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Abbott's gonna RUN himself into a ditch.
What else can you say about a crooked politician who files a complaint based on a film by......James O keefe
Another Rich Politician...
Greg Abbott sends Battleground Texas complaint to Bexar County DA
More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news...int-to-/ndYBG/ (subscription required).Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office Friday recused itself from investigating complaints that voluntary deputy registrars affiliated with the Democratic group Battleground Texas might have violated the state election code by copying phone numbers off voter registration applications for future political use.
The complaints originally were filed with the secretary of state’s office in the wake of a Project Veritas undercover video, released Wednesday, of a Battleground Texas organizer in San Antonio describing the practice of copying down the phone numbers. The secretary of state’s office is not an investigative or enforcement agency, and the complaints were passed on to Abbott’s office. But Abbott, who is seeking his party’s nomination for governor, is likely to face Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, whose campaign is entwined with Battleground Texas, in the general election. So the attorney general recused himself, passing the matter on to the district attorney in Bexar County, where the alleged skirting of the election law took place.
-snip-
Amid howls of outrage from Republican officials, a D.C.-based spokesman for Battleground Texas — founded a year ago by alumni of the Obama presidential campaign to help turn Texas blue — defended the group as operating “in full compliance with the law” and said it was the victim of “inaccurate and misleading assertions by Republicans directed at one thing — making sure fewer Texans vote.”
“The allegations are based on footage by admitted criminal James O’Keefe whose partisan Republican antics of doctoring videos are well known,” the spokesman, Ellis Brachman, said. “Those associating themselves with him, making claims of fraud and using his rhetoric for their political gain should be ashamed of themselves. What is undoubtedly true is that if Republicans are willing to stoop to such transparent tactics then they are terrified of the prospect of more Texans going to the ballot box.”
“In the next few days we will send a more detailed response exposing these claims as utterly without foundation in Texas law,” Brachman said.
Abbott's gonna RUN himself into a ditch.
Up next.....Abbott files complaint based on story reported by the Onion....
Texas AG sides with hospital that allowed ‘sociopathic’ surgeon to maim, kill patients
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is going out of his way to defend four civil lawsuits against a hospital accused of allowing a “sociopathic” neurosurgeon to treat patients.
None of the suits name the state, but the Dallas Morning News reported that Abbott has asked a federal court for permission to represent Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano in the suits related to Dr. Christopher Duntsch.
The physician practiced medicine and performed “minimally invasive” spinal procedures in the north Texas area for two years before losing his license in 2013 after the deaths of two patients and the paralysis of four others.
The suits claim Baylor put revenue ahead of patient safety by overlooking the Duntsch’s substantial substance abuse issues and doing nothing to stop him from treating patients.
The physician told the newspaper Baylor made about $65,000 profit on each procedure he performed.
Former colleagues called Duntsch a sociopath and a “clear and present danger to patients,” and one doctor compared him to a serial killer.
Another surgeon was so alarmed by Duntsch’s actions that he took away his surgical tools in the middle of an operation.
The surgeon’s roommate and closest friend says Duntsch operated on him after a night of using cocaine, and he emerged from the surgery a quadriplegic.
Duntsch has since moved to Colorado and filed for bankruptcy, rendering him essentially judgment-proof, reported RH Reality Check.
State law requires the plaintiffs to prove Baylor acted with actual intent to harm patients, but the suits claim that statute is uncons utional.
Abbott, who is running for governor, has asked the court permission to defend the statute, although he is not required to do so.
If the law is upheld, patients would have a difficult time winning a suit against Baylor and collecting damages, and one of the plaintiffs’ attorney strongly criticized Abbott’s position.
“I think it’s absolutely insane that he has chosen to defend the hospital that enabled this … sociopathic neurosurgeon to wreak havoc on its patients,” said attorney James Girards. “I hate to think he’s doing it to pander to the medical lobby.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/1...e+Raw+Story%29
Abbott's taste, class is CRIPPLED
.....................
Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott is keeping it classy in Texas, where he refused to denounce the “Abortion Barbie” campaign posters that greeted Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis in California Thursday. It turns out that one of his supporters funded the posters.
Kathryn Stuard told the San Antonio Express-News “she donated an undisclosed amount to conservative street artist ‘Sabo’ to create the posters, which portray Davis’ face over a semi-naked Barbie doll with an exposed fetus in the womb.”
Sabo describes himself as a conservative and a Republican, according to San Antonio Express-News. Stuard claims that the campaign had nothing to do with the posters, she just felt like commissioning 20 of these nasty posters to greet Abbott’s Democratic rival for the Texas gubernatorial race, Wendy Davis, and Stuard just so happened to use the campaign strategy that Erick Erickson promised would alienate Latinos, in Los Angeles.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/...iticus+USA+%29
Americans "Christians" are OK with this abortion crap, but showing a woman's nipples? HORRORS!
Last edited by boutons_deux; 05-29-2014 at 05:35 AM.
Texas Republican Greg Abbott Tries to Bury His Court Fight With 600 School Districts in the Past
Greg Abbott’s battle with 600 school districts over draconian budget cuts is proving insurmountable in his attempt to brand himself as a pro education candidate.The bottom line is you can’t say with a straight face that you are pro-education while defending budget cuts which resulted in overcrowded classrooms, closed schools and unemployed teachers. No rational person is going to buy that line, let alone the parents and teachers at schools that are living with the results of budget cuts that Abbott continues to defend in court.At least, Greg Abbott or someone on his team finally figured out that trying to convince a school you are fighting in court that you are pro education continues to be an epic disaster. Unfortunately, his new tactic is just as awkward.
Abbot’s court battle with the school districts over budget cuts is an ongoing case. Last year, a lower court found that the cuts Abbott is defending are uncons utional. According toBloomberg, District Court Judge John Dietz ruled:
The court declares the current school finance system violates the Texas Cons ution in that it is inefficient, inequitable, and unsuitable and arbitrarily funds districts at different levels below the cons utionally required level of the general diffusion of knowledge,http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/...iticus+USA+%29[/COLOR]
Republican Attorney-General Greg Abbott Humiliated in Federal Court Ruling
In a ruling on attorney’s fees related to a redistricting case, a Federal Court Judge dealt Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott two doses of humiliation. Aside from ruling in favor of the groups involved for the full amount of nearly $1 million they requested, the opening paragraph of Judge Rosemary M. Collyer’s decision is anything but an endorsement of Abbott’s competence and at ude on this issue.
This matter presents a case study in how not to respond to a motion for attorney fees and costs. … rather than engage the fee applicants, Plaintiff Texas basically ignores the arguments supporting an award of fees and costs. In a three-page filing en led “Advisory,” Texas trumpets the Supreme Court’s decision, expresses indignation at having to respond at all, and presumes that the motion for attorney fees is so frivolous that Texas need not provide further briefing in opposition unless requested. Such an opposition is insufficient in this jurisdiction. Circuit precedent and the Local Rules of this Court provide that the failure to respond to an opposing party’s arguments results in waiver as to the unaddressed contentions, and the Court finds that Texas’s “Advisory” presents no opposition on the applicable law. Accordingly, the Court will award the requested fees and costs.
One doesn’t have to be a lawyer to understand the Court’s sentiments about Abbott’s conduct in this matter. The fact is Abbott and the Texas GOP beleve they should be free to suppress the votes of racial minorities, women and poor people. They also believe they should be able gerrymander districts so that those who survive the bureaucratic nightmare that goes with voting in Texas will count for as little as possible. They believe it because it’s also the only way their can maintain their choke hold on political power.
As great believers in the U.S. cons ution, oversight and accountability, Texas Republicans resent the Voting Rights Act because it requires oversight and accountability of states like Texas that have a long history of suppressing votes and violating the one-person one vote principle.After all, the Texas GOP has been calling for its repeal for years and it plans to reaffirm position as stated on page 11 their 2014 platform “We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965, codified and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized.”The fact that Texas violated the Voting Rights Act with its redistricting efforts in 2011 proves the VRA remains necessary to protect the voting rights of Texans from their state’s Attorney-General and his political ambitions. Texas is also one reason that Congress should get moving on an updated pre-clearance formula that has been languishing because of Republican obstructionism since January this year. Fortunately,hearings on the proposed law will occur next Wednesday.
This case is the latest confirmation that, if elected, Abbott has no desire to represent the interests and concerns of all Texas. He already proved that his priority is to care about the interests of his financial backers above those of Texas cancer victims. His education policy proves that his priority is to restrict access to education based on standardized tests for four year olds.If elected, Greg Abbott would be the same arrogant and incompetent man he is in the courtroom, as governor.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/...iticus+USA+%29
Abbott, Perry are examples of the incompetence, misgovernance resulting from Repugs everywhere acting like their extreme ideology trumps all laws, regulations, ethics, and government itself.
Greg Abbott's 'drive around' asking where chemicals are stored plan works as well as you'd expect
After blocking the public from seeing state records detailing where dangerous chemicals are being stored, Texas attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott says Texans concerned about the issue should just "drive around" to companies asking them what chemicals they store.
"You can ask them if they do, and they can tell you, well, we do have chemicals or we don't have chemicals, and if they do, they tell which ones they have," Abbott said. Well.
Who could have predicted that things might not work out exactly that way?
WFAA chose a couple businesses not far from downtown Dallas. First up was Oxy Chemical, where the plant manager seemed eager to comply. But, 15 minutes later, things started to look less promising. WFAA was told to take up the request with an Oxy Chemical corporate communications manager in Los Angeles. That manager said he wasn't familiar with Tier II sheets nor Attorney General Abbott's directive for businesses to merely turn them over to the public. WFAA left empty handed.
Another company actually closed its gates on the reporters when they attempted to get video of chemicals being stored in plain sight.
So for Texans, the whereabouts of large quan ies of dangerous chemicals is going to remain a mystery, even though their attorney general and would-be governor says "You, as a community member of this state, can go to any chemical facility in the entire state of Texas and say, 'Identify for me all chemicals you have on your facility.' And you are en led to get that information."
But when the attorney general has already blocked the information from public release, exactly who is going to enforce the rights of the "community member of this state"?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/0...28Daily+Kos%29
ing TX Repugs and the all y'all asshole bubbas and rednecks who elect them!
34 Most Demented Things in the Texas GOP Platform
The Texas GOP unveiled its platform recently, and it is one scary, feverish do ent. As Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker puts it: [3]
The thing is, the Republican Party of Texas has a dream. Lots of dreams: its platform, unveiled last week, has sixteen thousand words’ worth. The road it maps is anything but royal; these good people, after all, are republicans, albeit with a capital “R.” But the do ent does lead to the G.O.P.’s unconscious, or part of it: its fearsome, rampaging id.
What is troubling is that, as much as we'd like to, this do ent can't just be dismissed as coming from some crazy outlier group. This is the official Republican party representing the state from which we got our last Republican president, is bound to run some more, and is one of the biggest states in the Union, with lots of electoral votes.
Yikes!
Here are 34 other highlights of the 40-page do ent:
1. On nullification:• The Texas Legislature should nullify—indeed, “ignore, oppose, refuse, and nullify”—federal laws it doesn’t like. (Yes, you read that right, Texas Republicans want to be able to ignore or nullify federal laws it does not agree with. Note to Texas, the Supreme Court has shot down every state's attempt to 'nullify' federal laws since 1809. Then again, with today's court, you never know.)
2. On doing away with most federal agencies:• When it comes to “unelected bureaucrats”—i.e., pretty much the entire federal work force above the janitorial level—Congress should “defund and abolish these positions.” (There is a long laundry list of federal agencies that the Texas GOP would like to see defunded and abolished, many more than Rick Perry could not remember. But it does start with the EPA, because the right to pollute, and also for the Koch Brothers and others to be able to store dangerous chemicals [4] in secret places and wherever the they want to even close to schools and communities, is sacred.
3. On not electing Senators:• The Seventeenth Amendment, which was adopted in 1913, be repealed, so that “the appointment of United States Senators” can again be made by state legislators, not by voters. (Senators should be appointed not elected. So, Texas should be able to repeal the parts of the Cons ution that it does not agree with.)
4. On choice:We strongly support a woman’s right to choose to devote her life to her family and children.
5. On being pro-life, except sometimes:We revere the sanc y of human life and therefore oppose genocide, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. Also, properly applied capital punishment is legitimate, is an effective deterrent, and should be swift and unen bered.
6. On marriage:We support the definition of marriage as a God-ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman.
7. And, just to be clear:We oppose the recognition of and granting of benefits to people who represent themselves as domestic partners without being legally married.
8. On sexuality:sexuality is a chosen behavior that is contrary to the fundamental unchanging truths that have been ordained by God in the Bible, recognized by our nation’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. sexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include sexual couples. We believe there should be no granting of special legal en lements or creation of special status for sexual behavior, regardless of state of origin.
9. But we're willing to help gay people with this totally discredited approach:We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their sexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.
10-26. Here is a partial list of what the Texas GOP would like to see abolished:• Personal-income taxes
• Property taxes
• Estate taxes
• Capital-gains taxes
• Franchise and business-income taxes
• The gift tax
• Minimum-wage laws
• Social Security (“We support an immediate and orderly transition to a system of private pensions”)
• The Environmental Protection Agency
•The Department of Education and all its functions
• “Unelected bureaucrats”
• “Any and all federal agencies not based on an enumerated power granted by the United States Federal Cons ution”
• Congressional pensions
• Supreme Court jurisdiction in cases involving abortion, religious freedom, and the Bill of Rights
• The Federal Reserve
• “Foreign aid, except in cases of national defense or catastrophic disasters, with Congressional approval”
• Obamacare
27.-30. And here are some things that Texas Republicans can get behind:• Withdrawal from the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the World BankMore random crazy stuff:
• “Traditional methods of discipline, including corporal punishment”
• “Reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education ins utions.”
• Returning to “the time-tested precious metal standard for the United States dollar.”
31. Israel:Our policy is inspired by God’s biblical promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel and we further invite other nations and organizations to enjoy the benefits of that promise.
32. Climate change:While we all strive to be good stewards of the earth, “climate change” is a political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives. We urge government at all levels to ignore any plea for money to fund global climate change or “climate justice” initiatives.
33. On immunizations:All adult citizens should have the legal right to conscientiously choose which vaccines are administered to themselves, or their minor children, without penalty for refusing a vaccine. We oppose any effort by any authority to mandate such vaccines.
34. And finally, on guns, the most sacred right of all. Per Hertzberg:In the opinion of the Republican Party of Texas, as set forth in its platform, the Second Amendment flatly decrees that “no level of government shall regulate either the ownership or possession of firearms.” No level, no regulation: the somewhat mentally ill, therefore, are not the only dubious characters whose right to assemble private arsenals the Amendment guarantees. Psychotics, sociopaths, the terroristically inclined, and violent criminals out on bail or parole are similarly privileged. (However, “disenfranchisement of convicted felons” is O.K.)
Perhaps the Texas Republicans don’t really mean what they say. Perhaps there’s just something about guns that overstimulates them.
Consider this outburst:
All federal acts, laws, executive orders, and court orders which restrict or infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms shall be invalid in Texas, not be recognized by Texas, shall be specifically rejected by Texas, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in Texas.There’s more—much more—where all this comes from [5]. No doubt you will have your own favorites. I’ve only scratched the surface.
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-an...age=1#bookmark
All y'all TX rednecks, bubbas, Bible thumpers, gun fellators really know how to vote EXCELLENT people into office.
Greg Abbott is being blasted by the media, online activists and Texas citizens for his decision to side with chemical producers like the notorious Koch Industries and against Texas families. And today, Democratic attorney general candidate Sam Houston will begin a series of briefings explaining why Abbott's ruling was not just bad policy but a bad interpretation of law.
Abbott reversed the requirement that companies must inform the public when they are storing dangerous chemicals that might burn or explode—like what happened in West, Texas just last year.
Rather than admit his mistake, apologize for putting Texas families in danger and reverse his decision, Abbott pathetically tried to dodge responsibility by saying that he was “unaware” that his office had made the decision to let companies keep their dangerous chemical stockpiles secret.
In the weeks ahead, Greg Abbott will be called on to explain and justify a whole series of actions he has taken that benefit his insider friends and donors while hurting Texas men, women and their families. We expect he will attempt to dodge responsibility with misleading statements and weak excuses unfitting of a person seeking to lead the state of Texas.
Abbott even more stupid, ignorant, tone deaf than RickyBobby.
This is exactly how a Republican should act in this State.
If he wants to be re-elected.
This State is loaded with dumbass Republicans.
... sez TX will not Turn Blue
Changing South Is at Intersection of Demographics and Politics
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/up...tics.html?_r=0
Court Humiliates Greg Abbott (Again) And Crushes his Uncons utional Attack on Public Education
Greg Abbott had another bad day in court on Thursday. He has a lot of those. In June, a Federal Court knocked him down to size in a dispute about attorney fees and courts costs in Abbott’sfailed attempt to salvage gerrymandering and vote suppression.
This time, an Austin judge dealt a devastating blow to Greg Abbott’s campaign against public education. In District court Judge John Dietz’s 404 page ruling, he concludes that the Lone Star state’s school financing system is uncons utional, unfair and insufficient.
The Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition et al challenged a state policy that “improperly controls local property taxation” Moreover, “the evidence clearly establishes that local districts do not have meaningful discretion in the levy, assessment and disbursement of property taxes; therefore the Texas school financing system imposes an uncons utional state property tax.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/08/29/court-humiliates-greg-again-crushes-uncons utional-attack-public-education-financing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=fe ed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Pol iticus+USA+%29
so the Repugs' beloved "states (racist, secessionist) rights" trumps Fed law, but Repugs' states law trumps municipal laws,regs, once again exposing Repugs as hypocrites and liars.
Last edited by boutons_deux; 09-01-2014 at 06:04 AM.
Abbott’s Houston raid didn’t end with arrests, but shut down voter drive
On an overcast Monday afternoon, officers in bulletproof vests swept into a house on Houston’s north side. The armed deputies and agents served a search warrant. They carted away computers, hard drives and do ents.
The raid targeted a voter registration group called Houston Votes, which was accused of election fraud. It was initiated by investigators for Attorney General Greg Abbott. His aides say he is duty-bound to preserve the integrity of the ballot box.
His critics, however, say that what Abbott has really sought to preserve is the power of the Republican Party in Texas. They accuse him of political partisanship, targeting key Democratic voting blocs, especially minorities and the poor, in ways that make it harder for them to vote, or for their votes to count.
A close examination of the Houston Votes case reveals the consequences when an elected official pursues hotly contested allegations of election fraud.
The investigation was closed one year after the raid, with no charges filed. But for Houston Votes, the damage was done. Its funding dried up, and its efforts to register more low-income voters ended. Its records and office equipment never were returned. Instead, under a 2013 court order obtained by Abbott’s office, they were destroyed.
And the dramatic, heavily armed raid never was necessary, according to Fred Lewis, president of Texans Together, the nonprofit parent group of Houston Votes. “They could have used a subpoena,” he said. “They could have called us and asked for the records. They didn’t need guns.”
The previously unreported 2010 raid coincided with agitation by a local tea party group and Lewis’ testimony in the trial of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. Lewis had filed a complaint against DeLay that, in large part, led to his indictment on corruption charges.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/polit...oter-drive.ece
Freedom!
Liberty!
Water the Tree!
Democracy!
every non-Repug OVER AND OVER AND OVER!
Desertic, corrupt, polluted, red neckTexas really really sucks.
Judge blasts 'expert witnesses' called to defend Texas anti-abortion law
An interesting tidbit about the Texas anti-abortion law that got struck down in part last week: The judge's disgust with how the state's "expert witnesses" conducted themselves. Specifically, that longtime anti-abortion crank and/or "consultant" and/or "expert witness" Vincent Rue had a large hand in how the other "expert witnesses" presented their cases:
[US District Judge Lee Yeakel] ultimately discarded the testimony of four expert witnesses because of Rue's "considerable editorial and discretionary control" over their written reports and testimony: James C. Anderson, the chair of Virginia Physicians for Life; Deborah Kitz, a health care consultant from Pennsylvania; Peter Uhlenberg, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; and Dr. Mayra Jimenez Thompson, an OB-GYN and University of Texas-Southwestern professor.Emails showed that that Rue sent Uhlenberg sources, "ideas," and "fact changes."
In one message, Uhlenberg wrote, "I need your critical suggestions." Kitz wrote Rue an email that said, "Tried to use as much of your material as I could, but time ran out." Anderson testified that Rue was responsible for "wordsmithing" his report to the court. Rue has tapped Anderson as an expert witness in four other states that paid Anderson more than $110,000.
So a judge is calling shenanigans on the whole cottage industry of faux-experts going to different states en masse in an organized effort to bend the law according to whatever a half-dozen people are willing to say in court in exchange for money. Well, at least this collection of people. This one time.In addition to the witnesses collaborating as to what they were going to say, the state's attorneys made an apparent effort to hide that effort, with witnesses only admitting to the collaboration when the plaintiffs "refreshed their memories" with emails proving that it happened. That also earned the wrath of the judge, but hey—it's the Culture of Life, not the Culture of Not Lying Thine Ass Off.
A bigger question is why Texas called on Vincent "post-abortion stress syndrome" Rue at all. As with recent anti-marriage equality state efforts, it seems fair to judge the caliber of the state's argument from the caliber of "witnesses" they can dredge up to support it. If a state defending a high-profile law can only muster the forces of a longtime discredited hack or two from the traveling discredited hack circus-slash-medicine wagon, that right there should suggest to any reasonable observer that there isn't, in fact, any more serious case to be made.
As a side point, if Attorney General Greg Abbott truly intends to use his office as a stepping stone to the governor's office, he might want to not be terrible at it.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/0...w?detail=email
The Republican efforts to fight voter registration drives is one of the most cynical and de able things that GOP leadership does, IMO.Abbott’s Houston raid didn’t end with arrests, but shut down voter drive
On an overcast Monday afternoon, officers in bulletproof vests swept into a house on Houston’s north side. The armed deputies and agents served a search warrant. They carted away computers, hard drives and do ents.
The raid targeted a voter registration group called Houston Votes, which was accused of election fraud. It was initiated by investigators for Attorney General Greg Abbott. His aides say he is duty-bound to preserve the integrity of the ballot box.
His critics, however, say that what Abbott has really sought to preserve is the power of the Republican Party in Texas. They accuse him of political partisanship, targeting key Democratic voting blocs, especially minorities and the poor, in ways that make it harder for them to vote, or for their votes to count.
A close examination of the Houston Votes case reveals the consequences when an elected official pursues hotly contested allegations of election fraud.
The investigation was closed one year after the raid, with no charges filed. But for Houston Votes, the damage was done. Its funding dried up, and its efforts to register more low-income voters ended. Its records and office equipment never were returned. Instead, under a 2013 court order obtained by Abbott’s office, they were destroyed.
And the dramatic, heavily armed raid never was necessary, according to Fred Lewis, president of Texans Together, the nonprofit parent group of Houston Votes. “They could have used a subpoena,” he said. “They could have called us and asked for the records. They didn’t need guns.”
The previously unreported 2010 raid coincided with agitation by a local tea party group and Lewis’ testimony in the trial of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. Lewis had filed a complaint against DeLay that, in large part, led to his indictment on corruption charges.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/polit...oter-drive.ece
Freedom!
Liberty!
Water the Tree!
Democracy!
every non-Repug OVER AND OVER AND OVER!
Desertic, corrupt, polluted, red neckTexas really really sucks.
They trump up fears of fraud, and get the gullible idiots that live in the right-wing news bubble to go along with it.
There is no evidence of the kinds of fraud they consistently alledge. When I have had Republican friends who claim this, I merely ask them to look into themselves. Not one has come back to me with anything, and I have not seen any evidence of any real problem posted here either.
With Congressional Repugs pushing their approval down to 10% range, their scorched-earth obstructionism has disgusted 10Ms of voters, many into disaffection so severe, the cynicism so complete, that they won't'/don't vote, which is exactly what the Repug/VRWC strategy wants. Repugs win in purple states when non-Repug/disaffected voters don't vote.
iow, the better the Repugs are in MISgoverning/NON-governing, the better their chances are at MORE power to up America.
Congress has 10% approval, but 90% of in bents are re-elected.
Confederate racists still screwing the slave descendants trying to maintain their right to vote
Police Arrest Young Black Politician For Distributing Voting Rights Leaflets
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA—The stars of North Carolina’s Moral Mondays movement took the stage on Labor Day at Charlotte’s Marshall Park to condemn the state’s record on voter suppression and racial profiling, and urge the community to organize and turn out at the polls this November. Just a few hundred feet away, police cuffed and arrested local LGBT activist and former State Senate candidate Ty Turner as he was putting voting rights information on parked cars.
“They said they would charge me for distributing literature,” Turner told ThinkProgress when he was released a few hours later. “I asked [the policeman] for the ordinance number [being violated], because they can’t put handcuffs on you if they cannot tell you why they’re detaining you. I said, ‘Show me where it’s illegal to do this.’ But he would not do it. The officer got mad and grabbed me. Then he told me that I was resisting arrest!”
There is a local ordinance prohibiting leafleting on cars. But according to local activist Casey Throneburg, who also filmed the arrest, it is almost never enforced, and “certainly not with handcuffs.”
Instead of transporting Turner directly to the Mecklenburg County jail, which sits just a few blocks from Marshall Park, he said they took him first to an empty parking lot behind the highway. “They took me to three different spots other than the jail,” he said. “They knew they were in the wrong.”
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...mondays-rally/
"The Republican efforts to fight voter registration drives is one of the most cynical and de able things that GOP leadership does,"
This May Be The Strongest Voting Rights Decision Since The Justices Hobbled The Voting Rights Act
Ohio’s attempt to reduce the number of days voters may cast an early ballot is uncons utional and violates the Cons ution and the Voting Rights Act (VRA), according to a decision handed down Thursday by a federal court in that state.
Though the decision has a difficult road to travel before Ohio voters can be certain that it will stand — it will appeal to the Sixth Circuit, which has a conservative majority, and ultimately to the same Supreme Court that struck down a key provision of the VRA — Judge Peter Economus’ decision may be the strongest voting rights decision handed down since the justices’ attack on the VRA. Or, at least, it may be the strongest decision in the sense that it calls for a very strong shield to be erected around the right to vote. If his reasoning is ultimately upheld by a higher court, that would be a serious blow to efforts by many state lawmakers to enact laws restricting the franchise.
Much of Judge Economus’ opinion is devoted to explaining how limits on early voting disproportionately impact African-American voters. Many black churches, for example, conduct “Souls to the Polls” events that encourage churchgoers to vote after attending Sunday services — as an Ohio NAACP leader explained, “Sunday was a focal point also because many churches already provide transportation to take people to church, and carpools are also arranged so that everyone is together” — yet the new restrictions on early voting limit these churchgoers’ opportunities to vote on Sunday.
Additionally, the new early voting schedule eliminates “Golden Week,” a period when voters can register and vote on the same day. The same NAACP leader testified that African-Americans are especially likely to take advantage of this period because “people in the African-American community in [his community] move frequently, especially since the 2008 recession.”
Empirical data also demonstrates that black voters are more likely to take advantage of early voting. Indeed, according to University of Florida Research Professor Daniel Smith, an expert witness who testified in this case, the rate of early voting in areas that are entirely African-American is more than twice the rate in areas that are entirely white. Additionally, Smith explained that “there is strong empirical evidence in Ohio that a greater proportion of blacks not only cast [early] ballots than whites but do so on early voting days that have been eliminated by” the new voting schedule.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...ng-rights-act/
for the ignorant: Repug OH/Blackwell screwed the 2004 vote counting to throw OH and the election to dubya.
Repugs hate voting fraud (actually very hard, and essentially non-existent), but the adore counting fraud (esp easy with Repug-corporation voting machines).
Wendy Davis' adds have been very aggressive. I hope they are effective as well. Her PR gang have got it all over Abbott right now.
454 NC voters had ballots rejected in May primary, advocacy group says
Voter advocates and watchdog groups on Wednesday urged voters to prepare for the Nov. 4 elections by ensuring they’re registered at their current addresses before the Oct. 10 deadline, among other precautions aimed at ensuring their votes count.
Bob Hall, executive director of the Durham-based watchdog group Democracy North Carolina, and others held a news conference outside the State Board of Elections office in Raleigh. There, Hall said his organization reviewed records of thousands of provisional ballots cast in the May primary and found 454 were rejected because of election law changes enacted by the General Assembly in 2013.
The voters, Hall said, either weren’t able to register and vote during the early voting period because of the elimination of “same-day registration,” or they tried to cast provisional ballots outside their home precincts on Election Day, which is no longer allowed, and the ballots were rejected.
Hall cited names and home towns of voters whose ballots weren’t counted in May that would have been counted in 2012, before the law changes – which are being challenged in court – took effect. He mentioned Granville County resident Craig Thomas, who returned from serving in the Army in Afghanistan and went to vote early and found his registration was inactive. He cast a provisional ballot that wasn’t counted. Under the old system, he could have registered and voted the same day.
“These are real people. These are folks from all walks of life,” Hall said.
Hall suggested that the number of voters affected by the new laws passed by the Republican-led Legislature far outnumbers the number of potential fraud cases the laws were aimed at preventing.
“When they bring up cases of fraud, they’re talking about cases of three and four and five,” Hall said. “This is 450 people who were denied the right to vote in one primary election where you have small turnout. ... We could have thousands in the general (election), even in an off year.”
Hall and others on Wednesday urged voters to check their registrations at NCVoter.orgto make sure they are registered at their current addresses. They also advised voters to vote early, as some problems can be fixed at that time that can’t be fixed on Election Day. And, if voters wait until Nov. 4 to vote, they must vote in their home precincts.
“Most of these folks who were disenfranchised (in May) thought they could vote out of precinct, the way we’ve been doing it for several years now, and they were turned away,” Hall said.
Hall reiterated that preparation is key.
“For any big event in your life, you should be prepared,” he said. “Take that to heart with voting.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/10/4139800/454-people-had-ballots-rejected.html
I agree.
The voter ID and drug testing for welfare recipients are the two biggest piles of horse foisted by the GOP on their gullible rank and file I have ever seen.
even Wild Cobra has given up on defending voter ID laws, that should tell you how much of a waste of taxpayer dollars they are.
The Texas GOP is playing hardball, and trying to do whatever they can to discourage Democrats to vote.
This is, to me, so bizarrely self-defeating in the long run, that I can just shake my head at the stupidity. Cynical bull like the voter ID law will be, I hope, remembered for a long time by the targeted minorities.
As Democrat, I would far prefer winning on ideas, since the GOP tends to have almost none, other than "Obummer bad" like some collective Frankenstein reacting to a torch.
I take it all back if any Republican can tell me how to fix our healthcare system, with something vaguely credible.
I already have.
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