Progressives Every Day: Some Debate Counter-Programming
Progressives Every Day: Some Debate Counter-Programming
Some more SCOTUS news and plenty going on in Florida
Welcome to the Thursday evening edition of Progressives Everywhere!
I am on the road tonight but wanted to get some notable news items to you for when you need something — anything — to wash the taste out of your mouth from the debate tonight.
On that note: It’s incredible how many lies Trump can say in just two minutes. It’s an incredible feat. Many people say it’s the most remarkable, fantastic talking accomplishment ever.
Biden, meanwhile, did a very good job not just calling out the lies, but speaking to his values and pointing out Trump’s (many, many, many) flaws and cruel policies. I think it was his best debate. The sections on immigration and race truly illuminated the vast differences between the two men.
Important News You Need to Know
Supreme Court and Voting Rights: Yesterday, a federal court upheld North Carolina’s nine-day absentee ballot deadline, which counts any vote that comes in by November 12th. Well, today, the North Carolina Republican Party and the Trump campaign appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
As I’ve noted the last few nights, SCOTUS is amped up to disenfranchise as many people as possible — and once Amy Coney Barrett gets installed on the court Monday, there will be enough far-right justices on the court to strike down voting rights even on the odd occasion that Chief Justice Roberts decides not to join them.
And that’s exactly what the NC GOP and Trump campaign is hoping to have happen. As are Pennsylvania Republicans — yep, they’re pushing their own lawsuit yet again, knowing that Coney Barrett changes the game.
Just look at Coney Barrett’s record on voting rights in case you have any doubts!
In Texas, meanwhile, the entirely-GOP State Supreme Court upheld Harris County’s curbside voting program. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the state GOP appeal to SCOTUS anyway.
Oh, and speaking of the judicial system and voting rights, this story goes into great depth about the Supreme Court’s long, long history of suppressing voting rights. Definitely worth a read.
Criminal Justice Reform: Here’s a good guide to all the ballot measures across the country that will impact the criminal justice system — for better or worse. A few big ones in California!
Bernie Sanders: I know we’re focused on Joe Biden right now, but two pieces of Bernie-related news broke today that seem worth sharing.
First, Politico reported today that Sen. Sanders is interested in becoming Secretary of Labor under President Biden.
I can actually see it being a possibility, as Sanders has played nice throughout the general election and barnstormed to GOTV for Biden since March.
One issue would be how Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, would respond to a vacancy in the Senate, as he’d be able to appoint someone for six months until a special election to replace Sanders. In February, he said that he’d abide by the Vermont tradition of appointing someone of the same party as the departing Senator — in Sanders’ case, that means an independent.
That gives him a loophole, if he wants it, to appoint a conservative independent, but he’s a moderate guy in a very blue state, so I don’t know if he’d do that.
The other notable Bernie story: Today Sen. Sanders came out with his own progressive First 100 Days agenda — and said he’d support primaries against any Democratic senator who blocked important elements of a progressive agenda.
I know we need party unity right now, but if a President Biden and a Democratic-majority Senate don’t get some transformative policy passed right away, it’s going to mean big trouble for the country and the future of the party. The mess they’re going to inherit is going to require some gigantic transformational policies.
And they’ll be getting a lot of pressure from progressive Democrats in the House, too.
And on that note, here’s an excellent new website for your perusal.
Florida: Two stories today really give you an idea of why this is the ultimate swing state — and why Republicans continue to win it.
Spoiler alert: They don’t just win it due to disenfranchisement, they win it due to gross targeted voter suppression. Read this reported piece in the Miami Herald about what the Trump campaign did in 2016 with the help of Facebook and Russia.
And this piece in the Tampa Bay Times about a very rural community in Hendry County is a decent look at the sway of Trumpism, the systemic racism baked into the culture, and the seeds of progressivism being sewn there.
Oh, and Florida just surpassed New Jersey in COVID-19 deaths. That gives them the fourth-highest number of deaths in the country, behind New York (which has barely budged higher in months), California, and Texas.
Wait, before you go!
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