"JALOPY SECONDS"

In Bill Maher's New Rules last night, Maher made the case for ending America's reliance on antiquated infrastructure, energy, healthcare and voting systems, and issues a call for real change.

VIDEO COURTESY OF HBO







NFTOS
Blogger-In-Chief
Roger West

KENTUCKY’S MATT BEVIN TURNS GRINCH

Less than a month after taking office, Kentucky’s newly elected Republican Gov. Matt Bevin reversed a move by his Democratic predecessor that had restored the voting rights of about 140,000 former felons.

Those impacted - who are overwhelmingly African American and lower income, had already completed their felony sentences but remained permanently disenfranchised. The order excluded those convicted of violent crimes, sex crimes, bribery or treason.

Bevin’s move Tuesday night goes against promises he made during the campaign to keep the restoration of voting rights in place. He even told reporters in November that he would stand up to his own party on the issue and convince them it was the right thing to do. Now, thanks to his order, tens of thousands of Kentuckians will not only lose the opportunity to regain their voting rights, they will also be permanently unable to serve on a jury, run for office, or obtain a vocational license.

The only explanation Bevin offered for the reversal is that he believes “it is an issue that must be addressed through the legislature and by the will of the people.”

Kentucky is one of a tiny handful of states where former felons have to individually petition the governor to restore their civil rights after they have fully completed their sentences — a process that can be arbitrary and humiliating. As a result, one in five African Americans in the state are disenfranchised. Studies have found that ex-felons who have their voting rights restored feel more invested in their communities and are less likely to end up back in the criminal justice system.

In another executive order this week, Bevin reversed former Gov. Beshear’s move to raise the state’s minimum wage for government workers and contractors to $10.10 an hour, bringing it back down to $7.25 an hour. About 800 state workers who have already gotten raises will be able to keep them, but new hires will now have to start at the lower pay rate. In the order, Bevin hinted that he would prefer the state have no minimum wage at all: “Wage rates ideally would be established by the demands of the labor market instead of being set by the government,” he said.

Bevin also used his new executive power to grant the wish of Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to remove all clerk names from marriage licenses to accommodate religious objections to same-sex marriage. Though all gay and straight couples retain the right to marry, thanks to the Supreme Court, LGBT rights groups in the state lament the governor’s move. “It’s a clear signal to Kim Davis and her camp that if you object to doing portions of your job — even if you’re an elected official — the executive branch will give you an out,” said Chris Hartman with the Fairness Campaign.

Others claim the governor is overstepping his legal bounds and inviting lawsuits by making unilaterally changes to the state marriage license form.

Bevin, who has previously said he believes legalizing same-sex marriage could lead to parents marrying their children, was swept into office in November in an election marked by dismally low voter turnout. Less than a third of the state’s eligible voters cast a ballot. Had the state’s former non-violent felons been able to vote, they could have easily swayed the election.

Matt Bevin, even with Trump being the ass that is Fuckface Von Clownstick, you sir are this week’s worst person of the week! Congrats numbnutz, you earned it!

NFTOS

Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

RIGHT WING LADEN FEDERAL APPEALS COURT SAYS NO TO STRICTER VOTER ID LAWS

One day before the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country wielded that law to strike down a Texas voter suppression law. A unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in an opinion written by a George W. Bush appointee, held that Texas’s voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act and must, at the very least, be significantly weakened. Though the court did not accept every argument raised against the state’s voter ID law, and its opinion does not go nearly as far as a trial judge’s decision which also struck down this law, it is a significant blow to the state’s efforts to make voting more difficult.

Voter ID laws are a common obstacle raised, mostly by right-leaning lawmakers, in front of citizens seeking to exercise their right to vote. Though stringent voter ID laws, which require voters to show a photo ID before they can cast a ballot, are often justified as a shield against voter fraud, the kind of fraud these laws target barely exists. A Wisconsin study, for example, found just seven cases of fraud out of 3 million votes cast during the 2004 election — and none of these seven cases were the kind of in-person voter fraud that is prevented by a voter ID law. Similarly an investigation by former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz (R) found exactly zero cases of in-person voter fraud over the course of several elections.

What voter ID laws do accomplish, however, is they disproportionately disenfranchise groups that tend to prefer Democratic candidates over Republicans. As Judge Catharina Haynes explained in her opinion on behalf of the Fifth Circuit, one analysis determined that “Hispanic registered voters and Black registered voters were respectively 195% and 305% more likely than their Anglo peers to lack” a voter ID in the state of Texas. Indeed, even Texas’s own numbers confirmed that voter ID laws disproportionately impact racial minorities. Their own expert “found that 4% of eligible White voters lacked SB 14 ID, compared to 5.3% of eligible Black voters and 6.9% of eligible Hispanic voters.”

Similarly, low-income voters are much less likely to have ID then their wealthier counterparts. The district court in this case “credited expert testimony that 21.4% of eligible voters earning less than $20,000 per year lack SB 14 ID, compared to only 2.6% of voters earning between $100,000 and $150,000 per year.”

The racial disparities impacting voter eligibility, when combined with other conditions in Texas that tend to produce discrimination against African Americans and Latinos, were sufficient reason for the court to hold that Texas’s voter ID law must be struck down. Yet, while this is certainly a victory for the voters and institutions that challenged this voter suppression law, it is not a total victory.

For one thing, the Fifth Circuit determined that the appropriate remedy in this case may not be a broad injunction striking down the entire law. Rather, if the evidence in this case does not show that Texas acted with a discriminatory intent when it enacted this law, an injunction “reinstating voter registration cards as documents that qualify as acceptable identification under the Texas Election Code” may be appropriate.

More importantly, Haynes’s opinion vacated the trial court’s finding that state lawmakers did, indeed, act with racial discrimination in mind when they enacted this law. Pointing to several pieces of evidence that the district court relied upon which the Fifth Circuit found less compelling, Haynes’s opinion instructs the trial judge to conduct “a reexamination of the probative evidence underlying Plaintiffs’ discriminatory purpose claims weighed against the contrary evidence.” That does not preclude the trial court from determining, once again, that state lawmakers had racial discrimination on their minds when they enacted this law, but it does make it more difficult for that court to reach such a determination.

Should the courts ultimately conclude that Texas did act with a discriminatory purpose, that could have profound implications for the state moving forward. Among other things, it could lead to a court order reinstating the requirement that Texas “pre-clear” all of its voting laws with officials in Washington DC before those laws can take effect — a requirement that was deactivated when five conservative members of the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

Ultimately, however, any decision calling Texas’s voter ID law into question must survive two significant obstacles. The first is that the Fifth Circuit is an especially conservative court, and it is likely that Texas will ask a panel of all 15 of the court’s active judges to reconsider this case. The fact that Haynes agreed that the law is problematic should help supporters of voting rights if Texas seeks full court review, but it is no guarantee that a majority of the Fifth Circuit will agree with her.

And, even if Haynes’s conclusion survives contact with the full Fifth Circuit, this case is reasonably likely to be reviewed by a Supreme Court that’s shown skepticism of voting rights claims generally and of the Voting Rights Act in particular.

[h/t thinkprogress]

NFTOS

STAFF WRITER

PLEASE DON'T VOTE

REPUBLICANS WOULD RATHER YOU NOT VOTE THIS MID-TERM CYCLE - THIS WAY THEY CAN WIN

Video Courtesy of TYT




The Republican party is counting on poor voter turnout to win back the Senate on November 4th, 2014. Do your part to help the GOP and stay home

The sad thing is, this is supposed to comedy, but too often the case, when mocking the republican, comedy is reality, and it then no longer becomes funny.

Get the hell out and vote readers!

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

"WHY DOESN'T THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA WANT PEOPLE TO VOTE"?

Voting rights advocates in North Carolina caught a lucky break on Thursday, where it was revealed that the panel of three judges who would consider that state’s comprehensive voter suppression law included one Clinton appointee, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, and two Obama appointees, Judges James Wynn and Henry Floyd. Last month, a George W. Bush appointee to a federal trial bench in North Carolina allowed the law to go into effect during the 2014 election, the panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit are now considering whether to affirm or reverse that decision. They heard oral arguments in the case on Thursday.

Several provisions are at issue in this case that all make it more difficult for residents of North Carolina to cast a vote. One provision cuts a week of early voting days. Another restricts voter registration drives. A third implements a strict voter ID law, although that provision does not take effect until 2016, so it would be reasonable for the court to decide not to suspend it during the 2014 election.

One provision that received a great deal of attention from the judges during Thursday’s oral arguments in this case is a change to the state law that causes ballots to be tossed out if a voter shows up in the wrong precinct. For the last decade, voters who showed up at the wrong precinct would still have their votes counted in races that were not specific to that precinct, so long as they voted in the correct county. The new law prohibits these ballots from being counted at all. According to the Associated Press, that means thousands of ballots will be thrown out each election year.

Judge Wynn, the only member of the panel who lives in North Carolina, appeared baffled by this provision. Explaining that he lives very close to a precinct that is not his assigned polling place, he asked the state to justify why his vote should be thrown out if he did not travel to a precinct that is further away from his home. At one point, his questions grew quite pointed — “Why does the state of North Carolina not want people to vote?” Wynn asked. At another point, he described a hypothetical grandmother who has always voted at the same place. Why not “let her just vote in that precinct?” he wondered?

An attorney defending the North Carolina law spent a great deal of his time at the podium arguing that it would be too disruptive for a court to suspend parts of North Carolina’s election law this close to the November elections. As a legal matter, this is a strong argument. In a 2006 case called Purcell v. Gonzalez, the justices reinstated a voter ID law that had been halted by a lower court. They explained that “court orders affecting elections, especially conflicting orders, can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls. As an election draws closer, that risk will increase.”

Yet the judges seemed skeptical of this argument as well, questioning what evidence the state could show that voters would actually be confused. When an attorney argued that restoring lost voting rights could be logistically challenging for the state, Judge Floyd asked whether “an administrative burden [can] trump a constitutional right?”

The argument that judges should heed Purcell‘s warning and be cautious about changing voting law close to an election also did not convince a much more conservative panel considering another voter suppression law in Wisconsin. Earlier this month, a panel of three Republican judges reinstated a voter ID in a single page order issued the same day that they heard oral arguments in the case. At the time, election law expert Rick Hasen criticized this order as a “very bad idea,” in part because of the reasons stated in Purcell. There are already yearly signs that Hasen was correct.

The Wisconsin case is already making its way to the Supreme Court, and the North Carolina case is likely to wind up there as well, especially if the Fourth Circuit rules against the state’s law. Should both cases come before the justices, that means that they will be confronted with one case where a court changed a state’s election law in a way that Democrats generally approve of, and another case where a court changed the state’s election law in a way that Republicans generally approve of. Both of these changes, moreover, would be made close to an election.

If the conservative Roberts Court really meant what it said in Purcell, then it is likely to allow the North Carolina law to go into effect while suspending the Wisconsin law. Should it allow both laws to take effect, however, that would raise serious concerns about whether the justices are willing to apply the same rule to every case, regardless of whether the rule benefits Democrats or Republicans.

Cross posted from thinkprogress

NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

VOTER SUPPRESSION IN OHIO?

TOUGHER PLACES TO VOTE IN RED

Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to review two voting measures making their way through the state legislature that she claims could “suppress the voting rights of African Americans and other minorities.”

The proposed bills (S. 238 and H.B. 269) would reduce the number of absentee-voting days by six, prevent newly registered voters from voting the day they register, and require voters to present valid identification — a driver’s license, a state or military ID card, or a passport — when casting a ballot.

In her letter, Fudge charges that the legislation violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which “prohibits any voting qualification or practice applied by the state which results in the denial or abridgment of the right to vote based on race.” “Recent estimates indicate that over 900,000 eligible voters in Ohio” lack the necessary ID, including as many as “one in four eligible African Americans,” the letter says. Same-day registration and voting “have recently been used at a higher rate by African Americans and lower-income voters.”

“With no indication that voter fraud is a widespread problem in Ohio, this proposal is a thinly veiled attempt to reduce the number of people able to exercise their right to vote,” she writes. “They are attempts to suppress the voting rights of African Americans and other minorities.”

Supporters of the effort argue that limiting early voting would free-up over-stressed election boards “during their busiest time of year” and note that the legislation “allows for free photo IDs for people who can’t afford to purchase one and who are at or below the federal poverty level.”

“I think we can have a reasonable debate about policy here,” said State Sen. Frank LaRose (R), the sponsor of the early voting change. “To invoke the specter of a racial matter, I think, takes it too far. It is kind of shameful to do that. What we are talking about is a very modest reduction in the number of early voting days that still leaves Ohio as a leader in the nation, by far, for early voting.”

On Saturday, The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s editorial board came out against the limitation, writing that “absent compelling evidence of election fraud…there is no good, pro-voter reason to end the practice.” It also condemned a separate measure that would change absentee ballot rules.

During the 2012 presidential election, Ohio Secretary of State Jon "we have a problem" Husted attempted to limit early voting to weekdays, and he defied a court order requiring early voting hours to be restored — although he eventually backed down.

Why should Ohio be any different than Pennsylvania, or any other state having been taken over by the American Taliban? When at all costs, when you can't win an election, cheat at all costs!

At the end of the day I don't think anyone is worried about people voting multiple times - teabaggers are just worried about Democrats being allowed to vote once.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

IT'S IN THEIR NATURE

SCORPION AND THE FOG, IT'S IN THEIR NATURE

On Face the Nation this Sunday, Colin Powell, former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, warned his fellow Republicans that the continuing push to restrict voting rights is going to “backfire” and harm the Republican Party:

These kinds of procedures that are being put in place to slow the process down, and make it likely that fewer Hispanics and African Americans might vote I think is going to backfire, because these people are going to come out and do what they have to do in order to vote and I encourage that.

Powell went on to describe just how damaging these laws may be as the country’s demographics shift:

Here’s what I say to my Republican friends: The country is becoming more diverse. Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans are going to constitute a majority in a generation. You say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message, you say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the Republican side. This is not the way to do it. The way to do it is to make it easier to vote and then give them something to vote, they can believe it. It’s not enough to say just we have to have a new message. We have to have a substance to that new message.

Voting rights were an integral demand of the March on Washington 50 years ago, but the American Taliban has been pushing a variety of restrictions at the state level and are now emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling invalidating part of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Powell remarked that these state laws “in some ways makes it a little bit harder to vote,” such as requiring ID, restricting voting hours, and making it harder for students to cast a ballot.

Since the Supreme Court decision that struck down the section of the VRA that forced states with histories of disenfranchisement to get clearance from the federal government on changes to voting, at least six states have renewed their efforts to pass voting restrictions, including voter ID measures, redrawing districts so that minority voting blocks could have their power weakened, and others. North Carolina became the first to enact a law, with a measure that some have described as “the worst voter suppression law” in the country. It requires strict voter ID to cast a ballot, reduces the number of early voting days by a week, eliminates same-day voter registration during early voting, and makes other severe changes. Powell previously warned that North Carolina’s law is the kind that “turns people away” from the radical Party.

While proponents of these measures purport to be worried about rampant voter fraud, on Sunday Powell remarked, “Nothing substantiates that, there isn't widespread abuse.” In fact, zero of the 17 suspected fraud cases in Boulder, CO were found to exist, and there have been many failures for those attempting to find evidence of widespread voter fraud. A person is 39 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit fraud.

Voting restrictions aren't the only way the Talibangelicals are screwing up their effort to reach out to minority voters, however. They've voted to deport DREAMers, boycotted Spanish-language TV, argued for self-deportation, reacted poorly to the Trayvon Martin ruling, and used racially insensitive language, among other things.

The GOP is not going to change, it is their nature.

The Scorpion and the Frog:

A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the.
scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The
frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion.
says, "Because if I do, I will die too."

The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream,
the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of.
paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown,
but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"

Replies the scorpion: "Self Destruction, Its my nature..."

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

50 YEARS AGO TODAY

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING "I HAVE A DREAM"

50 years ago today, Rev Dr. Martin L King Jr. led a march against injustice, an injustice that unfortunately still has a foothold today in this country, fifty years ago to the exact day, when the chains where to be broken, but yet still exist - courtesy and via of the GOP.

While I can' be at the march - as was my intent - I am there in spirit, for the hatred that my race has inflicted on another, is a source of both an embarrassment and shame for me - that white folk can hate another human - just for the color of their skin.

There is only one hate bigger than America's, and that was Hitler's towards the Jewish.

No amount of "I am sorry", no amount of apologies can erase the ignorance of the white folk in America, as we certainly hold the crown jewel of being the greatest race haters to ever troll the earth!

Now is the time to finish Dr. King's dream, the time to complete the work of Medgar Wiley Evers, its time to end the hate - because ones skin tone doesn't match yours!

Today women make 77 cents to the dollar of the male. Today, GOP run states are turning back the hands of time with concepts like radical voter suppression laws, Gerrymandering is at epidemic proportions within the American Taliban's plan, a priority in their "Southern Strategy".

Equal rights means equal rights, not partial rights, nor rights entrapped by smoke and mirrors.

The number of blogs I have written on race are a plethora - my stance is clear and concise, race is still a huge problem in these United States, we can choose to ignore its existence, or we can choose to kill this ugly beast once and for all!

We owe it to Dr. King to see this through!

Dr. King's speech; It was/is a monumental work, which will stand independently as one of the greatest speeches/oratories of all time.

In support of the march today, I leave you with the speech that rocked this country, and no doubt in this bloggers mind - the most profound of speeches ever given in the history of this world.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR's "I HAVE A DREAM"




I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

NORTH CAROLINA TAKES MAJOR STRIDES BACKWARDS

The state of North Carolina, a state which bleeds "Teahadists" [GOP] legislatively speaking, has ratcheted up its hate for everything non-white. Literally since the 2010 mid-terms, the state has gone to great lengths to punish those - those who are not pasty white GOPers.

North Caroline has taken the bold stance, that if we can't win a Presidential election honestly, we will cheat, lie and Gerrymander until we do win.

North Carolina’s new voter suppression law shows why the Voting Rights Act is still necessary.

Usually it takes years to judge when the Supreme Court gets something very wrong. Think of Justice Kennedy’s opinion for the court in the 2010 campaign-finance case, Citizens United, freeing corporations to spend money on elections. He wrote that the “appearance of [corporate] influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy,” a point that remains hotly debated even as the amount of money in federal elections skyrockets.

But the conservative justices’ decision this past June in Shelby County v. Holder, striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, has already unleashed, at least in North Carolina anyway, the most restrictive voting law we've seen since the 1965 enactment of the VRA. Texas is restoring its voter ID law which had been blocked (pursuant to the VRA) by the federal government. And more is to come in other states dominated by Republican legislatures.

Rachel Maddow spent the day in Elizabeth City North Carolina, digging up the goods on the fecal matter that is the North Carolina GOP. The below six clips represent the entire hour long Maddow show.

This story needs to be exposed and viewed frequently, for if you think this is just a bunch of hillbilly rednecks out having fun, think again. The actions of this states Governor and the state legislature are both repugnant and shameful.

NORTH CAROLINA DARKNESS

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MOST DIFFICULT

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MEDDLING KIDS

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DAMAGE TO VOTING RIGHTS

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OLD WARS NEW WARS

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ENDING CAMPUS VOTING

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Colin Powell just happened to be speaking in North Carolina, with the states Governor [Pat McCrory] in attendance. Powell condemned the state, the governor and his party saying: 

“These kinds of actions do not build on the base. It just turns people away,” said Powell, President George W. Bush’s former secretary of state. “What it really says to the minority voters is ... ‘We really are sort-of punishing you.’” 

Powell disputed arguments by McCrory and some legislative Republicans that voter fraud likely exists but is hard to detect. 

“You can say what you like, but there is no voter fraud,” Powell said. “How can it be widespread and undetected?”

POWELL

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The American Taliban, not only in North Carolina, but across these great United States, need to be taken behind the woodshed and enlightened.

The only way to rid this country of these putrid radical right wing nuts, is to vote them out of office. Until we do so, we rightfully get what we deserve.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

VOTER SUPPRESSION YOU SAY?

ROSANELL EATON TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT

When Rosa Nell Eaton was 21 years old and living in segregated North Carolina, she became one of the first African Americans in her county registered to vote, after successfully completing a literacy test that required her to recite the preamble to the Constitution. But now, at 92 years old, she faces new obstacles under the voter suppression law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (Teahadist) Monday. For one thing, she may not qualify for the voter ID card required under the new law, because the name on her birth certificate is different from the name on her driver’s license and voter registration card. Reconciling this difference will be a costly and time-consuming administrative endeavor. For another, she has participated in early voting since it was instituted in the state. Now, it’s been cut back a week.

She is one of several individuals who, along with civil rights groups, are already suing the state for what may be the most restrictive voting law in the nation. Other restrictive new provisions in the law include the elimination of same-day registration and early registration for high schoolers in advance of their 18th birthday, and prohibiting certain kinds of voter registration drives that tend to register low-income and minority voters.

ROSANELL EATON

Eaton participated in Moral Monday protests in North Carolina before the law passed, expressing opposition with fellow North Carolinians to a raft of new state conservative policies that would hurt the poor, women, minorities, and the environment. During one Moral Monday event, her daughter Armenta told reporters on her behalf, “She thought things were smooth sailing. She’s seen the good, bad, and the ugly. Now she’s seeing the ugly again. She fought for civil rights, she was a civil rights worker, and now she sees that it’s going backward.”


Voter Fraud Under Bush four one hundred thousandths of a percent [.00004]




Tuesday morning, she was back out again protesting the passage of the bill, this time delivering an impassioned address to an energized crowd. “Here I am at 92 years old doing the same battling,” she told the crowd. “I have registered over 4,000 citizens in the state, and at it again, alongside Republicans’ efforts to eliminate and cut early voting. … We need more, not less, public access to the ballot.” She concluded, “At the age of 92, I am fed up and fired up.”

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, you are today's asshat of the day!

RELATED:
North Carolina governor’s popularity plummets

NFTOS

Editor-In Chief

Roger West

NORTH CAROLINA RACTHETS UP STUPID

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory Proves No IQ Needed To Run The State

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said Friday he would sign a bill passed by the North Carolina legislature that would become the most oppressive voting laws in the nation. But when asked to speak about a provision in the bill that would prohibit 17-year-olds from registering in advance of their 18th birthday, McCrory admitted he “did not know enough” and had not read that portion of the bill.

The bill, passed just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and paved the way for new suppressive state laws, imposes a laundry list of new restrictions on access to the ballot, including eliminating same-day registration, cutting early voting, easing campaign contribution limits, and expanding the mechanisms for alleging voter fraud. In remarks saying he would sign the bill, McCrory focused on his support for the bill’s voter ID requirement — a particularly oppressive and discriminatory policy that McCrory has long supported. But when asked by an Associated Press reporter about another provision in the bill to limit new voter registration opportunities, McCrory said, “I don’t know enough. I’m sorry. I haven’t read that portion of the bill.”

McCrory also dodged questions about two other elements of the bill that restrict early voting and end same-day registration, choosing instead to tout new campaign contribution limits, and pointing to an amendment — added by Democrats — that would expand early voting hours to make up for the limited early voting days.

When a reporter repeated the original question, McCrory said same-day registration concerns him because of the “possibility for abuse.” He added: “There’s plenty of opportunity for voter registration — online, off-line, through many methods. I thought that was a fair system before, and I think it’s a fair system now.” The Associated Press pointed out that North Carolina has no online voter registration, although voters can download a form online and print it out.

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision that effectively disables federal oversight of states with a history of voting discrimination, states have raced to pass new restrictive voting laws. On Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said he would challenge a voter ID law in Texas under another provision of the VRA not affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling. Holder hinted he would pursue similar actions against other states with restrictive laws, saying, “This is the department’s first action to protect voting rights [after the Supreme Court's ruling]. … But it will not be our last.”

So if I have this right, the options are (a) he signed a bill into law that he hadn't read, or (b) he merely told others he hadn't read the bill, to deflect questions about the law's specifics, which he felt uncomfortable discussing, or (c) North Carolina is the home of the most gullible conservative voters, East of California.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

KU KLUX KOURT

KU KLUX KOURT

BREAKING: SCOTUS FINDS DOMA UNCONSTITUTIONAL: We will cover this story tomorrow as there is too much information to read prior to publishing. LBGT community, welcome to being treated as humans today, Congratulations!


Twenty four hours removed, and it's a great day for bigots, courtesy of SCOTUS!

The Supreme beings [Court], they continue to destroy its own legitimacy as it descends further into politically biased decision making. This VRA [voting rights act] decision ranks amongst the shittiest this land has ever experienced- with Dred Scott, Citizens United, and Bush v Gore - these decisions are among the most morally bankrupt and non-constitutionally based political decisions in the courts history! Political posturing of Supreme Beings has to stop!

SCOTUS has decided to throw the ball back to congress, to let them update the laws for voter rights. Seriously? The American Taliban in the House couldn't even figure out how to get together and vote through the traditionally bipartisan farm bill this year. This wasn't the first time either; they couldn't pass it last year as well. The GOP lead House of Representatives are an abysmal failure, [10 % approval rating] and it appears that the Supreme Court isn't much better.


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This decision to appraise that Section 4 and 5 of the VRA is unconstitutional - is a horrible one, regardless of whether they left Congress enough slack to fix the section and bring it back in line with the Constitution. It’s a slap in the face to Martin Luther King Jr, Medgar Evers and to every African American in this country.

Anyone who was awake last year and saw the American Taliban in state legislatures all over the country try to enact new laws that would make it harder for people to vote — people who would demographically speaking be more likely to vote Democratic. It’s a slap in the face to anyone living in those districts that were under the scrutiny of the Federal Election Committee under Section 4 and 5.

SCOTUS found a way yesterday to punt on the decision — like they did with affirmative action. It was both cowardly and a horrendous example of how to turn a blind eye - to the overwhelming evidence that the American Taliban is getting desperate to win elections, and are resorting to tactics we know are unconstitutional, this decision is just ludicrous!

The bottom line is simple, whether they knew they were doing it or not - sending Section 4 and 5 back to Congress for additional work - these five radical conservative Supreme Court Justices found the most convenient and politically benign way possible to get a crucial piece of legislation that kept the American Taliban's shenanigans from disenfranchising voters out of the way.

Fifty years of work reversed, and now the government has been stripped of its power to protect their voice from racially-charged discrimination.

Yesterday the Supreme Beings weakened a country.

If you find someone applauding the VRA decision today, more than likely they are a racist!

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

FLORIDA TEA BAGGERS ADMIT TO VOTER SUPPRESSION

Floridians endured election chaos and marathon voting lines this year, largely thanks to reduced early voting hours, voter purges, and voter registration restrictions pushed by Republican legislators. In an exclusive report by the Palm Beach Post, several prominent Florida Republicans are now admitting that these election law changes were geared toward suppressing minority and Democratic votes.

Former governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) and former GOP chairman Jim Greer (R-FL), as well as several current GOP members, told the Post that Republican consultants pushed the new measures as a way to suppress Democratic voters. Crist expanded early voting hours in 2008 despite party pressure, but Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) targeted early voting almost immediately when he took office in 2011. Scott’s administration claimed the new laws were meant to curb in-person voter fraud, despite the fact that an individual in Florida is more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud.

Current party members and consultants confirmed the motive was not to stop voter fraud but to make it harder for Democrats and minorities to vote:

Wayne Bertsch, who handles local and legislative races for Republicans, said he knew targeting Democrats was the goal. “In the races I was involved in in 2008, when we started seeing the increase of turnout and the turnout operations that the Democrats were doing in early voting, it certainly sent a chill down our spines. And in 2008, it didn’t have the impact that we were afraid of. It got close, but it wasn’t the impact that they had this election cycle,” Bertsch said, referring to the fact that Democrats picked up seven legislative seats in Florida in 2012 despite the early voting limitations.

Another GOP consultant, who did not want to be named, also confirmed that influential consultants to the Republican Party of Florida were intent on beating back Democratic turnout in early voting after 2008.

A GOP consultant who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution said black voters were a concern. “I know that the cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves,” he said.

Though the state ultimately went to President Obama, the Republican effort to suppress votes was largely successful. A post-election report found that new voting restrictions led to a huge increase in provisional ballots, which are cast when there is some question of the voter’s eligibility.

While crying voter fraud, the Florida GOP had to confront its own scandal when a voter registration firm they hired turned in hundreds of fraudulent registration forms in several Florida counties. The GOP hastily cut ties with the group when the state opened a criminal investigation into their operations.

 

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West