The Trumpfication of America. The EPA is now personally attacking an AP reporter using an article from Breitbart.

The EPA press release links to a Breitbart story blasting the AP’s reporting as “fake news” pic.twitter.com/y2j7d1s8Mz

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) September 3, 2017

In their statement the EPA went after the AP and one of the reporters directly: 

Unfortunately, the Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker has a history of not letting the facts get in the way of his story. Earlier this summer, he made-up a meeting that Administrator Pruitt had, and then deliberately discarded information that refuted his inaccurate story – ultimately prompting a nation-wide correction. Additionally, the Oklahoman took him to task for sensationalized reporting. 

"The Oklahoman" by the way is a rather conservative paper which was quick to come to the defense of fellow Oklahoman Scott Pruitt: 

THE disdain that some in the media have for President Trump and members of his administration is evident regularly. Recent coverage related to EPA administrator Scott Pruitt provides an example of interest to locals because of Pruitt's Oklahoma ties.

As you can read from that opening paragraph the paper has a clear and obvious bias. So of course Trump's EPA is going to cherry pick their story to bolster their complaint against the AP.

The Associated Press of course has a response.

Statement from @AP executive editor Sally Buzbee about @JHDearen and my report on flooded #Superfund sites in #Houston. @EPA #Harvey pic.twitter.com/qeegU1q3eT

— Michael Biesecker (@mbieseck) September 3, 2017

All of this is of course comes directly from the Donald Trump playbook which is to promote positive press coverage and dismiss any negative, fact based, coverage as "fake news."

And now it appears that these same tactics have been adopted by the federal agencies now under Trump's control.

Apparently this is the new normal.

Oklahoma teacher takes to panhandling to raise money for school supplies and public awareness as well.

Courtesy of Fox 23 News: 

A Tulsa teacher is making a bold statement about the state of education as she pleads for money at a local intersection in order to pay for classroom supplies. 

Teresa Danks is a third grade teacher in the Tulsa Public Schools systems.

As a result of serious education budget cuts, Danks says she is now spending between $2,000 and $3,000 of her $35,000 salary on supplies for her students. 

Oklahoma ranks nearly last in teacher pay when compared to other states across the U.S.

There is nothing unusual about that by the way, a LOT of teachers are forced to spend their own money to make sure that their students have the materials that they need to learn in the classroom. 

And good for this teacher to bring attention to that fact, and to hopefully shame some of the politicians in her area to start adequately funding public education.

Oklahoma state senator, and former state chair of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, caught in hotel room with underage boy. Good morning!

Look at me, I have guns! Would a pedophile have guns?

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey is under investigation by Moore police after he was caught in a Super 8 Motel room with a minor boy. 

“On March 9 … officers of the Moore Police Department were contacted in reference to a welfare check at a local hotel,” Lt. Kyle Dudley told NewsOK.com. “Responding officers found a juvenile male in a hotel room which was also occupied by an adult male. The circumstances surrounding this incident are currently under investigation and no additional information can be released at this time.” 

An employee of the hotel confirmed to KOCO that a man named “Ralph Allen Shortey” checked in at approximately 12:20 a.m. asking for a room with two beds. Just 30 minutes later the police arrived responding to a “welfare check,” though no one has come forward admitting to the call. 

No one has been arrested and no charges have been filed, but text messages between the boy and Shortey are being investigated by police. Shortey’s legislative office door was found to have a note saying that he would be gone for the week.

Okay, okay this was probably nothing.

After all every day you find a grown man in a hotel room with a young boy, not related to him, for perfectly legitimate reasons.

Right?

No, that's actually not right is it?

Apparently it was the content of those text messages which convinced the boy's parents to call the police, so I think we can assume they were not discussing passages of the Bible.

And it also led the Oklahoma police to issue these three charges against the Republican state senator:

The Moore Police Department on Wednesday announced that it has recommended three prostitution-related charges against State Sen. Ralph Shortey.

The recommended charges include: soliciting prostitution of a minor, prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church and transporting for the purpose of prostitution.

Did I mention that Shortey was Trump's Oklahoma state chair?

Oh, I did?

Well did I mention that he was endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio? Or that Dog the Bounty Hunter once hosted a rally for him?

Because those are true things as well.

Okay well now I have to stop typing this post because my cheeks actually hurt from smiling.

I know, I know, I am a terrible person for taking such delight in this.

Oklahoma Republican describes pregnant women as "hosts" whose bodies don't really belong to them.

Courtesy of Stuff: 

A US lawmaker has described pregnant women as "hosts" whose bodies do not belong to them. 

Republican politician Justin Humphrey, from southeast Oklahoma, made the comments while discussing his bill requiring women seeking an abortion to first obtain the written informed consent of the father. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday in a House committee. 

"I believe one of the breakdowns in our society is that we have excluded the man out of all of these types of decisions," he said. 

"I understand that they feel like that is their body," he said of women. "I feel like it is a separate – what I call them is you're a 'host'." 

Humphrey said women need to be responsible after "pre-knowing" they are "inviting" a foetus into their bodies. 

"When you enter into a relationship you're going to be that host and so if you pre-know that, then take all precautions and don't get pregnant," he said. 

"So that's where I'm at. I'm like, hey, your body is your body and be responsible with it. But after you're irresponsible then don't claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you're the host and you invited that in."

That's right ladies even though it is your body, and even though it is your egg that gets fertilized, once that manly spermatozoa does its thing you are simply relegated to a Carnival Cruise ship transporting its passenger to its final destination.

As for the man, well he simply dropped the passenger off at the dock, nobody can expect him to be responsible for the entire voyage.

Let's face it if these conservative assholes had their way there would be no birth control either, so that every trip to the dock could very likely ALWAYS result in a nine month cruise.

After all in their eyes women have only one use, you know besides making them a sandwich.

Well there's an accurate statement.

Courtesy of Facebook: 

A group of high schoolers in Tulsa ditched class to sneak into a Trump rally and get this shot taken before being swiftly escorted out. They win the internet this week.

Gotta love this younger generation. 

Republicans have introduced nearly 400 anti-choice bills in 2015. But remember, there is no war on women.

Courtesy of The Nation:  

State lawmakers introduced nearly 400 such bills in 2015, 47 of which passed, according to a report released this week by the Center for Reproductive Rights. 

The new laws are concentrated in Southern states, where many abortion providers have already been forced to close. At least 20 bills were introduced in response to undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, which purport to show Planned Parenthood engaging in illegal sales of fetal tissue—claims that have not be verified by any of the numerous investigations launched since. At least a dozen states tried to defund Planned Parenthood. Others tried to ban fetal tissue research completely, or to impose costly new regulations about medical waste disposal. 

Arkansas legislators earned a dubious distinction for being most rabidly anti-abortion. The state enacted more restrictive laws than any other, including a Planned Parenthood defunding measure. Arkansas also passed a bill that forces women to wait 48 hours between an initial consultation and an abortion procedure, and requires doctors to tell patients that medication abortion can be “reversed,” an assertion that isn’t supported by scientific evidence. North Carolina and Oklahoma increased their mandatory waiting periods to a full 72 hours, joining three other states with the country’s longest forced wait between state-mandated counseling and an abortion procedure. 

Kansas and Oklahoma pioneered a new tactic for limiting the window in which abortion is legal, passing laws that criminalize doctors who perform a technique known as “D and E,” which is commonly used to end a pregnancy in the second trimester. The Center for Reproductive Rights calls it the “safest, most effective, and most commonly used” procedure in the second trimester. It’s also the only one doctors use after 14 weeks of pregnancy, and so the ban could effectively make all abortions after that point illegal. Legislators in West Virginia, where only two health clinics provide abortions, overrode the governor’s veto to criminalize abortion after 20 weeks. Wisconsin also passed a 20-week ban. 

Texas managed to put up more red tape for women seeking abortion care: an “abortion ID” law, which requires women to provide “proof of identity and age” to verify that they are not a minor. The measure “could serve as a backdoor ban on undocumented women and low-income women,” the Center for Reproductive Rights wrote, because they are more likely than others to lack the necessary identification.

A number of the legislators who introduced these bills were Tea Party members who swore to their supporters that they were not interested in social issues and instead were focused on lowering taxes and reducing the size of government.

But the truth is that these conservative Republicans are NEVER going to stop attacking a woman's right to choose, and will continue chipping away at the Roe vs Wade decision until either they manage to get repealed or until people stop electing them.

Anybody who thinks any differently has simply not been paying attention.

And as a result I am sure we will see more cases like the Tennessee woman who recently tried to perform her own abortion with a coat hanger. 

But don't worry, now she's in jail for it. Which I'm sure is exactly how the Republicans want it.

Here's a sight that puts a smile on my face this morning. Worker remove Ten Commandments monument from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds.

Courtesy of the AP: 

A granite monument of the Ten Commandments that has sparked controversy since its installation on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds was being removed late Monday and will be transported to a private conservative think tank for storage. 

A contractor the state hired began removing the monument shortly after 10:30 p.m. The works comes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision in June that the display violates a state constitutional prohibition on the use of public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion." 

The state is paying the contractor about $4,700 to remove the monument and take it to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs' offices a few blocks away, Office of Management and Enterprise Services spokesman John Estus said. 

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had increased security around the monument earlier Monday, and barriers were erected to keep visitors from getting close to it. Estus said the decision to remove the monument under the cover of darkness was made to avoid disturbing workers at the Capitol and to keep protesters from demonstrating while heavy equipment was being used to detach the two-ton monument from its base.

Don;t care what people believe.

Don't care where they worship.

Just so long as their faith, and our government are kept separate at all times.

Until that happens across the board we will never be the country our Founders intended us to be.

Oklahoma teenager shoots himself in the leg. For the second time in three months.

Courtesy of CBS Houston:  

An Oklahoma 16-year-old boy is in serious condition after he accidentally shot himself in the leg for the second time over the last three months, according to police. 

Tulsa police found the teen injured from a single gunshot to his left leg around 3:25 a.m. Monday, as reported by Tulsa World. Officials say the victim was conscious but incoherent and suffered from a large amount of blood loss. A tourniquet was applied to stop the bleeding after police feared the teenager had severed an artery.

The young man almost bled to death but the "quick action" of the responding officers, who applied a tourniquet, likely saved his life.

As it turns out this was not the first time that officers responded to a 911 call from the teen's residence, as three months earlier he had also shot himself in the leg.

I am not exactly sure what this 16 year old has against his leg, but perhaps the NRA ought to consider arming it so that next time it can at least return fire.

Oklahoma man accidentally shoots himself while "guarding" a Muslim free gun shop. "It's like the Clampetts have come to town."

Courtesy of News on 6:  

The Muskogee County sheriff said a member of the group guarding an Oktaha gun shop accidentally shot himself Tuesday. 

Sheriff Charles Pearson said the man dropped his gun and a bullet hit him in the arm. The sheriff did not identify the man or offer any other details about what happened. 

The group of armed citizens and veterans is standing guard outside the Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gear store after the owners said they received death threats from all over the world for putting up a sign saying Muslims weren't welcome. 

"I saw several of those gentlemen out there yesterday," Pearson said. "The way they were holding their weapons, with the fingers on the triggers, you can tell a couple of these gentlemen have no idea about weapons safety. It's like the Clampetts have come to town," Sheriff Pearson told muskogeenow.com.

One of the armed men took offense at the Sheriff's remarks:  

One of those volunteers, who claimed to be a combat veteran and would identify himself only as “Eagle One,” disputed the sheriff’s characterization of the volunteers. 

“Don’t paint us as ignorant hillbillies,” he said. “We just believe in people’s constitutional rights, and we’re here to make sure they get them.”

Yeah how can we call them hillbillies with an awesome moniker like "Eagle One?"  I mean that just screams "Respect my authority."

The dearth of teachers is no longer confined to red states.

Courtesy of NPR:  

There are serious shortages of teachers from California to Oklahoma and Kentucky and places in between. 

A big factor: Far fewer college students are enrolling in teacher training programs, as we reported this spring, exacerbating a long-standing shortage of special education, science and English-language-learner instructors. In California, enrollment in teaching programs is down more than 50 percent over the past five years. Enrollment is down sharply in Texas, North Carolina, New York and elsewhere. 

Add to the mix stagnant pay, attrition, retirements, an improving economy as well as politicized fights over tenure and just about every other education issue and you've got the makings of a genuine problem — in some regions. 

"All of those things together are creating a serious challenge for us," Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint tells NPR Ed. "The teacher shortage we're facing in Oakland is significantly more dire than in previous years. We just don't have as many teachers in the pipeline." 

Heading into the new school year Aug. 24th, Oakland has some 50 classroom vacancies. "The biggest challenge this year has come from the nationwide teacher shortage impacting all education employers, especially California public schools," Superintendent Antwan Wilson wrote this week in an email to staff and parents. 

California has more than 21 thousand teaching positions to fill. Districts laid off or eliminated some 80,000 teaching jobs between 2008 and 2012 during the Great Recession. And as the economy rebounds more young people have more options. 

The shortage areas tend to be worse in districts with budget woes, a concentration of high-poverty areas and systems that are experiencing strong population growth.

For decades the conservatives have wanted to destroy public education in this country, and now it looks as if they are finally succeeding. 

The problem is that the lack of teachers does not only impact public schools, but also the private schools and charter schools that the conservatives want to replace them with.

And the part that is so upsetting is that this was an easily predictable outcome that in their zeal to vilify educators the conservatives simply did not want to see. 

I weep for our future.

Oklahoma Republican chairman claims that his state can ignore Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

“The federal courts don’t have the authority to make us kill babies,” according to Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Randy Brogdon. “Are the Supreme Court justices going to come down to Oklahoma and make us stop?” 

Brogdon, a former state senator who once called for Oklahoma to form its own militia separate from that National Guard — and who previously cast doubt upon the Pledge of Allegiance because he objects to the line “one nation, indivisible” — offered his interpretation of the Supreme Court’s lawful authority on Friday. One day earlier, he signed a fundraising email making a similar pitch. “As Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, I call on the Governor and legislators to completely end the practice of abortion in Oklahoma,” Brogdon wrote in that email, adding that the state should “[s]hut Planned Parenthood down immediately for their illegal actions, and prosecute the abortion doctors who violate their oath to ‘do no harm.'”

Okay folks this shit is getting way past out of control.

These conservative assholes are not going to stop until all women are forced off of birth control, and reduced to breeding stock that Christian men can purchase at their local Hobby Lobby craft store.

If you are a woman and do not get out and vote for every progressive candidate running for election in your area, you are quite literally helping to roll back 100 years of progress that women have made in this country.

So this is what was greeted President Obama when he arrived in Oklahoma yesterday.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

President Obama was greeted by protesters waving the Confederate flag during his visit to Oklahoma.

Gee, it's a good thing the Confederate battle flag is not racist or anything.

P.S. By the way Oklahoma was not even a state during the Civil War. 

Rather than comply with a court ruling that finds a Ten Commandments monument in violation of the state's constitution Oklahoma lawmakers want to change that part of their constitution.

Courtesy of Tulsa World:  

Gov. Mary Fallin on Tuesday said the Ten Commandments monument will stay at the Capitol despite a court ruling that said it violated the state Constitution and must be removed. 

Fallin said Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider its 7-2 decision, which was handed down last week after a challenge by the ACLU of Oklahoma on behalf of three plaintiffs. 

In addition, lawmakers have filed legislation to let people vote on whether to remove a portion of the state Constitution cited in the ruling. Article II, Section 5 of the constitution reads: 

“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such,” according to the Oklahoma Constitution. 

The court said the monument was obviously religious in nature and an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The constitution bans the state from using public money or property for the benefit of any religious purpose, according to the opinion.

So to be clear these lawmakers are actually willing to change their state's constitution in order to be allowed to put up a display of the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds.

Thereby placing Christianity as more important than the laws of the state as determined by their founders.

Yeah, nothing troubling about that.

Remind me, this is the 21st Century, right?

Oklahoma Supreme Court orders the removal of the Ten Commandments monument from the state capitol.

Courtesy of News OK: 

The Ten Commandments monument must be removed from the grounds of the state Capitol, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. 

Justices ruled 7-2 the monument must go because the state constitution prohibits the use of public property to directly or indirectly benefit a “church denomination or system of religion.” 

The decision touched off a furor at the Capitol with several lawmakers calling for impeachment of the seven justices who voted in the majority. 

Attorney General Scott Pruitt said he believes the court "got it wrong" and filed a petition for rehearing — a move that will at least delay removal of the monument. 

If that fails, Pruitt called for changing the state constitution.

Boy religious zealots can certainly get all....zealotry now can't they? (Did I use that word right?)

In my opinion this is just part of the new direction this country is going which includes embracing the idea of gay marriage, rejecting hateful icons like the Confederate battle flag, and eschewing any co-mingling of religion and government.

And may I just say it is all about damn time.

Oklahoma is having 600 times more earthquakes than they did in 2008. If you guessed the reason was oil drilling, give yourself a pat on the back.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The onslaught of seismic activity in Oklahoma in recent years has captured the attention of the nation. 

State scientists say they have uncovered the root cause of the majority of the state’s earthquakes: the oil and gas industry’s disposal of billions of barrels of water underground. 

Now, as the public absorbs this information, Oklahoma’s regulatory bodies are keeping a watchful eye on these disposal wells and planning their next moves. 

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) issued its most strongly worded statement yet linking the oil and gas industry to the state’s earthquakes. 

State geologist Richard D. Andrews and state seismologist Austin Holland say the spike in earthquakes — particularly in central and north-central areas of the state — is “very unlikely to represent a naturally occurring process.” 

“The primary suspected source of triggered seismicity is not from hydraulic fracturing but from the injection/disposal of water associated with oil and gas production,” the report from the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) reads. 

The seismicity rate in Oklahoma is about 600 times greater than it was before 2008, around the time dewatering started in the state.

Just last year, 585 magnitude 3+ earthquakes hit Oklahoma — compared with 109 in 2013.

Interestingly enough I wrote on this same exact problem in Oklahoma back in 2014, at which time I pointed out that the 30 year average before fracking came to the state was two earthquakes that were 3.0 or higher PER YEAR.

So here we are a year later and the problem has become exponentially worse. In fact it is getting so bad that if things continue at this rate the state of Oklahoma will never stop shaking. 

But you know I am sure it's all worth it because, you know, cheap oil.

I think this might be a good place to point out that harnessing wind energy does not result in earthquakes, and harnessing the energy of the sun is unlikely to shake you out of your bed at three o'clock in the morning.

Just saying.

Robert Bates, the reserve deputy who shot instead of tasered a suspect, is interviewed on The Today Show.

Courtesy of Mediaite:

The Oklahoma reserve police officer who mistakenly shot and killed an unarmed man earlier this month finally spoke out on Friday morning, sitting down for a satellite interview with NBC’s Today Show. 

“First and foremost, let me apologize to the family of Eric Harris,” Tulsa reserve deputy Robert Bates said of the 44-year-old black man he fatally wounded. “This is the second-worst thing that’s ever happened to me or the first that ever happened to me in my life. I had cancer a number of years ago. I didn’t think I was going to get there… I’d rate this as number one on my list of things in my life that I regret.” 

Asked by Matt Lauer how he could make the fundamental mistake of grabbing his gun instead of the taser, Bates replied, “This has happened a number of times around the country. I have read about it in the past. I thought to myself after reading several cases, I don’t understand how this can happen.” 

He added: “You must believe me, it can happen to anyone.” 

A couple of things got my attention during this interview.

First why in the hell did this guy feel the need to drag his entire family onto TV with him? He looks more like a politician accused of having an affair, rather than a man who accidentally shot a man to death.

Second he at first suggests that this might be the "second" worst thing that has happened to HIM. He corrects it almost immediately and decides it's the first worst thing that has happened. But he continues to make this all about him, instead of about the victim of his incompetence.

And thirdly when Matt Lauer asks Bates to stand up and demonstrate where the taser was in relation to his gun, and the fact that the taser was on his chest while his gun was on his hip, makes the prosecution's job much, much easier.

And his declaimer at the end that this can "happen to anyone," which I would contend is flatly untrue with adequate training, does not do a lot to help his case,

I think this guy is in big trouble, and I think deservedly so.

"Fuck your breath!" Tulsa Country Sheriff's deputy who shot unarmed suspect instead of using his Taser bought his way onto the force.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:  

Over a week ago, an unarmed black man named Eric Courtney Harris was killed by 73-year-old Tulsa, Oklahoma, "reserve deputy" police officer Bob Bates. This happened shortly after Harris sold ammunition and a gun to some undercover cops, who moved to arrest him. Harris fled and — according to the explanation given by officials — Bates accidentally shot the 44-year-old while trying to Tase him: "During the rapidly evolving altercation, the reserve deputy had what he believed was his Taser from his tactical carrier ... Initial reports have determined that the reserve deputy was attempting to use less lethal force, believing he was utilizing a Taser, when he inadvertently discharged his service weapon, firing one round which struck Harris," said a report. Body-camera footage of the shooting, which was released on Friday, adds yet another horrifying dimension to the incident. 

In the (extremely upsetting) video, Harris can be seen running down a sidewalk. Officers order him to get down, someone yells "Taser!" and a gunshot is heard. Bates yells, "I shot him! I'm sorry." Meanwhile, Harris is crying, "He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh my God. I'm losing my breath." 

"Fuck your breath!" a cop responds. "Shut the fuck up!" "You shouldn’t have fucking ran!" his colleague adds as they hold Harris down. Harris died about an hour later at a nearby hospital.

Now you may be asking yourself just how in the hell does a trained deputy mistake a handgun for a Taser? Well this might help to explain that:  

The reserve Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot and killed a man last week when he thought he had pulled his Taser, is part of a group of wealthy donors who make large contributions to the department for the privilege of playing police officer. 

According to Tulsa World, Robert Bates, 73, who made the fatal mistake that cost a man his life, is a local insurance company executive who has donated multiple vehicles, weapons, and stun guns to the Sheriff’s Office since becoming a reserve deputy in 2008.

A seventy three year old man, who bought his way into the Sheriff's Department so he could play cop. Gee why would anybody think something might go wrong?

Of course that in no way explains, or justifies, the deputy with his knee on this dying man's neck telling him "Fuck your breath!"

For his part Bob Bates is facing charges of second degree manslaughter.

As for the other officers on the scene who responded so callously to the pleading of a dying man, there are apparently no charges forthcoming.

Racist rant results in University of Oklahoma fraternity shut down.

Courtesy of ABC News:  

Sigma Alpha Epsilon's national headquarters closed its chapter at the University of Oklahoma Sunday after a video emerged purportedly showing members of the chapter singing a racist chant. 

The video quickly gained visibility online. It was obtained and posted to Twitter by Unheard, which describes itself as "an alliance of black students organized for change within campus administration and atmosphere." The video shows young men on a bus chanting, "There will never be a n----r at SAE." 

The tweet, directed at OU president David Boren, said "Racism is alive at The University of Oklahoma."

“@OU_Unheard: Racism is alive at The University of Oklahoma. @President_Boren pic.twitter.com/jqGvnGpNtT” SO SICKENING.
— C (@CallieGabrielle) March 9, 2015

As somebody on another site pointed out this is not a made up on the spot chant. This is a chant that was taught to these students and that they repeated multiple times in the past.

It is a good start to punish this fraternity, but let's face it this type of racism is deeply ingrained in that part of the country and it certainly will not stop overnight.

Despite what the Republicans and the Supreme Court might say, racism is still alive and well in 2015 America.

Oklahoma State Senator claims that business should have the right to refuse to serve LGBT customers. But it's okay, "he has gay friends."

Courtesy of Salon:  

As the country marches toward nationwide marriage equality and polls show record levels of support for same-sex marriage, there’s a fierce anti-gay backlash underway that imperils some of the most basic rights of the country’s LGBT citizens: Under the guise of protecting religious liberty, conservative lawmakers across the country are proposing bills that would allow businesses and individuals not to serve gay people, provided that they discriminate based on their religious beliefs. Among the states to consider such license-to-discriminate legislation is Oklahoma, where the bill’s chief Republican sponsor flatly states that gay people “don’t have a right to be served in every single store.” 

State Sen. Joseph Silk made that statement in an interview with the New York Times, which examines the broader push for so-called religious freedom laws in a story published online Thursday. Silk told the Times that he while he knows real, breathing homosexuals and even considers some his friends, he nevertheless sees gay people as the top threat to religious liberty. “The L.G.B.T. movement is the main thing, the primary thing that’s going to be challenging religious liberties and the freedom to live out religious convictions,” Silk said. “And I say that sensitively, because I have homosexual friends.” 

“They don’t have a right to be served in every single store,” he added. “People need to have the ability to refuse service if its violates their religious convictions.”

Yeah why should businesses have to serve gay people?

Or black people?

Or women?

Or Republicans even?

I mean can't these people find somewhere else to shop, or get gas, or live?

Well it is certainly a good thing that this guy has gay friends, or I might think that he was a homophobic asshole.

Oklahoma lawmakers overwhelmingly vote to do away with an Advanced Placement History course because they fear it teaches the wrong facts.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers are seeking a court ruling that would effectively prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools. 

Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation “prohibiting the expenditure of funds on the Advanced Placement United States History course.” Fisher is part of a group called the “Black Robe Regiment” which argues “the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists.” The group attacks the “false wall of separation of church and state.” The Black Robe Regiment claims that a “growing tide of special interest groups indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective.” 

Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” The bill passed the Oklahoma House Education committee on Monday on a vote of 11-4. 

And that ladies and gentlemen is how you keep the voters ignorant and voting Republican. 

It seems that more and more Republican political tactics are beginning to mimic fundamentalist religious tactics.

Keep the sheep from learning any truths that you don't spoon feed them yourself, and they will be all that much easier to manipulate.