Only One Political Party In the Nation This Bad

What kind of horrorshow political party is so patently, provenly, repeatedly bad and unpopular for its citizens it has to actually disenfranchise those fellow citizens in order to get into and/or stay in office so they all stay in power? There's only one in the USA.

Yes sir and ma'am, it is the Republican Party. Republicans. The GOP. Greedy Old Poops. #VoteThemOut

Now 19 Days After This Election

We are now, as I said in the headline, 19 days after this presidential election and still, still this Republican Party excuse for a President refuses to recognize, accept, respect our vote, our votes, our election, even our Democracy. 

That's the bad news. That and this are the bad news. This was announced today.

Operation Warp Speed Head Says He’s Been Instructed Not To Share Vaccine Information With Biden Team

This is obscene. He is now openly hurting the nation in the middle of the worst, most killing, deadly international pandemic in the last more than 100 years. It's over 2 weeks since we voted. He needs to concede and everyone in his political party needs to speak up and point him in that direction.

Then this happened yesterday.

G20 leaders meet to discuss help for poorest nations in post-Covid world, Trump golfs

If there's good news, and there is, it's that all kinds of people, especially from his own political party, are starting to speak up to say what he should do, what should happen. First from the GOP's Senator Toomey from Pennsylvania.

GOP senator congratulates Biden, says Trump should accept 

And this is likely one reason he spoke up and out.

Federal judge dismisses Trump election lawsuit in Pennsylvania

The judge said Trump's lawsuit was--his words--"without merit." He wrote "...Trump’s campaign had used “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” in its effort to throw out millions of votes.

In scathing opinion, federal judge dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit in Pennsylvania

And another. Another Republican Party Senator speaks up publicly, saying Trump should concede.

GOP senator calls for cooperation on Biden transition: 'I'd rather have a president who has more than one day to prepare'

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on Sunday that it was "past time to start a transition" to a Biden administration adding he would "rather have a president that has more than one day to prepare."

Same conclusion in Michigan.

Republican Michigan congressman: 'The people have spoken

Then there's Maryland's Republican Governor Hogan. He makes a great point.

Hogan ramps up criticism of Trump: 'Stop golfing and concede'

Hogan is one of a handful of Republican governors, including Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Mike DeWine of Ohio, who have criticized the president’s refusal to acknowledge the results of the election and called on him to concede to Biden.

Then this, based on this morning's Sunday morning talk shows.

Pressure grows from GOP for Trump to recognize Biden election win

Even Chris Christie is recognizing reality now. And keep in mind, Christie is also another member of the GOP, the President's own one and same political party.

Chris Christie: Trump's legal team has been 'a national embarrassment'

And Alan Dershowitz, for pity's sake.

Alan Dershowitz Tells Maria Bartiromo: 'The Outcome Of The Election Will Not Be Reversed'

One of President Donald Trump's most high profile legal defenders on Sunday said that he did not expect the results of the election to be reversed.

And John Bolton. Again. A person from Trump's own staff and administration at one point, of course.

'Just Say It's Wrong': John Bolton Begs Republicans To Stop 'Hiding' From Trump's Election Denial

In spite of all this, in spite of the time it is after this election, in spite of the numbers of people from his own political party saying he should, at long last now, concede, it was announced he plans to continue on.

Trump vows to appeal judge's dismissal of Pennsylvania election challenge

It is maddening. Not done there, he's doing this, too.

Trump Requests Georgia Recount, Meaning 5 Million Votes Will Be Tabulated A 3rd Time

More Georgia reality.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Bluestein on Georgia recount: 'The results still stand'

The facts came out this weekend on, of all places, Fox, too.

Dominion spokesman: 'It is not physically possible for our machines to switch votes from one candidate to the other'

A spokesperson Dominion Voting Systems addressed conspiracy theories about the company on Fox News Sunday, saying it was “not physically possible” for its machines to change voter selections.

“This is a nonpartisan American company. It is not physically possible for our machines to switch votes from one candidate to the other,” Michael Steel said on Fox News’ “America’s News HQ” Sunday.

“Let's be very clear, our election system is run by local elected officials and nonpartisan poll watchers. We simply provide a tool to count the ballots and to print and count ballots,” he added. “There is no way such a massive fraud could have taken place and there are no connections between our company and Venezuela, Germany, Barcelona, Kathmandu, whatever the latest conspiracy theory is.”

I understand he wants so badly to stay out of jail but this is one desperate, very desperate man, folks.

And so, we gird our loins, so to speak.

Democrats gear up for last oversight showdown with Trump

The bad news is, with over 2 weeks behind us since the election, this failed President still hasn't and won't accept reality.

The good news is that more and more in his political party are. 

Links. While Trump fiddles, our Rome burns.

North Carolina passes 5,000 COVID-19 deaths

Active coronavirus cases hit new high in Arkansas

Jeff Stein: Trump 'seems to have lost interest in the stimulus,' only worried about the election

Poll: 61 percent of voters say it's important that Trump give concession speech

Quote of the Day -- Timely Presidential Edition

 

George Takei       @GeorgeTakei

Do you know what they call someone who lost but stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that fact? 

A loser.

#Throwthebumout

Taking Disenfranchisement to a Whole New Level

Breaking today. 

Judge denies GOP lawsuit to halt certification of Detroit election results

Gerrymandering wasn't enough for Republicans

So they added "voter ID" laws.

That wasn't enough. Republicans felt they didn't disenfranchise enough Americans, taxpaying, voting American citizens.

So now they want to completely ignore or disavow our vote, our votes, our election. They've taken it all to a whole very new, ugly, higher level with this most recent Presidential election. Very, very, very un-American.

Thanks, Mr. President!
Thanks, Republicans!

Links:

Top 10 Reasons Why Gerrymandering Is Bad

Exposed: Partisan Gerrymandering Based on Race

North Carolina judges slam GOP gerrymandering

Missouri Republicans' Successful Gerrymandering

First, because I don't think enough people know what gerrymandering is, I put up a definition. Gerrymandering is to manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class.

Political parties gerrymander districts so that their candidate(s) gets elected or re-elected to government office.

And it's wrong.

It skews voting away from the will of the people in the area, in the district, and puts more in the favor of the political party instead of the constituents.

And news out this week shows, further, that the Republicans in the Missouri statehouse in Jefferson City keep doing precisely this and it's a beauty. This from Addicting Info:

Huge Gerrymandering Fail Leaves College Student As Sole Voter In Missouri District

Businesses in Columbia, Missouri attempted to use their political pull to throw taxes at consumers instead of themselves, but a massive failure in their gerrymandering effort left them with one major roadblock: a 23-year-old college student who, on February 28, became the only registered voter in the district.

Representatives of the Business Loop 70 Community Improvement District attempted to remove every single eligible voter as part of an effort to ensure that local businesses had complete control over legislation — including a sales tax increase that would enable them to effectively force citizens to pay the businesses’ bills. The Columbia City Council voted in 5-2 in April to establish the district, which resembles a dinosaur drawn by a kindergartener (pictured below).

With this, their handiwork was done:

The Columbia Daily Tribune notes that, with pesky voters out of the way, the local businesses could effectively set their own laws:

“The Columbia City Council established the district on a 5-2 vote in April in response to a petition from a group of property owners in the CID boundaries. The “qualified voters” in a CID are capable of levying various taxes or assessments within the boundaries of the district to fund improvement projects. Under state law, decisions to impose sales taxes in a CID are to be made by registered voters living in the district boundaries. If no such registered voters are present, property owners vote.”

This is bad enough, certainly, but I think it's been shown, time and again, across cities, states and the nation, that the worst outcomes of all this gerrymandering is when they weaken votes of Americans due to their skin color.

We need to overcome this gerrymandering, certainly, and it can be done. We need to outlaw it so we can take our state and Federal governments back, for the people.

That and overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and ending campaign contributions so we get the big money out of our election system and government.

No small tasks, to be sure but these can be done. We have to stand up.

Republican Party Chutzpah Again--This Time in Arizona

Have you been following what came out of Arizona in the last year regarding voting and voting districts and gerrymandering?

Supreme court to hear case on voter-approved redistricting

The court hears argument Monday in an appeal by Republican lawmakers in Arizona against the state’s voter-approved independent redistricting commission for creating the districts of U.S. House members. A decision striking down the commission probably would doom a similar system in neighboring California, and could affect districting commissions in 11 other states.

It seems the voters of Arizona were sick of legislators creating very arbitrary voting districts of bizarre shapes just to protect legislators getting re-elected. The voters got together and created a vote to end it. The legislators, not liking it, have since taken this all to court in a lawsuit and it's now before the Supreme Court. They will decide.

Basically, the legislators want to overturn the people's will. Screw the people, the legislators are more important--to the legislators, anyway.

These same legislators are claiming the laws call for "the legislature" to create laws on this so they think it's against the law.

Mind you, these are, once again, "small government" Right Wing Republicans in Arizona trying to overcome the people's will.

This much, surely, is true--again, from the article:

Independent commissions such as Arizona’s “may be the only meaningful check” left to states that want to foster more competitive elections, reduce political polarization and bring fresh faces into the political process, the Obama administration said.

The thing is, every state, nationwide, needs to be able to overcome gerrymandering by legislators. We need government representatives--of the people--to create voting districts that are, once and for all, not supporting specific incumbent representatives and/or their political party. Arizona's state law here could be one step forward in a long trek to get and keep good legislation and laws that are for the people and not representing one candidate or one political party.

These kinds of efforts should come from no political party but especially not from one that insists it is for true, representative government, from  and for the people.

Links: Will The Supreme Court Kill Citizen Redistricting Commissions?

Supreme Court Seems Divided Over Independent Redistricting Commissions

The Supreme Court and the Freedom to Gerrymander

A Senate Republican Speaks Truth to Their Power

At last, long overdue, but we get some truth and honesty from someone inside this political party, calling their "Voter ID laws" what they really are and that is voter suppression.

Most assuredly un-American.  It's shameful. We need to rise up, speak out against this and overturn these efforts and soon as possible.

Go. Now. Or soon as possible

3 Simple, Intelligent Improvements/Soutions to Our Current Problems

So simple. So smart. So helpful. So important.

Unlike

Another bad list Kansas is on

This little gem:

These states are trying to stop young people from voting

No, it's no surprise but still, it's disheartening. From the Washington Post:

Earlier this year, North Carolina lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stifling the newfound political muscle of their youngest eligible voters. The package of laws, known as HB 589, stripped away crucial policies that made it easier for young people to cast their ballot and participate in the political process. This week, lawyers have descended on Winston Salem to argue that eliminating these policies may have violated the 26th Amendment, which prohibits age-based voting discrimination.

The programs under attack have been proven to boost youth participation. In 2012, young people in the state were 2.6 times more likely to take advantage of same day registration.  And over a three-year period, 160,000 eligible young people were automatically registered to vote from pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds. Now these options are unavailable to the young residents of North Carolina.

Laws like HB 589 are part of a troubling pattern taking hold across the country, triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, thus allowing Southern states to make changes to their voting laws without securing federal approval. A raft of voter ID laws—designed primarily to suppress turnout of minority voters—are also turning away young people, and often, both at the same time. Millennials are the largest, but also the country’s most diverse generation, with 43 percent identifying as people of color. In all, 22 states have new, restrictive voting laws that will go into effect before the 2014 midterms.

An undisguised attempt to block new immigrants and minority voters, new laws in Kansas and Arizona require voters to present proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in the first place. That means when you’re stopped on the street by a nice kid with a clipboard, you have to have your birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents just lying around in your purse or back pocket. Rock The Vote recently joined other community-registration arms including Voto Latino to sign an amicus brief, arguing that the laws unduly impair efforts to register new voters. It also launched an online petition to spread the word.

It seems the opposite of what we thought America was and Americans are about, doesn't it?

I'm telling you, folks, we have to fight to get our country back. We have to fight to end campaign contributions. We have to get the big, ugly, corrupting influence of money from the wealthy and corporations out of our elections and government. Until we do that, nothing will change.

Link:  Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government

NPR asks a great question

The question they ask is: Should Elections Be Held On Weekends? and the answer is--forgive me-- HECK YES! I've written about this before: http://moravings.blogspot.com/2011/04/kansas-gop-keeping-people-away-from.html. Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/18/145397003/why-vote-on-tuesday-why-not-the-weekend?sc=fb#commentBlock

The real problem here is unlimited corporate money buying our elections

Forget the small issue here. The real issue, the big issue, the big concern for the country and for our politics and government and functioning society is that, with the Supreme Court's ruling this year, corporations can, right now, give unlimited money to any campaign they want, skewing the democratic political process in this country. Your vote just got a whole lot smaller, folks.

Quote of the day--on elections and marketing on this election day

The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process. ~Adlai E. Stevenson. We're in way over our heads, Adlai.