AOC Calls Out The Evilgelicals In Congressional Hearing

There are times I absolutely love  Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), and there are other moments in which she exasperates the hell out of me. 

But I down with Team AOC in this case because she's on point about calling out the evilgelicals (they don't deserve to be called 'Christians' ) for their bigotry and anti- TBLGQ prejudice they are merrily trying to legislate into existence under the Orwellian 'religious freedom' buzzword.

She called out the long, ugly history of right wing evilgelicals using Scripture to justify slavery, Jim Crow  segregation, and discriminating against trans and SGL people

This happened during a House hearing earlier in the week entitled 'The Administration's Religious Liberty Assault on LGBTQ Rights'   

Here are Rep Ocasio Cortez's remarks in which she called out the evilgelicals

Trump Impeached!

Y'all knew I was doing the happy dance when after eight hours of debate, the US House made history by impeaching Donald Trump. 

Trump becomes only the third POTUS in our nation's 241 year history to be impeached, and the first to have it happen in his first term.   He also got impeached by the most votes ever.

Richard Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974 before the House got to impeach and remove him from office.

Both articles of impeachment passed primarily on party lines.

Article I, the abuse of power one, passed the House by a 230- 197 vote.    Article II, the Obstruction of Congress one, passed the House on a 229-198 vote.

There were two Democrats who voted NO on Article I and three who voted NO on Article II.  One of those Democrats who voted no is leaving for the Republican Party

Rep Tulsi Gabbard (Russian asset, HI) , confirming what Hillary Clinton said about her, voted 'PRESENT' on both articles of impeachment.  It's a .decision that is not sitting well not only with the voters of Hawaii's 2nd District, but with many people in the Democratic party questioning why she's even still in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary race

While Trump will forever carry the stain of being on the short list of White House occupants who have been impeached, it does not mean he has been removed from office,

The impeachment is on a simple majority vote, and is basically an indictment.   The process now moves to the US Senate where the trial, presided over by Chef Justice John Roberts, will take place

It will take 67 senators voting YES to remove trump from office, and bear in mind that as of yet in US history no impeached president has been removed from office.

But we do have an election in November that will allow us to do just that. .

Trump Articles of Impeachment Pass House Judiciary Committee

Early this morning the US House Judiciary Committee on two party line votes, passed both articles of impeachment out of committee.

Article 1, which charged Trump with abuse of power, passed on a 23-17 vote.   Article 2, the one charging trump with obstruction of Congress, also passed by the same 23-17 vote and will be sent to the House floor for a simple majority vote as early as Wednesday.

That puts Trump one step closer to becoming the third POTUS in US history to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

The impeachment articles are highly likely to pass in light of the fact the US House has a Democratic majority.   Once that happens, the proceedings move to the Republican controlled US Senate for a trial that could result in the removal of Trump from office if 67 senators vote for it.

We'll see if that happens.   But just to bring up this point, there are 22 Republican senators who are up for reelection in 2020 versus just 12 Democratic senators.

One of those 22 Republicans facing reelection in 2020 is none other than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)    Other names on the GOP senate reelection list are Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Martha McSally in Arizona, Cory Gardner in Colorado and John Cornyn in Texas.

Looking forward to seeing the upcoming House debate and seeing Trump get impeached.
 

Rep John Lewis Calls For Trump Impeachment

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have much love and the utmost respect for civil rights movement icon Rep.John Lewis (D-GA).

Earlier today he took to the US House floor to give a five minute speech calling for Dolt 45 to b impeached.

Here's that speech if you didn't get a chance to see it .

 

The Equality Act Passes House!

HR 5, also known as the Equality Act, would add gender identity and sexual orientation to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.   How apropos that this legislation came up on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOTB) and the 65th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education SCOTUS decision.

After some contentious debate and a failed attempt by the Republicans to amend it and send it back to the House Judiciary Committee, it passed in the Democratically-controlled US House on a final 236-173 vote.   8 Republicans joined the 228 Democrats voting YES for the legislation.   All of the 173 NO votes were Republican house members.

Keep that in mind equality voters when you vote for your Congressional candidates next year .

Thanks to all the House Democrats who supported this legislation.   Huge thanks also to Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) for her mic drop level speech excoriating the Republican attempt to kill the bill

Unfortunately since the Republicans control the Senate, that means the bill will not be taken up by the Republican majority.     That's okay, you can punish then at the polls in 2020 for their lack of political vision.

But celebrate this win, and let's begin tomorrow getting control of the Senate and the White House so we can make this the law of the land.

Mister Brown Goes To Washington!

Back on April 2 BTAC Founding CEO Carter Brown traveled to Washington DC as part of an event sponsored by HRC. He recorded a video telling his story, and while there got the opportunity to make history.



He ended up in front of the House Judiciary Committee testifying in favor of the Equality Act. 

He also became by doing so the first Black trans Texan to testify in from of any Congressional committee 

Congrats Carter for not only making that history, but telling a story that's familiar to far too many people in Trans World. 

Looking forward to hearing about your trip to Washington DC during BTAC.

House Armed Forces Committee Hearing On Trump Trans Troop Ban Happening Soon

This is why elections matter.

When the Democrats got control of the US House, what that also meant is that when this session of the 116th Congress started, every committee got a new chairperson that is a Democratic Party member, with the Republicans sliding into the Ranking Member seat. 

It also goes without saying that Democratic majorities, like the House, .are ensconced in every committee and subcommittee.

Rep Jackie Speier (D-CA) is the new head of the House Armed Services Committee Military Personnel Subcommittee.

In the wake of the SCOTUS unjust ruling  lifting two of the three injunctions blocking implementation of the odious Trump trans military ban, a hearing of this subcommittee has been scheduled for February 27 to discuss it according to reporting by Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade.

The hearing on 'Transgender Service Policy' will feature transgender member of our armed services along with  Trump administration officials.

Set to testify on that date at 2 PM EST are Army Captain Alivia Stehlik, Army Captain Jennifer Peace, Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King, Navy Corpsman and Petty Officer 3rd Class Patricia King  Navy Lt. Commander Blake Dremann and Navy Hospital Corpsman and Petty Officer 3rd Class Akira Wyatt

Peace and Dremann were some of the trans service members invited to attend the recent State of the Union message.

Jesse Ehrenfeld MD, who is now at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, is also set to testify as a combat veteran deployed to Afghanistan.

The Trump administration people invited to testify are James Stewart, who is performing the duties of the undersecretary of readiness and defense, and Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, who heads the Defense Health Agency.

Some of the Democratic legislators that sit on that subcommittee are Rep Deb Haaland (D-NM)

The hearing will take place in Room 2118 of the Rayburn House Office Building, so if you wish to go as community members to support our trans troops and live in the DC area, I hope that you can do so.

TX US House District 29 Debate

TX Senator Sylvia Garcia is taking on the transphobic Phillip Aronoff in their US House 29 district race.  Sen, Garcia and Aronoff recently confronted each other during a September 25 debate at the University of Houston Downtown campus.

TX House District 29 is a predominately Latinx district in Houston that was created in 1990 specifically to produce a Latinx congressmember.  While it has been safely in Democratic hands since its creation, it has never had a Latinx person represent it. 

The TX-29 district has been since 1992 represented by Gene Green, and Rep Green announced that he is retiring.   That opened up a mad scramble for this seat on the Democratic side that grew to seven candidates. 

Sen. Sylvia Garcia handily won the Democratic nomination for the seat, taking 63% of the vote while doing so.  She narrowly missed in 1992 making it to the Democratic Party primary runoff for the seat when it was created,

But back to the debate, moderated by ABC13 anchor Mayra Moreno.    Many of the questions asked of the candidates were from UHD students.

 

Good Luck Alexandra!

The Massachusetts primary election is today, and Trans America has its eyes on the Massachusetts 3rd Congressional District race. 

In that crowded field of Democratic candidates vying to replace the retiring Rep Nikki Tsongas (D) is Alexandra Chandler.

If she wins in the primary today, she not only make Massachusetts political history by becoming the first out trans person in the state to win a congressional major party primary, she would get a step closer to becoming the first out trans person ever to be elected to Congress

Good luck Alexandra!   Hope you make history tonight!

Alexandra Chandler Is Running For Congress

One of the other election results I'll be paying close attention to in Massachusetts on September 4 besides the Republican gubernatorial primary featuring incumbent  Gov. Charlie Baker versus the reprehensible LGBT hatemonger Scott Lively is the US House District 3 race Democratic primary.

The Question 3 referendum on the statewide trans rights law will happen in the general election on November 6. 

Rep. Nikki Tsongas (D) decided to retire, setting off a nine candidate scramble to replace her on the Democratic side of the ballot. 

One of those candidates is Alexandra Chandler, a Navy veteran and former intelligence analyst who is another one of the wave of qualified and unapologetically trans candidates #TransformingPolitics.



She is endorsed by Trans United Fund, other organizations, and various politicians in the 3rd Congressional District.

Should she win her primary race, she'll not only make Massachusetts political history as the first trans person in the Bay State to win a congressional primary, it will put her one step closer to becoming the first out trans person elected to the US Congress,

We've had a few people since Amanda Simpson became the first out trans person to win a Democratic congressional primary race in Arizona back in 2004 who have come close to achieving that milestone of getting elected to Congress. 

Here's hoping that Chandler breaks through and makes it happen. 

But the first step to getting to the November 6 general election is winning the MA-3 primary on September 4   

The 115th Congress Starts Today

Well people,  today starts the first day of the 115th Congress which will be unfortunately like the last one, GOP controlled,.  It will also after 12:01 PM EST on January 20  have (yuck) Donald Trump in the White House and Mike Pence as the VP and Senate President

Here are the ugly numbers

In the US House, there will be 241 GOP members versus 194 Democrats    The GOP majority lost seven seats in the 2016 election.   Paul Ryan (R-WI) is still the Speaker of the House and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is still the House Minority Leader.

It's ironically the most racially diverse in US history.  There will be 49 African American congressmembers, up from the 46 that served in the 114th Congress.  There will be 38 Latinx congressmembers, an increase from the 31 who served in the last Congress.  15 congress members will be Asian American, also an increase from the 11 that served in the last Congress  

And as usual, the vast majority of those congress members of color will be Democrats.

In the US Senate, its 52 Republicans, 46 Democrats with two independents Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont caucusing with the Democrats to make it a 52-48 GOP majority.

Once again the GOP lost two senate seats in the 2016 election, but not the seven needed for the Democrats to regain control of that chamber.

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is still (boo hiss) the Senate Majority Leader, and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) takes over for the retired Harry Reid as the Senate Minority Leader.

There will be a record 21 women serving as US senators.  The bright spots for the Democrats is that this senate class has three history making freshman senators in it.  

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) became the first ever Latina US senator when she was sworn in today to replace the retiring Sen. Harry Reid.  She is also the first Latinx senator ever elected of Mexican American heritage.   The others have all been Cuban-Americans.

Sen Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) who knocked off incumbent Republican Sen Mark Kirk, moves from the US House and becomes the second Asian American female senator elected after Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who was elected in 2012.

When Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) was sworn in as Cali's junior senator, she became not only the second African-American female senator (Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois was the first), but also the first ever of South Indian heritage.

And for those of yall in Black Greek world wondering which Divine Nine org she belongs to, Sen Harris is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

So hold on to your human rights, the GOP controlled 115th Congress is in session.  

Is it November 6, 2018 yet?

Three 2016 Major Party Trans Candidates Trying To Make More Electoral History

Hillary Clinton isn't the only candidate on the ballot attempting to make American electoral history tonight.  There are three trans candidates on the ballot in Utah, Colorado and Texas also trying to make history and win their respective races.

We have two shots today at getting an American trans person in that exclusive international sorority of trans people who are elected national legislators  in Misty Snow and Misty Plowright.

In Utah, the 30 year old Snow became the first out transperson to win a major party US senate primary race and any political race in Utah when she overwhelmingly captured the Democratic US senate primary. over Jonathan Swinton.

Snow is now facing the daunting political task of trying to upset incumbent Sen. Mike Lee (R) in staunchly conservative Utah.

Next door in Colorado, the 33 year Plowright is running in Colorado's 5th Congressional District.   She became the first out trans person to win a Democratic Party nomination for a US congressional seat and any race in Colorado by handily defeating Donald Martinez.

The late Karen Kerin was the first out trans person to win a major party nomination for the US House.  In 2000 Kerin won the Republican nomination for Vermont's US House seat, then lost in the general election to independent Bernie Sanders.
Plowright also has a tough political task to accomplish in attempting to unseat five time incumbent Congressman Doug Lamborn (R) in this congressional district centered in conservative leaning Colorado Springs that is also the home of the transphobic Focus on the Family..

Here in my Houston backyard, Jenifer Rene Pool is attempting to make more trans political history. Back in March she became the first out trans person in Texas to win a major party primary race when she won the Democratic nomination in the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 race.

She now taking on longtime incumbent Republican commissioner Steve Radack, who has held this sprawling precinct that covers 400 square miles of western Harris County since 1980.

If Jenifer wins, she not only makes more Lone Star State political history, she will by winning that race flip political control of the Harris County Commissioners Court to the Democrats.  

Good luck later today, ladies.   Hope you are successful in your various races.      

Trans Candidates Notch Historic Wins In US Senate And US House Primaries!

The cool thing about being a trans person in this amazing moment in time is that if every day you wake up and simply do your best to be the best person you can be and live your life, you may find yourself making history as a result.

I've been asking in the wake of Geraldine Roman's historic win in the Philippines as their first trans congress member when we were going to see it happen in the United States?  

Well, the answer to my question is it may be as soon as November 8.

On that day, trans voters in Utah and neighboring Colorado will have candidates like us in Misty K. Snow and Misty Plowright on their ballots in this critical national election for the US House and the US Senate.

Last night in a historic upset, 30 year old Utah native Misty K. Snow made some trans political history by handily beating her heavily favored Democratic opponent Jonathan Swinton 59.5%-40.5%.

Snow jumped into the race just before the deadline, wishing to offer an alternative to the center-right leaning Swinton.  At the Utah Democratic Convention Swinton had earned 55% of the delegates votes to Snow's 45%, but she got enough support at the convention to force the runoff, then built on that by aggressively campaigning throughout the Beehive State by touting her working class background and being an unabashed progressive Democrat.

It wasn't close.  Snow garnered in unofficial returns 26,668 votes to just 18,182 for Swinton with all counties reporting..

"Today we have scored a major victory, We have shown that voters will turn out in numbers to support progressive candidates that take strong stands on issues," said Snow in a press release.

"I want to thank all the wonderful people of Utah who supported me in the Democratic primary; without your support none of this would be possible," she added..  

The upset win made Snow the first ever out trans person to earn a major party nomination for the US Senate, and earned her a shot against her as she called him 'loathsome' incumbent Republican senator Mike Lee.    Lee is one of the most conservative senators in the nation and was unopposed in the Utah Republican primary for his second six year term.

As of right now, she's trailing 51%-37% to Lee, but she feels she's in a great starting position seeing that most voters don't know her yet and she has time to introduce herself to the Beehive State's electorate.  If Snow's campaign catches fire, there's the possibility that the DSCC will kick some funds to her if she gets within striking distance of knocking him off in a year in a presidential election year in which bright red leaning Utah might be in play.

Next door in Colorado, more trans political history was being made in another Democratic primary race, this time for a US House seat.   In the 5th Congressional District Democratic primary, 33 year old  Misty Plowright won her primary race to face off in the fall against Rep. Doug Lamborn (R), who is running for his sixth term in Congress.

Rep. Lamborn was forced into a runoff against Calandra Vargas, who beat him at the Republican assembly.  Lamborn flipped the results to beat her 68.3%-31.7% in the primary.

Plowright's primary race wasn't close either.  With one county (El Paso) still out according to the Colorado Secretary of State website, she was beating Donald Martinez by 16 points, 58%-42% in her historic primary win,  Plowright garnered 13.373 votes to Martinez's 9,639 and local media is calling the race for her.

Plowright also faces an uphill challenge because her central Colorado district south of Denver is considered one of the most conservative in the state.  It encompasses the city of Colorado Springs and its suburbs, Cimarron Hills and Fort Carson.  Since its creation in 1973, the district has never been represented by a Democrat, although El Paso County's increasingly diversifying population gives Democrats hope they can change that dismal electoral history.

The city of Colorado Springs is the county seat of El Paso County and the home of the anti-TBLG organization Focus on the Family and hate pastor James Dobson.  It would be oh so sweet if she upset Lamborn and give Dobson a coronary if she ended up representing the 5th Congressional District

We'll see what happens in November.  If the Mistys both shock the political world once again and make it to Washington DC to get inaugurated on January 3, 2017 for the start of the 115th US Congress, they will have earned those seats.

In the meantime, you may want to chip in some t-bills to help both Misty's campaigns get to the House and Senate.

TransGriot Note.  Plowright is not the first out trans person to get a major party nomination in a US House race.  That distinction goes to the late Karen Kerin, who in 2000 ran and lost as a Republican in Vermont to Bernie Sanders.

Plowright still made history as the first in the Democratic Party, and the first in Colorado. 

Amen, Chaplain Black!

The US Senate ever since 1789 has started their session with a prayer before they commence with their regular legislative partisan bickering.

Senate Chaplain Barry Black had a spiritual message for the assembled lawmakers the day after the government was shut down that I'm definitely down with.

The best part about it was the nekulturny GOP conservafools couldn't say jack or interrupt him like they did the last Black man that stood in front of them and said something their vanillacentric privileged behinds didn't like.

Oh yeah, that was their House colleagues.  My bad.  

Roll that beautiful video footage and enjoy.