Last night’s debate contained so many lies that I thought I would break down a few key points of contention.
It is so perplexing that the second coming of honest Abe is both Loud and Wrong (haha!)
On Fighting Covid 19
There is no cure.
The head of the CDC said that wearing a mask is highly effectively, and a vaccine is unlikely to be out before 2021.
Kids can get COVID. Kids can and have transmitted the disease to teachers in a school setting.
We are expecting a third spike in cases and the winter does look bleak.
On Race in America
A lot of people find it awkward to watch two white men say how much they’ve done for the Black community when we feel like We are constantly and consistently pulling Us up.
But, during the last debate there were a few complaints about the Black Agenda. We questioned why the only time Black people are talked about on a main stage is during times of civil unrest and widely publicized acts of police brutality.
Our moderator Kristen Welker opened the subject of Race in America with “the talk” and asked each candidate if they really understood why Black parents have to have that conversation with their adolescent children. And this question while still addressing the same topic, humanizes the Black family at the start of the topic so I did appreciate it.
During this segment, Biden:
Admitted that the 1994 Crime Bill was a mistake. And said that he worked with Obama to commune sentences. I’ve previously reported on the history of the 1994 crime bill using this newsletter and we know that Biden was not the sole architect of the bill. Many CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) members signed off on the same bill in the hopes that it would curb violent crimes in the city. Reverend Al Sharpton stepped up to say during the Obama administration he personally saw Biden do whatever he could to get in touch with different organizations to find sentences that could be communed. I think this is the best thing Biden could have done. It shows growth.
During this segment, Trump:
Said that he has done more for Black people than any other president since Abraham Lincoln. I guess he does not include suppressing our vote in that because he has had ample time to press the Republican Senate about why they have not restored the VRA.
Here is where I take the time to insert some information here about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed by Lyndon B. Johnson and most recently ripped apart by the current Republican Senate.
The VRA is what makes it easier for POCs to vote in select—traditionally southern states.
According to the DOJ Civil Rights Division
Under the Section 5 provision, certain states and localities with a history of anti-minority election practices must obtain federal approval or "preclearance" before making changes to voting laws. The nine states impacted include:
Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia and Alaska — and currently to parts of Florida, California, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Michigan and New Hampshire.
In 2012 six states covered under Section 5 filed an amicus brief in Shelby County Alabama citing the time and cost of seeking preclearance for a voting landscape that “shed its racist past.”
The 6 states argued that the requirements, of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, were excessive and unnecessary.
When a majority of the court agreed, the decision shot a 9mm bullet through the heart of the Votings Right Act.
But I would like to point out that the Supreme court did not find Section 5 unconstitutional, they found section 4b unconstitutional. Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act is how the states that were enforcing discriminatory voting practices were determined. Nullifying 4b got all of those states off the hook with Section 5 for the Voting Rights Act.
Since Shelby, many states have passed controversial restrictive voting laws that would have been questioned under Section 5, but now have to reason to be because the states that are enforcing them...aren’t mandated to submit anything:
limitations on who can provide assistance at polling places,
the curbing of early voting days,
The latter of the two really hit the state of Kentucky during the 2016 election and at the 2020 primary. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Simpson ruled against increasing the polling places, saying there was no evidence the current plan would suppress votes.
But that is what leaves me befuddled. We are in the thick of a pandemic and to increase social distancing one would think that you would increase how many places people could vote so that so many aren’t congregating in one place.
If I’m thinking of my safety, my vote would be suppressed
Other measures of voter suppression that could fall under section 5 of the voting rights act, include:
-purging of voters from state voter rolls
-drawing election districts in a way that curbs the power of voters of color
-& most recently cutting the mail in absentee ballot applications.
Which causes me to ask,
“Is it oochie wally or is it one mic?”
Although no state wants to admit to voter suppression practices I can’t help but notice, they have decreased the physical voting stations AND made it harder to vote by mail.
The passing of these laws made things sweet for states that want to do their own thing. The federal government can no longer weigh in on these restrictions before they could take effect, which dismantles any across the board rules for state election systems.
On Immigration
Last night, when discussed the plan (or lack there of) to reunite over 500 immigrant children with their parents, Trump made a heavy accusation that Obama built the cages at the border and used that to insinuate that he too locked up families and separated children from their parents. That is half true.
Reporter Nick Miroff who covers a lot at the boarder and was there during the Obama admin’s reign, fact checked Trump’s entire immigration argument and I kind of cherry picked the need to know parts.
First, Trump made a big deal about the coyotes that bring people across the border and I think it’s important to note that in order to cross the border, families pay whomever, whatever to cross. Even if they are not with a coyote at the time of crossing, they have probably paid some sort of criminal enterprise to get information on the safest passages or the creation of documents to use when they get over.
Now under the Obama administration we did put children in a warehouse structure with chain links.
But the children remained with their mothers!
Let me back up.
According to Miroff: (this has been edited for clarity)
In 2014, when Central American families, teenagers and children began crossing the border in the Rio Grande Valley in an unprecedented migration wave, the Border Patrol (and the Obama admin) was completely overwhelmed.
In the process, agents began holding families and children in "sally port" areas -- basically sweltering hot garages. Pictures and video got out and it was heavily criticized. This was unacceptable.
The Obama administration responded by purchasing an empty McAllen warehouse and converting it into a Walmart-sized processing center for families and children. It was clean, spacious, air conditioned. But it wasn't a humane, dignified place for children and families.Again, the border-patrol was overwhelmed so chain-link partitions were added to give the agents visibility and to separate groups: mothers with children in one area, teenage boys in another. This was done to achieve the Obama admin's goal of quickly and inexpensively setting up a safe place to handle migrant children and families in large numbers.
Trump's "zero tolerance" family separation system that brought the facility under new scrutiny, because its use changed.”
Under Trump, families were separated from each other and children were ripped away from their parents from the jump.
Other things that happened this week…
Borat 2 caught Giuliani with his pants down. Catch it on Amazon Prime!
Quibi is dead. (Surprise Surprise!) The quick bite But, you can still pay $9.99 for a subscription if you want.
Chris Pratt was dubbed Kill on the F, Marry, Kill list—and he was pissed…again.
The FBI announced Iran and Russia’s involvement in our elections.
All of Atlanta came out for 21 Savage and his amazing 70’s themed birthday bash.
Early voting is over next week for the most part, so if you haven’t figured out your voting plan you have a little bit of time left. Click here to find out where you can go to cast your ballot early, or drop off you absentee ballot if you haven’t put it in the mail already.