Interviews with Janet and Toni

Well, the stories and coverage involving #girlslikeus just keeps on happening.  

And that a wonderful thing as far as I'm concerned .  The more positive coverage we get the better it is for all of us. 

Janet Mock is featured in a Colorlines.com interview discussing the fredom to tell her own story and how gender and race plays into the media discussions of trans people.

Janet will also be taking part in a plenary session at the Facing Race 2012 conference.  It will take plac in Baltimore, MD and is a gathering of hundreds of racial justice thinkers, advocates and culture makers from November 15-17

And nope I have a previous commitment that won't allow me to be there for this event. 

Toni Newman is featured in an article published in the November 2012 issue of the iconic EBONY magazine written by Michelle Burford entitled "Transgender and God's Child." 

Looking forward to reading it.

Eden Is A Trailblazing #Girllikeus

Denver journalist Eden Lane is a trailblazer.  She's the first trans on-air broadcast journalist with a major network and covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention that was held in the Mile High City for PBS.

The other cool thing is she's also a #girllikeus.

Lane since 2009 has been the host of the KBDI-TV shows In Focus with Eden Lane, Colorado’s popular local arts and culture news magazine, and OUTSpoken, a prime time special series devoted to the LGBT community that has been on the air for 20 years.

She was recently interviewed by the Denver Post about her fascinating life that includes her being a wife and mother to a teenager in addition to her journalism career, and here's the link to that interview.

Third 2012 Presidential Debate Wrap Up

While the Chicago Bears were dominating the Detroit Lions during their 13-7 victory at Soldier Field last night, in the other big Chicago vs Detroit matchup on the political stage President Obama also won big in his final debate with challenger Mitt Romney.

Hey, that's not just my chococentric assessment of this debate.   Three snap post debate polls show that the POTUS won.  The loud conservafool whining  already commencing on the Net about the moderator, speaking time and other issues tells me all I need to know about who won in addition to what I watched transpire over those 90 minutes. 

The 'Big Chief' as Tom Joyner calls him showed up at this debate, but he was confronted with another version of Moderate Mitt.   This time Mitt was in 'me, too' mode repudiating stances he took during the Republican primary and over the six years he's run for POTUS and President Obama called him on it.

And note to Mitt Romney, check a map the next time you try to go into a foreign policy debate because it's obvious you are woefully lacking in that aspect of the POTUS job and having the GW Bush foreign policy peeps sniffing around you doesn't help..     .  

First you tried to claim the AFRICAN country of Mali is in the Middle East, and then later you tried to claim that Syria was Iran's path to the sea.   Um dude, ever heard of two bodies of water called the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz?

There was also that devastating counter to Mittens talking point that the US Navy has less ships than it did in 1916 and the President swiftly and snarkily whacking him with the point that the US military has fewer horses and bayonets.

“You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets … because the nature of our military's changed," the president taunted. "We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”

The Commander in Chief was in command of the facts, knew his stuff foreign policy wise while Mitt was sweating, saying the POTUS has done a great job, and regurgitating his loud and wrong foreign policy campaign talking points President Obama ripped to shreds. 

That's why President Obama whupped that Mitt again when this evening at Lynn University was over.   Now with 14 days left until Election Day we'll see if the voting public sees it that way as well. 

More Journalism Breaking Out At CNN?

One of the things that has pissed me off about the 'mainsteam media' (CBS, ABC, NBC, and CNN) over the last decade is they routinely invite these right wing hatemongers on their networks for interviews, let them Etch-a-Sketch themselves as 'moderates' and never call them on the hateful crap they always say when they are in conservaworld.

CNN's Carol Costello had one of those moments of journalism when she simply read some of AFA hatemonger Bryan Fischer's words back to him and eventually cut off the interview when Fischer started going into incoherent rant mode. 



And he's gone batturd crazy because she did.  Fischer called her a 'member of the Gay Gestapo' simply for doing her job.  

Soledad O'Brien has been calling out the liars and conservaignorance lately and I guess the rest of her CNN colleagues are starting to follow suit.

About damned time.

Final Presidential Debate Tonight

After I finish handling my civic duty, I'll be parked in front of the TV with notepad in hand checking out the final debate in Boca Raton, FL between President Obama and Mitt Romney.  


The debate at Lynn University is supposed to be focused on the subject of foreign policy and will be moderated by Bob Scheiffer of CBS.   I have the suspicion that both candidates will do their best to sneak in commentary about domestic issues during this 90 minute battle.

And TransGriot readers, I implore you to have no drinking games based on how many times Mitt lies.  You'll be risking alcohol poisoning if you do. 

I also wonder if the conservafools are going to attack Bob Schieffer before the debate starts like they did Martha Raddatz and Candy Crowley? 

Yes TransGriot readers, just as I have done for the last three debates, I will post my thoughts and impressions about how it transpired around midnight CDT.

Sylvia Rivera 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally Speech

This is 1973 video of Sylvia Rivera speaking at the Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally despite attempts to silence her.   

She pushed her way past rainbow community transphobes determined to keep her off that stage and still managed to grab the mic, have her say and be heard that day over a crowd that was hatin' on her.  

That it the legacy that we trans activists living in the second decade of the 21st century must honor and live up to.

Here's the video of Sylvia's speech.

y'all better quiet down! from reina july on Vimeo.

Political Revenge Is Best Served At The Voting Booth

In just a few hours early voting will commence in the Lone Star State and I'll be doing so with a chip on my shoulder because I've been impatiently waiting for this day.
 
Am I angry about the Republican dominated Texas legislature passing a voter suppression law during the 2011 session designed to keep me and other non-white Texans from voting?   You damned skippy I am.   

Am I going to take it out on them at the voting booth?   What do you think conservafools?  . 

I like firing people with (R) behind their names in the voting booth that try to oppress me. Y'all gave me plenty of incentive to do so in the 2012 election cycle when the Lone Star State early voting polls open at 7 AM CDT. 

Thanks to the US Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder that law has been spiked due to Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.   All I'll have to do is show my yellow voter registration card, sign next to my name on the voter roll and handle my electoral business.

And I will be highly motivated to serve up some political revenge in the voting booth.

I was going to do my part to ensure that President Obama got reelected to a second term anyway and help more Democrats get elected to public office in Texas.  Your naked, racist attempts to suppress my vote ensured I had this October date on the calendar circled.

So people, if you're upset like I am about what the GOP has done in the runup to this November 6 election day, do what I'm doing.  Get mad, then take out your righteous anger out on the conservafools at the ballot box.

Political revenge is best served at the voting booth, and I'm going to enjoy watching it play out all the way to November 6.

2012 Texans Watch-Nevermore!

When the 2012 schedule was first released, this was a game Texans fans were looking forward to ever since that gut wrenching divisional round playoff loss in Baltimore back in January. 

After my fave NFL ballers came down from the unbeaten ranks with an embarrassing 42-24 thud on national television at home to Green Bay, the Texans players were looking forward to it as well.

The Texans fans also got the opportunity to welcome Jacoby Jones back to Reliant Stadium and let him know we still haven't forgotten that boneheaded play that set in motion that playoff loss.  The injury script was also flipped this time as the Ravens defense was missing Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb, and had other key players such as Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata nursing nagging injuries.  But there was good news on the injury front for the Ravens in that Terrell Suggs did play for the first time this season

The Ravens kept an interesting tendency going of being a formidable team at home but average on the road.  They've also had trouble over the last two weeks stopping the run.  

The Texans had no empathy for the plight of the NFL ballers from Baltimore as they put on the battle red uniforms, woke up from sleepwalking through last week's game and made the Ravens see red.

The Bulls on Parade defense swatted passes, sacked Joe Flacco four times including one for a safety, and picked him off twice.

One of those interceptions was the Jonathan Joseph pick six that broke the game wide open and was part of a 20 point second quarter explosion that led to a satisfying for Texans fans 43-13 blowout win.   

It was not only the first victory ever against the Ravens, it was the most points a Texans team has ever scored against an opponent.   It also gives the Texans the best record in the AFC at 6-1 going into their well deserved bye week and earned me some crabcakes from one of my friends in Baltimore. 

The Texans will get to watch everyone else play in Week 8, then get ready for their Week 9 home game at Reliant Stadium against the Buffalo Bills.

Hope this team I saw today hangs around until February 4, 2013

 

Big Tex Goes Up In Flames

The 2012 run of the State Fair of Texas closes down in Dallas later today, but as it does so it will be missing a beloved iconic figure that stood tall over it for 60 years.

Big Tex, the 60 foot tall cowboy that stood over the fair since 1952 caught fire Friday.   It's suspected that an electrical fire that started in the wired jaw that allowed the statue to say 'Howdy Y'all" is what caused its fiery demise. 

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is already on record as stating Big Tex would be rebuilt and in place to greet visitors to Fair Park when the 2013 edition of the State Fair opens next year.  

24 Hours Until We Early Vote...

At least in the Lone Star State.

Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early, getting dressed, grabbing my valid yellow voter registration card and heading to my nearest early voting polling center which will be open from 7 AM-7 PM.  

If you Texas TransGriot readers wish to check you registration, here's the link to do so.  

I'll also wake up knowing the Department of Justice will have people watching in Harris (Houston's county) and Dallas County to ensure the True The Vote azzholes behave themselves.

The DOJ will be monitoring the early voting process to ensure there's no BS in the two Texas counties that provide roughly 25% of the statewide vote total.

For you conservafools who have a problem with that, frankly I don't care.   If you hadn't engaged in previous shady electoral behavior the DOJ wouldn't have found it necessary under Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to be here monitoring the election in the first place.

By the way, did y'all ever find out what caused that mysterious fire at the voting machine warehouse back in 2010?  

Here are the links Texas TransGriot readers to your local county websites for more detailed info about where your early voting polling places are located and if you have other questions or concerns about exercising your precious right to vote. 

Best of all, you will not need a photo ID.  All you will need is your yellow voter registration card.

And I'm looking forward to firing some Republicans in 24 hours.

Double Birthday Shout Out To Josephine and Lowell!

Two of my fave people in our community are celebrating birthdays today, and I'm not letting this date pass without giving both of them the TransGriot birthday treatment they deserve

Since beauty and wisdom goes first, my first birthday shout out goes to Josephine Tittsworth.  

I've known her for over a decade, am proud to call this fellow Cougar my friend, and she has done much to help advance the cause of trans human rights in Texas and across the nation..

And oh yeah, happy birthday Jo!

She's the creative force behind the two day Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summits that I've been reporting from for the last three years.

The TTNS not only helps focus attention on getting trans friendly non-discrimination policies enacted at Texas colleges and universities and school districts, it also has trans related policy discussions, keynote speakers and programming about our lives.

And oh yeah, I can't forget to mention the TTNS chocolate break.

Since the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit started in 2009 it has grown to become an event coveted by area universities to host.  Josephine has the vision and desire to not only take it statewide, but wants to host it someday on one of our Texas HBCU campuses.

The other person I'm giving a TransGriot birthday shoutout is Lowell Kane.  I met this handsome Aggie during the 2010 TTNS that was held on the Rice University campus along with a few of his Aggie students in his capacity as the coordinator of the LGBT Center on Texas A&M's campus that he helped found in 2007. 

The campus climate toward LGBT students improved dramatically on the A&M campus during his time there and he's now moved on to become the founding director of the new LGBTQ Center on the Purdue University campus.

He's now busy in the Hoosier state building their LGBTQ center and I have little doubt he'll have the same success up there that he did at Aggieland.

We already miss him in the Houston area (and so do I), but our loss was Purdue's gain.   At least they sell Blue Bell ice cream in West Lafayette to go with that cake he gets to eat for his big 3-0 birthday.

Happy birthday to both of you.   Love you both, thanks for all you do on behalf of our rainbow community, may you have continued success in your personal and professional lives and may you continue to celebrate many more birthdays to come. 

East Aurora, IL School Board Caves To Hate Group

On Monday the East Aurora, IL  Board of Education unanimously adopted a groundbreaking policy hat would benefit the trans and gender non-conforming students in their district

The new policy specifically states that transgender and gender nonconforming students have the right use the restroom that corresponds to their gender-related identity that is consistently asserted at school. The student has the right to be addressed by the name they want to be called, too.
“A court-ordered name or gender change is not required, and the student needs not change his or her official records.” it's stated in the policy
…
“In no case shall a transgender student be required to use a locker room that conflicts with the student’s gender-related identity,” the policy reads.

Didn't take long for the transphobes of the Illinois Family Association, a Southern Poverty Law Center  certified hate group to jump in and start stirring up opposition to the policy. to the point in which the East Aurora school board started wavering on doing what was right.   The pushback from groups supporting the policy was just as swift.

The Trevor Project issued a statement in support of the policy. 

“The Trevor Project is fully in support of maintaining the policy adopted unanimously by the East Aurora School Board on Monday,” stated Abbe Land, executive director and CEO of The Trevor Project. “Since 2010, more than 3,000 teens from Illinois have called the Trevor Lifeline in crisis, and among their top presenting problems were bullying and harassment at school. This policy will help protect the highly vulnerable transgender student population from discrimination, fear and hate that leads to bullying, increased anxiety, and elevated safety concerns on East Aurora’s campuses, and is a step that can help save lives.”

Last night the East Aurora board held another meeting.  By a 4-0 vote with three board members absent, they caved to the chrisotfascists at the Illinois Family Association and rescinded the policy the board passed on Monday to boos and cries of "Shame" and "Cowards".

The policy had support from the overflow crowd in attendance for the meeting.   Out of the twenty people that spoke at the emergency meeting, 17 were in favor of keeping the passed policy.    One of those persons in favor of it, Victoria Beltran, who has three children in the District's schools had this to say.

“If you go against it, there’s no reason to support you guys,” she told the board. “We need to hear everyone in our district and not people outside our district.”   Ms.Beltran was referring to the haters at the IFA, who like the cowards they are didn't send anyone to speak at that meeting.  

Parents who are in favor of the policy are considering in conjunction with several organizations lawsuits to restore the policy, and I wouldn't be surprised if those board members find themselves challenged in the next election cycle for caving in the face of bigotry and hatred.

The bigots and bullies of the IFA won this round because the East Aurora, IL school board was too cowardly to stand up for what they passed Monday.   If they did so out of fear they were going to lose their seats, their actions last night to rescind the policy may be what actually costs them their seats, not supporting the trans and gender variant kids of the district .  

And speaking of those trans and gender variant kids, you rescinded the policy on Spirit Day.   It's bitterly ironic that on a day in which millions of people and allies around the country show support to trans and gender variant kids against bullying aimed at them, you East Aurora school board members caved in to the bigots and bullies of the Illinois Family Association.

That's fracked up East Aurora school board, and shame on y'all for not being tough minded enough to stand up for the trans and gender variant kids in your district.

Janette Tovar Update

The friends and family of our trans sister Janette Tovar held a candlelight vigil for her Thursday night at the Grapevine Bar in Dallas that was well attended.   People in the Dallas rainbow community are still stunned, shocked and angry about her untimely loss and how it transpired.

As for the arrangements for Ms. Tovar, there won't be a wake, viewing or funeral because Janette is being cremated.  A church service is being planned and scheduled for a later date and as soon as I have that info, I will pass that along to you.

Thanks to my friends, fellow bloggers and allies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I'll have some help keeping you apprised of the ongoing developments in terms of the murder investigation and how the case against her alleged killer Jonathan Kenney is progressing. 

I will definitely let you know if and when our fallen trans sister Janette receives justice.

Shut Up Fool Awards-2012 Spirit Day Edition

As I mentioned in an earlier post, today is Spirit Day, in which we express our support for our rainbow community younglings and anti-bullying efforts by wearing the color purple.

It's also Friday, and you longtime TransGriot readers know what that means.   It's the day I reveal what fool, fool or group of fools exhibited heightened levels of outrageous stupidity and deserve to be called out for it.

As usual, my fools runneth over this week, but I had to narrow down all the worthy contenders to just one Shut Up Fool award recipient.

Honorable mention number one goes to Tennessee state senator and Tea Klux Klan member Jim Summerville (R-Dickson) , who said he doesn't give a rat's ass what black people think


Honorable mention number two goes to chickenhawk Taggart Romney for trying to be Billy Badazz on a NC radio show and claiming he wanted to hit Presdient Obama for calling his prevaricating papa a liar

 
Lawrence O'Donnell had an interesting take on that.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Honorable Mention Number three is a group award for Fox Noise.   Whether it's whining about CNN's Candy Crowley calling out Mitt during Tuesday's debate, outright lying about what happened in Libya, or griping about the polls that aren't going Mittens way we can always count on our fave propaganda network to deliver the goods lies.

This week's Shut Up Fool award goes to one of my leading candidates for the 2012 Shut Up Fool of the year award in Taggart's daddy, Willard Romney.  


Whether it was his dizzying flip-flopping on positions, being too chicken to appear on The View, or his vanniillacentric privileged arrogance that was on display during the debate with President Obama, his seething hatred of the POTUS seeping through his performance at the Al Smith dinner last night in New York,  Willard handily beats out the stiff competition this week for the award. 

All together now people, Mitt Romney, Shut Up Fool!

   

RIP, Janette

Damn, we'll be adding another name to the 2012 TDOR list.  This time the fallen trans sister comes from my home state.   According to the Dallas Voice, 43 year old Janette Tovar was murdered Tuesday by her life partner, 26 year old Jonathan Stuart Kenney.

Kenney was arrested by Dallas police yesterday.   According to an arrest affidavit, an investigation into Tovar’s death revealed that Kenney slammed Tovar’s head into the concrete in the 830 block of West Davis Street at 6:20 AM CDT Monday.   Kenney then continued to assault Tovar when they returned home to 918 W. 8th St.

Police then responded to a 911 call at about 4:20 PM at the couple’s residence. The initial police report states that a man called 911 around 4 PM Monday after finding Tovar “not breathing and unresponsive.” Dallas Fire-Rescue and homicide detectives responded to the scene.

The arrest affidavit states that Kenney did not tell police he and Tovar had a fight before he found Tovar. The apartment manager told police the couple were fighting between 8 and 9 AM and that he heard Tovar tell Kenney to “Get off me!” The manager told police he lives directly below the couple and banged on the ceiling to get them to stop fighting. He told police they “are always fighting and arguing.”

Kenney provided a taped statement to police Monday night, admitting that he slammed Tovar’s head into the concrete at Tyler and Davis streets and that he continued to assault her after they arrived home at their apartment.

After the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy, Tovar’s death was ruled a homicide Tuesday with the cause of death listed as blunt force trauma to the head.

An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for Kenney on Wednesday with Dallas PD confirming that he was in custody on Thursday morning.

Will be keeping track of this case to see if Janette receives justice

Nova Scotia's NSRAP Pushing For Trans Human Rights

With Ontario passing Toby's Act  and becoming the first Canadian province to protect the human rights of its trans citizens, Manitoba swiftly following suit and the Trans Right Bills C-276 and C-279 making their way through the Canadian Parliament at the federal level, a group of activists in Nova Scotia thinks the time is right to push for similar legislation in their province.


The Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project (NSRAP) with the support of Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie are pushing their lawmakers to amend the province’s Human Rights Act to include the terms "gender identity" and "gender expression.”  


The NSRAP has modeled their petition on Ontario's Toby's Act, and Kevin Kindred, the chair of NSRAP said “There is political support for taking transphobia seriously and evolving human rights laws in the right way.”


MP Megan Leslie, who is a big supporter of C-279, the Randall Garrison sponsored bill that is and winding its way toward third reading, worked with the NSRAP on trans rights issues before being elected to Parliament.

"In Nova Scotia there is an incredible openness to trans rights that I don't see in other provinces," she says in an Xtra.com interview. "When we talked to the commissioners with the human rights commission, we talked about the fact that transgender people are not covered by the Human Rights Act. They fit in the margins under gender, sexuality, et cetera.  

“They were open on the fact that they would find ways to fit trans people under the prohibited grounds when they can," she recalls. “But there was a recognition that it deserved its own listing."

Yes, trans people in Nova Scotia do.  In light of what happened to Elle Noir in June 2011, and the drama over a proposed name change bill for trans people in the province that included a fingerprinting provision, it's past time that happened and trans Nova Scotians get added to the province's Human Rights Code. . 

Here's hoping that Nova Scotia becomes the third province to enact a law protecting their trans citizens and becomes the first in Atlantic Canada to do so.
 

Reminder: Make Your 2012 TDOR Events Diverse Ones

We are now one month from the 2012 edition of the Transgender Day of Remembrance events that will be taking place all over the world to remember the people we lost due to anti-trans violence.

We have held these TDOR events since 1999 and have seen it grow to a worldwide event since that time.   The TDOR events are either in the final planning stages for some of you or others of you may just be getting started with that process.   Some have already settled on dates, times and locations for your TDOR commemorations.

If you have gotten to that point in your 2012 Transgender Day of Remembrance event planning, please send that info to Marti Abernathey or Ethan St Pierre at transgenderdor@gmail.com. 

You can also follow updates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Transgenderdor

But I want to remind everyone of one salient point.   A disproportionate number of the people who lost their lives to anti-trans violence, like 70% of the overall list of people memorialized on the TDOR website were Black or Latina.   

Please do what you can to ensure that your TDOR events are as diverse as the people we memorialize.   I've said this for the last two years, but yet I continue to hear comments from POC trans people about TDOR events in various locales that aren't diverse and it's an irritant to us.

If we submit that this community is a diverse one and it tends to be one of the events in which we do get television and print media coverage, then we need to ensure that we show our diverse trans community to the world on that date.   

And yes, it's also just as important to demonstrate that our trans community allies are of diverse backgrounds as well.

So for those of you planning the 2012 TDOR's, please ensure the memorial service for our fallen sisters is as diverse as the people we lost due to anti-trans violence.

Rock Purple For Spirit Day

Today is Spirit Day, in which we peeps in the US and Canada rock the color purple in support of TBLG kids and speak out against bullying. 
It was the idea of Canadian teenager Brittany Murphy, who in October 2010 suggested the observance.   GLAAD promoted it and the first Spirit Day was observed on October 20 of the year.

It got its name from the purple stripe on the TBLG rainbow flag created by Gilbert Baker in which the color purple on that flag symbolizes spirit. 

It was also a reaction to several high profile bullying related suicides of gay schoolkids in 2010 including Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi.

I also need to point out that when non-gay kids are bullied, one of the epithets that is hurled at them by their tormentors is the presumption or accusation they are part of the BTLG community.  

So to show your support for our rainbow community kids, pull those purple outfits out of the closet and wear them.  Some blogs will also be going purple for the day and people will be changing the pics on their FB and Twitter profiles purple in honor of that day as well.

So time to get in the spirit for Spirit Day!   Rock the color purple and take a stand against the bullying of our rainbow community kids.

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 7

Week 6 was a 4-10 disaster prognostication wise for me no thanks to all the upsets, the Chargers failure to hold a 24 point lead and my Texans failure to show up and play against Green Bay last Sunday on national TV. 

They're going to have to play much better than that against a banged up Ravens squad they have never beaten and who one of their many injured players is Ray Lewis.

Mike did slightly better at 6-8, so my five game lead is now down to three over Mr Watts.   I'm done being pissed about it.  I was going to have a bad week sooner or later but better to have it while I have a nice lead to work with.


So time to move on to Week 7 and get back on the other side of .500 for my weekly picks.   Six teams, the unbeaten Falcons, Broncos, Chiefs, Dolphins, Eagles and Chargers are on their bye weeks which means we only have 13 NFL tilts to sort through this week

Y'all know the drill.  Mike's picks are here, mine are in underlined bold print..   

Time to get busy.

Week 6 records 
TransGriot 4-10
Mike Watts 6-8

2012 Season Records
TransGriot  51-40
Mike Watts 48-43

Week 7
Bye week
Falcons, Broncos, Chiefs, Dolphins, Eagles, Chargers

Thursday, October 18
Seahawks at 49ers

Sunday, October 21
Redskins at Giants
Cardinals at Vikings
Cowboys at Panthers
Saints at Buccaneers
Packers at Rams
Ravens at Texans
Browns at Colts
Titans at Bills

Afternoon Games
Jets at Patriots
Jaguars at Raiders

Sunday Night Game
Steelers at Bengals

Monday, October 22
Lions at Bears

The POTUS Ain't Kidding- He's Got This

As we get closer to November 6 and this contentious 2012 presidential election season mercifully draws to a close, the high stakes of this election can stress political junkies and people who pay attention to politics like I do out at times.    The media wanting a horse race contest, being African-American and knowing that the Republicans do give a rat's anus about my people only adds to that anxiety

So to deal with that election induced anxiety I head over to sites like 270towin.com and play with the maps there.   FYI TransGriot readers, here's the way I think it will play out on November 6.  

When this election started President Obama's solidly in his corner states totaled to 201 electoral votes with Romney having a base electoral vote total of 191.  Eleven states, NV, CO, IA,WI, MI, OH, PA, NH, VA, NC and FL totaling 176 electoral votes were considered battleground states at the beginning of this process.

Five of those 11 states, Nevada (6 EVs), WI (10 EV's), MI (16 EV's), PA (20 EV's) and NH (4 EV's) are now leaning toward Obama or considered in the POTUS column bringing him up to 263 electoral votes, just seven shy of the magic 270 mark and victory.  NC (15 EV's) is considered leaning to Romney, brining his total up to 206.  

Of the four remaining toss-up states, CO (9 EV's), VA (13 EV's), OH (18 EVs) and FL (29 EV's),  Ohio is the critical one for Romney as it is for any Republican candidate.    If President Obama holds OH, he can start writing his second inaugural speech because that gives him 281 electoral votes and four more years as POTUS 44 because there is no way Mittens can catch him even if Romney won VA, CO or FL.  

But Ohio is the critical one, which is why you'll see both tickets heading to Ohio and millions spent on commercials and GOP voter suppression tricks on an almost daily basis along with the other four states with North Carolina thrown in.   If the POTUS lost Ohio, all he has to do is win just one of those three remaining states in VA, CO, FL or any combination to get his second term. 

Romney must win all three states plus OH to become (yecch) the 45th president of the United States, and he's got problems in all four of them.  Ohio, Virginia and Colorado are leaning President Obama's way and it's a dead heat in Florida.

So nope, the POTUS wasn't being overconfident when he stated on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and 60 Minutes that he's going to win this election.    It's looking more likely that going to happen, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure it does.