After something like steel tariffs this is hardly a slap on the wrist. You’re right: This is a misbehaving child. One that refuses to see why they’re wrong, so they’re getting smacked in the fucking mouth. “...and if the rest of the class is mad about missing recess, you can blame Mr. Kemp here for ruining it for everyone.” Change the error of your ways, or be punished. That’s life.
And in the end create more division and strife between the factions. I'm not quite sure how that creates a more harmonious union punishing one faction and screaming "See what they made us do to you?"
I get how its annoying to always hear everything being made about race. Especially when you are not racist yourself. But I think it would be helpful to look at the situation more from a birdeye view than paying super close attention to the rhetoric between pundits on either side or whatever. What needs to be looked at though are the reasons both Texas and Georgia are so determined to make voting more difficult. Why they are trying to criminalize giving food and water to people waiting in line for hours and hours. Why the lines are hours and hours long. Republicans have openly said that when voting happens in greater numbers, they lose. Georgia flipped because black voters turned out in huge numbers. Didn't hurt that both Loeffler and Purdue were hot garbage. The secretary of state of Georgia said there was no fraud and everything was above board. So what did the state do? They passed a law that stripped him of his power to oversee elections should the result not be favorable to republicans. The law doesn't explicitly say "This is because black people voted." But it doesn't have to do. It just needs to provide enough cover to give the law makers plausible deniability to say its about election security, so that maybe 15k-20k voters from majority black areas either get frustrated enough to stay home, walk away from a long line or have their votes challenged and excluded. Maybe a few hundred to a thousand people get excluded from a voter ID thing. Little bits here and there to tip the state enough back toward to republicans by a small margin. At the end of the day, they lost an election so now they are trying to once again change the rules to favor them winning.
In today's episode of "Half assed conservative logic", we confuse cities with states, and somehow get butt hurt when organizations express their political discontent with their dollars. Next episode, watch them try and rationalize how police are justified in murdering people on the street despite provisions in the constitution for due process.
There's no confusion on my end with cities and states. MLB punished the city of Atlanta because they were upset with the state of Georgia. As an entity that's their right, I find it stupid, but it's their right. Maybe they should go all in and just remove the franchise from Atlanta,, then they could get rid of two birds with one stone by making them change their racist team name too.
The point of collective punishment isn't the punishment, it's the time after the teacher says "I'm disappointed in all of you" and leaves, when all the kids who weren't guilty put bars of soap in socks and beat the shit out of the kids who were.
The capital of Georgia is Atlanta. It's not like there are a lot of dots to connect here, they didn't pick some random city to punish it is literally the home of the government they are upset with.
Fuck em. If they want that shit to stay, then let them fight for it. They are part of Georgia, so therefore get to suffer the consequences of the State level decision. Do I feel sorry for the locals that have to go through the change? Yes. Enough to not applaud the MLB for doing it? Nope. They live there. Apparently, they are the majority. Let them get their collective shit together and fight for what they want. If they don't, they lose. In the end, they vote for the people in charge... so the have to abide by the repercussions of those decisions. It's not magically separated between the government and the people. Well, it SHOULDN'T be, but apparently it is. Maybe this is a step in the right direction for the state as a whole.
Well what other option is there? "VOTE THEM OUT!"? The Republicans are actively trying to limit voting access to people/ area they don't like, or adding things to make it possible to toss out votes they don't like. They're trying to take away the only option people have to change things. I'm not just talking about Georgia here, they're doing it here in Texas, too. If the Republicans just keep trying to play Calvinball, something else will have to be done.* Do you have a better suggestion, Toytoy? *Jesus H. Christ, if you'd told me twenty year ago that I'd go off on a rant AGAINST the Republican party, I flat-out wouldn't have believed you. Look where we are now.
...and Iowa, and Arizona, and Arkansas, and Utah, etc. I think measures have been introduced in nearly every state, and are proceeding in states with Republican majorities.
the thing is, the current iteration of the Republican Party isn’t the one you voted with 20 years ago. Don’t feel bad. The terms changed.
Serious question: Does anyone here know someone who would be not allowed to vote because they don't have ID? Follow up question: How does someone with no ID survive? They're not receiving public assistance. They're not buying cigarettes or alcohol. They're not renting or buying a place to live. They have no power, water, or electricity. They don't have a job. They can't cash a check. They can't collect tin cans and sell them. All of those things require an ID. There probably is some handy man type that hauls his tools around behind him in a little wagon and only works for cash, and then goes home to a tent. I don't imagine there's enough of those types to sway an election one way or another though.
At this point, nope. If folks want to fire up another Civil War, knock yourselves out. Just leave me out of it.
Do they though? In places where money is tight, cash economies rule, and looking twice as someone with cash to offer is a way to lose money. Even without the looking-the-other-way, several of those things you listed don't require ID at all. I can get utilities with just my SSN, and as long as you've got a few wrinkles you can get cigarettes and booze with nothing at all. As for the tin cans, I have no idea where the idea that you need an ID to cash in tin cans comes from.
I'm 58 years old, I have to show ID every time I buy beer or cigarettes. As far as selling tin cans, I used to save my empties and turn them in. I was required to show ID to get paid. As far as utilities, every time I've had them hooked up they wanted my ID and a deposit.
Maybe you just have a youthful glow about you. I see those "Under 30? We card" signs everywhere; they don't ask for ID otherwise. And that's not counting the liquor stores located conspicuously close to college campuses that wouldn't card a sixteen year old. As for cans, they have automated machines that are like reverse vending machines. You just put the cans in and it spits out cash. My utilities I just went online, opened an account with the DPW, provided my address and SSN, and I had power and water. That's not to mention the black market which will buy or sell just about anything. If you can sell copper wire with bits of drywall still stuck to it, you can sell tin cans.
In some areas, you need to show an ID (and it is logged into a registry) when turning in non-ferrous metals at a scrap yard. I should know, because I make a run to the scrap yard about once a month. Toytoy, I agree with you about the ID thing; I've had an ID since I was 15, and when I got out of prison, one of my parole requirements was that I get an ID within a week, or it was back to the slammer. I think most people who don't have IDs just don't want to have them, but what do I know? What I do know is that the Republicans' law in Georgia (and their plans in Texas and elsewhere) just sounds like a way to keep people from voting Democrat. AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE THE DEMOCRATS!
Other than at dr offices, I haven’t been IDed for cigars or booze in quite some time. Randomly IDed for NyQuil, but that was because the self checkout machine went off to verify and I think the old lady had to check it since she was on camera. Never mind that there’s certainly a scenario where “I forgot it at home” is a viable answer at a voting booth, and not wanting to wait in those lines again is a viable reason to not return. point being, we should be removing obstacles to vote, not adding them
And the Democrats push back is to keep people from voting Republican and cause outrage. It's all so tiresome. Politics is a fucked up game where a bunch of assholes are just trying to manipulate everyone else. Just leave me out of it when this bullshit comes to a head and people start shooting each other.