Missouri's Extreme Abortion Ban Reversed by Voters!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In one of only a handful of good news stories to emerge in last night's election results, Missouri voters approved a state constitutional amendment that overturned the extreme abortion ban that had been imposed on the "show-me" state by it's right-wing GOP legislature.  The measure which passed with 53% of the vote will add language to the state constitution guaranteeing "a fundamental right to reproductive freedom."   The amendment also says that any government interference in reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, is invalid.  It is set to take effect in thirty days.  

Opponents of the freshly passed measure are vowing to fight it tooth-and-nail in the courts and to push an effort in the legislature to ask Missourians to vote on the amendment again.  They appear to favor the process of democracy only when it goes their way.

Pro-reproductive rights measures also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, and Montana - and failed in Florida (which required a super-majority of 60%), South Dakota, and Nebraska.

Certain Republican politicians had spoken publicly during the campaign season saying that decisions related to abortion were best left with the states.  It will be interesting to see if they maintain that air of neutrality now that the election is over.

Missouri took a gigantic step forward yesterday in re-establishing a woman's right to control her own body and health care decisions.  Now, fellow Missourians, let's fight like hell to preserve that win!

Famed West Plains Native Endorses Kamala

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

It's not all doom and gloom here in southern Missouri on Election Day.  Well yes, the weather is still gloomy and the rain continues to fall, but that actually could be good news in a county that has given Trump 80% of the vote in the last two presidential elections - because for every voter that decides not to go to the polls in this wet, nasty weather, there is an 80% chance that it is one of Trump's!  That, and the fact that there is a popular Abortion Rights amendment on the ballot, could conceivably skew the county total more to the left than it has been in the recent past.

Hope abounds.

Also today I noted on the internet that one of West Plains, Missouri's, most famous offspring, comedian and actor Dick Van Dyke, has endorsed Kamala Harris for President.  Mr. Van Dyke, who was born in West Plains on December 13, 1925,  after his poor pregnant and unmarried mother had been packed off to live with relatives during her pregnancy, left our community as an infant, something which likely impacted his political leanings.

Dick Van Dyke is currently 98-years-old - and still voting.  He, like centenarian Jimmy Carter, understands the importance of voting in the preservation of our democracy.

If you haven't already been to the polls, GO VOTE!  (And if you live in southern Missouri, take an umbrella!)

Scam-a-Lot: Elon's Lottery is a Fraud!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Oxford On-Line Dictionary offers this definition of "lottery":   "A process or thing whose success or outcome is governed by chance."  

Elon Musk, the world's richest human, is currently involved in an effort to send Donald Trump back to the White House.  On October 19th Musk made an announcement at a rally in Pennsylvania which excited a bunch of people.  He told Trump rally-goers that he was going "to be awarding one million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition - every day from now until the election."

(After carefully removing my shoes and socks so that I could get the count right, I believe that means he will probably issue his 18th and final million dollar check today to some lucky, random, petition-signer.)

The petition to which Elon Almighty referred is an innocuous document in which signers attest to their support of the First and Second Amendments to the US Constitution.  So far, so good, but:  people who sign Elon's petition must be registered to vote in one of the seven swing states (Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia) and they must provide - in addition to their names - their email addresses, cell phone numbers, and mailing addresses.

All of that private and very personal information on registered voters in swing states would be of inestimable value in a close presidential election.  But, it's Elon's money and if he chooses to rain it down on lucky random winners, then so be it.

But the state of Pennsylvania, for one, had some problems with the whole scheme.  The state reasoned that even if Elon was not outright trying to buy votes, he was at least using his money to encourage people to register in the hopes of being randomly selected to win a million dollars - and paying people to register to vote is also illegal.

Yesterday when the state of Pennsylvania finally got the matter before a judge, after a stall by Elon as he killed a couple of days by trying unsuccessfully to get the case transferred to a federal court, Elon's lawyer, Chris Gober (who was working for Musk's America PAC), disclosed that the winners had not been chosen randomly, as in a lottery drawing, but were instead pre-selected by the super PAC (America PAC) that is primarily funded by Elon Musk, and the criteria for selection was to choose winners based on who the PAC believes would be effective political spokespeople.

Again, it's Elon's money, and if he wants to give it away to complete strangers in million-dollar lumps, he certainly can, but what some are arguing he cannot do is to promote the eventual winners as being "randomly" selected when, if fact, they are not.

The state of Pennsylvania and been arguing that Musk had been operating an illegal lottery, and Musk's lawyer essentially replied, in court, that it was not a game of chance because the winners were pre-selected based on their perceived ability to be of help to the Trump campaign.  The money was more of a "salary" than it was a lottery win.

Christopher Peterson, a law professor at the University of Utah, was quoted by NBC News on this new Musk revelation as saying:

"This is absolutely, unambiguously illegal.  You cannot lawfully lie to the public about conducting a random sweepstakes, lottery, or contest and then rig the results to hand-select the winners.   It really is not complicated.   This is just fraud;  a simple, ugly fraud on the public."

Elon Musk, of course, is rich enough that no court will get very meaningfully deep into his pocket, but this scam has at least given him the street cred to prove to the national Republican Party that he is, at his core, one of them.  And from a taxpayer's perspective, it is nice to know that now some of Musk's money is actually going to be taxed by the US government!

Small mercies.

Dawn is Breaking on a Stormy Election Day

 

by Pa Rock

Persistent Voter

It began raining in southern Missouri late Sunday night and has been coming down almost nonstop ever since.  The unrelenting rain and thunder with occasional lightning is still with us as the sky slowly brighten into day - Election Day.  I voted early, a week ago yesterday, and I am glad that I did because I would not want to have to get out in all of this wet mess, drive to the polls while dodging occasional flooding along the way, and then have to weave my way through the MAGA trolls in the parking lot in order to cast my ballot.  Instead I am home, and dry, and thinking about breakfast.

Missouri does not normally allow for early voting, but this year the state legislature enabled something they call "No Excuse Absentee Voting"  which allowed voters to vote an absentee ballot in their county clerk's office a couple of weeks before the actual election.  The process is much more convenient than waiting on the single Election Day and then wading out in the rain to cast a ballot, but sadly, not everyone knew about it.

The Missouri Legislature is not big on early voting, or any other subversive plot that might weaken the white, male, Republican hold on our state government.  They (the legislative GOP majority) are even trying to pass an amendment to our state constitution this year that would make ranked-choice voting unconstitutional - and to make sure it passes they hooked it to language that also bars illegal immigrants from voting, something that illegal immigrants could not do to begin with.

But I digress.

It is bleak and stormy outside this morning and that WILL impact people's ability to get to the polls - and in this area many of those people who cannot get to the polls, or who choose to remain home and stay dry, will be Republicans.

Election Day should be a federal holiday so that more people would have the day off and be able to vote when it is convenient - or dry.  Or, the election should be spread over several days and end on Election Day.

Why shouldn't everyone have a safe and dry opportunity to vote?  It's called democracy.  What a concept!

Pa Rock has voted.  You should, too!

Is Iowa a Swinger, Too?

 

by Pa Rock

Voter

I live in a very red, rural county that gave Donald Trump right at  80% of its votes during the last two presidential elections, and my state, which is also red, gave Trump just over 56% of its votes during those same two elections.  I'm not proud of any of that, it's just the way it is.  Because my state, and especially my portion of the state, is not competitive, national candidates never bother to campaign here,  They solicit our donations but really don't give a rat's ass whether we even bother to vote or not.

Missouri will cast our ten electoral votes for the elderly, convicted felon, Donald John Trump.  Any third-grader with access to a laptop and wifi could have safely predicted that a year ago.  The deed is done, the die is cast.  Save that campaign cash for the battleground states of Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.  They are the chosen ones who will select our President for us - just as other chosen ones like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and a handful of others sort through all of the candidates who would like to be President and let us know which ones will actually be on the ballot.

Easy peasy.

People who live in certain states, like Missouri, can go suck eggs because we have no say in the process whatsoever.  God's favorite states and the electoral college will present us with a new President in January, and then we can all sit back and prattle on about the triumph of democracy, even if it excluded us.

With my negativism in how this "democracy" selects its President firmly entrenched, imagine my utter joy upon hearing just a couple of evenings ago that a crack has developed in the system and a rural state just to the immediate north of Missouri has a new poll result circulating which says that the Democrat, Kamala Harris, is leading in that state by three points.  The state is Iowa, and it has a long, solid history of voting for Republicans for President.  Iowa, like my own state of Missouri, is routinely taken for granted in  the general elections where Presidents are chosen, so candidates do not spend money or waste their valuable time there.

Candidates go to the seven swing states, over and over and over again, and Iowa is not on the list.

But now Iowa has a highly regarded poll from a well respected polling firm of Selzer and Company and which was conducted for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom which shows Harris in the lead by three points - in a non-swinging, supposedly red state.   WTAF!   Nate Silver, another highly respected national pollster, says that Ann Selzer, who heads Selzer and Company, "has a long history of bucking conventional wisdom and being right."

National Republicans responded by calling the poll "fake," (one of their favorite four-letter words), and Trump reacted with indignation (one of his favorite moods).

So if this new poll is for real, and I, for one, certainly hope that it is, then what gives?  Why is a reliably red state suddenly developing a noticeably blue blush?  One speculation that seems to be soaking up a lot of printer's ink is that Iowa farmers, the primary economic engine of the state, are still pissed about the Trump tariffs from his last term that crippled their sales abroad.  The other major speculation is that Iowa women are angered by the Trump Court's Dobbs' decision which overturned their right to an abortion that had been in effect for nearly half-a-century, and that they are also turned off by Trump's constant denigration of women.

If the poll is right, and if those reasonings are too, that can only be good news for the Democratic Party as those same motivators play out across other midwestern farm states - including the one I live in.

It's a damned shame that the national Democratic Party did not think enough of us to spend a few dollars out in the sticks during this election cycle.  It could have been the smartest investment they ever made.

Give 'em hell, Iowa!

Unwell Candidate Rages Over Faulty Microphone

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump's mental acuity is no longer just slipping, it now appears to be cascading downward at a very rapid rate.  This week alone he has publicly fantasized about former congresswoman Liz Cheney in a combat situation staring down nine gun barrels as they fired at her face, opined about a potential assassin having to shoot his way through the news reporters covering his rally in order to get to him - and said, "To get to me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news and I don't mind that so much," complained loudly about his opponent appearing on "Saturday Night Live" (something he has done twice), made multiple unfounded allegations about potential election fraud, and made a verbal threat of physical harm to backstage workers at a venue in Milwaukee.

Trump made the unseemly remarks about Liz Cheney getting shot in Arizona, and that state's attorney general has said that her office is investigating whether Trump's remarks rose to the level of a death threat toward Ms Cheney or not.

Milwaukee this past Friday night seems to have been a truly critical point for Trump.  He was onstage speaking when his microphone failed.    Trump raised and lowered the microphone trying to get it working, with no success, and at one point he began bobbing his head over the mic simulating oral sex.  The microphone was apparently set lower than Trump liked, and news reports said that he spent four minutes complaining about the height of the microphone.  Then he said, "You want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?"

Finally a technician gave him a handheld microphone, and Trump did not like that either.  He roared to the crowd:

"I'm working my ass off with this stupid mic.  I'm blowing out my left arm, now I'm going to blow out my right arm, and I'm blowing out my damn throat too, because of these stupid people!"

Much of what Donald Trump says is, of course, just noise.  Realistically a man with almost eight decades under (and hanging over) his belt is not going to "knock the hell" out of anyone, and Liz Cheney has undoubtedly faced down insects that were more of a threat to her than Trump, but still he roars, and still the press reacts as though his childish outbursts are news.

They're not.

They're just more signs of the rapid onslaught of aging.

How Are the GOP Wives Voting?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Republican Party, one of the most paternalistic organizations in America, may be dealing with a gender revolt within its ranks.  

A political maelstrom began building earlier this week when a political action group calling itself "Vote Common Good" released an ad for the Harris-Walz ticket that was voiced by actress Julia Roberts.  In the ad Ms. Roberts is speaking to American women.   While discussing the sanctity of the voting booth, she says:  "In the one place in America where women still have a right to choose, you can vote any way you want, and no one will ever know."

That language takes a subtle swipe at domineering husbands, and by employing the word "choose," it is also a dig at the Trump abortion bans.  The commercial is a masterwork of political messaging, and one that has many Republican's outraged.

In the ad a woman emerges from the voting booth after casting her vote, and her husband asks her if she made the "right choice."  At that point she winks at a female friend.

Reaction to this blatant appeal to connubial treachery from Republican hacks has been swift and severe.  Jesse Watters, a Republican mouthpiece for Fox News, said that if he found out that his wife, Emma was "going into the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that's the same thing as having an affair!"

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and a founder of Turning Point USA, discussed the ad with Fox News host Megyn Kelly on her radio program.  Kirk, who was clearly unhappy with the concept of the Julia Roberts ad, said:

"I think it's so gross.  I think it's so nauseating where this wife is wearing the American hat, she's coming in with her sweet husband who probably works his tail off to make sure that she can go you know and have a nice life and provide to the family, and then she lies to him saying, 'Oh yeah, I gonna vote for Trump,' and then she votes for Kamala Harris as her little secret in the voting booth."

Former GOP congresswoman Liz Cheney reacted to Charlie Kirk's tirade by referring to him as a "twit."

Donald Trump even pushed his way into the discussion over how wives vote.  In a call-in to Fox and Friends after the ad came out, Trump, who was famously photographed on Election Day of 2016 trying to observe how his wife was voting, disparaged Julia Roberts as well as the ad itself.   He said he was disappointed in Ms. Roberts and predicted that she would look back on the ad someday and "cringe."  Then the cringe-worthy, elderly politician went on to say:

"But the wives and husbands, I don't think that's the way they deal.  I mean, can you imagine a wife not telling her husband who she's voting for?  You ever hear anything like that?  Even if you have a horrible - even if you had a bad relationship, you're gonna tell your husband.   It's a ridiculous ad, it's so stupid."

The thrice-married Trump apparently considers himself an expert on interactions between husbands and wives.  And as for the "ridiculous" and "stupid" ad, it certainly seems putting the fear of the ballot into more than a few Republican blowhards!

The fundamentalist clergy also checked in on the matter.  According to a posting in "The Guardian" by Rebecca Soinit, "This week, the fundamentalist Christian pastor Dale Partridge argued in a series of tweets that 'in a Christian marriage, a wife should vote according to her husband's direction'"-  and, one must suppose, the Constitution be damned!

Just remember, ladies, that within the confines of the voting booth, you still have freedom of choice - whether your men folk like it or not!

 

Great work "Vote Common Good" and Julia Roberts - you have produced a winner!

Ending Missouri's Abortion Ban

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

For the past couple of decades the Missouri State Legislature has increasingly become a cesspool of right-wing political hackery and bigotry fueled by the religious fervor of evangelical zealots.   Sometimes the outrages of the show-me state legislators go unchecked, and at other times their legislative "accomplishments" are so harmful to the common good that the people have to step in and correct their legislators.

As an example, a few years ago the Missouri State Legislature thought it would be in the public's best interest if they passed legislation making Missouri a "Right to Work" state, an intentional misnomer which actually makes it more difficult for workers to unionize and thus helps to keep wages low.  Angry Missourians who have to work for a living took to the streets passing petitions for a state constitutional amendment to do away with the legislature's phony "right-to-work" legislation - and the amendment passed.

Now Missourians are preparing to go to the polls to correct another of our legislature's overreaches.  Several years ago the legislature passed a total abortion ban that would go into effect if and when the US Supreme Court ever overturned the Roe v Wade decision.    When the conservative cabal that controls the Supreme Court did that very thing in June of 2022, Missouri enacted its total ban on abortions within an hour of the announcement of the Dobbs' decision.  This coming Tuesday, Missouri will very likely become the first state to reverse a total abortion ban, and they will do that by a vote of the people on a proposed constitutional amendment.

I received a very simple flyer in the mail this week.   It was one sheet of plain paper, eight-and-a-half inches by eleven inches, folded in half with the message on one side and the address on the other.  The flyer contained a notation that it was paid for by a group called "Missourians for Constitutional Freedom," and it had a return address that was a P.O. Box in St. Louis.  The message was in favor of Amendment 3, the proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri that would repeal our state's abortion ban.

(I am a supporter of Amendment 3 and have a sign to that effect in my yard.)

The complete message was outlined in two columns.   One side was a listing of what voting "yes" on Amendment 3 would accomplish, and the other was a listing of what voting "no" on Amendment would accomplish.  The message in its entirety was stark, and it was effective in bringing the matter into a sharp focus.  Here is a verbatim summary:

Voting YES on Amendment 3:

• Voting YES on Amendment 3 will end the abortion ban and provide access to care for Missouri women, including survivors of rape and incest.
• Voting YES on Amendment 3 will ensure that Missourians, not politicians, are in charge of their own healthcare and decisions.
• Voting YES on Amendment 3 protects the health of women and ensures those with pregnancy complications or miscarriages get the care they need.

Voting NO on Amendment 3:

• Voting NO allows the abortion ban to remain in effect, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or when the woman's health is at risk.
• Voting NO gives the government the power to make the personal medical decisions for women and their families.
• Voting NO means doctors must wait until patients' conditions worsen before providing treatment.

Ten states have measures on the ballot next Tuesday that will establish or strengthen abortion rights and will help American women regain the right to control their own healthcare decisions.  They include:  Nebraska (which also has an "anti-abortion"measure on its state ballot), Arizona, Florida, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Maryland, Colorado, New York, and Missouri.

A right that was summarily taken away by the US Supreme Court is being reinstated in a piecemeal fashion, state by state, through votes of the people, but there is still a danger that a Republican dominated national government could pass legislation for a nationwide abortion ban.  Ultimately the United States will have to do what Missouri is about to do, and enshrine a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions and control her own body in its constitution.

Healthcare is a matter of personal freedom and certainly not the business of political or religious hucksters. 

Voting ends next Tuesday.  Do your part to support democracy and protect our individual freedoms!

Whether They Like it or Not

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The American patriarchy, channeling itself through the bulbous personage of Donald John Trump, recently set about establishing a perimeter of defense for our nation's women.  In a speech in Wisconsin on Wednesday night, Trump seemed to be talking about the threat he apparently believes that immigrants pose to American women, although with the way he rambles it is possible that he could have also been bemoaning the dangers that sharks or even celebrity cannibals might present to American womanhood.

Well, have no fear ladies, because Donald John is on the case!  At that speech in Wisconsin Trump described himself as a "protector" of women, and he said that he would protect them "whether the women like it or not."

Glory be!  Safe at last, safe at last, thank God almighty our women folk are safe at last!  And they will be personally protected by Donald John Trump, a man who has been found civilly liable for the sexual assault of a woman.  In an article published the day before yesterday in an online publication entitled "The Cut," writer Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez lists twenty-eight women by name who have accused Trump of some form of sexual assault, and he, himself, bragged into an open microphone several years ago on the now-infamous Accesss Hollywood tape:

"I'm automatically attracted to beautiful ---, I just start kissing them.  It's like a magnet.  Just kiss.  I don't even wait.  When you're a star, they let you do it.  You can do anything.  Grab 'em by the pussy.  You can do anything."

Women do face many hardships and obstacles in their lives that do not impact most men as dramatically as they do women, and some might even be desirous of extra attention and protection from men, but clearly Donald John Trump is not the person who should provide it.  His record with women speaks for itself.

I suspect that women are already fighting hard this year to protect themselves, and they are conducting that fight with ballots.  And I further suspect that this year Donald Trump is going to find out how it feels when women finally fight back - whether he likes it or not!