TransGriot 2020 Texas Democratic Primary Election Endorsement Post

You've been asking me for it, and here it is, just before early voting starts in the Texas primary election on  February 18.   For those of you who wish to wait for the actual Texas primary Election Day, that will happen on March 3.

We are the most populous county in Texas, and our ballot is going to reflect that.   It always going to be a long one because of that.  Also bear in mind that no thanks to the TXGOP, we no longer have the option of straight ticket voting.

Every race matters, so vote from POTUS to dog catcher.   Your vote may be the differnce between winning and losing for many candidates in a tight race.

Make Trump, Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP mad by voting either during early voting, which runs from Febuary 18-February 28., on primary day on on the general election day on November 3.

You can also vote at ANY voting center in Harris County during early voting or the general election.

If you aren't registered to do so during the primary, you can still make sure you are registred for the upcoming presidential election in November and the May runoff elections from May 18-22

Vote as if your life depends on it, because frankly, it does.

And now, my TransGriot 2020 Democratic primary endorsements.

President- Elizabeth Warren 

US Senate-  Amanda Edwards

US House-District 2-Sima Ladjevarian
US House District 9- Al Green
US House District 10- Mike Siegel 
US House- District 14- Adrienne Bell  
US House- District 18-Sheila Jackson Lee
US House District 21- Wendy Davis 
US House- District 22- No Endorsement

TX State Board of Education District 4 -Larry McKinzie 
TX State Board of Education District 6- Michelle Palmer

TX State Senator- District 11-Susan Criss 
TX State Senator- District 13- Borris Miles  


TX House- District 26-Sarah DeMerchant  
TX House- District 27- Ron Reynolds
TX House- Dsitrict 28- Lawrence Allen
TX House- District 83- Addison Perry-Franks 
TX House- District 126- Natali Hurtado
TX House- District 131- Alma A Allen
TX House- District 134- Ann Johnson 
TX House- District 135- Jon Rosenthal 
TX House-District 138- Akilah Bacy 
TX House- District 139- Jarvis Johnson 
TX-House- District 141- Senfronia Thompson
TX House- District 142- Jerry Davis 
TX House- District 146- Ashton P Woods 
TX House- District 147- Garnet F Coleman
TX House- District 148-- Penny Morales Shaw 

Chief Justice TX Supreme Court- Amy Clark Meacham
TX Supreme Court Justice- Place 6- Kathy Cheng
TX Supreme Court Justice- Place 7- Staci Williams
TX Supreme Court  Justice- Place 8- Gisela Triana 

TX Court of  Criminal Appeals- Place 3 - William Pieratt Demond
TX Court of Appeals District 14-  Jane Robinson
TX Court of Appeals- 1st District- Place 3- Veronica Rivas Molloy
TX Court of Appeals 1st District- Place 5- Amparo Monique Guerra
TX Court of Appeals 1st District Place 7 - Cheri Thomas
TX District Judge- 80th Judicial District- Larry Weiman 
TX Dsitrict Judge- 164th Judicial District- Alexandra Smoots-Thomas 
TX District Judge- 165th Judicial District- Ursula Hall 
TX District Judge- 176th Judicial District-Nikita 'Niki' Harmon
TX District Judge -179th Judicial District- Ana Martinez 
TX District Judge- 333rd Judicial District- Daryl Moore
TX District Judge- 334th Judicial District- Dawn Deshea Roigers 
TX District Judge- 337th Judicial District- Colleen Gaido
TX District Judge - 339th Judicial District- Te'iva Bell
TX District Judge- 351st Judicial District- Natalia 'Nata' Cornelio
TX District Judge- 367 Judicial District-  Janet Buening Happard
TX District Judge- 505th Judicial District- Surendran K. Patel  
TX District Judge- 507th Judicial District-Julia Maldonado 

Harris County District Attorney- Audia Jones 
Harris County Attorney- Christian Menefee
Harris County Sheriff- Ed Gonzales
Harris County Tax Assessor Collector -Jolanda Jones

Harris County Commissioner- Precinct 1-Rodney Ellis
Harris County Commissioner- Precinct 3- Diana Martinex Alexander

Harris County Constable- Precinct 1- Alan Rosen
Harris County Constable- Precinct 7-  May Walker

Harris County Civil Court at Law No 4- Bill McLeod

Harris County Department of Education Place 5- Erica Davis
Harris County Department of Education Place 7- Obes Nwabara
Harris County Justice of the Peace- Precinct 6 Place 1- Victor Trevino III
Harris County Justice of the Peace- Precinct 7 Place 1- Jeremy L. Brown

Not Feeling Michael Bloomberg

It's not lost on me that on the 67th anniversary of the day Christine Jorgensen returned to New York after being in Denmark for two years for her physical transition and GCS, I'm looking at the prospect of having a transphobe on stage tonight at the Harris County Democratic Party's (HDCP)  Johnson Rayburn Richards (JRR) dinner being held tonight at the Marriot Marquis>

It ain't Julian Castro, who I am looking forward to hearing speak to night as the JRR keynote and hopefully getting a chance to meet.  Michael Bloomberg?   Not so much.

The JRR is the largest Democratic funraiser in Texas, and it's the one in which I received the Barbara Jordan Breaking Barriers Award from last year.  In the 2020 edition of the JRR, which is back to being a dinner now, awards will be presented to Amber Goodwin, Linda Morales, Cecile Richards and the Supermajority group..

I have not been happy with the remaing candidates available in the 2020 Democratic primary since Kamala Harris was forced to drop out along with all the other non white candidates.  I felt last year that 21 candidates in a presidential primary was far too many in a critical for our democracy election, and the sorry state of the primary confirms that.  My concerns are heighted by the realization that the Dems are the only thing standing beween Trump and a fascist dictatorship.

Neither am I happy that the media and Berners after Iowa and New Hampshire are rushing to crown Bernie Sanders as our nominee after primary contests in two of the whitest states in the nation.

Y'all need to slow your roll on that.  Guess y'all forgot about 2016 huh?   Rigged primary my azz. 

More like Black Democrats massively rejecting St Bernard of Sanders, and news flash, ain't nothing changed in Black America since 2016 concerning our low opinion of Sanders, no matter how much you believe the hype from Nina Turner.

Black Democratic voters matter, and it looks like we'll have to teach that lesson once again.  Early voting for the Texas prmary starts on February 18,  with the election happening on March 3.

FYI, Texas awards 262 delegates.  That dwarfs the number you can get in Iowa and New Hampshire combined .

But back to talking about Bloomberg.   One of the other things that has me concerned is this rush to canonize him as some sort of savior when he is deeply problematic to me and many Black Americans

And oh yeah, haven't forgotten that Bloomberg ran as a Republican to become mayor of New York

I'm not happy about the 2016 transphobic comments that Bloomberg uttered in Great Britain, and damned sure was paying attention when stop and frisk Black and Brown people was going on when he was running New York City. 

Many of the Black and Brown people being frisked by NYPD were also transgender New Yorkers.
It was also a policy that Bloomberg zealously defended and didn't apologize for until he decided to jump into the 2020 presidental race.

Note to Bloomberg:  Trans Democrats exist and you're about to find out that salient point the hard way that we do.   Some of us are major leaders in not only the national party, but in our local party organiations as well.

FYI, two of the first statewide trans inclusive non discrimation laws were passed in Minnesota and Iowa, so contrary to your 2016 transphobic opinion, Midwesterners and folks around the country do get the point that trans rights are human rights. 

Trans people are also part of everyone's family.  It's why the increased support for trans rights is happening along with trans folks across the country, our Mama and Papa Bears, and our allies fighting tooth and nail to make it happen.. 

So if you see me pouting at the JRR tonight, now you have the backstory on why.     .

HBAD Endorsement Meeting Today!

The Texas primary election date of March 3 is rapidly approaching, and so is the start of early voting in the Lone Star State on February 18.

That meant that for the second consecutive Satuday I got up out of bed early so that I could be at the  Sunnyside area venue in which the Houston Black Area Democrats (H-BAD) endorsement meeting was being held before it started at 9 AM.

It was my first time doing their endorsement meeting, and was nice seeing old freinds and meeting some new ones.  I laughed when I got asked the question by a few people in attendance if I was running for office in this cycle, and when I said 'Not yet", that question truned into 'When was I going to run for office?

91 people screened for the H-BAD endorsement, which is one of the Big Four endorsements of Houston progressive Democratic politics. 

These endorsement meetings can have a lot of drama that rivals the best reality TV shows.  There's twists and turns.   People getting endorsements as expected, and others who didn't get it from the screening committe, but who flipped it once itgot to the meeting. 

People can win or lose endorsements based on what they say that sways the people in the room or pisses them off.

Here are the folks who after six hours, walked out with those coveted H-BAD endorsements:

US Senate- Amanda Edwards 
US Representative District 2- Sima Ladjevarian   
US Representative District 18-  Sheila Jackson Lee
US Representative District 22- Derrick Reed 

Member TX State Board of Education District 6- Michelle Palmer 
TX State Senator Disctrict 13- Borris Miles 
TX State Representative District 27- Ron Reynolds
TX State Representative District 126- Natali Hurtado 
TX State Representative District  131- Alma A. Allen 
TX State Representative Distrct 138-Akilah Bacy 
TX State Represntative District 139-  Jarvis Johnson
TX State Reprsentative  District 141- Senfronia Thompson 
TX State Representative District 142- Richard Bonton 
TX State Represntative District 146 -Shawn Nicole Thierry
TX State Representative District 147- Garnet F. Coleman
Cheif Justice Texas Supreme Court -Amy Clark Meacham
Justice, Texas Supreme Court Place 6- Kathy Cheng
Justice Texas Supreme Court, Place 7- Staci Williams 
Justice Texas Supreme Court Place 8- Peter Kelly
Justice, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals  Place 3 - William Pieratt Demond  
Justice, Texas Court  of Appeals District 14- Jane Robinson
Justice  Texas Court of Appeals 1st District, Place 3 -Veronica Rivas-Molloy
Justice, Texas Court of Appeals  1st District Place 5- Amparo Monique Guerra
Justice Texas Court of Appeals 14th District  Place 7- Tamika Craft

District Judge  80th Judicial District-  Larry Weiman 
District Judge  164th Judicial District- Alexandra Smoots Thomas 
District Judge  165th Judicial District- Ursula Hall 
District Judge  176th Judicial District-  Nikita 'Niki' Harmon
District Judge  179th Judicial District-  No Endorsement 
District Judge  333rd Judicial District-  Daryl Moore   
District Judge  334th Judicial District-  Dawn Deshea Rogers
District Judge  337th Judicial District - Brennen Dunn
District Judge  339th Judicial District- Te'iva Bell
District Judge 351st  Judicial District - Natalia 'Nata' Cornelio 
District Judge 507th Judicial District-  Julia Maldonado

Harris County District Attorney - Carvana Cloud
Harris Ciunty Attorney- Christian Dashaun Menefee 
Harris County Sheriff - Ed Gonzales  
Harris County Tax Assessor Collector - Jolanda Jones

Harris County Commissioner Precinct 1- Rodney Ellis
Harris County Commissioner Precinct 3- Morris Overstreet 

Harris County Constrable Precinct 1 -Alan Rosen 

Harris County Civil Court At Law Number  4- Lesley Briones

Harris County Justice of the Peace Precinct 6 Place 1 - Victor Trevino III
Harris County Justice of the Peace Precinct 7 Place 1 -  Jeremy  L. Brown 
 

Houston Inaugurates Mayor Turner and Female Majority City Council

One of the things I got to do today thanks to an invitation from CM Letitia Plummer was for the first time ever be in the Wortham Center to witness the inauguration of a Houston mayor and our new city council.

Mayor Sylvester Turner was inaugurated for his second term as Houston's mayor earlier today in a joyous ceremony that spotlighted our city's diversity.   Everyone from Mariachi Pumas to rapper Trae Tha Truth performed on the Wortham stage along with the Houston Symphony Orchestra .

It was also a historic one in which it became official in terms of having a majority female city council.    Eight women took their oaths of office today, with four of them being African American women.  The ninth one will join once the contentious District B race is settled in the courts and the runoff election is finally held.

The court case will be heard on January 28, and will determine whether Cynthia Bailey or Renee Jefferson Smith will face frontrunner Tarsha Jackson in the runoff. 

In his inaugural address Mayor Turner stated that his second term would focus on flooding, affordable housing and transit issues.   He also challenged the private sector to do more to help solve the city's homeless crisis.

It was nice getting to see many of the area's politicians, judges, and advocates in attendance for this event. 

But rest assured that I and other peeps  will be watching to see if the mayor and this council lives up to their promises, and holds them accountable for doing so. 

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. .

Buzbee Pimps Transphobia In The Houston Mayoral Runoff

Looks like Tony Buzbee is getting desperate on the eve of the Houston municipal runoff election tomorrow.

He didn't get as many votes as he thought he would on Election Day or from the early voting phase that concluded on December 10, and is now resorting to transphobia to try to win. 

Why am I not shocked that he's playing that game since he was endorsed by long time Houston gaybaiter Steven Hotze?

Buzbee tried to claim when he was at the Pride Forum held at Texas Southern University back on August 2 that he was in favor of HERO 2.0 and would be a mayor for all people.  He also tried to bash Mayor Turner during that forum by claiming that the mayor didn't listen to the LGBT Advisory Board.

Unfortunately for him I and LGBT Advisory Board Chair Harrison Homer Guy were in the room, and we promptly blew up that lie in real time.. 

These mailers started appearing at the homes of many Houstonians across the city, including my mother, who alerted me this morning she'd received it and wasn't happy about it.



The mailers make references to the HERO repeal debunked 'men in women's bathrooms' talking point and Drag Queen Story Time, which is actually on hiatus at this time.

Buzbee is getting called out for his transphobic political Hail Mary by a wide variety of local and state groups, including Black Trans Women Inc (BTWI) the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), and the Houston GLBT Caucus.

“This mailer is additionally disturbing in light of the fact that Texas has unfortunately led the nation in anti-trans homicides. Two of the four trans Texans we lost in 2019 were from Houston. To see trans women being vilified and misrepresented by a candidate running for mayor in the most diverse and fourth largest city in this country to score political points is a shameful day in Houston’s history.” said Diamond Collier, Interim Executive Director of Black Transwomen Inc.

"Gone are the days where constituents are silenced and forced to live through inconsistency in our elected public servants dedication to our needs. WE SEE YOU AND WE VOTE! Demeaning narratives that perpetuate an already exacerbated hate within our community fortifies systematic and cultural disenfranchisement of our demographic. It leads to unsheltered people without homes. It leaded to workforce discrimination which we don’t have protection from. It leads to us not trusting you to do when we would be electing you to do which is to represent of the most marginalized people in this community as well as the privileged. Undignified narrative about trans people, immigrants, black people, poor people or women is not the direction leaders should be going for the future,

BTWI President Dee Watters added. "As a native Houstonian, it is irritating and disgusting to once again see a political candidate attempt to deploy transphobia and homophobia for their personal electoral gain in a municipal election. Spreading this ugly rhetoric has real-world consequences that the Black trans community will have to deal with long after Election Day has passed." The Houston GLBT Caucus stated, "Tony Buzbee's latest mailer ad is a grotesque anti-transgender charade, in an attempt to pander to his conservative base. We cannot let this kind of blatant, bigoted mindset into City Hall."

Emmett Schelling, the Executive Director of TENT stated,“LGBTQ Houstonians are part of this diverse city that we are all exceedingly proud of, and we urge all Houstonians to reject the false message that the Buzbee campaign is trying to send.”

If you haven't voted yet, you have a chance to send your own message and reject the transphobic bigotry that Buzbee is trying to peddle. 

Voting for the runoff election starts at 7 AM tomorrow and runs until 7 PM in 350 voting centers across Houston and the Fort Bend County portion of Houston.

If you don't know who to vote for, here are my TransGriot Municipal Election endorsements.

But by all means, we cannot afford to have a this transphobe in the most powerful mayoral seat in the country.

     

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.
 

No White Supremacists On My City Council

Our Houston municipal elections back on November 5 led to the mayoral race and several city council  races going into runoffs.

One of those races going into a runoff is the At Large 4 city council race in which Anthony Dolcefino,  son of former ABC 13 investigative reporter Wayne Dolecefino, is in against Dr Letitia Plummer.

This is the seat that CM Amanda Edwards held and was expected to win reelection to before she surprisingly decided to jump into the 2020 US Senate race.

I wasn't a fan of young Dolecefino in large part because of what his father pulled back in 1991.

Wayne Dolcefino aired that libelous hit piece on Sylvester Turner mere days before that 1991 mayoral runoff that cost him the chance to become Houston's first Black mayor and cost Dolecefino his ABC13 reporting gig. 

He's been hatin' on ABC 13 and Mayor Turner ever since, and is a frequent conservafool fixture on FOX 26.

It seems that young Anthony has a troubling history of palling around with White supremacists that goes back to his days at UT.   I also find it interesting that the Houston Firefighters endorsed Dolcefino.

We don't need someone like that on our Houston City Council, and I urge you to vote for Dr Letitia Plummer next month when early voting starts to make sure that happens.

Nats Fans Give Trump A Not So Warm World Series Welcome

While I was already having a very enjoyable evening watching my beloved Astros take a 3-2 lead in the 2019 World Series after beating the Nationals 7-1, the game was even more enjoyable because of Dolt 45 getting dissed by Washington Nationals fans

Trump and his GOP posse decided to show up for Game 5 of the World Series.  As his smirking orange mug was shown on the Nationals Park jumbotron screen, loud lusty sustained boos arose from the sellout crowd along with chants of 'Lock Him Up!'

Think this is fake news?    Here's the video receipts.



In addition to the beautiful sight of Nats fans exercising their First Amendment rights to demonstrate their disgust for him, Veterans for Impeachment displayed a blue sign in view of the behind the plate camera. 

A red  Impeach Trump banner was also unfurled during the game from the right field upper deck.

Nope Dolt 45, this was not your carefully curated MAGA rally crowds or the supine GOP pols kissing your orange behind.  There are the overwhelming majority of Americans who despise you with every fiber of their being.

These are the real Americans who let you know last night they aren't happy about you occupying the Oval Office, and you can't dismiss it as inside I-495 peeps.

They reflect the feeling of a sizable majority of Americans who will eagerly demonstrate at the ballot box in 13 months jst how much we want you to be a one term POTUS.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Survives To Win A Second Term

We started early voting yesterday in Texas, but the election I had my eye on was taking place north of the border.

The Canadian federal election happened yesterday, and the Liberals under Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were facing a tight race because of scandals and a blackface controversy during his first term combined with high expectation for his majority government.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who won a contentious race for the leadership of his party, was hopeful they would recapture control of Parliament for the first time since Stephen Harper and the Tories were dealt a crushing defeat after running Canada for ten years.

Scheer tried to portray himself as an 'average Canadian guy', but that effort took a major hit when it was revealed that he has dual Canadian and American citizenship.

The Conservatives had a narrow lead in polling before the election, but were disappointed that despite garnering the most popular votes on this night and picking up 22 seats, it didn't translate (thank God) into a national win for him and the Conservative Party.

You need 170 seats in order to form a majority government in Canada's 338 seat Parliament, and as of this moment the Liberals are projected to have enough seats to form a minority government. 

The Liberals picked up 157 seats, and have leads in 2 more races. Turnout was 65% in this year's election.  Trudeau, as the current prime minister, not only was reelected to his seat, but will have first crack at forming that new Canadian government.

In order to form their minority government, the Liberals will need to partner with another party to get the 170 seats they need to form a new government.  That party looks like it will be the Jagmeet Singh led New Democratic Party (NDP).    Singh held onto his seat in his Burnaby South BC riding.

The Bloc Quebecois already declared as part of the Quebec only nationalist campaign they ran in the province of Quebec they will not participate in forming a minority government.

The Conservatives hold 121 seats and will be the Official Opposition after their dominant showing in the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. 

The Tories blue tsunami flipped two of the three ridings they didn't control in Alberta, and those were Liberal held seats in Calgary and Edmonton .  The lone one they didn't flip is the Edmonton-Strathcona one held by the NDP.   MP Linda Duncan retired, and Heather McPherson fought off a strong Tony challenge to keep the seat in NDP hands.

The Tories also captured all formerly held Liberal seats in Saskatchewan.   But they failed to gain any seats in the greater Toronto area (the GTA) and in the Montreal metro area.

The NDP holds 24 seats, but lost ground in Quebec to the Bloc Quebecois, who will have a larger mischief making say in the 43rd Parliament with the 22 seats they picked up.   

The Bloc Quebecois now holds 32 seats, up from the ten they held in 2015.

The Green Party had a historic night by picking up their first riding in Atlantic Canada.  Jenica Atwin picked up a seat in Fredericton, New Brunswick to raise their total to 3 seats.  Green Party leader Elizabeth May was reelected to her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding in BC

But despite running candidates in all 338 ridings, and  record breaking fundraising numbers for them, the Greens fell way short of getting the twelve seats they needed to get official party status in the House of Commons.

The other good news out of Canada last night was that Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC), lost his Beauce, Quebec riding to Conservative Richard Lehoux.   

Bernier was a wildly popular Conservative who had won that riding in four previous elections in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2015.   His father also represented that riding that extends from the outskirts of Quebec City to the border with Maine .

Bernier narrowly lost the Conservative Party leadership race to Scheer, and left the party to form the far right PPC in 2018.   The PPC ran over 300 candidates across Canada in this election cycle, and they thankfully failed to win a single seat or hold onto the one House of Commons riding they had.

The PPC was known for not only having racist and anti-immigrant views, but was accused of having ties to a neo-Nazi group in the US and Canadian far right groups like the Soldiers of Odin and Pegida Canada.

Canada's voters sent a message that the far right populism polluting American and British politics and much of Europe doesn't have a home there for now. 

Trudeau has won a second term, and peeps on both sides of our shared border are exhaling.

Melania is probably happy about that, too.

Trans Canadians are especially thankful in this post Thanksgiving Day month that they have something else to celebrate.

Matt Bevin Dipping Into The GOP Transphobic Playbook

Matt Bevin (R) is polling at historic lows for a Kentucky governor, and is trailing Kentucky Democratic AG Andy Beshear in the governor's race that will be decided in a few weeks.

So what does the GOP do when they have no governmental accomplishments to run on and their candidate is majorly unpopular? 

Deploy the transphobia.

The SuperPAC campaign Fore American Principles deployed the ad aimed at Beshear which features a male actor running a race against female athletes.



Bevin's campaign predictably had no comment about the transphobic ad, but Chris Hartman, the ED of the Kentucky Fairness Campaign definitely did. 

"'Ads like this coming out of Washington DC think tanks, that have no grounding in reality, are the types of things that ruin our elections," said Hartman.  

"I hope, I believe that the people of Kentucky will prove that this type of political fear-mongering out of Washington DC, just doesn't work here, back home, where we deal with things on a local level," Hartman added.

The Beshear campaign issued a statement that also tore Bevin a new anus over the transphobic ad. 

"This is a shameful and false attack from a shady group that will lead to bullying of our kids. Andy opposes discrimination. Matt Bevin is an unhinged failure who is hurting our students by seeking to tear down public education. He even blamed teachers, without evidence, for the sexual abuse of children.”

Is November 5 here yet so my Kentucky peeps can fire Matt Bevin? 

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 Houston Dem Presidential Primary Debate Final Qualifiers

As many of you political junkies are aware of, yesterday was the last day for the remaining 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates to qualify for the September 12 debate in Houston

The standards were doubled to require that candidates seeking to be on that stage reach 2% in four DNC approved polls and draw 130,000 unique donors.   400 of those donors need to be from at least 20 different states. 

Ten people qualified to be in the H&PE Arena on the Texas Southern University campus in two weeks.

They are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Rep Beto O"Rourke, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Andrew Yang and Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

The rest failed to make the cut, meaning there will be only one night of debates in Houston.

The scramble is on for tickets to the event, with current TSU students, faculty and staff getting first shots at the tickets for the event in the 8100 seat venue starting at 12 noon CDT on Friday August 30.   

TSU is also planning to have a campus debate watch party in Sawyer Auditorium for students, faculty, staff and the general public
   

Looking forward to all the debate related candidate events that will be taking place in the 713 during that week