Virginia Republicans Oust Far Right Incumbent For Not Being Far Right Enough

Virginia's 5th congressional district-- 21 counties plus the blue cities of Charlottesville and Danville-- has a PVI of R+6... a tough race for Democrats, but not impossible, especially not in an anti-red wave cycle. Trump won the district in 2016, 53.4% to 42.3%. Two years later a progressive, Leslie Cockburn, won the nomination and the DCCC did what it always done when a progressive wins in a purple district-- told themselves only GOP-lite candidates can win and shut down the race. GOP groups like Club for Growth ($358,502), Paul Ryan's Congressional Leadership Fund ($$608,618), the NRCC ($95,000), the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund ($320,051), FreedomWorks ($55,832), the NRA ($65,012) and a dozen other right-wing groups, poured over $1.5 million into the race. The DCCC and Pelosi's Super PAC responded with a very begrudging $48,000 and $10,000, respectively. Assholes! Cockburn still did better than Hillary had in the district (46.7%) but Denver Riggleman was elected.

This cycle the DCCC is pushing a very right-wing Blue Dog, Roger Dean Huffstetler, while EMILY's List is trying to buy the nomination for their own status quo candidate, Claire Russo ($356,961 in IEs so far). The progressives in the race are John Lesinski and Cameron Webb. Democrats will pick their candidate at a district convention a week from Wednesday (June 23). Meanwhile, the Republican district convention was Saturday.

Despite endorsements from Señor Trumpanzee and Jerry Falwell-- whose fake university is in the district-- Riggleman, a neo- fascist, was ousted in favor of a full on fascist, Bob Good, who won with 58% of the vote. Riggleman had become a target of lunatic fringe GOP hate-mongers after officiating a same-sex wedding last year. Good, who was endorsed by former Congressman Tom Garrett, seems to be running for a church position rather than for a political one. He seeks to end both birthright citizenship and LGBTQ equality and the "convention," which was held in the parking lot of a church, was filled with the kind of radicals and extremists who are turning the Republican Party into a irrelevant, anti-American, Confederate party. Lincoln must be rolling over in his grave!

After the convention concluded but before results were announced, Riggleman said his campaign had received unspecific reports of “voting irregularities” and “ballot stuffing.”

“We are evaluating all our options at this time,” Riggleman tweeted late Saturday night.

Good's response? "That’s what losers say."

Trump Hires Vicious Homophobic Sociopath To Work At USAID-- Not A Peep Out Of #LadyG (R-SC)

The other day we were looking at very consistent Trump's track record for always hiring the worst people for any given job-- which helps explain why his regime is such a dysfunctional, failed mess. On Friday, ProPublica, introduced us to a new clown in the circus: Merritt Corrigan-- a new Phyllis Schlafly: New Trump Appointee to Foreign Aid Agency Has Denounced Liberal Democracy and 'Our Homo-Empire'. God only knows what she will have to say about #LadyG when that shit hits the fan, but right now she is doing what she can-- with our tax dollars-- to save America from "a tyrannical LGBT agenda" while revitalizing Naziism around the globe.

Trump quietly appointed Merritt Corrigan deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Maybe he admired a post she wrote asserting that "Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself."

Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.

Orban, a far-right politician, has cracked down on civil society, academic freedom and other liberties. USAID has recently partnered with Hungary to help Christians in Iraq, a pairing that some career USAID officials said they found unsettling.

Asked about Corrigan’s writing, acting USAID spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said the agency has a “zero-tolerance policy of any form of discrimination or harassment based on gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or any other possible distinguishing characteristic that can define any of us.”

“All employees are held to the highest of standards and are expected to treat one another with dignity and respect. Period,” she said. “This includes political appointees, civil servants, foreign service officers and contractors.”

Corrigan did not respond to emails asking about her past comments.

Politico reported last year that Corrigan wrote on her Twitter account that “our homo-empire couldn’t tolerate even one commercial enterprise not in full submission to the tyrannical LGBT agenda.” Corrigan’s Twitter account is now private.

In October, Corrigan wrote an op-ed in The Conservative Woman, a London publication, decrying “the false song of feminism” and calling for women to take up traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker.

“A woman today is expected by society to come to marriage and motherhood in physical and spiritual decline, if ever,” she wrote. “This is the life women have been offered by those who would rather us toil away as isolated economic units for faceless corporations, far from the natural pleasures of the domestic, far from the guardianship of a loving husband, and far from the life-giving experience of motherhood.”

Corrigan’s biography on the website described her as a “conservative political strategist.” She was on the payroll of the Republican National Committee between 2016 and 2018, according to campaign finance records.

Her stated positions put her directly at odds with the stated goals of her new employer. USAID uses a “liberal democracy index” as one of its metrics in deciding whether a country is self-reliant, and it has an entire office dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment. The agency’s website says it is working for a world in which LGBT people are “respected and able to live with dignity, free from discrimination, persecution, and violence.”

Beirne Roose-Snyder, director of public policy at the Center for Health and Gender Equity, said, “An appointee who eschews gender equality, meaningful democracy and LGBTI rights cannot possibly fulfill the mission of USAID.”

Corrigan’s appointment is the latest example of the Trump administration bringing in officials to USAID whose stated views put them at odds with the agenda the agency says it promotes.

USAID’s new deputy chief of staff, Bethany Kozma, was previously an anti-transgender activist who wrote in 2016 that transgender girls are boys “claiming gender confusion.” Kozma was formerly a senior adviser for women’s empowerment at the agency.

And last week, the Washington Post reported that a Tea Party activist with a history of making and sharing anti-Islamic comments on his personal social media profiles would be the agency’s new religious freedom adviser. News of the appointment sparked criticism from Muslim groups in the U.S. and the Anti-Defamation League.

Trump Supporters: Racists, Closet Cases, Nazis And Anti-Semites... Just Vile

More hog than human, Trumpist Pamela Taylor is being led away to a pen

I think everyone-- other than die-hard members of the Trump base-- can agree that Pamela Taylor is the worst piece of dog shit passing herself off as a human being. This woman defines "garbage" who should never have been born. You don't remember the name? Pamela Taylor was the West Virginia goon who referred to Michelle Obama on Facebook as an "ape in heels." After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, Taylor posted, "It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels."

Michelle Obama happens to be the most beloved woman in the world. And Pramela Taylor? Dog shit lady is going to prison for stealing money from America. Last week the vile Trumpist freak confessed to illegally applying for FEMA disaster benefits after catastrophic flooding in 2016 that killed more than 20 people in West Virginia. She claimed her home was damaged by the flood and swore she was forced to move into a rental property. Turns out an investigation found that she was lying and that nothing happened to her home, where she is still living. She could get 30 years in prison, which would be some awesome.

Are all Trumpists like Pamela Taylor? Well, there may be a few exceptions-- but very few exceptions. Trump fans, more than anything else are low-life racists. On Tuesday, one of Trumps' neo-Nazi appointees, Leif Olson, was fired from the Department of Labor. Why?

A recently appointed Trump Labor Department official with a history of advancing controversial conservative and faith-based causes in court has resigned after revelations that he wrote a 2016 Facebook post suggesting the Jewish-controlled media “protects their own.”

...Olson, 43, started at the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division Aug. 12 as a senior policy adviser, after being cleared for the job by the White House. He was part of a team of political appointees working to finish a series of deregulatory actions that are pivotal to the White House employment agenda. They include rules that would narrow corporations’ shared liability with affiliated companies and clarify time-and-a-half overtime pay calculations.

Olson, an unsuccessful GOP candidate in 2012 for a Texas district court judgeship, fired off a series of late-night posts on his personal Facebook page three years ago that started as a sarcastic quip about former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s blowout primary victory. They then devolved into an exchange referencing two anti-Semitic tropes: that Jews control the media and that they look out for members of their own faith.

...Olson also was known in Houston-area legal circles for his appellate work challenging the rights of same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage is legal; intervening to block defrauded consumers from receiving $10 million that Target Corp. had agreed to pay in a class settlement; and urging the high court to invalidate the Obama administration’s policy giving certain illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

Predator by Nancy Ohanian

And speaking of Trumpist homophobia, ever hear of McKrae Game? I hope not. Game is a religionist hustler who founded and enriched himself with the gay conversion operation in South Carolina "Hope for Wholeness." [South Carolina Republican politicians, by the way, seem gayer than any other demographic in the world; weird.] At least Game has admitted-- two years after he was fired-- that he was wrong and then apologized-- and admitted he was another Republican closet queen the whole time. "I was a religious zealot that hurt people," he said. "People said they attempted suicide over me and the things I said to them. People, I know, are in therapy because of me."





The video above was McKrae Game in 2013 doing an ad for his conversion therapy operation. Ted Lieu, then a California state Senator, wrote and passed the first legislation in the country to ban gay conversion therapy. At his town-hall meeting last week he told his constituents that "one of the top priorities of my career has been to combat conversion therapy. Providers of conversion therapy charge large sums of money for services that are ineffective and may have serious side effects, including depression, self-harm, and family rejection. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, nearly 700,000 LGBT adults in the United States have been subjected to conversion therapy. 10,000 LGBT youth living in states with bans on the practice have been spared conversion therapy from licensed health care professionals." Ted has introduced the same sort of legislation in Congress. H.R. 3570, the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act classifies for-profit conversion therapy as unlawful conduct and prohibits advertising that claims a conversion therapy practitioner can successfully change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It also provides the Federal Trade Commission with the authority to enforce violations of the law and provides the Department of Justice and state attorneys general with the authority to enforce violations of the law. There are already 100 co-sponsors (GOP closet cases like Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Jason Smith (R-MO), Adrian Smith (R-ME) are other closet cases in Congress are not backing the bill.

When I asked Ted Lieu about the legislation he told me that ""So-called conversion therapy is in reality nothing more than abuse and fraud. Those who pretend to be able to 'convert' others are selling snake oil. This is why as a state legislator I passed the first-ever law in the nation to curtail this harmful practice, and why I continue to introduce federal legislation to classify it for what it is: fraud."


 

Wisconsin GOP Faces Backlash After Being Caught Trying To Sneak A Homophobic Fanatic Onto The State Supreme Court

Obsessed homophobic maniac wants to be a Supreme Court judge

Late last month it came out, so to speak, that the right-wing nut who the Wisconsin Republican Party is running for an open Supreme Court seat, has been a closeted homophobic fanatic. People knew Brian Hagedorn, son of Milwaukee County GOP chair Sam Hagedorn, wasn't exactly gay friendly but more and more started leaking out showing that the man is obsessed with his hatred for the LGBTQ community. Is that kind of overt bigotry something anyone wants on the state Supreme Court? Hagedorn turns out to have founded a school that expels students and fires teachers if they are accused of being gay. You know how lots of realtors are gay? The Wisconsin Realtors Association, which is a major pro-GOP player in Supreme Court races, withdrew its endorsement of Hagedorn and asked for their $18,000 contribution back. They justified their decision by explaining that "The real estate related issues that served as the basis for our endorsement have been overshadowed by other, non-real estate related issues-- issues with which we do not want to be associated and that directly conflict with the principles of our organization and the values of our members."

Yesterday, Patrick Marley and Molly Beck, writing for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn't want any part of Hagedorn's crackpot homophobia either and will not be putting any money into his race, as they normally do for Wisconsin GOP Supreme Court candidates. "The national organization," wrote Marley and Beck, "often funnels money to Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce to help conservatives in court races but won't do so this year, according to three sources familiar with the plans. The move comes as other conservatives signal they're staying on the sidelines after reports about Hagedorn founding a school that can ban teachers and students in gay relationships and giving paid speeches to a legal organization that has argued in favor of anti-sodomy laws."

The Wisconsin Realtors Association last month withdrew its endorsement of Hagedorn and asked him to return an $18,000 donation. Soon afterward, longtime Republican consultants R.J. Johnson and Deb Jordahl-- who have run past independent efforts to help conservatives running for the Supreme Court-- wrote a column defending the Realtors' decision to stay out of the race.

Hagedorn faces Lisa Neubauer in the April 2 election to replace retiring Justice Shirley Abrahamson. Hagedorn and Neubauer both sit on the District 2 Court of Appeals based in Waukesha.

Conservatives control the Supreme Court 4-3. A win by Neubauer would keep that majority in place, while a victory by Hagedorn would widen it to 5-2 in conservatives' favor.

The election is April 2. What's most galling about this ugliness is that Hagedorn and his GOP cronies are running around screeching about how their homophobia is part of their religion and that anyone who opposes them is attacking their religion (including the Realtors!). I turned to John Pavlovitz's blog and a post he wrote yesterday, A Jesus Who Makes Walls. "I know," he wrote, "thousands of people who say they follow Jesus, and I see millions more who I know are just like them. For the past two decades I’ve pastored them in small rural chapels and in suburban megachurches. I’ve served alongside them in the streets of Center City Philadelphia and in the tin-roofed slums of Nairobi, Kenya. I’ve led their teenage children on overseas mission trips and weekend retreats and spontaneous service projects. I’ve been in their homes and they’ve been in mine. I know what these people have seen, the work they’ve been a part of, the kindness they’ve shown others, the faith they’ve professed, the God they’ve read and sang about. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking now, to admit that I no longer recognize them; the venomous words they share on social media, the hateful theology they now ratify, the blatant corruption they turn their heads from, the human rights atrocities they are stunningly silent on. The only conclusion I can come to, is that we were never following the same Jesus-- or at the very least we aren’t any longer. They are following a Jesus who is foreign to me, a Jesus who makes walls."

It is not the Jesus I shared with them on all those Sunday mornings;
the one who touched the hand of the leper,
the one who fed a starving hillside multitude;
the one who preached the scandalous goodness of a despised Samaritan,
the one whose family fled political genocide soon after he was born,
the one who said he and the forgotten prisoner were one in the same,
the one who dined with both priest and with prostitute,
the one who lived off the kindness of those he met as he traveled,
the one who said our neighbors and enemies, deserve the same love we give our families and ourselves.

They seem to have no recollection of this Jesus anymore or have willingly discarded him-- or maybe they never had interest in him at all and it’s only now that I can see it.

Stranger still, is that these people tell me that I’m wrong; that my Jesus of compassion and gentleness and mercy is one found in spiritual error. They mock me for this Jesus, saying that it is my bleeding heart that has led me far afield; that in seeking such empathy I have drifted into heresy.

I’m good with that-- really good with that.

I am going to take my chances with a wall-breaking Jesus.


I’m going all in with a Jesus who errs on the side of loving people, of welcoming them and healing them and embracing them.


I’m betting that the carpenter Jesus, would have me make tables and set a banquet for every hungry, hurting, exhausted person who crosses my path, without caveat or condition.

I will not worship or preach or serve a Jesus who makes walls; whose ministry is one of separation and disconnection and segregation.

I have no use for a white privileged, gated community Christ, whose only concern is America.

I have no interest in a religion that manufactures outsiders based on their nation of origin, sexual orientation, pigmentation-- or any other inherent part of who they are.

These Christians I’ve known in close proximity and the ones I’ve seen from a distance, are welcome to this God.

They can have a Jesus who makes walls.

I’ll stay outside here with my Jesus, setting tables and breaking bread.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Earlier this week, the so-called "Supreme Court" ruled in support of a bigoted baker in Colorado who "felt" that if he had to bake a cake for a same sex marriage, his god would disapprove. Such a god is an asshole and not worth 2 seconds of praise and worship, but that is the kind of god that bigots worship. The baker no doubt thinks that his god deigns to speak with him. Personally, I have never heard these voices in my head but then I am relatively sane, relatively.

So, there you have it. A bunch of supposedly the best people found a way to be narrow-minded and cast their votes, in what is known as a "narrow ruling," for the guy who goes to work at his bakery every day filled with smug self-satisfaction and hearing voices in his head.

Here in New York, we once had a guy who heard a voice, too. That voice also gave instruction. In his head, the guy heard the voice of his neighbor's dog. The dog told him to kill couples parked in lover's lanes, so, he did. He was known as the Son of Sam killer. Funny how often the voices people hear in their heads are way too concerned about other people's sex lives.

By the "Supreme Court's" reasoning, I can only assume that if the Son of Sam guy brought a case before them, they would rule in his favor and allow him to continue his killing spree. Really, are these robed clowns the best we can do? That's strictly a rhetorical question, of course. I know the answer and it is pathetic. It really is only a matter of time before we have to pay for each item in the drug or grocery store at a separate register. It'll be God's will, of course. Brought to you by whining plaintifs who think Washington makes their lives to complicated.

In the aftermath of the court's decision, the baker has become the newest hero to FOX "News" where he appeared with another panel of experts who believe the same as the court, ie. "Fox and Friends." The only apparent difference between the three moronic goofballs on "Fox and Friends" and the "Supreme Court" seems to be that one group wears robes and one doesn't. Oh, and one group needs 9 people to come to the same insane conclusions as the group of 3 morons.

Will Rohrabacher's Crazy Homophobia Cost Him His Orange County Seat In Congress?

Should congressmen who get high and play dress-up be barred from buying homes in Orange Co?

I can remember when I was a kid growing up on Long Island, there were fights in the suburbs-- Nassau County-- about selling houses to black families. Half the people who lived in some of these towns were there because of "white flight" and they brought their ugly bigotry and racism with them. Trump is ginning that up again-- and on Long Island! But here in California, Trump's top lackey-- and Putin's-- is Orange County lunatic Dana Rohrabacher and he's got gays in his sites. Thursday, Jeff Collins, writing for the Orange County Register, reported that last week Rohrabacher told a group of realtors that homeowners should be able to refuse to sell their property to gays and lesbians.

“Every homeowner should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone (if) they don’t agree with their lifestyle,” Rohrabacher told an Orange County Association of Realtors delegation at a May 16 meeting in Washington, D.C., according to Wayne Woodyard, a former Orange County Realtor president who was at the event.

On Thursday, Rohrabacher confirmed the accuracy of the sentiment, and added that homeowners should have the right to “choose who they do business with.”

“We’ve drawn a line on racism, but I don’t think we should extend that line,” Rohrabacher said.

“A homeowner should not be required to be in business with someone they think is doing something that is immoral.”

The statement ignited a protest by a Realtor gay-rights group, prompting the National Association of Realtors to withdraw its recommendation that members send campaign contributions to Rohrabacher.

“It was determined that Rep. Rohrabacher will no longer receive support from NAR’s President’s Circle,” an association statement said, referring to its list of recommended candidates. Rohrabacher’s stance, the 1.3-million-member trade group said, is contrary to NAR’s code of ethics, which bans discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“We certainly hope that Congress will... support the elimination of housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The about-face occurred as the 15-term coastal Orange County Republican is locked in his toughest re-election campaign.

He’s facing 15 challengers, including eight Democrats as well as onetime political ally Scott Baugh, former Orange County GOP chairman.

“It certainly can’t do me any good to have people take me off their endorsement list,” said Rohrabacher, who represents California’s 48th District in coastal Orange County. “It’s sad to see (the association’s) priority is standing in solidarity with making sure a stamp of approval is put on somebody’s private lifestyle.”

Harley Rouda, a Democrat who is challenging Rohrabacher and a son of a former Realtor association president, called Rohrabacher’s statements “outlandish and unacceptable,” saying everyone should have the same rights to buy and sell a home.

“What Dana Rohrabacher fails to understand is discrimination is discrimination,” Rouda said. “It shows how backward his thinking is.”

Previously Rohrabacher had been designated as a “Realtor Champion,” eligible for support from top Realtor donors.

The Realtors Political Action Committee, the trade group’s campaign finance arm, also donated $5,000 to Rohrabacher’s re-election campaign in December and January, campaign finance reports show. Rohrabacher also received donations from numerous agents, real estate developers and Realtor groups.

The backlash occurred after Orange County Realtors met last week with Rohrabacher during NAR’s mid-year lobbying conference in Washington and asked him to support H.R. 1447, among other issues.

The measure expands the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 to add anti-discrimination protections based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. The existing law already forbids home sellers, landlords and lenders from discrimination based on a person’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Rohrabacher’s remarks sparked outrage among gay and lesbian Realtors after Woodyard posted them on Facebook. The founder of a real estate gay-rights group then wrote to NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall requesting the association revoke its support of Rohrabacher.

“When a supposed champion of the Realtor Party outright states that housing discrimination should be lawful, I hope you agree there should be cause for concern,” wrote Jeff Berger, a Florida agent and founder of the National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals. “Ignoring the congressman’s comments belies the decades of serious work and progress NAR has made in the area of fair housing.”

Rohrabacher denied he’s trying to shore up his conservative flank in the face of opposition from Baugh. Indeed, he said, his stance likely will “alienate a certain number of gays who think I’m anti-gay, which isn’t the case.”

Rohrabacher added he vehemently opposes housing discrimination based on race, religion or a person’s sex.

But, he said, “there are some fundamentalist Christians who do not approve of their lifestyle. I support their rights.” He also said he believes the Realtor association’s stance is “way out of sync” with its own industry.

Rohrabacher distinguished race-based discrimination from choosing not to do business with someone because of their lifestyle or political beliefs.

Homeowners, for example, shouldn’t be allowed to deny a sale to an interracial couple, he said.

But Democrats or Republicans should be able to refuse a home sale to people with opposing political views.

Would Rohrabacher, who uses a medical marijuana cream to ease his arthritis and supports relaxed penalties for cannabis use, be OK if a home seller refused to do business with him based on that lifestyle choice?

“Yes,” Rohrabacher said. “Absolutely.”

Ted Lieu is the DCCC regional vice chair for the West Coast, including, obviously, California. Since Rohrabacher refuses to do town hall meetings in his own district, Ted went down to Orange County and did one for the folks who live down there. "Dana Rohrabacher," he told me today, "thinks it is fine for gays and lesbians to be denied a house-- let's work to make sure Dana is denied a seat in the House."

Eric Bauman is the chairman of the California Democratic Party. He's watching all the Orange County congressional races very carefully. This morning he told me "It's pathetic that Putin’s favorite member of Congress thinks his best path to re-election is to attack LGBTQ people where it hurts most-- in their homes and jobs. This sorry excuse for a congressman is happy to help cover up Trump’s exploitation of women, bashing of immigrants and cavorting with foreign regimes, especially because he has no record to run on after decades in the House. So he has no choice but to turn to the classic fascist agenda and scapegoat LGBTQ and other at-risk people. Well I have a suggestion for you Dana, you'd better get out your surfboard and prepare for a long trip, we are going to send you to hang 10, and it won't be in DC, perhaps Moscow or... Stalingrad."

DuWayne Gregory is the progressive Democrat running for the congressional seat in Nassau and Suffolk counties in southern and central Long Island (NY-02), a seat currently held by old time reactionary Peter King. DuWayne recognizes  just what Rohrabacher is up to, "Congressman Rohrabacher is an illustration of how the Trump era has empowered people to speak and promote hatred," he told me this morning. "As a father of a son who is gay, I want my son to be able to live a life free of fear and hatred. A society where he won’t be the victim of a hate crime. A society where he can work for an employer that won’t discriminate against him, because of his sexual orientation. A society where he can purchase a home and raise his own family. A society where he can pursue his dreams just like every other American citizen. That’s why I am running for Congress, because my congressman, Peter King, has just as bad a record on LGBTQ issues as his colleague in discrimination Rohrabacher. We can do better and we must do better by electing people to Congress that understand the true values of our country."

I Don't Know If Troy King Is Still A Closet Case, But He's Running For Alabama Attorney General Again

Republican Troy King is running for Alabama Attorney General again. Why would any DWT, outside of Alabamians, care? There's an interesting story there-- although none of the media outlets covering his announcement has mentioned it. King was appointed Alabama Attorney General by Bob Riley in 2004 when Bill Pryor resigned to accept a a federal judgeship and was then elected to the post in 2006. In 2008 King's wife caught him in bed with a young man and kicked him out of the house. Two years later Luther Strange primaried him and beat him convincingly, 284,613 (60.13%) to 188,724 (39.87%).

King officially qualified for the race Thursday in Elba. It has been 7 years, since he has served the people of Alabama and now he is ready for a second chance.

“I’m back because I feel the call and I believe that is what public service is-- a call to serve the people of Alabama-to help take our state back,” says King.

But why now? King says there are a number of reasons why he feels led to get back into office.

“I didn’t want to run for office. I have waited and hoped and thought and believed that somebody was going to step up and begin to restore integrity to public service and begin to return government back to the people that it belongs to,” says King.

From 2004 to 2011, King served as the state’s attorney general. Luther Strange defeated him in the 2010 Republican primary.

“I believe I come back into government with a much fuller and complete view of how the things I knew are going to effect the people of Alabama and that is a very important perspective to have. You don’t know the things you don’t know and I know a lot more now than I did seven years ago,” says King.

King says, there has been a cloud of corruption over Alabama.

“I’ve waited seven years hoping, waiting for somebody else to step forward and fix the problems in our state,” says King.

King will face Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alice Martin and Chess Bedsole on the Republican ballot of the race.

King was about as homophobic as any garden variety Alabama Baptist politician-- and that's very homophobic. When he was Attorney General, he wasted a lot of time prosecuting people who sold dildos. But King's obsession with homosexuality can be traced back to his college days when he was writing disturbingly hysterical anti-gay articles for the college paper, the Crimson White. He seemed more than a little obsessed even back then. 

King, a frontrunner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010, has called homosexuality "the downfall of society."

He wrote those words in an editorial at his alma mater-- the University of Alabama where he was a law student from 1990-1993 and a frequent contributor to the campus newspaper, the Crimson White.

He also decried the existence of a gay group-- the Gay/Straight Alliance-- on campus.

"The existence of the Gay-Lesbian Alliance on this campus is an affront to the state of Alabama, its citizenry, this university and its students," King wrote.

A photograph of two men kissing that appeared on the front page of the CW in March, 1992, brought this response from King:

"The time has come for the majority to rise from its figurative slumber. The picture on the front page of Monday's issue of The Crimson White looked like the front page of Sodom and Gomorrah News the day before those cities were destroyed. I and a majority of the students were appalled not that these students would pose for this picture, for we have seen that the homosexuals in America will do anything to grab a headline but rather I am furious that this paper would sacrifice its journalistic integrity for a tabloid-esque reporting! It is indeed sad that America has fallen to the point where she will condone any type of deviant, immoral activity in which a group desires to participate. However, perhaps even more compelling evidence of the perversion of America is evidenced not only by the fact that this story was published in the newspaper but rather that it was graphically depicted on the front page."

During his third year of law school (1993), he addressed the subject of AIDS.

"Currently, AIDS is the most behavior-oriented disease known to mankind," King wrote. "If this nation's current purveyors of perversion would refrain from committing sodomy they would unquestioningly be spared the ravages of the disease."

After she caught him in the act, his wife kicked him out of the house and she said she was divorcing him. He was then the focus of a lot of negativity because of his hypocritical, smug nature and because... well, Alabama is like that.

The rumor at the time was that Troy's mystery man was his old college roommate who he gave a position to when he took over the AG office in 2004. Supposedly when Troy was out of town so was lover boy.

The story then became that the mystery man was a young man who had just graduated from Troy University and was the Homecoming King (no pun intended) (God that gets confusing...Troy King with the homecoming king who graduated from Troy) and that was who the wife walked in on. Then a few weeks later Troy and his boy toy from Troy were spotted at the YMCA (not kidding) engaging in....ummmm....inappropriate activities. Yeah...at the YMCA...made famous by the Village People. Apparently Troy has no inkling of what it means to be 'discreet'.

A song was written, based on Roger Miller's classic "King of the Road"-- but a hit in Alabama in 1997 by another closet case, Randy Travis-- and recorded real fast:



McCain, then a presidential candidate, didn't just fire King as chairman of his Alabama Leadership team, he disappeared all mentions of King from his website. King never responded to questions about his sexuality but his political patron, Gov. Riley, turned on him in 2010 and backed Luther Strange. I sure hope the Human Rights Campaign endorses him in his current race.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

-by Noah

The Judge Roy Moore case isn't the first case of a Christian Extremist being caught, figuratively and/or literally with his pants down and his hypocrisy showing. I'm reminded of former #1 TV preacher Jimmy Swaggart of The Assemblies Of God who was defrocked after his first scandal with a prostitute. That was in the 1980s. Later, in the next decade, good ol' Louisiana boy Jimmy was heading up his own Jimmy Swaggart Ministries when, one day in Indio, California, the cops pulled him over for driving on the wrong side of the road. Riding along in the passenger seat of his shiny, top-down convertible, was a brand new prostitute. In the back seat was a large stack of well-perused porno mags. Oh well, at least his companion was of legal age. No one could vouch for the girls and boys in the magazines.

Soooo disappointing. Fast forward to the present day and we have the Republican Party's Great Nut Hope, Judge Roy Moore. Look at it this way: Despite the lunacy and evil of Judge Roy Moore, he has pulled back the curtain on the perversion of Christianity once again, ideally once and for all time. So, for your Sunday morning reading, I give you a few of the nation of the Nation of Al Abama's Pastors of Perversion! Please see below!

The Republican Party's Pastors of Perversion, along with the majority of Republican voters, Alabama citizens, and Republican Party officials are currently engaged in a desperate attempt to normalize pedophilia in order to get their perv elected to the United States Senate. Naturally, this attempt to normalize pedophilia goes all the way up to the so-called President of the United States. What a fine example all these cretins are! Yeah, I know that pedophilia has been normalized in Alabama seemingly forever but imagine if you are a child who is being sexually abused right now. You are seeing that all hope is gone because what is being done to you is embraced and approved by those who could help you do something about it, including not only the locals and your church, but those who make our laws in Washington and the leader of the free world himself. You were already going to have a messed up life. Maybe, you'd kill yourself outright or do it slowly with years of drug abuse. If it was me, I'd be looking for revenge, big time. These are the forces that are set in motion by those in authority.

Lest you would be inclined to say that the Pastors Of Perversion are few in number, I have provided a second meme that lists 50 of the pro-pedo preachers who have signed a letter of endorsement for Roy Moore's candidacy for the United State's Senate. You know there have to be more and you know their congregations have fallen right in line. How many of them will go to the local school houses to vote on election day, and linger to gaze longingly at the girls (or boys) in their gym classes?

Here are a few prime quotes from assorted Pro-Perv Pastors who support Roy Moore:

Pastor Earl Wise (Alabama)- There are some 14-year-olds, who, the way they look, could pass for 20...How these gals came up with this, I don't know. They must have had some sweet dreams somewhere down the line."

Hmmm. "Sweet dreams." I think we know something about Pastor Wise's own dreams and how his bent mind works. I also have to wonder how his charming words would be accepted if he was talking about boys and not girls. Where would this story be if Judge Roy Moore's thing was underaged boys? Probably no different. Worse yet, suppose the FBI ended up digging up the woods around Moore's little cabin and found some children last seen on the sides of milk cartons?

This, folks, is the state of Christianity and the Republican Party in the year of our lord 2017. What will they approve of next?

And, how about making excuses for Moore by blaming the Vietnam War? You've gotta give this next loon, North Carolina's Pastor Flip Benham, some kudos for originality as he tried to justify Moore's "lifestyle" by claiming that there was a shortage of available age-appropriate women in Alabama when Roy Moore returned from his service in Vietnam to pursue a degree in law.

All of the ladies, or many of the ladies that he possibly could have married, were not available then. They were already married, maybe, somewhere.

Benham added that Moore was forced to "look in a different direction" and that he was "looking the for purity of a young woman." Well, what's a guy to do? I suspect that other servicemen returning to Alabama faced the same odds but managed to find a mate without having to go hang outside the local junior high school.

The star of today's lead meme, Pastor Franklin Raddish, also isn't from Alabama. He's from South Carolina, as if there's a difference. I've pointed him out not just because, like the other Pastors of Perversion, he is such a prominent staunch defender of Roy Moore, but because he's a cut below (above) when it comes to being eligible for the Trump Deplorables Ring of Honor:

More women are sexual predators than men. Women are chasing young boys up and down the road, but we don't hear about that because it's not PC.

Although I have no doubt that Raddish would back Moore no matter what Moore's proclivities and orientations were, it's clear that the cheese really fell off his cracker long ago when it comes to his brand of homophobia:

These people aren't the good neighbor next door, they're out to target young children. They must recruit their heritage. As many of them will die from AIDS, the only way they can keep their numbers is to recruit. Pedophiles and men dressing like ladies, their objective is recruitment of young children.

The pedophiles will be here tomorrow. The men who dress like women will be here. The world wants to educate our children to be tolerant of homosexuals. The homosexuals can't grow in number unless they recruit. How do they recruit?

They sodomize. That's the only way.

Damn, this is one bonkers pastor; a pastor who has zero to do with making America great. I can't wait to see what kind of prostitute and what kind of magazines he has in his car when the cops pull him over. Hell, I hope they check the trunk, too! Judge Roy Moore often expresses similar thoughts about LGBT people, but that, together with the runaway hypocrisy, offers an explanation as to why both men are Republicans.

We can now regard this list as the short list for which Pro-Perv gets to give the invocation at the 2020 Republican Convention.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

-by Noah

A couple of days ago, Señor Trumpanzee was the first sitting president to speak at the Family Research Council's annual hate fest. While we shouldn't be surprised that a psychopath would eagerly attend an American hate group's conference to lend encouragement and endorse their activities, a lot of people were surprised (incredulous is a better word) when our madman "leader" of the free world made the bold faced claim that his (and their) agenda is "substantially ahead of schedule." Sure, there is zero doubt that the Trumpanzee is an over the top boastful megalomaniac whose pathological lying knows no bounds, yet his kool-aid saturated crowd cheered and stomped with their drooling approval just the same. When he punctuated his statement with his standard "Believe me." They did.

The mob at the Family Research Council's so-called Values Summit is a virulent bunch. They look at the influx of "damn foreigners" into our country (documented undocumented alike) and they scream that they "want our country back." Back from whom? Back from "those people." They long for a time when caucasians were the vast majority of the population in this country. That time is gone and isn't coming back, short of genocide, of course; something that, judging from their statements and social media pages, many of these fake christians would be all for. They don't want to live in a country and world where the influx of what they call, in the words of one of their heroes, republican Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore, "browns" and "yellows" continues. They see the races mixing because we no longer have segregation and they are appalled. If you want to really get them going, just tell them that "brown babies" are just part of the millennia-long evolution of humankind. Make sure to say 'humankind' and not 'mankind.' Hell, just the word 'evolution' will send their blood pressure heading for the moon. Want to take it further and watch the fun? I have. It's easy. After bringing up evolution and/or the inevitability of race mixing, just bring up something, anything about gay people. Damn. You could bake a whole wedding cake using just the heat coming off their foreheads!

Homophobia was well-represented at the "Values Summit." The swag bag given to attendees even included a bonkers brochure titled "The Health Hazards Of Homosexuality." The brochure pushes a book that claims no one is "born gay" and that homosexuality is an "attack on 'traditional marriage'. Yeah. Whatever. Keep in mind that we not only have a thrice-married serial adulterer and admitted predator in the White House, we also have a VP that thinks gay kids should have their homosexuality electrocuted right out of them. No doubt, this crowd eagerly would watch such a thing on TV for hours; if only "the media" wasn't "controlled by liberals."

So, look at all of these hats in the today's meme. Look at all those things Trump voters voted for Trump for. The hats put the lie to his claim of being "substantially ahead of schedule" with his agenda. In truth (not that truth matters to his supporters) the Trumpanzee has failed to get even one single piece of legislation passed into law. That's a very good thing, given what he wants to do to America and its Constitution. but, as exemplified by his attacks on Obamacare, he has done a lot of damage to the lives of Americans. Why, it's enough to make you wonder just who he's working for. Believe me.

Those hats represent a catalog of lies he got elected on. The Values Summit attendees and the rest of his supporters don't seem to have any problems with the promises left unkept. To this point, there is only a slight erosion in the Trumpanzee's support among republicans. The vast majority of Trump's supporters still love him. Apparently, the unkept promises don't bother them one bit. Ask yourself why, despite all these broken promises that were obviously insincere from the get-go, Trump's voters still support their man. Look at the hats. Do you see what's missing? Do you see what Trump has stayed true to? Do you see the core, base value that Trump has delivered on and delivers on on a daily basis? Do you see what Senor Trumpanzee has not backed off of one bit? Do you see why, despite all of his failures, they still cheer him?

The answer is racism and bigotry. Those are the core values of Trump, his party, and his voters. They are number one, by far. He can break any promise and fail to deliver on any of his promises but those that enhance racism and bigotry. Attacking president Obama's Iran deal and Obamacare (and any of his achievements), appointing Jeff Sessions as AG and Betsy DeVos as Secretary Of Education are just four examples of manifestations of Trumpian bigotries. Racism and bigotry are the easiest for Trump to deliver on. You can deliver on those with just emotion and words. No legislation required, although, to his voters, that would be very nice, too. Trump has emboldened racists and bigots of every kind everywhere, and not just in Charlottesville. For that, Trump's voters love him and will continue to do so. Such very fine people.

Transgender People-- A Tribute With Love To My Dear Friend Jack, Then Jane, In Graduate School.

-by Melody Siegler

One of my best friends in graduate school was Jack. He was a serious scientist-- an accomplished scientist-- way more accomplished in his field than most graduate students of our cadre in Biology. Also, he was amazingly expert in old music, old 45s. And, who knows what else. He related well to everyone in the Department. And, he was always wonderful company.

Jack had a health problem-- he had been born with various defective heart valves. But, by some miracle, these defects compensated for each other. Not completely though-- whenever we went somewhere that involved going outside, he had to wear a hat and warm clothing, even in California. I could see him turning blue,  because his heart didn’t pump enough so that the hemoglobin-oxygen combination (to make blood red) took to circulate through his system, especially if he exerted himself in any way whatsoever.

Jack was maybe 29, the last time I saw him at UCSC. I went off to England for a post-doc. And this was in the days before the “internet” and “email.” So I lost touch with him.

I came back to visit friends in Santa Cruz, maybe two years later. Both were in the Biology Department-- one a professor, and the other a graduate student. Jack had died because of his heart problems.

But, there was a lot more to the story. In my absence, Jack had “realized” or at least declared that he was transgender. I put “realized” in quotes, because I now know that transgender people most often experience “gender dysphoria” from the get-go. Right out of the womb. But, this was not a time where this was known or recognized.

Jack, while I was away, became Jane. He started dressing as a female. Wearing make-up.  There were some unisex bathrooms in the Biology Department, so I doubt that he ever committed the terrible sin of using a “F” bathroom. But, she, Jane, was shunned and reviled by members of the Biology Department, including faculty members. This was UCSC. This was Santa Cruz in the ‘70s. Where one faculty member regularly smoked dope while doing his biochemical assays. He went on to become the only Bio faculty member to be appointed to the National Academy of Science, a high honor indeed.  pparently he was horrified by Jack’s change to Jane. Yes, rumor, but believable.

I won’t go into all the scientific research I’ve done since about transgender people, and why they are transgender. The present evidence overwhelmingly strong that this is biological (not genetic) conditions at some point in the womb, in utero, that changes their development as to gender identity. And, given that my friend Jack-- then Jane-- was born with multiple heart defects, well… draw your own conclusions.

I now draw your attention to a recent HuffPost piece:

Here’s A Fact-Check On Milo Yiannopoulos’ Incendiary Claims About Trans People

  1. Transgender people are not ‘confused’ about their ‘sexual identity’

  2. Transgender people do not suffer from a psychiatric disorder

  3. Transgender people are not “disproportionately involved” in sex crimes

  4. Transgender people are the ones harassed and discriminated against in restrooms

  5. Transgender people face shockingly high levels of sexual abuse and assault

  6. Trans people using restrooms corresponding with their gender identity doesn’t allow predators to gain access to those venues

  7. Transgender people just want to use a bathroom and leave-- just like everyone else.

In closing, the level of ignorance about transgender people makes me weep.

I saw this online as a moderator at FDL during the ENDA debate. (Where the Human Rights Campaign saw fit to NOT support trans people.  And, even more recently in messages on a college list-serve I am on.

I makes me weep for my dear friend Jane, and every transgender person.

Yesterday, the Trump Regime signaled what we all feared was coming, that the Trumpists are about to reverse the federal government's progressive policy on transgender rights, an area where Obama had made tremendous strides in recognizing equal rights.

Ever since Ted Cruz burned him badly-- see video up top-- Trump has been obsessed with federal guidance to public schools going back almost a year ago that transgender students be allowed to use bathrooms matching their gender identity. Yesterday the Regime's flack, Sean Spicer, said this is a matter for the states, not for the federal government: "All you have to do is look at what the president's view has been for a long time, that this is not something that the federal government should be involved in, that this is a states' rights issue." He warned that Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos, the two vicious bigots running the Justice Department and Department of Education would be sending out new guidance. It seems likely that one day the enablers of Trumpist policy will face Justice; just add this to the list.

Know Any Crazy Gay People Who Voted For Trumpanzee?

Even he's laughing at the idiots

Perhaps you read something about Trump being forced to fire his National Security Advisor after just a few weeks on the job, when he was exposed for taking cash from Putin and illicitly conniving with him even before Trump was sworn in. Many people find that rather important. But the bigoted little shit from the KKK that the Senate confirmed as Trump's Attorney General has something else he wants the Department of Justice to prioritize for investigation and remediation: LGBT equality. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III sees equality for gays and lesbians as a criminal problem. Jessica Mason Pieklo, writing for Rewire reported this morning that "within his first 48 hours as attorney general, Jeff Sessions made it clear that targeting LGBTQ rights would be a Department of Justice priority."

It didn’t even take U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III two full days before using the power of his position to go after the rights of transgender students, sending a clear message about the future under the Trump administration.

The message came in the form of a court filing in a Texas case challenging an Obama Department of Education (DOE) guidance that public schools and universities receiving federal dollars should protect the rights of transgender students by allowing them access to facilities that align with their gender identity rather than their biological sex. Schools that refuse to comply with the guidance would be considered in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, and risk losing their federal funding.

Shortly after the guidance was announced, several states run by conservative lawmakers filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas arguing the administration had overreached its authority in issuing it. In August, a federal judge blocked its enforcement nationwide, ruling the Obama administration could not punish schools for not accommodating transgender students while the lawsuit proceeds. The Obama administration appealed that initial ruling. That appeal is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The new Department of Justice (DOJ) under Sessions changed the course in that case in two significant ways. First, Sessions withdrew a request by the Obama administration to limit the court order blocking enforcement of the guidance to only those public schools in states that sued against the order originally. Sessions and the DOJ then filed a joint request alongside the states challenging the rule, asking the Fifth Circuit to remove oral arguments in the case from its calendar. The request noted that all parties were “currently considering how best to proceed in the appeal.”

In other words, Sessions and the DOJ are trying to find the legal avenues to argue the guidance should not be followed, while the administration works on unwinding it altogether... All this doesn’t just suggest the Trump administration is reversing course on the position that existing civil rights laws protect transgender people from discrimination. It also suggests the DOJ will now actively work against transgender rights by siding with conservative states seeking to do the same.

Oh, and by the way, to answer our own question in the title, exit-pollsters estimate that 14% of gay people voted for Trump-- and his infamously homophobic running mate-- in November. Are they all on prescription drugs like the rest of Trump's supporters? (Bonus question: how many Jews voted for the Nazi Party in the 1933 Reichstag elections?)

Will Wisconsin Have The Ugliest Senate Race Of 2018? If David Clarke Is The GOP Candidate, Bet On It

A few weeks ago, PPP polled Milwaukee County voters. Keep in mind that Wisconsin went very narrowly for Trump in November (after their primary choices-- Bernie for normal people and Cruz for Republicans-- were eliminated. Bernie beat Hillary in the Wisconsin primary 567,936 (56.6%) to 432,767 (43.1%) and Cruz beat Trump 531,129 (48.2%) to 386,370 (35.1%). In November Trump won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes 1,409,467 (47.9%) to 1,382,210 (46.9%)-- on percentage point. Even more surprising, right-wing extremist Ron Johnson was reelected to the Senate over Russ Feingold 50.2% to 46.8%, almost 100,000 votes separating them.

Nonetheless, Milwaukee County was a big Clinton bastion. She blew Trump away-- 288,822 to 126,069 and Feingold did similarly well in Milwaukee County, beating Johnson 276,751 to 147,929.

The PPP survey, though, wasn't about the presidential race. It was all about the deranged crackpot sheriff of Milwaukee County, David Clarke, a badly unbalanced Trump fan boy, who originally sneaked into office by running as a Democrat. The PPP press release headline said it all: Sheriff Clarke Headed For Defeat. "Clarke," they wrote, "is very unpopular, and has almost no chance at being reelected next year."

Only 31% of voters in the county approve of the job Clarke is doing, to 62% who disapprove. Beyond that, voters consider him to be somewhat of a national embarrassment. 65% say that he's had a negative impact on Milwaukee County's image nationally, to only 29% who think he's had a positive impact. White voters (34/59 approval for Clarke) and black voters (22/72 approval for Clarke) are united in their negative feelings toward him.

Among Democratic primary voters, just 13% say they would support Clarke in a Democratic primary today to 82% who say they would prefer someone else. Clarke basically has no path to reelection as a Democrat at this point. He probably could be the Republican candidate for Sheriff- he gets a 72/23 approval rating from them- but then he would have virtually no chance of winning the general election either way.

“Milwaukee voters think David Clarke is embarrassing their county on the national level,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Democratic voters are open to replacing him with just about anyone at this point.”

Donald Trump has a 30/63 approval rating in Milwaukee County, but Scott Walker's actually even worse off at 30/66. Walker trails a generic Democratic opponent in the county by 35 points at 64/29. To put that in perspective, Walker lost Milwaukee County by 27 points while winning by 5 statewide in 2014. But looking at it from another angle, Hillary Clinton won Milwaukee County by 37 points in November and still managed to narrowly lose statewide, so it's hard to say exactly what Walker's poor position in Milwaukee means for his overall prospects next year.

OK, Milwaukee will have a new sheriff next year. But what's next for Clarke? He's eager to have his department start rounding up undocumented immigrants. There were rumors that Trump had a job for him in the Regime but nothing's come that so far. And yesterday I got an e-mail from a shady right-wing operation in Denver, Restore American Freedom and Liberty, asking for money that they say they will use to help Clarke beat progressive champion Tammy Baldwin in her 2018 Senate reelection effort. And what a doozy of a letter it is!

Liberal Lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin Hates Straight Families! It Is Crucial That Sheriff David Clarke Defeats Her!

Sheriff David Clarke

Leftist lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin hates straight families. She wants to force all Americans to be subjected to LGBT sensitivity training! She even wants to require 5 year old children to learn about gay sex! It is crucial that Sheriff David Clarke defeats her!

Will you help Sheriff David Clarke win? Please contribute $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more to help Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke win!

Leftist lesbian Tammy Baldwin is extreme and a threat to American values. She even supports importing millions of terrorist refugees from Syria! She is wrong for America!

Please contribute $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more to help Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke defeat liberal lesbian Tammy Baldwin!

MIlwaukee Sheriff David Clarke isn't afraid of the PC police. He wants to ban Islamic immigration and build a wall on the border. Sheriff David Clarke also supports deporting illegal aliens, and ending welfare payments to immigrants. If elected to the Senate, Sheriff David Clarke will also work to defend the Second Amendment, balance the budget, and stop abortion.

Will you help Sheriff David Clarke defeat Tammy Baldwin? Your contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more, is crucial for voter outreach and advertising!

The race will be very close! Your support is crucial! Sheriff David Clarke has not yet officially declared himself as a candidate, but all signs indicate that he will announce. In the unlikely event that he doesn't run, funds will be used to support the most conservative candidate.

These grifters aren't even asking you to send money to the crackpot candidate; they"re asking you to send money to them, some portion of which-- at least in theory-- will be spent on Clarke. So you can send the, $100 and their cut could be $90 and Clarke's could be $10. Or their cut could be $99.99 and Clarke's could be $0.01. The e-mail subject line-- always sure to get a good open-rate from right-wing imbeciles, was "Lesbian Senator Hates Your Family."

Among the Republicans who are considered potential opponents to Tammy Baldwin, besides Clarke, are far right congressmen Sean Duffy, Mike Gallagher and Glenn Grothman, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and a gaggle of pretty crazy state legislators.

Blue America has only endorsed 5 proven progressive incumbents up for reelection in 2018 and Tammy Baldwin was one of them. You often hear people excusing cowardly Democrats like Claire McCaskill (MO), Bob Casey (PA), Joe Manchin (WV), Joe Donnelly (IN), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Jon Tester (MT) for voting with the Republicans by saying that Trump won their states. But Tammy is never on that list. Wisconsin voters know who she is and what she stands for and how hard she works for their interests. She votes according to the values and principles that made her one of the best members of the House and have made her one of the best members of the Senate. So far this cycle her ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is 100%-- not just an A, but a perfect A... and in a swing state. If you'd like to make sure Tammy stays in the Senate-- and that David Clarke doesn't bring his aggressive extremism anywhere near it, please consider tapping on the ActBlue thermometer on the right and giving to her campaign as generously as you can... to her... directly.