Thursday, April 09, 2020

A Despicible Criminal Organization



In previous elections, the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin had one-hundred and twenty-five polling places for their elections. This year, thanks to the Republican-controlled state legislature, they have five. Milwaukee is a fairly large city that is also quite liberal - and quite black. This will force thousands of human beings to be in close proximity with one another - and during a pandemic. This leads me to the only conclusion I can possibly muster: Republicans want dark-skinned people dead.
 
So horny are they to get the corrupt, unhinged sociopath with the orange skin reelected to the presidency this coming November, they would risk the lives of thousand of men, women and little children to do so. As I have stated on this site too many times to count: that's not a political party, that's an organized criminal enterprise. When the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by President Lyndon Johnson, it was widely hoped that the kind of civil atrocities that kept the ballot out of the hands of people with dark skin for over a century would be a thing of the past. A few years ago the Supreme Court seriously weakened that law. The result has been the return of Jim Crow - with a vengeance. We are at the precipice of falling into a fascist dictatorship. Am I overreacting? Pay close attention - or as the late, great Molly Ivins once said, "Keep your eye on the shell with the pea underneath it."

Bernie Sanders withdrew from the race yesterday. While I respect and even love Joe Biden, he was not my first choice the be the nominee; in fact he was my fifth. That being said, while scrolling down my Facebook homepage early this morning, I could not help but notice the myriads of Bernie-fans in a blind funk, threatening to go with a third party candidate - or not vote at all. One even had the absolute gall to suggest that there was not a bit of difference between Trump and Biden. That is a completely insane notion. There is an ocean of difference. The Sanders voters made the same mistake four years ago - and what was the result? The most insanely corrupt and incompetent administration in the history of human stupidity. We all need to take a deep breath and focus. I was less enthusiastic about the candidacy of Hillary Clinton four years ago than I am about Joe, but on Election Day 2016 I dutifully went down to my local polling place and cast my ballot for her. Like too many Progressives, I did not stay home pouting.

I was just thinking: in 2016, in the weeks leading up to the election, Michael Moore said that if Trump were to be elected, he would get a lot of people killed. He also predicted, when nearly everyone was saying that The Donald didn't have a chance in hell, that he would more-than-likely be elected. The man is astounding in his prescience.

Kamala Harris
If Joe Biden is smart (and I know he is) he will choose a running mate that will appeal to young people and progressives like me, and motivate them to get their sorry asses out to the polls on Election Day. My nominee is Kamala Harris of California. Other than Pete Buttigieg (mayor of my late mom's hometown of South Bend, Indiana) she is the most brilliant person to run for the office in my memory. We don't want another elderly, graying white guy on the ticket with him. This country is changing fast and a woman - preferably a black woman - would be just what the country needs to reflect that change. As Uncle Bobby once intoned, "The times, they are a'changin' ". As pessimistic as I tend to be at times, I still believe that it's not too late to save this country from the weirder angels of our nature.

So - FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE! - get out there and support the Democratic nominee seven months from now. Get out there and vote for Joe as if your life depends upon it, because, as has become painfully obvious, it does. The one positive outcome of the era of this deranged piece of shit will be the end of conservatism in the United States.

SAY HALLELUJAH!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED LISTENING:

The In Crowd
by The Ramsey Lewis Trio

For decades I have occasionally listened to this tune  on the radio, but I was never able to catch the name of the band. I finally found out yesterday. This one is a real beauty! Here's a link to listen to it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsFST-7Hx-Y

As good as it freakin' gets!
 

5 Comments:

At 6:21 PM, Blogger Just the Facts! said...

"If Joe Biden is smart (and I know he is)"

Thanks Tom, I needed a good laugh.

 
At 6:41 PM, Blogger Just the Facts! said...

The rest of the story. Your blaming the wrong group Tom, just read the article.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/wisconsin-election-milwaukee-did-not-have-enough-polling-places/


There are signs that poor planning and coordination among government officials made in-person voting in Wisconsin more dangerous than it had to be.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden suggested last week that in-person voting in Wisconsin’s April 7 elections wouldn’t be dangerous, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, so long as voters were spaced “six to ten feet apart, one at a time going in, and having the machines scrubbed down.” In much of the state, that was true. A huge increase in early absentee voting meant that many polling places were sparsely attended on Election Day.

As it happened, the reduced number of polling places meant that thousands of voters formed long lines at each of the five polling centers. Voters did their best to maintain physical separation, but some of them waited two hours to cast ballots.

Twenty-five days elapsed between the declaration of a national emergency regarding the coronavirus on March 13 and the elections scheduled in Wisconsin on April 7. And during that time, there was a failure of planning and a breakdown in communication between state and local officials to ensure enough polling places stayed open.

Democratic governor Tony Evers opposed postponing the election from the time the national emergency was announced until Friday, April 3, four days before the election.

On April 1, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Evers planned on using the National Guard to serve as poll workers at short-staffed sites, but that plan “was news to City of Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Neil Albrecht, who said Wednesday the city learned through media reports that the National Guard would be used at voting sites.”

“Had we had that information [about the National Guard] sooner, I absolutely think it could have influenced the number of voting centers,” Albrecht told the Capital Times on April 7. “The timing really did not allow us to maximize their presence and think about the possibility of opening more centers.”

But it's easier to blame the GOP and call them racist than to look into what really happened.

 
At 1:22 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Just thought I'd add some ideas for the "suggested reading" section of your blog:
"Crime in Progress" (Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump) by Glenn Simpson and Peter

"Winners Take All" by Anand Giridharadas (really interesting)

"The Family" by Jeff Sharlet (This one was published a few years ago but seems more relevant every day "Individual 1" remains in office.

Regards, David dfpiper.com

 
At 7:49 AM, Blogger Les Holmes said...

The situation in Milwaukee sounds appalling. I find it hard to believe the US does not have a strong electoral commission. But there again, "campaign donations", also known as bribes, are usually regulated by an electoral commission and it's not likely corporations would like that would they? How would they get to write the regulations they want?

US politics seems so broken right now. The hatred between the political divide, the utter corruption via campaign donations, the erosion of independent institutions, the utter contempt paid to your constitution, the anachronistic and undemocratic electoral college, lack of any campaign/electoral watchdog (guess what, donations, political advertising and the veracity thereof and electoral boundaries are all HEAVILY regulated in most First World countries).

Can the US be saved?

 
At 4:26 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

my vote is for Stacy Abrams VP. that will get more of the progressives on board!

 

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