NYT: In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules

“Voter fraud” is just Republican rhetoric to justify voter suppression.

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Led by loyalists who embrace former President Donald J. Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election, Republicans in state legislatures nationwide are mounting extraordinary efforts to change the rules of voting and representation — and enhance their own political clout.

At the top of those efforts is a slew of bills raising new barriers to casting votes, particularly the mail ballots that Democrats flocked to in the 2020 election. But other measures go well beyond that, including tweaking Electoral College and judicial election rules for the benefit of Republicans; clamping down on citizen-led ballot initiatives; and outlawing private donations that provide resources for administering elections, which were crucial to the smooth November vote.

And although the decennial redrawing of political maps has been pushed to the fall because of delays in delivering 2020 census totals, there are already signs of an aggressive drive to further gerrymander political districts, particularly in states under complete Republican control.

The national Republican Party joined the movement this past week by setting up a Committee on Election Integrity to scrutinize state election laws, echoing similar moves by Republicans in a number of state legislatures.

Republicans have long thought — sometimes quietly, occasionally out loud — that large turnouts, particularly in urban areas, favor Democrats, and that Republicans benefit when fewer people vote. But politicians and scholars alike say that this moment feels like a dangerous plunge into uncharted waters…

The party’s battle in the past decade to raise barriers to voting, principally among minorities, young people and other Democrat-leaning groups, has been waged under the banner of stopping voter fraud that multiple studies have shown barely exists.
“The typical response by a losing party in a functioning democracy is that they alter their platform to make it more appealing,” Kenneth Mayer, an expert on voting and elections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “Here the response is to try to keep people from voting. It’s dangerously antidemocratic.”

…Consider Iowa, a state that has not been a major participant in the past decade’s wars over voting and election rules. The November election saw record turnout and little if any reported fraud. Republicans were the state’s big winners, including in the key races for the White House and Senate.

Yet, in a vote strictly along party lines, the State Legislature voted this past week to cut early voting by nine days, close polls an hour earlier and tighten rules on absentee voting, as well as strip the authority of county auditors to decide how election rules can best serve voters.

State Senator Jim Carlin, a Republican who recently announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, made the party’s position clear during the floor debate: “Most of us in my caucus and the Republican caucus believe the election was stolen,” he said.

State Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat, said that served as justification for a law that created “a voting system tailored to the voting tendency of older white Republican voters.”

…The Republican push comes as the rules and procedures of American elections increasingly have become a central issue in the nation’s politics. The Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning law and justice institute at New York University, counts 253 bills in 43 states that seek to tighten voting rules. At the same time, 704 bills have been introduced with provisions to improve access to voting.

The push also comes as Democrats in Congress are attempting to pass federal legislation that would tear down barriers to voting, automatically register new voters and outlaw gerrymanders, among many other measures. Some provisions, such as a prohibition on restricting a voter’s ability to cast a mail ballot, could undo some of the changes being proposed in state legislatures.

…Republicans in Georgia, which Mr. Biden won by roughly 12,000 votes, lined up this week behind a State Senate bill that would require vote-by-mail applications to be made under oath, with some requiring an additional ID and a witness signature.

Arizona Republicans are backing bills to curtail the automatic mailing of absentee ballots to voters who skip elections, and to raise to 60 percent the share of votes required to pass most citizen ballot initiatives. Legislatures in at least five other Republican-run states are also considering bills making it harder to propose or pass citizen-led initiatives, which often involve issues like redistricting or tax hikes where the party supports the status quo.

Posted in Voter Fraud | Comments Off on NYT: In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules

Don’t Confuse Voter Fraud Rhetoric With Reality (2-26-21)

00:00 “Voter fraud” rhetoric is really about Republicans seeking voter suppression
12:00 Michael Anton goes on Andrew Sullivan, https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/michael-anton-on-the-state-of-trumpism
37:00 Censorship: 10 Reasons For Optimism, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isbb3W0WN4U
2:15:00 Four reasons why Zoom is so exhausting, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-25/four-reasons-why-zoom-is-so-exhausting-and-what-you-can-do-about-it
2:39:00 Texas shut down by freezing weather, no power, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas
2:42:00 California, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California
2:43:00 Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed
2:48:00 Michael Tracey discusses wokeism on Clubhouse, https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1365387064896876549
3:07:00 Heather Mac Donald Warns Tucker Carlson That Dem’s False Racial Narrative Will Result In Race War
3:15:00 Carlson Keeps Platforming Racists!, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJeJgwjq3OA
3:25:00 Black Astronauts & NASSA

https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/the-continuing-crisis/

Why Do the Election’s Defenders Require My Agreement? 

Let’s Take Stock of Where We Are

David Petraeus: Perfect Avatar for America’s Corrupt Ruling Class

More Nonsense About the Election

On Faux Analysis of Biden’s Win

Posted in America | Comments Off on Don’t Confuse Voter Fraud Rhetoric With Reality (2-26-21)

Happy Purim (2-25-21)

00:00 Making peace with human fallibility
03:00 Everson Walls, Cowboys cornerback, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everson_Walls
23:00 Charles Moscowitz, Dooovid clash on Israel, the Bomb, anti-Semitism, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w6BlYskATE
32:00 Dooovid joins to talk about Purim, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim
35:00 Watch Senator Cory Booker Party on Purim at Oxford’s Chabad in the Early ’90s, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/watch-senator-cory-booker-party-on-purim-at-oxfords-chabad-in-the-early-90s
45:00 Jewish Purim Effigies Confuse And Offend Some In Borough Park, https://gothamist.com/news/jewish-purim-effigies-confuse-and-offend-some-in-borough-park
1:17:10 Michael Savage Goes Off on Jewish Caller Celebrating Purim not Focusing on Reality – 3/24/16
1:37:00 Mike Enoch speaks to Christians
1:43:00 Best Yiddish words, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/yiddish-words/
1:45:00 Apricot Sky (1995), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hry69g_evSQ
1:56:00 Ramzpaul on Young Pharoah, https://rumble.com/ve4crn-cancelled-at-the-uncancel-conference.html
2:01:30 Sisters of slain Wilson 5-year-old ask for Valentine’s Day cards in his honor, https://www.wral.com/sisters-of-slain-wilson-5-year-old-ask-for-valentine-s-day-cards-in-his-honor/19507892/
2:04:00 Top 40 Insights on Purim, https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/teacher.cfm/80585/rabbi-shlomo-einhorn/
2:08:00 American Extremist w. Josh Neal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=5175&v=VFkjMEMCXS0
2:14:15 James Carden and Thaddeus Russell have a discussion on the power of the Israel lobby, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rc5RiOUwRk
2:33:00 OV walks through the snow to get vodka, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTcvyCcR3iY
2:36:00 What Is Bill Gates Up To? w/Max Blumenthal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvjwYgu1Mgg
2:39:00 Josh Neal says men are reluctant to get therapy, https://youtu.be/-FX8qO5IYsk?t=2786
2:41:00 John J. Mearsheimer: Why a Cold War between China and the United States is Inevitable, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpFfyoIlQ50
2:43:40 False accusations of racism against a Smith College security guard, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.html
2:47:30 Glenn Greenwald: Trending as a Transphobe and Biphobe, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXXJoOsdoNE
2:52:30 Revenge of the CIS on critical thinking & misinformation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=5616&v=X7y77WnNSn8
2:53:00 NYT: Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/fake-news-media-attention.html
3:00:20 Academic Agent: How Carl Schmitt Can Help Us Make Sense of the 2020 US Election, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbqg3iZL-k
3:21:00 Tucker Carlson on Smith College’s bogus racism controversy
3:28:40 Patrick Casey on dissident politics, Catholicism, https://youtu.be/aXpg6qRnrBA?t=3528
3:34:00 Faustian Futurist and the former USA | With Dr Jason Reza Jorjani, https://youtu.be/J18R-VkljmI?t=3303

Posted in America | Comments Off on Happy Purim (2-25-21)

Vote Suppression vs Vote Expansion (2-25-21)

Rhetoric about “voter fraud” is not about voter fraud. It is Republican rhetoric aimed at vote suppression, but because this is politically unpalatable to say, Republicans have to lie and talk about “voter fraud.” Voter fraud is a crime and there have been few convictions and little evidence for this having massive influence. Vote expansion vs vote suppression does have massive influence.

Posted in America, Voter Fraud | Comments Off on Vote Suppression vs Vote Expansion (2-25-21)

Unpacking The Granular Intentionality Of Adam Curtis (2-24-21)

00:00 Getting high on your goals
10:30 The Beautiful Films & Empty Ideas Of Adam Curtis, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=137312
17:00 Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed
22:00 A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Troublesome_Inheritance
25:00 Ashkenazi Jews, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews
38:00 Do We Need To Get WEIRD To Reawaken DEAD POLITICS? | Russell Brand & Adam Curtis, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbctiVgMHo
40:50 Mersh on Christopher Cantwell getting banned from Gab.ai, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEx1m-tdIU
49:00 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/germany,the-usa/
56:00 JF Gariepy on cyber currencies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh0IhjnwPpo
57:30 JF Gariepy on the Right in the USA
59:20 JF Gariepy on the state of Youtube
1:33:00 Life advice from JF Gariepy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2608&v=NreRCaMDwgY
1:45:00 Does advertising work?
1:48:00 Mersh on Young Pharoah, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEx1m-tdIU
1:58:00 Richard Spencer on the End of America First, https://www.spreaker.com/user/altright/impeachment-and-af
2:22:20 REM Theory Part #2: The Christian Question, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O5DAQWg6Lo
2:30:00 RS, Ed Dutton, Keith Woods discuss the radicalization of Styx, Ramzpaul, Lauren Southern, Nick Fuentes, Patrick Casey, https://www.pscp.tv/w/1ynJOBWoyyyGR
2:50:00 Matt Jarbo on making a living delivering food while manufacturing dopamine from creating rage porn, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1936&v=oFxFyvpqRvQ
2:52:00 Burning out on e-drama
2:57:30 Jesus was a victim of cancel culture
3:01:00 History as moral signaling
3:01:50 JF advises on which girl to date — a 22yo or a 33yo
3:05:35 Tucker Carlson on the true number of illegal immigrants
3:17:00 Christopher Cantwell gets 41 months, https://www.informant.news/p/christopher-cantwell-gets-41-months
3:18:00 Feelings Don’t Care About Your Facts – RESPONSE!, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoKQDjX0eB8

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