Posts by MariaHill@democracy.town
(DIR) Post #ARmQhnmMrnIv1CrLxg by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-18T17:32:11Z
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Ending eight years of a Republican in Government House, Wes Moore becomes Maryland's first Black governor, the only currently-serving Black governor, and only the third Black governor in history.Too often, it seems parties are afraid of having two people of color or two women on a ticket, and a white man is sought for balance. I'm proud of Maryland's Democrats for not going that route in a state with no majority racial group. Aruna Miller is the first woman of color and first immigrant to be lieutenant governor. I'm looking forward to a woman in the top spot in Maryland one day. (Massachusetts put two women on its winning Democratic ticket, and Pennsylvania put a Jewish man and a Black man like Georgia's 2020 Senate races, so maybe this is ending at least in some parts of the country.)The USA has a long way to go to achieve racial equality, and it's wonderful to see this progress. There's a live link here to watch the events.https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/18/wes-moore-maryland-governor-inauguration/
(DIR) Post #ARmQn36pIVmK0lvmTI by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-18T17:15:59Z
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@Sunspot I like to remind people that the only states that haven't had a Republican governor in this century are Washington and Oregon, so unless you are under 21 or from Cascadia, you can STFU about it because you have not lived your whole adult life under nothing but Democrats either. There's no reason to look down on anyone who happens to live in a state or district that elected a Republican. If you're a citizen of the USA, you had a Republican president from 2017-2021 just like I did (and probably felt the same shame). Unless you voted for him, it wasn't your fault, and I hope you campaigned for Clinton like I did.I am pleased to only have Democratic elected officials at every level from local to state to federal, but a whole lot of us just exchanged Republicans for Democrats. If you live in Maryland, Massachusetts, Arizona, or Pennsylvania, you just got a statewide upgrade for either governor or senator. @OlDude82 @DavePerrino @just_alex @TonyStark
(DIR) Post #ARmQn44jhlhV0Zxcqu by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-18T20:33:18Z
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@TheCunningWoman He was reelected as a Republican in 2020. If West Virginia, a state where registered Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats, didn't want a Republican governor, it could have unseated him two years ago. West Virginians don't get the moral high ground over other states on this one.@Sunspot @OlDude82 @DavePerrino @just_alex @TonyStark
(DIR) Post #ARmQn4j9HW1j1urtqK by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-18T21:23:25Z
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@Sunspot @OlDude82 @just_alex @TonyStark Oh look, another day where someone suggests a state (usually Florida, sometimes Texas or others) should get sawed off Bugs Bunny-style for electing bad Republicans and I or someone else defends the people who didn't vote for it by saying that no one gets the moral high ground because we all live in places that have elected Republicans, and I get called sweetie and accused of defending Jim Justice from a Larry Hogan fan!
(DIR) Post #ARxMgohLhZUYV9LVrc by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-23T19:49:48Z
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This is having exactly the chilling effect the DeSantis crowd wants, but it's not just Florida or even Texas where school librarians are being constrained from buying books for kids to read. It's Kansas City, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Maine. Even a Brooklyn librarian has concerns about delays in purchases that are keeping kids from having new books to read. Guess which books are being denied? Books that deal with LGBTQ subjects, books by and about Black people, books about American history and slavery, and books that mention violence and guns. Kids want to read about these subjects. A Florida pastor said that "children don’t need to be introduced" to sexuality. He wants a "pristine" library. He can stay at church and hide his own head in the sand. Other people including adolescents would like to read about it. Life is not pristine.Lack of new books is keeping kids from reading. It's only late January, but so far...https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/01/22/students-want-new-books-thanks-restrictions-librarians-cant-buy-them/
(DIR) Post #AS2ma5wojthaZTpuNs by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-03T20:24:44Z
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While everyone is paying attention to the chaos in the House, check out what happened in Senate. Patty Murray became the first woman to be elected president pro tempore of the Senate. While Dianne Feinstein is the senior member of the Democratic caucus, she didn't seek the position, and Patty Murray is the second most senior member.Without a Speaker of the House, Patty Murray is currently second in line to the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris. (Fortunately we've never needed to move further down the line of succession than the vice president, and I hope to see Biden live a long life and finish out his own presidency.)https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/03/murray-senate-protem/
(DIR) Post #ASC3W20atEZQq6tFq4 by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-01-30T18:54:15Z
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It's no exaggeration that Ron DeSantis wants to kill people. I'm not putting a cw on this post about capital punishment. Stop here if you don't want to read more.As societies mature, they move away from capital punishment. 23 states and DC have abolished the death penalty and 3 states have a moratorium.The rest of the western democracies have stopped executing people. The leaders are China (by far), Iran, and Saudi Arabia.DeSantis wants to be able to kill people for more reasons, and doesn't care that what he's doing is unconstitutional. Current law requires a unanimous jury to impose the death penalty, and there are few state crimes for which it can be imposed. (It can for federal crimes like terrorism and treason.) DeSantis doesn't care. He figures it can go to SCOTUS, which will overturn its own precedent.It will probably result in more murders, because capital punishment for other crimes removes the incentive to not kill victims.He's a monster.https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/30/23574423/ron-desantis-supreme-court-constitution-death-penalty-execution-sixth-eight-amendment
(DIR) Post #ASJEuIfk2h9Q5OUGaO by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-03T16:04:18Z
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@TonyStark Gretchen Whitmer said she's going to serve out her second term as Michigan governor. She'll be 55 when she's termed out. Shapiro should serve his two terms. 44-year-old Wes Moore in Maryland should serve his two. Maura Healey in Massachuetts isn't subject to term limits but she can stay a while and do good there. She's 52 next week. A bunch of Democrats right at prime age to be governor, vice president, president, be tapped for the Cabinet of one of those contemporaries, or run for Senate when someone in their state retires. @SteveRogers @jackiegardina
(DIR) Post #ASJbuUpL9Ip2jH2UsK by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-02T21:55:51Z
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@samhainnight This is really important. I’ve posted before that there are no states in this country that haven’t had a Republican governor in my lifetime (and I’m Gen X, not the 115-year old current oldest person). Only two that haven’t had one this century. So there’s not a lot of political purity to go around. We all have neighbors who voted them in, even if we personally didn’t and our states are currently under Democratic control. *Maybe• I could sell to a right wing nut since I’m on the east coast and live very near other states if mine became the next Florida. But I have reasons I am where I am so if I were in this exact situation in another state, it would be impossible. I don’t expect it to be any easier for others. @Heimdall @ricardoharvin @TonyStark @daylightatheism @CrazyBusyCreative
(DIR) Post #ASJbuVr9K3rbvAtSKm by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-02T22:35:37Z
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@mentallyalex Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania are purple and just elected some Democrats though they aren't fully blue. (Massachusetts and Maryland were already pretty blue and bought into Republican governors' promises about transportation and taxes but decided they didn't need the next iteration of Republicans after all and now have Democratic trifectas.) What if people gave up on those purple states and moved out, or Michigan and Minnesota with their new Democratic trifectas? We could have had five fully Republican states instead of three states with a decent amount of Democratic control and/or representation and two fully under Democratic control. That would be an electoral college nightmare for 2024.Wisconsin can also get its Supreme Court back to Democratic in April, which could also undo gerrymandering and voter suppression there.@samhainnight @Heimdall @ricardoharvin @TonyStark @daylightatheism @CrazyBusyCreative
(DIR) Post #ASQDlIHzMEqgRaEowy by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-07T00:02:37Z
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@TonyStark "Looks like far less people listen to you than me" Going to need to send the 🚒 for that one.Biden has the ability to erase all student debt. He made the call to forgive $10-$20k and a Republican judge denied it before any of us got it. What are the chances SCOTUS will let us have it? I'm not holding my breath. Stop blaming Biden.@jonivy
(DIR) Post #ASROnZ0HTiChW2CT8S by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-07T14:30:43Z
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@TonyStark It's like people don't understand that Mastodon isn't here to make money for anyone.We have a Patreon, Ko-fi, Paypal, etc. so that Tony isn't paying for all of it himself. I don't know what percentage Tony pays for vs. what he gets from the 15 or so of us who make monthly donations or who gives how much other than what I do. I am glad those on our instance do help out, and the people from other instances who have made donations to ours are especially great. No one needs to know anyone's real name, where we live, what our jobs are, who our families are, etc. If we want to say any of that because it's relevant or we want to share, that's fine. Otherwise, we don't owe the internet anything. Appreciate what we write or mute/block us. We don't care.@AgentCarter_SSR
(DIR) Post #ASROnahZAGQEmZSYF6 by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-07T14:53:30Z
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@mentallyalex We are to here influence people to vote for Democrats, but we don't make any money doing so. It's a good thing I'm not a capitalist. I'd be terrible at it! @TonyStark @AgentCarter_SSR
(DIR) Post #ASSbgzhNJz40qOVyjY by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-08T02:24:15Z
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Kevin McCarthy can't even clap for semiconductor chips being invented in America. Is he afraid of his caucus voting to vacate the chair if he acknowledges that? #SOTU
(DIR) Post #ASSbh0h3ceP5vhNEsS by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-08T02:40:38Z
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@TonyStark He was mad that people might be able to afford insulin though!
(DIR) Post #ASVhrzCcgiu5grdREO by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-09T17:33:03Z
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@TonyStark "Women weren't full citizens in 1789, so you can't ever be. Sorry!"
(DIR) Post #ASVtfXshdoIyvi9ToO by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-09T19:51:50Z
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What can flipping the governor's mansion from Republican to Democratic do?Today, Maryland Governor Wes Moore joined with state legislators to announce that Maryland will be a "safe haven for abortion" as long as he is in office, but that he also wants to ensure the state remains so after he is no longer governor. State House Speaker Adrienne Jones has filed a constitutional amendment to protect the right in the state.Moore released $3.5 million in grants for abortion care. The money will training of clinical teams and health providers.The Maryland General Assembly has four bills that Moore will sign. These bills protect abortion access as a whole, medical data privacy, protection for patients from other states, and reproductive health services for public college and university students in the state. Last year, the General Assembly had to override Larry Hogan's veto on reproductive health bills. #ElectDemocrats :md:https://www.mymcmedia.org/governor-moore-commits-to-upholding-marylands-reproductive-rights/
(DIR) Post #ASVyg1HkoilLtaumn2 by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-09T17:09:52Z
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@franktaber They want it both ways. Sure, I'm fine with people bearing arms if it's a musket. Good luck shooting up stuff while you reload that. But no, they want an AK-whatever. @Ibleedblue @MJ @TonyStark
(DIR) Post #ASVyt7z5DptkR7Qr3o by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-08T20:22:09Z
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@TonyStark $7.25 is ridiculous anywhere in the country and especially so in the northeast. The cost of living in Philadelphia is less than in New York or DC, but it's still an expensive metro area.Surrounding states:Delaware: $11.75Maryland: $13.25New Jersey: $14.13New York: $14.20Ohio: $10.10West Virginia: $8.75A raise in the federal minimum wage would be too much to ask, I'm sure. @steveumstead
(DIR) Post #ASVyt9XVRL1lGAXrM0 by MariaHill@democracy.town
2023-02-09T19:13:37Z
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@TonyStark There are no jobs, but you still have to work to have a roof over your head. It's not going to create jobs out of thin air. It will result in more homeless families and more families who are "doubled up," meaning they don't have homes of their own (which counts as homeless) but are moving from one friend or family living rooms to the next.It worked so well for Medicaid. All it did was result in less money for the hospitals in the form of uncompensated care. It didn't result in fewer people needing care.@steveumstead @statmonkey