Georgia Republicans are doubling up on voter suppression legislation following criticism from Delta CEO

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We are our biannual weekly poll of what is happening in the various states that, as we know, do the real government work.

We start in Wisconsin, where Republican majorities in both the state legislature and the state Supreme Court have come together to ensure that people continue to get sick and that healthy poor people do not have enough to eat. It’s one hell of an afternoon, I have to say. From Wisconsin Public Radio:

The long-awaited decision was released Wednesday morning, more than four months after the court heard arguments in the case. The court ruled 4: 3, with all conservative judges in the majority and the liberal judges offering a dissent. “The question in this case is not whether the governor acted wisely, but whether he acted lawfully,” wrote the conservative judge Brian Hagedorn in the majority opinion of the court. “We conclude that he didn’t.” The verdict immediately ends Wisconsin’s nationwide mask mandate. Local government mandates, if any, can remain in force.

For the state’s Conservatives, however, that decision was twofold.

The decision not only removes the nationwide mask mandate, but also jeopardizes tens of millions of dollars in monthly federal food aid to Wisconsin. A state must have an emergency pandemic declaration in place in order to receive funding. In January, around 242,000 Wisconsin households received approximately $ 49 million in additional federal food aid, according to a memo from the Legislature’s impartial budget bureau.

For moments like these, every time I see him on TV, I thank Charlie Sykes for his contribution to bringing this reign of idiots and declining Twerps to my second home state. But as bad as those moldy cheese heads are, they’re nothing compared to what’s going on in Arkansas, where the Culture War legislature went mad and went along with Governor Asa Hutchinson, a once “sensible” Republican. First, Hutchinson signed an anti-electoral law that is absolutely unconstitutional and is clearly aimed at the new Conservative majority in the Supreme Court. But that was a beacon of good government compared to the ankles of the state’s trans-citizens who came last week. From the Washington Post:

Legislators voted 28-7 for the bill prohibiting doctors from offering or referring transgender minors to gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies and transitional surgeries.

And Arkansas is not alone. This is a national campaign because the Republican Party believes this persecution contains electoral gold. That it doesn’t address any of the country’s serious concerns is one of the things it recommends to the elite of the party that gave up government shortly after noon on January 20, 2017.

The legislation is the first to be passed under a series of similar bills introduced by Republican lawmakers in more than 17 states this year. This is part of a growing effort by politicians to curtail the rights of transgender youth across America – both in medical offices and on high school sports teams.

And as a tribute to the memory of Orval Faubus, we also have a little … cancellation! From the Arkansas Times:

Senator Gary Stubblefield’s (R-Branch) Senate Draft 298, the Arkansas Sovereignty Act of 2021, aims to stop any federal weapons law on the Arkansas border. Anyone who has ever taken a citizenship course in the United States will recognize the unconstitutionality of the bill. Even so, the Arkansas Senators passed the measure 28-7, and now it’s going to the side of the House to be voted on. Should it happen, it would go to the governor’s desk.

Four fifths of the state assembly stood on the side of the Arkansas of 1860. Are national Republican politicians damn well stating that their states parties fester incubators of Kooks and Seditionists? Are there any major Republicans who think this is a bad idea?

Georgia Republicans are doubling up on voter suppression legislation following criticism from Delta CEO

Asa Hutchinson goes along with all of this.

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But if you’ve been wondering if all that cruelty and stupidity has distracted you from the other great national campaign – the one devoted to destroying the right to vote among voters who they find inconvenient – don’t worry. Over in Texas, they’re there too. From the Texas Tribune:

In an overnight vote after more than seven hours of debate, the Texas Senate signed Senate Bill 7, which would restrict extended early voting hours, prohibit voting through, and make it illegal for local election officials to proactively send through motions to vote Post to voters even if they qualify. Legislation is at the forefront of the Republicans’ crusade to further restrict voting in the state after last year’s election. Although Republicans continue to have full control of the state government, 2020 saw the highest turnout in 2020 in Texas. The Democrats have continued to raise their votes in the state’s urban centers and diversify the suburban communities.

The bill also ensures that those uncomfortable voters who manage to get through all the tires cleanly face busy bodies ignited by talk-radio idiots.

In the event of a law, the law would expand election observers’ access to polling stations and even allow them to assist videotaped voters who are assisted in filling out their ballot papers if the election observer “reasonably believes” that the aid is unlawful. This provision has raised particular concerns about the potential intimidation of voters who speak languages ​​other than English, as well as voters with intellectual or developmental disabilities who may need solicitation or interview assistance that could be misunderstood as coercion.

The fear of living in the brown United States is deep and deep. In Georgia, the fallout continues against the state’s legalized ratfcking law, and one of its most outspoken opponents has been the CEO of Delta Airlines. The state legislature responded Thursday with a respectful listening and reassessment of the wisdom of acting like a little Jim Crow. Hacks annnnnnnnnnnd… APRIL FOOL!

From Forbes:

Georgia Republicans voted to wipe Delta Air Lines’ tens of million dollar tax break on aviation gasoline Wednesday after the company clearly condemned the state’s widely criticized electoral restrictions and joined a growing roster of executives calling the new ones Restrictions had been criticized amid a debate over the boycott of the largest Georgian companies.

The fact that the Georgia Senate adjourned without taking up this bill just means Delta has ducked this pie fight for now. There’s no rat too small to fuck I guess.

And we close, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, where the official blog Pork Tosser Friedman of the Plains by Blog gives us the history of some other state politicians with too much time. From the Tulsa world:

Oklahoma lawmakers are ready to turn the federal government against guns but not illegal immigrants, a House committee reiterated Tuesday. Senate Act 631by Senator Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain – and SB 572, by Senator Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, who would forbid any local government from acting as a “sanctuary” for undocumented immigrants by refusing to comply with federal immigration law. Attempts by Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, to point out the possible contradiction landed with a thud in the Republican-controlled committee room.

Like logic, I expect.

Also emerging from the committee was SB 403 by Senator Brenda Stanley, R-Midwest City, which would extend a state government “interference or disruption” offense to the local level. D-Oklahoma City Rep. Jason Lowe said he was concerned that such a law would be used to suppress free speech and asked the House’s author, Robert Manger, R-Oklahoma City, for his definition of the first Amendment to the Constitution: “What is it? do you have to do with this calculation? “asked manager.

This is your democracy, America. Appreciate it.


Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has worked as a journalist since 1976.

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