Tag: US Constitution

What “They” Have To say

To be fair I wrote a post recently about the idea that Trump wants to suspend the Constitution over his election loss….much has been written and now this is what he meant…..

After drawing widespread condemnation over his call to sideline the Constitution, former President Donald Trump maintained Monday that that’s not what he meant. “The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES,” Trump posted online, per the Hill. The post that started it all was about his debunked claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, with the help of “Big Tech,” and came a day after Elon Musk tweeted in reference to Twitter’s handling of accusations against Hunter Biden. “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump’s Saturday post said.

He wants steps taken “to right the wrong” involving the election, Trump said, per Yahoo News, though he provided no evidence of any wrong. Few Republican leaders objected to Trump’s idea over the weekend, but his former running mate stepped in Monday. “Everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence told WVOC, per the Daily Beast.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who won reelection last month by beating a candidate endorsed by Trump, said a suggestion to suspend the nation’s Constitution “is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic.” White House officials on Monday called on members of Congress to speak up against Trump’s statement and defend the Constitution, in keeping with their oath, per US News & World Report.

It is easy to make a vague accusation yet another to offer some real proof of that accusation……but then that is what he does best, isn’t it?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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“We Don’t Need No Stinking Constitution”

For over 200 years the US Constitution has been the law of the land and today the document is under attack….even by an ex-president of the United States….

When he announced his reelection campaign, Donald Trump eased up on allegations of a stolen election in his speech. The former president ramped things back up in a big way this weekend, with a series of Truth Social posts calling for the suspension of the Constitution.

  • Trump: “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote, per the Hill. He later added, “UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD REQUIRES UNPRECEDENTED CURE!” per the Washington Post.
  • White House: The White House quickly fired back. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned,” said spokesman Andrew Bates. He called the Constitution a “sacrosanct document,” and added, “You cannot only love America when you win.”

Trump’s new line of attack comes after Elon Musk made public internal Twitter emails about the platform’s debate over a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. In Trump’s view, the emails show that “Big Tech” colluded with Democrats to squelch a negative story, per CNN. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!” wrote Trump. At Bloomberg, however, Kurt Wagner writes that the Twitter documents “broke relatively little new ground.” And Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times tweeted that they amount to a “half dozen screenshots of content moderation policy executives earnestly debating content moderation policy.”

Trump also sought to pull in other top GOP figures into the controversy. “I wonder what Mitch McConnell, the RINOS, and all of the weak Republicans who couldn’t get the Presidential Election of 2020 approved and out of the way fast enough, are thinking now?” he wrote. We might find out. At the Politico Playbook, the authors predict that “every Republican will be asked about Trump’s statement” to suspend the Constitution, adding, “If you are a Republican who thinks being asked to take a position on this is just some liberal media trap, consider what you would say if BARACK OBAMA or JOE BIDEN tweeted this.”

Then came the attacks from the Right on such a dangerous idea…..(the sound of crickets from the GOP)….

A few Republicans joined Democrats in denouncing former President Donald Trump’s call for the “termination” of the Constitution, but none of them run the party’s congressional delegations. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had not said anything publicly about the scheme to install Trump as president between elections by Sunday afternoon, NBC News reports. Nor had the Republican National Committee, though NBC had asked spokespeople for comment on Saturday. Trump’s comments did not seem to push any Republican politicians into ruling out support for Trump’s current presidential run, per the New York Times.

 

A few Republicans appearing on the Sunday talk shows opposed the idea. “Well, obviously, I don’t support that,” New York Rep.-elect Mike Lawler said on CNN’s State of the Union. “The Constitution is set for a reason, to protect the rights of every American,” Lawler said before suggesting the nation move forward. On CBS’ Face the Nation, Ohio Rep. Mike Turner called Trump’s plan “certainly not consistent with the oath we all take.” But he avoided a direct question about whether the party’s frontrunner should say such a thing. Ohio Rep. David Joyce also found the topic awkward in his appearance on ABC News’ This Week. He said he wasn’t aware of what Trump had said. Trump doesn’t have the authority to suspend the Constitution anyway, Joyce said, while adding that he’ll support “whoever the Republican nominee is” for president is in 2024.

Any thoughts on this ludicrous idea?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“We The People…”

This is from the “Learn Some Damn History” files…….

Most Americans pretend to know the Constitution but the truth is they know very little about the most important document in the world…..the best they can muster is 2 or 3 of the amendments….there are over 20 contained in the Constitution.

Let’s take a historic look at the document that established this country…..

For instance where did the opening of “We the people…” originate?

Was it Jefferson? Maybe Franklin? How about John Adams?

None of those people came up with the opening…..

Then who?

There are lots of famous Founding Fathers who receive deserved acclaim for the work they did to shape the United States of America. Just think of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams — even Alexander Hamilton had a Tony-winning musical made about him.

But there are plenty of other politicians who made real contributions at the Constitutional Convention, yet aren’t as well remembered. Gouverneur Morris is one such founding father. Haven’t heard of him? You’re not alone: This politician and lawyer from Pennsylvania isn’t necessarily well covered in most U.S. history textbooks. But that doesn’t make his work any less important. Morris was integral to the creation of the Constitution as we know it today. Sometimes called the Penman of the Constitution, Morris was the editor and shaper of the Constitution from its rough draft to its final, polished form, according to the Constitution Center.

Among the lines he revised? The most well-known of all: that starting preamble, “We the People of the United States.”

A New York native, Gouverneur Morris was a pretty smart cookie (via Yahoo! News). He graduated college at only 16 years old, and later became a lawyer and constitutional delegate. Morris’s life wasn’t necessarily easy; he faced multiple health problems during his life, including a deformed right arm due to a childhood accident (via Penn Today). He used a peg leg after his left leg was irreparably damaged and then amputated after a run-in with a carriage (via the Constitution Center). Later in his life, Morris wrote that he also experienced gout.

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/944429/the-phrase-we-the-people-came-from-this-forgotten-founding-father/

An interesting founder that history tries to forget….in the vain of Thomas Paine….forgotten or ignored?

If you think the Constitution is the special document that it is then you should learn all there is to know about it.

Class Dismissed!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Constitution–Down On Killing Floor

Down on killing floor….makes me think of the blues tune by Howling Wolf and the band, Electric Flag…..but that is not what this post is about….rather it is about what is the possibility that the Constitution is in danger.

Imagine that you are in a buying club that has a big problem. You and your fellow club members fork over money to a “highly qualified” individual you and fellow club members have repeatedly voted into the position of district club manager. His job is to obtain and distribute items and services you need. He takes your money, votes, and time, promising that he can “deliver the goods.”

But he can’t really deliver, and he knows it. His pledge goes unfulfilled because a higher, 100-person club of structurally entrenched distributors refuse to deal seriously with him and most of the other 434 “district-level” club managers.” And those “higher ups” are opposed to you getting what you want and need.

Still, even as his failed promises pile up, your club manager comes back again and again demanding, sometimes begging more of your votes and money every two years. “The next purchasing cycle is going to be different,” he says. He “can’t make the case to the big shots above him without your votes and money,” he adds. And by the way, he says, you should try to use your votes and money to change the names and faces in the big club above him.

“Democracy can be really messy sometimes,” he tells you, “like making sausage. But you’ve got to stay in the game, or you can’t complain. This is how we get things gone in this great country. It’s not perfect but it’s the greatest country in the world and little by little we can become a more perfect country if you give me your votes and money.”

Democracy Down on the Constitutional Killing Floor

There are those that think if the GOP takes charge of Congress they will work tirelessly to change the Constitution….completely….

If you think the Supreme Court overturning abortion rights in this country was radical and shocking, you ain’t seen nothing yet. There was a convention you should know about this past weekend in Denver, funded by some of the wealthiest men and foundations in America, that has received altogether too little publicity.

Imagine if most public schools in the country closed and were replaced by for-profit charter and private academies — often racially segregated and only serving families who could afford their tuition — because the Constitution required federal compulsory education laws and federal funding for education (at all levels) to end.

Imagine if the U.S. Constitution required the EPA, FDA, USDA, DOT, Department of Education, and Department of Labor to shut down. All union protections are dead, there are no more federal workplace safety standards, and even child-labor laws are struck down, along with the national minimum wage and the income tax, both individual and corporate.

Imagine that the Constitution makes it illegal for the federal government to protect you from big polluters, big banks, and even big food and pharma—all are free to rip you off or poison you all they want, and your only remedy is in state courts and legislatures, because the Constitution prevents Congress from doing anything about any of it. The federal government can no longer even enforce voting or civil rights laws.

https://www.rawstory.com/constitution-gop/

If you care for this country at all then you should check out these articles and the thoughts behind them.

Our country is at a crossroad…..please choose your direction wisely.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More On The Second Amendment

The US House has done a bold move (or is it?)…..

The House passed legislation Friday to revive a ban on certain semi-automatic guns, the first vote of its kind in years and a direct response to the firearms often used in the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. Once banned in the US, the high-powered firearms are now widely blamed as the weapon of choice among young men responsible for many of the most devastating mass shootings. But Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sales of the weapons to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to counter the powerful gun lobby and reinstate the weapons ban. Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed the vote toward passage in the Democratic-run House, saying the earlier ban “saved lives.”

President Biden hailed the House vote, saying, “The majority of the American people agree with this common sense action.” He urged the Senate to “move quickly to get this bill to my desk.” However, it is likely to stall in the 50-50 Senate, the AP reports. The House legislation is shunned by Republicans, who dismissed it as an election-year strategy by Democrats. Almost all Republicans voted against the House bill, which passed 217-213. The bill comes at a time of intensifying concerns about gun violence and shootings—the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, NY; massacre of school children in Uvalde, Texas; and the July Fourth shootings of revelers in Highland Park, Ill.

The bill would make it unlawful to import, sell, or manufacture a long list of semi-automatic weapons. Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY, said it includes an exemption that allows for the possession of existing semi-automatic guns. Reps. Chris Jacobs of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania were the only Republicans to vote for the measure. The Democratic lawmakers voting no were Reps. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas. Among the semi-automatic weapons banned would be some 200-plus types of semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s, and pistols. The restrictions would not apply to many other models.

Was this just a move to garner support for the upcoming election…..we all know that it will not fly in the Senate…..so what was this passing all about.

Then there will be the debate on the 2nd amendment……

I know–I know—-haven’t we had enough debate on the guns thing?

I say no because it is an issue that needs resolving one way or the other……

There have been more mass shootings in the last five years than in any other five-year span since 1996.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are injured or killed, there have been 2,403 mass shootings from 2017 to 2021, with 2,495 dead and 10,225 injured. The group’s data reveals a steep rise in recent years: 692 mass shootings in 2021, up 66% from 2019’s total of 417.

As of July 6, the group has recorded 320 mass shootings, putting 2022 on track to finish as one of the deadliest years in US history.

According to the CDC, 124 people die every day in the US in acts of gun violence.

Time for a re-think?

Years ago I made my thoughts known to my readers on the 2nd amendment……

Why The 2nd?

But that is just my opinion on the creation of this amendment….but let’s look deeper shall we?

Amid today’s heated debates about gun laws and the Second Amendment, what many people may not realize is that the phrase “the right to keep and to bear arms” is older than the Bill of Rights. It was penned years before the United States won its independence from England. 

In 1779, Founding Father and future president John Adams wrote this phrase at his law office in Quincy, Mass., as he drafted the Massachusetts Constitution — the oldest in the world. He did so a decade before the phrase appeared in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

James Madison argued on behalf of an armed citizenry as a bulwark to federal overreach in Federalist No. 46, published in 1788 as debate took place over shape of the new American government.

A national army of 25,000 to 30,000 men “would be opposed by a militia amounting to near half a million citizens with arms in their hands,” wrote the statesman often dubbed “Father of the Constitution.”

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/gun-laws-story-right-keep-bear-arms

That was from the FOX point of view…..now let’s look elsewhere…..

The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1791, reads: “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Responsible readings of this sentence note that it locates gun rights within the framework of militia service, not as an individual entitlement. By contrast, the 5th Amendment, ratified the same year, says that “No person” shall be denied due process.

Militias aside, there is also the “keep and bear” part of the 2nd Amendment to consider. In the founders’ era, to “keep” meant to own and possess something inside one’s home, while “bear arms” referred specifically to shouldering a musket or rifle in an army or militia.

Nowhere does the amendment declare or suggest a right to “go armed,” the term used in that era for carrying a weapon such as a pistol or dagger, either openly or in secret. Going armed was not legal. It was a form of misdemeanor known as an affray, from the French effrayer, to make afraid. Indeed, many of the new states responded to a disturbing rise in violence in the early republic with more restrictions on those carrying firearms and other weapons.

In part, that uptick in violence can be attributed to dueling, an aristocratic custom that the haughty officers of the Continental Army learned from their British and French peers. While duelists at least had the decency to count 10 paces and take aim before firing, the so-called “blades” of the southwestern frontiers simply swaggered around with pistols and cane swords, demanding that everyone treat them like royalty on pain of a beating or shooting.

Contrary to romantic mythologies about the frontier, neither duelists nor blades were very popular. Then as now, most people just wanted to go about their lives without getting shot, stabbed or bullied. And they were willing to stand up for their right to do so.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-06-22/gun-rights-control-second-amendment-supreme-court

Just a few more looks into the 2nd amendment….will this end the conversation (if it can be called that)?  Probably not but all aspects of this amendment should be studied.

There has got be common ground and soon…..for daily mass shootings keep happening and we are basically shrugging them off and moving on to something else.

Hopefully you will give the articles a read….and hopefully engage your brain for deeper thought that the shallowness we have today around guns.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Convention Of The States

This is a draft of mine from those dark days before we became fixated on Ukraine…..

Or as we use to call this thing….a Constitutional Convention….

A Convention is the mechanism used to amend our US Constitution……or as some call it exercise the Article Five of the Constitution…..

For those that are ignorant of this article…..

Article V Convention, amendatory convention, or a convention of states, applied for by two-thirds (currently 34) of the state legislatures, is one of two processes authorized by Article Five of the United States Constitution whereby the United States Constitution may be altered. Amendments may also be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate…..

Article V of the Constitution says how the Constitution can be amended—that is, how provisions can be added to the text of the Constitution. The Constitution is not easy to amend: only twenty-seven amendments have been added to the Constitution since it was adopted.

Article V spells out a few different ways in which the Constitution can be amended. One method—the one used for every amendment so far—is that Congress proposes an amendment to the states; the states must then decide whether to ratify the amendment. But in order for Congress to propose an amendment, two-thirds of each House of Congress must vote for it. And then three-quarters of the states must ratify the amendment before it is added to the Constitution. So if slightly more than one-third of the House of Representatives, or slightly more than one-third of the Senate, or thirteen out of the fifty states object to a proposal, it will not become an amendment by this route. In that way, a small minority of the country has the ability to prevent an amendment from being added to the Constitution.

Article V does potentially provide a way for the states to bypass Congress, although it has never been used. Article V says that “on the Application of two thirds of the Legislatures of the several States, [Congress] shall call a Convention for proposing amendments.” The convention can propose amendments, whether Congress approves of them or not. Those proposed amendments would then be sent to the states for ratification. As with an amendment proposed by Congress, three-quarters of the states would have to ratify the amendment for it to become part of the Constitution.

Article V also allows Congress to choose between two ways that the states might ratify an amendment. An amendment can be ratified by the state legislature—the part of the state government that enacts laws for the state. But Congress can provide instead that the states must call conventions for the single purpose of deciding whether to ratify an amendment. So far, though, with one exception (the Twenty-First Amendment), every amendment has been ratified by state legislatures.

Now the Civics lesson is over let’s move on…..

The last attempt to ratify was the Equal Rights Amendment…..and that was a clusterf*ck……

I have been saying for decades that we need a convention to clarify the Constitution…..the Founders did a helluva job in being vague which in my mind leads to all the confusion and chaos around our Constitution.

Let me return to the thought of the day……

The latest attempt to ratify is going to be the same chaotic mess as the ERA…..

Conservatives in states have put together a campaign of ratify the Constitution in their favor…..mostly it deals with money……

Georgia, Alaska, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arizona, North Dakota, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Utah and Mississippi have also approved resolutions of their own.

It will take 34 states to trigger a Convention of the States. COS organizers  said “momentum” is on their side.

For me there are several problems with this attempt by conservs……

Calling a Constitutional Convention is very dangerous. If Congress called a Constitutional Convention, or attempted
to do so, the country would be thrown into great turmoil, a period of extraordinary tension and deep anxiety, and
likely find itself quickly mired in momentous, lengthy legal and political battles of great consequence to the nation’s
future.
 States cannot limit the agenda of a Constitutional Convention. A Constitutional Convention would open up the
Constitution to whatever amendments its delegates chose to propose, just as the convention that produced the current
Constitution ignored its original charge, to amend the Articles of Confederation, and instead wrote an entirely new
governing document.
A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be a highly ill-advised way to address the nation’s longterm fiscal problems. By requiring a balanced budget every year, no matter the state of the economy, such an
amendment would raise serious risks of tipping weak economies into recession and making recessions longer and
deeper, causing very large job losses. That’s because the amendment would force policymakers to cut spending, raise
taxes, or both just when the economy is weak or already in recession — the exact opposite of what good economic
policy would advise.

This is just another attempt to exclude portions of our society from the government….a typical conserv ploy that goes back for decades…..the same trivial games these conservs always play.

I say if you call for a convention then the attempt should be made to clarify all the vagueness in the Constitution….not pick and choose what will be addressed.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Do Sanctions Violate The Constitution?

I have made my thoughts on sanctions in the past….and now I would like to offer up another thought….this one from a FOX News pundit…..Napolitano…..keep in mind these are HIS thoughts not mine…..personally anyone that listens or believes anything from FOX News is basically adding to the confusion and misinformation (but that is me)……

For those that would like to check my thoughts on sanctions then by all means jump to my previous post….

Is Sanctions The Answer?

The US and most of the rest of the world has put into place crippling sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs….Napolitano says that these sanctions violate the US Constitution….

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has undertaken a vast scheme against Russian economic actors, which it characterizes as “sanctions.” The scheme consists in seizing assets, freezing assets, and prohibiting lawful and constitutionally protected commercial transactions.

All of this is aimed at dissuading Russian President Vladimir Putin from his determination to use extreme state violence to neutralize the government of Ukraine and install a government more favorable to the Kremlin. Yet, the targets of these sanctions are neither Putin nor the Russian state. Rather, his friends and political supporters, as well as Russian banks and commercial entities, and even American banks and commercial entities, have been targeted – and hundreds of millions of consumers and investors have been harmed.

By prohibiting the use of assets and international money transfers, the sanctions have severely harmed folks in Russia who have nothing to do with Putin’s war by radically reducing their purchasing power and eliminating many everyday choices from their spending options. All of this was done by presidential edict.

Can the president constitutionally prevent Americans and foreign persons from the lawful use of their own assets and from engaging freely in lawful commercial transactions? In a word: No.

Sanctions on Russia Violate the Constitution

Now you have what a FOX pundit thinks…..do you agree?

Make your thoughts known!

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“lego ergo scribo”

Is The Constitution Still Working?

I plan of writing a series on our beloved Constitution….a common and popular political prop but with little understanding.

With all the turmoil and chaos in our political institution the question needs to be asked….is the Constitution still working as it was intended?

The Founders wrote a vague document with the intent that those in control would stay in control…..so from that view it is working.

But today is today.

My opinion is that it NO longer works….one reason is the vagueness which the Founders wrote into the document….but that is just me….

The U.S. Constitution is the sacred text of American government and civic life. But it’s time to face facts: The document, written in 1787, isn’t working. The signs are all around us. Just 38 percent of Americans in a recent Gallup poll expressed either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the presidency, down from 48 percent in 2001. Congress, never high in the public’s estimation to begin with, fell from 26 percent to a mere 12 percent. The Supreme Court has also taken a hit, down from 50 percent to 36 percent during the same period.

One reason often cited for the failing Constitution are the people who inhabit its carefully crafted institutions. In Congress, serious legislators are scarce, as many members aim for viral recognition on social media. Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.)  freely admitted, “I have built my staff around comms [communication], not legislation.” Cawthorn is hardly alone: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) represent a new breed of legislators who seek recognition and are largely uninterested in passing actual laws.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/587431-the-constitution-isnt-working

Now this brings up the question on whether the Constitution is democratic or not…..some thoughts on that question….

The Constitution, and the political order it made possible, defends “the honorable determination” of a free people to govern itself. But self-government, as the Founders understood it, demands constraints on the impulsive will of temporary—and often short-sided—majorities. Popular government is not democratic in a simply majoritarian sense, as thoughtfully designed institutions such as the Senate and the Electoral College make clear. Anything worth doing well is worth doing carefully and with the appropriate deliberation. As the authors write, “The trick in forming a government was to minimize the opportunities for mischief, while maximizing the opportunities” for republican virtue, or free and limited government “with numerous obstacles placed in the way of impulsive and short-sighted behavior.” And as the authors demonstrate, the constitution is not a machine intended to work automatically.

It’s hard not to notice that in the United States, political arguments frequently turn on questions that, in other democracies, nobody talks about. What are the powers of the legislature? What may the executive do? What can the states do without begging permission from the national government? Why can’t an idea popular with the public become a law?

For these and other questions, the answer will always involve the American Constitution, a document more than two centuries old that has been amended (not counting the Bill of Rights) only 17 times. In the wake of the 2016 election—in which, not for the first time, a candidate who lost the popular election entered the White House anyway—talk about the Constitution’s “defects” has become more insistent. Why can’t America be more like other countries?

…

The United States appears to have a government that makes it very difficult to accomplish anything, while other countries seem much more able to make desired changes—with a minimum of fuss and bother.

https://www.realclearpublicaffairs.com/articles/2020/02/14/why_is_the_constitution_not_democratic_484132.html

The Constitution is a great document….sadly as great as it is it makes governing damn near impossible….especially in these days of ignorance, lies and misinformation….most of which is spread by the very people that we elect to govern this country.

Please watch for more on the Constitution….there is more to come.

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“lego ergo scribo”

Those Endangered Voting Rights

Golly be!  WiFi has returned after Ida….

The 60s have come and gone and still voting is not as it should be….IMO this is happening because Civil Rights leaders settled and moved on….and the damn silly policy of state’s rights….after all it is the 21st century.

Red states are trying their best to limit who votes through gerrymandering and through assault on voting out right.

A right that all citizens have a right to indulge themselves for whatever candidate…..instead of making it easier for the people to exercise their right to vote…..these states are trying to limit who, when and where they may vote….the people have to jump through imaginary obstacles set up by these assailants on their rights.

Some have asked how can this assault be happening to the people…..it is made possible because the right of a citizen to vote is not directly protected in the Constitution.

Voting is an American principle and a basic democratic right that should be protected, promoted, and practiced, which is why many people are surprised to learn that the U.S. Constitution provides no explicit right to vote. This leaves voting rights vulnerable to the whims of politicians, and some citizens with fewer rights than others.

A majority of Americans want something done about voting rights…..

Hours after the Senate GOP once again blocked debate on the For the People Act, progressive organizations on Wednesday released the results of a survey showing that a majority of U.S. voters—including nearly three-quarters of Democrats—want President Joe Biden to “take a more active role in the fight” to pass the sweeping voting rights legislation.

Conducted by Data For Progress, Equal Citizens, End Citizens United, and other progressive groups, the poll found that 51% of U.S. voters—including 74% of Democrats, 42% of independents, and 30% of Republicans—would be more likely to support Biden if he is able to convince the Senate to pass the For the People Act, which the survey describes as “a bill to reduce the role of big money in politics, end dark money, strengthen the freedom to vote for all eligible citizens, and ban partisan gerrymandering.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/11/poll-majority-us-voters-want-biden-fight-key-voting-rights-bill

Not to worry…..there is the DoJ that is there to protect our voting rights, right?

Nope not at all……..

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), stripping the Justice Department of the powers it had for five decades to curb racial discrimination in voting. The Election Assistance Commission was left without commissioners for years and frequently faces bills in Congress that would end its existence entirely. Many schools skip civics education, contributing to the decline in voter turnout in local and primary elections.

Voting should be simple exercise for the citizens of this nation….but that is not necessarily true….

Voting should be a simple process in which any registered citizen can easily participate. However, this is not always the case. Voter identification and registration requirements, as well as the machines that voters use, vary widely between states. States and counties design their own ballots, pursue their own voter education, and have near-complete authority over their state voting policies and procedures. With over 10,000 different jurisdictions, voters and potential voters are much more likely to cast a counted vote in some states, some counties, and some areas of the country than others, simply based on the difference in standards for each election. Elections in many states are rife with lost and incorrectly counted votes, and many voters are incorrectly told that they cannot cast a ballot. 

Since voting is regulated by the states, there is little the national government can do if voters are intimidated or harassed at the polling booth. With the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision to strike down section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, and Congress’s unwillingness to act to restore key components of the Act, a Right to Vote Amendment is needed to further enforce voting rights.

Let’s be clear….all this Red State assault on voting is not and has never been about free and fair elections…..

“Republican party and its candidates got fewer votes in the last seven of eight presidential elections,” he said, noting that new Census data shows the country growing more diverse.

“Take how this is played on the ground for Texas. Republicans trying to suppress the vote. Why would they be doing that? People of color make up 95% of the population growth. As those trends combined with the current platforms of these two political parties, it would seem that the Republican Party faces a binnary choice, or losing many future elections. That’s a buy in. It turns out and many experts and analysts warning about this, the Republican Party trying to find, well, not this way or that way but a third way,” he explained. “Lying about its losses and suppressing democracy itself so it could win rigged elections.”

(rawstory.com)

The whole states rights thing is destroying an institution in this country….the right to fair and open elections…..I have no use for the states rights thing and I have made my opinion known on this issue…..https://gulfsouthfreepress.wordpress.com/2021/05/05/those-states-rights/

This nation needs an amendment that will guarantee the right to vote…..The Right to Vote Amendment will guarantee all American citizens at least 18 years of age a constitutionally protected individual right to vote. Much like the rights to speech and religion, a constitutionally protected right to vote will be difficult to limit without showing a strong need for the limitation to exist.

Time is quickly running out for any action to protect the citizen’s right to vote….the Dems must go it alone if necessary….

The window for action to protect voting rights from the GOP’s nationwide assault is rapidly closing as Democrats—despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House—fail to take the steps necessary to pass federal legislation that would expand ballot access, restore the gutted Voting Rights Act of 1965, and end partisan gerrymandering.

Progressive warnings about the implications of continued inaction on voting rights have grown increasingly dire in recent weeks as state governments—nearly two dozen of which are completely dominated by Republicans—prepare to redraw their 10-year congressional maps for upcoming elections and implement new ballot restrictions.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/06/fascist-gop-threat-grows-dems-verge-historic-failure-secure-voting-rights-0

Do the Dems have the guts to do what is needed and necessary?  Or will they keep chasing the pipe dream of bi-partisanship?

Democrats have publicly united around a legislative response to Republican efforts to roll back voting access in various states — a bill called the For the People Act.

Known as HR 1 in the House, where it passed in early March with only a single Democratic defection, and S 1 in the Senate, where it’s co-sponsored by every Democrat except West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, it’s a bill that Democrats and allied outside advocates argue is urgently necessary to save the country not only from voter suppression, but also from gerrymandering and the malign influences of big and dark money in politics.

“If our democracy doesn’t work, then we have no hope — no hope — of solving any of our other problems,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last month. “We will fight and fight and fight to get this done legislatively. Failure is not an option.”

Beneath this public unity, however, some in Democratic and electoral policy circles have misgivings about the bill, however well-intentioned it might be. Jessica Huseman recently wrote at the Daily Beast about a set of objections to one section of the bill from election administrators, who said, under cover of anonymity, that it contains various poorly written and confusing requirements that could be difficult or even impossible to implement. (Democratic aides say they’re working on addressing those concerns.)

https://www.vox.com/22346812/voting-rights-bill-hr1-for-the-people-act

Since Georgia is the ground zero for voting rights….there is an attempt to stop the theft….

Preventing Election Subversion Act of 2021, a bill introduced by Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) that seeks to fill that gap.

It doesn’t prevent Georgia’s elections board from removing a local election official, but it does impose some procedural safeguards intended to prevent local officials from being removed for partisan reasons. Among other things, it allows such officials to sue for reinstatement in federal court.

Additionally, the bill would make it a felony to harass or intimidate election workers in order to interfere with their official duties. GOP lawmakers in some states, including Texas, are pushing legislation making it harder for election workers to remove partisan observers who disrupt an election. Warnock’s bill would subject the worst-behaved election observers to criminal charges.

Realistically, Warnock’s bill has a long way to go before it becomes law. Warnock is reportedly in negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to include safeguards against “election subversion” in a package of voting rights reforms that enjoys Manchin’s blessing. As the most conservative Democratic senator in an evenly divided Senate, Manchin is key to advancing any meaningful voting rights legislation.

https://www.vox.com/22616752/raphael-warnock-georgia-sb202-voter-suppresion-voting-rights-supreme-court-atlanta-fulton-county

A valiant attempt but will go NOWHERE…..the votes are not there in the Senate….plus then if it were to make it into law there is SCOTUS to contend with…..

The legislation, known as the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” is now a focus of the House and is expected to be part of the voting rights package negotiated in the Senate to win over West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s support. The bill would restore a provision of the Voting Rights Act meant to address racial discrimination that was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. Doing so has long been a goal of lawmakers, and one that seemed only remotely possible after Democrats obtained narrow control of Congress while winning the White House.

…

Still, legal experts remain skeptical that any amount of procedural legwork by Congress would be enough for the current Supreme Court and its 6-3 conservative-liberal majority.

“Whichever way congress would go in trying to amend the Voting Rights Act and reestablish some form of preclearance, it’s going to have a Supreme Court where at least some members are going to be extremely skeptical of congressional power in this area,” said Rick Hasen, law professor at University of California, Irvine.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/congress-democrats-john-lewis-voting-rights-supreme-court/index.html

NO amount of proposed laws will do anything but provide some cover for Dems in the next election.

This will do nothing to protect everyone’s right to a fair election or make it possible for everyone to vote.

I think they, Dems, will do something but like in 1965 it will not be enough.  We should not expect too much progress on this issue from the Dems…..they will once again display their spinelessness to the nation.

There was a small bright light, especially in Georgia….

A federal judge has found that a part of Georgia’s sweeping new election law that broadly prohibits the photographing of a voted ballot is likely unconstitutional. US District Judge J.P. Boulee on Friday granted a preliminary injunction on that section of the law, meaning it cannot be enforced for now. In the same order, he declined to block a number of other provisions that mostly have to do with monitoring or photographing parts of the election process. From the AP:

  • Lawsuit was filed by election integrity group. The judge’s order came in a lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Good Governance, an election integrity group, and others. Boulee wrote that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit “have shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claim” that the broad ban on photographing a voted ballot in both public and nonpublic places violates their First Amendment rights.
  • Other parts of the law. The new law, known as SB 202, also adds a voter ID requirement for mail ballots, shortens the time period for requesting a mail ballot, results in fewer ballot drop boxes available in metro Atlanta and gives the State Election Board new powers to intervene in county election offices and to remove and replace local election officials. There are currently eight federal lawsuits challenging parts of the 98-page law enacted earlier this year, including one filed by the US Department of Justice.
  • “An overreach by lawmakers.” “The Court’s striking of the Photography Ban was an important first step in demonstrating that SB202 is an overreach by lawmakers who prefer ballots to be counted behind closed doors, blocking the important oversight of the press and public,” Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, said in a statement.
  • Other provisions allowed to stand. Boulee declined to block another photography provision that prohibits the photographing or recording of the face of a touchscreen voting machine while someone is voting. He also declined to block provisions that require that absentee ballots be requested at least 11 days before an election and prohibit observers from communicating any information they see during absentee ballot processing to anyone other than election officials.
  • Raffensperger calls it a win. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has repeatedly said the law will stand up to court challenges. “This decision is a clear victory for Georgia voters and common-sense election integrity reforms,” he said in a statement.

AS the Gulf South readied itself for yet another devastating hurricane marches across the US in support of voting rights were taking place…..

Thousands of people rallied across the US on Saturday to call for sweeping federal laws to wipe out election legislation advancing in some Republican-controlled states that could make it harder to cast a ballot. Many activists view the fight over voting rules as the civil rights issue of the era. But frustrations have mounted for months because two expansive election bills have stalled in the US Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. The rallies Saturday were intended to increase pressure on Democrats to rewrite procedural rules that would let them muscle the legislation through without Republican votes, the AP reports.

A great effort but I fear it is falling on deaf ears….Washington is about retaining position and not the benefits of voting for those back home.

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Those Pesky Constitutional Amendments

I have always hated it when politician use the Constitution as a prop in their campaigns….most pick and choose what parts they want to use and most times they are off base completely….I am talking about both idiot parties here….their ignorance knows NO political affiliation.

Let me begin with some of the most recent moronic babblings……

First that huge tool from Texas, Ted Cruz…….

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is proposing a new bill that would require the censorship of all public schools in the teaching of any kind of American history involving slavery.

While it appears Ted Cruz was endeavoring to ban the teaching of critical race theory, what he has inadvertently done is bar the teaching of several amendments of the Constitution.

President Abraham Lincoln’s effort to abolish slavery with the 13th Amendment would cause problems since it directly addresses the history of U.S. slavery that was abolished by the new law. Cruz’s censorship bill would effectively bar the teaching of that as well as the 14th Amendment, which made it so any person born in the United States a citizen of the United States. It also said that no person can be denied life, liberty or property. Teaching it would likely require educators to explain why that amendment came about, which would be censored by Cruz’s bill.

https://www.rawstory.com/ted-cruz-constitution-censorship-bill/

The ignorance is not limited to the GOP…however they seem to be the dumbest of the lot……

Even a politician with 50 years of legislative experience is not immune to making stupid assertions…..

This time is the president old Uncle Joe Biden……

President Biden claimed last week that the Second Amendment, “from the day it was passed,” limited what kind of weapon you could own and that “you couldn’t buy a cannon.” Biden has made this claim before, but historians and fact-checkers including Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post say it’s bunk. Historians say there are no documented instances of a private individual in the era being prohibited from owning a cannon, and Kessler notes that the Constitution granted Congress the power to allow private individuals to act as pirates—which would certainly have included owning cannons—on behalf of the US. PolitiFact deemed the claim false when Biden made it on the campaign trail, and Kessler gives Biden four Pinocchios, the highest on its scale for misleading claims.

Biden may have meant to say that the amendment “was never understood to guarantee everyone the right to own all types of weapons, which I believe is true,” says constitutional law professor Kermit Roosevelt. “As phrased, it sounds like the Second Amendment itself limited ownership, which is not true.” Kessler says the error may seem “relatively inconsequential” to some readers, but Biden is undercutting his campaign for tighter gun laws when he makes false claims.

I have been preaching for decades that the people we elect are not those that have the best interest of the country at heart…..ignorance runs deep.

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