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Awards, Awards, Awards: Cheers to JFP Staff, Freelancers
By Donna LaddYesterday was a very good day for the JFP staff, and especially our writers and designers.
Clinton Takes Mississippi in 2016? Probably against Trump, at least ...
By Donna LaddA new polling analysis published by examiner.com indicates something about Mississippi that has been in the works for a while: Based on recent elections, our state is trending blue.
Based on polling data on a Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump showdown in 2016, Mississippi is one of the few Deep South states that would go for Clinton in that matchup.
This analysis might surprise many who think that Mississippi is the reddest state of the red (especially based on our statewide cavemen, er, elected officials). But several facts make it much more complicated than at first glance:
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State Democrats have provided very few even-marginally-progressive options historically, giving younger and less-conservative choices to vote for, creating voter lethargy among those who might turn out and vote "blue" otherwise. That fact is actually changing this year, with several openly progressive (and female) Democrats getting at least some party support, instead of the pseudo-Republicans the party has tended to put up in the last 20 years.
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More young people of all races are staying in Mississippi, and many of them are voting Democratic, and have since 2004.
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Demographics, demographics, demographics. The irony of Mississippi being the state with the highest percentage of enslaved people in 1860 is that our state still has the highest percentage of African Americans and is more likely than much of Dixie to go blue first. Put simply, African Americans tend to vote Democratic, ever since the Republican Party embrace of Dixiecrats back in the late 1960s after national Dems supported civil-rights laws, and we have the highest percentage of black residents in the country.
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And, let's be honest, even many Republicans don't want bat-shit-crazy Trump running this country.
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Finally, to be honest again, a lot of white people like Clinton better than Obama (even if I'm not one of them).
So, there are no surprises here: Mississippi has been steadily trending blue for a while now. The question, as always, is: Will the people who can flip the state into the blue column turn out both this November (to save public-education funding and turn out a governor who makes us look like the most stuck-in-the-past state) and next November?
Time, and voter registration, will tell. Progressive (which is easy to be here by rejecting the radical right) Mississippians must find the will to stop giving up our power to sellouts to bigotry and backward ideas (and ideologues) to lift our state up. I've watched this will grow since we started this paper in 2002—and saw serious evidence of it when we turned back Personhood, shocking the nation—and I believe in upcoming elections we may well surprise the world once again. I've believed this was coming for nearly 15 years now.
Stay tuned and register to vote.
UPDAT Aug. 24, 2016: The examiner.com link above is broken, but here is an article and another about …
UPDATED: Biloxi Mayor Says City Must Change "Great American's Day" in Ordinance to MLK Day
By Donna LaddUPDATED Jan. 14: After a national firestorm and a No. 1 trend on Twitter, Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich said the Biloxi City Council on Tuesday, the day after the holiday, should change the city’s Code of Ordinances" to reflect the official federal name of the holiday, 'Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,' commonly known as 'Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.'”
“In my opinion,” Gilich said in a statement on the city's website, “that is the appropriate step to take, for the holiday to have the same name as the federal holiday.”
The statement also conflicts with what city workers put out in social media yesterday, blaming the State of Mississippi for making the city call King Day "Great American's Day."
"The name has since been traced back to a City Council on Dec. 23, 1985 to proclaim the third Monday of every January “to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as other great Americans who have made important contributions to the birth, growth and evolution of this country.”
Presumably, among the other "great Americans" is Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who the State of Mississippi also honors the same day.
Did the State of Mississippi Rename MLK Day 'Great Americans Day'? Short answer: Not that we can figure out. The City of Biloxi apparently did rename the holiday, however, with local ordinance 15-2-2 declaring the third Monday of January as "Great American's Day. No sign of a state law, yet, however.
Still, the City of Biloxi is claiming that the State of Mississippi made 'em do it on its Facebook page (see image below), even as social media is starting to blow up nationally criticizing Biloxi, and maybe the whole state, for quietly changing the name of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to "Great Americans Day." Considering that Biloxi is the home of Jefferson Davis' museum-home, run by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, this does not completely surprise. (SCV are major opponents of changing the Mississippi flag).
The City of Biloxi posted this Friday: "Non-emergency municipal offices in Biloxi will be closed on Monday in observance of Great Americans Day, a state-named holiday.""
When challenged under the post, the unnamed Biloxi employee double-downed that this name came down from above: "The City of Biloxi did not declare nor name this holiday. The holiday was declared and named by the state Legislature. The city, in fact, as it has done for years, touted our upcoming MLK celebration in a Bmail and on the city website this afternoon."
The problem is that, so far, we have not found evidence that the state Legislature officially changed the name of the holiday, and lawmakers we've reached say they have no idea about it, either. Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford, said on the Facebook page of Lea Campbell of the Mississippi Rising Coalition that the "Great Americans" name applies to a different holiday altogether: "Great Americans Day is a combination of all presidents days, …
National Media Diversity Site Features Kimberly Griffin's Promotion to Associate Publisher
By Donna LaddAssociate Publisher Kimberly Griffin has been featured on Richard Prince's 'Journal-isms' website.
Councilman Stamps: Corrosion Contract is 'Unfunded Mandate' from State
By Donna LaddJackson City Councilman De'Keither Stamps, of Ward 4, says he voted against the Trilogy Engineering Inc. contract to do a corrosion study for the city last week because it is an "unfunded mandate" by the State of Mississippi—and one the taxpayers cannot afford. In two videos on his YouTube channel, Stamps said his main priority wasn't who was getting the contract, but that the State was demanding that the City suddenly pay $400,000 for a corrosion study, instead of helping the capital city.
"I know several of the subcontractors personally," he says in the most recent video (see below). The issue is I don’t want to spend $400,000 when we don’t have it. This is an unfunded mandate from the State of Mississippi. If they can help us, I’m all for it. … It’s not something we’ve budgeted for."
Stamps, who has unsuccessfully asked for an emergency declaration over the lead issue several times, says the City needs stand and/or federal assistance in order to make sure Jackson residents are safe, especially in areas where 90 percent of the water tested positive for at least trace elements of lead.
"I want to test every child in the whole city that’s in these affected areas," he said in the second video below.
The Back Story on the Anti-Gay Alliance Attacking Mississippi's "If You're Buying" Campaign
By Donna LaddThis falls in the can't-make-it-up column.
Most of you know that Mitchell Moore of Campbell's Bakery, who is straight, and Eddie Outlaw of William Wallace Salon, who is gay, and others started the amazing "If You're Buying, We're Selling" campaign. They want Mississippi business owners to put stickers in their windows to indicate that they don't discriminate, in response to SB 2681, Mississippi's version of the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act." (See lots of business owners with the icon in their ads in this week's JFP, too.)
So, the religious right is apparently not happy with the international media coverage the campaign is getting -- and from Mississippi, which is supposed to be their wheelhouse, you know. They really didn't like it when Emily Pettus of the AP (the JFP's next-door neighbors) did a story about this that was picked up by many outlets.
In response, they went on a PR tear to take back the messaging. Greg Scott, who tweets at @adfmedia, led the way, tweeting this week in response to the AP story: "Sticker folks protest imaginary law .@AP bows false narrative, RFRA not "vaguely written," no threat to "=treatment" http://bit.ly/QEU2El
Curious, I did some research. Turns out, Scott is the VP for media communications for Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund), a nonprofit group founded in 1994 by extreme-right and vocally anti-gay leaders including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. (Interestingly, Mississippi's Judge Charles Pickering is also on the board.)
Not to be outdone, the American Family Association, an alliance co-founder, also blasted the sticker campaign on a Christian "news" site, which is part of the American Family News Network, which is part of the ... American Family Association. "It's not really a buying campaign, but it's a bully campaign," said Buddy Smith, executive vice president of Tupelo-based American Family Association, "and it's being carried out by radical homosexual activists who intend to trample the freedom of Christians to live according to the dictates of scripture."
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the alliance (and AFA) on its list of a dozen groups that drive the "religious right's anti-gay crusade." On its website, it brags that its "attorneys have successfully defended marriage as the union between one man and one woman in over 40 cases nationwide."
SPLC indicates that the alliance was established in the early 1990s in response to gay-rights battles in the courts—which it clearly believes is the "principal" threat to religious freedom. ADF President Alan Sears and Vice President Craig Osten wrote " The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom," which ties homosexuality to pedophilia and other "disordered sexual behavior."
SPLC states: "The ADF has also mounted legal challenges to gay military service, marriage, adoption and foster-parenting, as well as to domestic partner benefits around the nation. It trains other attorneys 'to battle the radical homosexual …
In 1860, 49% of White Families in Mississippi Owned Slaves, Who Outnumbered White Folks Here
By Donna LaddDuring the last couple weeks of talking about the Confederacy (and the state flag that celebrates it), we've encountered any number of historic inaccuracies in the arguments of those who don't want to change our state flag.
One of them is that (a) not many white Mississippians even owned slaves and (b) that only 6 to 10 percent of Confederate soldiers owned slaves.
Here are the problems with that argument as the chart and link before bring into full relief. As you can see in this excellent MPB documentary, many Confederates soldiers were just 17 or 18 years old. But many of the soldiers' families owned at least one or two slaves.
Based on 1860 Census results, 49 percent of Mississippi households owned slaves at the start of the Civil War, and more than half the population of our state—55 percent—were slaves. Slavery was massive here and directed affected nearly half the white families in Mississippi, including some who weren't as wealthy as the planters who owned many slaves (and who were at first exempt from fighting in the Civil War when the Confederacy instituted a draft, but that's another subject).
The chart below shows the number of slaves in all of the states that existed at the start of the Civil War.
Also, read my column this week, "Driving Old Dixie Down," for many links to historic sources about Mississippi and other Confederate states at the start of the war, including extensive evidence of why the Confederacy formed: in order to have a strong central federal government to force slaves on any new states, and to ensure that it got its runaway slaves back.
http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/jul/02/21958/
In 1860 Hinds County, Slaves Outnumbered Whites Nearly 3 to 1
By Donna LaddHere's an interesting factoid for those of you discussing the Civil War and slavery about Hinds County, which contains Jackson, the capital, of course. It's from this link, where you can also link to a number of other Mississippi counties and see the numbers of slaves that some of the larger slave holders of the time owned. This was the scenario when "firewater" Gov. John Pettus led the secession of Mississippi from here in Jackson over slavery:
According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Hinds County population included 8,940 whites, 36 "free colored" and 22,363 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population had increased 10% to 9,829, and the "colored" population had dropped about 8% to 20,659. (As a side note, by 1960, 100 years later, the County was listed as having 112,205 whites, more than a twelve fold increase, but the 1960 total of 94,750 "Negroes"was only about four times what the colored population had been 100 years before.)
It's tough history, but important.
Here's a list of resources to help research who owned slaves, how many, etc.
Trump Calls Clinton a 'Bigot' While Rallying to Whites in Mississippi
By Donna LaddThe Republican nominee for president chose Mississippi's solidly Democratic and majority-black capital city tonight to call the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, a "bigot."
At a rally in the Mississippi Coliseum (with many empty seats) Donald Trump said Clinton is a "bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings. She's going to do nothing for African Americans and Hispanics."
Clinton has strong support among the nation's African American voters and, to date, Trump has very little. Polls routinely show black support for Trump in the single digits. And Trump has long offended many black voters, such as by pushing falsehoods and stereotypes against black Americans.
Trump is also struggling with Latino voters after calling for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and rhetoric about Mexicans being rapists and murderers.
Trump also told the audience—which appeared to be at least 95 percent white— that "the Democratic Party has taken votes of African Americans for granted, and they've done nothing to deserve it."
Pastor Mark Burns, who is African American, spoke early in the rally both pushing the rumor that Clinton is in bad health—which her doctor adamantly denies—and saying that "all lives matter" when it comes to race, as the crowd chanted, "USA! USA!."
At the rally, Trump also continued his fiery rhetoric against undocumented immigrants.
At the end of the rally, Trump walked out with Gov. Phil Bryant to the song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Bryant, who has endorsed Trump, is a staunch supporter of House Bill 1523, which many people consider anti-LGBT.
— Reporting at the Mississippi Coliseum by Arielle Dreher
#Tellthewholestory: Clarion-Ledger Lifts Stamps 'Ferguson' Comment Out of Context, Stamps Holds Easter Press (Videos)
By Donna LaddThe Clarion-Ledger posted a sensationalistic headline and story yesterday about a west Jackson rally against dangerous suburban police chases into the city, followed by intriguing edits of what a Jackson city councilman actually said. The Ledger's video was edited down for the most dramatic effect, and the following text in the story was even worse.
After the Capitol Street Coalition gathered to protest the death of Lonnie Blue Jr. Friday morning, The Clarion-Ledger posted the story on its website headlined "Stamps calls Clinton 'Ferguson waiting to happen". The story's lead image was edited video of Councilman De'Keither Stamps speaking out against the Clinton police chase of shoplifters that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander.
The video contained only a snippet of Stamps' remarks, essentially calling for a boycott of surrounding cities that do not rein in their dangerous police habits and referencing Ferguson, Mo. The video skipped over Stamps' initial remarks offering condolences to the family and "encouraging folks to speak a universal language" and went right to the juicier part:
Ledger video: "Every surrounding city who refuses to use common-sense policies must be economically challenged because it's not safe for you to shop there. Clinton is a Ferguson waiting to happen. Clinton is a city with a high minority population and oppressive police tactics. It's steps away, steps away from a Mike Brown. It's only a matter of time."
The story beneath the video was much worse, with only snippets of that quote included, and the vital part about Clinton having "a high minority population and oppressive police tactics"—which explains Stamps' Ferguson analogy—simply cut out:
Ledger story: Referencing the violent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, Jackson Councilman De'Keither Stamps said Clinton is a "Ferguson waiting to happen" and is "steps away from a Mike Brown. It's only a matter of time if this culture does not change."
The Clarion-Ledger story followed that with edited additional comments that were not included in its video of Stamps:
Ledger story: "It seems to me that there are some elected officials and some police officials who want to maintain the culture," Stamps said. "What we must make them understand is that culture is not acceptable. Misdemeanor property crimes are not worth human life. ... We've got some great police officers in the metro area, but common sense must prevail in their actions." (bold emphasis added)
Stamps is now passing around the full video, which is below this post, to "#Tellthewholestory," which indicates information that the Ledger simply cut out of the middle of his quote. That part is a key response to those who say the police have no choice but to chase petty criminals.
The Ledger omitted these bolded parts of Stamps' complete quote: "Misdemeanor property crimes are not worth human life. You should not be going 120 miles per hour in Clinton or Jackson. Because we've got news copters, we've got radios. I've never seen anyone outrun a radio. No matter …
Natchez Publisher Promotes To-the-death 'Rodeo' for Black Youth, Age 13+
By Donna LaddA dark storm is brewing in and near Natchez, Miss., after the publisher of MissLou Magazine, The Natchez Sun and Natchez Sun XPress made shocking statements about young black people on Jan. 11, 2017, apparently in jest.
Peter Rinaldi wrote in a MissLou Magazine column titled, "Bang, Bang, You're Dead": "Natchez has become increasingly dangerous in the last eight years. As the population becomes more demographically poor, uneducated, unskilled and dominantly African American, the number of shootings has gone through the roof."
Rinaldi then lists three shootings and two deaths since the year started. He then added: "This is not such a bad thing, as one cynic remarked. The more criminals who shoot each other and are 'taken out,' the safer it is for the rest of us, the logic goes. Three shootings, three bad guys eliminated. Fifty shootings, 50 bad guys eliminated."
Then, he turns to joking, it seems, saying that "we were glad to hear local officials have finally fashioned a new anti-violence plan, which will be advertised in print and on the airwaves shortly, with posters spread all over town." That plan, he wrote, is called the Natchez-Adams County Gangbangers' Rodeo, which will be held March 12 at 7 p.m. at Liberty Park (where Natchez's Klan rallies used to happen, but we'll get to that). It is open to those 13 and up.
Rinaldi then explains in detail how this "rodeo" will work: "Open to all gangbangers with a .45 or 9 mm handgun. Limited to 20 rounds per person. Entry fee $100. Must be paid in cash in advance. No checks." The participants will then get in a circle and start shooting each other when the referee fires the starter pistol. They all kill or maim each other, and the last one standing gets $10,000. Free hot dogs and beers will be served, as well as fireworks. DJ Mortem, he writes, will provide live rap music. (See images of his event description below.)
The Mississippi Rising Coalition on the Gulf Coast alerted me to the editorial. Lea Campbell of MRC sent me the following statement:
"This kind of blatantly racist and classist editorializing and commentary from the publisher of a magazine in the Natchez area is irresponsible and unacceptable. Widespread violence in a community is the symptom of underlying social problems like poverty, institutional and structural racism, underfunded and segregated educational systems, untreated mental illness among many, many others. Mr. Rinaldi fails to express an understanding of these factors and scapegoats the issue of increasing violence in a way that will only act to fuel further racial and class division in the community instead of bringing the various community members together to work on effective, sustainable solutions. Shame on him for using his power and platform in such a reckless, dehumanizing and negligent way."
She also sent this statement from an MRC member whose parents reside in Natchez: "There are a million reasons that these shootings are occurring, and not a single one of them is …
Mayoral Money Race Order Unchanged After Priester, Johnson File Updates
By Donna LaddMelvin Priester Jr. filed a 48-hour report today showing that he has raised $6,150 more in mayoral contributions. That brings his total to $110,785 by our math to Lumumba's $138,801. Horhn is in third with $104,593
Harvey Johnson Jr. has raised $7,000 more in campaign dollars this week according to his 48-hour report, bringing his total to $67,355.
(For the record, both of these reports and some earlier ones are near-illegible, which is disconcerting coming from serious candidates for mayor. Priester, for one, spent a lot of his JFP interview talking about getting details right. Why not start during the campaign?!?)
To summarize, As of 5 p.m. today, this is where the money stands based on reports legally required to be filed:
- Chokwe Lumumba: $138,801
- Melvin Priester Jr.: $110,785
- John Horhn: $104,593
- Tony Yarber: $95,716
- Harvey Johnson Jr: $67,355
- Margaret Barrett-Simon: $54,680
- Regina Quinn: $38,968
Read our original April 2 report about initial April 1 filings and where cash-on-hand stood then.
View all campaign finance reports in the JFP Document Morgue.
UPDATED: Mississippi Picnic in Central Park Cancelled Due to HB 1523, Expected Protests
By Donna LaddOrganizers today cancelled the 37th Annual Mississippi Picnic in Central Park, saying it would not happen this year due to passage of House Bill 1523. The picnic was planned for Saturday, June 11, Noon to 5:00 pm in Central Park at 5th Avenue and 72nd Street. The theme of the 2016 picnic was to be “Nothing but the Blues,” as a tribute to B. B. King.
The New York Mississippi Society organizes the picnic, which has been a huge promotional and networking opportunity that draws together Mississippi natives living in New York City and tourism and other business officials who travel there for the picnic.
A woman who answered the phone at the number posted on the website promoting the picnic earlier today said that an update would be posted on the website soon.
Mississippi Development Authority spokesman Jeff Rent said today, via email, that the State and MDA were not consulted in advance of the decision, which came from the organizers based in New York. "The New York Mississippi Society has made the decision to cancel the Mississippi Picnic in Central Park. We are disappointed in not only their decision, but also their lack of discussion with Mississippi partners before cancelling the event," Rent wrote.
Two years ago, famed Oxford chef and restaurateur John Currence and Ole Miss students brought a pro-LGBT message to Central Park after Gov. Bryant signed the earlier, but less odious religious-freedom act.
A petition had urged New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others to stop the picnic in Central park after the passage of House Bill 1523.
The website states:
Faster than a New York minute, we can tell you one thing, Mississippi should not be proud, nor does it deserve to celebrate their State in this park if they don't share New York’s values of diversity, inclusion and mutual respect.
The official website for the picnic lists their mission as "To preserve the culture and heritage of the state of Mississippi." The "heritage" of Mississippi has no business being on full display in the cathedral of parks in New York City. Mississippi has routinely been on the wrong side of history and once again in 2016, the state passes legislation that puts members of the LGBTQ community at risk. At an event of this nature, Mississippi wants to claim the literary great in native son Tennessee Williams, a gay man, who if alive today could now be legally denied a meal in an Oxford restaurant because the owner didn't approve of his sexual orientation.
The front page of the website promoting the picnic changed dramatically in the last half hour, from the top image here to the bottom one:
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/apr/12/25355/
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/apr/12/25356/
UPDATE: The Copiah County Courier has a copy of a press statement from the picnic organizers posted. Here is is verbatim:
Annual New York - Mississippi Picnic Cancelled Event was scheduled for June 11 in Central Park
We, the founders …
Clarion-Ledger Disputes Jonathan Lee's Account
By Donna LaddJonathan Lee supporters are using a Clarion-Ledger article to defend a controversy he's mired in—but it actually helps build the case that he was dishonest about his position at the company.
California Ban on Travel to Mississippi Goes into Effect Due to HB 1523
By Donna LaddThe demise of the Mississippi picnic in Central Park, news the Jackson Free Press broke early last week, is not the only economic and public-relations fallout of Mississippi's passage of the anti-LBGT House Bill 1523.
On Jan. 1, California's banned state-funded and state-sponsored travel to North Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kansas due to anti-LGBT laws passed in all four states. Assemblyman Evan Low, who is gay, co-sponsored the legislation in response to discriminatory legislation in the four states, The Advocate, an LGBT-focused national publication, reports.
"Our state has clearly said our taxpayer dollars will not fund bigotry or hatred," Low told The Advocate. "If other states try to pass similar laws, we will do everything we can in our power to stop any type of discrimination from happening to Californians. As you know, our zero tolerance policy says there is no room for discrimination of any kind in California and this bill ensures discrimination will not be tolerated of any kind outside our borders."
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation moved a scheduled racial-healing retreat from Asheville, N.C., to Carlsbad, Calif., in December in response to passage of the anti-LGBT House Bill 2 in the Tarheel State.
Nunnelee Wants Rape Definition Changed; Says Planned Parenthood Protects Rapists
By Donna LaddIn light of Rep. Todd Akin's lunatic comments this weekend about "legitimate rape," other extremist statements about women's health issues are emerging from members of Congress. Take this video of Rep. Alan Nunnelee, R-Miss., slamming Planned Parenthood in support of an effort to de-fund the organization. In it, Nunnelee states:
In this resolution not one dime or womens’ health or family planning health funding is reduced. It simply says those dollars cannot go to Planned Parenthood. This is an organization that has protected those who prey on our children and has protected those who have raped our granddaughters.
Raped our granddaughters? WT...? We have called Nunnelee's office to find out what he was talking about. Our best guess is that he is referring to accusations by the right that Planned Parenthood protect older statutory rapists who prey on under-age women.
Of course, that would be especially ironic if so, considering that Nunnelee worked with Rep. Akin, Ryan and other House Republicans to redefine the definition of rape to "forcible rape" to make it harder for teen girls to get abortions, especially in the case of statutory rape.
So, is this really about protecting our granddaughters, Rep. Nunnelee—or forcing teenagers to give birth to babies of their rapists of whatever age? Mississippi rape victims, and their parents, eagerly await your response.
Will New Anti-LGBT Laws in Mississippi, North Carolina Block Federal Funds?
By Donna LaddThe New York Times is reporting that new religious "conscience" law allowing discrimination against LGBTQ people, and perhaps others, could block federal funding for the states, such as Mississippi, that are considering such laws:
The Obama administration is considering whether North Carolina’s new law on gay and transgender rights makes the state ineligible for billions of dollars in federal aid for schools, highways and housing, officials said Friday.
Cutting off any federal money — or even simply threatening to do so — would put major new pressure on North Carolina to repeal the law, which eliminated local protections for gay and transgender people and restricted which bathrooms transgender people can use. A loss of federal money could send the state into a budget crisis and jeopardize services that are central to daily life.
The Times reported that several federal agencies are reviewing the funds their agencies provide to the states that are adopting discriminatory laws:
Anthony Foxx, the secretary of transportation, first raised the prospect of a review of federal funding in public remarks on Tuesday in North Carolina. The Department of Transportation provides roughly $1 billion a year to North Carolina. The New York Times then asked other federal agencies whether they were conducting similar reviews.
A Department of Education spokeswoman, Dorie Nolt, said on Friday that her agency was also reviewing the North Carolina law “to determine any potential impact on the state’s federal education funding.” She added, “We will not hesitate to act if students’ civil rights are being violated.”
The agency said it provided $4.3 billion to North Carolina last year for kindergarten through 12th grade as well as colleges.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it was doing a similar evaluation. “We’re reviewing the effects of the law on HUD funding allocated for North Carolina,” said Cameron French, a department spokesman.
The backers of Mississippi's HB 1523 vigorously claim that the bill isn't discrimination, but a protection of religious "conscience," even as the language of the bill belies that claim. In Mississippi, HB 1523 could go to Gov. Bryant as early as Monday for signature.
Read full coverage of the long fight for LGBT rights at jfp.ms/lgbt.
Cheers from (Some) Mississippi Trump fans: 'Why did we ever give the vote to women and blacks?'
By Donna LaddThe conservative Heritage Foundation came to Jackson last night for a shindig at Gov. Phil Bryant's mansion a block from the Jackson Free Press.
Apparently, at least one conversation happened there between a Crystal Springs, Miss., man and the former U.S. senator from South Carolina who now heads Heritage, which plays footsy with Donald Trump.
Afterward, Ford Crews, who lists himself on his Facebook page as a web developer, posted public comments about what he told DeMint at the mansion under a public post by Charles C. Johnson, a conservative and sometimes controversial journalist and pundit. Johnson had posted a FiveThirtyEight graphic showing that the vast majority of the country would go for Trump if women didn't vote, following a national trend on Twitter today to #repealthe19th (giving women the right to vote). "This would be a better world," Johnson wrote at the top.
Crews agreed, writing below: "I was at a The Heritage Foundation event at the Mississippi governors mansion, and one of the things I talked about with Jim DeMint was how we need to work to get more men out to vote, and encourage women to stay home, because of how overwhelmingly one sided women's support of regressive ideas is. Sadly when women stay home, conservatives win, when they get pissed off and go vote, they not only vote for democrats, they take their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers and try to push them to vote for democrats. This whole Trump tape dump was nothing more that a way to piss women of so they go vote against Trump."
Other commenters, male and female, unloaded on women's apparent stupidity underneath that post. "[W]ish I could disagree, but after seeing some of their comments—women who don't know the difference between men trash talking among themselves and actual rape are too stupid to vote," Jennifer Verner wrote.
James Flynn advised: "If she wins if a woman wants a favor. Tell them to ask Hillary."
Then this exchange. "Without the votes of women would FDR have been elected? All the suffering liberals have inflicted on this country can be traced back to women voting liberal," Scotty Collins offered.
"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been, Carter, Clinton and Obama sure wouldn't have been," Crews answered.
"Women are emotional creatures and most vote with their emotions and not logically," Nancy Bennett added.
Then Craig Kerr red-baited women, and slammed us for Prohibition. "First thing women voting gave us was Prohibition. Then they moved on to cultural Marxism," he said.
"I'm a woman and I totally agree. Women are destroying the west," Zita Norte added.
Susan Klassen agreed: "The majority of women vote based on emotion, not logic, and are grossly uninformed or misinformed. They look at govt as a charity. There are of course, exceptions. I am one of them. But before I educated myself via AM talk radio, starting with Rush, I thought I was a liberal. Studying the Bible at the same time gave …
8th Annual JFP Chick Ball Set for Saturday, July 28, 2012
By Donna LaddThe 8th Annual JFP Chick Ball is raising money to help the Center for Violence Prevention start a rape crisis center.
Harvey Johnson Accuses John Horhn of 'False Attack' on Him
By Donna LaddFormer Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. just responded to a Sen. John Horhn attack ad with this statement posted on his Facebook page. It is repasted here verbatim:
STATEMENT OF HARVEY JOHNSON CONCERNING FALSE AND MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENT OF JOHN HORHN Senator John Horhn mailed and passed out to voters a postcard falsely stating that I was responsible for increasing water bills by 100% while in office. The truth is this: During my last term as mayor the City imposed a modest water rate hike of 12 percent in 2011, the first increase in six years. After I left office last July, the Mayor and the City Council increased water rates by 29 percent and sewer rates by 108 percent. If I had been in office last year I would not have increased rates that dramatically at one time. Just two days before the mailer was dropped, Senator Horhn, at a mayoral forum conducted by the Working Together Jackson organization, pledged to refrain from attacks on his opponents. Clearly, he should have come clean at that event by admitting that his next order of business when he walked out the door would be to launch a false attack on me.
In a separate flyer, Horhn promotes himself as a "fit, strong and robust black man who's ready to take this city forward" and criticizes his various opponents. That one is posted below as well as the flyer mentioned above.
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16845/
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16846/
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/apr/07/16847/
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