A "Reality Check" For Dementia Don?

 

Good luck penetrating his narcissistic "I can do whatever I want" bubble:

The president was invited to GOP senators’ Wednesday lunch to push for his No. 1 priority, the GOP election bill known as the SAVE America Act. But several outgoing Republicans who have clashed with Trump said Monday they will be there to deliver a reality check: The bill isn’t passing, and it’s time to move on.

“I’m going to be there front and center,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters. “It will be important if it actually is a constructive exchange of different opinions, and hopefully we can all get on the same page. Right now, we’re not in a great place.”

Cornyn, who recently lost his bid for a fifth term to a Trump-endorsed challenger, reiterated the votes just aren’t there to pass the elections bill: “I’ve been around here long enough and been through enough battles and counted enough votes to know that it doesn’t just magically occur, no matter how much you wish it would happen.”

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — who are also departing the Senate in part due to Trump — said Monday they, too, will be at the closed-door lunch and urged Trump to turn the page on the SAVE America Act.

“I’m a co-sponsor, but it doesn’t have the votes, and so it’s time to talk about something else,” said Cassidy, who also lost to a Trump-backed primary opponent...

Too bad it took the Malignant Fascist backstabbing incumbent Republican Senators and generally running roughshod over Congress to get to the point where these spineless Quislings are exerting even this modicum of resistance to the MF's anti-American, anti-democracy efforts.  Stopping the abomination called the "SAVE America (for white Republicans) Act" won't put an end to the MF and his fascistic toadies' ongoing efforts to rig the 2026 mid-terms and the 2028 election, a battle that's currently being waged mostly in the courts over voter rolls.  But it would be a considerable blow to their plans.

Texas Republican Orders Raids Of Group Registering Latino Voters

 

Securities fraudster and bribe- taking (allegedly!) ultra- MAGAt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going after a Latino civil rights organization that's supporting Democratic get- out- the- vote efforts.

The nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization, LULAC, is one of several entities in Texas targeted in voter fraud raids led by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, CBS News has learned.

In a letter first obtained by CBS News, LULAC requested that the Justice Department investigate Paxton's office for Voting Rights Act violations. The organization is accusing Paxton's office of carrying out illegal searches premised on voter fraud. 

"These actions echo a troubling history of voter suppression and intimidation that has long targeted both Black and Latino communities, particularly in states like Texas, where demographic changes have increasingly shifted the political landscape," LULAC CEO Juan Proaño and the group's national president, Roman Palomares, said in the letter.

The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the letter and declined to comment further. (Ed. -- somebody wake up Merrick Garland!)

Last week, Paxton's office announced in a press release that it was launching undercover operations and an investigation into reports alleging some organizations in Texas are unlawfully registering noncitizens to vote, in violation of state and federal law. 

LULAC officials told CBS News that some of the group's Texas members were targeted and had their laptops and cell phones confiscated by Texas authorities executing search warrants. Some of the raids focused on Latino activists across the state. 

"Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino non-profit organizations like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members," Juan Proaño, LULAC's CEO told CBS News, calling the state AG's effort "point-blank" voter intimidation. "It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting."... (our emphasis)

Texas will one day be a purple, then a blue state, and everything voter intimidating and suppressing MAGAt Republicans like Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott are doing, in concert with their gerrymandered legislature and corrupt courts, is intended to delay that day for as long as they can.  For years, Paxton has been using bogus claims of "voter fraud" to justify voter intimidation tactics (whenever he's not in court defending himself against fraud and bribery charges).  It's long been a Republican thing to try to suppress the votes of Democratic constituencies, but it's been kicked up several notches in the autocratic Malignant Loser era because the stake have gotten higher with each election, and because it's Republicans, not Democrats, that have to cheat to win.

(Cartoon:  Steve Sack, Minneapolis Tribune (2021))

The Major SCOTUS Ruling On Racial Redistricting

Yesterday's ruling by the Supreme Court on Alabama's discriminatory Congressional districts is expected to have far-reaching impacts on other Republican-dominated states trying to minimize African-American voting impact through gerrymandering. Coming as a surprise, given the right-wing makeup of the Court's majority, the ruling actually bolstered section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which the Court had previously weakened with its decision in Shelby v. Holder in 2013. The New York Times article looks at the impacts of the Alabama decision beyond that state's borders, and potentially to the future control of Congress:

"The ruling could result in multiple Southern states having their maps struck down through pending Voting Rights Act challenges.

In Louisiana, where Black voters make up one-third of the population, a case before the Supreme Court had been put on hold pending the Alabama decision. Now a second majority-Black district could be drawn.

'We know that in compliance with the principles of the Voting Rights Act, Louisiana can and should have a congressional map where two of our six districts are majority Black,' Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, a Democrat, said on Thursday. 'Today’s decision reaffirms that.'

The Supreme Court decision is also expected to send legislators in Georgia back to the drawing board for their congressional maps. On Thursday, a federal judge in a pending Georgia case asked both parties to provide supplemental materials in light of the new ruling.

And in Texas, where Republicans drew an aggressive gerrymander that could lock in power for a decade, nine cases in the federal court system could be affected by Thursday’s decision, according to a tracker kept by the Brennan Center for Justice, a think tank.

Across the South, the decision raises the prospect of adding three majority-Black districts in reliably red states, changes that would upend what will be a pitched battle for control of the House of Representatives next year."  (our emphasis)

We're hoping the estimate of "three majority-black districts" in red states can be doubled or more, now that the conservative Supreme Court has rejected blatant attempts by the Republican / New Confederate / Shooters party to compress African-American voters into the fewest Congressional districts possible. Now, there's a real chance beginning in 2024 that Congressional elections in the South will reflect the population mix, rather than the desire of Republicans to choose their electorate.

 

Texas Passes Election Law Targeting Democratic Stronghold

 

ICYMI over the weekend, the anti- democracy yahoos in Texass are continuing their rear guard action to defend Christofascism in their state:

Texas Republicans wound down their regular legislative session Sunday by changing election policies for a single populous Democratic stronghold but not other parts of the state.

The measure gives the secretary of state under certain conditions the power to run elections in Harris County, home to Houston and 4.8 million residents. It follows a bill approved days earlier that shifts the oversight of elections from its appointed elections administrator to the county clerk and county assessor.

Harris County officials at a news conference last week said they would bring a lawsuit challenging the measures as soon as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs them into law.

“These bills are not about election reform,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s chief executive. “They’re not about improving voters’ experience. They are entirely about suppressing voters’ voices. The reasoning behind these bills is nothing but a cynical charade.”

Also over recent days, the Republican-controlled legislature passed bills increasing penalties for illegal voting and likely setting the stage for the state to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center. The center was formed in 2012 to help states maintain accurate voter rolls, identify instances of potential fraud and contact people so they can register to vote. More than half the states belong to the consortium, but some Republican-run states have bolted from it over the last year as election deniers have spread false information about its work.

The new law seemingly violates the Texass Constitution, not that that would stop the vote suppressors, who are being real clever:

The Texas Constitution, like those in many states, bars the legislature from passing laws that apply only to specific jurisdictions. Harris County officials said they would use that provision of the state constitution to challenge the legislation targeting their county.

Whether they succeed will be up to the courts. The legislation does not mention Harris County by name. Instead, one bill is written to apply to counties of more than 3.5 million and the other to counties of more than 4 million. Harris County is the only county that meets those thresholds.

“We’re suing the state of Texas to protect Harris County, to protect Harris County residents, to protect our public officials and to stop the state from targeting us,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said during last week’s news conference.

We wish them well, but given how the Christofascists have salted the state courts with their own, even having the law and the state Constitution on your side might not be enough.

What's happened in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, once red states now purple, is what Christofascist Republicans in Texass see coming in the distance.  It might take longer to happen than it did in those other states, but it will happen there, too.

If you want to help Harris County Democrats fight voter suppression, you can make a donation here.

(Photo:  Gabriel C. Pérez / KUT News)

 

GA Court Rejects Republicans' Suppression Move

 

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously rejected the state Republicans' attempt to bar early voting on Saturdays, when voters are off work and more likely to vote early. Early voting in 22 counties will begin this Saturday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

"The brief ruling by the state’s highest court Wednesday clears the way for the weekend voting opportunity in 22 counties that plan to open polling places two days after the Thanksgiving holiday. Early voting will be required statewide from Monday through Friday next week.

The decision is a victory in a lawsuit filed by Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign as he’s trying to increase turnout ahead of a runoff against Republican Herschel Walker.

Opposition to Saturday voting came from the Georgia Republican Party, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee, which had asked the court to prevent what it called 'illegal advance voting.' Republicans alleged that state law prohibited Saturday voting if a holiday was within two days beforehand." (our emphasis)

It's also worth noting that opposition came from not-a-hero Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who had provided guidance to counties telling them early voting on Saturday was not allowed, leading to the lawsuit.

The Republican attempt to tilt the voting in favor of their lying, hypocritical candidate Herschel "How Many Abortions" Walker is just part of their years-long attempt to gain advantage by restricting polling places in minority areas, shortening hours to disadvantage working people, limiting ballot drop boxes, and other things to make it harder to vote. This was their latest attempt to curtail voting that would favor Sen. Warnock, and it failed.

(photo: "V" for victory and Warnock. Team Warnock)

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

A Texas judge has dismissed voter fraud charges against Hervis Rogers, the Houston man who drew national attention– – and praise– – for waiting seven hours in line to vote in the March 2020 presidential primary.

Rogers, who is Black, became a symbol of tenacity when news of the circumstances surrounding his voting experience surfaced. He stuck around– – despite working two jobs, including one beginning at 6am– – and was among the last, potentially the last, Texas resident to vote, according to KERA news.

“I wanted to get my vote in, voice my opinion,” he said to a local ABC affiliate. “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, so I waited it out.”

But Republican Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, ordered Rogers’ arrest in July 2021, for casting a ballot while on parole. Rogers became one of the dozens of voters nationwide swept up by heightened GOP efforts to pursue election fraud cases; while many Republicans insist there is widespread voting fraud, there is no evidence to support this claim, according to the Associated Press.

The bad:

Since April of last year, the ReAwaken America Tour has brought hardline-election deniers, anti-vaccine doctors, self-proclaimed prophets and conspiracy theorists to enthusiastic crowds across the country. The central message is that America’s white, evangelical Christian way of life is under threat from the globalist cabal on the “woke” left.

The traveling carnival of misinformation merges entertainment, politics and theology and makes the existential argument to those attending: The debate is no longer about Republican vs. Democrat, they say, it’s about good vs. evil. And it’s time to pick a side.

Since its inception, the tour has been denounced by mainstream religious leaders because of its extremist views. Its organizers have been forced to move venues twice — in New York and Washington state — due to community concerns. The Anti-Defamation League has targeted it in a report.  [snip]

A growing number of Republicans are embracing the ideology of Christian nationalism, which advocates the fusion of American civic life with a particular kind of white, conservative Christianity, according to Samuel Perry, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma and the co-author of the book “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) sells T-shirts that proclaim “Proud Christian nationalist.” Trump-endorsed Mastriano — who was seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6 although he says he left before the riot began — has made Christian nationalist ideology a centerpiece of his campaign, although he has rejected the term. At a recent campaign stop for Mastriano in Pittsburgh, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) urged the crowd to “put on the full armor of God” and “take a stand against the left’s schemes.”

The ugly: 

In new audio recordings released by journalist Bob Woodward, former President Donald Trump likened his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to having “chemistry” when first meeting a woman.

In an interview from early 2020, Woodward told Trump that the CIA described Kim as “cunning, crafty but ultimately stupid,” according to excerpts of Woodward’s recordings published by the Washington Post on Sunday.

“I disagree,” Trump answered. “He’s cunning. He’s crafty. And he’s very smart.”

“Why does the CIA say that?” Woodward asked.

“Because they don’t know. Okay?” Trump replied. “Because they don’t know. They have no idea. I’m the only one that knows. I’m the only one he deals with. He won’t deal with anybody else.”

He added: “The word chemistry. You meet somebody and you have a good chemistry. You meet a woman. In one second, you know whether or not it’s all going to happen.”

Get a room.  Preferably a padded one.

QOTD II: Strangling Democracy Here

 

"When Republicans in Texas passed measures last year to make their already rigid election laws even stricter, they claimed their changes would improve “election integrity.” In reality, they were an obvious attempt to subvert mail-in voting and other procedures that made in-person voting easier.

"Now, the seeds of voter suppression, which have been planted by Republican-led state legislatures across the nation, are bearing fruit. In the past few days, thousands of absentee voters in Texas have learned that their ballots have been rejected due to their state’s new voter ID requirements. Now, they must scramble to make sure their vote will be counted in their state’s primary elections, which take place Tuesday. Many will surely be disenfranchised." -- the Washington Post editorial board, with a  reminder that, while our attention is rightly distracted by events in Ukraine, our own Fifth Column/ Putin's Party is hard at work trying to cement permanent fascist governance in as many states as they can.  There's a reason an affinity exists between thug Putin and the rotted out Republican/ Putin Party in the U.S. -- strangling democracy is their common guiding principle.

McConnell Would Block Biden SCOTUS Nominee -- Yay Bipartisanship!

 

 

Hey, octogenarian Justice Breyer, pay attention:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday insisted that he would block Democrats from appointing another Supreme Court justice if he can take back control of the Senate in 2022. [snip]

"Well, I think if in the middle of a presidential election, you have a Senate of the opposite party of the president, you have to go back to the 1880s to the last time a vacancy was filled," McConnell said. "I think it's highly unlikely -- in fact, no, I don't think either party if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election."

"Middle of an election" my ass. Mr. Justice, don't be like RBG and give another Court seat to Republicans through a misplaced sense of their good faith and your longevity.

We can't think of a better advertisement for why Democrats have to hold -- and increase! -- their majority in the Senate in 2022.

Also, this should be yet another glaring lesson to Sen. Joe Manchin (if he were teachable) that Moscow Mitch and his Republican Senate coup caucus aren't going to play by any Marquis of Queensbury rules in the holy name of "bipartisanship."  Just take a look at how many of those state Republican voter suppression laws were bipartisan.  Metaphorically speaking only, it's time we brought guns to their knife fights.

Here are two people who need to stand up and be defenders of democracy, now rather than after it's too late. (To say the least, we're not sanguine about that.)

 

QOTD: With Democracy In Peril, Republicans Shrug

From this morning's New York Times, Jonathan Weisman's take on Republican whitewashing and gaslighting their party's grab for illegitimate power:

"Almost daily, Democrats warn that Republicans are pursuing racist, Jim Crow-inspired voter suppression efforts to disenfranchise tens of millions of citizens, mainly people of color, in a cynical effort to grab power. Metal detectors sit outside the House chamber to prevent lawmakers — particularly Republicans who have boasted of their intention to carry guns everywhere — from bringing weaponry to the floor. Democrats regard their Republican colleagues with suspicion, believing that some of them collaborated with the rioters on Jan. 6.

Republican lawmakers have systematically downplayed or dismissed the dangers, with some breezing over the attack on the Capitol as a largely peaceful protest, and many saying the state voting law changes are to restore 'integrity' to the process, even as they give credence to Mr. Trump’s false claims of rampant fraud in the 2020 election.

They shrug off Democrats’ warnings of grave danger as the overheated language of politics as usual."  (our emphasis)

With Republicans controlling many state legislatures, where Congressional boundaries are manipulated and election laws are promulgated, they have the tools to rig the next two election for starters:

"Because Republicans control the legislatures of many states where the 2020 census will force redistricting, the party is already in a strong position to erase the Democrats’ razor-thin majority in the House. Even moderate voting-law changes could bolster Republicans’ chances for the net gain of one vote they need to take back the Senate.

And in the nightmare outcome promulgated by some academics, Republicans have put themselves in a position to dictate the outcome of the 2024 presidential election if the voting is close in swing states."  (our emphasis)

The entire article is well worth a read.

Is this moment the fire alarm in the night? You bet your freedom it is. Their Dear Leader severely damaged the guard rails provided in our laws and Constitution with his unlawful and seditious acts. His party has shown, with very few exceptions, that they will continue his project to undermine our democracy to achieve political power for themselves contrary to the majority's will.

Liz Cheney Is No Hero Of Democracy, Part Infinity

Turns out Liz Cheney's problem is with the former guy, not with her fascist party's voter suppression in support of his Big Lie.  Good to know:

QOTD -- An Existential Crisis Ignored By Horserace Journalists

Colbert I. King on the fundamental issue not getting the serious attention by the media it deserves:

White nationalism is on the rise and worming itself into the Republican mainstream. The country is experiencing a “racial justice crisis,” as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told a virtual Howard University audience this week.

Yet, that’s not what’s dominating the front pages or cable news shows. Instead, the Biden administration is being subjected to “horse race” reporting that pays more attention to whether the president is winning or losing against Republican rivals on a range of issues — infrastructure, gun control, climate change, withdrawal from Afghanistan, you name it — than to the substance and merit of the issues themselves. Public life in Washington is once again being reduced to a competitive game between Democrats and Republicans — who’s ahead, who’s behind in the battle over who knows what.

However, some of today’s issues are more than passing fancies that grab public attention until the next big thing comes along. One that looms large with those of us deeply concerned about the health of our democracy: the Republican voter suppression crusade that will diminish access to the ballot for people of color.

The worst offenders are the "savvy DC insider" types (Politico, Punchbowl, Axios, etc.) and some cable pundits like CNN's bottom- dwelling Chris "But Her Emails!" Cillizza.  But there's plenty of blame to go around, and consumers need to be alert to what's being reported and, most importantly in the context of King's op/ ed, what's not.  And let the offenders know you know the difference and the significance.

Vote-By-Mail Colorado To Get Baseball All-Star Game

 

 

Major League Baseball is expected to announce it's moved this year's All-Star Game to voter- friendly, blue Colorado:

Coors Field in Denver has been chosen to host this year's All-Star Game, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney on Monday.

MLB opted to move the game out of Atlanta due to voting laws passed in Georgia last month.

It will mark the second time the homer-friendly home of the Colorado Rockies will host the Midsummer Classic. The American League beat the National League 13-8 at Coors in 1998.

This year's All-Star Game originally was scheduled for July 13 at Truist Park, home of the Braves. However, on April 2, MLB announced that it decided to move the game out of Atlanta because of a new Georgia law that has civil rights groups concerned about its potential to restrict voting access for people of color.

Colorado is an all- vote- by- mail, automatic registration state with a Democratic Governor.  It's also temporarily home to a Hackwhacker daughter, so all good so far.  Politically, it's main blemish is the existence of low IQAnon and militia- adjacent Rep. Lauren "Bullets" Boebert, but no state's perfect.

The game and its attendant hoopla is expected to pump around $100 million into the local Denver economy (suck on that, Georgia Republicans!).

(Photo:  Georgia Jim Crow Republican Gov. Brian "KK" Kemp, who lost tens of millions of dollars for his state with the flick of a pen/ Mark Wilson, Getty Images)

It Bears Repeating -- The Worst Part Of The Georgia Voter Suppression Law

 

 

We continue to hear media (and Democrats!) frame the Georgia voter suppression bill in a manner that plays into Republican hands.  The number one focus of attention has been the prohibition of water and food for people in line to vote, with changes in absentee voting and other restrictions also highlighted. These are important elements of the Georgia law that certainly suppress voting by making it more difficult and onerous, and should be eliminated.

But, as we've said before, even if you fix all of the voter suppression elements, the Republicans have a fail-safe provision allowing them to overturn the results of an election (just as the former guy pressured the Georgia Secretary of State, among others, to do).  It's the element most missing in discussions of the bill -- a "somewhat overlooked provision," to say the least:

Thanks to a somewhat overlooked provision in Georgia’s new restrictive voting law and similar measures being pushed in more than a half-dozen other GOP-controlled legislatures, the skids are becoming better greased for Trump-style election tampering in the future. These attempts to subvert the will of voters must be stopped.  [snip]

The law doesn’t just change who picks the chair. Now, the majority of the board’s members will be legislative appointees, and the board gains ominous new power: the ability to remove and replace election officials administering the vote at the level where the real elections work happens — the county level.  [snip]

“Republicans are brazenly trying to seize local and state election authority in an unprecedented power grab,” says voting rights leader Stacey Abrams, former Democratic leader in the Georgia State House. The new law, she says, is “intended to alter election outcomes and remove state and county election officials who refuse to put party above the people … Had their grand plan been law in 2020, the numerous attempts by state legislatures to overturn the will of the voters would have succeeded.”

To repeat, lest anyone think this isn't a critical part of Republican election strategy, similar measures to strip power from local officials and overturn elections are underway or under consideration in seven other states (including swing states like Arizona and North Carolina).  Expect the list to grow.

Republicans in state legislatures across the country are trying to achieve what they can't at the ballot box: "rigging" and "stealing" national and state elections whose outcomes they don't like. This is not only an existential threat to the only pro- democracy major party we have, but to our survival as a democratic republic.  We need to make sure the For the People Act (H.R. 1/ S.1) passes, regardless of Republican obstruction.  We also need to fight these anti- democracy bills as they arise in every state legislature, and marshal every legal and political resource and ally we can to defeat these fascists now, because otherwise we won't get a second chance.

The Fight To Secure Voting Rights Starts Today (UPDATED)

 

With anti- democracy Republicans rushing to pass exclusionary voter suppression laws in dozens of states, Democrats will have to act now, with solidarity:

... Democrats may have a single realistic opportunity to resist not only these proposals, but also GOP plans to institute severe partisan congressional gerrymanders in many of the same states. That opportunity: using Democrats’ unified control of Washington to establish national election standards—by passing the omnibus election-reform bill known as H.R. 1, which is scheduled for a House vote today, and the new Voting Rights Act, which is expected to come to the floor later this year.

Democrats may have only a brief window in which to block these state-level GOP maneuvers. Typically, the president’s party loses House and Senate seats in the first midterm election after his victory. Democrats will face even worse odds if Republicans succeed in imposing restrictive voting laws or gerrymandering districts in the GOP’s favor across a host of red states. (our emphasis) [snip]

H.R. 1 is assured passage in the House, but then the fight begins:

How far the party will go to make them law remains in doubt, however. Senate Republicans are likely to try to kill these bills with a filibuster. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the principal sponsor of H.R. 1’s Senate analogue, has been urging his colleagues to consider ending the filibuster for these bills alone, even if they are unwilling to end it for all legislation. But so far, at least two Democrats remain resistant to curtailing the filibuster in any way: Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Those are two names we'll likely (and unfortunately) be hearing a lot about over at least the next 2 years in the 50-50 Senate, as they maintain their leverage due to the filibuster rule that's been used throughout history to deny people of color their rights. 

As we've said before, over the longer term the best way to remove the veto power from those willing to use it to enable Republican voter suppression is to elect more Democrats to the Senate in 2022 who aren't rigidly beholden to a racist Senate rule that's been altered many times over the years. Over the short term, if you're a constituent of either Manchin (WV) or Sinema (AZ), please let them know that you don't want anything to stand in the way of passage of the voting rights bills and you will vote accordingly (politely, of course).

Contacts:  

Sen. Joe Manchin   

306 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510;  Phone: 202-224-3954

Sen. Krysten Sinema

317 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510;  Phone: 202-224-4521

UPDATE:  As expected, the House passed H.R. 1 last night.  On to the Senate!

QOTD -- Gearing Up More Voter Suppression

Jamelle Bouie tells us to be ready for more efforts by the rotted out Republican Party to try to restrict access to voting in the months and years ahead:

The upshot of all of this — the charges of fraud, the refusal to acknowledge the president’s defeat — is a party prepared to do even more than it already has to restrict voting. “This election has shown we need major reforms to our election systems, including voter ID laws across the nation, to protect against fraud and rebuild the American people’s trust in fair outcomes,” Senator Rick Scott of Florida said in a statement touting a federal bill that would introduce a strict ID requirement in addition to making it more difficult to get a mail-in ballot. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas has similarly called for new ID requirements and a crackdown on mail-in voting. And Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky told his Twitter followers to “look at the evidence” of fraud “and decide for yourself” while he shared a conspiratorial blog post on “anomalies in vote counts.”

A party that's been manufacturing and living off of white grievance for decades is using every rear guard tactic to delay the political effects of inevitable cultural and demographic changes.  They're emboldened by their Dear Leader getting 74 million votes (only about one- third of the electorate), but as Bouie points out later in his article, their voter suppression efforts could easily backfire by disenfranchising some of their own voters.  Even that ironic outcome is not to be wished for;  democracy demands free, fair and open elections.  In achieving that goal, the fight with these un- democratic, banana Republicans is never over.

Monday Reading

 As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

The successful OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's mission to the ancient asteroid Bennu, an Empire State Building sized object over 200 million miles from Earth, has resulted in the collection of enough asteroid material to stow:

Two days after touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission team received on Thursday, Oct. 22, images that confirm the spacecraft has collected more than enough material to meet one of its main mission requirements – acquiring at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of the asteroid’s surface material.

The spacecraft captured images of the sample collector head as it moved through several different positions. In reviewing these images, the OSIRIS-REx team noticed both that the head appeared to be full of asteroid particles, and that some of these particles appeared to be escaping slowly from the sample collector, called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. They suspect bits of material are passing through small gaps where a mylar flap – the collector’s “lid” – is slightly wedged open by larger rocks.

“Bennu continues to surprise us with great science and also throwing a few curveballs,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “And although we may have to move more quickly to stow the sample, it’s not a bad problem to have. We are so excited to see what appears to be an abundant sample that will inspire science for decades beyond this historic moment.”

The team believes it has collected a sufficient sample and is on a path to stow the sample as quickly as possible. They came to this conclusion after comparing images of the empty collector head with Oct. 22 images of the TAGSAM head after the sample collection event.

The spacecraft will eventually return to Earth in 2023.  Hats off to the scientists, engineers and all who contributed to this major achievement for mankind.

Our QOTD yesterday from E.J. Dionne, Jr., argued rightly for the re- balancing of the Supreme Court (and, we might add, lower courts).  Adam Serwer has an important read detailing the long, racist history behind Republican efforts to use the courts to disenfranchise Democratic constituencies and rig the vote:

[Justices] Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh have made no secret of their commitment to allowing Republicans to disenfranchise Democratic constituencies. On Monday, all four indicated their support for a GOP lawsuit seeking to overturn a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling allowing absentee ballots postmarked November 3 to be counted, even if they are received up to three days after the election. Roberts, in one of his rare breaks with the right wing of the Court, joined the liberals in a split 4–4 decision that allowed the original ruling to stand.

The message is clear: There is no constitutional amendment, no federal statute, no state law, no half-baked legal philosophy, and no federalist principle that will prevent the conservatives on the Court from upholding Republican efforts to sever Democratic constituencies from the franchise. Whether Trump wins or loses in November, they will pursue this agenda in earnest. And with Barrett on the Court, it is unlikely that even Roberts’s rare defections will be an obstacle to them.  

The Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has refused to rule out the possibility of expanding the Court, and Republicans have responded with considerable alarm and anguish. They sacrificed their dignity, their House majority, and their principles to elevate a clownish reality star to the presidency, a would-be strongman whose disastrous tenure has seen hundreds of thousands of deaths, the collapse of the American economy, and the nadir of American global influence. Everything Republicans have done for decades has led to this moment, and the possibility of that victory becoming Pyrrhic is terrifying for them.

After reading Serwer's piece, if you remain unconvinced that the Democrats need to make re- balancing the courts should they sweep the election, we don't know what else to say except please get out of the way.

Along those lines, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had some sage advice for Joe Biden:

Former Senate leader Harry Reid says if Democrats win the presidency and the Senate, Joe Biden should take “no more than three weeks” to test bipartisanship before ending the filibuster so Democrats can overcome what they call Republican obstruction and pass bills.

The retired Nevada Democrat told The Associated Press in an interview that he understands Biden wants to work with Republicans, as the former vice president and Delaware senator has in the past. But Reid said there is just too much that needs to be done in the country to wait around trying to reach agreements under the decades-old Senate practice of requiring 60 votes to advance legislation.

ICYMI, the 60 Minutes interview with COVID Donnie aired last night.  As might be expected, before he petulantly ran away from Lesley Stahl, there were lots of lies.  If you're inclined, the excellent Daniel Dale has 16 of them from both the aired and unaired footage.

Here's today's dumbass drunk Trumpanzee Floriduh man:

Residents in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Haines City, Fla., knew something was off on Saturday when they saw a young White man driving a bulldozer on the street. As he made his way down the block, the man began running over every lawn sign in sight supporting Joe Biden.

“This man came onto my property, took the two Joe Biden signs I had in my yard and then came back with a bulldozer to run down my fence,” Adam Burgess, a local homeowner, told Bay News 9.

The man, later identified by police as 26-year-old James Blight, was charged with grand theft auto and trespassing, according to the outlet.

He's a blight, all right.  Sounds like some public intoxication and destruction of private property charges should be thrown in there, too.

Finally, we once again urge you to continue your reading adventure by visiting Infidel 753's link round-up (or "Collection des liens pour le 25 Octobre 2020") for a really comprehensive set of links to items of interest from around the Internet -- en anglais! There isn't a better round- up, so don't even bother looking.

The Intentional Georgia Voting Shambles

The state that brought us a rigged election controlled by a Trumper who just happened to be running in that same election is at it again:

Thousands of voters in Georgia participating in Tuesday’s primary elections have experienced major delays, with reports of long lines and defective voting machines across the state, including in Atlanta, the state’s majority-Black, most populous city.

Georgia is one of five states holding primary elections Tuesday, along with North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina and Nevada. States continue to hold in-person elections amid the coronavirus pandemic, even as voting rights activists and several Democrats in Congress push for more federal investment in mail-in voting.

Georgia is shaping up to be a battleground state, not just in the presidential election, but in the race for the two Senate seats currently held by Republicans.  The long lines at polling places, new machines that didn't work, and poorly trained poll workers seemed to mysteriously occur at predominantly black areas around Atlanta, Savannah and Columbus.

Meanwhile, Georgia's Republican crackers are tussling about the best way to suppress the vote, either through the methods employed above and/or denying absentee balloting in the midst of a pandemic:

Georgia, in particular, has been roiled by a fight over access to voting during the pandemic. In April, the state’s Republican House leader, David Ralston, publicly denounced the Republican secretary of state for sending absentee ballots to registered voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary, which was postponed from its original May 19 date due to the pandemic. Ralston claimed mail-in voting is ”devastating to Republicans.”

That's saying the quiet part out loud, not that they're hiding anything any more.

As Steve Benen points out,

... [T]his was a disaster that many saw coming: Georgia's 2018 elections were a mess, as then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R), administering his own gubernatorial election, kicked hundreds of thousands of voters off the ballot rolls, leading to widespread breakdowns and dysfunction.

In the cycle's wake, Kemp, in his capacity as governor, set out to replace all of the Georgia's voting machines, hiring an electronic-voting-machine company that hired Kemp's former campaign manager as a lobbyist. The company had never tackled a project of this scale, but it nevertheless tried to roll out the largest and fastest installation of elections equipment in American history.

And Georgia crackers aren't alone in attempting this heist:

... Georgia's Republican-led state government helped create the mess; Republican-appointed justices on the U.S. Supreme Court helped pave the way for the mess by gutting the Voting Rights Act; the U.S. Justice Department hasn't shown any interest in protecting the franchise since 2017; and Donald Trump's White House is actively involved in an aggressive campaign to make voting more difficult in the hopes that it will increase the odds of the president holding onto power.

The good news is that voters, for the most part, weren't buckling to these suppression tactics. Shining a light on the abuses now helps, but expecting Republicans to make it easier for people to vote just isn't in their DNA.  Organizations like Stacy Abrams' Fair Fight aims to counter Republican sabotage in Georgia and around the country, and they deserve our support.

Meanwhile, the Republican Georgia Secretary of State has begun an investigation of the foul- ups, which should be completed, if past is prologue, by =checks notes=  November 4.

Fighting Republican Voter Suppression

It's no news that Republicans are desperate to hold onto power at all costs and will use every trick and bend every rule to do just that. In would- be autocrat and hydroxychloroquine dabbler Donald "Disinfectant Donnie" Trump, they have an avid and active player in their voter suppression plans.

Trump's paranoia about voting by mail, even in in the midst of a pandemic, is tied to Republican fears of a big voter turnout, which generally favors Democrats. This morning he lashed out at one of his favorite targets -- Michigan Democrats:

President Donald Trump on Wednesday uncorked an angry Twitter rant against Michigan for sending out absentee ballots to its state’s voters.

“Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election,” the president wrote. “This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”

Trump’s angry rant came after Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced this week that all registered voters in Michigan would receive ballots through the mail this year that they could send in to avoid having to go to the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, absentee voting has long been common practice, although with the pandemic Trump mismanaged into over 90,000 deaths and counting, many states are planning on expanding it for public health reasons now and in the fall.  Michigan is pro- actively sending ballot applications to voters to make it easier and safer to vote, something Republicans don't like, and particularly the sociopath in the Oval Office, who's seeing states that he barely carried in 2016 returning to the Blue Wall.

It's also a given that "voter fraud" is the go- to excuse for Republicans when they've lost an election (see Trump's excuse for losing the 2016 popular vote) or are petrified they're going to lose one.  The legality of Trump's extortionist bluff to withhold "funding" from Michigan to spite their going to absentee balloting will end up in the courts if he goes through with it.  It has the strong whiff of desperation, in any event (and was entirely predictable).

At the core of their voter suppression is the belief that only certain people should be voting:

“Voters deemed suspicious” by the GOP is a category that includes black people, Latinos, students, black people, and also black people.

The attempts to intimidate voters on Election Day are best understood as the culmination of a lengthy effort to make voting as cumbersome and difficult as possible for people whom the GOP deems to be the wrong kind of voter. While you can sometimes remove people outright from the voter rolls (and voter purges are a key component in the voter suppression arsenal), you don’t necessarily have to make it impossible for people to vote, as long as you make it hard.

So you pass voter ID laws, because you know poor people and minorities are going to be less likely to have approved IDs. Then you limit early voting and start closing polling places. Then when Election Day comes, you deploy your “ballot security” troops.

As this article points out, Democrats are fighting back:

... They have their own legal teams mounting challenges to voter suppression laws, and groups organizing voters, and with the pandemic going on they’re pushing for more vote-by-mail. On Election Day, they’ll also be sending their own teams out to polling locations, to help push back on Republican challenges and help people assert their right to vote.

And there was the lesson we learned from the voter suppression tactics used in the recent Wisconsin special election that backfired spectacularly on Republicans:

The lesson is that in that kind of a context — with a dramatic, high-profile fight over Republican voter suppression efforts — the Republican effort produced a backlash. As Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler said afterward, “Voter suppression might not be as clever as Republicans think it is. It can backfire by pissing voters off.”

The more attention is given to GOP voter suppression efforts, the more voter suppression itself becomes a campaign issue, one that can boost turnout among Democrats. However you might feel about Joe Biden, it becomes more important to exercise your right to vote if you think someone is trying to take it away.

Exposure is a great weapon against Republican anti- democratic abuses.  We all need to give those abuses the attention they deserve.  And stay pissed off!

BONUS: From Michigan's Secretary of State --

Hi! 👋🏼 I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia. https://t.co/kBsu4nHvOy

— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) May 20, 2020

BONUS II:  After Trump deleted the original tweet and re-tweeted a "corrected" version, Jocelyn Benson still had to correct the dimbulb --

Hi again. Still wrong. Every Michigan registered voter has a right to vote by mail. I have the authority & responsibility to make sure that they know how to exercise this right - just like my GOP colleagues are doing in GA, IA, NE and WV. Also, again, my name is Jocelyn Benson. https://t.co/deZJwbMlT0

— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) May 20, 2020

Democrats Win Big Victory In Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Republican voter suppression tactic of forcing voters to the polls in a pandemic has tanked spectacularly:

Democratic-backed Judge Jill Karofsky beat Republican-backed Judge Daniel Kelly, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2016.

While state Supreme Court candidates in Wisconsin are technically nonpartisan, they are almost always aligned with or supported by political parties and serve ten-year terms on the court.

Karofsky's victory over Kelly now shifts the balance of the court from a 5-2 to a 4-3 conservative majority and will be an encouraging sign for Democrats hoping to recapture Wisconsin in the electoral college this November. (our emphasis)

That's a lot of blue outside the Democratic citadels of Milwaukee and Madison:



Needless to say, this is a huge victory for Democrats in this critical swing state, and another positive sign that, even with active Republican voter suppression in the most stressful times, the Blue Wave carries the day.  A great harbinger for November -- if we work and don't slack off.

In other news, Joe Biden won the primary, carrying roughly 63 percent of the vote.  On Wisconsin!

Republican SCOTUS Abets Wisconsin Republican Voter Suppression

The back- and- forth over whether the Wisconsin primary should be held today in the midst of a pandemic is over.  Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wanted to postpone the primary, as every other state with an April primary has done;  the Republican legislature, backed by the Republican- majority State Supreme Court said no.  Yesterday, the bad guys won, abetted by the heavy hand of the five Republican vote suppressors on the Supreme Court.

Here's a brief background:

... Other states have postponed their primaries as the novel coronavirus made gathering with your neighbors in long lines in a middle school gym seem like a terrible idea.

Evers was willing to hold the election as scheduled until recently, but he tried to make the voting safer and easier amid the pandemic. Yet Republicans resisted.

Evers called for the state to simply send every voter an absentee ballot, but Republicans refused. Democrats filed lawsuits to remove certain absentee ballot requirements that will be impossible for some to follow during the lockdown. Republicans fought those, too, as well as a suit seeking to give the state more time to count the increased number of absentee ballots.

All this has led to reasonable speculation that Wisconsin Republicans are actively hoping to carry through this election with lower turnout, because they believe that will benefit them in a big race: one that pits conservative Justice Daniel Kelly against liberal challenger Jill Karofsky, competing for a 10-year term in a coveted state supreme court seat.  (our emphasis)

It's all quite simple in Wisconsin and elsewhere:  the more people vote, the more Republicans are going to lose.

Wisconsin Republicans took the matter to the Republican U.S. Supreme Court, the same outfit that gutted the Voting Rights Act and promoted unlimited dark money in politics (Citizens United).  The result was a 5- 4 foregone conclusion.  But leave it to our heroine, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to speak the truth in her dissent:

“The question here is whether tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens can vote safely in the midst of a pandemic,” Ginsburg wrote on Monday. “With the majority’s stay in place, that will not be possible. Either they will have to brave the polls, endangering their own and others’ safety. Or they will lose their right to vote, through no fault of their own.”

She continued: “That is a matter of utmost importance — to the constitutional rights of Wisconsin’s citizens, the integrity of the State’s election process, and in this most extraordinary time, the health of the Nation.”

The Wisconsin Election Commission reported Monday that 43% of the absentee ballots already requested had not yet been returned.

“While I do not doubt the good faith of my colleagues, the Court’s order, I fear, will result in massive disenfranchisement,” Ginsburg wrote. “A voter cannot deliver for postmarking a ballot she has not received. Yet tens of thousands of voters who timely requested ballots are unlikely to receive them by April 7, the Court’s postmark deadline.” (our emphasis)

We're free to doubt the good faith of the Republican ideologues and water carriers currently representing the majority on the Court, even if Justice Ginsburg is loath to do so. This is all part and parcel of the Republican Party's rear guard action to hold onto power for as long as possible, by whatever means necessary as the ground shifts around them.

If justice (not the Supreme Court kind) were to prevail, Wisconsin voters would see through this naked power grab that endangers the lives of their fellow citizens and vote for the Democratic supreme court candidate.  We're not holding our breaths.

(Image:  Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

BONUS: Despite Republican efforts to disenfranchise them, Milwaukee voters gave them the finger and showed up in numbers, as National Guard members helped staff the limited polling places.  Masks and distancing were in practice.

Milwaukee, WI. 45 minutes after polls open. The line to vote goes on for a quarter mile at this station alone. Masks and social distancing abound. So proud and scared for my city. pic.twitter.com/5px2XZ6Ysn

— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) April 7, 2020

But they made it as difficult as they could.

Milwaukee has just five voting locations open today, down from the usual 180 for a typical voting day. https://t.co/d6Q6zWTnfz

— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) April 7, 2020

So,

If Democrats don't want November to look like Wisconsin's election, they have only one chance: demand its inclusion in the next coronavirus bill and be prepared to walk away https://t.co/5i5WS3qFhg

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) April 7, 2020