Tag: Voter Suppression

Screw The Damn Voter!

Once again the majority on the Supreme Court has proven that they are a pack of gutless spineless ideologues.

That is basically what the US Supreme Court has just stated!

Red states are running rampant with a wide array of bills on issues such as gender and abortion and education and then there is the big push to suppress the vote.

State after Red State has spent all of 2021 so far finding ways to suppress the voter access to their right.

This is what we get when we embrace a party and not the needs of the nation’s people…..people with an agenda and NO actual policies.

I say this is what you get because of the latest decision handed down by SCOTUS.

It is what we get when we allow some agenda driven group like the ultra-conservative Federalist Society pick the judges that will interpret the Constitution for the nation.

What the Hell am I ranting about?

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld voting restrictions in Arizona in a decision that could make it harder to challenge other voting measures put in place by Republican lawmakers, per the AP. The court, by a 6-3 vote, reversed a lower court ruling in deciding that Arizona’s limits on who can return early ballots for another person and refusal to count ballots cast in the wrong precinct are not racially discriminatory. The federal appeals court in San Francisco had held that the measures disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic, and Native American voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for a conservative majority that the state’s interest in the integrity of elections justified the measures. The court rejected the idea that showing that a state law disproportionately affects minority voters is enough to prove a violation of the law.

In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court was weakening the landmark voting rights law for the second time in eight years. “What is tragic here is that the Court has (yet again) rewritten—in order to weaken—a statute that stands as a monument to America’s greatness, and protects against its basest impulses,” she wrote. “What is tragic is that the Court has damaged a statute designed to bring about ‘the end of discrimination in voting.’ I respectfully dissent.” Kagan was joined by the court’s other two liberal justices. The challenged Arizona provisions remained in effect in 2020 because the case was still making its way through the courts. President Biden narrowly won Arizona last year, and since 2018, the state has elected two Democratic senators.

The Supreme Court is suppose to be the arbiter of the laws of the land….a neutral umpire if you will….so far they are failing in that duty….when decisions made according to political ideology and not the spirit of the Founders wishes…this is what we get…..disenfranchisement of a portion of society.

I apologize if this post reads like a disjointed mess…..but when I read this decision I went into a screaming rant……

These old farts have just basically made it much harder for the people to exercise their right as a citizen…..these tools should be making it easier to vote not helping find ways to suppression a portion of our society from exercising a basic right.

This what we get!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Are Voting Rights A Dead Issue?

With all the voter suppression tactics making the rounds in most states….there was hope to put the brakes on this suppression but one coward in the Senate will do mall he can to help the GOP take away your right to vote…..that coward is Manchin.

A key Democratic senator says he will not vote for the largest overhaul of US election law in a generation, leaving no path forward for legislation that his party and the White House have portrayed as crucial for protecting access to the ballot. “Voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia wrote in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. He wrote that failure to bring together both parties on voting legislation would “risk further dividing and destroying the republic we swore to protect and defend as elected officials.” Among dozens of other provisions, it would require states to offer 15 days of early voting and allow no-excuse absentee balloting, the AP reports

Democrats have pushed the legislation as the antidote to a wave of restrictive state voting laws, many inspired by former President Trump’s claims of fraud in his 2020 loss. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pledged to bring the election bill to a vote the week of June 21. But without Manchin’s support, the bill has no chance of advancing because Republicans are united against it. In appearances on Sunday news shows, Manchin stressed his reasons for opposing the bill, including his view that it is too broad. “I think it’s the wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country and I’m not supporting that because I think it would divide us further,” Manchin said. He added that lawmakers should instead focus on revitalizing the landmark Voting Rights Act, which was weakened by a Supreme Court decision in 2013.

How does voter protection “further divide the country”?

This back bencher has his moment to shine and he is playing it for all it is worth……a minor Senator has the power to hold up the protection of your right to vote…..

How much does it pay to betray the people of the United States?

He is a political slug that deserves ridicule.

Centrists are the bane of progress…..they the bane of progress….Dems cling to a long dead issue of bi-partisanship…..instead of moving the country forward they remain in the past and deluding themselves continuously.

Kinda pathetic!

If Manchin has his way then kiss your vote good-bye.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Whose Big Idea Was It?

At least 37 states are attempting to suppress the vote in their states…..of course they use the security of the institution as a premise for the suppression.

But since it is a wildly popular in most states the next question logically would be ….whose idea was this suppression……where did it all originate……

A great question and now we know thanks to a leaked video…..

In a private meeting last month with big-money donors, the head of a top conservative group boasted that her outfit had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia and was doing the same with similar bills for Republican state legislators across the country. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” she said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.”

The Georgia law had “eight key provisions that Heritage recommended,” Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America, a sister organization of the Heritage Foundation, told the foundation’s donors at an April 22 gathering in Tucson, in a recording obtained by the watchdog group Documented and shared with Mother Jones. Those included policies severely restricting mail ballot drop boxes, preventing election officials from sending absentee ballot request forms to voters, making it easier for partisan workers to monitor the polls, preventing the collection of mail ballots, and restricting the ability of counties to accept donations from nonprofit groups seeking to aid in election administration.

All of these recommendations came straight from Heritage’s list of “best practices” drafted in February. With Heritage’s help, Anderson said, Georgia became “the example for the rest of the country.”

Leaked Video: Dark Money Group Brags About Writing GOP Voter Suppression Bills Across the Country

Watch the video!

I have been writing about the evils of Heritage for 30+ years….and now all can see just how much they hate democracy.

Do not be fooled by groups with cutsey names like “freedom” this or that….it is and has always been a con job….a con job that works well with the ignorant few.

Heritage is dangerous….and now their deceit has come to light…..

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

I Did Not Know That!

Closing Thought–10May21

I have bitched many time about the lack of knowledge of our so-called ‘experts’…their lack of basic knowledge especially historic knowledge……

Texas is in the midst of a massive voter suppression move….that this video is the questioning of the dullard that wrote the bill….

https://youtu.be/IO15kTVIVXA
 
I know it is a long video but it is worth watching …..it illustrates just how out of touch those making policy.
 
The policymaker is one major reason this country is sucking….no grasp of history.
 
Ignorance and stupidity is killing this country…..and we (collective form) are feeding our own destruction.
 
What will it take for the people to actually care about this direction?
 
Well someone cared.
 
The “purity” has been pulled from the proposed bill….
 
A segregationist term from the Jim Crow era referring to the “purity” of ballots was yanked at the last minute before the Texas House passed a measure restricting voting.
But an initial fight was over the bill’s statement of purpose. It initially said that said the measure was designed to “preserve the purity of the ballot box” — a phrase “drafted specifically to disenfranchise Black voters following the Civil War,” Democratic Rep. Rafael Anchía told bill sponsor Rep. Briscoe Cain (R).
 
Turn The Page!
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

From The “Can’t Fix Stupid” Files

AS we know from the news many of our Red States are enacting laws that will suppress the voter turnout………one of the lamest excuses comes from my secretary of state……

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, the state’s top election official, getting very explicit about why he believes the state (and others in the “new” South) needs to tighten voting rules:

So think about all those woke college and university students now who will automatically be registered to vote whether they wanted to or not. Again, if they didn’t know to opt-out, they’re going to be automatically registered to vote and then they receive this mail-in ballot that they probably didn’t know was coming because they didn’t know they were registered to vote. You’ve got an uninformed citizen who may not be prepared and ready to vote. Automatically, it’s forced on them: ‘Hey, go make a choice.’ And our country’s going to pay for those choices.

Uninformed citizen?

I believe that is called the GOP.

This is nothing short of denying Americans there right to vote in election…..many are calling this “Jim Crow 2.0″……and of course I had an opinion on this……https://lobotero.com/2021/04/12/jim-crow-2-0/

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Chamber Of Commerce Voter Suppression

There has been a wealth of citizens that have come out in favor of the voting rights bill in Congress, HR1, and yet as popular as it may be the corporations are in opposition…..but why would they care?

The Chamber of Commerce has issued a strong letter of opposition…..

This is the letter the Chamber has issued…..these are the points that they take exception with….

There are many other aspects of H.R. 1 that are extremely problematic. To highlight just a few:

  • H.R. 1 would fundamentally transform the FEC from a non-partisan agency comprised of three commissioners from each party into an overtly partisan enforcement tool controlled by a majority of commissioners from the political party then in power.
  • H.R. 1 would deem communication by corporations, including associations, to be “coordinated” and thereby prohibited if the organization has even the most innocuous and tenuous of connections with a candidate. For example, a meeting with an elected official to discuss a policy issue, an organizational employee who was previously employed by the elected official or candidate in any capacity, or a common vendor with a candidate would all have the practical effect of prohibiting corporations, including associations, from engaging in the political process.
  • H.R. 1 would also usher in a host of onerous disclaimer requirements for those engaging in communications that mention a candidate or elected official, even if those communications are related to legislative issues.
  • H.R. 1 would give taxpayer funds to political campaigns by allowing Americans to opt-into having their political donations matched by the federal government. Taxpayer money should be used to support projects like infrastructure initiatives and education programs and not political campaigns.

https://www.uschamber.com/letters-congress/us-chamber-key-vote-letter-opposing-hr-1-the-people-act

HR1 includes these points…..

This bill addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.

Specifically, the bill expands voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits removing voters from voter rolls.

The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting.

Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including sharing intelligence information with state election officials, supporting states in securing their election systems, developing a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institutions, establishing in the legislative branch the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions, and other provisions to improve the cybersecurity of election systems.

Further, the bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.

The bill addresses ethics in all three branches of government, including by requiring a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibiting Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establishing additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House.

The bill requires the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns.

If you are a political geek and would like to read the bill for yourself before you comment then here is the pdf for you to read…..all 791 pages!

Click to access BILLS-117hr1ih.pdf

Interesting that the most opposition comes from corporate America and its paid goons in Congress.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

From The ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ Files

By now we all have heard of the attempts to suppress the vote in many Red States…..Georgia has one of the most restrictive….it even includes a portion that bans anyone from giving food or water to people waiting in the hot Southern sun…..

But wait the Georgia governor has made another ‘stupid’ statement about this portion of the restrict state law……

The GOP governor then responded to criticism of the law’s provision limiting the distribution of food and water at polling stations, confirming that polling centers can still provide refreshments and that people can bring their own food and water with them.

“They can order a pizza. They can order Grubhub or Uber Eats. The county officials can provide water stations,” he said, adding that the restriction on handing out food and water “is just within 150 feet of the precinct.”

“If you’re 151 feet, campaigns can set up tables, food trucks, they can hand out flyers, put up signs,” he continued. “This has been the case in Georgia for a long time and many, many other states.”

Several social media users condemned Kemp for suggesting that voters order food, with some saying that the statement was “tone deaf,” as many people may not be able to afford food delivery services. 

(thehill.com)

He is trying to walk back a restrict and unfair law….and illustrates just how much of political hacks they truly are.

These morons just cannot help being stupid…..and are prime examples of the statement that you “can’t fix stupid”…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Jim Crow 2.0?

These days a common theme in most political talks shows is the use of the term “Jim Crow”.

Personally I do not like the term “Jim Crow 2.0” for I do not think that it tells the whole story.

Too many have NO idea what is meant about Jim Crow laws….call it what it is…..

Many of our states are in the process of suppressing voters rights…..and the debate centers around an old law from days past…..the Jim Crow laws….

But what the Hell are these laws?

About time for some clarity.

“Jim Crow” has long been a derogatory slang term for a black man, making it a fitting name for the laws that were in force in the South and some border states from 1877 through the mid-1960s. These laws were in place to maintain racial segregation after the Civil War ended. Initially, Jim Crow laws required the separation of white people and people of color on all forms of public transportation and in schools. Eventually, the segregation expanded to include interaction and commingling in schools, cemeteries, parks, theaters, and restaurants. Often, anyone who was suspected of having a black ancestor, even just one in the very distant past, was considered to be a person of color and therefore subject to the Jim Crow laws. The overarching purpose of Jim Crow laws was to prevent contact between black people and white people as equals, establishing white people as above black people.

Jim Crow laws began in 1877 when the Supreme Court ruled that states couldn’t prohibit segregation on common modes of transportation such as trains, streetcars, and riverboats. Later, in 1883, the Supreme Court overturned specific parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, confirming the “separate but equal” concept. During the ensuing years, states passed laws instituting requirements for separate and equal accommodations for blacks on public modes of transportation. Black people also had separate schools, hospitals, churches, cemeteries, restrooms, and prisons, and these facilities were usually inferior to facilities for white people, although the laws called for the separate facilities to be of equal quality. Jim Crow laws also influenced social interactions between blacks and whites. Failure to enforce these laws resulted in fines or imprisonment.

To learn more on this attempt to suppress……https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws

Now that you have a working knowledge of the historic context we can move on….

Following the election of Barack Obama, the party immediately passed hundreds of new voter restrictions that were facially neutral but carefully aimed at disenfranchising Black voters. As a federal judge ruled in 2016, voter restrictions like those in North Carolina “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.” Now in the wake of the 2020 election, that targeting has resumed with renewed vigor.

And the in 2020 that other guy that was running for re-election to the presidency lost….and the rush was on to make sure that the tidal wave of voters could not impact the control of state legislative and governing would remain in the hands of the old white guy network….thus new laws to suppress black/brown voters…..plus the tool of gerrymandering will also be used to decide where voters will live (voter districts).

Call it what you like…..if it reads like Jim Crow……acts like Jim Crow….then the good chance it is Jim Crow 2.0.

More on voter suppression…..https://lobotero.com/2021/03/30/voter-rights-and-suppression/

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That Voter Suppression

The giant news these days is of course and trial that is boring as watching flies mate and the attempts by Red states to suppress voter rights.

And now we can add the death of the UK’s Prince Phillip for endless analysis and reporting.

I have once again given my thoughts on these attempts….https://lobotero.com/2021/03/30/voter-rights-and-suppression/

On cue the Dems are scrambling to try and end all these attempts to suppress…..with HR1 and S1……

Once again I provide links to these bills for those interested…..

The Dems are trying to make the exercise of one’s rights easier (as it should be)…..here are the two bills, one from the House and the other from the Senate….

Click to access BILLS-116hr1pcs.pdf

And from the Senate….

Click to access SIMPLE-SECTION-BY-SECTION_S.-1%20Final.pdf

The Dems should be applauded….right?

After all they are united in their opposition to all this voter suppression attempts by the states GOP…..

Not so fast…..

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

Once again the Dems prove to me that they are a pack of spineless slugs…we need to get rid of the old farts that are costing Americans their rights and privileges.

Then there is the other voter suppression….gerrymandering.

More than half of the states in the U.S. are at “extreme risk” of congressional districts being drawn to unfairly favor one party, according to a new analysis of state redistricting processes by RepresentUs, a non-partisan advocacy group focused on election reform.

Why it matters: The states at risk of gerrymandering — a process the group says can produce “rigged maps” — include battlegrounds like Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

The big picture: This year’s redistricting process is already more chaotic than usual. And the outcomes could boost one party’s political candidates for a decade.

  • “It’s really just open season in a way that it never has been,” RepresentUs CEO Josh Silver told Axios.
  • That’s due in large part to Supreme Court rulings since the last census that block partisan gerrymandering lawsuits from federal courts and ended requirements for some states to get their maps pre-cleared by the Justice Department.

https://www.axios.com/gerrymandering-states-partisan-redistricting-elections-3ead2a0a-3876-4e85-aaa1-f80efd76daad.html

Make NO mistake….voter suppression is real and no amount of attempting to justify the act will make it right.

They will succeed if we do not bring this affront to our right of vote to a halt.

We need younger representatives and there needs to be term limits so these slugs can go home and “spend time with their families”….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Big Tech For Voter Suppression

Do you use Facebook?

We all use Google.

What do you think of all the voter suppression in many states?

How does all these questions relate?

In the first quarter of 2021, Facebook, Google, and several other major American companies donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Republican political group that advocates for voter suppression laws around the United States.

Facebook donated $50,000, and Google donated $20,000, according to a new report from Popular Information, alongside a $50,000 donation from AT&T and $100,000+ donations from two major pharmaceutical companies: Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca.

The organization that received those donations — the Republican State Leadership Committee — describes itself as, “the largest national organization focused on electing Republicans to state offices in every corner of the nation.”

The RSLC supports Republican candidates that have supported voter suppression laws, and itself advocates for said laws.

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-google-donated-tens-of-thousands-to-republicans-this-year-2021-4

So the very sites that you use to stay in touch and/or get information have spent time and money helping these voter suppression laws by Repubs get passed.

Then there is AstraZeneca…the vaccine hero for the pandemic…….helping save lives all the while working to help suppress the vote….a perfect example of the slim in corporate world.

Facebook and the others were not alone….

Since 2015, AT&T, Comcast, UnitedHealth Group, Walmart, and other big businesses have donated a combined $50 million to state Republican lawmakers who are currently supporting voter suppression bills across the United States—generous political spending at odds with recent corporate efforts to rebrand as defenders of voting rights.

A new report (pdf) released Monday morning by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen found that during the 2020 election cycle alone, U.S. corporations donated $22 million to Republican architects of voter suppression bills that are advancing through state legislatures nationwide.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/05/follow-money-corporations-gave-50-million-gop-lawmakers-behind-voter-suppression

Read the pdf and weep for our nation.

You still think these sites are indispensable to your life?

Maybe it is time to stop letting these corporate slugs run and ruin your life.

Thoughts?

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I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”