Friday Reads: Journey Back to White Male Privilege
Posted: November 1, 2013 Filed under: morning reads 31 Comments
Good Morning!
It’s amazing to me to read about the number of efforts afoot to try to disenfranchise so many different types of Americans. No where is this most apparent than the ongoing struggle to diminish the right to vote. It’s sad to watch the Supreme Court destroy much of the modern era’s momentum to expand the ability to participate in government.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, is leading to a new era of voter suppression that parallels the pre-1960s era—this time affecting not just African-Americans but also Hispanic-Americans, women, and students, among others.
The reasoning employed by Chief Justice John Roberts in Shelby County—that Section 5 of the act was such a spectacular success that it is no longer necessary—was the equivalent of taking down speed cameras and traffic lights and removing speed limits from a dangerous intersection because they had combined to reduce accidents and traffic deaths.
In North Carolina, a post-Shelby County law not only includes one of the most restrictive and punitive vote-ID laws anywhere but also restricts early voting, eliminates same-day voting registration, ends pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and bans many provisional ballots. Whatever flimsy voter-fraud excuse exists for requiring voter ID disappears when it comes to these other obstacles to voting.
In Texas, the law could require voters to travel as much as 250 miles to obtain an acceptable voter ID—and it allows a concealed-weapon permit, but not a student ID, as proof of identity for voting. Moreover, the law and the regulations to implement it, we are now learning, will create huge impediments for women who have married or divorced and have voter IDs and driver’s licenses that reflect maiden or married names that do not exactly match. It raises similar problems for Mexican-Americans who use combinations of mothers’ and fathers’ names.
In a recent election on constitutional issues, a female Texas District Court judge, Sandra Watts, who has voted for 49 years in the state, was challenged in the same courthouse where she presides; to overcome the challenge, she will have to jump through hoops and possibly pay for a copy of her marriage license, an effective poll tax on women.
The Justice Department is challenging both laws, but through a much more cumbersome and rarely successful provision of the Voting Rights Act that is still in force. It cannot prevent these laws and others implemented by state and local jurisdictions, many of which will take effect below the radar and will not be challenged because of the expense and difficulty of litigation.
Cheer up! We have a new generation of suffragettes!’
12-year-old Madison Madison Kimrey, founder of NC Youth Rocks, gave a rousing speech at a recent NAACP event, taking on Governor Pat McCrory, and the state’s recent highly restrictive Voter I.D. laws. Being 12, her particular concern was the elimination of the state’s pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-olds through schools and the state’s DMV that enables them to automatically be added to the voting rolls when they turn 18.
She completely nails Gov. McCrory, who refused to meet with her, calling her “ridiculous” and a “liberal prop.” Her response: “I am not a prop. I am part of a new generation of sufragettes.”
Gov. McCrory also said, according to Kimrey: “He had not read that part of the bill.”
In the words of Alicia Keyes: “This girl is on fire.”
Check the video out at the link.
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is likely to file cloture in the coming hours on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, BuzzFeed has learned, which would set up a Monday evening vote on a motion to proceed to debate on the bill to ban LGBT discrimination in the workplace.
Reid is likely to file a cloture petition on the bill this evening, a Democratic leadership aide told BuzzFeed Thursday, which would set a vote on the motion to proceed on debate of ENDA for Monday evening.
If the motion to proceed, which requires 60 votes, is agreed to, the Senate would debate and eventually vote on the bill. The vote would be the first Senate vote on the legislation since 1996 and the first vote ever on the legislation with both sexual orientation and gender identity protections.
Advocates say that they have clear support from 59 senators, including all 55 Democrats in the Senate and four Republicans, with a handful of other Republican senators as potential yes votes.
The new normal is different, the new normal is not an employment-to-population ratio of 63%. It’s an employment to population ratio of 59%. Out of every 15 people who we would have expected to have a job in the America of 2007 doesn’t have a job in the America of today. There is no sign that this will change. We have now seen four years without appreciable recovery in the employment-to -population ratio to what we used to think of as normal. And labor-force participation rate is now falling much much faster than we can justify from the demography. In long-run historical perspective, we are back to a labor force share of the population that we had in the late 1970s, when American feminism was at most only half-completed. An awful lot of those who are unemployed are long-term unemployed. Employers look at them askance when they apply for jobs. An awful lot more of the employment shortfall is people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, and I don’t see what forces will push them to come back in. Thus we are likely to have a lot of slack in the American labor market–and a large shortfall of aggregate demand below potential supply–as far into the future as we can see.
If you are running a business, demand for your products will be low. But if you are ruining a business, it is also a fact that your margins are likely to be high. For businesses, these two effects more or less offset each other, and businesses wind up wight he operative cash flow they would have expected–and with lower borrowing costs because of low interest rates. This means the “new normal” is better for non-financial businesses than we thought we would see back in 2007. And the “new normal” is considerably worse for workers than the normal of 2007. On the labor side, it looks like jobs are going to be scarce for at least a decade to come. Few people will dare to ask for a raise. Few people will dare to quit.
In a rebuke to the White House, U.S. Senate Republicans blocked two of President Barack Obama’s nominations on the floor, reviving a threat from Democrats to change the rules for dealing with filibusters.
The Senate voted not to consider the nomination of Representative Mel Watt, a North Carolina Democrat, to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency following resistance from Republicans over his qualifications.
That opposition led to a 56-42 vote — four votes short of the 60 needed — to move the nomination to a final debate and floor vote on Obama’s nominee to replace Edward J. DeMarco, who has been acting director since 2009.
Less than an hour later, Republicans blocked Washington lawyer Patricia Millett, the first of Obama’s three nominations to vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, considered the nation’s second most influential because it hears appeals of federal regulatory cases.
The vote on her nomination was 55-38. Three Republican senators voted “present.”
Meanwhile, the impact of more strict abortion controls meant to restrict women’s right to access the constitutional act of conscience is coming home to roost all over the country.
On their last night in Dallas, the ramen noodles and microwave popcorn were finished. The money for the motel had run out too. So on a hot August night Jessica and Erick Davis and their three young kids slept in the Mazda rented for the trip.
It had only been a few hours since Jessica’s abortion. Because the procedure needed to be performed later in her pregnancy, it stretched over three days.
“I cried until I could fall asleep,” she said.
Earlier that month, at home in Oklahoma City, the Davises were told that the boy she was carrying had a severe brain malformation known as holoprosencephaly. It is rare, though possible, for such a fetus to survive to birth, but doctors told them that he would not reach his first birthday. “He would never walk, lift his head,” Jessica, 23, recalled in an interview.
“I could let my son go on and suffer,” she said. Or she could accept a word she didn’t like – abortion – “and do the best thing for my baby.”
“It took everything we had so that our son would not suffer”
The Davises’ ordeal was always going to be painful. But the grim path that led them to a night in the car was determined, nearly every step of the way, by a state that has scrambled to be the most “pro-life” in the nation. There are no exceptions for families like the Davises.
Oklahomans brag that theirs has become the reddest state. Republicans hold super majorities in both chambers and every single seat in the U.S. Congress. Republican Mary Fallin is governor. Every single Oklahoma county rejected Barack Obama–twice. The changed political landscape allowed Oklahoma to become a staging ground for the anti-choice movement’s strategy to undermine Roe v. Wade, one seemingly narrow restriction at a time.
“We are the guinea pigs,” said Ryan Kiesel, a former state lawmaker who is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma.
Since the consolidation of Republican control in 2010, the state legislature has passed at least sixteen laws relating to abortion, often with “no” votes in the single digits. It’s no coincidence that two of the cases involving women’s health currently hurtling towards the Supreme Court originated in Oklahoma.
“It’s sickened me about the state of Oklahoma, period,” Erick told MSNBC of his family’s experience. “I don’t even want to be in this state.”
So, welcome to the rightward march of the U.S. into the realm of fascist nightmares. Welcome to trying to get the world back to a place where white men get to decide everything.
What’s on you reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
We are in bad shape and Obama and the Democrats should start really raising hell about it. They should push an agenda as hard as the Republicans do. Being mild and meek is not cutting it and we’re failing in place.
To start Reid should use the nuclear option on the filibuster. Whether he does or not, McConnell will as soon as he gets power anyway.
You’re right. If the Dems don’t get off their asses and fight back we are going to be ruled by an insane minority for years to come.
Did you see an appeals court reinstated Texas’ insane abortion restrictions?
A 3 judge panel in the 5th Circuit led by Dubya’s pet wingnut lady judge. Can’t remember her name right off but she’s a real piece of work.
Dubya got to stack the court with these nuts and Obama’s appointments just languish.
Nuclear option on the filibuster now!
It was a panel of 3 women which is just appalling. Religious extremists all!
The panel’s ruling is not final, and a different panel of judges will likely hear the case in January. But in the meantime, Texas clinics will have to follow the order. Twelve of the 32 clinics in Texas that perform abortions don’t have doctors who have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, meaning they won’t be able to perform the procedure, though they can provide other services.
You are spot on this morning……..the direction we are headed is so fucking wrong. This morning Reince Priebus (head of republican party), was on tv selling Americans a few facts, like 6 people signed up for ACA on the first day the program was set up. Then he starts in on how many millions and millions were lied to (you can keep your insurance), and got letters kicking them off the rolls. When questioned about the recent poll showing that republicans have 22% approval rating, he jumped that fence, and said that the democrats are now afraid to face those people who have been bumped from their beloved insurance plans.
Tell you what I would like to see, the democrats stand with women and children, and elderly, and the disabled, and veterans, who as of today will have to seek other forms of food security, and a hell of bleak holiday season.. I want the poor who have to take on more pain, and unhealthy living, to get in the faces of Republicans, like Priebus, like Cruz, like Paul, and Marsha Blackburn, and let’s see how they face us when we come to knock on their doors. Of course it’s got to happen soon, most of them are ready to head home for their Pilgrim’s dinner.
The hell of it is the Democrats are afraid and for no good reason that I can see except for sheer cowardice. If they can’t stand up, they should just go home.
I hear you Ralph, they need to change the direction………
Didn’t expect this good story in Politico. The only way forward is to politically kill these sorry bastards off in 2014!
tbtp: The Obamacare sabotage campaign
Good grief!
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/11/why-bill-kristol-left-fox-news-176467.html
Kristol is a jerk but at least he has some integrity if this is true.
Wow.
48 million Americans see food stamp cuts due to congressional inaction http://ow.ly/qp7NU
Families brace as billions in food stamp cuts set in
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/families-brace-billions-food-stamp-cuts-set-8C11505320
I just don’t know what to say about such a rich country that lets its people deliberately starve
Makes you want to scream! The SNAP cuts and the late-term abortion story from OK are both horrible. There is no excuse for the inhumanity we visit upon each other in this country.
The Atlantic Wire @TheAtlanticWire 1m
WATCH LIVE: Press conference on LAX shooting http://bit.ly/19jgWXB
LAX shooter is in custody and one TSA agent is dead. Others are in hospital. 20 something male american. Some kind of TSA “contractor”.
More mass shootings in the USA … seems like it’s just a daily thing these days
The Republic of Murder:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/lax-shooting-not-a-random-event-110113
BB should get a kick out of this, the NYT agrees now.
BI via Yahoo: It’s Now Clear That Edward Snowden’s Life Is Dictated By Russian Intelligence
Thanks. I read that last night. It’s pretty obvious, the FSB is running Snowden. Ugh.
Media sucks, especially Sharyl Atkisson at CBS (hack)…
Consumer Reports: That Florida woman’s canceled Blue Cross policy? It’s junk insurance.
another one for BB to look at:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/01/study-links-racism-gun-ownership-and-resistance-to-gun-laws/
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
Fuck CBS, they’re even worse than we think!!!
Report: Benghazi witness was nowhere near diplomatic compound during terrorist attack
At one time, 60 Minutes was an important program. Now it’s just crap.
They are no better than CNN or Fox now. It’s pathetic!
This post and yesterdays was awesome Dak…just got to read them now. I have the cartoon post scheduled(the div codes may be a problem), my internet has been out for over a day now. It is working for the moment but I don’t think it will last long…already giving me the disconnect signals.
Thx and I will check it out …