Harris County Goes Blue!

>The news wasn't all bad for me and Team Liberal-progressive on November 8.

My home county, Harris County, which with over 4 million people in it is the third largest county in the nation and the largest in Texas by population, went blue on Election Night!

What was even more delicious was that Fort Bend County, one of our neighboring counties to the southwest which once upon a time was the political base of the odious Tom DeLay, also went blue on Election Night.   It has become more diverse since 2000.

We did in Harris County what the nation should have done. fired everything with an R behind their name. Hillary romped in Harris County    The GOP lost every county wide seat they held.  We elected Kim Ogg, who narrowly lost two years ago as our DA (#ByeDevon).  We reclaimed the sheriff's office by electing Ed Gonzales to replace the appointed Republican Ron Hickman.. We added new Democratic state judges and now have 12 African-American women judges at the county courthouse.

Stan Stanart, you're next.  We need to have a Democrat as Harris County clerk administering voting rules in this diverse county.  We're done with your shady voter suppression tactics.

Neither is the SGL community going to forget how you stalled implementation of the Obergefell ruling here for several hours.

Flipping the county was the easy part.   Now comes the hard part of keeping it in 2018 and beyond.

TDOR History Snapshot

We know that TDOR occurs on November 20, and has grown to become an international event.

But what is the history of it and why did it start?

It started in the wake of the November 28,1998 murder of Rita Hester and the transphobic media coverage of it in gay and mainstream media outlets that incensed the Boston area and national trans community.   Hester's killer as of this date has not been brought to justice.

On the one year anniversary of Hester's death, because we were starting to forget the names of the people who had been murdered at that time because it was happening so frequently and we had better information about it thanks to the Internet, San Francisco based trans advocate Gwen Smith founded the Remembering Our Dead web project to track and memorialize those folks we have lost to anti- trans violence.

Smith also organized a vigil in San Francisco on the one year anniversary of Hester's death that grew into the Transgender Day of Remembrance event we are familiar with almost two decades later.  The TDOR was rapidly adopted elsewhere in the United States and the rest of the world.

The basic elements of a TDOR are the same no matter where the event happens.

A list of names of trans people murdered from November 21 of the previous year to the date of this year's TDOR is read an a candle is lit for that person.  Depending on where you are in the world and who is conducting it, there are other regional or local international touches added to the basic ceremony.

Some areas also do a week of educational events and panel discussions in the lead up to the TDOR. since in addition to now being an international trans event, it has now become part of Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Awareness Month.

TDOR is at its core, a memorial service for the people we lost.  It's a reminder to friends, foes and frenemies that our lives mater.  our humanity matters and these are.lives lost we'll never get back

It's also a time that we collectively remind the cis community that the humanity and human rights of trans people here and around the world are not up for discussion or debate.

TDOR is also a time that we reflect on the people we lost, and rededicate ourselves to the task of ending anti-trans violence, .

Joy Reid Breaks Down What Trump Voters Won and Lost

 I love Joy Reid, her AM joy MSNBC show, and her on point commentary about many issues of the day.

She breaks it down what Trump voters won and lost and what you third party voters enabled on Tuesday.

Transgender Day Of Remembrance Event At HCC Southeast Tuesday

Trans Awareness Week in the runup to the November 20 TDOR tends to get busy for me as we take time to not only educate others in our community about our lives, but memorialize the people we have lost due to anti-trans violence.

I also enjoy speaking and doing events at our various Houston area colleges and universities..

Thanks to Prof. Antrece Baggett, I've been invited to participate in their upcoming Transgender Day of Remembrance event at the HCC-Southeast Campus along with Dr. Ilija Immanuel Gallego.

It's also a timely one in the wake of our disastrous election a week ago.

The HCC-Southeast College TDOR event is sponsored by the SE College Black Student Association, Women and Gender Studies Program, Counseling Center, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the History Department.,

The HCC Southeast campus is located at 6815 Rustic St just off I-45 near Gulfgate Mall.   The TDOR event on the HCC-SE campus will start at 6 PM in the Angela Morales Building in Lecture Hall A.

The event is open to students, faculty, staff and the community, so hope to see my Houston trans fam and allies there if you can attend.    

Claiming 'You're Nor Racist' For Supporting Trump? Prove It!

“What challenges us is to ensure that none should enjoy lesser rights and none tormented because they are born different, hold contrary political views, or pray to God in a different manner.”
--Nelson Mandela

Over the last few days, I've been seeing defensive comments coming from the folks who admitted they voted for Il Douche that ;not all the people who voted for Trump are racist.

Um, no.  Actions speak louder than words.   By voting for Trump, you cosigned racism.

So I'll play along.  If you are a Trump supporter and you say you aren't racist, here is what you'll need to do to prove it courtesy of something I saw on my FB friend Cynthia Gill's page and added a few TBLGQ concerns to.

***

If you REALLY believe that this President-elect does not stand for racism, bigotry, and sexual assault on women, and if you REALLY are committed to ensuring that his presidency does not give rise to these forces, you will join me in activism against them. You will keep your eyes open EVERYWHERE, and you will use your privilege to step up and step out to protect our fellow Americans who have become the targets for the racists, bigots and sexual predators who DO feel vindicated.

* You will put your white body in between the Muslim woman and the person shouting at her in the grocery store.

*You will put your male (or otherwise) body in front of the woman being threatened and touched by men on the street, shouting "grab her by the pussy!"

* You will immediately begin cleaning the graffiti you see on a Black neighbor's car or house that says "n*gger go back to Africa"

* You will have harsh words with the school administration that allowed kids in your child's class to bring deportation letters to school for the Latinx students, even though your kid didn't get one.

*You will also have harsh words for the school administrators, students or parents bullying trans kids .  * You will shout louder than the asshole screaming at a Latinx person to leave the country.

*You will put yourself in between your child and the non-white, trans or gay kid they are bullying, and hold your child accountable for their behavior, even if you don't understand. *Especially* when you don't understand.

*You will immediately call out the people in your family and your influence circles who utter racist, Islamophobic, transphobic, biphobic or homophobic slurs

* You will actively and persistently use your safety and privilege in your white body to stand as a barrier in between the hateful and those they target.

* When you see these things on social media, you will VOCALLY oppose them. You will put your voice on that post and say no, this is not right. You will stand against your friends and family who share them and laugh.

*You will directly and personally address any of this that you see or hear in your friends and family.

This will challenge you. This will frighten you. This will push you WAY beyond your comfort zone. You will do it anyway, because you believe that this is not what we stand for in this country.  You will do this because you believe that all of us are equal and that human beings do not deserve to be abused and threatened and harmed because of the color of their skin, their religion, their gender or their ability.

When I see you doing this, when you join me actively in doing this, then and only then will we be on the same side."

I suspect that many Trump voters will gleefully continue their present racist course.

Once Again, Thank You Trans Vets!

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice."-'The US Armed Forces Oath of Enlistment

This is  bittersweet Veteran's Day for me as a supporter of our trans vets and many of my trans friends who served or are currently serving in the military.

This is the first Veteran's Day in which trans people could openly serve in our nation's armed forces.  Unfortunately it is also coming a few days after a devastating presidential election in which a president-elect will take office with people whispering in his ears to take our ability to serve our country away as they roll back our human rights.

As my homegirl and Army vet Carla Lewis has famously said, "I defended your right to hate me."

You also defended the country against enemies foreign and domestic, and right now we have domestic enemies of our nation masquerading as patriots, but are anything but that.

Trans vets have also followed the example of Christine Jorgensen, Phyllis Frye, Monica Helms, Fallon Fox, Shane Ortega, Logan and Laila Ireland and countless others who served in all the branches of our military who took the leadership skills they learned in our nation's military and applied them into leading our community in various ways in our trans human rights struggle.

Thank you for your service trans vets that also includes in many cases you being leaders in our community.   Thank you for not only defending the Constitution and our nation, but also fighting for the policies that will benefit us and all Americans cis and transgender.

Shut Up Fool Awards- #NotMyPresident Edition

Still pissed off and angry about Tuesday's election results and the revolting spectacle of witnessing a repeat of 2000.   Trump will be inaugurated POTUS on January 20, and I'm not looking forward to seeing that unqualified fool in the Oval Office for the next four years.

Yuck.  I'm still disgusted I even have to type the words 'president-elect Trump'   Sorry world, we non-white and progressive Americans who knew the danger tried to keep this from happening.

Anyway, the work begins to try to contain the fallout from this disastrous election and make Trump's last day in office January 20, 2021.

Let's get to this week's Shut Up Fool Awards

Honorable mention number one is everyone in the media who enabled this fool, and are now shocked the racist misogynist won.

Honorable mention number two is 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, who after taking a principled stand in refusing to stand for the national anthem. undercut his message by NOT voting on Tuesday.

Honorable mention number three is all you educated white women who voted for Trump.   Guess you race and white privilege matters more than solidarity with non white women, huh?

Honorable mention number four is all the gay white men who voted for Trump.   You fools voted for your own oppression and are about to find out your whiteness will not protect you from having your rights, including marriage equality rolled back.

The Shut Up Fool Award winners this week are everyone who voted third party in swing states, and are now ignorantly trying to clam that your votes for Stein or Johnson didn't affect the election.

Bull feces.  Don't even try to tell that lie in an attempt to absolve yourselves from your responsibility in enabling a racist endorsed by the Klan to become POTUS.   You are clearly delusional if you are trying to claim that.  

If you voted third party, you voted for Trump, and no amount of excuse making will change that fact, especially since Hillary won the popular vote.  

You knew the stakes.  Those of us who went through the contention 2000 race tried to warn you not to do it.  But in you vanillacentric privileged arrogance you did so anyway, and now you are shocked and angry about the result and want to protest.

The time to protest was on Tuesday November 8 from 7 AM-7 PM local time at your local polling places.  So have several seats and miss me with whatever excuse du jour you come up with trying to justify your misguided Stein/Johnson vote.  You own this mess of a looming Trump presidency just as much as all the white people who gleefully cast votes and enabled the Klan endorsed candidate to win.

So to everyone who voted third party Tuesday in swing states and are now trying to riverdance away from it, shut up fools.

TransGriot 2016 NFL Picks -Week 10

We are now two days past our contentious presidential election, and I won Week 9 thanks to the Lions pulling out a overtime win over the Vikings.  That helped me increase my lead to a season high six games as we move into Week 10 of the 2016 NFL season.

The Texans get back into NFL play with an AFC South road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Can they finally get their first road win of the season?   We'll see.

Hopefully the Texans spent some time during the bye week getting Brock Osweiler and DeAndre Hopkins on the same page and getting that passing attack cleaned up.

This week we have 14 games on the schedule, with the Bills, Lions, Colts and Raiders on their bye week.

Teams I'm selecting will be in bold print, with the home team in CAPS.  Mike's Week 10 picks will be here.

2016 NFL Week 9 Results                             2016 NFL Season Record
TransGriot  10-4                                             TransGriot   85-47-2
Mike             9-5                                             Mike            79-53-2
Eli                 --                                                Eli                ---


Thursday Night Game
RAVENS over Browns

Sunday Early Games
Texans over JAGUARS
Chiefs over PANTHERS
Broncos over SAINTS
JETS over Rams
Packers over TITANS
Falcons over EAGLES
Vikings over WASHINGTON
BUCCANEERS over Bears

Sunday Afternoon Games
CHARGERS over Dolphins
CARDINALS over 49ers
Cowboys over STEELERS

Sunday Night Game
PATRIOTS over Seahawks

Monday Night Game
GIANTS over Bengals

If You Voted Third Party, You Voted For Trump.

I'm not in the mood to hear today or for the next four years any weak justifications from people who voted third party yesterday knowing that the third party votes they cast was a vote for Trump.

I don't want to hear the bull feces laden excuses that 'she was a terrible candidate', 'the DNC failed', 'that's what they get for screwing Bernie'  or whatever lie du jour you predominately white peeps who voted third party are telling yourselves right now to attempt to justify to me and other non-white Americans you screwed with your vote for the unqualified white man who is your future POTUS.

Save all your excuses.  I heard them back in 2000.    Let's crunch the numbers shall we?/
Thanks to Lilly Andersen for compiling them and posting them on her FB page.

*To the 5% of people in Arizona who voted third party- if you had voted for Hillary, that’s 11 electoral votes that would have gone to her.
*To the 3% of people in Florida who voted third party- if you had voted for Hillary, that’s 29 electoral votes that would have gone to her.
*To the 5.5% of people in Michigan who voted third party- if you had voted for Hillary, that’s 16 electoral votes that would have gone to her.
*To the 5% of people in New Hampshire who voted third party- if you had voted for Hillary, that’s 4 electoral votes that would have gone to her.
*To the 3.3% of people in Pennsylvania who voted third  party- if you had voted for Hillary, that’s 20 electoral votes that would have gone to her.
*To the 5.7% of people in Wisconsin who voted third party- if you had voted for Hillary, that’s 10 electoral votes that would have gone to her.

That is 90 electoral votes, more than enough to make Hillary president.   But instead you chose to subject the country for whatever selfish reason to an unqualified white male.   You knew this man was racist, misogynistic, sexist, and was widely reviled by non-white Americans who were telling you for months we openly feared what would happen if he became president, and you still voted for Trump anyway.

There is nothing you can say to me right now to justify that and the damage that we'll be trying to clean up from this electoral mess for the next 25-30 years.

Your third party votes greased the skids for a man endorsed by the Klan to become president.   By casting those votes, you enabled and cosigned his racist campaign strategy and ensured it will be used in future GOP campaigns..

Those of us in non-white America and TBLGQ World had to explain to our crying children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews who were already being bullied at school before Trump got elected that this man was going to be the next POTUS.

So spare me from now on that American exceptionalism bull feces.  You elected another failed white businessman with no political experience to the White House over a woman who was supremely qualified for the job.   Everybody else except white men have to be exceptional for the Oval Office, that's the message you sent to me and every other non white person in this county.
Your third party votes also set up the disgusting spectacle the world will witness on January 20 of President Obama having to hand over power to the man who disrespected him and his presidency for 8 years.

You peeps who voted third party still failed to meet the target for federal funding in 2020, so congratulations, you're still in the same boat you were in prior to this election. Was it worth throwing away a shot at liberal progressive control of the Senate and the SCOTUS?   From where non-white Americans like me sit, hell no it wasn't.

So frack you Jill Stein, Gary Johnson and your third party for putting me, the TBLGQ community, Latinx, Muslims, Asians, Native Americans, the disabled and every other marginalized American in jeopardy because your vanillacentric privileged political vanity was more important than keeping an unqualified candidate in Trump our of the White House.

You get to own Trump and whatever he and the GOP control of the federal government does to the country over the next four years.

Yuck, Trump Wins

Right now I'm dealing with the shock, horror and pissivity of having to see gloating Republicans gleefully celebrating the fact that an unqualified white male supported by the KKK who ran on a campaign of  racism and misogyny will become the 45th president of the United States in January.

Ugh/  I'm too pissed off about that development to be scared like many people in Trans World are tonight.

The Trump win killed my joy of finally meeting one of the blogging peeps I admire in Houston political blogger Charles Kuffner,seeing that transphobic bigot Pat McCrory lose in North Carolina. Joe Arpaio go down in Arizona, Kamala Harris becoming the second African-American female senator elected since 1990, my homegirl Leslie Herod getting elected to the Colorado House or watching Harris County go blue.

It even took the joy out of me getting to do political punditry on my hometown TV station for the first time.

I'm a Black trans person.   My people have a history of having to deal with finite disappointment and still rising despite it.   We're used to dealing with adversity and yeah, no thanks to white Americans who gleefully voted for him, we now have to deal with this unqualified man as president and the anti-gay Mike Pence as his VP for the next four years. .

Correction, he's White America's president.  He's #notmypresident.

But as Miss Major said, "We've all been knocked down. Just don't stay down. Get back up and fight. And if you can't get up, then tag someone to jump in and fight in your place. Never give up. Never say quit. Never say die!"
Right now I just need to vent

Right now I'm once again processing the fact that my country hates me.   That's not something I wanted to or needed to ponder before going to sleep tonight.

But go to sleep I will.   In the morning I'll get up, call a few people I know including my mom, and then deal with the fallout from this political disaster.

RIP Nooni Norwood

Have some sad news to report on this Election Day in that we have lost another trans woman to anti-trans violence.

30 year old Nooni Norwood of Richmond, VA was shot on the city's south side in the 2700 block of Hull Street on November 5 and died from her wounds at the hospital the next day.

Richmond police have released a photo of a person of interest in Norwood's killing , and if  you have information that will lead to the capture and conviction of this person you are asked to call Major Crimes Detective Anthony Coates at (804) 646-0729 or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000

She is now the 24th trans woman to have been murdered this year, and once again, we've have lost another one of my Black trans sisters.

Once again, Black community I ask the question when will our Black Trans Lives Matter?

Rest in power and peace, Nooni.  Your trans family won't rest until the waste of DNA who killed you is captured and brought to justice.

I'm An ABC13 2016 Election Night Pundit!

Took a while, but the Netroots Nation 2016 Pundit Cup Champion finally gets an opportunity to flex her political punditry chops.  Best of all for my political junkie self, it's on Election Night!

It happens on my local ABC station, KTRK-TV, starting at 7 PM CST and running until 10 PM CST.

I'll be along with the anchors, guests and other bloggers commenting on local, state and national races.   I'll additionally be commenting on TBLGQ issues, and watching Jenifer Rene Pool's potentially historic Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 race.

I'll also be part of the in studio bloggers panel helping ABC13 monitor the Election Night chatter with my 10.2K (and counting) Twitter followers.  This will be broadcast from the ABC13 studios.    i'll also be checking my Facebook page as well during the night.

My Twitter handle is of course TransGriot.  This is also the link to the ABC13 website for those of you who don't live in the Houston area but may wish to catch me doing my punditry    

If you want to chat with me online and and ask questions tonight about Election 2016, check out the.#abc13eyewitness hashtag to submit questions to our guests and bloggers.

#HouVote hashtag we'll be monitoring as well.

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.      

It's Election Day 2016!

Today is the day we find out who will succeed President Obama and become the 45th president of the United States.  Will it be another history making night in terms of us getting our first female president, or will it be another disaster like 2000?

As per a tradition that has been taking place since 1960, the seven residents of the town of  Dixville Notch, NH cast their ballots at midnight EST.   So what were the results?  Clinton received 4 votes, Trump received 2, Johnson 1 and one write in vote for 2016 Republican nominee Mitt Romney. In the other midnight voting town of Hart's Location, NH  She garnered 21 votes to Trump's 17. Johnson got 3, Bernie Sanders 2 write in votes and  Kasich/Sanders 1

We'll find out in a few hours if she won the state of New Hampshire and the combination of states she needs to get to 270 electoral votes.   We'll also find out how accurate the presidential election map prediction I made in September turned out.

It's also an election that I, many trans people, parents of trans kids and our allies across the US are nervous about, along with much of the world who would rather see Hillary Clinton elected POTUS.   .
If you didn't take advantage of early voting, you'll have to go to your regular precinct today from 7 Am to 7 PM.   As long as you are in line before the polls close at 7 PM, you can vote in this crucial presidential election.

As a reminder, yours truly will also be taking part along with several Houston area bloggers as part of the ABC13 coverage of Election Night.  I'll also be tweeting via my TransGriot Twitter feed.

So if you haven't voted,  please do so, because this is what I want to see happening across the country for Trump supporters later tonight

Dear Texas Trans Kids

Dear Texas Trans Kids,

When I, your parents and all the people who love you went to the polls during the first day of early voting in our state back on October 25 and all the way through the conclusion of the early voting phase of this election on November 4, one of the things on my mind as I waited in line 40 minutes to get to the machine on that warm fall day to vote my straight Democratic ticket was you.

I have not been happy about the Republican leadership of this state in Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Gov. Greg Abbott, and Attorney General Ken Paxton gleefully working to one up each other in terms of being transphobic legislative bullies.

I have been particularly incensed along with other reality based progressive Texans to see that a few superintendents in some Texas school districts are following their reprehensible transphobic lead.

We'll deal with Abbott, Patrick. Paxton and the transphobic bullies in his party in the next legislative session and the 2018 election cycle.

But for now we are grappling with the immediate threat to you trans kids at the federal level if Donald Trump becomes president.  You Texas trans kids are why we are fighting with every fiber of our beings to make this a better Texas, a better America and a better world for you.

There is no way I, your parents and our allies are going to support political candidates that deny your existence and wish to make your lives harder.  We are quite aware of the stakes in this 2016 presidential election and do not want to see Donald Trump become the Trans Bully in Chief.

Neither do we wish to see Rudy Giuliani become the next Attorney General, four anti-trans Supreme Court justices, more anti trans federal judges like Reed O'Connor or professional anti-trans bigots like Tony Perkins getting policy making jobs in a Trump administration.

That's why we are fighting to ensure that Hillary Clinton becomes our next and 45th president of the United States and we're trying to help make it easier for her to enact her policy agenda that will benefit you by trying mightily to elect a Democratic Senate and House.  

One of the vital tools in us accomplishing that mission is our ballots and voting in each and every election cycle and it's why you have seen record breaking turnout across the state.  

Will it help us turn Texas blue tomorrow?   Odds and pundits say it won't, but what we do know from the 2014 election cycle is that 25% turnout definitely won't turn Texas blue, so we must vote in increasing numbers starting in this cycle and every election cycle from now on until until it does.

We love you, Texas trans kids.   I, your parents, your trans elders and allies want you to grow up in an inclusive Lone Star State in which all you will need to do is just concentrate on your studies, dream big dreams and work hard to accomplish them.

It's why we're supporting Hillary Clinton for president and other pro-trans candidates all the way down the 2016 election ballot from POTUS to dogcatcher. We want you to be able to become the best people you can be, and have your lives, liberty, freedoms and constitutional rights respected and protected.

Also know that your Aunt Monica is proud of you, wherever you are on your transition journey.

I, your trans elders and a host of people will have your backs here in the Lone Star State, the country and around the globe as you grow up to become the amazing people God created you to be,

While many of us elders are worried about how this election will turn out, we also have infinite faith and hope that we will see something wonderful happen for our nation tomorrow.

So know that we got this, Texas trans kids.  We will do our part to ensure that you see some positive American history being made tomorrow, so that you can make some positive history of your own in the future.

Love,
Monica

Jenifer Lewis- Get Your Azz Out And Vote!

I have loved actress Jenifer Lewis ever since she played Dean Dorothy Davenport on A Different World.

She has a message concerning tomorrow's election y'all need to hear



If you haven't handled your electoral business yet, please do so.  This election is too important for you to stay home.

Are Latinx Voters Finally Kicking The GOP To The Political Curb?

One of the things I have been hoping for and thinking about for a long time over the history of this blog is wondering when Latinx voters across the nation would get tired of being dissed by the GOP, have the same epiphany about the Republican Party not being their friends as their California cousins got in the late 90's, and react by punishing them at the polls?

It's a question I and a lot of people in liberal-progressive political world have long asked ourselves and waited with gleeful anticipation to see answered.   .

When would Latinos, the fastest growing ethnic group in the US, get tired of Republicans racistly attacking them for conservative political gain and as happened in California, kick the GOP to the political curb?

Looks like the answer to that question may be 2016.  

In California, you can trace the decline of the Republican Party in the state in large part to the passage in 1994 of the racist Proposition 187 that was pushed by then California Governor Pete Wilson (R), the California GOP and aimed primarily at undocumented Latinx immigrants..

After it passed on November 10, three days later it was hit with a federal injunction blocking its enforcement.   After Gray Davis (D) was elected, the state dropped the appeal of the federal injunction in 1999, which effectively repealed it.

But what California Republicans failed to realize as they gleefully celebrated that Prop 187 win in 1994 is that by being gung ho for anti- Latinx discrimination and attacking immigrants, they were setting up the unforeseen consequences of the decline of their party and pissing off a generation of California Latinx voters  
California went from being a competitive swing state to a safe Democratic bastion in less than a decade because California Latinx people left the party and then punished them at the polls for pushing the unjust law.

One of the smart things that George W. Bush tried to do as governor and Rick Perry continued as his successor was attempting to keep what happened to the California Republican Party from occurring in Texas by doing outreach to the Texas Latinx community, and appointing Latinx people to open statewide offices and positions.   He and the Texas GOP were quite aware of Texas rapidly changing demographics and inevitably becoming like California a majority minority population state by 2009.

One of their strategies for dealing with it was attempting to build the Latinx community up as a bloc to cancel out African-Americans, who they long ago lost as a constituency in 1964

But with the increasing anti-Latinx and anti-immigration rhetoric in the GOP political ranks as part of their Massive Resistance 2.0 strategy aimed at President Obama who was in favor of comprehensive immigration reform,  combined with a candidate in Trump despised by the Latinx community, it sure looks like the long hoped for Latinx voters permanently dumping the Republican Party and realigning their votes as part of the Democratic coalition may finally be happening.

The catalyst for this possible seismic political shift it is the Donald Trump campaign, his big mouth, Trump's racist antics attacking federal District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Univision and its journalists and his campaign's anti-Mexican rhetoric.

Trump has not been helped by his own Latino surrogates spouting more anti-Latinx immigrant rhetoric themselves like the infamous 'taco truck on every corner' comment by Latinos for Trump founder Marco Gutierrez back in September.

Latinx participation in the 2016 presidential election cycle was dramatically up across the country.  We have had Latinx celebs like America Ferrera, Eva Longoria and Wilson Cruz acting as surrogates for the Clinton campaign , and it may be the difference in this election.  

We'll see how much of a difference it makes in 48 hours.  We'll have to stay tuned to discover whether this massive Latinx rejection of Republicans fueled by dislike of Trump continues in down ballot races and beyond November 8.

I hope the message sinks in to the Latinx community that the best way to deal with politicians who disrespect your community is either vote them out of office in every election cycle or build a wall of votes for their opponent that keeps the offensive politician out of office in the first place.

I also hope the Latinx community continues to show up and show out in large numbers in every election cycle from now on as an an important part of a liberal-progressive voting bloc that will make this country better.

Did You Fall Back Yet?

Just a friendly TransGriot reminder that as of 2 AM in the US we are falling back an hour (unless you live in Arizona) to standard time.  

You need to move that clock back one hour so you won't be too early for church and all your planned Sunday social events

Republicans and the conservative movement have already turned their clocks back 100 years, so they're good right now.

So why do we do this as a society every few months?  Here's a TIME magazine video explaining why we move our clocks back and forth an hour in the spring and fall.

 

Enjoy that extra hour of sleep you'll get today.   Just a reminder, we'll have to spring forward back to Daylight Savings Time in the US on March 12, 2017

Angela Rye Schools Lying GOP Pundits Again

I love CNN pundit Angela Rye who is always on point and doesn't let conservafools get away with trying to peddle disinformation on her watch

The latest example of Ms. Rye handling her pundit business is in this discussion on Anderson Cooper 360 that drifted into voter suppression territory



Thank you Angela for keeping the conservafools in check.

Canadian C-16 Trans Rights Bill Successfully Clears Another Legislative Hurdle

Bill C-16, the Trans Rights Bill passed another critical hurdle towards passage in the Canadian House of Commons on Thursday when it cleared its November 3 Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights hearing.

The best news about that committee hearing was that C-16 did so without any amendments being added to the bill and minimal Conservative opposition.

C-16 had its first parliamentary hearing back on October 18 and passed Second Reading on a 248-40 vote prior to being sent to the Justice and Human Rights Committee.

The bill was tabled again yesterday in the House of Commons and is now awaiting its Third Reading vote that proponents of the bill hope will occur before the end of 2016

If it passes its Third Reading vote, it will complete the House of Commons part of the Canadian legislative process and move on the Canadian Senate in which it faces what is expected to be a tougher fight to passage.