAntwerp Attorneys LP.

Those bills could get higher. With the Supreme Court decision, Kentucky could be ordered, under the rules of civil rights law, to pay the plaintiffs' legal bills.

Last year, Heyburn awarded the plaintiffs' lawyers $70,778 in attorney fees and court costs. On his own initiative, Heyburn gave those lawyers a $10,000 bonus, saying the lawyers "undertook a difficult, unpopular case and achieved remarkable success."

That award is on hold pending the appeals.

As of this afternoon, same-sex couples had gotten marriage licenses in Louisville and Lexington with no trouble.

And yes, Jack Conway is a loser who is going to lose to Matt Bevin in November, but Conway did perform an act of bravery that exceeded even Beshear's embrace of Obamacare kynect when Conway refused to commit the Attorney General's Office to a no-win appeal of the court decision striking down Kentucky's ban on gay marriage.

It's a goddamn shame that that decision - and the video showing him choking up while announcing it - is going to sink him this fall.

Steve Beshear Still Pretending kynect is Not Obamacare

Grrrrr.  Dr. Jekyll thinks his idiot son still has a chance to win the attorney general's race, and that admitting 600,000 Kentuckians have health care thanks to that ni**er in the White House would make Andy's soon-to-be-humiliating loss even worse.

Check out the italicized graf: it's a masterpiece of lying by misdirection. 

Gov. Beshear’s statement on Supreme Court ACA ruling

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 25, 2015) – “Making healthcare coverage accessible and affordable to all citizens is the cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act. To conclude that the law’s intent was only to offer subsidies to those who purchased healthcare coverage through their state’s health benefit exchange when many states declined to establish one would have penalized the very individuals the law was designed to help. I am pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court wisely ruled in favor of those 6.4 million people in the nation who could have lost their access to affordable health insurance.

“The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell has no impact on Kentuckians who qualified for discounts through kynect, as their subsidies were never in question. However, it reaffirms that, from the very start, we did the right thing for the more than 500,000 Kentuckians who have qualified for healthcare coverage through kynect since January 1, 2014.” – Governor Steve Beshear

Nation's Best Governor Does it Again

Yeah, he's an ass on coal and a sucker for godbotherers, but between Obamacare and this, Steve Beshear is earning a statue in the Capitol Rotunda.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

Gov. Steve Beshear is raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for hundreds of the lowest-paid workers in Kentucky's executive branch.

Beshear, who will leave office in December, ceremonially signed an executive order Monday afternoon at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to raise the pay of nearly 800 state workers starting July 1. The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Tipped employees — such as those who work in state park restaurants — will see their wages more than doubled to $4.90 per hour.

The wage increases will cost about $1.6 million, and less than $800,000 of that cost will come from the General Fund, Beshear said. He did not immediately identify the source of the other money.

Hundreds of state government workers care for veterans in nursing homes, maintain parks and help adults with mental disabilities for about $15,000 a year, Beshear said.

"That's a disgrace," Beshear said. "Raising their pay is a moral imperative."

The Democratic governor also challenged employers in the private and public sectors to follow the lead of the state's largest employer, and strongly argued that common arguments against raising the wage don't hold up to scrutiny.

"I call on every business leader and local government to take a hard look at the facts," Beshear said. "Paying our people a living wage isn't a fiscal backbreaker, and the impacts will be extraordinarily beneficial."

He did this because the repugs in the state senate keep rejecting a bill to raise the state minimum wage.  Which brings up the question of how many seconds after Matt Bevin is inaugurated as governor in December will he rescind this order.

Somebody ask Matt Bevin what he thinks about state employees earning a living wage.