You know how the Republicans were always boasting how African-Americans were doing better financially during Trump's presidency than at any other time? As though Trump were helping them? Few people bought into the lie, but how can you even tell that a serially-repeated "stat" like that is false? This morning, before dawn, the Washington Post, published an interview with Tom Vilsack, the new Secretary of Agriculture. Laura Reiley reported that Vilsack said that just a "tiny fraction of the Trump administration’s coronavirus relief for American farmers... In an interview with the Washington Post, Vilsack for the first time noted the extent to which the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated existing disparities across the American economy. The distribution of coronavirus relief increased those gaps, he said. Black farmers received only $20.8 million of nearly $26 billion in two rounds of payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced by the Trump administration last April, he said. 'We saw 99 percent of the money going to White farmers and 1 percent going to socially disadvantaged farmers and if you break that down to how much went to Black farmers, it’s 0.1 percent,' he said. 'Look at it another way: The top 10 percent of farmers in the country received 60 percent of the value of the covid payments. And the bottom 10 percent received 0.26 percent.'"
Out of power, the Republicans are still doing what they can to screw African Americans-- concentrating right now on disenfranchisement. This is an ad the NRSC just started running in Georgia, meant to anger white voters who back their voter suppression agenda against African Americans:
Axios' Alayna Treene reported this morning that white supremicist groups that are part of the Republican tent are fighting like dogs to kill H.R. 1, a bill meant to prevent voter suppression on the state level, especially in Georgia. "H.R. 1," she wrote, "has proven to be a galvanizing issue for the right. Fearing a federalized election system, several conservative grassroots groups are pouring money into advertising and other campaigns to prevent its passage. Heritage Action for America, the Heritage Foundation's non-profit, recently launched a $10 million initiative against the bill. Susan B. Anthony List partnered with the American Principles Project to launch a new Election Transparency Initiative, led by former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli opposing the legislation. Tea Party Patriots, Republicans Attorney Generals Association and the Foundation for Government Accountability have launched similar efforts."
This morning, Change Research released Arizona survey data on H.R.1. Support for the policies in the bill is very strong. "Voters of all political affiliations," they found, "hate gerrymandering, dark money in politics, and disinformation about elections; they love election security and ensuring that everyone has an equal voice in our democracy. But just as importantly, they love nods to bipartisanship, like the 'independent bipartisan commissions' that will redraw districts, and doing away with 'liberal and conservative billionaires’ dark money.'"
A poll of Georgia voters, also released today, this one by Target Smart, finds that most Georgians-- and by a wide margin-- oppose the voter suppression legislation the Republicans are systematically pushing through now. And that even includes Republican voters. I wonder if it will be worth disenfranchising voters for Republican elected officials when these voters go to the polls next year.
Last night, just before konking out for the night, I watched a few minutes of Rachel Maddow. I woke up this morning and found the video of the horrifying few minutes I had watched. It's below and I want to ask you to watch it. You'll see why Texas white supremicist senator John Cornyn, who's been a truly despicable racist dog for his entire life in politics, is holding up the confirmation of Vanita Gupta for the #3 post in the Justice Department, who Cornyn, the racist, called "race obsessed." No doubt Cornyn would prefer to see Tom Coleman-- if he's out of prison-- as Assistant Attorney General instead of Gupta.
is cornyn a racist? is the nazi party racist? are nazi voters racists?
was hitler an anti-semite?
In the list of the world's stupidest questions, the latter is only a little stupider.