Republican Assault on Democracy and March Towards Fascism

[Bact PhD]

Mar 31, 2022 19:14:27 GMT Bact PhD said:

Flori-DUH Legislature making plans to punishing the Mouse (a huge employer in the state) for speaking out against the recently signed bill known as “Don’t Say ‘Gay’ “.

www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/03/30/florida-gop-going-after-disney-dont-say-gay-criticism/7215673001/

Wait, aren’t corporations people, too??

Smells like… Free Speech for me, but not for thee.

Aaannnd they're Off (their rockers)! The legislation to (really, despite any claims otherwise) punish Disney for speaking out is drafted and passed by the Flori-DUH State Senate. Truth be told, it's all performance art for the benefit of the DeSantis 2022 Governor (and 2024 WH) campaigns -- red meat to The Base.

The Florida Senate voted Wednesday to strip the Walt Disney Company of special privileges in regulating and maintaining 38-square miles of Central Florida, home to its six theme parks and resorts.

The 23 to 16 vote on SB 4 came one day after Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wanted the Legislature to repeal the governing structure for Disney's Florida properties.
...

While lawmakers debated the measure, the DeSantis campaign for governor sent out a fundraising pitch declaring Disney had picked a fight with “the wrong guy” and for contributors “to join the fight against the Democratic machine and woke Disney executives.”

Democrats protested the Republicans' rush to punish the state’s largest private employer for political speech degraded the legislative process.

“With all due respect, this is not about meaningful legislative review. This is punishment. It is political theater, and we are better than this,” said Sen. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee.

The measure by Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Green Cove, includes a carrot and stick approach in that it does not go into effect until June 2023, time enough for Disney, in the words of the House sponsor, Rep Randy Fine, R-Brevard, to reconsider its criticism of Florida law.

“This is kind of like parents putting their kids on restrictions. Clean up your act, apologize, say you're sorry, and agree to change your behavior. Maybe you'll get your phone back or your other privileges," observed Ausley.

At issue is the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special district created in 1967 that provides Disney with unprecedented taxing and regulatory authority to build an entertainment empire that has grown into the world’s No. 1 tourism attraction.

The House and Senate sponsors of the repeal argue Disney is out of compliance with a 1997 law that required districts to seek recodification. Disney would have a year to get its paperwork in order and ask the Legislature to reauthorize Reedy Creek.

And that 1997 law didn't matter diddly squat until the Supreme Emperor got criticized. At least two teams of lawyers will get a nice payday out of it. But wait, what about all that demonization of lawyers, and lawsuits, and all that by "conservative" politicians??

[LFC]

Apr 20, 2022 21:03:55 GMT Bact PhD said:

Aaannnd they're Off (their rockers)! The legislation to (really, despite any claims otherwise) punish Disney for speaking out is drafted and passed by the Flori-DUH State Senate. Truth be told, it's all performance art for the benefit of the DeSantis 2022 Governor (and 2024 WH) campaigns -- red meat to The Base.

Vindictive, stupid, AND expensive? Man, it's a Republican bill trifecta! They're yanking away Disney's advantages in exchange for cancelling sweet tax revenues and taking on responsibility for the area. But it makes their Tucker-tanned nether regions tingle so who cares?

Reedy Creek is presently is its own district entity within Florida where Walt Disney World exists. It handles its own infrastructures, including but not limited to fire and sheriff contracts, waste disposal systems, and city works that approve its permits as well as road construction. And yes, it’s been how Disney has bypassed the state for approvals on expansions and hotel builds for Walt Disney World for the past several decades.

[snip]

Thanks to Reedy Creek, Disney has been able to operate as an independent entity—and it has also been paying exorbitant property taxes in Orange and Osceola, the counties that its land touches. Bloomberg reported that if Reedy Creek is dissolved, it will come at a huge cost to Florida taxpayers: one billion dollars of debt for 27 square miles of land that they don’t really need to have a responsibility for. In other words, it feels like Florida is going to shoot now and realize it—and its residents—are bleeding out later.

And seriously, if Disney wants to create a new project that increases tourism dollars will a future administration remotely slow them down?

[LFC]

Brand your opposition as evil? Check. Republican fascism goose steps on.

Michigan state senator and U.S. House candidate Tom Barrett (R) is taking the GOP’s war on transgender youth to an even greater extreme.

The Michigan Advance obtained fundraising texts sent by Barrett’s campaign informing the recipient that “your” child had been booked to get gender reassignment surgery.

“CONFIRMED: [Name of recipient], your child’s gender reassignment surgery has been booked,” a screenshot of one of the texts says. “If you have any issues with this operation, please view the objectives of Biden’s National Transgender Strategy here: [fundraiser link]”

The link leads to a fundraiser page that opens with “STOP BIDEN FROM DOING THIS TO OUR KIDS!” and goes on to claim that President Joe Biden is “forcing 5-year-olds to learn about gender reassignment surgeries, gender identities, and other radical ideas.”

That is, of course, absolutely not happening, and Barrett offers no evidence that it is. If you squint hard enough, it appears he is referencing at least the baseless theory behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms third grade and under.

Another similar message Barrett’s campaign obtained by the Michigan Advance opens with “APPOINTMENT STATUS: CONFIRMED” in red letters, with details of the fake appointment underneath listing “your child” as the patient receiving “Gender Reassignment Surgery” and the date as “Tomorrow at 9 AM.”

Then, of course, comes the fundraising pitch:

[LFC]

Josh Marshall discusses just how bad the pedophile screeching has gotten and how it is now mainstream in the Republican Party. It's nuts but that's now unapologetically their brand. He also points how the MSM, as always, is completely missing this no matter how common it has become.

One of the abiding features of early 21st century American politics is that a lot of change on the right happens in the subterranean world of what we used to call “the Crazy.” In the pre-Trump years it’s not that any of this was really hidden. It wasn’t subterranean in that sense. But it was off the radar of most of conventional journalism and the mainstream political discourse because it wasn’t serious. It wasn’t real. It was just crazy antics on the margins. But as we’ve tried to chronicle for decades now, that was never the case. That was the real GOP politics. It controlled and drove the presentable mainstream leaders — the Boehners, Ryans, McConnells and more. The ascension of Donald Trump was in many ways a simple inversion of this dynamic, putting “the Crazy” in formal and open leadership of the party.

Something has happened as recently as the last four to six weeks that follows this pattern, is important and dangerous and is still mostly coasting under the radar of “proper” U.S. political discourse and reporting.

This isn’t just from the far right. It’s become normalized within the mainstream GOP. That’s what that whole “soft on child porn” thing was about during the confirmation hearings for Justice-to-be Ketanji Brown Jackson. That’s what’s driving state legislatures and members of Congress all of a sudden to start accusing virtually everyone of “grooming” through every channel of communication. It is a very rapid turn of events by which the most outlandish and genocide-friendly features of the Pizzagate and QAnon movements suddenly became totally ubiquitous and mainstream among Republican officeholders from Capitol Hill all the way down to the local level. It turns out the Democratic Party really is run by a conspiracy of pedophiles and child sex traffickers. And now you don’t have to go to 4Chan or 8chan to hear that. You can just open the emails from your Republican senator or Member of the House of Representatives.

This is the big, big thing going on right now in GOP politics even if much of conventional media remains blind to it.

[pnwguy]

"Those Disney princesses are all groomers. Don't trust your children to amateurs. Elect Republicans to get Experienced Pediphiles to lead your children into deviance."

[LFC]

Apr 23, 2022 18:05:03 GMT pnwguy said:

"Those Disney princesses are all groomers. Don't trust your children to amateurs. Elect Republicans to get Experienced Pediphiles to lead your children into deviance."

PROOF!!!

[goldenvalley]

Those kids will become "furries" and demand cat litter boxes in school!

[LFC]

Martial law? MTG went there with Mark Meadows and we now have the texts.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed under oath on Friday that she couldn’t remember whether she’d privately suggested that then-President Donald Trump invoke martial law to cling to power after the 2020 election.

But newly released texts between Greene and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows might jog her memory.

CNN published on Monday a tranche of texts sent between Meadows and others that, CNN said, had been turned over the House Jan. 6 Committee. The log revealed frantic and desperate conversations between the White House official and various Trump stooges, including Greene, between the November election and Jan. 21 last year.

The records showed that Greene texted Meadows on Jan. 17, 11 days after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, to raise the question of whether Trump might invoke martial law.

“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall [sic] law. I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him,” Greene wrote. “They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”

It was unclear whether Meadows responded to her message.

If Meadows didn't respond with a firm "That's insane, of course he won't declare Marshall [sic] law!" then he's complicit. Of course we already knew that.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 25, 2022 20:59:57 GMT LFC said:

Martial law? MTG went there with Mark Meadows and we now have the texts.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed under oath on Friday that she couldn’t remember whether she’d privately suggested that then-President Donald Trump invoke martial law to cling to power after the 2020 election.

But newly released texts between Greene and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows might jog her memory.

CNN published on Monday a tranche of texts sent between Meadows and others that, CNN said, had been turned over the House Jan. 6 Committee. The log revealed frantic and desperate conversations between the White House official and various Trump stooges, including Greene, between the November election and Jan. 21 last year.

The records showed that Greene texted Meadows on Jan. 17, 11 days after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, to raise the question of whether Trump might invoke martial law.

“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall [sic] law. I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him,” Greene wrote. “They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”

It was unclear whether Meadows responded to her message.

If Meadows didn't respond with a firm "That's insane, of course he won't declare Marshall [sic] law!" then he's complicit. Of course we already knew that.

Here is where MTG's poor spelling gives Meadows an out.  He can say "I don't know who Marshall is. And she didn't type "martial law" so I didn't know what she was talking about and therefore ignored her.

[AnBr]

Apr 25, 2022 16:44:46 GMT goldenvalley said:

Those kids will become "furries" and demand cat litter boxes in school!

At least that will solve the "which bathroom?" question.

[LFC]

What's good for the goose...

The guy’s got a point.

In what is seemingly a move to troll Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration’s latest effort to censor school children from non-existent “prohibited” material for no discernible reason, a Florida man and atheist activist recently asked some of the state’s largest school districts to ban the Bible from public schools, citing age inappropriate content.

The activist is Chaz Stevens; an atheist, self-proclaimed “stunt activist” and a seemingly tongue-in-cheek ordained minister in the states of California, Florida and “Jezero County, Mars.” In the past week, Stevens has reportedly sent letters requesting a Bible-ban to school officials in at least eight Florida school districts, including the large Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) and Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) systems, as the Miami New Times was first to report. Stevens argued in the letters that the Christian Bible includes topics that violate “age appropriateness” laws recently passed and signed by DeSantis, whose top state education officials have made quick work of acting upon, banning almost 200 different textbooks from Florida’s public K-12 curriculum.

While atheist activists like Stevens have a history of pulling similar anti-religion stunts, the complaint he filed with several Florida public schools points to this broader disillusionment and seemingly aims to poke more holes in the non-serious nature of the Republican Party’s war on America’s public education system. In his letters, Stevens not only noted that there’s content in the Christian bible that is inappropriate for some school-aged children — like mentions of “drunken orgies,” as he put it — but also points out there are sections of Christian scripture that dig into topics like “bestiality and rape.”

Additionally, he sarcastically suggested that discussions of slavery in the Bible will expose children to aspects of “civilization’s sordid past” that right-wing politicians pushing Critical Race Theory bans claim they’re trying to prevent.

[LFC]

Moscow Mitch was still under the delusion that he had some sort of ability to draw a line at total madness that his party wouldn't cross. He didn't realize after the Jan 6 Republican Insurrection that he did more than most to build this.

Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly felt vindicated the morning after the deadly Capitol insurrection last year, telling a New York Times reporter that he was “exhilarated” about the potential damage to then-President Trump after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol and endangered lawmakers’ lives.

In excerpts of a new book by New York Times reporters titled “This Will Not Pass” that were obtained by the Washington Post, McConnell reportedly shared his thoughts about the then-President to Jonathan Martin, one of the authors of the book, the morning after the insurrection.

Asked about his feelings about the violence that ensued as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, McConnell told Martin that he felt “exhilarated by the fact” that Trump “finally, totally discredited himself,” according to the Post.

McConnell reportedly reiterated that he thought Trump “was pretty thoroughly discredited by this.”

“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,” McConnell said, standing in a doorway of the Capitol after midnight, according to the Post. “Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

The book also reportedly details McConnell’s rebuke of Trump in private remarks to his staff. McConnell told his staff that Trump is a “despicable person” and that he was determined to take the then-President and his allies down in the 2022 midterm elections.

“We crushed the sons of bitches, and that’s what we’re going to do in the primary in ’22” McConnell told Martin, according to the Post.

And now he's licking Trump's taint, saying he'll support him if he's the nominee. 

[LFC]

This is the kind of loser who will find a home in the fascist GOP, and he's tight with DeSatanist of course. He's clearly a big old bundle of only slightly repressed anger, still seething over whatever wrongs he felt were done to him as a kid. Reading this and looking at his picture I see somebody who has more than a whiff of incel about him. I bet he goes to church regularly.

Florida State Rep. Randy Fine says he championed the bill to strip Disney of its special self-governance status because the entertainment company spoke out against the “Don’t Say Gay” law and brought “California values” to his state.

Fine demonstrated his own values earlier this month in a series of texts where he repeatedly described a school board member as a “whore.”

And, in those same texts, Fine sank further, from a sexist lout to someone who is lower than low—even by the standard of Florida politics.

At the same time Disney was preparing to host the 2022 Special Olympics at its longtime Florida home, Fine threatened to cut state funding for the charity organization.

He did so because a female school board member was invited to a local Special Olympics fundraiser last week, and he was not.

In keeping with Randy’s values, he lied about it.

The texts, first reported by Florida Today, show Fine was miffed because the West Melbourne Police Department had failed to invite him to its fundraiser, but issued a blanket invitation to the Brevard County School Board. That included Jennifer Jenkins, to whom Fine takes extreme personal as well as political exception.

Fine became incensed when a West Melbourne City Council member said the failure to invite him was just an oversight and he would be more than welcome to last Friday’s fundraiser at a Chick-fil-A.

“I’m not going to jack shit where that whore is at,” Fine texted the councilman.

Fine informed the councilman that funding for the city project would also be excised from the state budget.

“Jenkins just put your project and Special Olympics funding on the veto list,” Fine wrote.

In keeping with his values, Fine denied threatening to use his closeness to Gov. Ron DeSantis to have the Special Olympics funding cut. He was proven a liar when Florida Today obtained copies of the texts earlier this month.

Fine also insisted he had not tried to have the city attorney fired for failing to keep the texts from public view. The texts proved that, too, was a lie.

All that from someone who is on the board of the Central Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America and served as an adult leader at the 2021 National Boy Scout Jamboree. Scout Law lists 12 attributes that define a Boy Scout, beginning with TRUSTWORTHY: “Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you” and also including COURTEOUS: “Be polite to everyone and always use good manners.”

[pnwguy]

Apr 26, 2022 15:39:29 GMT LFC said:

This is the kind of loser who will find a home in the fascist GOP, and he's tight with DeSatanist of course. He's clearly a big old bundle of only slightly repressed anger, still seething over whatever wrongs he felt were done to him as a kid. Reading this and looking at his picture I see somebody who has more than a whiff of incel about him. I bet he goes to church regularly.

Florida State Rep. Randy Fine says he championed the bill to strip Disney of its special self-governance status because the entertainment company spoke out against the “Don’t Say Gay” law and brought “California values” to his state.

Fine demonstrated his own values earlier this month in a series of texts where he repeatedly described a school board member as a “whore.”

And, in those same texts, Fine sank further, from a sexist lout to someone who is lower than low—even by the standard of Florida politics.

At the same time Disney was preparing to host the 2022 Special Olympics at its longtime Florida home, Fine threatened to cut state funding for the charity organization.

He did so because a female school board member was invited to a local Special Olympics fundraiser last week, and he was not.

In keeping with Randy’s values, he lied about it.

The texts, first reported by Florida Today, show Fine was miffed because the West Melbourne Police Department had failed to invite him to its fundraiser, but issued a blanket invitation to the Brevard County School Board. That included Jennifer Jenkins, to whom Fine takes extreme personal as well as political exception.

Fine became incensed when a West Melbourne City Council member said the failure to invite him was just an oversight and he would be more than welcome to last Friday’s fundraiser at a Chick-fil-A.

“I’m not going to jack shit where that whore is at,” Fine texted the councilman.

Fine informed the councilman that funding for the city project would also be excised from the state budget.

“Jenkins just put your project and Special Olympics funding on the veto list,” Fine wrote.

In keeping with his values, Fine denied threatening to use his closeness to Gov. Ron DeSantis to have the Special Olympics funding cut. He was proven a liar when Florida Today obtained copies of the texts earlier this month.

Fine also insisted he had not tried to have the city attorney fired for failing to keep the texts from public view. The texts proved that, too, was a lie.

All that from someone who is on the board of the Central Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America and served as an adult leader at the 2021 National Boy Scout Jamboree. Scout Law lists 12 attributes that define a Boy Scout, beginning with TRUSTWORTHY: “Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you” and also including COURTEOUS: “Be polite to everyone and always use good manners.”

Find a home?  He's top shelf leadership material.  DeSatanist probably sees him as a replacement for governor if Dumpster bows out and Ron moves into the White House after the coup.

[LFC]

This isn't some random MAGAt, this is the head of a state Republican Party openly calling for Anthony Fauci's execution. Remember when this kind of thing was out of bounds? Now it's mainstream GOP.

Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman John Bennett called for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be put "in front of a firing squad."

Bennett, who is running for U.S. Congress, made the remarks at a recent campaign event. Video of the incident was shared by Right Wing Watch.

"We're fighting communist Democrats, establishment RINOs!" Bennett told the crowd. "We're fighting against a system that stole the election in 2020 and nobody had been held accountable. We're in a war with bureaucrats who have forced vaccine mandates on us, mask mandates on us."

"And you know what?" he continued. "They're pushing this wokeness confusion down our throats now. And by the way, we should try Anthony Fauci and put him in front of a firing squad."

Bennett's remarks were met with cheers.

And then this bit of cutesiness.

"And for the Secret Service, if they're listening, I'm not advocating we kill Anthony Fauci until he's convicted of his crimes through a court," the candidate insisted with a smile.

I can just imagine the kind of courts Republicans want.

[LFC]

More fascism as Sen. John Kennedy (R-LAlaland) openly calls for more of a police state in a bit of performance art with Merrick Garland. He's demanding more use of the warrantless "stop and frisk" that a) didn't work elsewhere, b) in NYC grabbed and overwhelmingly high number of completely innocent Americans for no reason and c) was horribly abused for racial profiling. The GOPstapo goose steps on.

"Let me start with crime," Kennedy began. "What percentage of cops in America do you think are bad cops?"

"A very small percentage," Garland replied with Kennedy firing back, "How small?" and then adding, "Is it less than 10%?"

"Yes, let me be clear. We believe that most police officers follow the Constitution," Garland replied. "Most police departments do. All police officers, I believe, want to work in police departments that follow constitutional policing requirements."

That eventually led to a back-and-forth on stop and frisk, with Kennedy asking, "Why doesn't the Justice Department support stop question, and frisk?"

With Garland clarifying Kennedy must mean "stop and frisk," he added, "I don't know that the Justice Department has a position. This is a state and local role normally"

"Why doesn't the Justice Department aggressively encourage law enforcement officials to use that technique? It's been declared constitutional as you know?" Kennedy soldiered on, with Garland once again pointing out that it is up to local law enforcement officials.

[pnwguy]

Apr 26, 2022 19:28:10 GMT LFC said:

I can just imagine the kind of courts Republicans want.

No need to imagine.

[LFC]

David Purdue is running on The Big Lie to be governor of Georgia. He just called out Brian Kemp for not stealing the Senate seat he wanted.

Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue is going all-in with Donald Trump as he tries to to unseat Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in a May 24 GOP primary, WCPO reports.

Kemp is pushing Trump's debunked conspiracy theories about a "rigged" 2020 election, and has embraced the group VoterGA, which has been questioning Georgia's election systems for years. Perdue also reportedly supports a vote on a white-majority neighborhood seceding from Atlanta, according to WCPO.

In a debate between the two candidates this Sunday, Perdue said: “The only reason I’m not in the United States Senate is because you caved in and gave the elections to Stacey (Abrams) and the liberal Democrats in 2020."

[LFC]

WOW! Just ... WOW! U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin gave a talk that summarized the Republican coup plot. We were insanely close to the collapse of American democracy in 2020. As much as I hate to give him any credit if Pence had played along it was pretty likely they would have succeeded.

US Rep. Jamie Raskin, who led the second trial of Donald Trump, gave a talk last week at Georgetown University. The host was Jim Wallis of Sojourners. The occasion was the Maryland congressman’s book, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy.

The event made news late last week. Raskin, who sits on the House committee investigating the J6 insurrection, revealed details not yet known. For instance, that Vice President Mike Pence told Secret Service agents, as they fled insurgents storming the US Capitol: “I'm not getting in that car until we count the Electoral College votes.”

I watched the whole talk. What emerged is much more important than a few scattershot details. Raskin tells the story of the insurrection. He created a picture of that day using what he called “circles of sedition.”

The outermost ring was protesters.

The next ring was violent insurgents.

The inner ring – “the scariest ring” – was Mike Pence.

The plan was for Pence to reject the electoral count, sending the election to the House, where the GOP had a majority of state delegates needed to win a “contingent election,” per the 12th Amendment.

Then plan, moreover, called for domestic terrorists like the Proud Boys to clash with “Antifa,” thus giving the impression of left and right going to war over the election, thus justifying Trump in declaring martial law.

Two problems, though.

Pence didn’t play along.

Antifa didn’t show up.

This fairly short article explains several things very clearly. The first is the role violence actually had in the coup attempt. The Proud Boys were supposed to clash with Antifa, who didn't show up, to create the crisis that would be used to justify martial law and the delay of counting the Electoral votes. Then if the states Biden won that have GOP state legislatures jumped on the bandwagon the election would have been kicked to the House and each STATE would have gotten one vote, handing the election to Trump.

[goldenvalley]

With the last 4 or 5 posts I keep expecting to hear the Twilight Zone theme song playing...and Rod Serling to speak to reassure us that this is just tv, not real life.

[LFC]

Apr 26, 2022 19:48:40 GMT goldenvalley said:

With the last 4 or 5 posts I keep expecting to hear the Twilight Zone theme song playing...and Rod Serling to speak to reassure us that this is just tv, not real life.

It is virtually, and possibly literally, every prediction made if Trump were to get into office. It's the end of American democracy and the rise of American fascism.

[LFC]

DeSatanist's political attack on Disney isn't an isolated incident. Republicans have also been attacking companies who announce they have green policies and want to use less fossil fuel. I guess corporations, previously the GOP's bread and butter constituency, have gotten too independent and the Republicans will use their governmental power to put them back in line. I'd quote "corporations are people too" here except that Republicans want to silence all people who do not echo their fascist propaganda.

There’s no better example than West Virginia, where Treasurer Riley Moore has used his office to punish companies for the sin of trying to decarbonize their investments. Moore, the grandson of the state’s late Gov. Arch Moore and nephew of Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, has boldly planted the flag against environmentalism.

“Earth Day should celebrate coal, oil, and natural gas instead of condemning the natural resources God has blessed us with,” Moore tweeted last week.

It’s no surprise, then, that Riley has led the charge against anti-polluters. Here’s more from the Examiner:

“Last year, in response to pressure from the Biden administration for big banks to cut down on their emissions, more than a dozen state treasurers, led by Moore, wrote to presidential climate envoy John Kerry suggesting that they would pull state assets from firms that are trying to decarbonize their investments.

In the letter, the treasurers urged banks and financial institutions “not to give in to pressure from the Biden Administration to refuse to lend to or invest in coal, oil, and natural gas companies.”

The trend is not limited to West Virginia. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law last year banning state investments in businesses that cut ties with the oil and gas industry.” As industry magazine WorldOil.com reported, “Boycott Texas oil, and Texas will boycott you.”

But like West Virginia, Texas has gone beyond defending its industries to launch a broadside attack on companies advocating for green policies. Indeed, both states have made targeted investment giant BlackRock for advancing the use of Environmental Social and Governance criteria (ESG).

“BlackRock, a massive $10 trillion investment firm, has led the corporate world in the prioritization of ESG,” the Examiner reported. Part of the push has been the encouragement of ‘net zero’ investment strategies, which Moore contends would hurt the fossil fuel industry and, ultimately, residents of the Mountain State who make a living in that industry.

“Moore took action against BlackRock this year, (announcing) that the state would end the use of one of the firm’s investment funds. He said the inflows and outflows of that fund were about $1.5 billion.”

Moore termed it a “conflict of interest for West Virginia to do business with BlackRock -- particularly as it relates to their stance on the fossil fuel industry” -- since West Virginia ranks fifth nationally in energy production.

As NPR reported last month, “the goal of pushing companies to a more fossil fuel friendly position – at least publicly – appears to be working."

[goldenvalley]

Apr 26, 2022 20:01:41 GMT LFC said:

DeSatanist's political attack on Disney isn't an isolated incident. Republicans have also been attacking companies who announce they have green policies and want to use less fossil fuel. I guess corporations, previously the GOP's bread and butter constituency, have gotten too independent and the Republicans will use their governmental power to put them back in line. I'd quote "corporations are people too" here except that Republicans want to silence all people who do not echo their fascist propaganda.

There’s no better example than West Virginia, where Treasurer Riley Moore has used his office to punish companies for the sin of trying to decarbonize their investments. Moore, the grandson of the state’s late Gov. Arch Moore and nephew of Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, has boldly planted the flag against environmentalism.

“Earth Day should celebrate coal, oil, and natural gas instead of condemning the natural resources God has blessed us with,” Moore tweeted last week.

It’s no surprise, then, that Riley has led the charge against anti-polluters. Here’s more from the Examiner:

“Last year, in response to pressure from the Biden administration for big banks to cut down on their emissions, more than a dozen state treasurers, led by Moore, wrote to presidential climate envoy John Kerry suggesting that they would pull state assets from firms that are trying to decarbonize their investments.

In the letter, the treasurers urged banks and financial institutions “not to give in to pressure from the Biden Administration to refuse to lend to or invest in coal, oil, and natural gas companies.”

The trend is not limited to West Virginia. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law last year banning state investments in businesses that cut ties with the oil and gas industry.” As industry magazine WorldOil.com reported, “Boycott Texas oil, and Texas will boycott you.”

But like West Virginia, Texas has gone beyond defending its industries to launch a broadside attack on companies advocating for green policies. Indeed, both states have made targeted investment giant BlackRock for advancing the use of Environmental Social and Governance criteria (ESG).

“BlackRock, a massive $10 trillion investment firm, has led the corporate world in the prioritization of ESG,” the Examiner reported. Part of the push has been the encouragement of ‘net zero’ investment strategies, which Moore contends would hurt the fossil fuel industry and, ultimately, residents of the Mountain State who make a living in that industry.

“Moore took action against BlackRock this year, (announcing) that the state would end the use of one of the firm’s investment funds. He said the inflows and outflows of that fund were about $1.5 billion.”

Moore termed it a “conflict of interest for West Virginia to do business with BlackRock -- particularly as it relates to their stance on the fossil fuel industry” -- since West Virginia ranks fifth nationally in energy production.

As NPR reported last month, “the goal of pushing companies to a more fossil fuel friendly position – at least publicly – appears to be working."

Third world country..."we will shut you down if your corporate boards or execs say something we don't like".  Whatever happened to corporations are people too my friends?

[LFC]

Apr 26, 2022 20:03:34 GMT goldenvalley said:

 Whatever happened to corporations are people too my friends?

What do you mean? This is exactly how they treat people.

[LFC]

We now have recordings for that short period after the January 6 Republican Insurrection when Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans were actually worried about inciting violence. That didn't even last a month.

Days after the deadly Capitol insurrection, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wanted to rein in several far-right lawmakers who pushed then-President Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election results, out of concern that they would incite violence against other lawmakers, audio recordings of a Jan. 10 call with GOP leaders obtained by the New York Times detail.

In the audio recordings obtained by the Times, which are included in the forthcoming book titled “This Will Not Pass,” McCarthy is heard specifically calling out Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Mo Brooks (R-AL). McCarthy viewed the actions of both of the GOP congressmen, who are prominent boosters of the Big Lie, as a threat to the security of other lawmakers and the Capitol complex.

Additionally, McCarthy and other GOP leaders are heard in the call discussing several other far-right lawmakers who issued incendiary comments supporting Trump’s election steal scheme, such as Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Barry Moore (R-AL).

On the call, McCarthy asserted that “tension is too high” and the “country is too crazy” for members to continue to push inflammatory rhetoric about the 2020 election.

“He’s putting people in jeopardy,” McCarthy said, referring to Gaetz. “And he doesn’t need to be doing this. We saw what people would do in the Capitol, you know, and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) is also heard in audio recordings agreeing with McCarthy’s concerns with Gaetz.

“It’s potentially illegal what he’s doing,” Scalise said.

When it came to Brooks, McCarthy specifically took issue with the GOP congressman’s remarks at the “Stop the Steal” rally that occurred hours before the insurrection. Brooks told the crowd that it was “the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” In McCarthy’s view, Brooks’ words were a greater offense compared to that of Trump, who urged his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn the election results.

“You think the President deserves to be impeached for his comments?” McCarthy asked rhetorically. “That’s almost something that goes further than what the President said.”

At one point, McCarthy signaled that he planned to advise the far-right lawmakers to halt their troubling actions.

“Our members have got to start paying attention to what they say, too, and you can’t put up with that,” McCarthy said.