Texas Dems come to Town

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Congressman John Lewis. I find it sad that the Senate Democrats allowed the announcement of a threat to filibuster to set aside the consideration of legislation named in his honor. If the Senate will not get rid of this Bill Killing process, then make the yahoos stand up and maintain a real talking filibuster! It is time for the filibuster to go.

This week, many of the elected state Democratic Legislators from Texas fled the state to come to what they hoped were the friendlier streets of DC.

If you remember, the Texas legislature only meets every other year and tried to pass new restrictive voting regulations just before the session ended in May. These efforts were stymied in the House when, before the vote could be held, and the legal end time was at hand, the Democrats left the building, so a quorum could not be established and the vote was abandoned. Governor Abbott claimed he would call the legislature back for a special session to try again to pass the voting bills and threatened to arrest officials who did not show up. He then called the extra session in July; Democrats showed up initially but then 51 House members quietly left town, again depriving the House of a quorum.

After secretly flying to DC, they then showed up at the Capitol to make the case for passage of the “For the People Act” and “The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act”. They split up, walked the halls of Congress, and met with Congressmen and Senators, VP Harris, Majority Leader Schumer, and the reluctant Senator Manchin. They discussed the laws that were being proposed and would be passed by the overwhelmingly Republican body, should a quorum exist. They explained the onerous properties of the proposed restrictive legislation which include:

·         Allowing partisan poll watchers to self-identify and observe the act of voting. According to the AP article referenced here - Texas has a long history of intimidating minority voters. (With the onset of no license open arms carry in Texas, gun-toting watchers could be quite intimidating.) It will become illegal to remove them unless they are disruptive; they even get a warning before they can be ousted.

·         It banned mailing all voters absentee ballot applications and drop-box collections for mailed ballots; 24-hour and drive-by voting are also banned. Election officials can be charged with a felony if they violate these provisions.

·         They limit absentee ballots to those who are 65 or older or those who would be out of state on election day; Voter ID regulations for absentee ballots have been strengthened and can invalidate a ballot if not followed completely.

·         In many cases, the expanded times for voting which were implemented as pandemic measures have been rolled back or restricted.

·         The bill according to The New York Times also includes a provision that could make it easier to overturn an election with concerns over fraudulent ballots.

·         Other provisions include reducing the number of voting machines, especially in communities of color, and banning the use of temporary polling places, and curbside voting.

·         The Supreme Court ruling about voting in the correct precinct also will make provisional voting more difficult, it seems.

Many Republicans are condemning efforts to enact national legislation as unnecessary and claim the measures being used to override the local authorities who run elections at the community level. However, to me, it seems that if local authorities are being used to restrict the opportunity for all people to vote in a free and fair election, then national legislation is necessary to ensure these opportunities are available. And, since The Supreme Court has dismantled much of the original Voting Rights Act (VRA), then Congress must act and re-institute the pre-clearance regulations and other important provisions. We cannot allow, as President Biden noted, these 21^st Century “Jim Crow Laws” being passed by certain states to persist. He noted that 17 states have already enacted 28 restrictive laws and many more are being proposed and indicated that his administration will oppose them vigorously. 

Attorney-General Garland has already indicated that the Justice Department is beefing up its efforts concerning voting and has added more than 90 new US attorneys to work in this area. Without the special provision of the VRA, I fear that it will be more difficult for the Justice Department to enforce relevant issues in time for the 2022 mid-term elections. I guess we shall see. I dread the possibilities that many Democratic voters will find long lines or confusing rules about polling places and regulations too hard to overcome and stay home. I have long admired the fortitude of many elderly minority voters who stood in long lines on election days, simply because their crowded urban neighborhoods had fewer polling places and voting machines than nearby suburban areas. But, of course, reducing turnout is one of the goals of the opposition. Certain tweaks, such as changing the times before elections when registrations close, or moving polling places frequently from one election to the next, are all tactics being used by many Republican legislatures and local election boards. Georgia even passed a law to allow the removal of valid local officials. Voter education will be an enormous challenge for Democratic partisans in 2022.

Congressman Jim Clyburn has suggested that perhaps a filibuster bypass or special carve-out for Voting Rights legislation or issues which deal with Constitutional measures might be a possibility; others have indicated they support the principles, but not this legislation. Senator Manchin was non-committal after his meeting with the Texans but has said he wants a simple bill without many enhancements. The legislators have vowed to remain in DC and thwart any bill passage until the 30-day legislative session ends.  Governor Abbott indicated he will arrest them upon their return, so it seems a Texas stand-off is in the making.

The streets of Washington have seemed like the Wild West this week. Friday evening a six-year-old girl was killed and her mother and others were injured when the family was caught in a gunfight cross-fire while walking home after leaving the bus. Then, on Saturday evening, shots rang out along the perimeter of the Nat's baseball stadium while a game was in progress. None of the shots entered the arena, but as a precaution, the stands were emptied out. All the fans and players made it out safely with a massive police presence in the area. Just a couple of weeks ago a man was shot and killed with random gunfire from a passing auto as he was leaving a restaurant in a well-populated area. Some homes in the area also had bullet holes in their windows. There have been 101 homicides in DC so far this year which is the same number seen at this time last year. Obviously, not all homicides are due to gun use, but most are. Innocent people should not be gunned down when trigger-happy thugs cannot shoot straight.

Mayor Bowser spoke about the so-called “ghost guns” which are flooding the area. DC has strict laws against guns, but with porous borders, illegal unregistered guns flow in. Ghost guns can be made in a garage, so to speak, with a specialized printer, stock components are then added to produce a firearm; the gun does not have serial numbers, and the product is legal and does not require registration. President Biden has spoken out against this type of firearm, but the issue is difficult to address with legislation. California tried to require registration, but the law is ignored. Other major cities such as New York City and Chicago have seen gunfire in the city streets recently; perhaps now that the guns are in the commercial business districts, (and not the gang hideouts of the past) maybe the Chambers of Commerce might start to speak out in favor of reasonable gun restrictions?

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The Delta variant is spreading rapidly in the US, especially in states with low vaccination rates.  Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, and Tennessee have all seen rates spike in recent days, perhaps as a result of Independence Day festivities. However, Tennessee just fired the physician leading vaccination efforts in the state after she sent out an advisory notice to practitioners about the ability in the state for teenagers to self refer for immunizations without parental approval. The state has now stopped all school clinic vaccinations even of usual routines shots such as HPV, hepatitis, etc. Dumb move but the anti-vaxxers are noisy and the right-wing is wary; some members of the legislature have even threatened to disband the entire Tennessee Department of Health. As someone pointed out, this is where the Scopes Trial (where a teacher was prosecuted for teaching evolution) happened almost 100 years ago! Incredible!

The numbers of hospitalizations and diagnosed cases are again rising for the first time in weeks, including in Maryland. More than 22,000 patients are currently hospitalized, which is a 34% increase over two weeks.

Covid Stats – NY Times:

US Totals: Total Cases: 34,041,930. New Cases: 31,745. Total Deaths: 608,189. New Deaths: 273.

Maryland Totals: (as of 7/16) Total Cases: 464,031. New Cases:166. Total Deaths: 9,764.  New Deaths: 3. (I do not know why MD stats are not updated; I do hope that the state has not decided COVID is over, so no need to tally up.)

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As a result of petitions byTexas and several other states, a judge in the Federal District Court in Texas has declared that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was illegally created claiming that President Obama had overstepped his authority in its creation; as a result, he has halted all future DACA applications. This particular judge has previously ruled against other immigration measures. The DACA program was upheld by the Supreme Court before but on technical measures, as it called out the former administration for the process it used in its petition to overturn it. The Department of Justice is expected to appeal this judge's decision to the Fifth Circuit, which is the most conservative of the Federal circuit courts. President Biden would prefer a legislative solution but does not yet have the votes to pass such a bill.

Well, I haven’t visited the Panda cam for a while – time for some cute cuddles!

‘Til next week – Peace!