We start to reward work, not just wealth

Jamelle Bouie commented on a HuffPost article that said the new voter suppression law in Georgia removed the Secretary of State (they guy who refused to find 11K extra votes for the nasty guy) as the chief elections officer. Bouie tweeted:

if a Democrat wins a GOP-controlled swing state in 2024, I think there’s a very good chance the victory isn’t certified and i think at least one state legislature will try to unilaterally assign its electoral votes.

Perry Bacon responded:

This is why what happened in Georgia is so important. The lesson many Repubs seem to have taken from 2020 was not, “don’t try to overturn the election results,” but, “let’s make sure the system is set up so we can actually execute the overturning next time.”

Michael Harriot, who describes himself as a master race baiter, had a few interesting tweets. One, responding to the new voter suppression law in Georgia, where a black legislator demanded entry to the bill signing ceremony:

If you want to understand how white Supremacy works, 135 white people just rigged an election in broad daylight and they arrested a Black woman for knocking on the door to watch.

Two, with a link to an article in Politico about Georgia being the last Confederate state readmitted to the Union back on July 15, 1870:

After the Civil War, white supremacists flooded into Georgia to slaughter Black people who dared vote. I know I've pointed this out before, but it is always worth repeating: Georgia is the only state to be kicked out of America for being too racist. Why? Because too many Black people were voting. So they rigged the electoral system for the next 90 years. Here's my point: What's happening in Georgia is NOT about politics. It is & has always been about race. It's the textbook definition of white supremacy. The ONLY reason white people in Georgia have EVER been in control is that they have been willing to lie, cheat and kill LITERALLY since they first stepped foot in Georgia.

Three:

Pointing out how white suspects get the benefit of the doubt without being stopped, frisked, beaten, shot or killed is not a call for harsh treatment. It simply means we KNOW cops are capable of treating ppl humanely....just not us. Y’all could use a few more ass-whoopings, tho

Dartagnan of the Daily Kos community wrote that the “not my fault” tour of the nasty guy’s health officials is in full swing. Leading the tour are Robert Redfield and Deborah Birx. Through cowardice they stood behind the nasty guy as he said some dangerous stuff about the coronavirus. At times they even said what the nasty guy wanted them to, putting their professional blessing on the dangerous stuff. And now they are blaming someone or something else in hopes of redeeming their reputations. Dartagnan and other progressives, such as Rep. Ted Lieu of California, are not buying. Wrote Dartagnan:

There’s nothing more sickening than watching people desperately trying to redeem their reputations in the wake of a catastrophe they themselves helped to create. But, I suppose they can always say they were “just following orders.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci is noticeably not on this tour. He managed to say the right things even under the threatening gaze of the nasty guy. I’ve mentioned that a large portion of Republican voters say they won’t get the vaccine. So how do we open up restaurants, theaters, concert halls, cinemas, and churches? Will it ever be safe? Kos of Kos discussed an idea that has been out there for a while, a COVID passport. This card or device on your phone certifies you’ve gotten the vaccine and are now immune or you have a medical reason not to get it. A venue could refuse entry to anyone without a passport. Will that encourage conservatives to get their jab? Kos quoted a tweet:

My passport will be a firearm and I will defend my right to travel freely.

To which Patriot Takes replied:

Good luck getting on a plane with your “passport.”

Perhaps the threat of needing a passport is enough? Ben Franklin tweeted:

Perhaps, you might ask, what the national security apparatus was doing as they watched the intentional maximization of pandemic damage resulting in the death of over half a million people?

He asked similar questions, what were they doing

...as Jeffrey Epstein ran a massive child trafficking and sexual blackmail operation aimed at ensnaring politicians and billionaires? ...as a man with ties to foreign powers, organized crime, and human traffickers waltzed into the presidency? ...as an attack on congress was being plotted in the open and then executed? A disturbing pattern!

Christopher Reeves of Kos reported that Republican candidates are making pilgrimages to Florida.

As for the modern Republican Party: Oh no, call them the party of Trump now. They are so desperate to get Trump’s blessing that they are throwing themselves on the ground and begging at his mansion in Florida.

Reeves quoted a bit from Politico:

The scene illustrated what has become a central dynamic in the nascent 2022 race. In virtually every Republican primary, candidates are jockeying, auditioning and fighting for the former president’s backing. Trump has received overtures from a multitude of candidates desperate for his endorsement, something that top Republicans say gives him all-encompassing power to make-or-break the outcome of primaries.

Reeves continued:

Four candidates from Ohio flew down and begged, groveled, and patted the back of Trump, believing that his blessing would give them the inside track to the nomination in 2022.

One of the nasty guy’s campaigning strengths was talking to the working class voters (not that he ever did anything for them). Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported in the last couple of months it seems Joe Biden has been doing a very good job of speaking that language. Some examples: Biden talked about the need for infrastructure spending: 231K bridges needing repairs, 6-10 million homes getting their water through lead pipes, 100K wellheads leaking methane, and added:

I just find it frustrating. There’s so much we can do that’s good stuff, makes people healthier, and creates good jobs.

And in response to the Georgia voter suppression law, he said:

It has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency. They passed a law saying you can't provide water for people standing in line while they're waiting to vote. You don't need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive—designed to keep people from voting. You can't provide water for people about to vote? Give me a break.

Biden talked about the $1.9 trillion relief bill and the GOP opposition:

I set a goal that’s in front of me to get things done for the people I care most about, which are hardworking, decent American people who are getting—really having it stuck to them. I want to change the paradigm. I want to change the paradigm. We start to reward work, not just wealth. Did you hear them complain when they passed close to a $2 trillion Trump tax cut—83% going to the top 1%? Did you hear them talk about that at all? When the federal budget is saving people’s lives, they don’t think it’s such a good idea. When the federal budget is feathering the nest of the wealthiest Americans—90 of the Fortune 500 companies making billions of dollars not paying a cent in taxes ... [but] if you’re a husband and wife, a schoolteacher and a cop, you’re paying at a higher rate than the average person making a billion dollars a year is—something is wrong.

He’s connecting with a group that was critical to the nasty guy victory. I had written about the guaranteed income experiment in Stockton, California. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported that Oakland, CA is now going to try it. Mayor Libby Schaff announced the plan will give $500 a month for 18 months to 600 families.