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Could someone please tell me how any organization populated by former trump officials be considered a think tank?

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"If the Democrats do not succeed in passing a voting rights law, we can expect America to become a one-party state that, at best, will look much like the American South did between 1876 and 1964."

It is interesting to me that the party of Reagan, Bush I, "W" and Trump, which routinely attracts people who proclaim to be ethical and religious, will soon be in power due entirely to cheating while simultaneously claiming others are cheating. All of which is one more lie from Republicans.

Having lived to watch Reagan tell his lies about "cutting spending" and "welfare queens" and even buying into those lies in 1980, then literally watching the debt balloon completely out of control, relative to the pay down on the WW II debt that preceded Reagan and old man Bush, I cannot believe anyone with access to the internet still believes anything a Republican would say about anything at all.

The one takeaway I have learned about Republicans is that their main ethic and action is:

BEFORE TELLING THE TRUTH, GIVE LYING A CHANCE.

Unfortunately, in the human population, lying does seem to work quite well as a strategy. In fact, it seems that Christians, and people of high faith, already trained in believing that for which there is no evidence, are particularly susceptible to lies.

I would say all of this is fascinating. But, I find it all quite disappointing.

Today, it is really possible to sort out a lie from reality in a few minutes with access to google and by staying off Facebook. I simply cannot understand the attraction of lies.

https://zfacts.com/national-debt/

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So this Wednesday - watch for it! - we’ll finally see whether old Joe Manchin will vote for his own compromise voting rights bill in the Senate and whether ANY Republicans of the 10 he promised will also vote for it! And if the vote falls on the usual party lines - with 50 Democratic Senators + Kamal Harris voting for it but not a single Republican - will the Dems finally hang tough and vote to eliminate the filibuster, at least for this one critical vote? If not, their slim majority is useless and might just as well not exist, which it won’t once the midterm results are decided by whatever skewed rules the various Republican-controlled states are using these days.

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If Manchin doesn't come through with those ten Republicans, he may very well go down in history -- together with Sinema -- as the spoiler from hell for this administration. I can't even bear to think of the consequences of the Democrats' failure to pass the Freedom to Vote Act! Would 10 honorable Republicans please step up to the plate and do the decent thing FOR ONCE?!!!

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There is not a single study by any credible organization anywhere in the U.S. that shows voter fraud to be a significant issue in the outcome of federal elections. Have their been isolated incidents of voter fraud impacting local elections? Yes, a very small number of them. However, existing U.S. election procedures are generally considered highly secure and fraud resistant by election experts.

A far greater problem in the U.S. is the failure to achieve a “one person, one vote” fair representation where each legal citizen has an equal voice in how our country is governed. This National failure to enfranchise all citizens equally is both a failure of our election system and design flaws in system of governance. However, both of these are serious flaws that are anti-democratic.

These flaws include the unequal representation of citizens in the U.S. Senate, the use of the electoral college in presidential elections rather than popular vote, use of partisan and racial gerrymandering in determining representation, lack of uniform National election procedures and eligibility criteria, and partisan administration of elections. All of these conspire to deprive us of a true Representative democracy and we should not continue to pretend otherwise.

The consequence of these flaws in our system of governance is a minority rule system giving more power to the ruling minority. Unsurprisingly this results in those with greater power, largely those with more financial clout, the ability to both attain and perpetuate power and control. Who are those in control? They are generally the white, industrial, monied oligarchs. Which party do they affiliate with? Whichever party they can most easily control. At present and for decades that has been the Republican Party. Their governing ideology and policy choices are limited to those conveying and perpetuating their power and control and nothing beyond that is of interest to them.

We can nibble around the margins of this situation but only a significant redesign correcting the underlying and fundamental flaws of its design will make change possible. Those corrections will not come easily as those with power and control will resist them. This is the battle in which we are currently engaged. The battle will be long and difficult and no single skirmish will provide the victory or solution we seek. However, we must fight each skirmish in this battle with persistence and force. Let us begin with attacking where we are able to reduce the unjust power and control of the minority. Abolish the filibuster. Does the filibuster protect the minority? Yes, absolutely, this is exactly why it should be abolished even at the risk of our being in that minority in the future. Then we must fight as best we can to attract enough support to achieve being the representative voice of the majority.

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Once again the school district where I work has the spotlight from NBC News. Southlake TX Carroll ISD. (independent school district). I’m getting all kinds of comments and shocked responses on social media for a comment that was taken out of context and intentionally given to the media. Not a problem solving tactic.

But it highlights for me the importance of local elections. A small group of conservative christians have an outside organization funding them to take over our schools. Forcing an archaic outlandish view on all schools in Texas. Putting a group called Patriot Academy front and center in educating children in a christian based doctrine of making our nation a theocracy. Their agenda is being pushed to make the Constitution a religious document and place all young adults in boot camps to ready them for battle against liberal ideals. This group has already been put in place by seven states. Uninformed residents voted for the hype and didn’t really know the issues. A survey found the small wealthy city to be liberal and no religious affiliation. I guess that made Southlake a target.

A teacher reprimanded for having a book against racism, a book that all teachers were given last year by the district. A potential book ban against classic books such as The Grapes of Wrath that don’t push the theocracy agenda. A lawyer that moved here recently from the DC area, is an originalist lawyer has taken a seat on the school board. It’s an alarming situation! Another school board member urging teachers in the district to be very afraid of the current climate.

Your local elections are VERY important! Be involved, know who is running, Vote! Even, or especially, if you don’t have a child in school.

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Just for perspective.this morning...at 5:34 a.m.

I walked out my front door and watched "Lucy" launch from the Space Center. It is a 12 month mission to explore asteroids for whatever they can tell us about how our planet came to be. Lucy lit up the sky as it lifted into a southern trajectory. In 12 months we may know more about our planet's origin; in 12 months we will also know how HCR's early morning warning will shape our future.

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Thank you Heather.

There is literally no scenario that I can see where any of the Voter Rights Acts will pass the Senate. Getting rid of the filibuster is our only chance for the survival of Democracy. I don't say that lightly.

How did we get to the point where Party over People became so ingrained in the mindset of this Country where nothing else matters to the GOP? They are perfectly willing to serve up human beings on a sacrificial platter to regain power. This next election is not just made up of bright-eyed thinkers that want to better this Nation. This is the shakedown of this Country right before our eyes by the most vile, manipulative thugs we have to offer.

I don't blame Schumer for wanting to push this through next week. Might as well get it over with. It's that bandaid that needs to be torn off to reveal what's truly underneath. Frankly, none of us wants to see the wound, but we might as well get it over with.

We needn't look ahead to 2024, our Democracy rests in the hands of the outcome of next week's votes.

Be safe, be well.

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Isn’t getting rid of the filibuster becoming the only solution? I understand that doing so could have serious repercussions, but if these voting laws fail to pass the. Senate, won’t the repercussions be fatal to our democracy?

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Citizens United decision the beginning of the end. It’ll be worse than just losing democracy as if that’s possible—just imagine Trump regaining the Presidency? With his band of subversionists? They’ll jail and kill people who don’t like them. We won’t be having/reading these letters and like Putin will stay in office as authoritarian terrorism with no real elections. All the court cases against Donald could take so long the guy might actually, inconceivably get in again thru cheating. While Dems try not to be too political and stick to getting whole wish list of progressive policy all at once. It’s a catastrophe. Fight fire with fire there is no high road left.

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Let’s not forget that it was the 5-4 SCOTUS decision to halt the 2000 Florida recount, the unconscionable decision by what I call SCROTUS, with all five Republican-appointed justices voting the same way.

A post-election year-long analysis by concluded that a statewide uniform standard of a manual recount would have led to a Gore victory in Florida. This was after hundreds of thousands of FL voters were disenfranchised have the FL Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and after the Palm Beach County butterfly ballot misdirected thousands of votes from Gore to Pat Buchanan.

Bush did not win. He was installed in office by SCROTUS.

And let’s not forget the “Brooks Brothers Riot” that halted at least one recount. The Republican thugs involved included Roger Stone, former member of CREEP (Nixon’s reelection committee), and the most despised member of the Senate, Ted Cruz.

‘Several of the protestors were identified as Republican congressional staffers.A number of the demonstrators later took jobs in the incoming Bush administration.’

References:

[1] The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/butterfly-did-it-aberrant-vote-buchanan-palm-beach-county-florida

Abstract

We show that the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida, in the 2000 presidential election caused more than 2,000 Democratic voters to vote by mistake for Reform candidate Pat Buchanan, a number larger than George W. Bush’s certified margin of victory in Florida. We use multiple methods and several kinds of data to rule out alternative explanations for the votes Buchanan received in Palm Beach County. Among 3,053 U.S. counties where Buchanan was on the ballot, Palm Beach County has the most anomalous excess of votes for him. In Palm Beach County, Buchanan’s proportion of the vote on election-day ballots is four times larger than his proportion on absentee (nonbutterfly) ballots, but Buchanan’s proportion does not differ significantly between election-day and absentee ballots in any other Florida county. Unlike other Reform candidates in Palm Beach County, Buchanan tended to receive election-day votes in Democratic precincts and from individuals who voted for the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. Robust estimation of overdispersed binomial regression models underpins much of the analysis.

[2] 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election_recount_in_Florida

“Post-election studies

Florida Ballot Project recounts

The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, sponsored by a consortium of major United States news organizations, conducted the Florida Ballot Project, a comprehensive review of 175,010 ballots that were collected from the entire state, not just the disputed counties that were recounted…An analysis of the NORC data by University of Pennsylvania researcher Steven F. Freeman and journalist Joel Bleifuss concluded that, no matter what standard is used, after a recount of all uncounted votes, Gore would have been the victor.”

[3] Brooks Brothers Riot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot

‘Several of the protestors were identified as Republican congressional staffers.A number of the demonstrators later took jobs in the incoming Bush administration.’

[4] Disrupting the Ballot Count 2000/2020

The Voluntown Peace Trust

http://www.voluntownpeacetrust.org/uploads/1/9/4/0/1940178/brooks-brothers-riot_orig.jpg

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Senator Manchin, when rejecting a stronger voting bill, expressed strong support for the John Lewis voting bill. I consider this bill imperative to protect the voting rights of those the Republicans seek to disenfranchise. If Manchin agrees, then this would be the time to lift the filibuster on vote-protection bills. Of course there is also the senator from Arizona, who can’t be reached because she is junketing in Paris.

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When are the Democrats going to get the courage to put teeth into the supeonas for the attack on our Congress? Our democracy is under attack!!!

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I am thinking right now about the fact that the UK is super lucky to have such strict control of guns. And what the fallout will be in terms of MP and constituent access now that a third attack--and the second fatal attack--on an MP at what they call a "surgery" (we in the USA would call it a Town Hall meeting) of constituents has occurred in the last 10 years. I disagreed with Sir David Amess's stances on most everything except fox hunting (he was against it) and animal welfare (he was for it) but he was a legit representative of his community and a good person who did his job with integrity and heart. Think about what might happen here in the US if our congresspeople were required to have quarterly "surgeries" face to face with their constituents, as UK MPs do. I fear that the growing extremism on all sides, but mostly on the Right of all kinds (Islamist extremism is just another form of right-wing totalitarianism), especially when "religion" is involved, is winning. And that really does mean the Death of Democracy, because extremism of any stripe does not invite compromise, conversation, and discourse. I am heartsick right now.

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Thank you Heather for keeping Voting Rights front and center in the dialogue, it is so very important!

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Ahhhh Joe Manchin. He seems willing to trash the planet (at least for this year's reconciliation) in the hope that natural gas can masquerade as positive for the climate. If he were to do that in exchange for passing his Freedom to Vote Act AND giving it an exemption from the filibuster, I guess I would take the deal. But that filibuster exemption is not coming, is it.

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