AFSCME endorses Jan

Creasman for House is proud to announce that Jan Creasman has received the endorsement of the AFSCME Iowa Council 61 PEOPLE Committee in her campaign for Iowa House.

“AFSCME is excited to ensorse Jan Creasman.  Our members know that she can be counted on to support working families and protect the rights of workers.  Our members work hard and never quit.  We see those same values in Jan,” said AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan.

In Iowa, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61 represents 40,000 public employees including law enforcement and correctional officers, firefighters, mental health workers, professional school staff, emergency responders, and many other workers.  AFSCME Iowa Council 61 also represents home health care and child care providers across the state and private sector workers at Prarie Meadows, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Des Moines University, and ABM (Marshalltown).

The Party of Hate

Republicans say they’re against racism.  And yet:

  • Paul Ryan says Trumps attack on U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel was “the textbook definition of a racist comment”, but supports Trump for President anyway.
  • Reince Priebus, who brokered the Ryan endorsement of Trump, supports Trump.
  • Chuck Grassley said Trump’s racist remark was no worse than something someone else said, which wouldn’t justify Trump’s racism even if the remarks were comparable, which they are not.
  • Marco Rubio unambiguously said that Trump’s comments were wrong and discredit the Republican Party, but has repeatedly said he would back the Republican presidential nominee, even if it’s Trump.
  • Mitch McConnell says he “I couldn’t disagree more with a statement like that” but wouldn’t answer whether he considered it racist. He supports Trump anyway.
  • Ben Carson says Trump talks like a racist but is not a racist, and supports Trump anyway.
  • Newt Gingrich said the remarks were unacceptable, which is surprising coming from someone who has thus far failed to criticize Trump’s birtherism, anti-Muslim bigotry, misogny and casual racism. He supports Trump anyway.
  • Ted Cruz and Chris Christie simply had no comment, and presumably still support Trump.

So let’s see…that’s the current Speaker of the House, a former Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, and four Republicans who ran for President in 2016, and the chairman of the Republican National Committee, all either backing Trump despite admitting he’s a racist, or refusing to admit he’s a racist despite the evidence, or afraid to comment. And that’s just the leadership. We also have the unambiguous polling data showing that racist voters support Trump. And just as icing on the cake, David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan and Trump supporter, says Trump’s not a racist, the problem is the Jewish media.

When the entire leadership of a political party, and a solid majority of the voting members of that party, want to put a racist in the White House, there’s no longer any argument about whether that political party stands for racism.  You can’t run as a Republican and claim to stand for something else.

ALEC wrote it, Windschitl proposed it: License to Kill Bill

Republican incumbent Matt Windschitl thought that we should have a so-called “Stand Your Ground” law in Iowa, so he proposed HB 57 in 2013.  Such laws lead to more homicides in jurisdictions that have passed similar legislation.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden opposed the bill.  “A person already has the right to defend themselves or others, if needed.  The ‘stand your ground’ legislation goes far past that. I refer to it as the ‘license to kill’ statute, because that’s exactly what it does.”

ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council, a right-wing organization backed by the Koch brothers.

Source:  Blog for Iowa

Windschitl: bullying is bad, unless the victim is gay

In 2010, Matt Windschitl introduced a bill excluding gay and transgender students from protection under an anti-bullying law passed in 2007, the Safe Schools Law.  This is the Republican Party that Donald Trump represents so perfectly.  They can’t pass their constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage, so they lash out at the weakest people in society:  gay and transgender teenagers.  Because of course they do.

This is the Republican incumbent that Jan Creasman is up against in November.  You can vote for the party of hate, or you can vote for Jan.

Mussolini vs Trump

mussolini trump

Which of these policy positions are from Donald Trump, Republican, and which are from Benito Mussolini, Fascist?

  • Cut taxes on the wealthy.
  • Balance the budget.
  • Cut federal spending.
  • Privatize many functions of government.
  • Deport undesirable foreigners.
  • Support the majority religion, foment hatred toward minority religions.
  • Promote foreign wars.

Trick question.  All these are positions taken by both Trump and Mussolini.  Because Trump is a fascist.

Trump uses many of the fascist’s tools: a contempt for facts, spreading a pervasive sense of fear and overwhelming crisis, portraying his backers as victims, assigning blame to foreign or alien actors and suggesting only his powerful personality can transcend the crisis. He endorsed the violence done to a dissenter at one of his rallies, and he now floats the idea of making entry to the United States contingent on religion.

And it’s working.  Trump has the racist vote locked up.  Polling data shows that 20% of Trump supporters think that Lincoln was wrong to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.  No, seriously, they actually think Lincoln was wrong to issue an executive order freeing the slaves.  And another 13% aren’t sure.  About the Emancipation Proclamation.

Conservative military historian Max Boot tweeted: “Trump is a fascist. And that’s not a term I use loosely or often. But he’s earned it.”

Trump isn’t a fringe character any more.  This is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.  The one who won the primaries (with record high Republican voter turnout) and who will win the convention.  He represents the Republican Party.  He has been endorsed by the entire Republican leadership.  Every candidate up and down the ballot who runs on the Republican Party line is willingly sharing the ticket…with a fascist.