(Mother Jones) Photos from the urban uprisings of the late 1960s presented a different image of Black protest. Black people were now “forceful figures,” Berger says. They were no longer protesters; they were rioters. Media coverage tended to focus on the aftermath of riots, reinforcing white discomfort and solidifying resistance to anything other than a “peaceful” protest.
The person depicted here (see photo in linked article) could be of any race; all the viewer registers is the dark figure—“literally black,” says Michael Shaw, publisher of Reading the Pictures, a website dedicated to analyzing the visual framing of social issues—silhouetted against a backdrop of destruction. “You can see that this generation and so much of the images that come out of this are forceful, are pushing back upon that authority, where the images beforehand were pulling for that sympathy,” says Brent Lewis, a Black photo editor at the New York Times and the co-founder of Diversify Photo, a site promoting the work of nonwhite photographers. Shaw was put in mind of “war photography,” calling it “a very toxic photograph, very loaded.”
The accompanying headline, “spreading unrest leaves a nation on edge,” only furthers the sense of anxiety. Of course not everyone was on edge in that moment—what of the people who felt a sense of joy and liberation watching Minneapolis’ Third Precinct burn down?—but the assumptions embedded in the presentation give a sense of the upper bound of the liberal establishment’s sympathy with the cause. Yet, while the riot photos may have evoked the imagery of the late 1960s, Berger points out that they were not received in the same way: “Millions of whites in the 21st century were able to look at these images of powerful Black actors without losing their sympathy or pulling back” from the cause.
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(Mother Jones) Donald Trump will not be “reinstated” as president by August, as some of his supporters and allegedly the former president himself seem to believe. But Republicans are rushing to change the rules to make it easier for their party to overturn the will of the voters in future elections.
While GOP-controlled legislatures rush to make it harder for Democratic constituencies to vote, they are also intensifying their control over how elections are run and how votes are counted, after Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results. Twenty-four new laws have been passed in 14 states this year that will allow state legislatures to “politicize, criminalize, and interfere in election administration,” according to a report released Thursday by three voting rights groups, States United Democracy Center, Law Forward, and Protect Democracy. Overall, 216 bills have been introduced in 41 states to achieve these ends.
When Texas Republicans scrambled to pass a massive voter suppression bill over Memorial Day weekend, they included a provision written behind closed doors with no public scrutiny that would make it easier for judges to throw out election results. Under the plan, losing candidates would no longer have to prove that individual fraudulent votes swung the election but rather that the number of allegedly fraudulent votes exceeded the margin of victory—which is exactly what Trump falsely alleged in 2020. The measure would also lower the burden of proof needed to demonstrate illegal voting, so that candidates only have to show a “preponderance of evidence” instead of “clear and convincing evidence.”
“They could use this to overthrow the voice of the people,” Democratic state Rep. John Bucy III said on the House floor. “We no longer have to prove voter fraud to overthrow an election result, we can simply do it.”
NEWARK, N.J. (Courthouse News) — Months after Timmia Williams reported to school administrators that her teacher had sworn at the students in class, the 17-year-old says she was left in tears when the educator spun what was meant to be a lesson about climate change into one about the worth of her life and those of other Black people.
She went to court Wednesday after her recording of the virtual class from this past April caused a media maelstrom and got the teacher, Howard Zlotkin, suspended.
Seeking punitive damages, the senior from Jersey City, New Jersey, says she “was devastated, humiliated, and outraged by the racist abuse she suffered during a public school class she was required to attend.”
Williams is represented by Ali Frick with the New York firm Kaufman Lieb. They brought the federal complaint in Newark against William L. Dickinson High School, the Jersey City Board of Education and Zlotkin, among other school personnel.
On the school’s website, Zlotkin is still listed as a member of the faculty, though he has been suspended for over a month. “The teacher will not have access to students or the school as we proceed,” the school said of Zlotkin in May, after the video Williams recorded went viral. “We are appalled by the statements, profanity, disrespect and treatment of students.”
(Nation of Change) This morning, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin announced in the Charleston Gazette-Mail that he’s a “no” on the For the People Act – and a no for ending the filibuster.
This is a direct in-your-eye response to President Biden’s thinly-veiled criticism of Manchin last Tuesday in Tulsa.
If it means the end of the For the People Act, it would open the way for Republican-dominated states to continue their shameless campaign to suppress the votes of likely Democratic voters – using Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud as pretext. That’s the beginning of the end of American democracy as we know it.
Manchin’s support for extending the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to all fifty states is better than nothing, but it would depend on an activist Justice Department willing to block state changes in voting laws that suppress votes, and an activist Supreme Court willing to uphold such Justice Department decisions.
Don’t bet on either. We know what happened to the Justice Department under Trump, and we know what’s happened to the Supreme Court.
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(Common Dreams) Moreover, focusing on our divisions can blind us to the considerable evidence that the majority of Americans align on many key challenges we face today.
Here are twelve big ones:
Nearly eight in ten Americans favor limits on both raising and spending money in Congressional campaigns.
*Eighty-four percent of Americans agree that politicians have too much economic power, and 82 percent agree that the rich and big corporations have too much power.
*Six in ten of us believe that upper-income Americans do not pay enough in taxes, while 64 percent are bothered—either "some" or "a lot"—that corporations are not paying their fair tax share.
*Seventy-eight percent of Americans, including 80 percent of Republicans, oppose the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling unleashing even more money in politics.
*Eighty-four percent favor paid family leave, and two-thirds support a $15 federal minimum wage.
*Most Americans–including 70 percent of Republicans and 92 percent of Democrats–favor closing gun-sale loopholes by enforcing background checks for private gun sales and at gun shows.
*Seventy-seven percent of Americans now believe the US should prioritize the development of renewable energy over expanding fossil fuel production, and 68 percent favor increased federal spending on green and renewable energy.
*Seventy-one percent favor changing the healthcare system so that any American can buy into a government-run health care plan if they want to.
*Seventy-one percent think that most immigrants living in the United States illegally should be offered a chance to apply for legal status.
*Seventy-one percent are against overturning Roe v Wade.
*Seventy-seven percent agree that racism is a serious problem in the U.S. and 72 percent say racism is a serious problem in policing.
*Regarding For the People Act (H.R. 1 and S 1.)—with strong democracy-protecting measures addressing voting rights, money in politics, and gerrymandering— Data for Progress's new survey revealed that two-thirds of likely voters are in favor.
(Common Dreams) The far-left's takeover of the corporate world has been dubbed 'woke capitalism.' Exported from the United States to the liberal democratic world, riled-up reactionaries from Australia, France, and Britain are bemoaning the leftist turn by corporations.
Namby-pamby CEOs are accused of surrendering to "to hard-left wokeness." Just last month U.S. advocacy group Consumers' Research led the charge. They launched a "name and shame campaign" against corporations who "put woke politics over consumer interests."
…
"Woke capitalism is running amok" claimed Republican Senator Tim Scott. Others worried that this left lunacy might get so out of hand that the banks would stop financing the natural gas and fossil fuel industries in order to protect their credentials.
...
If we agree that economic justice is a defining issue for socialism, then complaining that CEOs and business owners have made an abrupt left-turn is patently ludicrous. No amount of arguing over identity politics is going to change that.
If woke capitalism has achieved anything it has been to break the yoke between the social and economic politics that have traditionally united the right. This means that corporations can support social justice without having to worry about its inexorable relation to economic justice.
House unveils sweeping antitrust legislation that takes aim at tech giants
Jun 11, 2021
Following an investigation into the market power of tech giants, U.S. House lawmakers have introduced a sweeping series of bills intended to chip away at the power of Silicon Valley juggernauts.
The new legislation package is based on a report following a monthslong investigation by the House Judiciary Committee. That probe investigated the business practices of major companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.
On Friday, the House unveiled five measures that target some of those business practices, which antitrust advocates believe stifle competition in the marketplace, according to The Washington Post
"Right now, unregulated tech monopolies have too much power over our economy," said Rep. David N. Cicilline, (D-RI), the chairman of the House's antitrust committee.
Some of the bills include the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, which would make it illegal for tech companies to operate a line of business that creates a conflict of interest. For example, the bill could affect Amazon, which operates an online marketplace but also sells first-party products on the platform.
President Joe Biden is looking to increase legal immigration levels across the board — a plan that has drawn criticism from immigration restrictionists who warn about the possible economic fallout. But economists say increasing legal immigration to the US could potentially aid the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic recession.
The New York Times recently obtained a 46-page draft blueprint of the Biden administration’s plan to revamp the US legal immigration system to make it easier for foreign workers, trafficking victims, Americans’ family members abroad, refugees, asylum seekers, farmworkers, and American Indians born in Canada to come to the US.
Though it’s unclear exactly how many more immigrants Biden intends to admit to the US, the plan signifies an increase in immigration beyond just a reversion to pre-Trump administration levels, and he could implement it largely without needing Congress’s approval.
It would be a fulfillment of one of Biden’s campaign promises on immigration and would mark a significant departure from the policies of his predecessor, who entered office with a goal of reducing legal immigration by 63 percent, in addition to curbing unauthorized immigration at the border.
(Alternet) "Florida has become the latest state to ban critical race theory, continuing the growing charge by Republican lawmakers against schools teaching about systemic racism," CNN reported. "After hours of debate and public comment Thursday, the Florida State Board of Education unanimously approved the amendment banning critical race theory. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appointed much of the board, spoke ahead of the meeting, saying critical race theory would teach children 'the country is rotten and that our institutions are illegitimate.'"
…
The rule says teachers "may not define American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence."
…
"But let's back up a sec," he (historian Kevin Kruse) continued. "You're not allowed to suppress or distort the atrocities of the Holocaust, but if there's something akin to that in American history — HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING, OF COURSE — you *have* to suppress and distort that? Because of reasons?"
"This is all so incredibly depressing and stupid, largely because the people trying to dictate and control the teaching of America history apparently never took a single damn class in the subject themselves," he noted.
...or maybe they did take some history classes and it made them feel bad about themselves. It seems like there might be better ways to promote self-esteem. Like, taking pride in understanding the truth. For the GOP, believing lies seems to be the preferred method.
I suppose next they will want to ban the teaching of evolution on the grounds that it will make kids feel bad to learn that their ancestors were similar to apes. Oh wait. They tried that already. Recall the Scopes trial:
Maybe the GOP will also want to ban the teaching of arithmetic. After all, learning how to count means realizing that you lost an election. That might make you feel bad.
How the GOP Used Trump's Election Lies to Hide the Fact That They're Losing Power
June 13, 2021
Introduction:
(Alternet) According to a report from the Guardian's Sam Levine, Republicans who have always dabbled in playing to the red meat crowd are now ramping up their efforts to use that voting bloc to remain in power by disrupting and questioning election results.
Faced with changing demographics and states -- - notably Arizona and Georgia --- that were once reliably Republican but are now sending Democrats to Congress, Republicans are looking for ways to stop the bleeding as their power melts away.
According to Levine, Donald Trump just gave them the roadmap by blatantly saying the election was stolen from him -- which has been well-received by more than just conservative extremists.
As his Guardian report notes, "... fanned repeatedly by Donald Trump throughout 2020, the myth of a stolen American election has shifted from a fringe idea to one being embraced by the Republican party. The so-called big lie – the idea that the election was stolen from Trump - has transformed from a tactical strategy to a guiding ideology."
According to UC Irvine law professor Richard Hasen, Republicans embracing Trump's "Big Lie" is a sign of an emerging trend that doesn't bode well for future elections.
