The ugly face of Republican authoritarianism.

The twisted, distorted, angry, hateful face of a Republican Party who desperately serves the morbidly rich and gives lip service to average working Americans at the same time that they're doing everything they can to destroy the lives of average working Americans by cutting Social Security, huge cuts in Social Security Administration in this Trump budget, cutting Medicare - an over five hundred billion dollar cut to Medicare - in this Trump budget, cutting Medicaid, cutting food stamps, cutting WIC - women infants and children's - programs, cutting money to education, transferring more and more money out of public schools into private - particularly religious - schools and right-wing private schools, for-profit private schools.

All the things that this administration is doing. Cutting back on safety for everything from miners to average working people. Reducing regulations that stop fracking and refining operations from poisoning people downwind. Allowing the coal companies to dump more and more coal waste into our rivers, thus poisoning downriver communities that draw drinking water from the rivers.

Ryan Zinke destroying our national monuments and turning them over to foreign mining companies to rape the United States for foreign profits that will be recycled back into Republican coffers.

This is what's going on. This is the level of obscene greed and criminality that has come to represent the Racketeering Influence Corrupt Organization, the Republican Party, the modern-day GOP, the party where in 2000 when George W Bush decided he was going to run for president, they literally flipped the stars on the elephant upside-down. The upside-down five-pointed star is the satanic star, it's the goat - the two horns at the top, the two ears on the side and the chinny chin chin on the bottom.

When you flip it right side up, you've got the star on the US flag, that's what's on the Democratic logo, on the donkey. On the Republican logo since 2000 we've had three satanic stars. Surprised? I'm not.

And you want to really see how it plays out? Well, there's an Ohio State Senator, his name is Dan Foreman and a group of high school students contacted him in Idaho. They are Idaho high school students and they wanted to lobby their senator, right? Nothing wrong with that. In fact, we're encouraged to do that, right? Lobbying is something every senator likes.

And what they specifically wanted to lobby him for was two things:

Number one: there was one piece of legislation in the State Capitol that allowed women to receive up to a 12 month supply of prescribed birth control pills. Apparently right now in Idaho if you get a prescription you can only fill it for one month at a time. And they're just asking for convenience.

Number two: the state has an old sex education law and they wanted it updated to include training on sexual assault. What is rape? What does it mean when someone says no?

These were the students' requests and these were both pieces of legislation that were before the Idaho State Senate: properly and appropriately expand sex education to include consent, and allow pharmacies to sell us 12 months worth of birth control instead of just one month at a time.

So what did Republican senator Dan Foreman do when these students showed up at his office?

-Thom

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