Last Call For Happy Holi-Daze

Greetings from Red State America, folks, where in Harris County, Georgia, the local constabulary would like to remind you that there's no better way to spread Christ's word of redemption and forgiveness than by pissing off liberals with official county signage.

Georgia sheriff has staked out his ground in the U.S. culture wars by posting a large sign cautioning visitors that his community is proud to be “politically incorrect.” 

“WARNING: Harris County is politically incorrect,” reads the sign posted on Tuesday under a welcome banner and the official seal of the county, located in central Georgia near the border with Alabama. 

“We say: Merry Christmas, God Bless America and In God We Trust. We salute our troops and our flag,” says the sign placed in front of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. “If this offends you … LEAVE!” 

Sheriff Mike Jolley said the concept was suggested by his staff members, who “saw the verbiage on the Internet somewhere.” 

The elected sheriff, a U.S. Army retiree who has been in the position for 23 years, personally paid for the $553 sign, which includes an image of the county’s official seal. 

“I believe it’s time for the silent majority to speak their minds,” Jolley told Reuters on Wednesday in a phone interview.

So far the response has been “overwhelmingly, humbling positive,” said Jolley, noting that his office has received phone calls of support from as far away as Hawaii. He has also heard from critics. 

“There are some people who don’t like it, and I respect that,” the sheriff said. “That’s why I put on the sign that if you don’t like it, leave.”

Seems to me that telling people to get out who might be offended by a government entity taking an official position advocating a religion is the opposite of respect.  ACLU is going to have a field day with this one, and rightfully so.

That's what we're reduced to in 2015, governments not having enough money for roads or bridges or schools because we're broke, but we pay county sheriffs enough money where they can go buy signs with Crazy Republican Facebook memes on them.

Truly America is blessed.

These Disunited States Of America

At least one Texas Republican wants to put a measure on the state's primary ballot next year for a "non-binding" referendum on Texas seceding from the United States.

Tanya Robertson, State Republican Executive Committee member for Senate District 11, which covers parts of Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties, said she'll present the resolution at the committee's December 4 meeting in Austin, and that she already has support from a few other members. 

"There's been a big groundswell of Texans that are getting into the Texas independence issue," she said, citing conversations she's had with constituents. "I believe conservatives in Texas should have a choice to voice their opinion."

Texas GOP chairman Tom Mechler said Tuesday that many resolutions are presented each year for consideration on the primary ballot, but that he did not believe sufficient support existed within the SREC to approve the secession item.

Still, Robertson will present the resolution to a 12-member resolutions committee, which will decide whether or not it will face the full 60-member assembly on December 5 for a vote on its placement on the March 1 ballot. 

Robertson got the idea for the resolution from the Texas Nationalist Movement, a small secessionist group that has tried but so far failed to raise the necessary 75,000 signatures to put a non-binding secession vote on the March ballot. When she heard that news she thought she could help, though she isn't a member of the TNM. 

She cited dissatisfaction with politicians in Washington D.C. and dismay with federal spending as reasons for a secession vote.

Oh, this is definitely about white assholes in Texas wanting to get away from an America that elected a black President, but it's also about undermining the legitimacy of said government.  Last time I checked we fought a war over this thing 150 years ago, and the guys that wanted out lost.  The "not MY president" petulance is disgusting, frankly.  When your candidates lose, you work harder to get your candidates elected next time, that's how it works.

When that no longer works, well we get secession referendums, and worse.

The fact that one of the major parties is openly pushing secession shouldn't surprise you.  The modern Republican party is "our way or burn it all down."

Mr. Rubio, In The Senate, With The Policy RIder

The Hill's Sarah Ferris details how the Republican who has had the most success in sabotaging Obamacare has been Sen. Marco Rubio, his push to sink risk corridor payments last year has now started to pay dividends when it comes to the GOP plan to wreck the individual health insurance market.

While Rubio’s attempt to scrap risk corridors altogether was unsuccessful, his push contributed to a policy rider that was inserted into a 1,603-page spending bill passed at the end of 2014.

Under the provision, which is still in effect, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could no longer tap other accounts — like its overall appropriations or its Medicare funding — to fund the risk corridors program.

Now Rubio is taking his crusade against the "bailout" program to the presidential campaign trail.

The senator and dozens of other Republicans are seeking to renew the policy rider — or repeal risk corridors altogether — in the year-end budget bill that Congress must pass by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown.

“So far, we’ve succeeded in stopping the Obama administration from bailing out healthcare companies under ObamaCare, and it’s critical that Congress once again stand with taxpayers to stop any taxpayer bailout of health insurers from happening,” Rubio wrote in a letter to GOP leaders of both chambers on Tuesday.

Surprise!  Republicans now want to tie extending Obamacare's sabotage to the budget bill due in two weeks.  Shutdown or wreck Obamacare...Obama's choice, they say.

The damaging effects of the budget-neutral requirement became clear in October.

The Obama administration disclosed it could only afford to pay 13 cents of every dollar owed to the insurance companies — after insurers had already locked in their rates for the upcoming year.

“Obviously what happened was exactly what we thought would happen – there’d be an imbalance. Most of the companies lost money,” said Joseph Marinucci, a senior analyst with Standard & Poor.

“You have to be able to deal with unanticipated events, such as the legislation that would restrict the funding of its corridors,” he said.

Within weeks, about a dozen start-up insurers known as CO-OPs announced they’d be shutting their doors, in most cases because they lacked the cash flow to stay solvent. And at least two other insurers — WinHealth Partners in Wyoming and Moda Health in Washington — pulled out of the exchanges.

Then came the shocking announcement from the insurance giant, UnitedHealthCare, that it might cut its losses as well.

“Essentially what is happening now, and why you’re seeing all of these plans reevaluate their participation [in ObamaCare], they have to rely on their reserves over the next two years,” one industry source said. “It’s caused everyone to reevaluate and consider what changes they have to make to remain viable and stay in the market.”

So yes, the Republican plan to make sure Obamacare wouldn't work correctly has been pretty effective, and now they want to break it to the point where the whole individual insurance market system collapses. And they're willing to shut down the entire government in order to get that done.

Think about that.

StupidNews!

• Protesters took to the streets in Chicago, blocking intersections, and arriving in Grant Park after the release of a police dash cam video showing a white officer shooting a black 17-year-old.
• The Obama administration is delaying rules that would require hybrid and electric cars to add audio alerts to signal the hearing-impaired until at least March 2016.
• Brazilian police are investigating whether state-run oil giant Petrobras engaged in price-fixing and bribery to get contracts to build Olympic venues for the 2016 Rio summer games.
• Also arrested in connection with the Petrobras graft scandal was Andre Esteves, a Brazilian banking billionaire, in a growing scandal that has also snared the leader of Brazil's Senate.
• Texas teenager Ahmed Mohamed says he plans to sue the City of Irving unless the city apologizes and pays him $15 million for wrongfully arresting him over his homemade clock.