Waging minimum parity

local/regional, National, ,

Nationally one thing became clear in last Tuesday’s election: when a minimum wage hike is on the ballot, even red state voters can pass it — often overwhelmingly.

In Missouri and Arkansas an increase to the minimum wage was on the ballot, and although aggressively opposed by state GOP leaders and big money business groups, it passed overwhelmingly in both red states. Voters passed measures that will raise those states’ minimum wages almost immediately, and thereafter increase it at regular intervals — over years it’ll be edging up substantially. In Arkansas the minimum wage measure passed with 68 percent in voting in favor.builtonwages

If red state voters can accomplish such a feat for low-wage earners can blue Vermont do more?

Regionally pressure to raise the minimum wage is increasing. New York is phasing in a $15.00 minimum, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island have proposals in their legislatures to reach a $15.00 minimum. It isn’t too far-fetched that even traditionally low-minimum-wage New Hampshire might experience some pressure, now that the last election gave both houses in the state legislature a Democratic blue majority. And at NH’s current $7.50 per hour minimum, who can afford to work there if they can earn significantly more in a nearby state?

Vermont’s current minimum wage is $10.50, goes up to $10.80 in January 2019, and to $12.16 by 2024. Now Vermont doesn’t have ballot measures but a plan to increase the planned minimum was passed during the 2018 legislative session.

The 2018 legislative bill would have hiked our minimum to $15 per hour by 2024. It is estimated by the Economic Policy Institute that to meet basic housing, food, and transportation needs, a single full-time worker in rural Vermont needs to earn at least $15.00 per hour. However our GOP Governor Scott vetoed the increase which (along with a vetoed paid family-leave bill) would have made life in the state more affordable for actual working class families.

Maybe the new bluer so-called “super” majority of Democrats and Progressives in the Vermont legislature will decide to give Republican Scott a second chance at doing the minimum: making the lives of low-wage earners more affordable.

How bad is it?

National, Uncategorized,

 America, checks with top advisers:

Q.) U.S A. : How fucked am I?

A.) First adviser: Well, you look awful, you look terrible. I mean, you often look quite bad, but…

Q.) U.S.A.: In terms of basic functional health of our federal government on the fuck-o-meter, where am I?

A.) Second Adviser: Oh, 12.

 A.) First adviser: Yeah. 12, say.

Q.) U.S. A.: Out of what?

 A.) Second Adviser: Er… 50.

 A.) First adviser: Oh. Mine was out of ten.

U.S. A.: Right, (to Second Adviser) so I’m 24% fucked according to you, (to First Adviser) but according to you I’m 120% fucked? *

Two years of Trump & GOP rule and now post-election the prognosis may be a little better. The Democrats did take control of the house. “So for the first time in two years, there is an institution of the government that is neither afraid of, nor controlled by, the president”. Women candidates running for office made huge gains. From the NYTimes.com: There will be at least 100 women in the House next year — the largest number in U.S. history.  And Democrats gained in state legislatures, CBS news reports: […] as well as obtaining governorships in seven formerly Republican-held states. Additionally, the majority of state attorneys general will be Democrats come January. 

The glimmer of light at the end of the Trump/GOP tunnel is a little brighter.

unclesamgreenBut the GOP in the Senate still has Trump’s back covered. And at two post-election press conferences  Donald more than demonstrated his continuing contempt for normal rules of behavior. Not only did he escalate his attacks on the media and revoke a CNN reporter’s White House press credentials but he threatened more reporters with the same. He topped off his belligerent performances by firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Then by placing a complete GOP hack with questionable ethics as acting Attorney General he put the Mueller investigation in real jeopardy.

I’m an optimist today so let’s say we’re at 24% on the “f” meter.

*Apologies to Armando Iannucci and The Thick of It.

VOTE and then watch the election coverage because: “Nothing riding on this but …”

local/regional, National, ,

After the polls close here in Vermont we are lucky to have the Secretary of State Election results website with frequently updated results on all the statewide races throughout the night. From 7 pm VPR will have national NPR and local election coverage and Vermont PBS goes with to News Hour national coverage and Democracy Now! On their HD service Vermont PBS Plus.

For the nearly 33 million cord-cutting people without cable TV Poynter.com has listed a dozen different video platforms, streaming services and phone apps where one can follow the mid-term election results. There is a lot available, everything from FiveThirtyEight’s live blog and real-time updated House, Senate and governor forecasts to  Fox News (tin-foil hat propaganda network). And the always  thorough  Poynter.com even has suggestions for anyone with  “fancy new digital TV antennae” (rabbit ears and tin-foil?). They  link to a searchable FCC map that will show you  what TV stations and signal strength are available  in your location.unclesamstarz

But, you know, go VOTE first because:  “Nothing’s riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys fuck up again, I’m going to get mad. Goodnight.”

Free Flannel & Half-truths: Vt Commerce and Community Development Fall Foliage Guide:

Business, National, , , , ,

VTDigger.com has partnered with politifact.com and are now using their honesty lantern to check the state’s facts. In their latest fact-check, looked into a statement made by Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Michael Schirling (formerly Burlington’s top cop) in response to a Saturday Night Live TV comedy sketch that parodied Vermont as “a Caucasian paradise.”  In his press release to Boston.com about the skit, Schirling said: “We invite SNL viewers to Vermont to see all that we have to offer, including our increasingly diverse communities and wide array of tourist destinations including the African American Heritage Trail.

Now is a perfect time to visit or to consider a move here. The leaves are changing and so is Vermont,” he said.leavesRturning

He also noted it was true “we do lack a good hip-hop channel,” plugged real Vermont maple syrup, and even generously sent a free (tax-payer-funded) load of Vermont flannel shirts to the cast of the NYC-based show.

Vtdigger.com dug into that response: The statement that Vermont is becoming increasingly diverse needs further clarification. Schirling does not explain that the increase in Vermont’s racially diverse populations is slight.

[…] The U.S Census information Shirling used showed that Vermont as of 2017 was 94.2 percent white [while] it had been 95 percent white in 2013. Vtdigger explained: From 2013 to 2017, the increase in the African-American population from 1.1 percent to 1.3 percent was not statistically significant. But the percent change in the Asian and Hispanic populations was: Asians went from 1.2 percent of the Vermont population to 1.8 percent, a 0.6 percentage point increase; Hispanics went from 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent, a 0.4 percentage point increase.

They rate his statement Half True.

One commenter on Vtdigger.com’s fact check  wondered:  “Who really cares what SNL spoofs? […] It’s a C-O-M-E-D-Y show, too bad people feel the need to defend VT from a comedy skit.”

Good question. Well, I wonder if the administration’s sensitivity can be traced back to an opinion piece early this summer during Gov. Scott and Sec. Schirling’ splashy roll out of their $10,000 move-to-Vermont scheme. The plan, part of Scott’s Stay to stay and Think!Vermont  promotional programs, targeted young professional people and planned to pay them to move to Vermont and work remotely out of state.

Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Yang wrote the following in a criticism of the scheme for CNN titled The Problem with Vermont’s bright idea: What’s ironic is how inside the box its “outside the box” thinking really is. Because while Vermont could be taking this moment to bring new diversity to a state that’s the second-whitest in the United States, it’s instead investing in initiatives that could easily end up maintaining the state’s culturally monolithic status. If Vermont had aimed this policy at explicitly encouraging new Americans to migrate to the state (the policy does not), it would be redressing a significant shortfall in the state’s demographics.” [added emphasis]

Sure seems like the SNL joke touched a nerve in the image-conscious Scott administration over their expensive glossy promotional schemes. But if they are still into giving out free flannel shirts — I could use a couple, size large please — I’ll stay right here in Vermont.

turn·out /ˈtərnˌout/

local/regional, National, , ,

One week to go until election day and if there is to be a blue wave of Democratic and progressive voters then it is all down to showing up at the polls .

turn-out /ˈtərnˌout/  noun: turnout; plural noun: turnouts; noun: turn-out; plural noun: turn-outs

  1. the number of people attending or taking part in an event, especially the number of people voting in an election.votetoday123

    synonyms:   attendance, audience, crowd, gathering, showing, throng, assembly, assemblage, congregation, number; participation [emphasis added]

Nationally and here in heavily Democratic Vermont the signs are good that the turn-out may be one for the record. Vermont saw a hint of it in the August primary when 107,000 people cast ballots. This proved to be the second highest in state history for a primary.

Turn-out predictions nationally are that next Tuesday might set a fifty-year record. NPR reports:“It’s probably going to be a turnout rate that most people have never experienced in their lives for a midterm election,” Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who studies turnout and maintains a turnout database, told NPR.

McDonald is predicting that 45 to 50 percent of eligible voters will cast a ballot. That would be a level not seen since 1970 when 47 percent of voters turned out or 1966 when a record 49 percent turned out in a midterm.

Commenting  on record-breaking early turn-out in Texas McDonald stated what we all know: “There’s a guy named Donald Trump [and all his GOP enablers] and either you love him, or you hate him, but he inflames passion, and when people are passionate, they’re going to vote.”

So, ya gonna let Texas beat Vermont for election turn-out?

Go vote — now at the town/city clerk’s office or next Tuesday at the polls. It won’t work to leave it to your neighbors. It’s up to you.

Go. Vote.

Sanity pause is coming

National,

Even a wave of more than a dozen bombs mailed to outspoken public figures, Democrats and liberal politicians by a Trump supporter didn’t slow the wave of monumental lies and fear mongering from Trump and the GOP.

Alarmed by Trump’s willingness still to smash all rational political barriers Josh Marshall at TPM wrote “At the end of the day, the only real restraint on officeholders isn’t norms or even laws. It’s elections.”

Days later at a campaign rally former President Obama offered up a healthy dose of truth and sanity in Wisconsin. He said without exaggeration “the character of our country is on the ballot.”  Even if you’ve already seen the video, it’s probably worth a re-run.

Obama cited a recent Trump comment that he would pass a tax cut before the November election. Obama then told the crowds in high school gymnasiums that “Congress isn’t even in session before the election! He just makes it up!”

Obama spoke about the slow-moving migrant caravan from Central American bound for the United States as another example of a Republican scare tactic.

“Now the latest, they’re trying to convince everybody to be afraid of a bunch of impoverished, malnourished refugees a thousand miles away,” he said. “That’s the thing that is the most important thing in this election,” he said. “Not health care, not whether or not folks are able to retire, doing something about higher wages, rebuilding our roads and bridges and putting people back to work.”

“Suddenly,” he continued, changing his voice to a high-pitch to strike a mocking tone, “it’s these group of folks. We don’t even know where they are. They’re right down there.”

Referring to Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp,” Obama said that instead “they have gone to Washington and just plundered away.”

“In Washington they have racked up enough indictments to field a football team,” he said. “Nobody in my administration got indicted.”

Maybe ‘Sanity Pause’ will come in November this year. So don’t forget to VOTE!

The Trump administration nabs a leaker

National, ,

It’s no secret that Donald Trump hates anyone in his administration leaking to the press. He has publicly called them “cowards and traitors” in his twitter storms.trumpplumbit1

On Thursday news report said his administration found and arrested its first leaker — not a high-level White House leaker, but a civil servant in the financial crimes division at the Treasury Department. And there is a Donald-sized punch line — the first leaker nabbed turns out to be a Trump supporter.

 Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a senior adviser at the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), is accused of leaking information about private citizens’ bank transactions, called Suspicious Activity Reports. Edwards provided a reporter with data that was used in 12 articles, the Department of Justice alleges.

Edwards and “an unnamed co-conspirator” (whom the WSJ identified as FinCEN colleague Kip Brailey) were allegedly in contact with the reporter for a year. Brailey’s attorney told the WSJ that Brailey, “is not a co-conspirator with anyone.”

[…]Both Edwards and Brailey regularly shared posts attacking liberals and sympathizing with Trump, the WSJ reports. Edwards reportedly “liked” an article calling Trump critic and former CIA director John Brennan a “hack,” and called sexual assault allegations against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “false” and said they set a bad precedent. Brailey apparently retweeted a message calling Hillary Clinton a liar and posts from women who said they didn’t vote for her in 2016.

Reports are that the leaked documents include bank records from Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort (currently in jail), former campaign aide Rick Gates, and Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. All three are up to their necks in the investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia in 2016 and are said to be cooperating with Mueller. Whatever the motivation may have been for the alleged leaks isn’t clear. Edwards told investigators she was a “whistleblower.”

The Wall Street Journal speculates: The employee accused of the leaks—Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a senior adviser at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN — is a supporter of President Trump who believed, along with some colleagues, that another Treasury unit was mishandling sensitive data, according to people familiar with the matter.

What, why, or who Natalie Edwards at Treasury may have been blowing a whistle about may never be clear, but one thing is: bad things can happen to presidents who become obsessed and paranoid about press leaks.

There were reports this summer that Donald Trump became so obsessed about leakers in his administration that for a time he carried around a handwritten list of suspected leakers — like an orange orangutan version of Captain Queeg imagining “deep state” civil servant adversaries, aka “cowards and traitors” infesting his otherwise idyllic and pristine administration.

Forty-one years ago President Nixon’s downfall began when enraged by leaks to the press from his administration, he formed a secret squad of White House “plumbers” to plug them. The “plumbers” were the ones caught after breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate complex.

Remember what happened to him? He was hoisted on his own paranoid petard (look it up) by his own taped conversations and condemned by testimony from fired high-level members of his administration.

But of course P-45, the current occupant of the White House (looking dingier by the minute), “don’t know much about history.” But he’s a stable genius.

The RSLC, aka GOP Big Money: They’re ba-ack!

National, , , , ,

Vermont wasn’t on the RSLC’s early spring “18 in 18” hit list of Democratic state legislators. But now — as they did in the 2016 elections — the Republican State Leadership Committee is shoveling money into advertising against a group of Vermont Democratic and Progressive legislators: the big national conservative PAC money is  Ba-ack  in  Vermont theyreback

Apparently still oblivious to irony, the RSLC — a national conservative political action committee (founded by Karl Rove and funded with donations from Koch Industries ) — is again attempting to rally Vermont GOPers around a banner of “local control.”

John Walters reports in Seven Days: The Republican State Leadership Committee Vermont PAC is spending $186,000 for advertising against left-leaning Vermont politicians: House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero), Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive and Democrat. It’s the single largest expenditure by an outside group in this year’s general election campaign.

The $186,000 reported Tuesday was spent through Junction Consulting, an Essex-based marketing firm owned by Jay Shepard, one of the Vermont Republican Party’s two members of the Republican National Committee. When asked about the windfall, Shepard referred all questions to the RSLC.

 Some Vermonters may (should) recall that VTGOPer Jay Shepard was one of a only handful of GOP state and national party leaders speaking to The Atlantic Magazine to publicly back up President Trump’s contention that there were “some very fine people” who marched alongside the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis at the fatal Charlottesville Virginia riots in August 2017. Apparently satisfied with Trump’s “very fine people ” remark, Shepard offered the following about the white nationalist marchers wearing white hoods and flying swastika flags: “In all mob scenes there are people who just happen to be there, who aren’t leaders of organizations and are just confused as to what the march is all about.”

Seven Days’ Walters also reports that another Washington GOP super-PAC called A Stronger Vermont and  funded by the Republican Governor’s Association is placing their big money into ads supporting Phil Scott. So far this year, the super PAC has spent $473,225 on TV and online advertising, postcards and opinion polling, all in support of Scott.

The RGA seems to be taking out a little extra insurance on their dollar investment in Scott. They’re taking no chances even though his re-election is supposed to be a safe bet.

What could go wrong? Phil Scott may have no governing vision and no leadership qualities, he may be in the thrall of hyper-partisan political operative and Chief of Staff Jason Gibbs. He may have issued high-handed and untimely budget proposals accompanied by ultimatums and vetoed more bills in his first two years than any previous Vermont governor.

But really. He’s such a nice guy.

Norm McAllister Reappears in the #Me too Moment

local/regional, , , , ,

Apparently, Norm McAllister is back in the dock, pursuant to a civil case brought by one of the three women who accused him of sexual assault and procurement.

You may recall that one of the women passed away before the states attorney’s office could bring her case against McAllister to trial.

A second woman, who was a minor when McAllister allegedly attacked her repeatedly, was extremely reluctant to be dragged into public testimony.  When she was finally forced to testify, the sordid details and public humiliation proved too great for her.  In a classic “blame the victim” moment, she was confronted with her own behavior, and fibbed about kissing another young employee at the McAllister farm.   

I suspect no one had warned her that she, the victim, would stand trial rather than the alleged perpetrator who was never required to utter a word.

Her allegations were abruptly abandoned by the prosecution and McAllister faced a sole accuser who was also a poor farmhand with a sketchy past. The jury chose to believe the denials of Senator McAllister over her extremely credible testimony about multiple instances of sexual exploitation and abuse.  Perhaps unable to completely exonerate McAllister in their collective mind, the jurors did convict on a single count of procurement.

Mr. McAllister is now seeking to reverse even that single count as he awaits a brief incarceration. but because the deal he agreed to had him admitting guilt in that single count of procurement, the accuser’s civil cases for damages against him was allowed to proceed.

It is that civil case that is now before the court, citing nine counts, per the following:

.sexual harassment in the workplace

.unfair housing practices

.abuse of power and authority by a public figure

.assault

.battery

.negligent infliction of emotional harm

.breach of warrant of habitability

Naturally, McAllister’s attorney, Bob Katims, seeks to have the civil case stayed pending the outcome of his appeal of the criminal conviction; but the plaintiff’s attorney,  Evan Barquist makes the case that Mr. McAllister points out that the plaintiff has been awaiting justice since 2016.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Evan Barquist, argued the case should move forward. Barquist said McAllister waived his right to avoid self-incrimination by testifying during his criminal trial. Barquist said, “He can’t unwaive them now.”

One can only reflect that, with former senator, Norm McAllister, Franklin County met and failed it’s “Me too” moment, two years ahead of the rest of the country. 

The whole experience has highlighted prevailing winds of misogyny and cowardice that buffet even tiny Franklin County’s Republican delegation. 

To quote our Abuser-in-Chief:  “Sad.”

Post-apocalyptic video game tourism promo: “A great way to remind people of West Virginia.”

National, , , ,

Here’s one for the what-won’t-a-state-do-to-promote-itself file. A soon-to-be-released post-apocalyptic video role-playing game called Fallout 76 by Bethesda Softworks uses images of rural West Virginia locations. The game will reportedly feature scenic vistas that hint at the state’s real-life pre-apocalyptic beauty. It was these images that caught the attention of the state’s tourism department prompting the state to join in on promoting the game. wvfallout

The Wheeling News Register reports: There are the remains of a ski resort near what was Elkins. The Moundsville Penitentiary still stands. Harpers Ferry, located near bombed out D.C., still exists. You can even fight monsters, such as the Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster. You’re free to see and experience it all in the game.

[Notably West Virginia really is the location of formerly secret Cold War era underground bunkers built for federal government office holders, officials, and their families. See “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die,” by Garrett Graff, who was briefly a candidate for Vermont Lt. Gov until tripped up by a residency clause.]

The Fallout 76 trailer opens with John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads song playing over views of West Virginia back roads. There are also monsters, including a huge winged beast inspired from local folklore. The players acquire nuclear launch codes and can use nuclear weapons to reshape the game world. Players then explore the West Virginia-inspired irradiated areas to find rare weapons, gear, and survival items, and then battle powerful enemy inhabitants.

 “Some people have been surprised given the post-nuclear setting, but we see it as an opportunity,” said Chelsea Ruby, the state’s tourism commissioner. “There are going to be millions of people exposed to our state and to the theme song of our campaign through this game, and given the way that the state’s beauty is portrayed in this, we just see it as a great way to remind people of West Virginia.”

The bulk of the campaign will kick off after the game’s release and will include promotions, targeted advertising and official travel itineraries and tour opportunities for Fallout fans who’d like to see the real-life inspirations behind the places featured in the virtual world.

Eight locations from the trailer are outlined on the state’s tourism website, with sliding images that allow users to toggle between the real-life and post-apocalyptic versions of each site.

Although many US states spend big bucks to promote themselves, it is difficult to accurately track the effectiveness of these expensive ad campaigns. Here in Vermont  we have been spared — at least so far — from spending our tax dollars hyping post-apocalyptic video games. Our  so-called “out of box,” attention-grabbing tax-payer funded promotion efforts have included dangling a $10,000 check to select people who agree to move here (as long as they e-commute out of state), regional Stay to Stay  weekend sales-promo pitches to “captive tourist audiences,”  and a pop-up lemonade stand stunt on a state hiking trail sponsored by an out-of-state outdoor-apparel manufacturer. The Scott administration, in 2016, even hired a Pennsylvania company for $1.58 million to create videos and glossy marketing materials to “rebrand” UVM to attract out-of-state applicants.

I suppose if offered the chance, Governor Scott’s Dept. of Commerce would jump to get a piece of post-apocalypse marketing. “Oh look, that’s where the Vermont state house once stood, it was such a brave little state!”