Tag: connecticut
Will North Carolina's Extremist Republicans Drive Away Business -- To Connecticut?

Will North Carolina's Extremist Republicans Drive Away Business -- To Connecticut?

Will all North Carolinians pay the price for Republicans nominating a gubernatorial candidate who favorably quotes Adolf Hitler, compares LGBTQ+ people to “maggots” and “flies,” and thinks a six-week abortion ban is awesome but not quite awesome enough?

In a less benighted time, we might have confidently said, “Hell yes. That’s not the America I know. The America I know overcharges everyone for prescription drugs, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.” But MAGA has metastasized to the point where the morally outrageous is now just more of the same.

Of course, there are outrages and then there’s “holy fuck, what did that dude just say?” North Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s public pronouncements fall squarely in the latter category. And at least one blue state looking to boost its tax base has noticed.

As much of America continues to devolve into a “Mad Max”-style dystopia where every character is played by Mel Gibson, Connecticut has decided it’s time to call bullshit and coax some Tar Heel State businesses north.

WRAL-TV, Raleigh, North Carolina:

Democratic Senate leaders in the Nutmeg State wrote to officials in Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development, urging them to “explore opportunities to attract businesses from the state of North Carolina to relocate to Connecticut.” They cited North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, his history of inflammatory comments about LGBTQ people and women, and his desire to restrict abortion access as the impetus for the effort.

In the letter, Connecticut Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and other legislators stated, “We are constantly looking for chances to diversify and strengthen our state's economy, and we believe there is a unique opportunity to reach out to businesses in North Carolina.”

To review, current North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, whom the state’s Republicans overwhelming chose earlier this month as their gubernatorial candidate, is a font of feral nonsense. He’s quoted Hitler favorably on Facebook. He’s called women who get abortions—even if they’ve been pregnant for just 24 hours—murderers. And he’s advocated for a complete ban on abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

And that’s not all!

The Washington Post:

There was the time he called school shooting survivors “media prosti-tots” for advocating for gun-control policies. The meme mocking a Harvey Weinstein accuser, and the other meme mocking actresses for wearing “whore dresses to protest sexual harassment.” The prediction that rising acceptance of homosexuality would lead to pedophilia and “the END of civilization as we know it”; the talk of arresting transgender people for their bathroom choice; the use of antisemitic tropes; the Facebook posts calling Hillary Clinton a “heifer” and Michelle Obama a man.

Okay, then!

Of course, Democrats, both in North Carolina and nationwide, naturally see Robinson’s bid as a boon for their own electoral prospects. So it stands to reason that business-minded progressives outside the state would see an opportunity as well.

WRAL-TV:

The LGBTQ community is a frequent target of Robinson’s speeches; he said last year that “God formed me” to fight against the push for LGBTQ rights and visibility. He has also questioned whether women can be leaders, whether the Holocaust was as bad as is commonly accepted, and whether Jewish bankers secretly control much of the world economy.

“These remarks not only undermine the values of inclusivity and tolerance of our nation, but should also raise significant concerns about the business environment and social climate in North Carolina under potential leadership that condones or ignores such divisive rhetoric,” the Connecticut lawmakers’ letter said. “In contrast, Connecticut prides itself on its commitment to diversity, equality, and fostering an environment where businesses can thrive while upholding ethical standards and respect for all.”

And it’s not just Democrats who are noticing the bitterly cold winds of change that could soon force North Carolinians to both winterize and Hitlerize their homes. The far-left North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is alarmed, too, calling the recent primary results a “a startling warning of the looming threats to North Carolina’s business climate.”

In a post-primary newsletter, the Chamber wrote, “While we celebrate the victories of Chamber-backed candidates, many of the races we were watching turned for candidates that do not share our vision for North Carolina.”

And the Chamber has good reason to be alarmed. According to one analysis, before it was repealed, North Carolina’s 2016 anti-trans bathroom bill was poised to cost the state $3.76 billion in business over the span of a little more than a decade. And one recent study found that having more LGBTQ+ people in a state is associated with higher economic growth. Meanwhile, there’s also compelling evidence that diversity within companies leads to improved innovation and market growth.

Of course, Robinson isn’t the NC GOP’s only headache. CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz recently cornered Republican superintendent of public instruction nominee Michele Morrow, who both hates public schools and has called for the public execution of former President Barack Obama.

Needless to say, outside her skeevy echo chamber, Morrow wasn’t nearly as forthcoming about her outré views on presidential executions:

So Morrow wants to kill a former president and thinks public schools are socialism centers. That’s nitpicking and nothing a newly anointed Robinson couldn’t smooth over with a bit of well-placed promotion.

If he wins, maybe he can try out one of these slogans:

  • Come to North Carolina, Where the Tax Breaks Are Real but the Holocaust Isn’t
  • North Carolina: First in Flight From That Gay Conversion Camp Your Parents Sent You To
  • North Carolina: 120 Years of Regress, From Kitty Hawk to Shitty Talk Radio
  • Kiϟϟ Me, I’m From North Carolina
  • North Carolina: You Will Carry Your Incest Baby to Term, Peasant!

Okay, maybe those need some workshopping.

Meanwhile, Connecticut—and presumably other blue states as well—is ready to jump in and take advantage of the yawning decency gap between its own government and North Carolina’s.

“Connecticut is an open and welcoming community, proud to protect our socially progressive values and boasting an incredible quality of life,” said Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner-designate Dan O’Keefe in a statement. “We invite companies of any size to come to Connecticut and make it here.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

The Sandy Hook Lawsuit Is Bad News For Bernie Sanders In Connecticut

The Sandy Hook Lawsuit Is Bad News For Bernie Sanders In Connecticut

Update, 4/28/2016: This article was edited to reflect that Remington makes the “AR-15” rifle, not the “AK-15”.

Only a few days ago, conventional wisdom had it that Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton would be cleaning Senator Bernie Sanders’s clock in tonight’s Connecticut primary after her big win in New York’s presidential nomination. But a poll out yesterday showed the two rivals in a virtual dead heat, despite Sanders’s views on gun control, which pundits had claimed would hurt him badly in the ultra blue Nutmeg state.

Wounds from the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre of school children are still raw here. Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, took a serious hit in the media even before he told the New York Daily News editorial board that he opposed a lawsuit filed by nine Sandy Hook families of victims and a surviving teacher against gun manufacturers like Bushmasters Firearms and Remington who make the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. The weapon was used by Adam Lanza in his killing spree at the elementary school in Newtown that claimed the lives of 20 first grade students and six adults in five minutes.

Sanders had voted for a 2005 federal shield law that generally provides immunity to gun manufacturers against such lawsuits, claiming in a Michigan debate that gun companies and dealers would go out of business if they were sued for selling guns legally to people who might later use them for criminal acts. It was a position that drew an impassioned response by Mark Braden and his wife Jackie Braden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed by Lanza at Sandy Hook. They are among the plaintiffs who sued the gun manufacturers, dealers and distributors in an amended complaint filed October 29, 2015.

“Sanders suggested that the ‘point’ of our case is to hold Remington Arms Co. liable simply because one of its guns was used to commit mass murder. With all due respect, this is simplistic and wrong,” the couple wrote in an April 19 Op Ed piece in the Washington Post.

“This case is about a particular weapon, Remington’s Bushmaster AR-15, and its sale to a particular market: civilians. It is not about handguns or hunting rifles, and the success of our lawsuit would not mean the end of firearm manufacturing in this country, as Sanders warned. This case is about the AR-15 because the AR-15 is not an ordinary weapon; it was designed and manufactured for the military to increase casualties in combat. The AR-15 is to guns what a tank is to cars: uniquely deadly and suitable for specialized use only.”

More recently, Sanders has said that the plaintiffs “have the right to sue, and I support them and anyone else who wants the right to sue.”

Ron Schurin, an associate political science professor at the University of Connecticut, said yesterday morning that he didn’t believe Sanders had much of chance in Connecticut against Hillary Clinton who has made gun safety a signature issue in her campaign. He added however, that her “margin of victory could be less than 20 percent.”

Hours later, in another phone conversation with The National Memo, he cited the aforementioned poll and said the race had tightened, with only a two percentage point lead for Clinton. “But that’s just one poll. We’ll see,” he said.

Schurin noted that the former Secretary of State, who was New York’s junior senator for eight years, had the backing of Connecticut’s Democratic Party establishment, from Gov. Dannel Malloy “on down the line.” He said her record on gun safety over the years dates back to her husband Bill Clinton’s support of the Brady Bill on background checks when he was president.

“She ran a commercial here featuring the daughter of the Sandy Hook principal who was killed,” he said, referring to Erica Smegielski and her slain mother Dawn Hochsprang.

By contrast, “Sanders has a mixed record” on gun safety, Schurin observed, adding that Malloy only survived his 2010 bid for reelection against Tom Foley, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, because of his strong advocacy for strict gun control.

Malloy, a Clinton surrogate who chairs the powerful Democratic Governors Association, attacked Sanders for voting against the Brady Bill five times in an MSNBC interview with Chris Matthews. He even accused the leftist senator of “protecting an industry that is designed to kill people.”

Sanders’s supporters in Connecticut repeat the mantra that their candidate is no friend of the National Rifle Association and has voted to ban assault weapons.  “I think Senator Sanders has made it loud and clear that he has a D-minus rating from the NRA,” said attorney Audrey Blondin, a longtime member of Connecticut’s State Central Democratic Committee and owner of a mother-and-daughter “all woman” law practice in Torrington.

She believes Sanders will “do very well” among Democratic voters, noting Connecticut has a history of support for progressive politicians. These include Gov. Jerry Brown of California who beat Bill Clinton in the Democratic primary for president in 1992 and then Senator Barack Obama who prevailed over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary here.

As for the lawsuit filed by the Sandy Hook families, Blondin said she didn’t know enough about it to comment. But the litigation could dog the Sanders campaign. Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Soto et al versus Bushmaster, on April 19 in Bridgeport, setting a date of May 5 to rule on whether discovery can move forward to a potential trial set for April 3, 2018. A spokesperson for the gun companies, who now operate under a corporate entity called Freedom Group, Inc., did not respond to a request to interview defense lawyers.

But legal scholars say that such cases have little chance of success since passage by Congress of the 2005 federal shield law, known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce Act. Hillary Clinton has vowed to lobby for its repeal if she becomes president.

Eugene Volokh, a Gary T. Schwartz professor of law at UCLA who teaches a seminar on regulations of firearms and writes a blog called “The Volokh Conspiracy,” for the Washington Post, said the defendants’ first motion to dismiss the lawsuit only challenged the Connecticut court’s jurisdiction to hear a case that centers on a federal statute.

“And she said, ‘We do,’ because the statute’s defense against lawsuits doesn’t strip the court of jurisdiction,” Volokh said. “It’s in the news because she said we have jurisdiction.” He noted that the defendants in the case would get something “more substantive” when their motion to strike is heard.

Volokh noted that The Protection of Lawful Commerce Act doesn’t totally protect gun manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits. “It’s true that plaintiffs lose these claims routinely because the statute is so clear. However, immunity is not unlimited. For example, if you sell or lend a devise to someone who is likely to use it unreasonably, you can be held liable. It’s like lending your car to someone you know drinks and has been in seven accidents over the years. All guns are dangerous, just like all cars are dangerous.”

The legal concept is called “negligent entrustment.” Volokh noted that his sense of the people who support lawsuits of this kind is that they “think it will highlight the issues.”

Photo: A selection of AK and AR rifles are seen for sale at the Pony Express Firearms shop in Parker, Colorado December 7, 2015. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Senator Chris Murphy Slams Congress For ‘Quiet Endorsement’ Of Murders, Mass Shootings

Senator Chris Murphy Slams Congress For ‘Quiet Endorsement’ Of Murders, Mass Shootings

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) released a fiery statement Thursday evening in reaction to the mass murder at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, slamming continued inaction in Congress on gun control:

My heart is with everyone in Oregon who has been victimized by this horrific tragedy. But I’m tired of sending sympathies to every corner of this country, every week. It’s time for Congress to end the silence which has become quiet endorsement of these murders. It’s time to stop believing it’s sufficient to send sympathies and then do nothing. It’s time for Congress to act.

Murphy has been a fervent advocate for improved gun control laws, especially since the December 2012 mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in his home state. A push in Congress for expanded background checks was stopped in the months soon afterward, when Senate Republicans successfully filibustered a bill brought forward by the then-Democratic majority.

At the last Republican debate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) bragged about his role in killing that legislation, saying that “when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms.” Cruz made no mention of the fact that this push for expanded background checks had been introduced after 20 first graders and six of their teachers were killed in their classrooms, and of course that the “right to keep and bear arms” would not have been infringed by such legislation.

President Obama has spoken of the failure to enact gun control legislation as one of the biggest disappointments of his presidency.

Photo: Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), official photo.'

Frequently Asked Questions:

Was there any progress on gun control during the Trump administration?

If you glance at the records of former President Trump and President Biden, you’ll witness one president who has failed to create long-lasting legislation that will stop mass shootings and one president who has successfully passed bills that will curb future gun violence. During his tenure, Trump widened access of gun purchases for criminals and “froze a rule that would have prohibited more people who are dangerous because they suffer from severe mental illness from buying guns.” Trump did attempt to ban bump stocks, which enables guns to fire more rapidly, but his ban was rescinded earlier this year by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals. Former president Trump represents the Republican Party’s agenda of “thoughts and prayers,” completely ignoring the senseless tragedies of thousands of Americans that can easily be stopped with legislation.

Was Ted Cruz smart in bragging about killing legislation that would have expanded background checks?

No, in his own state, Texans have very different opinions than him on gun violence. In fact, 78 percent of Texans want “background checks on all gun sales” and 52 percent of Texans want stricter gun laws. Texans, if you want safety from gun violence, vote Cruz out of office in 2024.

Cruising Maine’s Coast In Search Of The Greatest Lobster Rolls On Earth

By Steve Dolinsky, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

EASTPORT, Maine — A lobster claw the size of an iPhone 5 sits perched atop my lunch, completely obliterating any chance I have to see the quarter-pound of chopped lobster meat, lightly dressed with mayo and tucked into a split-top hot dog bun that’s been ever-so-gently griddled with butter on either side. The lobster roll at Quoddy Bay Lobster, an industrial-looking blue aluminum shack on the eastern lip of the United States, isn’t my first — you can find them now in seafood restaurants all over the country– but it’s certainly the freshest, most delicious version I’ve ever had.

“We feed people the way we feed our fishermen at home,” said Sara Griffin, who runs the fishing co-op and restaurant with her family. That means no celery, drawn butter or lettuce but rather a bit of mayo to hold the roughly chopped claw, knuckle and tail meat together, topped with a fully intact, steamed claw. Quoddy Bay began as a Thursday-only chowder joint eight seasons ago. Today the staff goes through about 100 pounds of live lobster every day in summer, about half that amount in the fall, all still dispensed through a carryout window.

The lobster roll was born in 1929 at Perry’s restaurant in Milford, Connecticut, according to The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. Like many of the nation’s great sandwiches, it was born of necessity: How else to use up this prodigious native species? Not everyone feels like tackling a 1 1/2- to 2-pound lobster, plastic bib intact, metal shell cracker in one hand, tiny fork in the other. The lobster roll offers the pleasures of this naturally sweet crustacean without getting your hands dirty. While some fishing towns in New England have added melted butter, celery and lettuce along the way, Maine’s fishermen seem to adhere to a less-is-more ethos; mayo is fine, but even that’s considered sacrilege in some quarters of the Pine Tree State.

My family and I drove south along Maine’s coast the week before Labor Day, the height of lobster season on the East Coast, starting in New Brunswick, Canada, and ending up in Portland, Maine, for a lobster roll lover’s Magical Mystery Tour. I talked to colleagues; I consulted friends who grew up in Saco, Maine, and others who attended college at Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine. I asked “Bizarre Foods” host Andrew Zimmern, whose parents retired in Maine and who visits every summer. I ate so much lobster that my doctor put odds on my gout returning with a vengeance.

The town of St. Andrews-by-the-Sea in New Brunswick is as bucolic as they get in the maritime provinces of Canada. Known for whale-watching excursions and sea kayaking, several restaurants offer lobster rolls, and I was expecting the behemoths I had seen farther up the Bay of Fundy, near Nova Scotia, stacked sideways into hoagie rolls. Lobster is part of a $1 billion dollar fish and seafood industry in New Brunswick, yet the Lilliputian rolls at St. Andrews-by-the-Sea’s Clam Digger, a roadside joint where the fryers get a real workout, were dressed simply with lettuce and a few lemon wedges. OK, but nothing like the ones at Quoddy Bay.

Sitting on wooden picnic tables as blue as the water just a few yards from where we were sitting, the vibe at Quoddy Bay is serene, with an occasional flurry of activity each time a boat is unloaded. In the warehouse next to the restaurant, a burly fisherman, sporting a beard and a Harley hat, lifted two enormous orange-and-black-speckled specimens from a crate (lobsters turn red once they’re cooked), their claws flailing helplessly, already rubber-banded to prevent someone’s finger from being pinched.

The state is on a roll, boasting historic catches the last three years, according to the state Department of Marine Resources. More than 120 million pounds were landed each year, supplying 85 percent of the country’s fishmongers. That lobster roll you had last week in Chicago or Dallas or San Francisco? Chances are it came from Maine.

If the road to Quoddy Bay is a winding, twisting odyssey, the journey down U.S. Highway 1 is a meandering sojourn past antique shops and seafood shacks. We stopped in Ellsworth at the Union River Lobster Pot (not open for lunch), and passed on the famous Red’s Eats in Wiscasset _ too long of a line. A good friend recommended Dolphin Marina in Harpswell, half an hour from where we were, but we were hungry after an hour or two of shopping at the L.L. Bean world headquarters in Freeport, so we drove 10 minutes toward the water.

Brendon Alterio sported a toothy grin and his daily uniform of a golf visor and T-shirt sporting the Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster logos. Alterio is built like a former football player with thick arms and a permanent tan from watching his eight lobster boats come in each day from Casco Bay. The business is in its 46th year, and the lines forming beneath the pinstriped awning each day reflect a loyalty that extends beyond state lines. The rolls begin with lobster that’s first boiled; professional “pickers” come in to separate the meat from the shells. A bit of mayo, some salt and pepper are all the seasoning they get. Three-and-a-half ounces of barely dressed meat is stuffed into the buttered-and-griddled Sunbeam buns that have a thin layer of green leaf lettuce at the bottom for added color and crunch.

“We keep it basic, so you get the true flavor of the meat,” Alterio said, echoing sentiments of his fellow fishermen. That philosophy, as simple as it is, results in about 500 lobster rolls a day during the summer.

Sitting beneath an enormous picture of a Kumamoto oyster at a wooden table in Portland’s hip India Street neighborhood, I couldn’t help but notice the enormous bar housing a granite slab jammed with ice and nine types of regional oysters. Eventide Oyster Co. is much more than an oyster bar. It has that rare menu, forcing impossible-to-decide dilemmas between creative, raw crudos, full-on lobster bakes and unctuous seafood stews. The signature lobster roll, doused in a bit of brown butter and served in a puffy, split-top Asian bun, is certainly not traditional, but it’s also not to be missed.

IN CANADA

  • Clam Digger, 4468 Route 127, St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, 506-529-8084

IN MAINE

  • Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster, 36 Main St., South Freeport, 207-865-3535, http://www.harraseeketlunchandlobster.com, (open May 2 to Columbus Day)
  • The Lobster Shack at Two Lights, 225 Two Lights Road, Cape Elizabeth, 207-799-1677, http://www.lobstershacktwolights.com, (open March 29 to Oct. 26)
  • Quoddy Bay Lobster, 7 Sea St., Eastport, 207-853-6640, (open mid-May to mid-October)
  • Eventide Oyster Co., 86 Middle St., Portland, 207-774-8538, http://www.eventideoysterco.com

(Dolinsky is the restaurant critic for WLS television in Chicago.)

(c)2015 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: The Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster serves a roll with a bit of mayo, some salt and pepper. The 3 1/2 ounces of barely dressed meat is stuffed into a buttered-and-griddled Sunbeam bun. (Steve Dolinsky/Chicago Tribune/TNS)