United States Governors

[fraurosena]

I predict he'll be kicked out of the party soon.

 

[JMarie]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/elections/ct-nw-louisiana-governor-race-20191117-lyozjwua5zesvg62sxs25346ky-story.html

Quote

Deep in the heart of the conservative South, Louisiana’s voters reelected Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards to a second term, shocking Republicans who had hoped to reclaim the seat on the strength of President Donald Trump’s popularity.

With his focus on bipartisan, state-specific issues, the moderate Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support Saturday to defeat Republican businessman Eddie Rispone, getting about 51% of the vote.

 

[Audrey2]

I'm going to put this here, since Nikki Haley was the governor of South Carolina when the critter mentioned (I don't even want to use his name) committed his acts of violence. As usual, I'm only going to quote the first couple of paragraphs.

Nikki Haley claims Dylann Roof 'hijacked' the 'heritage' of the Confederate flag in church massacre

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nikki-haley-claims-dylann-roof-hijacked-the-heritage-of-the-confederate-flag-in-church-massacre-203254126.html

Spoiler

Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that white supremacist Dylann Roof “hijacked” the Confederate flag by carrying out a mass killing of African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015.

Haley was governor of South Carolina at the time.

“Here is this guy who comes out with this manifesto, holding the Confederate flag, and had just hijacked everything that people thought of,” Haley said in an interview with host Glenn Beck published Friday on his website, the Blaze. “We don’t have hateful people in South Carolina. There’s always the small minority that is always going to be there, but, you know, people saw it [the flag] as service and sacrifice and heritage, and, but once he did that there was no way to overcome it.”

I am so appalled that I am almost shaking. The Confederate flag is not a positive sign of heritage. It's a symbol of one race owning another, and fighting to keep the status quo.

Since Nikki thinks it's just a flag of heritage and didn't have any hate or oppression connected with it until 2015, would she be okay if the people around her start flying the British Imperial flag that flew over India until 1947, since her parents are of Indian descent? (I don't think I'm going to place here because I feel uncomfortable but it also is the flag of domination and dominion over another population.)

[Becky]

No wonder she was Trump's pick for UN ambassador.... birds of a feather and all that.  She shows a stunning ignorance, I hope she is vilified for it.  If she is simply pandering and setting the scene for a Presidential run in 2024, I think she is mistaken and that clip will haunt her.  At least I hope it does!  

[fraurosena]

8 hours ago, Becky said:

She shows a stunning ignorance

She's not ignorant. She knows exactly what that flag stands for. Every idiot and his mother knows what that flag stands for. There is nobody in the world who knows anything at all about the American Civil War that doesn't know what that flag stands for.

She knows it, and is spouting this white nationalist propaganda to pander to the trumplican base.

Which, in my mind, makes it much, much worse than simple ignorance.

[RosyDaisy]

So, a link to thus Twitter thread appeared in my FB news feed

https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelharriot/status/1203170899572207617?fbclid=IwAR1OlcBPWBAu86-ZcfqOGZ9OMGZY82H7NU1puGdMPYFet-dLQCP7ajZB4qw

This guy goes into great detail about the origins and historry of the Confederate flag and why displaying one doesn't reflect one's heritage.  It's flat out racism 

[GreyhoundFan]

Wow, Bevin just screamed a big fuck you to the people of Kentucky: "Defeated GOP governor pardoned violent criminals in a spree lawyers are calling an ‘atrocity of justice’"

Spoiler

Matt Bevin is no longer the governor of Kentucky, but his decisions continued to send shock waves through the state’s legal system this week after he issued pardons for hundreds of people, some of whom committed violent offenses.

Bevin issued 428 pardons since his defeat to Democrat Andy Beshear in a close election in November, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. His list includes a man convicted of reckless homicide, a convicted child rapist, a man who murdered his parents at age 16 and a woman who threw her newborn in the trash after giving birth in a flea market outhouse.

He also pardoned Dayton Jones, who was convicted in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy at a party, Kentucky New Era reported.

It is not unusual for governors to issue pardons as they leave office, but Bevin’s actions boggled some of the state’s attorneys, who questioned his judgment.

“What this governor did is an absolute atrocity of justice,” said Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele, a prosecutor for Knox and Laurel counties. “He’s put victims, he’s put others in our community in danger.”

“I’m a big believer in second chances,” Bevin said in a message left with The Washington Post on Thursday afternoon. “I think this is a nation that was founded on the concept of redemption and second chances and new pages in life.”

“If there has been a change and there’s no further value that comes for the individual, for society, for the victims, for anybody, if a person continues to stay in,” Bevin said, “then that’s when somebody should be considered for a commutation or a pardon.”

One lawyer said the victims of the pardoned criminals received no warning. Instead, Eddy Montgomery found out through news reports and rushed to inform families before they were blindsided.

“We’re pretty shocked about it,” said Montgomery, the prosecutor overseeing Lincoln, Pulaski and Rockcastle counties.

Montgomery said he was startled to see Brett Whittaker — a man who was convicted on two counts of murder for killing a pastor and his wife while driving under the influence in 2011 — on Bevin’s pardon list. At the time, Whittaker was on probation for a separate assault offense.

Steele said he was particularly disturbed by the pardon of Patrick Brian Baker, whose brother hosted a fundraiser for Bevin and donated to him over the years, the Courier Journal reported.

Baker was convicted in 2017 of reckless homicide, robbery, impersonating a peace officer and tampering with evidence for his role in a 2014 home invasion that resulted in the death of Donald Mills. Baker had served just two years of his 19-year sentence when Bevin pardoned him to time served on Dec. 6.

In 2017, Mills’s sister, Melinda Smith, told WYMT that it was a “blessing for our family to see [Baker] get sentenced.”

Steele, who prosecuted Baker, noted that Bevin did not pardon his co-conspirators in the robbery and homicide.

Baker’s brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Kathryn Baker, held a fundraiser for Bevin in July 2018 and raised $21,500 to pay off Bevin’s 2015 campaign debts, the Courier-Journal reported; the couple also donated $4,000 to his campaign at the same event. Kathryn Baker donated another $500 to Bevin’s 2019 reelection effort, the Journal found.

The News Journal, a local paper, covered the fundraiser in a story on Aug. 1, 2018, and ran accompanying photos of the couple with Bevin.

Steele said that when news of the pardons broke, people sent him the photograph. He said he recognized the Bakers immediately, that he knew the family from community events and that he had seen the couple in court for Patrick Baker’s trial.

Eric and Kathryn Baker could not immediately be reached for comment.

A spokesman for Bevin’s gubernatorial campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bevin said he pardoned Baker because he “made a series of unwise decisions in his adult life” and that “his drug addiction resulted in his association with people that in turn led to his arrest, prosecution and conviction for murder.”

Bevin’s formal pardon also states that “the evidence supporting [Baker’s] conviction is sketchy at best.”

“I have no idea as to what he is speaking of in regards to sketchy evidence or the conviction being sketchy,” Steele told The Post in response.

The state Department of Corrections confirmed that Baker had been released on Wednesday.

Not all of Bevin’s pardons stirred controversy. He spared death row inmate Gregory Wilson by commuting his sentence to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years, the Courier Journal reported. Wilson’s 1988 murder trial had been plagued by legal and ethical issues.

Bevin also pardoned Louisville community activist Christopher IIX, who was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 1990 and theft by failure to make disposition in 1997, according to local reports. In the pardon, Bevin said the activist “has turned his life around after a rocky start many years ago and has paid his debt to society.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm guessing Bevin will soon have a high level position in this cruel and sham administration, he's just like his lord and master, the mango moron. TW: rape

Spoiler

When the Louisville Courier-Journal revealed earlier this month that former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin (R) had pardoned a slew of violent criminals during his final weeks in office, he cited his belief in second chances.

But on Thursday, Bevin offered a different explanation for one particularly controversial pardon: He said he didn’t believe that a 9-year-old girl was raped, because her hymen was intact.

“There was zero evidence,” Bevin told talk-radio host Terry Meiners of WHAS.

Already under fire for handing out pardons to relatives of his supporters, Bevin is now facing an onslaught of criticism from medical and forensic experts. Scientists have debunked the notion that inspecting an alleged victim’s hymen can prove whether they were sexually assaulted, and found that most survivors of child sexual abuse do not have any physical damage. George Nichols, an expert in evaluating child abuse who also served as Kentucky’s chief medical examiner for 20 years, told the Courier-Journal on Thursday that Bevin “clearly doesn’t know medicine and anatomy.”

Bevin, who had a reputation for making controversial and unproven claims during his single term as Kentucky’s governor, was narrowly defeated by Democrat Andy Beshear in November. Before leaving office, he issued 428 pardons, a group that includes multiple convicted murderers and sex offenders, the Courier-Journal reported.

Asked Thursday by Meiners how he could stomach pardoning a child rapist, Bevin responded, “Which one?”

The radio host was referring to 41-year-old Micah Schoettle, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2018 after being convicted of rape, incest, sodomy and other sexual offenses. On Dec. 9, the day before he left office, Bevin commuted Schoettle’s sentence, allowing him to walk free after only 19 months behind bars. The pardon also meant that Schoettle wouldn’t have to register as a sex offender, WCPO reported.

The mother of Schoettle’s victim, whom the station did not name to preserve her privacy, likened it to a “slap in the face.” She said that she was working on getting an emergency protective order and considering moving to another part of the country.

“We just got to the point where we felt safe leaving the house and not looking over our shoulders,” she told WCPO, adding that her daughter spent three years in therapy for post-traumatic stress. “Now that he got away with it, who’s to say what he’s going to do to another child?”

Defending his decision on Thursday, Bevin divulged additional details about the case that were not previously made public. The victim, who is related to Schoettle, accused him of raping her over a period of two years, often when her sister was in the room, he said. Bevin said that Schoettle was also accused of sexually assaulting the victim’s sister, who has denied that any wrongdoing took place.

“Both their hymens were intact,” he told WHAS. “This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me, if you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically.”

That’s untrue, Nichols told the Courier-Journal. “Rape is not proved by hymen penetration,” he said. “Rape is proved by phallic penetration … where the vaginal lips meet the outer surface of the vagina."

As the paper pointed out, one peer-reviewed survey of pediatric child abuse rape cases found that only 2.1 percent of victims had visible damage to the hymen.

Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders, a former Bevin supporter who prosecuted the case, slammed the ex-governor for being “ignorant” of science. He told the Courier-Journal that Bevin “obviously never watched” the court hearing where medical experts, including those hired by the defense team, testified that they would not expect the victim’s sexual assault exam to show any injuries.

While it’s unclear how Bevin learned about Schoettle’s case, he has repeatedly suggested that the 41-year-old was falsely accused. “I do not believe that the charges against Mr. Schoettle are true,” he wrote in his Dec. 9 pardon, describing the investigation as “sloppy at best” and alleging that the conviction was based solely on testimony from the victim “that was not supported by any physical evidence.”

Sanders, who has called for an investigation into how Schoettle’s pardon came about, told WLWT that Bevin didn’t review any of the evidence compiled by prosecutors and the police. “So it really makes you wonder — what was he basing his decision off,” he told the station.

In a Saturday interview with the Courier-Journal, Bevin urged a reporter to investigate the case and talk to the victim’s family. “Not everything that you are told is true, including in a courtroom,” he said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have called for an independent investigation into Bevin’s flurry of last-minute pardons, citing concerns that some were granted as favors to supporters. The Courier-Journal reported last week that Patrick Brian Baker, who was serving a 19-year sentence for reckless homicide, was pardoned after his brother and sister-in-law held a fundraiser that raised $21,500 to pay off debt from Bevin’s 2015 campaign. The son of a former state representative who backed Bevin and donated to his campaign also received a pardon after being found guilty of charges that included drug trafficking, possessing stolen firearms and burglary earlier this year.

Bevin has denied that any political favoritism played any role in his decision-making. “I got campaign donations from tens of thousands of people, I couldn’t begin to know who’s related to who,” he told WHAS on Thursday.

The former governor’s comments about a rape victim’s hymen set off a new round of criticism on Thursday night.

“Outside of how disgusting this comment is, it’s just another reminder of what it means for girls and women to have men who don’t understand anything about our bodies legislating them,” the feminist writer Jessica Valenti tweeted.

 

[JMarie]

https://www.hrc.org/blog/shameful-tennessee-gov-bill-lee-signs-harmful-anti-lgbtq-child-welfare-bill

Quote

HB 836 could have a sweeping, harmful impact in child welfare services by enabling discrimination against LGBTQ people, same-sex couples, interfaith couples, single parents, married couples in which one prospective parent has previously been divorced, or other qualified parents to whom an agency has an objection. The biggest barrier to placing children with families is a lack of qualified prospective parents; having the state give contractors and subcontractors a license to discriminate, thereby limiting the pool of prospective parents for no legitimate reason, is unconscionable and an unacceptable use of taxpayer dollars. 

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/emails-companies-urged-gov-veto-anti-lgbt-adoption-68641823

Quote

As Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's office sought to downplay potential consequences over an anti-LGBT adoption proposal, multiple big companies reached out to his administration warning the state's reputation would suffer if the Republican were to enact it.

Emails obtained through a public records request by The Associated Press show representatives from IKEA, Mars Inc., Nestle USA, Unilever and Danone North America all reached out to Lee's office raising concerns about the proposal's effect on recruiting and retaining employees. Lee signed it last week, making the law effective immediately.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

What a scum.

[PotsPansPatriarchy]

I have SO much info on the extremist governor in my state but before I share:  are non-members allowed to click on a profile and see post history?

[GreyhoundFan]

3 hours ago, PotsPansPatriarchy said:

are non-members allowed to click on a profile and see post history?

No

Just an FYI, there is a tech support forum if you have technical questions about FJ.

[hoipolloi]

Eric Greitens, former governor of Missouri, and wife Sheena Greitens are getting divorced. From his FB page:

Amazing how many fundies are up in his comments, commiserating & giving him a major pass on it all. Disgusting.

[AnywhereButHere]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2020/04/27/florida-gov-calls-state-gods-waiting-room-at-coronavirus-briefing/amp/

 

Quote

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sparked outrage by referring to the Sunshine States as “God’s waiting room” during a briefing about the coronavirus pandemic.

“Florida is ground zero for the nursing home — we’re God’s waiting room,” DeSantis said Sunday, using an old joke about the number of retirees who flock to his state, WPLG Local 10 reported.

WTF is wrong with DeSantis? I know he’s cold, callous, and very Republican, but seriously, does he actually try to be this offensive, or does it just come naturally?
 

 

[47of74]

Former Illinois Gov. Goodhair has been disbarred

Quote

The Illinois Supreme Court officially disbarred former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday, two months after a state panel recommended that the politician lose his law license.

The court’s decision was hardly a surprise and Blagojevich, whose license was suspended indefinitely after his 2008 arrest, did not fight to regain it. He didn’t attend a March hearing about the matter before the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, and he suggested afterward that he had no intention of practicing law again.

During that hearing, which came days after President Donald Trump commuted his 14-year sentence, the commission panel heard evidence that led to Blagojevich’s convictions for a host of felony charges, including that he tried to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama and that he tried to shake down a children’s hospital CEO and racetrack owner.

Good.  He's a scumbag. 

[47of74]

Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and current Iowa Governor #CovidKim led the fight to have Medicaid privitizaed here in Iowa.  In the latest entry in the no shit Sherlock files that didn't work as well as expected.

Quote

The state auditor’s office released a report showing a small majority of health care providers surveyed believed privatization of Medicaid had a negative effect on their quality of care.

The report said a simple majority of health care providers surveyed, 51.5%, said privatization had a negative effect on the quality of care patients received. 54% of respondents said privatization had a negative effect on access to care as well.

According to the report, 53.9% of the respondents said they were either extremely dissatisfied with the timely and accurate payment for services. Hospitals overwhelmingly, at 82.9% said they were either extremely dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the timely and accurate payment for services.

 

[47of74]

Former Indiana Governor and Vietnam POW Joe Kernan has died.

Quote

Former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, a Vietnam prisoner of war who entered politics and was thrust into the state’s top office when his predecessor suffered a deadly stroke, died Wednesday at age 74.

Kernan died at a South Bend health care facility, said Mary Downes, who was his governor’s office chief of staff. Kernan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago, but his family kept his condition private until disclosing earlier this month that he had lost the ability to speak and was living in a care facility.

Kernan, a Democrat, won three elections as South Bend’s mayor before being elected lieutenant governor with Gov. Frank O’Bannon in 1996 and 2000. Kernan became governor in September 2003 after O’Bannon’s death and served for 16 months before he lost the 2004 election to Republican Mitch Daniels.

 

[47of74]

Poor Scotty Wanker can dish it out but can’t take it. 

Quote

Former Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker appeared to tap out of a CNN interview early on Thursday when anchor Anderson Cooper pressed him on Republicans blaming Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for the civil unrest in Kenosha.

Toward the end of a combative exchange, which featured Walker blasting Democrats for not denouncing violent protests over police brutality, Cooper began grilling the former governor on President Donald Trump’s silence on the Jacob Blake shooting. As the CNN anchor peppered Walker with tough questions about the incident at the heart of the Kenosha protests, Walker could be seen approaching his video camera.

He’s the male version of Iowa’s #CovidKim. 

[47of74]

The FBI short circuited a terrorists plot to kidnap Gov Whitmer of Michigan 

Quote

A militia group planned to violently depose Michigan’s government and abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the FBI said in a federal affidavit filed Thursday.

"Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message."

At least six men have been charged in connection with the alleged terror plot, identified as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. Their arrest was first reported by The Detroit News.

In a press conference Thursday, state Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office had brought additional charges in the alleged plot under the state anti-terrorism law against seven suspects not named in the FBI affidavit.

 

The Fuck Nugget owns this. He’s the one sending coded messages for these terrorists to attack.  Democrats grow a fucking spine and impeach him for inciting terrorists to commit these acts. 

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Democrats grow a fucking spine and impeach him for inciting terrorists to commit these acts. 

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments. 

But it won't work. It didn't work with the Ukraine scandal, and it won't work with this. It will never work for any reason. Not as long as MoscowMitch controls the Senate.

 

[fransalley]

33 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

The FBI short circuited a terrorists plot to kidnap Gov Whitmer of Michigan 

The Fuck Nugget owns this. He’s the one sending coded messages for these terrorists to attack.  Democrats grow a fucking spine and impeach him for inciting terrorists to commit these acts. 

Someone involved in that kind of plot is scary.  Although I thought, who had this on their 2020 Bingo card?  

[quiversR4hunting]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

The FBI short circuited a terrorists plot to kidnap Gov Whitmer of Michigan 

Quote

A militia group planned to violently depose Michigan’s government and abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the FBI said in a federal affidavit filed Thursday.

"Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message."

At least six men have been charged in connection with the alleged terror plot, identified as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. Their arrest was first reported by The Detroit News.

In a press conference Thursday, state Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office had brought additional charges in the alleged plot under the state anti-terrorism law against seven suspects not named in the FBI affidavit.

 

The Fuck Nugget owns this. He’s the one sending coded messages for these terrorists to attack.  Democrats grow a fucking spine and impeach him for inciting terrorists to commit these acts. 

This is scary as all get out. I started to read the affidavit. I got to page 7 and had to stop for a bit. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/08/fbi-affidavit-conspirators-kidnap-gov-remote-wisconsin-location/5923989002/ 

Trump tweeted on 4/17/2020 to liberate Michigan and 2 of the people met at the 2nd amendment rally at the capital.  

[47of74]

Here's the Federal criminal complaint

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/politics/whitmer-kidnapping-criminal-complaint/index.html

[fraurosena]

Gov. Whitmer is hitting back.

 

[47of74]

And of course these sticks of fuck are pretty fucking stupid. 

Quote

Gov. John Carney (D-DE) signed off on a pardon last year for one of the conspirators who attempted the kidnapping of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) Thursday. Barry Gordon Croft, Jr., 44, of Bear, Delaware was pardoned for crimes between 1994-1997 that included possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and assault and burglary. Additional charges were conspiracy, receiving stolen property and disorderly conduct.

The 44-year-old Bear, Dela. native was arrested and charged in a federal court in Michigan following the foiled attempt to kidnap Whitmer.

Delaware Department of Justice spokesman Mat Marshall said, “Needless to say, nobody — neither the DOJ nor the bipartisan Board of Pardons — would have endorsed a pardon had they known what the future held.”

Carney issued a written statement through a spokesman calling Croft’s new charges “disturbing.” He said anyone involved in the kidnapping plot should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

 Congrats dude. You just pissed away the second chance you were given. Good luck getting a third chance asshole.