#North Dakota Republicans

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

North Dakota Republicans be like:

Ten days after narrowly defeating a bill to provide free school lunches to low-income K-12 students, the North Dakota Senate approved legislation to increase the amount of money lawmakers and other state employees receive in meal reimbursements.

A leading Republican senator says employee meal compensation rates and free school lunch programs aren't related issues, but top Democrats see the chamber’s conflicting actions on the two bills as unjustifiable.

“I thought today’s vote was very self-serving,” said Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo. “How can we vote for ourselves when we can’t vote for children?”

The Republican-dominated Senate in late March rejected House Bill 1491 by a single vote. The legislation, which had previously passed the House, would have dedicated $6 million over the next two school years to cover lunch costs for K-12 students with family incomes below double the federal poverty level. Children from families of four making less than $60,000 a year would have qualified.

A federal program already provides free meals to students from families making below 130% of the federal poverty level, so the state allocation nixed by senators would have applied to kids with family incomes between 130-200% of the poverty level.

The Senate voted 26-21 on Thursday, April 6, to pass Senate Bill 2124, which would raise the meal reimbursements received by state employees during travel within North Dakota. Lawmakers attending interim legislative meetings are eligible for the payments, but they do not receive meal reimbursements during biennial sessions.

If Gov. Doug Burgum signs the bill, state employees could collect up to $45 a day to pay for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That’s a hike of nearly 29% on the current reimbursement rate of $35. The added cost to the state would be nearly $1 million over the next two-year budget cycle.

Thirteen Republican senators, including Majority Leader David Hogue and Assistant Majority Leader Jerry Klein, voted to increase meal reimbursements after voting against the free school lunch bill.

Hogue declined to comment on the reason he voted for Senate Bill 2124 and against House Bill 1491. He said North Dakota lawmakers often are asked to devote state funds to expand federal programs, like the National School Lunch Program or Medicaid.

“I don’t have a good answer for you as (to) why we do it sometimes and not others,” Hogue said.

Klein said he doesn’t think there’s “any correlation whatsoever” between the two bills, noting that lawmakers have to “treat each issue separately.”

State employees should get a higher per diem because inflation has made eating out much more expensive, he noted.

Klein said there is still money available and time left before lawmakers leave Bismarck to approve funding for school lunches. Last week, the House added the $6 million for free school lunches into a separate bill that has not yet returned to the Senate.

The other Republican senators who voted for Senate Bill 2124 and against House Bill 1491 are Randy Burckhard, David Clemens, Bob Erbele, Judy Estenson, Curt Kreun, Judy Lee, Randy Lemm, Larry Luick, Don Schaible, Terry Wanzek and Mike Wobbema.

Hogan said she was shocked and disappointed by Thursday’s vote. She dismissed Klein’s suggestion that the two bills are unrelated, noting that they would both spend taxpayer money to cover meals for North Dakotans.

The Senate’s inconsistent actions on the two bills will confuse the public and hurt the chamber’s credibility, Hogan said.

“There’s no underlying consistent philosophy to how we’re spending money in this session, and this is a classic example of it,” Hogan said.

Assistant House Minority Leader Zac Ista, a Grand Forks Democrat at the forefront of the push for free school lunches, said the Legislature should be looking to support both students and state employees.

“I think it shows (the Senate’s) priorities are a little out of whack when they have no problem increasing the meal reimbursement rate for ourselves but not for those families that may be struggling to make ends meet,” Ista said.

[lost-carcosa]

Do news articles like this really need to point out that the shitty decision was made by republicans, or should we just make the automatic assumption?

[angelx1992]

[yeahiwasintheshit]

Yaay North Dakota! Good job!

[tomorrowusa]

"Like a dog!"

Who says Trump doesn't enjoy pets?

At least currently, I think that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is the favorite for Trump's VP choice. He's a rich white guy who spends money foolishly. He's also noticeably not as tall as Trump – an important factor for the vain Trump.

Burgum would also have some appeal to homophobes in the GOP.

How Doug Burgum sold out LGBTQ North Dakotans for conservative clout

[makingdonalddrumpfagain]

🍽

[emperornorton47]

[dontcallittimetravel]

On This Day: both north dakota and south dakota are admitted to the united states, because for some reason everyone thought there was a need for two dakotas

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A proposed bill that was heard last this month in North Dakota's House Judiciary Committee that seeks to ban what it calls sexual content in public libraries and send librarians who refuse to jail.

Advocates have called the proposal censorship and that it's "steeped in discrimination."

House Bill 1205 seeks to ban visual depictions of “sexually explicit” content from public libraries, which includes references to sexual orientation and gender identity. Librarians who don’t remove such books would face up to 30 days in prison, as well as up to a $1,500 fine, according to the Associated Press.

The bill was introduced by the Republican House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, citing the graphic novel Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human as his motivation.

It would allow people to ask libraries to remove texts and materials that violated the law. Libraries would have 30 days to comply.

He told the Bismarck Tribune, “I think the content of it is disgusting, that at the very least public libraries should put it in a restricted area where [children] need to get permission from their parents to take a book out like this, but they’re offering it to junior high school kids… and when we grew up, we didn’t need things like this.”

Lefor continued: "This is not a way to raise our kids, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that this doesn’t get into the hands of children, especially without their parents’ knowledge.”

Although supposedly there would be exemptions for “works of art that, when taken as a whole, have serious artistic significance, or works of anthropological significance, or materials used in science courses, including materials used in biology, anatomy, physiology, or sexual education classes,” Lefor’s bill and a similar one introduced by state Sen. Todd Beard, both promote “censorship and book bans,” says Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library Director Christine Kujawa.

“Citizens should have the freedom to choose the information they want to access," Kujawa said told the Tribune. “In the case of minors, parents are responsible for this, not the government. Not in North Dakota, in the United States, a state and country so rightfully proud of a representative democracy.”

The proposal is “a blatant attempt at censorship, pure and simple” the American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota said.

[alexvaz714]

North Dakota Republics feed the rich not the poor.

[angelx1992]

[intelligentchristianlady]

"...up to 30 days imprisonment for librarians who refuse to remove the offending books."

N.B. This applies to THE WHOLE LIBRARY, not just the YA section.

Read here for more.

[filosofablogger]

Looking For Integrity Under The Rocks

In all my 72 years on this earth, I have never seen as many people willing to drop to the ground and start licking boots as I’ve seen recently, especially in this past week. As you all know by now, Ron DeSantis ended his campaign this weekend.  I was frankly surprised, though others say they saw it coming.  But despite the fact that Donald Trump has called DeSantis just about every made-up…

[tomorrowusa]

A drunk-driving Republican North Dakota legislator abuses police with a xenophobic and homophobic rant.

Remember when the GOP used to be the "party of law and order"? ⌛️

'He's the product of hate': Outrage erupts as bodycam footage shows Republican Nico Rios hurling homophobic slurs during DUI arrest

WILLISTON, NORTH DAKOTA: A North Dakota state lawmaker who serves on a legislative committee overseeing law enforcement unleashed a shocking homophobic and racist tirade when a police officer arrested him for drunk driving last week. Republican Rep. Nico Rios of Williston faces charges of driving under the influence and refusing to submit to a chemical test after Williston police pulled him over on December 15 for failing to stay in his lane. Body camera footage released this week shows Rios hurling slurs and insults at the arresting officer in an expletive-laced rant during the traffic stop and subsequent booking, as reported by Daily Mail. [ ... ] The body cam footage captures Rios' shocking rant, which included repeated homophobic slurs aimed at officer Welch in his patrol car and the booking station at the jail. Rios also questioned Welch's English accent, ignorantly implying he was an immigrant terrorizing "brown people." "You come from f****** London f****** England to terrorize brown people, you b******," Rios drunkenly slurs. He goes on to accuse officer Welch of "selling his soul to globalism" and claims immigrants are "coming to your country and raping your women." He also threatened Welch, saying "You need to make a paycheck. You're ruining my life so you can make a paycheck you little b****." Rios further uses multiple homophobic slurs, calling the officer a "f*g," "pathetic and weak" and a "motherf******."

Rios has an interesting employment history.

The 30-year-old Rios, who was elected to his first term last year, has deep ties to the national Republican Party. Before moving to North Dakota, he worked in Sen. Ted Cruz's Washington DC office.

I wonder if Ted ever invited Nico to vacation with him in Cancún. 😛

Checking Rios's legislative site, he's remarkably unremarkable. Now that he's charged with a criminal offense, he's a candidate for Trump's cabinet if the latter succeeds in returning to the White House.

North Dakota seems to have 2-person legislative districts for its lower chamber. Rios is from the 23rd District; it borders the Missouri River on the south and southeast and Montana on the west.

If there are a lot of drunken and abusive homophobes in the 23rd, Rios is a cinch for re-election.

82 of the 94 members of the ND House are Republicans. If they don't toss Rios out of the caucus and demand his resignation then that would be in keeping with the national GOP's attitude regarding law and order.