Monday, November 5, 2018

Monday Pre-Election Reading


As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds (and, if you haven't already, VOTE tomorrow!).

Francis Wilkinson writes about the pervasive racism in the Republican Party, and offers poll after poll illuminating how their base has shifted ever further into the dark recesses of racial resentment and ignorance.  Here's his conclusion:
Preservation of a racial hierarchy is the glue that holds much of the GOP’s rickety planks together. It’s the basis of Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship. [snip] 
The broader electorate may be ready to reject GOP control of at least the House on Tuesday. Perhaps that will deter Republicans from advancing their race war. But it’s possible that they’ve steeped in their resentments for too long, and traveled with Trump too far. They may not want to go back, or even know how to(our emphasis)
Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., puts it bluntly:
... Tuesday is about what we do for ourselves, for our country. It is about whether those of us who see this madness for what it is acquiesce to it or whether, like the guy in Rockwell’s painting, we stand up and speak out. It shouldn’t be a hard choice. 
If you find this calamity unacceptable, make your case. 
If you think we should be better than this, raise your voice. 
If you are disgusted and appalled, make yourself heard. 
Because we could absolutely lose America. Or, we could save it. 
What do you say?

We say, Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

"Trump is on the ballot.  Vote accordingly."  ABC News:
President Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for inciting violence in American communities, dismissing critics who have pointed to his rhetoric as a potential source of inspiration for some citizens acting on bigoted beliefs. [snip] 
But a nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 17 criminal cases where Trump's name was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. 
Nearly all -- 16 of 17 -- cases identified by ABC News are striking in that court documents and direct evidence reflect someone echoing presidential rhetoric, not protesting it. ABC News was unable to find any such case echoing presidential rhetoric when Barack Obama or George W. Bush were in the White House.  (our emphasis)
Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

Meanwhile, here's more on the vote- suppressing, racist über- Trumper running for governor of Georgia while simultaneously running the election there, Georgia Secretary of State Brian "No Show" Kemp, and his banana Republican last- minute effort to smear Democrats for his fraud- friendly voting system:
But the latest appalling move by Kemp to publicly accuse the Democrats of hacking without evidence is even worse than that: Kemp has been one of the few state election officials to refuse help from the federal Department of Homeland Security to deter foreign and domestic hacking of voter registration databases. After computer scientists demonstrated the insecurity of the state’s voting system, he was sued for having perhaps the most vulnerable election system in the country. His office has been plausibly accused of destroying evidence, which would have helped to prove the vulnerabilities of the state election system.  [snip]
 ... [The latest episode] shows Democrats, like many others, pointing out the glaring security flaws in Georgia’s voting system. To turn this around and blame Democrats is an act of political chutzpah by an election official on par with nothing else I’ve seen. 
It is bad enough there is a partisan election official running Georgia’s elections. It is also bad enough that this partisan election official is in charge of his very own election, an election where he is running in a very tight race against Democrat Stacey Abrams, and that he has engaged in acts of voters suppression aimed to decrease the turnout for the candidate who would be this nation’s first black woman to win a governor’s mansion. It is still worse that we have an election official who, according to audio leaked to Rolling Stone, expressed concern about the state’s citizens exercising their rights to vote via absentee ballot: “[Democrats] have just an unprecedented number of [absentee ballot applications],” he said, “which is something that continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote—which they absolutely can—and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to offset that.” 
But what Kemp has done now goes beyond the pale. He’s accused his opponents of election tampering without evidence on the eve of the election, and plastered the incendiary charge on an official state website in the days before his office will administer that election. This is some banana republic stuff.  (our emphasis)
This speaks for us:


Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, especially this shitbag Kemp.

As always, we close with a recommendation to check out Infidel 753's link round- up for a great assortment of interesting political, social, universal, etc., topics.  A fine way to start the week.