In progressive news this week: More to the Aramark scandal saga, Terri Lynn Land’s hypocritical ISIS statement and Elliott-Larsen amendment roadblocks.
This Week in PM Blogging:
Let’s Get the Facts Straight, Mr. Baird
Gov. Snyder’s right-hand man sure doesn’t take kindly to criticism, especially from women in positions of power.
Terri Lynn Land’s Campaign Truck is Ridiculous
Not only is Terri Lynn Land’s campaign truck an eyesore of a behemoth, it is also terrible for the environment.
TWIP Clips:
Aramark Arrogance
On Thursday, we released documents showing that Gov. Snyder’s office not only tried to silence the controversy surrounding Aramark’s first blunders back in March, but they pulled some strings and had the widely-publicized $98,000 fine revoked.
Aramark never paid the fine thanks to the Snyder administration and Snyder never let the public know about the move. For the past five months, we’ve been led to believe that the fine was part of an accountability plan for Aramark, but we were lied to.
And to put things into perspective, the $98,000 was actually a small fine in comparison to Aramark’s total state contract. In fact, the latest big fix that was announced — a $200,000 fine — is less than 1 percent of Aramark’s total $145 million contract. Gov. Snyder is not serious about holding Aramark accountable, he’s concerned about saving face with his corporate donors and privatization pals.
The Snyder administration tried to deceive the public and failed. We will continue to be watchdogs against corruption in Snyder’s administration. This isn’t the first time the Snyder administration has tried to deceive the public — and it won’t be the last.
Put up, don’t shut up
The day that President Barack Obama was scheduled to address the American people about his plan for dealing with ISIS, Terri Lynn Land posted this statement to her Facebook page:
“Tonight, President Obama is going to address the American people about the threat of the terrorist organization ISIS. The problem is that the President has known about this lethal threat for at least a year and is just tonight announcing a strategy. The President’s failed foreign policy and lack of leadership has allowed the influence of ISIS and other extremists to grow. We have now had two American journalists murdered by ISIS. Thousands of innocent civilians including Christians and other ethnic minorities have been killed or displaced. Instead of playing golf, the President needs to present a coherent long-term plan to combat Islamist terrorism to the American people and take action to stop this threat without putting U.S. combat boots on the ground.”
On the eve of 9/11, Terri Lynn Land had the audacity to solely blame President Obama for the rise of ISIS, a shameful political attack that lacked any plan or vision on her end.
This pathetic attack on President Obama is only worsened by the fact that back in June she couldn’t even accurately identify ISIS when asked about her position on the events occurring in the Middle East.
“Well, the president has obviously said that Al Qaeda has, you know, on the run. Well, it’s obviously not true,” she said.
To Terri Lynn Land, I say: At least President Obama has the strength to talk to the public. You have avoided questions from the media and the public and you refuse to debate. You are the one who has a lack of leadership and foreign policy.
Where is Terri Lynn Land on foreign policy? Where is she on any of the issues that are important to Michigan families? We don’t know because she won’t answer.
Before Land goes around launching criticism about plans and leadership, she should take a look at her own behavior.
LGBT Equality Now
GOP House Speaker Jase Bolger wants to have his discrimination and equality too.
When Democrats introduced legislation to add gender identity and sexual orientation anti-decimation protections into Michigan law, Bolger said he wouldn’t support it because the religious-right wasn’t.
It’s widely known that our lack of LGBT protections is hurting Michigan’s economic competitiveness and a wide array of the business community has come to the forefront to push for change. So why aren’t the Chamber-backed GOP lawmakers jumping at this opportunity to make Michigan a better place to start, own or grow a business?
It goes back to the fact that the Republican Party platform is inherently discriminatory against the LGBT community.
It’s time the GOP got with the times and accepted the fact that the LGBT community deserves the same protections that are offered on the basis of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status or marital status.
And on an endnote, where is Gov. Snyder in all of this? He has continually said the legislature should have a discussion on the topic and now that that moment is upon us, the governor is noticeably silent.
It’s time Gov. Snyder showed some leadership and stated whether or not he supports amending the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Progressive Reads:
Watch CBS Sportscaster James Brown Deliver a Powerful Speech About Domestic Violence
John Crawford Case: It’s Open Carry for Whites and Open Season on Blacks
Snyder does not deserve re-election. He lied to get elected pretended to be a moderate and has governed as a right wing ideologue. He raised taxes on the middle class to dole out huge tax cuts to his corporate cronies and he slashed billions from public education to start the EAA which is a failure and to expand for profit charters with no accountability as a gift to Devos, Koch, and the Mackinac Center loons. He gave Aramark the Michigan contract for prisons so he could help his corporate buddies – this has been an overwhelming failure and when Aramark was penalized for flagrant abuses and shoddy work he slapped their hands with a tiny fine and then overturned that fine and lied about doing so. He’s a terrible governor. As for Land she’s not qualified to be a sitting senator. She supports personhood which would make not only abortion but also birth control illegal and she can’t seem to utter a syllable unless she checks with her bosses Koch, Devos, and the Mackinac Center loons. We will GOTV and send Snyder and Land packing. We will elect Mark Schauer and Gary Peters and every Democrat on the ballot. Michigan deserves to be Michigan again not a fiefdom of Snyder and his tea-party clowns.