The Mad Professah Lectures

• An estimated 8.1 million LGBT workers age 16 and older live in the United States. About half of these workers—4.1 million people—live in states without statutory protections against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment.
• There are over 3.5 million LGBT students age 15 and older in the U.S. About 2.1 million live in states without statutory protections against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in education.
• There are an estimated 13 million LGBT people age 13 and older in the U.S. Approximately 6.9 million live in states that do not statutorily prohibit sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in public accommodations. 
• There are an estimated 11 million LGBT adults in the U.S. Over 5.6 million live in states without statutory protections against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in housing and 8 million lack such protections in credit.

Every person shall be at liberty to worship God according to the dictates of his or her own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, or, against his or her consent, to contribute to the erection or support of any place of religious worship, or to pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for the support of any minister of the gospel. Property belonging to the state may be used to display the Ten Commandments, and the right of a public school and public body to display the Ten Commandments on property owned or administrated by a public school or public body in this state is not restrained or abridged  [emphasis added]. The civil and political rights, privileges, and capacities of no person shall be diminished or enlarged on account of his or her religious belief. No public funds may be expended in defense of the constitutionality of this amendment. 

The Ten Commandments shall be displayed in a manner that complies with constitutional requirements, including, but not limited to, being intermingled with historical or educational items, or both, in a larger display within or on property owned or administrated by a public school or public body.

"The mere fact that these monuments consist of crosses and other religious symbols does not negate their secular purpose or their historical and cultural significance."  

and 

"Ultimately, if it were accepted by this Court, the district court’s reasoning would threaten countless monuments across the Circuit. As detailed in the City’s appendix, state and local parks, squares, and government buildings boast veterans’ memorials that contain religious imagery, including crosses, citations to scripture, and the like."

The plans, developed in 2011 by Republican leaders who controlled the legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker (R), were effective.

In the election held after the new district maps were adopted,Republican candidates won 48.6 percent of the statewide vote but captured a 60-to-39 seat advantage in the State Assembly. 

Evidence uncovered during lawsuits over the redistricting found that models showed Democrats would have to win about 53 percent of the statewide vote to capture a bare majority of the seats.

President Donald Trump, who has averaged 40% job approval since his inauguration, received approval ratings of 50% or higher in 17 states in the first half of 2017. Residents in an equal number of states gave him approval ratings below 40%. In 16 states, his ratings ranged between 40% and 49%.

MAUK: Your position on evolution has come up in past campaigns because of your support, primarily, of the Glendive museum. Do you personally believe in evolution?
GIANFORTE: I personally believe, as many Montanans do, that God created the Earth.
MAUK: But do you believe, personally, in evolution?
GIANFORTE: I believe that God created the Earth. I wasn’t there, I don’t know how long it took. I don’t know how he did it exactly. But I look around me at the grandeur in this state and I believe that God created the Earth.
MAUK: And so evolution is not something that you believe in?
GIANFORTE: Um, I think I’ve answered your question.

Gov. Mary Fallin says the monument will remain at the Capitol while appeals and constitutional changes are considered. 

“Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not ignore the state courts or their decisions. However, we are also a state with three co-equal branches of government. At this time, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, with my support, has filed a petition requesting a rehearing of the Ten Commandments case. Additionally, our Legislature has signaled its support for pursuing changes to our state Constitution that will make it clear the Ten Commandments monument is legally permissible. If legislative efforts are successful, the people of Oklahoma will get to vote on the issue.”

Putting something this personal on the pages of a newspaper does not come easy. We Midwesterners are instinctively private to begin with, and I’m not used to viewing this as anyone else’s business. 

But it’s clear to me that at a moment like this, being more open about it could do some good. For a local student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will always have a place for her. And for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn’t know anyone gay, perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we’re all in this together as a community. 

Whenever I’ve come out to friends and family, they’ve made clear that they view this as just a part of who I am. Their response makes it possible to feel judged not by sexual orientation but by the things that we ought to care about most, like the content of our character and the value of our contributions. 

Being gay has had no bearing on my job performance in business, in the military, or in my current role as mayor. It makes me no better or worse at handling a spreadsheet, a rifle, a committee meeting, or a hiring decision. It doesn’t change how residents can best judge my effectiveness in serving our city: by the progress of our neighborhoods, our economy, and our city services. 

We’re moving closer to a world in which acceptance is the norm. This kind of social change, considered old news in some parts of the country, is still often divisive around here. But it doesn’t have to be. We’re all finding our way forward, and things will go better if we can manage to do it together. In the wake of the disastrous “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” episode here in Indiana earlier this year, we have an opportunity to demonstrate how a traditional, religious state like ours can move forward. 

If different sides steer clear of name-calling and fear-mongering, we can navigate these issues based on what is best about Indiana: values like respect, decency, and support for families — all families.

During the 2012 elections in North Carolina, Republicans took nine of the state’s 13 U.S. House seats although 51 percent of the two-party vote went to Democratic candidates. 

The gerrymandering that led to these results isn’t unique to North Carolina or any specific party. Both Democrats and Republicans have used it for political advantage over the years. However, new technology makes it possible to draw partisan districts with increasing precision.

[...] 

They used a statistical algorithm to randomly redraw the boundaries of North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts. The model produced thousands of versions of the redrawn map. All of them were based only on the legal requirements of redistricting, ensuring the districts represented roughly equal numbers of voters and were as geographically compact as possible, without accounting for race or political affiliation.

[...] 

After re-running the election 100 times, with a randomly drawn nonpartisan map each time, the average simulated election result was 7 or 8 U.S. House seats for the Democrats and 5 or 6 for Republicans. The maximum number of Republican seats that emerged from any of the simulations was eight. The actual outcome of the election -- four Democratic representatives and nine Republicans – did not occur in any of the simulations. 

Statewide Measures         MadProf   LA TIMES CA DEMS
Prop. 1 (Water Bond)       Yes       Yes      Yes
Prop. 2 (State Budget)     Yes       Yes      Yes
Prop. 45 (Health Ins.)     Yes       No       Yes
Prop. 46 (MD malpractice)  Yes       No       NEUTRAL
Prop. 47 (Sentence Reform) Yes       Yes      Yes
Prop. 48 (Indian Casinos)  Yes       Yes      Yes

Statewide Races          MadProf  LA TIMES  CA DEMS
Governor                 Brown*   Brown*     Brown*

Lieutenant Governor      Newsom*  Newsom*    Newsom*
Attorney General         Harris*  Harris*    Harris*
Secretary of State       Padilla  Peterson   Padilla
Treasurer                Chiang   Chiang     Chiang

Controller               Yee      Swearingen Yee
Insurance Commissioner   Jones*   Jones*     Jones*   
Supt. of Public Inst.    Torlakson* Tuck     Torlakson*

Bd. of Equalization, #1  NONE       ---      Parker    

Bd. of Equalization, #2  NONE       ---      Ma

Bd. of Equalization, #3  NONE       ---      Horton*

Bd. of Equalization, #4  NONE       ---      NONE

CA Sup. Court (Cuellar)  YES        YES      YES

CA Sup. Court (Liu)      YES        YES      YES

CA Sup. Court (Werdegar) YES        YES      YES

LA County Races          MadProf   LA TIMES   LA DEMS
Assessor                 Prang     Morris     Prang

Sheriff                  McDonnell McDonnell  NOT TANAKA
Supervisor, District 1   Solis     Solis      Solis
Supervisor, District 3   Kuehl     Kuehl      Kuehl
Measure P (Parks)        YES       NO         YES

Judicial Races            MadProf  LA TIMES  CA DEMS
Ct of Appeal (Rothschild) Yes      Yes       Yes 
Ct of Appeal (Johnson)    ---      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Hoffstadt)  ---      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Edmon)      Yes      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Collins)    Yes      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Manella)    Yes      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Turner)     ---      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Yegan)      ---      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Perluss)    ---      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Rubin)      ---      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Flier)      Yes      Yes       Yes


Superior Court, Office 61 Lewis    Lewis     Lewis  

Superior Court, Office 87 Stein    Stein     Stein

The final pre-election Field Poll completed earlier this week finds Brown enjoying a 21-point preference advantage, 54% to 33%, over his Republican opponent Neel Kashkari. Since the June open primary in which Kashkari finished second and earned the right to challenge Brown in the November general election, Brown has maintained large double-digit leads over Kashkari ranging narrowly from 16 to 21 points. 

The latest poll also finds that in the six other partisan statewide election contests to be decided next week – Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Controller, State Treasurer, Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner – the Democratic candidate holds the lead over the Republican by margins ranging from seven to thirteen points.

OKLAHOMA CITY – A man has been taken in for mental evaluation after allegedly vandalizing the Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol. 

U.S. Secret Service Agents say it all started after a man walked into the Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City Friday morning making strange threats against the President and Federal Government.
Agents say he then admitted to them that he crashed his car into the Ten Commandments monument at the Capitol, then left his damaged car and walked to the Federal Building.
The Secret Service says the man told them that Satan made him crash his car into the statue.
He also told agents that Satan told him to urinate on the statue.
According to investigators, the man says he is bipolar and had been off his medication for quite some time.