Fire, Fury, And The First Amendment

We have a new presidential biography on the market, called, Fire And Fury, by Michael Wolff. Donald Trump, styling himself as the forty-fifth president of the United States, has reportedly reacted badly to this book. At this point, Trump should know a few things about elected officials and publicly spoken and written words: primarily that after winning an election, the official is no longer a private person and therefore no longer protected by state and federal laws pertaining to libel and slander. Such an individual is still entitled to a certain amount of privacy, and making threats of violence against an elected official is unlawful in most cases, but satire and whistle blowing are fair game; more so than in the case of a private person. An elected official in northeast Kansas discovered this for herself in 2013. Satire and whistle blowing are still very acceptable under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Another very important aspect of the laws about libel and slander concerns specific losses that can be ascertained by the court. If one does not have those, one's case will generally be dismissed. Since we have laws about the types of income a United States president may rake in while in office, declaring a loss might be difficult for Mr. Trump. Using the White House for financial gain is legally defined as a conflict of interest for a president, and if published, written material impedes a president's ability to commit a civil tort, the president scarcely has legal recourse!

Donald Trump has been in office long enough to understand the legalities of satire and financial conflicts of interest involving elected officials, so it appears that he is only running his yap in an ongoing effort to distract the American public from matters that are more important that Fire And Fury. It is nice to see Americans take a renewed interest in reading books, though.

Mocking Christian Values

The notorious lech, Roy Moore, senate candidate of Alabama, has challenged Jimmy Kimmel, comedian most often seen on ABC, to a "duel" to defend Christian values! (you blogger is laughing, really hard, right now) It seems that Kimmel's refusal to embrace, not only teenage girls, but the culture of older men embracing teenage girls, has spiritually offended Roy Moore...in a very, very Christian way!

A heckler from the Jimmy Kimmel show appeared at a Roy Moore rally, and later on, when Moore realized he had been heckled, he issued the challenge to Kimmel. Kimmel has offered visit Alabama and take Moore up on all this. It should be very interesting, but Christians probably will not change their minds about abuse and sexual misconduct. For centuries, Christianity has been the biggest shield for sex offenders and child abusers, offering them everything from amnesty when caught to assistance when blaming the victims. We all know whose side Jesus is on: the abuser's side. Every time.



And in other news, the State of Nebraska actually convicted and sentenced a man for sexually abusing a ten year old girl in an Lincoln, Nebraska church.

Just A Reminder

 

Just to remind everyone of something, before voting. I stole the meme from Facebook.

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Catholics Told To Vote For Racism

A Catholic church in San Diego, California is threatening its loyal members with an eternity in the underworld if they vote Democrat. Inside the foyer of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, some leaflets stating that Hillary Clinton is "under the influence of Satan" were found. While this is ripe fodder for comedy, it is also a pathetic attempt to scare innocent people and influence an election. So much for the quote of Jesus, himself, saying, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God, that which is God's." (Mark 12:17) The fictional deity is in obvious opposition to dictatorship and fear tactics. Maybe these Christians and their leadership should listen to him.

Lying Politicians

 

Above is the Politifact graph depicting the number of lies and truths told by various politicians, in proportion to all of their statements. After fact checking, President Obama is the most honest one to have recently run for president, followed by Hillary Clinton. Like it or not, Democrats have the market cornered on the truth in 2016. Remember the aversion Donald Trump had to fact checking for his first debate with Hillary Clinton?

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Donald Trump's Campaign Song

And now, here is the best possible campaign song for Donald Trump! He whined, during the final presidential debate, because his opponent pointed out that he complained because he didn't win an Emmy for The Apprentice, because the whole affair was "rigged"! In fact, Trump claims that anything that does not go his way is "rigged". While he probably won't win the presidential election, perhaps he can win an Emmy for his performance during all three debates.

Donald Trump And Live Microphones

Here's a clip of Donald Trump having a conversation, in 2005, near a live microphone. At the time, he probably didn't think his words mattered very much. After all, the words were only a verbal manifestation of Trump's thoughts, and of his desires of the moment. His judgement, which was kinda bad, was obviously not important to him at the time, because he thought that as a celebrity with money, he did not need integrity or an upstanding character. Apparently, he also did not think he was under any obligation to set a good example for his children. Now that he is trying to buy the White House, he says he's sorry. Why should we believe him? If he was truly sorry for all of his character flaws, wouldn't he have brought that up before now?

Deplorable Is As Deplorable Does

Hillary Clinton described few of Donald Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables". She was not discussing their backgrounds, their lifestyles, or even their appearances; but their behavior. There is a very long list of violent incidents at Trump rallies, and no one else in the presidential race for 2016 has attracted or incited as much violence as Donald Trump. It seems rather obvious that those who openly show support for Trump by attending his events can, at least, be called disorderly; so why has Trump's running mate, former Indiana governor Mike Pence, become irate that Hillary would say such a thing about Trump's supporters? Possibly, because Mike Pence is a lot more fluent in "deplorability." After all, he is the one who used campaign funds during his 1990 run for Congress in Indiana to pay his personal bills. He dropped out of that race because of the resulting scandal.

Maybe while Donald Trump is running his mouth about Hillary Clinton's observations about those who attend his rallies, he could take a minute to wish her a speedy recovery from pneumonia. Not that she won't recover; she certainly will, but isn't it a lot more polite and less deplorable to express concern and well wishes?

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Abbie Hoffman Moment

David Duke And Kris Kobach

What do David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and Kris Kobach, current Kansas Secretary of State, have in common? They have both endorsed Donald Trump for president in the 2016 election. After co-authoring Arizona's racist "papers please" laws, aimed at anyone who looks foreign in a non-white way, Kobach has gone the extra mile and endorsed the same candidate that a former leader in one of the most notorious hate groups in the nation has also endorsed. Coincidence? Or could both men be racists? Wannabe and aspiring Grand Wizard Kris Kobach is pictured on the left.

Governor Sam Brownback Needs A New Washing Machine

As you can see, Governor Sam Brownback did not wish to discuss some pertinent financial matters about which he was quizzed by a citizen. Such arrogance! He should have known what could potentially follow: now it's not a fellow citizen or a journalist asking him if he is finished with his laundry yet, it's a federal grand jury!

From the looks of things, Jeff Colyer, Brownback's lieutenant governor is not as savvy about matters financial and "money management" as he had previously thought!

Bill Maher On Kansas

Interesting. While delving into the past of Paul Davis, who is running against Sam Browncrack for governorship of Kansas, Republicans discovered that Davis once went to a strip club when he was in his twenties, before he got married. Once. He's never taken bribes, violated anyone's civil rights, pandered to big businesses while forgetting about everyone else, outlawed medical care for women, or compromised education in public schools; but a night on the town sixteen years ago would simply be too much. Quite a bit of Kansas is rather permissive about such things as clubs and drinking: when parents complain about the behaviors of predominantly christian high school boys in public schools that function as if they were private, predominantly christian school, (lots of drinking and sexaul exploitation-not much reading, writing, and 'rithmetic) the "unified" school boards look the other way, saying "boys will be boys". But now we have the same religious Republicans who give their own sons the latitude to drive drunk and take advantage of our underage daughters crying the blues because a contender for the office of governor went out one night and drank in a bar. The only reason Republicans in Kansas wouldn't be comfortable with Davis as governor is because Davis would not be in favor of bar hopping every night, or of driving home drunk. And Davis would definitely not favor allowing children to do such things.

Davis also does not use religion in order to push anyone's buttons or gain a reaction from a voter. Brownback does. That's a big reason to vote against Brownback. Religion is personal, and Kansas routinely expresses far too much disrespect for it.

Koch Brothers Place Bid On Outcome Of Kansas Election

The Koch Brothers bought some air time, about eleven million dollars worth, to secure seats for assorted republicans around the nation. About one million went into Kansas ads, promoting the senile and largely ineffective Pat Roberts. As a resident of Virginia, Roberts even votes there now! How is he still "representing" Kansas?

 

Greg Orman, an Independent challenger for the Kansas Senate, actually does live in Kansas. Why would the Koch Brothers wish to see Kansas represented in the Senate by someone who does not actually live in Kansas, and whose votes in the Senate, for good or for ill, will not affect his own life in any way? After all, Pat Roberts is a Virginia resident.

Wichita's New Petition To Decriminalize Marijuana

A new petition to decriminalize marijuana in Wichita Kansas is in the works. The old one was rejected by the city council when they went over each and every signature, looking for flaws and reasons to reject the petition. It had garnered over twice as many signatures as necessary to put decriminalization on the ballot, but the city council was determined to find a reason to deny the voters what they wanted, so they questioned a few of the signatures and told Kansans For Change that they were thirty-six signatures short. Would Kansans have this much trouble with a petition to put prayer in school on the ballot, despite the fact that federal law trumps it already? Probably not. A new petition should be in circulation on October 1. This blog will post a link.

Disclaimer: your blogger does not engage or approve of the use or abuse of any recreational drugs. She simply thinks that your tax dollars, along with hers, could be better spent on pursuits other than malicious prosecution of anyone who violates a prohibition law.

We Now Need Kobach's Permission To Drop Out Of An Election

Kris Kobach, a major co-author of the Arizona "papers please" laws, now not only wants sole power to tell us who can and cannot vote in our elections here in America.........one must obtain his approval in order to drop out of a race! That's right, Chad Taylor decided to end his run for a seat in the Kansas senate race, and now Kris Kobach has filed suit against him! At first glance, this appears insanely funny. We have a politician who thinks he is an emperor actually demanding legal action against someone who has changed his mind about running for political office and demanding that the former candidate run for office despite the change of heart, against his will! This is something your blogger would expect to find in a Monty Python skit, but no....she has found it in Kansas!

Aside from the ludicrous aspect of Kobach's demand, there are three very serious problems with
refusing to allow a candidate to drop out of a political race. First, the very notion that another elected official can control who runs, or does not run, in an election is completely undemocratic. If Kobach wants to go this route and take Taylor's choice away from him, he should at least appeal to the Kansas Democratic Party to take a vote on the matter and to nominate someone else. But even then, many candidates, especially at local levels, run unopposed. One person should not have the power to determine the choices of voters in an election. Second, if Kobach wins this nonsensical lawsuit and forces Taylor to run, Kansas will, in the event of Taylor's victory, have a senator whose desire was to do something other than represent Kansas in the Senate. Kobach has no right to impose such a paradigm. Third, an elected official can always resign. If Taylor were to win and resign, a lot of time and money would be wasted. Not to mention the money taxpayers will spend on the lawsuit and on Chad Taylor's defense.

It's bad enough that Kris Kobach wants to stop minorities from voting and marginalize any American who does not appear to descend from Anglo Saxon ancestry, but now he wants to tell us who can run, thereby controlling elections from both ends. Hopefully, Kansas will just dismiss this frivolous lawsuit.

Greg Orman, the Independent candidate who actually stands a chance of beating  Pat Roberts for Senate in Kansas.

Chad Taylor Drops Out Of Senate Race

Chad Taylor, (D) District Attorney of Topeka Kansas and Senate Wannabe, not to be confused with Chad Taylor, guitarist in Live, has dropped out of the race for Senate in Kansas. This is good news, as this blogger will no longer be faced with the choice of voting for someone who actually tried to stop prosecuting domestic violence in Topeka and still has not filed charges in the death of Caleb Stewart, a baby who died in a Topeka daycare; or the choice of voting for republican Pat Roberts. It looks like the choice is now between Pat Roberts, and Independent Greg Orman.

Caleb Stewart's Case After Eighteen Months

How long does Kansas take to investigate a complaint about a daycare? How many reports of abuse, injury, or untimely death do they need in order to justify the expenses involved in gathering information and making a quality decision about who gets a license to operate a daycare, and who does not? According to the latest information, brought to us by WIBW, the death of a child will bring an investigation and a decision in about a year and a half. That's how long it took Child Protective Services in Kansas to substantiate the charges, concerning a wrongful death, finally brought against Tara Johnson, the home daycare provider; and Destiny McClusky, a random friend of Tara's who had no real business in Tara's workplace.

In February of 2013, five month old Caleb Stewart was dropped off at daycare by his mom, Misty Durham. Later that day, he died. Tara Johnson was not on the premises, which she should have been, and her boyfriend, Russel Morris and the aforementioned friend, Destiny McClusky, were watching the children. Anywhere besides Kansas, this would lead to charges and a lawsuit. As is stands, Johnson, Morris, and McClusky probably do not have the assets to settle a lawsuit for wrongful death, and since Kansas was allowing this daycare to operate without a license and failing to substantiate the complaints that led to the situation that cost Caleb his life, Johnson's daycare was not covered by insurance, either. But then, about ninety-five percent of public schools in Kansas did not have insurance when school started in 2013, either.

Chad Taylor, the prosecutor in Topeka, Kansas, has declined to press any charges at all in this case. He presses charges when the children of richer, better connected parents die in daycares, but not Caleb Stewart's death. Taylor even retaliated against Misty Durham by having her arrested for an old traffic violation when she called his office to ask about the status of the case! Does he think that forcing different social classes to exist in Kansas and denying justice to people he simply doesn't like are going to get him elected again? And is child protective services in Kansas really attempting to protect children? Or do they only respond when they find children who are alive and marketable, and whose parents don't know their rights and cannot afford legal representation?  How many other children have been in harm's way during the eighteen months it took them to glance at Caleb Stewart's case?