Abortion bans are total, period. Many states that ban abortions offer exceptions for rape or incest. But only on paper; in practice, rape victims can’t get abortions in those states. An advocacy group says rape and incest exceptions “are just marketing” by anti-abortion politician[...]
October 19th, 2024 - 4:26 am § in Politics, Republicans
Doomed Senate candidate puts on a brave face
The GOP could win a Senate majority in 2024, but won’t gain a seat in Washington, where Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) is cruising to re-election. Her Republican opponent, ER doctor Raul Garcia, is a political novice. He’s trailing Cantwell by 55%-32%, with 13% undecided, in a KING 5 News poll [...]
Conspiracy mongers dust off sexual assault playbook against Walz
Sexual assault is a real thing, and sexual scandals have brought down many celebrities and powerful men. Perhaps the most infamous of these are financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison, and Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, now languishing in prison. Donald Trump, who bragged that women allow f[...]
October 18th, 2024 - 12:32 am § in Politics, Republicans
How much is a trans athlete worth to a GOP donor?
Conservative donors have spent at least $65 million on anti-trans advertising in the 2024 election cycle, according to the New York Times (see story here). They’re spending this money to elect Republican candidates, of course, but let’s pretend it’s being spent to keep trans athlet[...]
How is Reichert doing in WA governor race?
On July 8, 2024, I wondered if Dave Reichert could get 45% in the 2024 Washington gubernatorial election (see my post here). We’re in the homestretch now, so let’s take an updated look at this race. Reichert knows he isn’t going to win, and probably has already written his concessi[...]
October 17th, 2024 - 8:07 pm § in Politics, Republicans
Texas GOP governor exaggerated non-citizen voting
In August 2024, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott boasted the state removed more than 6,500 noncitizens from its voting rolls. The registrations were canceled “through a routine practice” of culling voter lists of people “who have moved or died,” the Texas Tribune said here. That’[...]
October 17th, 2024 - 5:34 pm § in Law and Courts
Yes, government has the power to kill you
You may think we’re a free people, living in a free country, but the government can kill you even if you’re innocent. Our legal system, generally speaking, allows government officials to arbitrarily take your life. Our political leaders can embroil our country in a war, enact conscriptio[...]
October 17th, 2024 - 12:46 am § in Law and Courts, Politics
Suspicion ≠ Fact
This is so obvious, so basic, we should be able to agree on it. A mere suspicion isn’t a fact; and disputed facts require proof. That’s how our legal system works, and that’s how most people conduct their daily affairs. A partisan election board’s paranoia about voting fraud shouldn’t be g[...]
Vance embraces Trump’s Big Lie
After dancing around the question at the October 1 debate, and for weeks afterward, J. D. Vance finally answered it. He said: “I think there are serious problems in 2020. So, did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use.” (Read story here.) Vance, in his own word[...]
George Floyd protests weren’t riots and didn’t kill 15,000 black men
A Republican liar claims “the post-George Floyd riots resulted in excess of over 15,000 black male deaths in this country.” It’s not remotely true. Ryan Gidursky, a rightwing activist (see his website here), made that assertion on a CNN talk show on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 (read stor[...]