Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias inform us that it looks like our theocrats in robes are getting ready to totally extinguish the Voting Rights Act, Section 2 in particular...this stems from the Callais case out of Louisiana, in which that state redrew maps from the 2020 census and created 2 instead of 1 black opportunity districts, and a group of white voters said it was a map that discriminated against white people (since whites are so blatantly discriminated against in this country - #joke)...I didn’t realize that overturning Section 2 of the VRA, effectively neutering it (if that’s what comes from the SCOTUS ruling in Callais) could endanger potentially 30 Democratic seats in the U.S. House and (as Elias says) make it extremely difficult for Dems to take control in that chamber, but that does seem to be the endgame here...sounds like the original case had to do with the voting map in Louisiana but it was expanded to go after Section 2; the expanded ruling thing is what happened with Citizens United (and this smells like Alito’s dirty handiwork to be honest)...Elias is absolutely right about figuring out a new way to move forward if indeed the worst does happen concerning the VRA...I’m glad Elias mentioned the John Lewis For The People Act, though, as Elias says, we actually need something beyond that to anticipate more Stupid Voting Tricks from the “R” party...
...and Emma Vigeland, Brandon Sutton, Matt Binder and Matt Lech of The Majority Report discuss the nutjobs in the U.S. House (notably MAGA Mike Johnson, cheered on by Dementia J. Trump) passing the SAVE Act to make it harder for married women to vote, among the myriad other problems with this rotten bill, though it looks like Repug Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn’t have the votes to pass it fortunately...Mehdi Hasan cuts to the chase in his analysis, including the fact that this codifies that damn “voter ID” nonsense, which, yet again, is a “solution” in search of an actual problem (when we register at our polling locations, we have to provide proof that we legally reside there already, so there’s no need to do it again when we vote, and to be honest, actual irregularities when voting happen at such a microscopic level that it’s basically insignificant, and such irregularities are caught by poll workers anyway)...I didn’t know either that this wretched bill doesn’t say anything about marriage licenses for married women and leaves that question up to the states...what a damn mess!...also a good point to note that, in addition to the cost of getting an updated passport, there’s the fact that it will take longer to get one now because of the general defunding of public services from this wretched group in charge of the federal government...not surprised that there’s somewhat of a link here to Peter Thiel, Jeffrey Epstein, etc...
...and Jesse Dollemore tells us of the recent testimony before Congress by former ICE employee Ryan Schwank, stating how he was told to teach these ICE life forms how to break the law and pretty much thumb their noses at the Constitution...truly a courageous act by Schwank to come forward this way and voice not just his concerns but those of ICE instructors who’ve had their class curricula for training new agents cut by more than half, so those recruits who DO emerge won’t know (and likely won’t care) about following the law...this is one reason why we’ll need a permanent truth and reconciliation committee when this nightmare is eventually over with subpoena power, and I don’t care if it’s composed only of Dems since I wouldn’t expect ANY Republican to stand up and do the right thing at this point...
...and Thom Hartmann makes a pretty convincing case IMO that prior Repug presidential administrations ended up pocketing about $38 trillion before #47 (between both Bushes and The Sainted Ronnie R)...I’d forgotten the history of Jude Wanniski and the “two Santa Claus” theory, but that’s indeed important for this topic...Thom goes down the whole list of stuff we could fund instead of shoveling the dough out the door for those stinking tax cuts for the rich...gee, let’s see, there’s universal pre-K, debt free college, restoring funds for Medicare/Medicaid and the ACA credits (or just sh*tcanning our wretched for-profit health care system and moving towards Medicare for All), upgrading our crumbling infrastructure including investing in renewable energy, weaning ourselves off fossil fuels as much as possible, building new housing, and on and on and on...and I honestly don’t recall if Cheetoh Hitler mentioned the national debt at the SOTU – there was so much other verbal flatulence from that spectacle that I couldn’t keep track...
...and Stephen Colbert gives us more on that mind-numbingly awful SOTU, including an 11 percent drop in ratings from last year, though Colbert’s is UP 7 percent over the same period (so much winning!)...and wow, artificially enhancing camels in an Oman “beauty” contest? I’m not sure a punchline is even necessary for that one...and a “toe up”? Yeah, I caught that one...and oh yeah, it looks like Our Treasonous Orange Pustule wants to attack Iran also – madness on so many levels that it’s hard to list all of them...also, is it necessary to point out again that we actually had a nuke deal with Iran under Obama, but Pumpkin Pol Pot walked away from it as soon as he first parked his bulbous butt in An Oval Office?...and oh yeah, we recently had another ridiculous confirmation hearing for another idiotic Trump nominee, and that would be Casey Means for surgeon general, some other damn “social media influencer” who’s grossly unqualified...
...and I don’t know if this newer tune is anthemic of anything or not, but I thought I’d present it anyway as we begin what hopefully will be a snow-free weekend.
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