January 1, 2017

In Red States, Businesses Gearing up to Fight Bathroom Bills

Source: AP










FILE- In this March 24, 2016, file photo, people protest outside the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C. Tennessee businesses have banded together to try to convince their state legislators to snub laws similar to the infamous bathroom bill in North Carolina, which has consumed that state's politics for months and scared off businesses and sporting events. (AP Photo/Emery P. Dalesio, File )




NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jan 1, 2017, 1:41 PM

Sean Henry, the president of Tennessee's NHL team, is stunned he even has to explain why he hopes state legislators will snub bills similar to North Carolina's transgender bathroom law, which has consumed that state for months and scared off businesses and sporting events.

The Nashville Predators team is among about 300 companies, ranging from health-care giant HCA to FedEx, joining under the moniker Tennessee Thrives to oppose bathroom and religious objection bills, which they consider discriminatory and bad for business. Companies in other GOP-led states have had success voicing opposition under similar names: Georgia Prospers, Opportunity West Virginia, Missouri Competes.

"I honestly cannot believe that in 2016 I'm actually asked a question as to why I would support anti-discrimination groups," Henry said. "I think the real question is: who hasn't joined?"

After the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, social conservatives turned to statehouses, seeking state laws to let businesses, pastors and government refuse services to LGBT people based on their religious objections to same-sex unions........................................

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/red-states-businesses-gearing-fight-bathroom-bills-44497448

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The article writes about other states also.

January 1, 2017

Obama is the first President to acknowledge that love is love. I'll never forget this sight!

WE all have to resist everyday to preserve this.



Faith #DemForce and 3 others liked
Rapunzel™
📎
❄️ ?@co_rapunzel4 31 Dec 2016

#ObamasLegacy
President Barack Obama is the first President to acknowledge that love is love. I'll never forget this sight!

:large

January 1, 2017

GOP Girds for Race to Repeal Obamas Final Rules Before Deadline

I really feel like we, as a nation, will be going backwards in time--. damn




GOP Girds for Race to Repeal Obama’s Final Rules Before Deadline
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-20/gop-girds-for-race-to-repeal-obama-s-final-rules-before-deadline?utm_content=politics&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%253D=socialflow-twitter-politics



by Laura Litvan
December 20, 2016, 4:00 AM CST

Under 1996 law, Republicans must act by May to speed reversal
Contractor ‘blacklisting,’ energy-efficiency rules are targets

Republicans in Congress plan to deploy a powerful tool soon after Donald Trump is inaugurated to scuttle a host of rules put in place in the last months of Barack Obama’s presidency, yet they must act quickly for the tactic to work.

A number of rules will be targeted using the Congressional Review Act, a law passed 20 years ago after Republicans took House control for the first time in four decades that provides an expedited procedure for canceling rules issued in the final months of an administration. It’s been used successfully only once, and top GOP lawmakers say they have about four months to act.

The regulations facing repeal includes a measure unveiled Monday by the Obama administration to protect streams and groundwater from pollution caused by coal mining. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said hours later he’ll introduce a resolution next month to overturn a rule he called a “regulatory assault” on the coal industry in his home state of Kentucky.

Other targets include rules enacted this year that would blacklist federal contractors with labor-law violations, make it harder for companies to avoid paying some taxes, and boost energy-efficiency standards to cut greenhouse-gas emissions........................

January 1, 2017

John Nichols: Resolved: Resist Ryan and Trump

John Nichols: Resolved: Resist Ryan and Trump


http://host.madison.com/ct/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-resolved-resist-ryan-and-trump/article_f5cc5daa-df9d-5cd7-9317-2f4207a9f178.html


JOHN NICHOLS | Cap Times associate editor 4 hrs ago

When Paul Ryan and top congressional Republicans gathered the evening of Jan. 20, 2009, to plot a strategy of absolute and unrelenting opposition to Barack Obama's presidency and the House and Senate Democrats who had received a mandate from the American people to work with the enormously popular president-elect, Kevin McCarthy told the group: "If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority. We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."

That determination to resist the Obama agenda offended Democrats and thrilled Republicans. But, at the most fundamental level, it was nothing more than Politics 101.

An opposition party exists to oppose the party in power.

Ryan and his fellow partisans understood this in 2009.

Yet, now, Ryan and the Republicans are whining about the failure of Democrats be a “loyal opposition” that willingly compromises and cooperates with President-elect Donald Trump, Ryan and the wrecking crew they have assembled to destroy essential programs — beginning with Medicaid.

Ryan claims Trump “earned a mandate” for a “go big, go bold” agenda, while Trump “counselor” Kellyanne Conway is not just claiming a mandate but griping that critics of the billionaire are “attempting to foment a permanent opposition that is corrosive to our constitutional democracy.”

“The left is trying to delegitimize his election,” grumbles Conway. “They’re trying to deny him what he just earned.”

Ryan and Conway should brush up on their math.........................................................................

January 1, 2017

Wisconsin would scrap transgender health benefits for state employees following legal actions

No doubt this will happen


TWEET:
The Capital Times Retweeted
Jessie Opoien ?@jessieopie 31 Dec 2016

Jessie Opoien Retweeted Wis. State Journal

This sets in motion the contingencies that will block WI's benefits for transgender state workers from taking effect http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/election-matters/wisconsin-would-scrap-transgender-health-benefits-for-state-employees-folowing/article_6498f302-dd7b-5570-89ff-88057e104c34.html #p2


Wisconsin would scrap transgender health benefits for state employees following legal actions

JESSIE OPOIEN | The Capital Times | jopoien@madison.com | @jessieopie Dec 31, 2016

Gender reassignment surgery and related gender identity services will be covered by insurance for transgender state employees in Wisconsin starting Jan. 1, but that coverage would be taken away if a series of legal developments occur.

The board overseeing state employees’ health benefits voted 7-2 Friday evening to reinstate exclusions in coverage for gender identity services, including counseling and gender reassignment surgery, as long as four contingencies are met.

The Group Insurance Board met late Friday afternoon to discuss how coverage for state employees may be affected by the upcoming ruling in a federal lawsuit filed in Texas by several health care providers and states including Wisconsin. The lawsuit opposes a federal rule that bans health care providers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity.

Deputy Commissioner of Insurance J.P. Wieske told members of the board it is the position of Gov. Scott Walker and his legal counsel that the rule was illegally implemented and violates the U.S. Constitution......................................

January 1, 2017

Washington Post raises 'darker suspicions' about Trump's Russia stance

Washington Post raises 'darker suspicions' about Trump's Russia stance

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/312307-washington-post-raises-dark-suspicions-about-trumps-russia



Washington Post raises 'darker suspicions' about Trump's Russia stance

By Nikita Vladimirov - 12/31/16 12:21 PM EST



© Getty Images

The Washington Post on Friday raised "darker suspicions" about the President-elect Donald Trump's lack of concern for Russian interference in the U.S. election.
The White House on Thursday expelled 35 Russian officials and announced an array of new sanctions for what the U.S. intelligence agencies are calling a deliberate hacking campaign, orchestrated by Moscow, for the purposes of interfering in the presidential election.

The Post's editorial board questioned Trump's praise of Putin after the Russian leader decided not to take countermeasures against the U.S.

"The president-elect’s dismissive response only deepens unanswered questions about his ties to Russia in the past and his plans for cooperation with Vladi­mir Putin," the newspaper wrote.

"For his part, Mr. Putin seems to be eagerly anticipating the Trump presidency. On Friday, he promised to withhold retaliatory sanctions, clearly hoping the new Trump administration will nullify Mr. Obama’s acts," the Post added...........................................