Define Voter Suppression

Huntn

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Unfreaking-believable corruption from the Texas Republican Party (as reported on NPR Houston): Texas POS SP1 Law: Not only do mail-in ballots require more info, even if you are already a registered voter, but if you are a Texas election official who DARES suggest mail in voting to a voter, that is a felony with a possible 2 years prison sentence for suggesting that something that is legal!
 
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lizkat

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Yah I read that phenomenal numbers of absentee ballot requests for the March primaries have been denied recently in Texas because of failiure to provide all the new details added to required info. I mean like 50% rates of failure in Travis County, for instance. The elections board clerks in the affected precincts realize this is way past anomalous and have asked the state for instructions on how to help voters cure the defects in time for primary reggie deadlines. This is probably going to land in the courts, and should do so. Anyway it put a chill down my spine to read of it.

 

SuperMatt

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Yah I read that phenomenal numbers of absentee ballot requests for the March primaries have been denied recently in Texas because of failiure to provide all the new details added to required info. I mean like 50% rates of failure in Travis County, for instance. The elections board clerks in the affected precincts realize this is way past anomalous and have asked the state for instructions on how to help voters cure the defects in time for primary reggie deadlines. This is probably going to land in the courts, and should do so. Anyway it put a chill down my spine to read of it.

This was the intent of the law, so…

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Joe

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The GOP isn't gonna give up that white supremacy that easily. Some major shit is gonna go down in the next decade. We are so close to fascism, and a lot of people don't realize it.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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We need some creative undercover lefties pretending to be right wingers canvasing the media with claims that the GOP is writing a bill that only Republicans are allowed to be on ballots. Doesn't matter that it isn't true. Put the GOP on the defensive to try to explain it away.
 

lizkat

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The GOP isn't gonna give up that white supremacy that easily. Some major shit is gonna go down in the next decade. We are so close to fascism, and a lot of people don't realize it.

I'd be a little less alarmed if some big corporations that swore off donations to the GOP --in the immediate wake of the Capitol incursion last year-- hadn't predictably enough decided later that a gesture like that in a single quarter of 2021 was sufficient for virtue-signaling to shareholders and activists on social media.


In resuming donations to both of the USA's major political parties since then, such corporations can figure that they have at least purchased "access" to regulators and legislators. Some may even argue that the shareholders' interests require lobbying both Congress and the executive branch agencies in order to reduce risk of thinning profit margins due to "excessively onerous" regulation.

And who the heck knows what private companies and other donors of "dark money" to 501(c)(4) nonprofits have done in the meantime about their donations. They don't fancy anarchy or overthrow of governments, since those tend to roil markets badly, so they may be quite wary of a follow-on Trump administration --expectations of further tax cuts being low to nil-- but their lean is still conservative, so even today's not very progressive Democratic administration does not appeal to them.

Those dark money donors are not disclosed unless they run afoul of some of the few teeth left in the campaign finance laws. So are they still going with the pro-Trump RNC or quietly marching already to some different drummer(s)? No one really knows, so far. Since 2010 and the Citizens United high court ruling on the personhood of corporations, the politicians themselves all do celebrate greater ease in corporate freedom to "buy all the free speech they can afford"... anonymously.

And let's face it, it's not like all the Democrats weep or gnash their teeth when the Rs have managed to carve out yet another loophole through which to drive truckloads of money. The result falls short of bribery only if one turns a blind eye to fine print AND perceived incentives to influence US lawmaking in favor of the status quo. That is a status which keeps edging farther to the right even when the Dems win popular majorities and even as the Rs wail about impending socialism.

Money is not the only influencer in how the US arrives at federal governance, since there are also gerrymandering, the filibuster, and states' rights to control assorted government functions. But money is a traditional sweetener when it comes to drafting federal legislation or agency rules. And in that 2010 high court ruling, SCOTUS essentially went to the dark side and shrugged and said "yeah, so what?"

Losing impartiality of a judicial system is a part of conversion to fascism. It does not usually happen overnight, but the political lean to the right in the USA's judiciary has been accelerating in the past 20 years. Now the Biden admin is proving effective in pushing back, at least in district court appointment confirmations, but on the high court itself, that will be a heavy lift after the appointments that were confirmed during the Trump administration.
 

Joe

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I'd be a little less alarmed if some big corporations that swore off donations to the GOP --in the immediate wake of the Capitol incursion last year-- hadn't predictably enough decided later that a gesture like that in a single quarter of 2021 was sufficient for virtue-signaling to shareholders and activists on social media.


In resuming donations to both of the USA's major political parties since then, such corporations can figure that they have at least purchased "access" to regulators and legislators. Some may even argue that the shareholders' interests require lobbying both Congress and the executive branch agencies in order to reduce risk of thinning profit margins due to "excessively onerous" regulation.

And who the heck knows what private companies and other donors of "dark money" to 501(c)(4) nonprofits have done in the meantime about their donations. They don't fancy anarchy or overthrow of governments, since those tend to roil markets badly, so they may be quite wary of a follow-on Trump administration --expectations of further tax cuts being low to nil-- but their lean is still conservative, so even today's not very progressive Democratic administration does not appeal to them.

Those dark money donors are not disclosed unless they run afoul of some of the few teeth left in the campaign finance laws. So are they still going with the pro-Trump RNC or quietly marching already to some different drummer(s)? No one really knows, so far. Since 2010 and the Citizens United high court ruling on the personhood of corporations, the politicians themselves all do celebrate greater ease in corporate freedom to "buy all the free speech they can afford"... anonymously.

And let's face it, it's not like all the Democrats weep or gnash their teeth when the Rs have managed to carve out yet another loophole through which to drive truckloads of money. The result falls short of bribery only if one turns a blind eye to fine print AND perceived incentives to influence US lawmaking in favor of the status quo. That is a status which keeps edging farther to the right even when the Dems win popular majorities and even as the Rs wail about impending socialism.

Money is not the only influencer in how the US arrives at federal governance, since there are also gerrymandering, the filibuster, and states' rights to control assorted government functions. But money is a traditional sweetener when it comes to drafting federal legislation or agency rules. And in that 2010 high court ruling, SCOTUS essentially went to the dark side and shrugged and said "yeah, so what?"

Losing impartiality of a judicial system is a part of conversion to fascism. It does not usually happen overnight, but the political lean to the right in the USA's judiciary has been accelerating in the past 20 years. Now the Biden admin is proving effective in pushing back, at least in district court appointment confirmations, but on the high court itself, that will be a heavy lift after the appointments that were confirmed during the Trump administration.

Corporations are in the pockets of both parties. Honestly, we're fucked as a country. We will get everything we deserve though by allowing it to happen.
 

Huntn

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Yah I read that phenomenal numbers of absentee ballot requests for the March primaries have been denied recently in Texas because of failiure to provide all the new details added to required info. I mean like 50% rates of failure in Travis County, for instance. The elections board clerks in the affected precincts realize this is way past anomalous and have asked the state for instructions on how to help voters cure the defects in time for primary reggie deadlines. This is probably going to land in the courts, and should do so. Anyway it put a chill down my spine to read of it.

A felonly to advise citizens of their legal voting options?? This is unheard of and unconstitutional, and can see it in court, but at some point you may worry about the judges appointed. You mentioned Biden getting some appointments done which is splendid.
We need some creative undercover lefties pretending to be right wingers canvasing the media with claims that the GOP is writing a bill that only Republicans are allowed to be on ballots. Doesn't matter that it isn't true. Put the GOP on the defensive to try to explain it away.
Nazi Germany started with blatant discrimination. We might not be there, but some of us are trying to put the Nation on that on that path, for no other reason than to unconstitutionally sieze and hold power.
 

Huntn

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Corporations are in the pockets of both parties. Honestly, we're fucked as a country. We will get everything we deserve though by allowing it to happen.
As a pessimist, I endorse this view and the philosophical position that we will deserve whatever we allow to happen. And I am not endorsing violence like those RightWing Ass Wipes and their suggested 2nd Anendment solutions to our disagreements, but when push comes to shove, if you are arguing with unreasonable people with guns, you’d better have your own or you are going to lose the argument maybe even if you are a majority. . :unsure:
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Corporations are in the pockets of both parties. Honestly, we're fucked as a country. We will get everything we deserve though by allowing it to happen.

Ever since Democrats merged with Republicans on economic issues and related corruption starting with the Clinton administration corporations and the rich have to donate to both parties so they can call in favors regardless of who wins.

We should really have sympathy for corporations and the rich because this has essentially doubled the required size for their bribery purse, but we should applaud the government for decreasing this burden through lowering their taxes. There's a good chance that they have even more money left over now even after paying their double bribery donation. This is what the public sector working with the private sector does best.
 

Joe

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Ever since Democrats merged with Republicans on economic issues and related corruption starting with the Clinton administration corporations and the rich have to donate to both parties so they can call in favors regardless of who wins.

We should really have sympathy for corporations and the rich because this has essentially doubled the required size for their bribery purse, but we should applaud the government for decreasing this burden through lowering their taxes. There's a good chance that they have even more money left over now even after paying their double bribery donation. This is what the public sector working with the private sector does best.

I have a friend that works in the "Political Contributions" department for a major corporation in the US. They donate to both parties. Big corporations will run the US...Apple, Google, Amazon.....
 

Herdfan

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Big corporations will run the US...Apple, Google, Amazon.....

And it will be our fault for continuing to buy from them even though there are other options.

I am trying to limit my Amazon purchases. But dammit, if you accept Paypal, why do you need me to input all my info into your site when Paypal will do it for me automatically? 😡
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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And it will be our fault for continuing to buy from them even though there are other options.

I am trying to limit my Amazon purchases. But dammit, if you accept Paypal, why do you need me to input all my info into your site when Paypal will do it for me automatically? 😡

Paypal autofill is an odd hill to die on. ;)

Don't want to further derail the point of this thread, but it's really hard to replicate the Amazon experience from the amount of options to prices. It's also upsetting that their closest online competitor is Walmart, as if they are the underdog we should be rooting for against Amazon.
 

Joe

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And it will be our fault for continuing to buy from them even though there are other options.

I am trying to limit my Amazon purchases. But dammit, if you accept Paypal, why do you need me to input all my info into your site when Paypal will do it for me automatically? 😡

Yep, it will be our fault.

Amazon makes it so easy for a lot of people so it is hard for them to limit their purchases.
 
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