President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

LOL. Hey, where did your ideological purity go?

 

Randi Lynn Williams assumes she will never be able to afford to vote again.

The 38-year-old resident of Dothan, Alabama, lost her right to vote in 2008, when she was convicted of fraudulent use of a credit card. She was on probation for over two years, then served a few months behind bars ending in early 2011, at which point she would have been eligible to vote in most states.

In Maine and Vermont, she would have never lost that right in the first place. But in Alabama and eight other states from Nevada to Tennessee, anyone who has lost the franchise cannot regain it until they pay off any outstanding court fines, legal fees and victim restitution.

In Alabama, that requirement has fostered an underclass of thousands of people who are unable to vote because they do not have enough money.

For folks like Williams, who said she regularly voted before her conviction in 2008, poverty is the only remaining obstacle to participation in the electoral process.

“When all this started, the county told me I lost my right to vote and I don’t get my vote back until I pay all my fines and costs and get off probation and all that,” she said.

Too poor to vote: how Alabama’s ‘new poll tax’ bars thousands of people from voting

 

All we need to know about Trump's hypocrisy on abortion, and the Religious Right's lust for power superseding everything even if it compromises them on the what they feel is the defining issue of our time, can be found within this Maureen Dowd column.

Given his draconian comment, sending women back to back alleys, I had to ask: When he was a swinging bachelor in Manhattan, was he ever involved with anyone who had an abortion?

“Such an interesting question,” he said. “So what’s your next question?”


Abortions for some, tiny American flags for others, etc.

 

Dan Rather:

I have come to expect that Donald Trump will attack the press. We know why he does so, because the threat of exposed truth, of investigative reporting, is a direct threat to the Trump presidency and his legitimacy.

I worry about bringing attention to all of Mr. Trump's tweets. I worry about allowing him to deflect and try to bend a news cycle to his will. But what he said today needs to be called out. It can't fall into the background noise of Washington. It can't be allowed to be normalized.

"Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!"

Let us be clear. The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating an attack on our democracy, which is an attack on all of us, by a hostile foreign power. What the Russians did is something that every patriotic American should care deeply about, regardless of party.

This is not fake news. This is a real national security crisis. And by his words, the President is suggesting that reporters at places like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN are damaging our country more than Russian intelligence agents.

We can guess why he doesn't want to consider the seriousness of the Russian attack. But that is a failure of his duties as Commander in Chief. And to attack the press for doing its job is to undermine his oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

What gives me hope is my years in newsrooms. Reporters will not be intimidated by these threats. They will only resolve to dig deeper and harder.

 

Does anything bad ever happen at Motel 6? Because if so, I'm up shit creek.

 

@TigerVols is your expert on this.

 

"Tom Bodett is a serial killer" would be the greatest Alex Jones conspiracy.

 

Also a fantastic writing prompt for any of you aspiring novelists!

He Left the Light On

 

I have a friend who is checking in today.

 

BENGHAZI

 

No way I'd stay there now. Not unless it was cheaper and/or more convenient than other options.

 

I get it. It has built up enough of a brand by now. This isn't a Lorraine Motel situation.