The GOP gubernatorial primary here in Kentucky got pretty wild earlier this month, in one of the ugliest campaigns I can remember. When the smoke cleared, Glibertarian punching bag Matt Bevin led state Ag Commissioner James Comer by a mere 83 votes. The re-canvass of the state’s voting machines didn’t change that lead in the least, and today was Comer’s last chance to file for a full recount, on his own dime.
Comer instead threw in the towel a few minutes ago, and it’ll be Matt Bevin versus current Democratic state Attorney General Jack Conway for the big house in Frankfort.
Comer released a statement emphasizing his support for Bevin, “Within minutes of receiving the results of the recanvass, I called Matt Bevin to concede and congratulate him on a hard fought victory. I asked Matt to afford me the opportunity to personally contact a few of my strongest supporters across the state to again thank them for their support and tell them about my concession. I promised Matt that I would release my statement prior to his Friday morning press conference with the Republican down ballot candidates.”
Comer had until Friday afternoon to request a recount. Bevin will face Democratic candidate Jack Conway in the 2016 race for Kentucky governor.
And as I’ve said before, Bevin is the guy that lost to Mitch the Turtle in last year’s Senate primaries because even Republicans here thought he was bonkers, because he couldn’t bring his glibertarian self to condemn illegal cockfighting in the state when a reporter caught him on tape at a cockfighting rally. McConnell smoked him like a turkey. And now he’s the candidate because about four percent (one-third of the 12% total primary turnout) of the state’s registered Republicans voted for him a few weeks back.
Conway better not screw this up, because if this asshole Bevin ends up Governor, believe me when I say he’s going to make Greg Abbott of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida look sane by comparison…
Paul in KY
If I was Mr. Conway, I would just recycle Mitch’s attack ads, with the preface of “Here’s what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had to say about Matt Bevins:”
Also, Mr. Conway will need to campaign very hard in Northern KY to minimize Bevin’s advantage up there. He will also need to campaign very hard in Louisville, to get his West End shock troops to overwhelm Bevin’s Catholic minions up in Northern KY.
Zandar
@Paul in KY: Bevin is 25 pounds of crazy in a 16 oz. can.
But you’re right, he’ll win NKY NOBAMA Country by 20 points. Conway is going to have to get the voters out in Louisville and Lexington, and Bowling Green to boot.
And yeah, Just run Mitch’s ads.
Betty Cracker
He does sound way crazier than alien reptile pod-creature Rick Scott. At least you can predict how Scott will respond to any issue on the basis of whether or not it will bolster the power and/or line the pockets of the 1%. He’s evil but rational, for the most part.
Paul in KY
@Zandar: I think Bevins was the best candidate Mr. Conway could have hoped for. Now he has to win, because Bevins is as nutty as you say.
Say what you will about Mitch, but he sure does a fine attack ad.
Knowbody
Dear God, who gives a fuck about Kentucky? Let the rednecks vote in the Republican and let them burn the place down.
Good riddance to a worthless red state.
Scott S.
@Knowbody: Letting the teabaggers win is never a good option.
Valdivia
so does this mean Kynect is in danger from this guy?
rikyrah
Black auto shop workers file class-action suit against NYPD
May 29, 2015 | 1:20am
The NYPD’s auto shop needs a major tune-up, says to a racial-discrimination class-action lawsuit filed by black workers who say they are kept in lower-paying jobs compared to their white colleagues.
Three Fleet Service Division employees — David Binyard, Ricky Davis and Tyrone Taylor — are suing the NYPD, the city and their bosses claiming that they’ve been routinely denied promotions for mechanic positions that pay $80,000 — twice what they earn.
Those jobs are given primarily to white people who are “less experienced and less qualified,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit claims.
The three named plaintiffs, have a combined 30 years on the job. They all have prior experience in the auto industry.
The plaintiffs are stationed at a Maspeth, Queens facility where, out of 50 mechanics, only two are black, according to court papers
http://nypost.com/2015/05/29/black-auto-shop-workers-file-class-action-suit-against-nypd/
Thunderbird
@Knowbody: You sound fun…
SFAW
@Knowbody:
First they came for the Kentuckians, but I did not raise my voice, because I lived in a currently-saner-than-Kentucky state …
.
.
.
10 years later …
.
“Hey, where did all these Teabaggers come from?”
Paul in KY
@Knowbody: Hey, asshole. I happen to live in KY and so do a lot of other fine people (who have been outvoted recently by our nutwad brethren). Jack Conway can and will be a BIG difference to all the poor people in KY (whether they vote for him or not) and that’s something worth fighting for.
So, I humbly ask you to fuck off.
Paul in KY
@Valdivia: I think so. I would expect him to still maintain a ‘KYNECT’ website, but for that website to now send you to a ‘Pregnancy Crisis center’ or something like that. Seems to be SOP for slimy Repub shitstains (like Bevins).
rikyrah
how about these kids study like crazy for it. how about the Indians have set up their own spelling bee circuit through church and religious organizations.
…………………….
Indian Americans dominate the National Spelling Bee. Why should they take abuse on social media for it?
By Joe Heim May 25
The streak is as impressive as it is difficult to explain. In much the same way that Kenyan runners have owned the Boston Marathon, Indian American kids have placed a stranglehold on the Scripps National Spelling Bee, winning it now for seven years in a row and all but four of the last 15 years.
The streak has been much discussed and analyzed in recent years — except by the people who actually run the bee. For the first time, Paige Kimble, the bee’s longtime director, agreed last week to address the sensitive question of why Indian Americans have come to dominate the contest, which gets underway Tuesday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.
Part of her motivation: the outpouring of ugliness aimed at last year’s co-champions, Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe, on social media.
We certainly followed the coverage last year,” Kimble said, “and we are aware of Twitter posts that are not nice, that indicate that we have a long way to go as a country in embracing all of our immigrant population.”
Even she’s not sure how to explain the extraordinary performance of Indian American youngsters in the national bee compared with other groups. All bee wannabes devote thousands of hours studying tens of thousands of words. The difference for Indian American kids, Kimble said, may be a commitment to pursue the spelling championship over many years.
“How hard a child works is a very individual factor,” said Kimble, who won the national bee in 1981. “But what might be happening [with Indian American contestants] is that there might be perseverance for the National Spelling Bee goal over a longer period of time.”
Indeed, of the Indian American champions over the past 15 years, only one, Pratyush Buddiga, won on a first trip to the national bee in 2002. The others won after multiple trips, including last year’s co-champ, Sriram, who made it to the national bee five times before winning, and Kavya Shivashankar in 2009 and Sameer Mishra in 2008, who both won on their fourth trips.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/indian-americans-dominate-national-spelling-bee-then-slurred-on-internet/2015/05/25/8ec01098-f414-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html?tid=sm_tw
indycat32
My nephew is undergoing surgery this morning to clear an arterial blockage thanks to the ACA and KYnect’s medicaid expansion . Maybe I can convince him to vote for the first time in his life.
Scott S.
@Thunderbird:
@SFAW:
@Paul in KY:
If I remember correctly, Knowbody is an obsessed racist anti-Zandar troll who’s been banned at least once and should probably be banned some more…
rikyrah
more from that article on Wisconsin and Education:
and this little nugget…well…..
Where do you think these people will be teaching
CERTAINLY NOT IN THOSE TONY SUBURBAN SCHOOLS
…………….
rikyrah
they might be too stupid for words, but there are a whole lotta folks who have healthcare now BECAUSE OF OBAMACARE that should be making sure that their voter registration is up to date and get their asses out there to vote for Conway.
If they don’t….
THEN THEY DESERVE WHATEVER HAPPENS TO THEM
tired of coddling these muthaphuckas voting against their best interest.
Valdivia
@Paul in KY:
what a nightmare. I really really hope this guy loses in a memorable way.
Omnes Omnibus
What article is that?
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: It’s because they have their own highly competitive spelling leagues, that these kids all participate in. Plus, these are some very, very, very smart kids.
Paul in KY
@indycat32: Gonna need em all, indycat32.
Paul in KY
@Scott S.: Oh, it’s that asshole.
benw
@Scott S.: “Knowbody is an obsessed racist anti-Zandar troll” the internet is a really weird place.
Frankensteinbeck
Sun Pony. This is not good. Under normal circumstances, Bevin would be a smear on the floor, but I cannot possibly describe how much Kentucky hates Obama. Conway ran the race you think you want against Rand Paul, relentlessly drumming home all of Rand’s batshit insane positions. He lost. Kentuckians care about nothing more than their hate, and they vomit bile thinking about a black man as president.
I have lived way too much of my life in Kentucky, and I am being kind in my description here.
@Valdivia:
Yes. He would not hesitate to destroy Kynect, and the people voting for him will cheer him doing it if that’s what it takes to get rid of Obamacare and cancel any victory a black man won over whites.
Zandar
I thought I got rid of you once, Knowbody.
Bye.
mai naem mobile
I.can’t keep track.of.these.whackjobs. Isn’t Bevin the special rapey guy or.was that not.Bevin or a different Bevin( his daddy?)
rikyrah
ZANDAR, DID YOU SEE THIS?
………………………
Georgia Justice
The Supreme Court will review a case of blatant racism by prosecutors. For once, there’s a paper trail.
By Mark Joseph Stern
The prosecutors seeking to send Timothy Tyrone Foster to death row went about their job in a curious manner. During jury selection, they highlighted each black prospective juror’s name in green—on four different copies of the jury list—and wrote that the green highlighting “represents blacks.” On each black juror’s questionnaire, prosecutors circled the response “black” next to a question about race. They also referred to three black jurors as “B#1,” “B#2,” and “B#3” in their notes. Finally, the prosecution’s investigator ranked each black juror against the others—in case “it comes down to having to pick one of the black jurors.”
The prosecutors struck each black candidate, one by one, from the jury pool until none remained.
At the end of the trial, prosecutors asked the jury to impose the death penalty on Foster, to “deter other people out there in the projects.” The all-white jury convicted Foster of murder and sentenced him to death.
Foster, a black man, appealed his conviction to the Georgia Supreme Court. Striking black jurors on account of their race is unconstitutional, and Foster believed he deserved a new trial. But the Georgia Supreme Court rejected his claim. Prosecutors had not “demonstrated purposeful discrimination” in striking black jurors, the court held. There was no racial bias in the prosecution of Timothy Tyrone Foster. His execution could move forward.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/05/foster_v_humphry_at_supreme_court_prosecutors_cut_all_black_jurors_in_death.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top
Richard Mayhew
@Valdivia: Yes, Kynect would be gone if Blevin wins
rikyrah
@Omnes Omnibus:
here is the article:
What the heck is going on with Wisconsin public education
By Valerie Strauss
May 28 at 11:51 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/28/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-wisconsin-public-education/?tid=pm_local_pop_b
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Thanks.
Scott S.
@Zandar: Yay!
@rikyrah: I’m a little bit terrified they plan to treat this case like all their others — just another excuse to roll basic human rights back to the 1500s. :(
Paul in KY
@Frankensteinbeck: He didn’t run the greatest campaign against Aqua Buddha. Not a bad one, but could have been better, IMO.
He will need to run his best campaign yet to beat Chicken Matt Bevin.
kindness
Without taking obvious pot shots at our southern bretheren here, expectations of coherence in electing sane people to office, especially in Southern states has a huge degree of fantasy think.
PurpleGirl
@rikyrah: How about they have parents who respect education and encourage the children to learn and study. Then again, there are white Americans who flip off science and education as stupid and worthless in their world.
Origuy
Molly Fromkin had a nice story about being in the finals of the National Spelling Bee.
Zandar
@Frankensteinbeck: Oh believe me, I know *exactly* how much they hate Obama, especially up here in the Boone/Kenton/Campbell county area.
Kropadope
@Zandar: If it helps, it’s scarcely any better here in Massachusetts. Hating on the government, particularly with a Democrat leading it, is the cool thing to do. It’s the new PC.
ETA: I think that the people who mostly support the act of governing are generally pretty quiet about their views (offline). Are we the new silent majority?
schrodinger's cat
@rikyrah: I seriously wonder what fraction of the spelling bee competitors really want to do this as opposed to their parents pushing them to do it? Some parents (Indian and otherwise) can be pretty pushy.
jake the antisoshul shoshulist
@Valdivia:
Bevin ran on dismantling KYNECT. All three of the viable candidates ran on who could fight Obama best and who was the real Kentucky Christian Conservative.
As I pointed out, no Republican has run for my vote in my memor. And at the state level, damn few Democrat.
Iowa Old Lady
@jake the antisoshul shoshulist: Running on destroying health insurance for your constituents is bizarre. Even more bizarre is that it worked. I don’t under people. What’s to hate?
Same thing about marriage equality. I live in a fairly conservative area that’s had same sex marriage since 2009, and the world has not collapsed. Straight people still get married. Lightning hasn’t struck. Do people have so little to worry about that they can spend time and energy opposing that?
MomSense
@kindness:
Please explain the very Northern state of Maine voting for the insane LePage or Wisconsin and “dead eyes” Walker. Unfortunately the stupid is everywhere.
SFAW
@Kropadope:
Although there is, and has been for at least 20 years, a redneck (or equivalent) streak a mile wide in MA, it’s nothing like the South.
SFAW
@MomSense:
The first time was two non-insane candidates splitting the non-insane vote. The second time, however …
Goblue72
Sherman should have finished the job.
Betty Cracker
@Kropadope: It’s just fundamental human nature, I think — a part of the “easier to tear down than build up” principle. It’s a lot easier to bitch about the government, everyone who works for it and everything it does than it is to express support for it or acknowledge the extent to which all of us rely on it.
The IRS is a great example. Virtually everyone hates the fucking IRS! You have to write big fat checks to it (or see its weekly bite out of your paycheck). You have to worry about it auditing your ass. Hate! Fear! That’s the easy part. But we sure do like being reasonably confident we’re not eating rat meat that’s labeled “tuna” or driving over a bridge that’s about to crumble into the bay, etc., none of which would be possible without revenue.
Goblue72
@Kropadope: That explains why the Democrats have controlled huge majorities of both houses on Beacon Hill for decades and passed universal health care & education reform decades ago, along with first state with legalization of gay marriage.
jonas
The one person I know from KY is a hardcore liberal. So why is Kentucky so vehemently anti-Obama? What did he ever do to them? Does it just come down to the uppity audacity to be black while presidenting?
ETA: this goes for all of Appalachia, from Tennessee all the way up through central Pennsylvania. WTF? Something about living in place called a “holler” just makes you lose your shit over Obama.
jonas
@rikyrah: Man, I had heard about the draconian cuts to the UW system (UW Madison used to be a world-class public Ivy. Oh well.), but doing away with teacher licensing? Even requiring a BA? That’s nuts. How much you bet this was done at the request of some Duggar-esque homeschoolers who want public funding for their little academy, but whose only credentials are a Sunday School teaching certificate from an unaccredited Bible college somewhere?
kc
Well, duh, he’s clearly pro-cockfighting. I trust he at least had the stones to come out in favor of cockfighting …
JCJ
@Omnes Omnibus:
Also this:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/late-night-budget-action-dillutes-teacher-license-rules-b99508103z1-305176951.html
Belafon
@rikyrah: Real Americans should get a break based on their skin color.
///
beltane
Very OT, but watching the ponderous, inefficient FIFA voting process makes me despair for our species. What a joke.
Valdivia
@JCJ:
Boy, it does seem that Republican lawmaker couldn’t care less and/or didn’t understand the consequences & implications of her legislative initiative. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of these highly ideological gop politicians have zero grasp of what governing entails, they just legislate what ALEC tells them or what sounds ideologically up their lane. It’s that or she really wants to destroy teacher licensing, but why would they want that? Local control on steroids?
Valdivia
@beltane:
That he needs a second round seems to be a shock, but the shock should be those 133 votes to let him continue. What a joke. Hope that Jordanian prince is twisting some arms right now.
gene108
@kindness:
It was not that long ago that Democrats held statewide office throughout the South – GA, LA, SC, AL, etc. – but they got wiped out over the last 15 years and those state Democratic parties are a hot mess.
I’d rather not lose Kentucky, the way Democrats lost so many other states.
jonas
@Valdivia:
I may be wrong, but I’d bet dollars to donuts this is about allowing religious schools to receive vouchers even though the instructors may have no formal pedagogical training, or even a real college degree. They tried this in Louisiana and everyone thought it was great until some Islamic madrassas starting soliciting funds, then it wasn’t so funny anymore.
Belafon
@gene108: Democrats held those states because people thought they were conservative.
jonas
@gene108:
For the most part because their recovery strategy was to become Republican Lite™. As the old saying goes, if voters have to choose between real Republicans and the lame-ass re-branded Republican Lite™, they’ll go for the real Republicans every time. Also, many GOP statehouses in 2010 rammed through ludicrous gerrymandered districts when they redrew the boundaries, freezing out a lot of Democratic constituencies.
Valdivia
@jonas:
oh yes, this had not occurred to me.
PurpleGirl
OT: I just received a phone call from Hillary’s campaign organization asking for a donation. I explained that I’ve been unemployed since 2008 and I’m living on savings. I said I had no discretionary money. I know how important financial support is but until my finances are more secure no politician is getting money from me. I’m not sure what any politician can do that will make feel thaqt they want to help the working class but that’s the price of support these days.
(Kitten and cat shelters continue to get green paperz (as one shelter operator says her kittens say it) because the kitten cams entertain me and I want to help the little critters.)
PaulW
That is the truly disgusting thing about our current electoral woes: we count a meager turnout as though it’s a majority decision.
THE REPUBLICANS COULD NOT EVEN GET MORE THAN 12 PERCENT OF THEIR OWN REGISTERED VOTERS TO SHOW UP FOR THIS RACE. What the hell should we expect other than this is evidence that ALL the candidates were unacceptable to the vast majority of Republicans?
We need to make it a law: elections cannot count until we can confirm a solid majority of registered voters available to vote in that city/county/district/state are verified (I would suggest 60 percent as the minimum), regardless of it being a primary or general election. If need be, all ballots should include a blank space for a write-in name (as long as the name is a person eligible for the office) or a NONE OF THE ABOVE.
Cluttered Mind
@Goblue72: I’m from Massachusetts. Just because the state is dominated by Democrats doesn’t mean it’s dominated by liberals. It’s basically a one-party rule state, the GOP in Massachusetts has about as much power as the Democrats do in Texas (the GOP governors that get elected are usually able to do so by claiming that they’ll serve as a counterweight to the overwhelming Democratic advantage in the legislature. They rarely actually are able to do this). Because of this, you can’t really predict the behavior of a Massachusetts politician just by their party affiliation as a Democrat. There’s also a rather powerful glibertarian strain of political thought in Massachusetts, every so often we have to fend off referendums to eliminate the state income tax or other insane ideas dear to the hearts of those who live close to the NH border. There’s also the Boston Herald, the local Murdoch paper. There are tons of wingnuts in Massachusetts, they’re just kept in check for the most part by the sane voters.
PaulW
@PurpleGirl:
JESUS CHRIST THAT IS SEVEN YEARS.
Gravenstone
@Scott S.: Didn’t recall if it was a proprietary Zandar stalker, or a new nym for an old troll. It also puts in a hit and run appearance to bitch on every Hillary Clinton thread.
PurpleGirl
@PaulW: Yup, seven years. When first unemployed, no one was hiring and especially not older people; then as time went on, there was my typing speed (around 42 wpm), I stutter, I don’t speak Spanish or Russian or French, I haven’t written successful grant applications, I don’t have a Rolodex of contacts that can get grants… After nearly 16 years at the same non-profit I was really depressed and it’s taken time and counseling to start leaving that behind.
So any politician who wants my support needs to talk about raising SS benefits because where I am right now $1200 a month (once I start drawing benefits) puts me in poverty. They better not talk about raising retirement age, cause I’m 63 and I still have 3 years to go before I reach 66. And those savings I’m living on — my share of selling the family home. In 30-odd years of working, I was never able to save very much. I was finally starting to put into the 403(b) when I lost my job. That money got pulled out when unemployment ran out.
gene108
@Belafon:
15 to 25 years ago, there were a lot more people alive, who remembered how FDR saved their butts or their parents’ butts from the worst of the Great Depression.
Democrats did not just get votes because people thought they were what Gingrich-modern-era Republicans have become.
There were people, who were glad Democrats helped them on economic issues.
Somehow the “Culture War” stuff took over from the economic progress message and the rest went down hill fast.
@jonas:
Democrats, at the state level, started having issues in the 1980’s, when states voted overwhelming for Republican Presidential candidates, but voted in Democratic governors, Senators, etc.
Democrats at the state level had to separate themselves from whatever the National Democratic Party was perceived as, in order to survive.
By the 1990’s, when the 1994 wave election, pushed a lot of Democrats out of office, Republicans at the state level started working on ways to freeze Democrats out of campaign contributions and other things necessary to run a party.
The failure of Democrats, at the state level, in places like SC started 20 or so years ago.
The gerrymandering of 2010 is just icing on the cake in those states.
What is new is states like Wisconsin, Maine, and Michigan have jumped down the same path as Southern states and in some ways are more in overdrive to gut what gains unions and Democrats had established in those states for their citizens.
The real battle is to take back Wisconsin, Maine, Michigan, etc. and maybe North Carolina.
I think the damage has gone on for too many decades in places like SC, AL, MS, etc.
Valdivia
The Jordanian Prince twisted his own arm out of the FIFA race because he feared repercussions for the 73 that voted for him. Mafia style voting.
Zandar
@jonas:
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: In the last thirteen presidential elections, Kentucky voters elected the overall winner eleven times in a row and was in fact a very reliable bellwether state in presidential contests for 44 years.
Then Obama ran in 2008 and 2012 and lost by 16 and 23 points, respectively. The reason as to why remains a mystery, of course. Kentucky happily elected Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton (twice), so it wasn’t because he was a Democrat. And again, as Kentucky went at the polls, so did the country, 11 times running from 1964 to 2004.
Who indeed could have known?
trollhattan
@beltane:
The (slight) upside is that it will surely launch another epic John Oliver anti-FIFA rant.
Roger Goodell is quietly very thankful for FIFA at the moment.
beltane
@trollhattan: The NFL is so much smoother about the corruption. The jarring thing about FIFA is that they don’t even bother employing American-style corporate weasel words in defending their actions. As Valdiva said above, it’s Mafia-style pure and simple.
John Revolta
Southerners voted D for 100 years because the Republicans were the Party of Lincoln. For many of them it didn’t go any deeper than that.
Valdivia
@beltane:
it’s really so amazing. The speech Blatter gave after winning, out of The Godfather movie.
Kudos to the NFL for their subtle corruption.
NCSteve
@Paul in KY: Moved away in the mid eighties, but hear fucking hear and roger that.
The problem with Republican losers in Kentucky is that they don’t go away. They just run again and again and again for every office that comes open from AG to secretary of agriculture to governor to senator and then back down to state auditor until eventually people just give up on hoping they’ll die and elect them.
Pretty much Jim Bunning’s career in a nutshell. Which is why Bivens worries me.
Paul in KY
@NCSteve: I’m worried about him. Bunning used NKY as his base. Never could see why Reds fans would vote for a head-hunting Philly POS like him.
Goblue72
@Cluttered Mind: I lived in Boston for over a decade. The Howie Carr listening townies are loudmouths but they don’t come close to running anything.
And those crazy referendums on the state income tax get easily beaten back or ignored by Beacon Hill.
Massachusetts politically has nothing in common with Kentucky or Texas or the rest of the South.
Making that comparison is contrarianism for its own sake.
Kathleen
@Valdivia: He has stated he will get rid of it.
Kathleen
@mai naem mobile: That was a different Fascistista who ran against Bevin and lost by 85 votes. His name is Comer, and, yes, a woman alleged he abused her when they were dating in college.
Kathleen
@jonas: He’s black.
evodevo
@Valdivia: In a word, YES.