New Law About Voting
This is a repost from 2022. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act failed to pass after a Senate fillibuster. … Democrats have proposed a new law about voting access. Grandpa Brandon thinks denouncing “voter suppression” is the way to build support. Unfortunately, the debate has centered around toxic, race-pandering rhetoric. Almost nobody says what the proposed new law would do. A bit of googling turned up a document from Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. If you get tired of the chamblee54 version, you can go to the original source. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.”
Most of the proposals are the federal government telling states how to run elections. The IANAL masses might wonder if this is constitutional. Another feature of this bill is that the instructions are given to the states. In Georgia, the elections are mostly run by the counties. This did not stop Democrats, or Donald J. Trump, from blaming the Secretary of State for inconvenient election results.
Lets take a look at some of the specific proposals. With regards to early voting, the bill requires the states to offer early voting for a specified time period. No-excuse absentee ballots are subject to a national standard, along with other regulations concerning mail-in voting.
Election Day holiday: “The bill would make Election Day a legal public holiday…” This sounds good in theory, but may be troublesome to many employers. One thing that might help here is to move ED to Monday. Voting on Tuesday is a holdover from days when farmers went to the county seat on a horse. Voting on Monday would make things a bit simpler.
“Voter validation: The bill would promote a national standard for states that have an identification requirement for in-person voting, allowing for the use of a wide range of forms of identification (including electronic copies) and alternative options for voter validation. States that do not impose an identification requirement would not be required to have one.” Voter ID is widely denounced as being racist. If this passage is any indication, Voter ID is here to stay. (In the controversy over Georgia’s SB202, the ID requirement was widely seen as a feature of Jim Crow on steroids. It turns out that SB202 calls for the voter writing their driver’s license/ID number on an absentee ballot application.)
“Cracking down on deceptive and intimidating practices: … It would also establish federal criminal penalties for deceiving voters…” If it was a federal crime to deceive voters, every politician in America would be in prison.
“Voting rights restoration: The bill restores federal voting rights to formerly incarcerated citizens upon their release … removing the vestiges of restrictions born out of Jim Crow.” Kentucky had a law disenfranchising felons in 1792. This was a hundred years before the Jim Crow laws were passed. There are arguments to be made on both sides of this issue. It should not be addressed with misleading racial arguments.
“Countering long lines and related discriminatory practices: The bill creates protections for individuals subjected to excessive lines on Election Day — most often Black and Latino voters — by requiring states to ensure that lines last no longer than 30 minutes …” This is more gratuitous race baiting. While the idea of lines less than 30 minutes is appealing, one wonders exactly how the feds are going to enforce this requirement. Also, since the elections are usually administered by the counties, what are the states supposed to do?
“Requiring paper records and other election infrastructure improvements: The bill requires states to replace old, paperless electronic voting machines with voting systems that provide voter-verified paper records and provides grants for states to purchase more secure voting systems.” Georgia is going to a system with a backup paper ballot. When you cast your vote, a laser printer prints out a sheet of paper with your vote, represented by a QR code. This paper is then fed through a roller into a receptacle. To this uninformed voter, that seems like a lot of moving parts. While the new system MIGHT work in a high volume election, there is a high potential for screw ups. These are Georgia elections we are talking about here.
There are sections of the bill devoted to Campaign Finance Reform, and Gerrymandering. You can look at the Brennan Center document for more information. While the new bill has good intentions, the suspicion here is that the proposals will make things worse. God is in the details.
“The bill would require strong, uniform rules for congressional redistricting, including a ban on partisan gerrymandering and strengthened protections for communities of color.” Gerrymandering is like the weather … everyone has opinions, but relatively few know what they are talking about. If you create a black district, then the districts surrounding it are going to get whiter. If you tinker with the districts to favor one group, another group is going to be unfairly affected. The bill has good intentions, that might not be well thought out. God is in the details.
“Automatic voter registration: The bill would make automatic voter registration (AVR), which 19 states and the District of Columbia have already adopted, the national standard.” In Georgia, when you get a drivers license, you are automatically registered to vote. This eliminates any of the “exact match” issues that Democrats made so much noise about in 2018. The DMV is an exact match operation. Also, paperwork at the DMV is typed. Illegible paper applications were a major reason that registration applications were thrown out in previous elections. Illegible applications were also a problem with the New Georgia Project, a voting registration program directed by Stacey Abrams.
“Same day voter registration: The bill requires states to offer same day voter registration … SDR permits eligible voters to register to vote and cast a ballot in federal elections on the same day.” The sense here is that this is not a good idea. What happens when you move, and want to vote in another precinct? Will your old registration be cancelled? How do the states/counties keep up with all this? Is there a national database, that tells Georgia to cancel your Atlanta registration because you have moved to Alabama? And how are we going to process all of this while people are waiting in line behind you to vote? Once again, SDR might be a good idea, but there are a lot of details to work out.
“Protections against unlawful voter purges: The bill provides safeguards to prevent unlawful, faulty, error-prone methods for purging voter rolls … Further, states would be required to notify within 48 hours any individual removed from the list of eligible voters of their removal, the reasons for their removal, and how they can contest the removal.” In 2018, before voters were removed from the rolls, they were sent a post-card, and asked to reply. If they did not reply, they were removed. Now, if the state could not get in touch with them before, how are they going to reach these voters now? The feds do not always think these things through.
Stanford Bad Words List
Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative arrived on a slow news day this week. Produced by a committee at Stanford University, the document lists some language that we should not be using. The screed got an unkind reaction, and was hidden from the general population. Fortunately, some thoughtful archivists saved a copy. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
EHLI comes in a three part format. First is the contraindicated phrase. Second is a suggested alternative, and third is a commentary. The replacement is usually longer, and clumsier, than the original. Is “died by suicide” really any better than “committed suicide”?
abusive relationship … relationship with an abusive person … The relationship doesn’t commit abuse. A person does, so it is important to make that fact clear.
African-American … Black … Black people who were born in the United States can interpret hyphenating their identity as “othering.” As with many of the terms we’re highlighting, some people do prefer to use/be addressed by this term, so it’s best to ask a person which term they prefer to have used when addressing them. When used to refer to a person, the “b” should always be capitalized.
American … US Citizen … This term often refers to people from the US only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas (which is actually made up of 42 countries).
brown bag … lunch and learn, tech talk … Historically associated with the “brown paper bag test” that certain Black sororities and fraternities used to judge skin color. Those whose skin color was darker than the brown bag were not allowed to join.
gangbusters … very successful … Unnecessarily invokes the notion of police action against “gangs” in a positive light, which may have racial undertones.
Hispanic … Latinx, use country of origin … Although widely used to describe people from Spanish-speaking countries outside of Spain, its roots lie in Spain’s colonization of South American countries. Instead of referring to someone as Hispanic because of their name or appearance, ask them how they identify themselves first.
Karen … demanding or entitled White woman … This term is used to ridicule or demean a certain group of people based on their behaviors.
people of color (used generically) … BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) … If speaking about a specific group, name that group.
“preferred” pronouns … pronouns … The word “preferred” suggests that non-binary gender identity is a choice and a preference.
shemale … transgender woman, trans woman … This slur is often used disparagingly to refer to people who don’t conform to gender expectations. Some in the community do identify with and self-describe as the term, though.
straight … heterosexual … Implies that anyone who is not heterosexual is bent or not “normal.”
stupid … boring, uncool … Once used to describe a person who could not speak and implied the person was incapable of expressing themselves.
tranny, trannie … transgender person, trans or non-gendering conforming folk … This slur is often used disparagingly to refer to people who don’t conform to gender expectations. Some in the community do identify with and self-describe as the term, though.
uppity … arrogant, stuck up … Although the term originated in the Black community to describe another Black person who didn’t know their socioeconomic place, it was quickly adopted by White Supremacists to describe any Black person who didn’t act as “expected.”
In several of the categories, you are invited to ask the person how they wish to be identified. This reinforces the “otherness” of people in these categories. English speaking White people are assumed to be the norm, and in no need of categorization. This is precisely the privilege that initiatives like the EHLI purport to be fighting, when in reality they do the opposite.
“Karen … demanding or entitled White woman …” Many of the banned words claim to be fighting the white=good trope. In the case of Karen, EHLI goes in the other direction, suggesting “entitled White woman” as an alternative. At least EHLI capitalized White. EHLI also capitalized “Latinx,” while leaving “country of origin” in lower case.
EHLI is clearly … all commentaries on social justice issues must say clearly … the work of a committee. They … assuming that is the correct pronoun here … have good intentions. Unfortunately, as we all know in 2022, it is outcome that is important, and not intentions. Maybe someone should just yell bingo, and go cash in their card.
Are My Racial Attitudes Your Business?
PG was living his life when see saw something on facebook: “And another thing: if you are going to claim NOT to be racist, I feel like you should familiarize yourself with some contemporary writings and definitions of racism, not just what Mirriam Webster says.” The first reaction was to ignore this. If you reply to a comment about racism on facebook, you are asking for trouble. Life is too short to be wasting time on such unpleasantness.
But the thought engine had been kickstarted, and continued to idle in the background. When PG pulled into the Kroger parking lot, the idea hit full force. Maybe it is none of your business.
Some people say that a PWOC is not affected by racism. If this is the case, then why should the racial attitudes of a PWOC affect another PWOC? If a person treats you fairly, do you really need to know this person’s attitudes about race?
The fbf ex-fbf does not say what the context of this claim is. Did anyone ask you whether or not you were a racist? If not, are you assuming that they are interested? Maybe someone assumed the listener was interested. Maybe the proper response to look bored, and say TMI.
The comment mentioned “contemporary writings and definitions of racism.” Who are the people who set themselves up as arbiters about what we should think about race? What are the qualifications? Who asked them what they thought? How do we know that these people are dependable?.
Maybe the answer is to show compassion and kindness to your neighbor, and don’t worry about their racial attitudes. If you are proud of your racial attitudes, please refrain from boasting. Not everyone is interested. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Did The KKK Endorse Donald Trump?
In the last days of the 2016 election, people began to say that Donald Trump was endorsed by the KKK. @DefiantLionUK Don’t forget President-elect Donald #Trump is a hate-filled, #KKK endorsed, #racist & that simply can’t be tolerated #TrumpProtest. @Eti_Verde Vote! American democracy in action! Stop Trump & his white nationalist KKKlan!
The consensus was that DJT was endorsed by the KKK, and that DJT is a racist. Therefore, if you support DJT, you support the KKK, and you are a racist. There is a name for this type of logical fallacy. The net result is the election of DJT.
It is tough to say how much impact this KKK talk had on the election. By November 8, America had been hit over the head with political talk for two years. The various factions tend to live in echo chambers, where they only hear information that reinforces what they already think. People say what sounds good to them. If someone does not agree, then they are a racist. People seem to assume that their neighbor will agree with them, if only you insult them enough.
Google “kkk endorses donald trump.” The top result is in the Washington Post, KKK’s official newspaper supports Donald Trump for president. “It is called the Crusader — and it is one of the most prominent newspapers of the Ku Klux Klan. Under the banner “Make America Great Again,” the entire front page of the paper’s current issue is devoted to a lengthy defense of Trump’s message — an embrace some have labeled a de facto endorsement.”
There is no link to the endorsement. If you google the Crusader, you find this. The Crusader is a tacky little newspaper, headquartered in Harrison, Arkansas. It is “The official Newspaper of The Knights Party.” You get “4 Big Quarterly Issues” for $20. “The Charge on your Credit Card Statement will show up as Christian Books and Things”
The truth is that the Ku Klux Klan is an obsolete movement. There are a few dozen chapters, who often do not get along. The hand wringing by “liberals” empowers the Klan. If people would ignore the Klan, they would go away.
“The KKK is split into many smaller subdivisions, explained (KKK Imperial Wizard Frank) Ancona, and often times, banished members of a larger branch will attempt to start their own. Ancona believes this is the case with Murray, who is not even known to the Traditionalist American Knights. “He basically made up his own name,” Ancona said, explaining that Murray may not even be on his birth certificate…. Half of them don’t have the rituals for our ceremonies.” Frank Ancona died in 2017.
Despite it’s fierce reputation as a “racist terrorist” organization, the KKK is in bad shape. It has less credibility than the Westboro Baptist Church. The custom of wearing bedsheets makes them the easy target for jokes. The Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center say the membership of the KKK is dwindling.
A good argument could be made that anonymous publicity is helping the KKK. It makes bedsheets look dangerous. While the three digital stooges of anonymous/facebook/twitter are focused on bedsheets, more dangerous white (and other color) hate groups are operating in darkness. With people fascinated with who is under the bedsheets, people that can do damage are buying ammunition, and buying elections.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These men were Union soldiers, in the War Between the States. They did not post on facebook. This is a repost from 2016.
Politico Goes To Johnstown
This is a repost from 2017. Politico is still in business. Two weeks ago, they posted an item about Paul Pelosi, which made me take an interest in that story. “Paul Pelosi was able to dial 911 himself after telling the intruder he had to go use the bathroom and then calling from there, where his phone had been charging, according to a person familiar with the situation.”
A facebook friend kicked off today’s game with this comment: “CW: Blatant explicit racist language to the end. I don’t know how many stories we need to write about deplorables who know trump is and always has been lying but follow him anyway because they are RACIST. But at least we SHOWED them this week!” There is a link to a story, Johnstown Never Believed Trump Would Help.
PG read the story after he saw another story about it, The Politico Goes On A Cletus Safari, Finds Two Angry NFL Fans Willing To Say What They Mean The second story, like the fbf, is concerned about the last paragraph of the Politico story. The preceding 90% is passed over, in the rush to racism at the end. This might have been the intention of Politico.
The story shows a reporter, Michael Kruse, going to Johnstown PA, to talk to the small town people. Many of the people voted for Donald Trump in 2016. They believed his promise to MAGA, and are now finding ways to rationalize the fact that it is not happening. One of the things that angers people is NFL players not standing for the National Anthem. It is a handy distraction.
Pennsylvania is seeing tough times. The steel mill towns are hit hard. A demagogue running for President said he was going to make everything right again. The people believed the loudmouth. The tough times continue, and the people are trying to figure things out.
This is what the article purports to be about. The first mention of race comes 871 words into the 3890 word article. “For them, it’s evidently not what he’s doing so much as it is the people he’s fighting. Trump is simply and unceasingly angry on their behalf, battling the people who vex them the worst—“obstructionist” Democrats, uncooperative establishment Republicans, the media, Black Lives Matter protesters and NFL players (boy oh boy do they hate kneeling NFL players) whom they see as ungrateful, disrespectful millionaires.”
The article cruises along, with a lot of talk about economic anxiety… the real thing, not a privilege code word for racism. Before the money quote at the end, there is this: “Next to Bala was a gray-haired man who told me he voted for Trump and was happy so far because “he’s kept his promises.” … I asked for his name. “Bill K.,” he said. He wouldn’t give me his last name. “I don’t trust you,” he said.”
In the next paragraph, Mr. Kruse is talking to “catering company owner Joey Del Signore.”Shame on them,” Del Signore said over his alfredo. “These clowns are out there, making millions of dollars a year, and they’re using some stupid excuse that they want equality—so I’ll kneel against the flag and the national anthem?” “You’re not a fan of equality?” I asked. …”
Then we get the money quote. Mr. Kruse, is talking to Pam Schilling, a key part of his story. PG suspects that Mr. Kruse egged on Ms. Schilling, and her husband Dave McCabe. In the end, Mr. McCabe repeated a joke. It was what NFL stood for. You can probably guess what the N means. Politico uses the uncensored, hard-r word.
What Trump Voters Want Now was written by Mr. Kruse after the 2016 election. He speaks to many of the people that are featured in the current article. One of them, Pam Schilling, lost a son to heroin. He had sore knees from playing football, which led to pain killers, which lead to heroin. How many of the N-football players are living in pain today?
One quote from the November story stands out. “But for Kirsch, who’s 53, who’s lived in this area his whole life, who’s hauled coal for three decades, and who voted for Obama in ’08, for nobody in ’12 and for Trump last week, the comment from Clinton that irrevocably did her in wasn’t “deplorables.” It had come six months earlier, actually, during a town hall on CNN. The context was more complicated and less incriminating than the widespread takeaway, but the phrase Kirsch heard, and couldn’t and wouldn’t forget, was this: “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
“Havener, the retired union carpenter who met me at Missy’s, had said over the summer he would vote, albeit unenthusiastically, for Clinton. In the end, he did not. He voted for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. “I wanted to see someone who wasn’t another one in the royal, so to speak, progression,” he explained. He saw things, he said, in Clinton’s character that didn’t “sit well” with him: “It’s like win at all costs. I feel like she’d do anything she could to get there.” Trump, though, he said, was even worse.”
The people who voted for Gary Johnson and Jill Stein helped Donald Trump win Pennsylvania. Many of these “racist” voters voted for Barack Obama. These are the people Chuck Schumer was talking about: “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The photographer was Dorothea Lange.
Putting The N Back In Twitter
@JoshuaPHilll “Elon Musk: I love free speech!! The free speech:” “Use of N-word on Twitter jumped by almost 500% after Elon Musk’s takeover as trolls test limits on free speech, report says” This message was dutifully retweeted, and showed up in my feed. The bs detector will not quit buzzing. The Washington Post is the source for Business Insider.
WaPo relies on a tweet by Network Contagion Research Institute. @ncri_io “Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on @Twitter. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs. For example, over the last 12 hours, the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average.” The only documentation offered is a bar graph.
What to make of this? We don’t know who is using the magic word. It might be #BlackTwitter, which is permitted to use America’s favorite naughty word. Does The Washington Post see twitter as competition for ad revenue? Other people might have a motive for bashing Mr. Musk.
@kevinhoff Replying to @BusinessInsider “I bet anything it is manufactured. Tune the bots to post the word over and over and over again. Write a post about it. Blame @elonmusk Continue to turn a blind eye on all diverse communities. Rinse and repeat. I will also bet this will all change once everyone gets verified.” There are plenty of possibilities to consider.
Who is the NCRI? It appears to be a well funded operation, with plenty of A-list clients. Two of the displayed studies deal with COVID: “Russian disinformation campaigns are trying to sow distrust of COVID vaccines, study finds” (Paywall) “QAnon’s corrosive impact on the U.S.” The CBS article has a header ad for Pfizer. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Pass The Popcorn
This is a repost from 2014. PG was editing pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Some of these images decorate this post. He had been working on a batch of pictures. It was time to blow through the remaining 200 images, and get them out of the way. Focus on what you are doing, and ignore the distractions.
Sometimes, the old fashioned interruptions intrude. At one point, the telephone rang. The recorded voice of Pat Boone (?) urged PG to vote for David Perdue in the coming election. Did you know that Obamacare is causing cutbacks in Social Security? Did you know that the Republicans think you are a total idiot for believing this nonsense?.
One status provoked 139 comments. PG ran out of popcorn. “White queers should really check themselves when you think it’s okay to show up to a party in blackface. Whether or not you think it’s artsy there is a history of racial oppression that goes with blackface. You’re not being cool, you look foolish, you should edit yourself and check your fucking privilege.”
Someone in New York had a Rocky Horror Show party. A person paid homage to the opening number, which features a pair of lips against a black background. This detail did not come out until 45 comments had hit the innertubes.
It was a lively discussion. PG is a known caucasian. He does not know what it is like to live as a POC. PG does suspect that some incidents do not merit high octane rhetoric. In this virtual town hall meeting, an party costume became a chance to opine about “the relationship between systemic racism and oppression.” So many big words, so little time.
“… epic insensitivity to the experiences People of Color face in our white supremacist society, which is totally uncool, and an example of implicit racism. The fact that Cher would not even consider that painting her face and body could be offensive is blatant proof of her privilege. … To dismiss someone’s comments and to challenge the fact that Cher’s look resembles blackface and could offend someone is the exactly a page from the playbook of white supremacy. The very act of saying this isn’t racist is you forcing your asinine opinion on people. … We can only move forward with open dialogue and not by dismissing people’s feelings.”. … “I mean for real. No shade let’s talk about trauma and white supremacy. … The reality that white supremacy is a constant trauma white folks can choose to pay attention to is real. The fact that “lifetime minority status” for people of color shortens the lifespan is fact. Any ou going to tell my home girl that she is out of line for developing community, decolonizing and coping strategies smash that system girl it’s tired and dying out anyways. I’ll be dat black supremacist for you any day of the week.”
“We can only move forward with open dialogue and not by dismissing people’s feelings.” Holy hypocrisy, Batman. Have you ever tried to offer a non-compliant opinion? Unless you are an emotional masochist, or have very thick skin, *stay in your lane*.
Eventually, PG ran out of steam, and went to sleep. The next morning saw the end of the pictures, while listening to Peggy Caserta talk about Jania Joplin. Miss Caserta wrote a book, Going Down With Janis The opening line: “I was stark naked, stoned out of my mind on heroin, and between my legs giving me head was Janis Joplin.”
UPDATE: This is a repost from October 28, 2014. This whimsical post serves as a time capsule to a simpler, more innocent time. Many of the traumas that have obsessed us in the last eight years … The Trump Presidency, COVID … would have been dismissed as bad fiction in 2014. Meanwhile, seven time zones away, the Euromaidan revolution was going on. It was little noticed in the United States, which was more interested in racist halloween costumes. Ukraine has had severe complications for the world, and might lead to nuclear disaster. Cher’s halloween costume will not be very important when the nuclear fallout falls, or any of the other looming disasters hit.
Stacey Abrams And Raphael Warnock
While not as toxic as the last three major elections, there is plenty of nastiness in 2022. Stacey Abrams (D) will probably lose to Incumbent Governor Brian Kemp (R.) Incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock (D) is favored against Herschel Walker (R.) There is a connection between Abrams and Warnock, dating back to 2014.
In 2014, Ms. Abrams was an ambitious state representative. She led the New Georgia Project, an effort to register minority voters. NGP had some serious issues, and failed to deliver results.
“Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers, strategists, staffers, and voter registration activists suggest that something isn’t right with the numbers and the narrative behind the initiative’s massive efforts. … numerous sources, some requesting anonymity due to employment concerns, question how many of NGP’s allegedly missing voter registration applications actually existed. If the applications existed, Abrams raised millions from donors but failed to register 120,000 minority residents as she had pledged. If the unprocessed applications never existed, then Abrams, perhaps in an attempt to distract from her group’s failures, sued an official with a reputation for voter suppression, potentially knowing the case was unlikely to be won …”
“At Abrams’ behest, NGP staffers first met with (Secretary of State Brian) Kemp’s office in early June. During the meeting SOS chief investigator, Chris Harvey, suggested NGP could improve its protocols. … Formal NGP complaints subsided for two months. Around the last month of NGP’s voter registration drive, which ended Sept. 15, six different election registrars filed complaints relating to 29 applications. Kemp’s office received reports detailing forgeries and canvassers telling residents about voter re-registration requirements — both of which are illegal and can artificially inflate new registrant figures. Fulton County Registration Chief Shauna Dozier, whose office didn’t file an NGP complaint, found forms with missing names, missing signatures, and illegible handwriting. … On Aug. 22, NGP leaders briefly met again with the secretary of state’s office, but complaints continued to trickle in from across the state. …”
“Harvey says something had changed, however. He wasn’t just seeing isolated problems in different counties. Multiple reports were emerging out of the same election offices — a sign of a larger problem. “It reached a tipping point in my mind. We got enough complaints from enough counties of confirmed forgeries. This was something that we needed to look at on a much larger level.”
”Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at First Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and a spokesperson for NGP, said that many people of color in Georgia saw the tactics as part of a long history of voter suppression. “This narrative of voter suppression is one that communities of color understand and understand deeply, and it will backfire on those trying to suppress votes.”
“But there is an aggressive subpoena that, Abrams says, “essentially demands every document we have ever produced.” She calls it a “fishing expedition” meant to “suppress our efforts.” A spokesperson for the New Georgia Project, the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, was a little more explicit. “I see this move by the secretary of state as the latest effort in voter suppression in the state of Georgia.”
This was eight years ago. Ms. Abrams made Voter Suppression® the central issue of her 2018 run for Governor. Four years later, she is making another bid for Governor, in a different political environment. The unpopular POTUS is a Democrat. Many voters do not believe the rhetoric about Voter Suppression®. The polls are not looking good for Stacey Abrams.
Raphael Warnock is another story. He has been blessed with some of the weakest opposition anyone running for the senate has encountered. In 2020, with an Anti-Christ POTUS, he defeated Kelly Loeffler, aka Senator Barbie. In 2022, Rev. Warnock faces Herschel Walker, in a squalid mudslinging exhibition. This election cannot be over soon enough.
The New Georgia Problem was written in 2015, and is a key source today. This article has many details missing from this post. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.” The spell check suggestion for Warnock is Warlock.
Expensify
The story was getting attention, not all of it good. “Expensify urges millions of users to vote for Biden in email blast” The company “is the world’s leading application for expense management, receipt scanning, and business travel.” This is a repost from 2020.
@expensify “Yes, we emailed all users.” Apparently, the company has upwards of 10m email addresses on file. The message in question urged users, in very strong terms, to vote for Joe Biden.
“… the only way to ensure a peaceful transition of power is to ensure this election is an overwhelming, undeniable landslide in favor of Biden. Any excuse to question the election is an opportunity for Trump to refuse to leave the White House, plunging this country into a Constitutional crisis bordering on civil war. No matter how slight that risk might be, the consequences of it happening would be so catastrophic to society and the economy, we need to do all we can to prevent it.”
Not everyone is pleased with this email blast. PG felt alienated from the Biden campaign after hearing about this clumsiness. He feels that this message is going to have the effect of turning undecided voters to President Trump. PG has already voted, and is unlikely to be persuaded by this type of nonsense. Others might react differently.
@papawhit210 “Calling on all CEO’s to cancel their subscriptions to @expensify for a serious breach of business ethics by using secure business emails for a personal political agenda. #Expensify” Mixing business and politics has long been frowned upon. This email blast involves the use of email addresses used for business communications. Many see this message as being a violation of trust.
@CSteckroth “I guess the CEO is exempt from abiding by the guidelines set in Expensify’s EULA. This is not integrity, this is abuse of customer data.” This tweet has a photo selection from the Terms of Service. “As part of your use of the Expensify Service, you agree not to do any of the following: … Send any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, email, junk mail or junk messages, spam, chain letters or other form of solicitation …”
“A vote for Trump is to endorse voter suppression, it really is very basic. This isn’t about party politics: if Biden were advocating for half of the voter suppression that Trump is actively doing, then I’d be fighting against Biden, too. This is bigger than politics as usual: this is about the very foundation of our nation.” Voter suppression is presented as the number one reason to vote against President Trump. This tactic worked very well for Stacey Abrams.
The truth is that elections are locally governed. In Georgia, the majority of election administration is done by the counties. Other states may be different. The federal government has very little impact on the way elections are conducted. President Trump could not suppress the vote, even if he wanted to.
While the email did not mention race, we should note that racism is a key part of voter suppression culture. Calling President Trump a racist is a proud tradition with Democrats. Is warning about civil war a dog whistle, saying that President Trump is a racist?
@KathyGrosskurth “I deleted it without reading. Guess I need to read it to see what all the fuss is about! #Expensify” It is tough to say how much the #ExpensifyEmail will influence the election. Many people have already voted. Many, many more have their mind made up. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
UPDATE Expensify is still in business. A google search for Expensify politics does not have any matches for the last week. The Expensify stock price appears to be falling.
Israel And Syria
This is a repost from 2013. There was a feature in the Washington Post, 9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask. The WP is corporate media. The 9 questions had very little to say about Israel. This is curious. Israel is a powerful country that Syria is, technically, at war with. As conspiracy happy as the Middle East is, you would think there is something to say.
PG decided to do a test. The text of the article was copied into a word document. A search was done for Israel. Out of 2900 words in the article, Israel comes up twice.
The Cold War is long over, and most of the region long ago made peace with Israel and the United States; the Assad regime’s once-solid ideological and geopolitical identity is hopelessly outdated. But Bashar al-Assad, who took power in 2000 when his father died, never bothered to update it.
Iran’s thinking in supporting Assad is more straightforward. It perceives Israel and the United States as existential threats and uses Syria to protect itself, shipping arms through Syria to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and the Gaza-based militant group Hamas.
As is often the case online, the comments are more revealing than the main article.
“You also left out the threat that Iran has made about using nuclear arms against Israel if the US intervenes in Syria. Israel is being used as a pawn in this stupid game of chess.”
“Regarding the chemical weapon attack, only two options appear to be being considered – that it was the Syrian Regime or the Opposition forces that discharged the weapon. What about the third alternative – that an outside force such as Mossad (Israel) or the Iranians discharged these weapons … to provoke the United Sates into retaliation and involvement.”
“… the rebels opposing Assad are not all civilians who took up arms; … most of them are former Syrian soldiers who deserted to join the rebels. And seriously, if you think that “most of the region long ago made peace with Israel and the United States”, you lose all credibility in writing about “the region” – you’re blinded by your love for Israel and don’t understand anything about the Arabs ….
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Jock Protest
This is a repost from 2016 … In 2014, the St. Louis Rams ran onto the field with their hands over their heads. For an official, it means touchdown. With the Rams, it meant “hands up don’t shoot.”
When Mike Brown was killed in Ferguson MO, witnesses said he had his hands up. Later investigations indicate that “Brown never surrendered with his hands up.” While controversy over Mr. Brown’s death continues, very few people maintain that he had his hands up when he died.
A little over a year later, the St. Louis Rams announced a move to Los Angeles. There are various reasons for the move. It basically comes down to money. The NFL wants a team in Los Angeles. The Rams want to make more money. The hands up gesture became a hands out.
Athletes have traditionally been role models. Their opinions are solicited on a wide range of subjects. Some people question whether the ability to play a game qualifies someone to render these judgements. While football players are entitled to have opinions, the question remains: why should we care? Social justice is not a product endorsement.
Recently Cam Newton gave an interview to GQ magazine. Mr. Newton modeled some clothes, with apparent enthusiasm. Mr. Newton said “I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not. It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation.” It was the social media sensation of the day.
As you may have guessed, this brings us to Colin Kaepernick. He is certainly entitled to his opinion. @Kaepernick7 is a second string quarterback, who has asked to be traded. With his nine figure salary, there is a chance he will be cut from the team. Why is Colin Kaepernick suddenly taken seriously as an authority on race relations?
Most reports on Mr. Kaepernick have a 59 word summary of the comments to NFL media. You have to do a bit of digging to see the full transcript. Google is not a perfect tool. Perhaps someone does not want people to see the complete interview.
Number seven makes a few interesting comments. There are few specific solutions offered. The problem of citizen on citizen killing is not mentioned. Mr. Kaepernick does not come across as a deep thinker. When he is asked how teammates feel about his protest, number seven replies “I hope they stand with me.” Is he sitting down, or standing up?
NFL Media “In your mind have you been pulled over unjustly or had bad experiences?” CK: “Yes, multiple times. I’ve had times where one of my roommates was moving out of the house in college and because we were the only black people in that neighborhood the cops got called and we had guns drawn on us. Came in the house, without knocking, guns drawn on my teammates and roommates. So I have experienced this. People close to me have experienced this. This isn’t something that’s a one-off case here or a one-off case there. This has become habitual. This has become a habit. So this is something that needs to be addressed.”…
NM: “Does the election year have anything to do with timing? CK: It wasn’t a timing thing, it wasn’t something that was planned. But I think the two presidential candidates that we currently have also represent the issues that we have in this country right now.
NM:Do you want to expand on that? CK: You have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids super predators, you have Donald Trump who’s openly racist. We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally … That doesn’t make sense to me because if that was any other person you’d be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?
NM: It is a country that has elected a black president twice CK: It has elected a black president but there are also a lot of things that haven’t changed. There are a lot of issues that still haven’t been addressed and that’s something over an eight-year term there’s a lot of those things are hard to change and there’s a lot of those things that he doesn’t necessarily have complete control over.
NM: What would be a success? CK: That’s a tough question because there’s a lot of things that need to change, a lot of different issues that need to be addressed. That’s something that it’s really hard to lock down one specific thing that needs to change currently.”
A Volleyball Controversy
I didn’t pay attention to the latest n-word controversy. Somebody screaming the magic word, at a women’s volleyball match in Utah, did not strike me as important. Why would a North Carolina school send a non-revenue producing team to Utah? Duke spent some major bucks on this match, at a time of rising college costs. That money could be better spent elsewhere.
A few days later, YouTube directed me to a video by Brandon Tatum. Officer Tatum posited the thought that Rachel Richardson … the star of this latest drama … was a liar. This sent me down a rabbit hole, which I am slowly emerging from.
The narrative is well known by now. Andre’ Hutchens put together a thread, which details/documents many of the scenes in this drama. The short version: Rachel Richardson says that she heard someone shouting the magic word. BYU, the home team, sent four ushers into the student section, and had a policeman stand in front of the crowd. None of these people heard the magic word.
After the match, a young man went up to the Duke players, and said something. The Duke team said this was the person who was shouting the magic word. The accused n-word shouter was escorted off the premises, and banned from attending BYU events in the future.
At some point after the match, Miss Richardson made some phone calls. She called her father, who has told his story many times. Somebody … we don’t know if it is father or daughter … called Lesa Pamplin, Miss Richardson’s godmother. In this story, we will call her the devilmother.
“My Goddaughter is the only Black starter for Dukes volleyball team, While playing yesterday, she was called a n****r every time she served. She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.”
The tweet by devilmother got a lot of national attention. Why did a tweet from a Texas politician get this much attention? Who knows. What is certain is that devilmother does not like white people … she thinks it is clever to say “whypipoe.”
Why did this need to be a national scandal anyway? Lets say it was true. You find the culprit, punish him, and finish playing your match. It does not need to be a toxic sensation. A Utah volleyball fan shouting the magic word is not going to affect economic security, police brutality, or equitable access to housing and education. All it is going to do is get people upset.
“She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus.” This part of the drama which has received little scrutiny. The “white male” claimed that he knew some BYU players, and confused the Duke team for the BYU team. Who did he approach? Was it she white or black? What exactly did he say? How did “the Duke team” identify the “white male” as the person shouting the magic word? This part of the story does not add up.
Deseret News obtained a copy of the police report. “BYU Police Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen stood throughout the fourth set next to the man now indefinitely banned from BYU events after Duke players said he used racist language, according to a police report Laursen filed that night. … The officer said the man did not use any negative language toward the Duke players during the fourth set. Laursen also said he didn’t hear any racist language used by any fan during that set, when Duke player Rachel Richardson said the racist slurs intensified. … That’s when he met the young man … the man asked why the officer was there and if there was a problem. … “I told him I was there listening for inappropriate comments toward the Duke players and the fan told me that he hadn’t heard any inappropriate comments. He said he told the players that they shouldn’t hit the ball into the net, but that was the only comment he made to the Duke players.” … The fan, who Laursen said was wearing a dark yellow or almost tan shirt and jeans, said he was friends with four of the BYU players. “He seemed to be more interested in talking to me than cheering for BYU. It was evident based on the individual’s comments, stuttered speech and mannerisms that he has special needs. … he may have (A)sperger syndrome or could have autism. The individual was articulate, but socially awkward. The individual kept scrolling through his phone and didn’t seem too involved in the game.” … “I was told the Duke players and coaches were very upset with what happened during the game and that the racial comments toward the Duke players was still happening during the fourth set that that (sic) I didn’t do anything about the comments being made,” … “I told the (BYU) Athletic staff that I never heard one racial comment being made.”
So the story goes. It is already fading from view. Soon, there will be another “teaching moment.” If you google Rachet Rachel Richardson, you see @mikefreemanNFL doubling down, in an ad hominem spectacular. Corporate media players, eager to report the original accusation, have been silent during the “Jussie phase” of this story. While it is easy to criticize right wing media on most issues, they are getting this story right. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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