Oh, Happy Day! Hope For and In America

   

We Missourians got a pretty huge, very unexpected "two-fer Tuesday" yesterday.

A racist got fired from her own TV show and an extramarital sex blackmailing Missouri Governor had to resign from his job, all on the same day.

All in all, a great, if unexpected day.  Enough to give a person hope for us.

Next up? The Orange Man? And his entire administration?

Hey. We can hope.

Have a great day, y'all.

Think happy thoughts.

Very happy thoughts.

Link:

Roseanne Barr tweet backfires, Eric Greitens resigns

Three Perfect, Very Recent Examples of Republican Party Officeholders

Here's just three very recent examples of Republican Party government officeholders--what they've done and who they are.

Sam Brownback, Kansas Governor

Kansas' tax cuts are a spectacular failure

Epic fail of Kansas' tax-cut plan 

offers a lesson for us all

Kansas's ravaged economy a cautionary tale 

Children paid for the failed Kansas tax cuts

S&P drops Kansas credit rating, 

citing lack of cash reserves

S&P revises Kansas rating outlook 

to negative on budget pressures

Under Brownback, Kansas' credit 

faces another downgrade

Plan to fix Kansas budget through school cuts 

implodes in state

Gov. Sam Brownback is cutting aid 

to Kansas schools by $44.5 million

Kansas, facing a huge budget deficit, 

wonders what to do next

Budget Cuts Are Putting More Kids 

in Foster Care - Talk Poverty

Donald J Trump, United States President:

Under Trump's watch, national debt 

tops $21 trillion for first time ever 

Sound familiar?  Then it gets worse.

Meet Stormy Daniels, porn star who allegedly 

had an affair with Trump 

Here Are 13 Examples Of Donald Trump 

Being Racist

George Will: Trump has a 'dangerous disability'

Trump's 'get ready' threat to Moscow 

isn't just careless, it's dangerous

'The Most Dangerous Man in the World': 

Trump Is Violent, Immature

Woman testifies that Missouri governor hit her, sexually assaulted her

Eric Greitens, Missouri Governor who only just began his administration and term, it should be remembered.

Eric Greitens: Missouri governor admits 

cheating on wife

Missouri governor admits cheating - 

but denies blackmailing mistress 

Ex-lover accuses Missouri governor 

of forced sexual encounter

I ask you, Missourians, Kansans, Americans...

Is this what and who you wanted in your state and/or national leader?

Is Eric Greitens Just the 51st Shade of Gray?

Okay, back on the Eric Greitens allegations---if not scandal. This, from the New York Times:

Mr. Greitens, a married father of two, acknowledged last month that he had an extramarital affair with a woman in 2015, before he was elected governor. The woman’s husband, who eventually divorced her, made secret recordings that were published last month by local news outlets.

In those recordings, the woman said she had gone to Mr. Greitens’s house and engaged in a consensual sexual encounter. But while she was blindfolded and bound with tape to an exercise machine, she said, Mr. Greitens took a nude photograph of her without permission and threatened to publicize the image if she spoke about their affair.

There's more but let's leave it there.

I haven't seen "50 Shades of Gray" or read the book but...

Doesn't this read like that plotline? Isn't that so?

Did Mr. Greitens, the Guv, just not have enough money to get away with it?

Also reads like a daytime soap opera, gone wildly out of hand. These are "The Days of Our Lives..."

Link:

A Governor Is Charged With ‘Invasion of Privacy’

So You Want To Run For Governor of Missouri...

Think about this.

It's 2016.

You're young. 

You were a Navy Seal.

You're done some fundraising for the Seals---you say--and it was supposed to be successful.

You're a reasonably well-spoken guy. Not bad looking (sadly, that matters in America).

You're Right Wing and a gun lover and the nation is awash in all that at present so you figure "What the heck. I'm going to run for governor in my state of Missouri."

But...

In 2015, just one year earlier, you had a sexual affair outside your marriage.

You're married and the father of two children.

The woman with whom you had the affair is married. Her husband--later ex-husband--is aware of the affair.

That's all.

That's it.

That's enough.

Tell us. Please.

Tell us how you didn't think this would get out.

Please.

We're waiting.

How About Those Republican Leaders, eh?

Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri Indicted 

on Invasion of Privacy Charge

Republicans? Really??

Think about this.

Locally, on the state level, and on the national level, what do Republican government representatives get us?

Let me give you some very recent examples. We have to look no farther than neighbor Kansas for some real beauties, to start.

In 2012, very Right Wing, "conservative" and Republican Governor Sam Brownback and his Republican Party statehouse members slashed taxes for the state for the already-wealthy and corporations. The results are now famous and disastrous.

The GOP Tried Trump-Style Tax Cuts 

in Kansas. What a Mess

Kansas' tax cuts are a spectacular failure

Kansas's ravaged economy a cautionary tale

Kansas taxpayer debt far outpaces 

surrounding states

Kansas Confronts Yet Another Budget Crisis

Kansas faces $74.5 million budget shortfall 

amid school funding fight

Plan to fix Kansas budget through school cuts 

implodes in state

Study: Kansas cuts K-12 education funding 

by fourth-most in nation

S&P drops Kansas credit rating, 

citing lack of cash reserves

S&P revises Kansas rating outlook 

to negative on budget pressures

I could post yet more but it would be overkill.

Then there's what the current Republican President and his Republican Party allies recently, infamously did in Congress with their very similar tax cuts for the, again, already-wealthy and corporations.

GOP tax bill slashes rates for corporations 

and wealthy

Tax bill: Ample tax cuts for business, 

wealthy in new GOP tax plan

Senate tax bill would cut taxes of wealthy and increase taxes on

 families earning less than $75,000 by 2027

And here is what this tax plan will do.

Why the GOP Tax Bill Will

 Make Wealth Inequality Worse

Why stop there? Why not also effect people's health insurance and health care?

CBO: Obamacare repeal bill would 

boost uninsured by 32 million

And this. Keep in mind, this is from the people who are supposed to be crazy about our national debt.

Under Dynamic Scoring, House Tax Bill 

Still Explodes the Debt

Senate Tax Bill Will Add $1.4467 Trillion 

to Deficit, CBO Says

The Republican Tax Plan Would Add 

$1.7 Trillion to Federal Deficits

1.4467 trillion, 1.7 trillion.  Let's not quibble.

So that's what they do to us, we citizens, by state and nationally. Now, this is who they are personally.

Trump Gets Caught Saying "Grab Her by the Pussy"

WSJ: Trump lawyer arranged 

porn star payment for her silence

Those are just two of the many I could post. That's enough. It shows who and what he is.

Then there are these guys, these also Republicans.

Remember Mr. "Wide Stance", back in 2007? Senator Larry Craig?

Sen. Craig arrested in "lewd conduct incident" 

at airport restroom

More recently, there's this guy--

Video shows Oklahoma senator caught 

with teen boy in hotel

That wasn't bad enough, the guy not only did this but was into sex trafficking, to boot.

Oklahoma Republican pleads guilty 

to child sex trafficking

Oklahoma Lawmaker Arrested 

on Child Prostitution Charges

Then there's this one, from Ohio.

Anti-LGBT politician resigns 

after being 'caught having sex with man

Now, lately, recently, here on the Missouri, state level, we just had this little revelation from our new gonzo Governor Greitens.

Blackmail alleged as Governor Greitens 

admits to extramarital affair

I love this headline, true as it is.

'Family Values' GOP Missouri Governor 

Cheated On Wife

Not only did he have an affair, which he admitted to, he's accused of trying to blackmail her--with pictures, I understand--to keep her quiet.

Wow.

That is one heckuva list, folks.  And that's only a portion of what they do and who they show they are and repeatedly.

So between what they do to us all and who they seem to repeatedly show themselves to be, I have to ask America....

Why do we elect these people?

Republican State Senator From My Hometown Making Us Proud

Yes sir, St. Joseph's own Republican Representative Rob Schaaf, no less, is asking questions and trying to hold our very Republican Governor, Eric Greitens, to task for what he said and claimed and challenged during the now-Governor's campaign for that job.

Bait-and-switch 

Some of the article:

When Eric Greitens was seeking the Republican nomination for governor last year, he claimed to support transparency in the funding of political campaigns. He said in one interview, “What I’ve found is that the most important thing is that there’s transparency around the money,” continuing, “I’ve been very proud to tell people, ‘I’m stepping forward, and you can see every single one of our donors, because we are proud of our donors and we are proud of the campaign that we are running.’ ”

Since that time, Greitens has turned his back on transparency, accepting millions of dollars from undisclosed donors and now disavowing donor disclosure altogether. With this reversal, he has betrayed the Republican Party and the people of Missouri. His new stance threatens the integrity of our republic.

It's a great article, I think, and even important. Any and every voting age Missourian would do well to  read it so they know what's going on in our state and what should likely change.

Eric Greitens and a No-Bid Contract?

Our own Star newspaper printed and published what I think is an important story this week on our new, pretty boy, Republican Governor Eric Greitens that every Missourian should read and be aware of.

Editorial: Gov. Eric Greitens is behaving just like those ‘corrupt career politicians’

Remember his political campaign to become governor when he railed against those--his words--"corrupt career politicians"?

It didn't take him long to throw all that in a waste bin. 

For starters, he wants our state to issue a no-bid contract. 

How that is remotely in the people's best interests, I can't imagine. What happened to those "free markets" and Capitalism those Right Wingers and Republicans love so much and that they say bring us all lower costs?

Second, not to be done there, he wants to issue this no-bid contract to a business that gave him a "...$25,000 campaign donation in December..."

So two things become very clear from this.

First, it only costs any wealthy person or corporation a paltry $25000 to buy this Governor Greitens of ours.

Second, it only took 7 months for this same guy--again, this Republican--to go from supposedly fighting for the people down here to taking in money and working and fighting for, again, the already-wealthy and corporations.

He;s got a low price and a quick turn around, both, this Eric Greitens.

I wonder what he'll sell us out on next.

Can you imagine how much screaming we'd be hearing at this time from Republicans in this state if a Democratic governor pulled such a stunt, pretty boy or no?

Finally, importantly, on any every government level, from the city to county to state, all the way to the Federal level, why are no-bid contracts even allowed?   Why are they legal?

Links:

Greitens complains of lack of coverage, but won't talk with reporters

Robberson: Governor Doublespeak does Orwell proud

Stupid State Republicans

Once again, a bunch of mostly all white, old men, Right Wingers, Republicans, all got together, in spite of their claims of being "small government" advocates and ruled one more time against women's and couple's individual reproductive rights. This time, it was out of our own Jefferson City.

New Abortion Restrictions Head To Missouri Governor's Office

And they spent yet more state money in special session to do it, "Conservatives" that they are.

Are the roads and bridges and highways and sewers and all our infrastructure fixed?

No!

Is I-70, from Illinois on the East, all through the state, to Kansas on the West, upgraded and improved and modernized and made safe?

Again, no.

Is our own Missouri Department of Transportation, MoDoT, fully funded and functioning?

Absolutely not.

But are women and couples' private, personal, again, reproductive rights yet more limited even though, as we know, abortion is legal and has been since 1973?

YES!!

And they spent yet more state money, that they say we don't have, to do it!

For them?

SUCCESS!

I've said it before but why any woman would vote Republican is beyond me. Far beyond me. Well, unless she's a Right Wing, "Christian", anti-abortion zealot, of course.

But then, why any Black person, Hispanic, Latino, gay, physically-challenged or elderly person would vote Republican also baffles me completely. (Unless that elderly person is already filthy, stinking rich, of course. Then I think they have to vote Republican, don't they? Isn't that a law?).

Keeping in mind, this is also the state political party that just voted lower wages for Missourians into law, too.

Yay, us.

Link:

Missouri legislature sends right-to-work bill to Gov. Eric Greitens

Missouri: Republicans, Cutting Your Pay

They're working, fighting to take health care away from at least 22 million Americans with their latest AHCA "wealthcare" bill and now this.

Missouri Republicans Lower 

St. Louis Minimum Wage

Not done there, this is what they did in May.

Missouri lawmakers just took 

raises away from minimum wage workers

In February, this is what they did, also lowering Missourians wages.

Right-to-work bill signed by 

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens

Three different efforts to lower Missourians wages.

And they all worked.

Someone please tell me why anyone, anyone in the middle and/or lower classes vote with these greedheads.

Links:

GOP vs Health, Voters, & Healthy Voters

Senate Health Care Bill Includes Deep Cuts to Medicaid

Republican Health Care Bill Delivers Big Tax Cut For The Rich

How the AHCA Leaves the Old, Sick, and Poor Behind

And here's that Republican, Right Wing, "Conservative" "small government"

Trump Administration's Request for Extensive Voter Data Raises Fears

Eric Greitens' and the Republicans' Missouri

With our new, "pretty boy" Governor Eric Greitens and his Republican pals in Jefferson City having had a special session so they could rule further on womens' and couples' reproductive rights---them with their "small government" and all---I thought of them with this video, rather naturally. How perfect.



They'll deny any of it if they recognize themselves in any way.

Pitiful.

Pathetic.

Painful.

Sexist.

Pretty fascist, too, really.