#Florida Building Code Amendments

[andrewjbernhard]

Navigating Declaratory Judgments for Condo Associations and HOAs: Milestone Reports and 40-Year Certifications in Florida

Attention Condo Associations Florida! New regulations, managing milestone reports, and 40-year certifications is daunting. This post dives deep into how declaratory judgments can be a crucial tool in ensuring compliance and resolving disputes. #Milestone

For Condominium Associations and Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs) in Florida, maintaining compliance with state regulations and ensuring proper management of community properties can be complex. Among the critical responsibilities are performing milestone reports and 40-year certifications, which are essential for the safety and upkeep of aging buildings. In cases where there is uncertainty about…

[justsayyesmiss]

ABORTION

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

A rally for reproductive rights. Women in partial silhouette and abstracted colors hold signs that read “My Body My Choice,” “We Will Not Go Back,” “Keep Abortion Safe & Legal,” “Reproductive Rights are Human Rights,” and “Never Again.” The “Never Again” sign has an image of a coat hanger in a red circle with a red line slashed through, like a no smoking sign.

CAPTION: The landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade has been dismantled by the Trump-appointed Supreme Court and reproductive rights in the United States are in tatters.

Panel 2

The signs from panel 1 are now on fire.

CAPTION: However, if Trump is re-elected and enacts Project 2025, shit’s about to get downright dystopian.

Panel 3

An array of states, color-coded by their current anti-abortion laws. The colors are as follows:

Pink: Abortion is banned.

Yellow: No exception for lethal fetal anomalies.

Orange: No exceptions for rape or incest.

Bright red: No exception for the health of the pregnant person.

Dark red: Complete ban, no exceptions.

Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa, West Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida are pink. Arizona, Missouri, and North Dakota are yellow. Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama are orange and yellow. Ohio is orange. Wisconsin is orange and bright red. Idaho and Mississippi are yellow and bright red. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and South Dakota are dark red.

CAPTION: There are already 23 states – almost half of the country – that either have total abortion bans or 6, 8 or 15 week bans in place.* On top of that, 7 of those states have no exceptions for the health of the pregnant person, 12 states have no exceptions for rape or incest, and 13 states have no exception for lethal fetal anomalies.

CAPTION: *Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Iowa, Wisconsin & Ohio’s abortion bans are currently blocked by state courts. This will change of Project 2025 goes through.

Panel 4

A woman in partial silhouette, standing in front of a high-rise building, looks down at a home pregnancy test.

CAPTION: Pregnancy in these states can be deadly. Reproductive healthcare is nonexistent, and Project 2025 will make it WORSE.

Panel 5

The woman walks past a building, looking worriedly behind her. Behind the glass doors of the high-rise we see the silhouettes of onlookers.

CAPTION: Hospitals will no longer be willing to perform emergency abortions, even to save the life of the mother. [Project 2025, page 473]

CAPTION: Funding for abortion travel will be prohibited under the Hyde Amendment. [page 471]

Panel 6

The woman is now behind prison bars.

CAPTION: Since the end of Roe v. Wade, more than 200 women have been jailed for having miscarriages that are suspected of being abortions or for “fetal abuse.”

CAPTION: This number will only grow under Project 2025.

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

The Project 2025 book flies open and begins to fall apart, spreading its pages across a map of the United States that stretches through panels 2 and 3. It casts the shadow of a reaching arm and hand across the map. On the first falling page, we see an excerpt about government agencies encouraging “heterosexual marriage and procreation” and “biblically based” science.

CAPTION: Under Project 2025, being in a blue state doesn’t guarantee your rights.

Panel 2

The sprawling pages visible here include one that calls Mifepristone “a controlled dangerous substance” to be banned, and another that notes that “HHS will be known as the Department of Life and explicitly reject the notion that abortion is healthcare.”

CAPTION: “Fetal Personhood” will become federal law via the new “Department of Life.” [page 489]

CAPTION: In Vitro Fertilization (which depends on frozen embryos) will be banned in the entire country. [page 450]

Panel 3

One page visible here repeats the note about the Mifepristone ban, and another notes “Every state will report exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.”

CAPTION: The medication Mifepristone, a life-saving drug used to stop deadly postpartum hemorrhages that’s also used in chemical abortions, will be banned. [pages 458-459]

Panel 4

Blue and white pills dissolve into a gray background on the left side of the panel. On the right side of the panel, we see a repeat of the page with an excerpt about reporting abortions, and under that page we see a series of green ID tags with women’s photos, logging their abortions. At the top of the panel, we see a partial excerpt of an addition to the U.S. Code that bans the distribution of abortion pills through the mail.

CAPTION: Your mail will be monitored;

CAPTION: Project 2025’s resurrection of the 1873 Comstock Act will ban mail-order abortion pills and “any article or thing designed or intended for…procuring an abortion” up to and including certain kinds of contraception. [page 459]

CAPTION: You’ll lose medical privacy. All states, even ones where abortion is still allowed, will be required to submit detailed information about pregnancies, abortions and miscarriages to a federal database. [page 455]

Panel 5

A trail of women in black clothing march along a bloody path to a graveyard.

CAPTION: US maternal death rates are already the highest in the “first world,” especially among women of color. With Project 2025 destroying reproductive rights, these deaths will skyrocket.

Panel 6

White space between panels.

CAPTION: Project 2025 ensures women will no longer be autonomous beings.

CAPTION: If you get pregnant under Project 2025, you will be forced to give birth.

CAPTION: Even if it kills you.

Panel 7

At the top of the panel we see an embryo in a petri dish, which a ruler measuring it as about half an inch big. Below the petri dish, we see the stylized image of a teenage girl.

CAPTION: This [arrow pointing to the embryo] will have more rights than this [teenage girl].

CAPTION [under embryo]: This is a representation of tissue removed at six weeks, when “fetal heartbeat” bills outlaw abortion.

CAPTION [next to girl]: This is a representation of a teenage girl, who will have no bodily autonomy.

CAPTION: You can do something about this. You can save lives. You can save women’s rights. You can vote.

[beardedmrbean]

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday promised to push for a bill allowing Floridians to carry firearms even if they have not previously taken a training course.

“I can’t tell you exactly when, but I’m pretty confident that I will be able to sign ‘constitutional carry’ into law in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “The Legislature will get it done. I can’t tell you if it’s going to be next week, six months, but I can tell you that before I am done as governor, we will have a signature on that bill.”

The governor made his remarks at an unrelated news conference in Williston.

The term “constitutional carry” is a name for the policy often used by its supporters, who argue citizens should be able to carry weapons with or without a permit because of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat whose department oversees the state’s concealed carry permit program, blasted DeSantis’ call for permitless carry in a statement Friday.

“This is absurd political pandering from the governor of a state that has experienced some of the worst mass shootings in our country’s history and in a nation where we have the highest rates of gun violence in the world,” Fried said. “It’s an insult (to) the memories and families of every victim of gun violence.”

Despite Florida’s “Gunshine State” reputation as a place for gun deregulation, it’s one of the more restrictive states when it comes to dictating how people can carry firearms. It does not allow “open carry,” a policy allowed in more than 40 states in some form that gives people the right to carry firearms without concealing them.

Some 25 states have already enacted a permitless carry law, according to the United States Concealed Carry Association.

In the past, Florida’s sheriffs have been resistant to bills relaxing gun restrictions. In 2016, Bob Gualtieri, the Republican Pinellas County sheriff, worked to craft a bill that sheriffs hoped would head off efforts to pass a measure allowing “open carry.” A bill allowing open carry passed the Florida House that year before dying in the Senate.

“Constitutional carry” can apply to policies allowing gun owners to carry weapons openly or concealed on their person. For example, in Texas, people once had to have a permit to openly carry guns or to carry guns concealed on their person. But in 2021, after that state’s governor signed a permitless carry bill into law, Texans gained the right to carry weapons openly or in a concealed manner without a permit. (That bill did not apply to people who are not legally allowed to possess a gun.)

A bill filed in Florida during the 2022 legislative session by Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey-in-the-Hills, would have allowed permitless concealed carry, and it would have allowed for the open carry of firearms. Republican leaders never gave the measure a hearing.

However, there had been some signal of support from Republican leaders for “constitutional carry” before Friday. Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, said in January he would support such a measure. And in March, DeSantis said he could see the policy being brought up during a special session this year.

The Legislature is scheduled to meet next in May for a special session on “property insurance, reinsurance, changes to the Florida Building Code to improve the affordability of property insurance, the Office of Insurance Regulation, civil remedies and appropriations.”

Unless the governor changes the terms of the special session — which he has been known to do — it’s unlikely that lawmakers will debate gun restrictions next month.

[96thdayofrage]

ProPublica gained access to the group after Lang sent an invitation to a reporter’s social media account. It’s unclear whether Lang knew he had invited a reporter, and the reporter joined but did not participate in the chats.

The group, created two days after the Jan. 6 attack, grew from a few dozen members to nearly 200 in just a week. There, safe from the deplatforming spree of mainstream social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, Lang set out to recruit “normies” and radicalize them to the point that they joined regional militia groups.

Lang’s conversations offer a window into how some of President Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters — still simmering over baseless allegations of election fraud — are finding new connections on messaging platforms that are largely hidden from public scrutiny. Unlike sites such as Facebook, Telegram is a messaging app where users can create large, invitation-only and encrypted chat groups, and it allows users to remain anonymous by hiding their phone numbers from one another. Within days of the riots, more than 25 million users globally joined Telegram, the company’s CEO said, although the U.S. accounts for a fraction of its user base. A company spokesman did not respond to questions from ProPublica.

The chats also make clear that at least some of those involved in the Capitol insurrection, despite a sweeping crackdown by U.S. law enforcement that has resulted in more than 160 cases, appear dedicated to planning and participating in further violence.

“This has been one of my concerns shorter-term: That folks who are more fervent are seeking each other out in a way that can lead to some short-term, violent outbursts,” said Amy Cooter, a senior lecturer of sociology at Vanderbilt University who has studied militia activity for more than a decade. Homeland Security officials on Wednesday warned of heightened threats of violence across the country from domestic extremists who felt emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack.

The FBI referred questions of whether the government was aware of Lang’s activities to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, which did not immediately return an inquiry seeking comment Wednesday. 

ProPublica sifted through thousands of videos taken by Parler users to create an immersive, first-person view of the Capitol riot. 

A lawyer for Lang, Steven Metcalf, said he was not aware of his client’s private social media messages, including the Telegram group. Metcalf said he planned to enter a not-guilty plea and to contend that Lang was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech on Jan. 6.

After Lang’s arrest, his father, Ned Lang, told the local newspaper, the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York, that his son had struggled with substance abuse. “As a result, he has had numerous issues with law enforcement over the past 11 years and it has only gotten worse, as is evidenced by his most recent arrest and actions at our nation’s Capitol!” Ned Lang said in an emailed statement to the newspaper. “We are praying for my son that he conquers his addictions and finds a new path forward in his life!” Ned Lang did not respond to messages from ProPublica seeking comment.

Jake Lang’s public social media accounts depict him as an internet-savvy serial entrepreneur, with one now-defunct Instagram account, @jakevape, chronicling hashtagged trips to Coachella, California, and to Art Basel in Miami. Public records show he had moved through various business ventures, from one selling vaporizers to another selling custom baseball hats. For a time, he ran Social Model Management, which promised to help prospective models get “social media famous” by unlocking “industry secrets” that would triple their Instagram followers.

More recent social media posts by Lang acknowledged his struggle to stay sober and a deepening interest in religion. In an Instagram post from last year, tagged “#ChristEnergy,” Lang set goals for himself to memorize the Hebrew alphabet and stay kosher.

After his participation in the Capitol insurrection, Lang seemingly turned his online audience-building skills to a new mission: On the evening of Jan. 8, he turned to Instagram to send a round of invitations to join his private Telegram group, appealing to “patriots” willing to act locally and nationally as an armed paramilitary.

When new members joined the group, he emphasized they should remain anonymous by hiding their phone numbers and changing their usernames to “@Patriot[name].” He urged members to avoid chitchat and any specifics about future actions. Some floated gatherings on Inauguration Day or a few days before in state capitals, although others warned that protests on those days could be a trap. Participants were told they’d be vetted “to make sure they are who they claim to be,” wrote user Silence DoGood, before they were added to their local group chats by regional leaders.

Lang repeatedly used photos and videos of himself from the Capitol insurrection to stress the importance of military-style organization in future attacks.

“A woman just died in this video being trampled by DC police because we aren’t organized as patriots,” Lang posted on Jan. 10, an apparent reference to Rosanne Boyland, who died in a stampede at the Capitol. “This was my carnal cry for the real men to step up and help.”

Replied one member, who went by the username Tony Bologna: “Damn brother! Amen.”

“It was the first battle of the Second American Revolution- make no mistakes,” Lang continued. “This is WAR.” He posted a code of conduct in the group, as well as a set of meme-like instructions for members to prepare for a national “blackout,” buying long-range walkie-talkies and stocking up on guns, ammo and food.

“It’s really happening huh?” asked another user, Alastair. Lang replied with a video attachment, again of himself outside of the Capitol: “Do not be afraid of these tyrants.”

Some of the chat’s new recruits referred to Lang in language borrowed from the military. When one new member asked who the group’s leader was, another replied: “GENERAL JAKE😈😈😈 Your soldiers are reporting for duty.”

One user, dubbed Nomad, appointed himself a regional organizer in western Michigan, while another volunteered to boost the group’s ranks in central Florida. 

“This is grass roots,” wrote Patriot Captain RedorDead, who claimed to invite 20 prospective recruits from a local gym. “This is real.” Lang also encouraged recruiting at local gun shops.

He chastised members who veered into more social territory. “Guys please this is a MILITIA group to defend our country from communism - private message each other if you want to flirt. Only warning.”

While the idea was to organize a coherent strategy ahead of Jan. 20, when President Joe Biden would be sworn in, the group didn’t appear to coalesce around one. Lang offered few details: “The plan for now is to Martin Luther king style March on 17th and 20th, exercising our Rights (that means armed),” he wrote on Jan. 13. “Peace and God be the forefront of all of what we do. But we cannot not show up and appear weak! That is not an option.”

There’s no sign those in the chats took action on those days, but experts like Cooter warn against writing off their intentions as chatroom bluster. While most new online militia groups “are probably keyboard warriors and nothing more,” she cautioned, “we don't know that for sure, and I don’t think we can be complacent about a real risk from even a small minority of such groups.”

Experts have warned about the dangers of online echo chambers for years, but deplatforming may bring other risks, said Josh Pasek, a political science and communication and media professor at the University of Michigan. “The concern is much larger if the selection of which platforms people are using in the first place is itself more polarized. The chance that they make themselves far more extreme is high.”

He added: “The Capitol riot isn’t the end of much. What happens online can move offline. We’ve seen way too many examples of that to ignore it at this point.” 

By Jan. 18, word of Lang’s arrest reached the Telegram group users. 

“Seems as though the FEDs aren’t fucking around…” wrote one member. 

“Omg @patriotjake !!!” Patriot Jetaime wrote.

Some members left, but others vowed to stick around. “I’m still going to stay in the group in case he comes back, which is unlikely, but we may have to continue where he left off,” Patriot Zoomer said.

“The group is still here,” added PatriotLos. “Being patriotic is a lifestyle. Everyone has the capability to lead so don’t get lost.”

ProPublica gained access to the group after Lang sent an invitation to a reporter’s social media account. It’s unclear whether Lang knew he had invited a reporter, and the reporter joined but did not participate in the chats.

The group, created two days after the Jan. 6 attack, grew from a few dozen members to nearly 200 in just a week. There, safe from the deplatforming spree of mainstream social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, Lang set out to recruit “normies” and radicalize them to the point that they joined regional militia groups.

Lang’s conversations offer a window into how some of President Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters — still simmering over baseless allegations of election fraud — are finding new connections on messaging platforms that are largely hidden from public scrutiny. Unlike sites such as Facebook, Telegram is a messaging app where users can create large, invitation-only and encrypted chat groups, and it allows users to remain anonymous by hiding their phone numbers from one another. Within days of the riots, more than 25 million users globally joined Telegram, the company’s CEO said, although the U.S. accounts for a fraction of its user base. A company spokesman did not respond to questions from ProPublica.

The chats also make clear that at least some of those involved in the Capitol insurrection, despite a sweeping crackdown by U.S. law enforcement that has resulted in more than 160 cases, appear dedicated to planning and participating in further violence.

“This has been one of my concerns shorter-term: That folks who are more fervent are seeking each other out in a way that can lead to some short-term, violent outbursts,” said Amy Cooter, a senior lecturer of sociology at Vanderbilt University who has studied militia activity for more than a decade. Homeland Security officials on Wednesday warned of heightened threats of violence across the country from domestic extremists who felt emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack.

The FBI referred questions of whether the government was aware of Lang’s activities to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, which did not immediately return an inquiry seeking comment Wednesday.

ProPublica sifted through thousands of videos taken by Parler users to create an immersive, first-person view of the Capitol riot. 

A lawyer for Lang, Steven Metcalf, said he was not aware of his client’s private social media messages, including the Telegram group. Metcalf said he planned to enter a not-guilty plea and to contend that Lang was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech on Jan. 6.

After Lang’s arrest, his father, Ned Lang, told the local newspaper, the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York, that his son had struggled with substance abuse. “As a result, he has had numerous issues with law enforcement over the past 11 years and it has only gotten worse, as is evidenced by his most recent arrest and actions at our nation’s Capitol!” Ned Lang said in an emailed statement to the newspaper. “We are praying for my son that he conquers his addictions and finds a new path forward in his life!” Ned Lang did not respond to messages from ProPublica seeking comment.

Jake Lang’s public social media accounts depict him as an internet-savvy serial entrepreneur, with one now-defunct Instagram account, @jakevape, chronicling hashtagged trips to Coachella, California, and to Art Basel in Miami. Public records show he had moved through various business ventures, from one selling vaporizers to another selling custom baseball hats. For a time, he ran Social Model Management, which promised to help prospective models get “social media famous” by unlocking “industry secrets” that would triple their Instagram followers.

More recent social media posts by Lang acknowledged his struggle to stay sober and a deepening interest in religion. In an Instagram post from last year, tagged “#ChristEnergy,” Lang set goals for himself to memorize the Hebrew alphabet and stay kosher.

After his participation in the Capitol insurrection, Lang seemingly turned his online audience-building skills to a new mission: On the evening of Jan. 8, he turned to Instagram to send a round of invitations to join his private Telegram group, appealing to “patriots” willing to act locally and nationally as an armed paramilitary.

When new members joined the group, he emphasized they should remain anonymous by hiding their phone numbers and changing their usernames to “@Patriot[name].” He urged members to avoid chitchat and any specifics about future actions. Some floated gatherings on Inauguration Day or a few days before in state capitals, although others warned that protests on those days could be a trap. Participants were told they’d be vetted “to make sure they are who they claim to be,” wrote user Silence DoGood, before they were added to their local group chats by regional leaders.

Lang repeatedly used photos and videos of himself from the Capitol insurrection to stress the importance of military-style organization in future attacks.

“A woman just died in this video being trampled by DC police because we aren’t organized as patriots,” Lang posted on Jan. 10, an apparent reference to Rosanne Boyland, who died in a stampede at the Capitol. “This was my carnal cry for the real men to step up and help.”

Replied one member, who went by the username Tony Bologna: “Damn brother! Amen.”

“It was the first battle of the Second American Revolution- make no mistakes,” Lang continued. “This is WAR.” He posted a code of conduct in the group, as well as a set of meme-like instructions for members to prepare for a national “blackout,” buying long-range walkie-talkies and stocking up on guns, ammo and food.

“It’s really happening huh?” asked another user, Alastair. Lang replied with a video attachment, again of himself outside of the Capitol: “Do not be afraid of these tyrants.”

Some of the chat’s new recruits referred to Lang in language borrowed from the military. When one new member asked who the group’s leader was, another replied: “GENERAL JAKE😈😈😈 Your soldiers are reporting for duty.”

One user, dubbed Nomad, appointed himself a regional organizer in western Michigan, while another volunteered to boost the group’s ranks in central Florida. 

“This is grass roots,” wrote Patriot Captain RedorDead, who claimed to invite 20 prospective recruits from a local gym. “This is real.” Lang also encouraged recruiting at local gun shops.

He chastised members who veered into more social territory. “Guys please this is a MILITIA group to defend our country from communism - private message each other if you want to flirt. Only warning.”

While the idea was to organize a coherent strategy ahead of Jan. 20, when President Joe Biden would be sworn in, the group didn’t appear to coalesce around one. Lang offered few details: “The plan for now is to Martin Luther king style March on 17th and 20th, exercising our Rights (that means armed),” he wrote on Jan. 13. “Peace and God be the forefront of all of what we do. But we cannot not show up and appear weak! That is not an option.”

There’s no sign those in the chats took action on those days, but experts like Cooter warn against writing off their intentions as chatroom bluster. While most new online militia groups “are probably keyboard warriors and nothing more,” she cautioned, “we don't know that for sure, and I don’t think we can be complacent about a real risk from even a small minority of such groups.”

Experts have warned about the dangers of online echo chambers for years, but deplatforming may bring other risks, said Josh Pasek, a political science and communication and media professor at the University of Michigan. “The concern is much larger if the selection of which platforms people are using in the first place is itself more polarized. The chance that they make themselves far more extreme is high.”

He added: “The Capitol riot isn’t the end of much. What happens online can move offline. We’ve seen way too many examples of that to ignore it at this point.” 

By Jan. 18, word of Lang’s arrest reached the Telegram group users. 

“Seems as though the FEDs aren’t fucking around…” wrote one member. 

“Omg @patriotjake !!!” Patriot Jetaime wrote.

Some members left, but others vowed to stick around. “I’m still going to stay in the group in case he comes back, which is unlikely, but we may have to continue where he left off,” Patriot Zoomer said.

“The group is still here,” added PatriotLos. “Being patriotic is a lifestyle. Everyone has the capability to lead so don’t get lost.”

[things2mustdo]

The people of a nation must have common ideological, economic, political, and social ideas they agree upon or the nation, the civilization, will eventually die. Civil war is coming to the United States. Division, contention, fear, and silent invasion are being used to “reshape America.” The civil war that will emerge in the United States will not be like the previous one. This war will be for the mind and heart of the United States. It will be for the soul of the United States. What will we do when this occurs and what will be rebuilt.

In 2016 Roosh wrote an article titled, The Culture War Is Being Transformed Into A Hot War. Roosh discusses the methods that are being used to transform the culture war into a hot war. Even the Huffington Post ran an article in 2016 titled, The Coming of America’s Second Civil War. The author, a Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith, paints the coming civil war as the result of white Americans. While she may believe the lies she is speaking and writing, more than likely she failed to realize she is part of the elitist machine which is being used to create contention and divide the United States.

Civil wars are over ideological and social issues. Economic and political issues are extensions of ideological and social issues. As real men, we will continue to have less and less in common with soy boys and progressives. The divide between the people that support the U.S. Constitution and those that want a New World Order is growing.

What does this have to do with us men? Men are the ones that establish order. Men establish civilization and build complex civilizations. Women have a much harder time establishing and completing group functions and tasks without 100 percent consensus within the group. As our civilization crumbles and eventually falls, new order will come primarily from the masculine, from men.

The Election of Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln

In the years before the 19th Century U.S. Civil War, there were constant clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces. We are seeing constant clashed over what is termed Pro-Trump and Anti-Trump forces. Brietbart News has a list of over 500 acts of MSM sanctioned violence against Pro-Trump supporters.

In 1860 free state voting populations were larger than those of slave states so these states, as a total, had more Electoral College votes than slave states. One of the catalysts to the U.S. Civil War was the election of Abraham Lincoln over John C. Breckinridge. Lincoln took office in January 1861 and the war started in April of 1861. Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot of ten slave states but still won the election of 1860 because he won the largest number of Electoral College votes. Seven of these slave states, unwilling to accept the results of the election, decided to secede from the United States.

Several states considered seceding from the United States over the 2016 presidential election. Oregon, California, and Silicon Valley threatened to secede after Hillary lost. Texas was discussing secession if Trump lost. Canada offered to make several U.S. States part of Canada if they left the United States.

Since the election of Donald Trump to President of the United States, we have seen an escalation of violence. Therapists have increased business because progressives did not have their way in the 2016 election. Many progressives are unable to cope with reality and instead choose to live in a fantasyland. Even before the 2016 election, we witnessed how nasty, aggressive, despicable, and violent progressives have become and these behaviors have escalated since Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election.

The election of Donald Trump has brought to the fore the stark difference between ideological, economic, political, and social ideas. His election exposed many politicians as the traitors they really are.

We are seeing more and more allegation of electoral fraud. Several U.S. Cities are allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections. Giving non-citizens the ability to vote in U.S. elections is the same as allowing a foreign power to elect government officials. A foreign nation could easily flood the U.S. with people to vote for certain candidates drastically reshaping the U.S. political landscape. The Department of Justice recently filed charges against 19 people that were not U.S. Citizens for voting in the 2016 federal election.

Providing non-citizens the ability to vote also makes it easier to commit electoral or voter fraud. Judicial Watch is currently suing or has sued California, Maryland, Florida, and eight other states over dirty or inaccurate voter records. These states have areas with more voter registrations than eligible voters. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires states to take steps to remove ineligible registrants, to protect the voting process, and to turn over relevant records and information for inspection upon request. Several progressive groups have sued in some states to prevent the implementation or execution of those steps stating the requirements to clean up voter registration rolls is harmful to minorities.

Contention as a Destabilization and Fear Tactic

The elite are working hard to divide people along every possible factor. Sex, race, religion, wealth, speech, education, “equality”, and any other factor that can possibly be exploited to divide the people are being used. The goal is the complete overthrow of all liberties of all nations, and for that to happen the U.S. must be fundamentally be reshaped or destroyed. History is and will be rewritten to attain this goal. The deep state, the mainstream media, and other elite outlets, organizations, and front men and women are being used for this purpose.

We can see forces that are seeking to divide and conquer. Forces that teach men to be weak and women to be whores. This is a strategy of contention, of never-ending conflict. These same forces seek this division to control the people and reshape the United States eliminating all of our freedoms. In the words of Barack Obama, to “Reshape America”. The removal of due process, the attacks on free speech, and the right-to-bear arms are steps in the direction of reshaping of the United States. Economics will one of the primary forces used to reshape the United States.

There are more divisions now and larger divisions in the United States than in the 19th Century. The philosophical lies of progressives did not have a strong following until the 20th Century. We are witnessing the division and the weakness these progressive ideologies create. Progressive ideologies make people weak and afraid.

One of the goals of the division is the elimination of due process. The elimination of due process subverts justice. The elimination of due process creates an environment where someone is guilty until proved innocent. The #MeToo movement, political correctness, the Title IX tribunals on college campuses, the passing of judgement in the court of public opinion, and the idea that a woman should automatically be believed because she is a woman are all designed to undermine justice for everyone.

During World War I, Germany offered financial and military support to Mexico to invade the United States to keep the U.S. out of the war and act as a mediator between Germany and Japan. Mexico rejected the proposal because of Mexico’s own inner turmoil and because the Mexican leadership realized they would not be able to control a population armed better than many other populations.

The actions to eliminate the second amendment are part of the necessary steps the elite desire for control. People that are not afraid and stand up for themselves are threats to the elite and progressives. The actions are aimed at scaring the weak-minded, the emotional. Only the weak fear guns and other means of self-defense.

Mike Adams, a professor in the University of Narcissistic Criminals System (his words), wrote an article about the lack of maturity in younger generations. In this article, he also discusses how campus speech codes enable the aggressor and violence. People that are afraid of speech they do not like or with which they disagree. People afraid of ideas and of thinking and reason. Colleges and society are creating weak adults, and weak people are capable of violent and aggressive behavior because they act out of fear.

Progressives seek to literally, make people afraid of other ideas, and by extension, speech. The first and second amendments are pivotal to the United States and clearly distinguish the U.S. from other nations of the world, past and present. Words have power and ideas are much harder to kill so progressives are using their self-appointed Ministries of Truth: Apple, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, CNN, NBC, ABC, New York Times, etc. move in the direction of reshaping America.

The self-appointed Truth Ministries have become a de facto fourth branch of government. We are seeing these self-appointed Truth Ministries silence any voices with which they disagree. This has the effect of dividing people into “tribes” and “classes” based upon progressive ideological “protected characteristics.” This psychological warfare tactic effectively reduces people to mental slaves because these “protected classes” believe they will always be oppressed without progressives and the progressive ideology and thus, a psychological dependence is created. The creation of this psychological dependence is the core of progressive racism and oppression.

Destroying confidence in the U.S. Constitution destroys the effectiveness of government and the rule of law. Justice is denied to a person based upon lack of money, lack of access to inner circles, lack of “protected class” status, or perceived privilege. Without law society deteriorates to tyranny and mob rule. Without confidence in the U.S. Government, the government is effectively destroyed and will be replaced by factions that will struggle for control.

Silent Invasion

Mass immigration is being used to create additional destabilization. When speaking with American Citizens, most Americans are not opposed to legal immigration; they are opposed to illegal immigration. Legal immigrants assimilate into their host culture. Illegal immigration is being used as a way to silently invade the U.S. Many of illegal immigrants do not realize they are being used as pawns. “Refugees” can be in either category. Refugees, if willing to abide the law and become citizens, should be welcomed. If they arrive to take advantage or to plunder they are invaders.

The difference between an immigrant and an invader is the immigrant is willing to follow the laws of the nation in which he residing, the invader has no regard for law. The invader comes to exploit us, to take from us, to use us. There is no such thing as a law abiding criminal. Notice how the majority of politicians and business leaders do not advocate for illegal immigrants to learn about the founding of the U.S., the liberties afforded to U.S. Citizens, and become U.S. Citizens. When political and business leaders do not encourage immigrants to become U.S. Citizens they are importing people they want as slaves and a silent invasion force to “reshape America.”

“Catch and release” fulfills three purposes. The first purpose is to destabilize society so people will accept the elimination of liberty for security because some criminals are released into the population. The second is to ensure the illegal immigrants remain to as competition for jobs with American Citizens to drive down wages. The third is to displace U.S. Citizens and make them aliens in their own country.

Read More: Donald Trump And His Supporters Are Fighting A Rigged System

https://www.returnofkings.com/192863/how-the-second-american-civil-war-will-unfold

The coming U.S. Civil War will not have the same outcome as the U.S. Civil War in the 19th Century. As society breaks down, other parts of our economy and civilization break down. Businesses will cease to operate. General services will become unavailable, and confidence in government is destroyed. The legal framework is being destroyed because justice is denied because of ideological lies. When the legal framework is destroyed, the entitlement among the population mindset will lead to murder, rape, destruction of property, starvation for some, and cannibalism for others.

There is no civilization without law and order. A barbaric society is a society with little or no law and order. When Europeans came to the Americas, they brought civilization, i.e. law and order, with them. While there were atrocities committed, the overall effect of European influence was to civilize, to bring law and order, to the peoples in the Americas.

One of the signs of barbarity, or the lack of law and order, is the systematic killing of babies and children (this includes unborn babies). Other signs of barbarity are the lack of children born in the bulk of a nation’s marriages and the decline of marriage.

A New Civil War Will Not Have the Same Outcome

The coming civil war will not have the same outcome of the U.S. Civil War of the 19th Century. In the 19th Century, the U.S. had a more solid and cohesive ideological, social, political, and economic fabric. The people of 19th Century America wanted to preserve the U.S. Constitution. The federal government survived the 19th century civil war. The deep state did not exist on the scale it does now; nor were there so many individual factions within U.S. borders at the time with the intent of reshaping America.

The 19th Century U.S. was more patriarchal. The decline of the patriarchal influence in the 20th century with the rise and elevation of the matriarchal over the patriarchal through feminism, anti-natalism (anti-children) has created a society that lacks foundational social cohesion because the base unit of civilization, the family, has been destroyed. The rise of the matriarchal has created feminized men and angry women.

Many forces within the U.S. do not want to preserve the U.S. Constitution and its guaranteed liberties. An example is the recent anonymous op-ed published in the New York Times. The author, claiming to be “resistance” from within the Trump Administration, declares President Trump “anti-democratic”. The irony of this op-ed is the author makes the accusation “while boasting of membership in an unelected cabal that covertly imposes their own ideology with zero democratic accountability, mandate or transparency.”

The deep state certainly exists, I know people the deep state is stealing from, and the deep state has stolen from me, but consider the possibility that this specific author may be a fabrication to create further division among the people, sow division and trouble in the Trump Administration, and further destroy confidence in the electoral process.

Trump’s election to the U.S. Presidency shows that many U.S. Citizens are not on board with the progressive agenda. If the federal government cannot be changed through legal channels, then the elites and the factions they control will seek to destroy the federal government through division and the deep state and attempt to put a new government in place.

Destroying confidence in the U.S. Constitution destroys the effectiveness of government and the rule of law. Justice is denied to a person based upon lack of money, lack of access to inner circles, lack of “protected class” status, or perceived privilege. Without law society deteriorates to tyranny and mob rule. Without confidence in the U.S. Government, the government is effectively destroyed and will be replaced by factions that will struggle for control. The deliberate creation of more divisions makes it harder for the founding principles of the U.S. to survive. The U.S. Constitution stands in the way of the New World Order.

The U.S. will eventually divide into multiple factions, each claiming legitimate government, but without the liberties of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. will have no central government. The factions may form temporary alliances but some will seek to dominate all others and impose a new government, a reformed government, upon others. There will be those individuals and areas that will continue to stand for the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.

Today several nations would take advantage of inner turmoil in the United States. Nations such as China, North Korea, Russia, and others would most certainly take military action and invade U.S. territories, Alaska, and potentially the mainland. Most people are so oblivious that they do not potentially see the influence of these nations even now. Undoubtedly, some of these factions will be destroyed or subjugate by invading nations.

What Will Be Our Response?

Each of us as individuals has several pertinent choices to make. The preservation of our liberties will come from honorable men because typically are the ones that fight for liberty. Preservation of liberty does not come without bloodshed. ROK has articles on survival and why survival skills are important. Most people have not considered the possibility of times without gas, electricity, running clean water, or sewer treatment.

As confidence in the U.S. Federal Government declines and justice declines because of the deep state, mainstream media, and progressivism, people, already divided against each other, will form tribes consisting of family, friends, and others with similar ideas. You are probably already seeing these tribes form in a loose manner. What immediate skills and trades facilitate survival? Skills such as farming, gardening, agriculture, and other trade skills will be of value because these skills can be used to barter or used to sustain oneself and others.

The burden will fall upon masculine men, as it always does in times of war. People will revert to the most basic survival instincts. The soy boys will be busy hiding with the women in their basements or agreeing with whomever has the perceived power before proceeding to murder, rape, and loot those that disagree with them. The larger cities and the inner cities will be more lawless, chaotic, and disorderly. Weather conditions will also affect how people behave. Some people will gladly forsake liberty for food, clean water, or warmth. Some people will sell their children for food, clean water, or warmth or eat their own children.

A sound mind, which includes sound thinking, reasoning, and emotional control, are critical in survival situations. Survival chances increase when working with other people of the same mind. Live where you desire but constantly be aware of your surroundings. Create a network of family, friends, and kindred to increase your support circle will increase chances of immediate survival and the survival of others. Gather around yourself people that are like-minded, with trade skills, people that can think, reason, and are not easily persuaded by the weak-minded and emotional. Catering to the weak drags other people down to the lowest level physically, socially, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

What Will Be Rebuilt?

Civilizations will rebuild, but what will be rebuilt? Most of the time, people typically recreate the society they know unless they are already thinking about things they would change. To rebuild something better we must know what to keep and what to eliminate. We must know the mistakes of the past to avoid repeating those mistakes.

The founding principles, upon which the U.S. was built (the U.S. Constitution itself), will remain. Great care must be taken on what is built upon that foundation. Only patriarchy creates civilization. Societal and government change will come.

There are pertinent questions that will need answering, such as: Should women retain the right to vote? (Women did not have the right to vote prior to the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.) Should traditional marriage be the standard and gay marriage eliminated? Do we really want the society we have now? A society where men are marginalized? A society where white people are demonized and minorities are mentally enslaved by progressive victimhood? Do we want to continue to be oppressed by children and ruled over by women?

I have pondered for many years what would be rebuilt and how to rebuild after the current civilization falls. Patriarchy must assume its rightful place in society. Giving women the right to vote, the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the legalization and acceptance of abortion and the rise of no-fault divorce are pushing our civilization toward destruction.

Undoubtedly, things will be hard. Many of the immediate conveniences our civilization has access to will be gone or reduced. Patriarchy will rebuild civilization. Men will rebuild. Let us rebuild a civilization that will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

[importantharmonywinner]

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines

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What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines Jackpots

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines Machine

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines Dispense

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines 2020

House panel approves gambling deal, Senate plan on hold. Tribe, do away with greyhound racing while allowing dog tracks to keep operating other games, and open the door for slot machines in Palm Beach County. But a Senate committee, expected to vote on its version of the gambling legislation, postponed consideration of the.

A House panel on Tuesday overwhelmingly supported a trio of gambling bills that would ratify a $3 billion deal between the state and the Seminole Tribe, do away with greyhound racing while allowing dog tracks to keep operating other games, and open the door for slot machines in Palm Beach County.

But a Senate committee, expected to vote on its version of the gambling legislation, postponed consideration of the measures after Sen. Joe Negron filed a series of amendments that would dramatically change the proposal, months in the making.

Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Rob Bradley said he decided to delay discussion of the gambling bills (SB 7072, SB 7074) for a week to give the panel more time to “digest” Negron’s complicated proposal.

“I received requests from committee members to have some time to review those amendments without feeling rushed. This is an issue that is complex and large enough that it’s a reasonable request,” Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the House Regulatory Affairs Committee approved three gambling measures. One (PCB RAC 16-01) would ratify an agreement, called a “compact,” inked by Gov. Rick Scott and Seminole tribal leader James Billie in December. The compact would allow the Seminoles to add craps and roulette to their casino operations in exchange for a guarantee of $3 billion in payments to the state over seven years.

A second measure (PCB RAC 16-02) would allow greyhound tracks to do away with dog racing while keeping other pari-mutuel activities such as poker and slots, a process known as “decoupling.” The bill, amended to include the compact, would also decouple harness and quarter-horse races but would keep thoroughbred racing at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs.

The proposal would also allow slots in Palm Beach County and at a new facility in Miami-Dade County.

The committee also approved a proposed constitutional amendment (PCB RAC 16-03), which would let voters decide whether they want to expand gambling in the future — after the compact and the other gambling changes go into effect.

House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz said he decided to go ahead with the vote on the House’s gambling legislation after Bradley told him he was going to delay the vote on the Senate’s bills.

With the legislative session reaching the halfway point Wednesday, the Senate panel’s delay could make ratification of the compact problematic.

“We’re in week five, so every week that we don’t have a bill is a week closer to the bill dying,” Diaz, R-Miami, said. “It could very easily be one of those bills that we’re deciding at the very last moment. It just sort of looks and smells like it.”

But both Bradley and Diaz said that there is “plenty of time” for the Legislature to finalize a deal before the session ends on March 11.

“All the same challenges that existed six months ago, one month ago, one week ago, still exist today,” Bradley said.

Negron’s proposals, if passed, would significantly alter the agreement worked out by Scott’s general counsel, Tim Cerio, in tandem with Bradley and Diaz, who negotiated with the tribe for months before reaching an accord in December.

One of Negron’s amendments would allow slots at pari-mutuels in each of six counties — including Palm Beach — where voters have approved them, and in other counties where voters sign off on them in the future.

His plan would also decouple all dog and horse racing along with jai alai games, but allow the pari-mutuels to keep operating cardrooms and slot machines.

His proposal also includes $45 million — $20 million from the compact, and $25 million from revenues from slots and card games at pari-mutuels that discontinue racing or jai alai games — for thoroughbred purse pools.

And, in an effort to offset the expansion of gambling with the additional slot machines, Negron’s plan would eliminate 20 dormant or inactive pari-mutuel permits, while spending $20 million for the state to purchase active permits.

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines Jackpots

Negron also wants the gambling measure to include language that would confirm that “fantasy sports” are legal in Florida, the subject of a separate bill he is backing.

Diaz said he believed he had the 61 votes necessary to pass out of the House the measure approved by his committee Tuesday, but he acknowledged that the bill is “an absolute work in progress.”

“Every shift in this bill can lose a vote and gain a vote. I’ll know at the very end where we stand,” he said. “I’m optimistic that we have a bill we can pass … but I’m not going to OK a bill that’s bad just because the money’s good.”

But Negron, a Stuart Republican who will take over as Senate president after the November elections, said he believed his proposed changes would make it easier to garner support from the upper chamber.

“I think everyone understood that (the compact) was a first draft for the Legislature to consider,” Negron said. “Without addressing the issues in my amendment, there are not enough votes to pass the compact in the Senate. My amendment actually increases the likelihood of the bill passing.”

by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida

Comments

The following is a list of Senate Committees:

Senate Committee on Aging (Special)

Note: While special committees have no legislative authority, they can study issues, conduct oversight of programs, and investigate reports of fraud and waste.

Deals with issues related to health care for seniors, long-term care, elder fraud and abuse, social security and retirement savings, older workers, emergency preparedness for seniors, assisting seniors with rising energy costs and affordable senior housing.

Relevance to the Academy: Pertinent legislation includes the Older Americans Act, which regulates congregate and home-delivery meal programs. Other issues relate to Medicare reimbursement and long-term care facility services.

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

Responsible for oversight of all legislation that deals with our nation's agriculture industry, including food and agricultural research, education, economics and extension; innovation in the use of agricultural commodities and materials; farming programs; forestry and logging; and legislation related to nutrition and health, including nutrition and food assistance and hunger prevention, school and child nutrition programs, local and healthy food initiatives.

Relevance to the Academy: Pertinent legislation and issues include the Farm Bill, National School Lunch program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, School Breakfast, WIC and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program.

Appropriations Committee

Has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate. The committee writes the legislation that allocates federal funds to the numerous government agencies, departments and organizations on an annual basis. Appropriations are limited to the levels set by a Budget Resolution, drafted by the Senate Budget Committee.

Relevance to the Academy: All bills require appropriation legislation along with authorization to be viable.

Committee on Armed Services

Deals with issues primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations; the common defense; the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy and the Department of the Air Force.

Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Areas of jurisdiction include banking, insurance, financial markets, securities, housing, urban development and mass transit, international trade and finance, and economic policy.

Committee on Budget

Along with the House Budget Committee, it is responsible for drafting Congress' annual budget plan and monitoring action on the budget for the Federal Government. In addition, the Budget Committee has jurisdiction over the operation of the Congressional Budget Office. The budget resolution prepared by the Budget Committee sets out a broad blueprint for the Congress with respect to the total levels of revenues and spending for the government as a whole.

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Jurisdiction includes coastal zone management, highway safety, interstate commerce, nonmilitary aeronautical and space sciences, sports, standards and measurement and marine fisheries as well as regulation of consumer products and services, including testing related to toxic substances other than pesticides, and except for credit, financial services and housing.

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Jurisdiction over matters related to National Energy Policy, including international energy affairs and emergency preparedness; nuclear waste policy; privatization of federal assets; territorial policy (including changes in status and issues affecting Antarctica) and Native Hawaiian matters.

Committee on Ethics (Select)

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics is authorized to publish regulations necessary to implement the Senate Code of Official Conduct, and to issue interpretative rulings and advisory opinions regarding the application of any law, rule or regulation within the Committee's jurisdiction.

Committee on Environment and Public Works

Jurisdiction includes issues of air and noise pollution, environmental policy, fisheries and wildlife, public buildings, works, bridges and dams, solid waste disposal and recycling, water pollution. Subcommittees deal with policy issues in connection with protection of pregnant women, infants and children from environmental hazards and job creation through the development and deployment of 'green' technologies and practices.

Committee on Finance (similar to the House Ways and Means Committee)

The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to: taxation and other revenue measures generally, the transportation of dutiable goods, deposit of public moneys, general revenue sharing; as well as health programs under the Social Security Act, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and other health and human services programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund; and national social security.

Relevance to the Academy: Issues related to Medicare and Medicaid insurance reimbursement for RDN services/MNT.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing (but not administering) and funding foreign aid programs as well as funding, arms sales and training for national allies. The committee is also responsible for holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State.

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)

Has jurisdiction over most of the agencies, institutes, and programs of the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC, NIH, AOA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The Committee also oversees public health and health insurance statutes to address emerging threats and changing patterns in the health-care industry. This committee has jurisdiction over various issues related to education and workforce development, including Head Start, the No Child Left Behind Act, Higher Education, the Arts and Humanities, Student Financial Assistance, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Job and Vocational Training and the Workforce Investment Act. This Committee also deals with federal labor and employment laws and private retirement plans and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Relevance to the Academy: Pertinent legislation/issues include home-delivered and congregate meal programs for seniors, Ryan White CARE Act. Many of the programs/agencies under this committee's jurisdiction include nutrition and nutrition-related issues e.g. FDA, NIH, AOA, Head Start.

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines Machine

Has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and accounting measures other than appropriations, the Census, the federal civil service, the affairs of the District of Columbia, and the United States Postal Service.

Committee on Indian Affairs

Issues include the Indian County provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, appropriations and budget, federal recognition of tribes, health care reform (Indian Health Services) Indian economic development, education, energy and water rights.

Relevance to the Academy: Issues related to nutrition within Indian Health Services.

Committee on Intelligence (Select)

Dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community — the agencies and bureaus of the federal government who provide information and analysis for leaders of the executive and legislative branches.

Committee on the Judiciary

Provides oversight of the Department of Justice and the agencies under the Department's jurisdiction, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and is also charged with the consideration of Supreme Court nominations, appellate court nominations, and district court nominations.

Committee on Rules and Administration

Responsible for the rules of the Senate and administration of congressional buildings as well as the credentials and qualifications of members of the Senate, including responsibility for dealing with contested elections.

Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Has jurisdiction over the Small Business Administration and is also charged with researching and investigating all problems of American small business enterprises.

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines Dispense

The Committee is dedicated to being an advocate for our nation's veterans, from those who served in World War I to our veterans who are returning home today. The Committee convenes hearings, conducts oversight and investigations, and is responsible for all legislation relating to veterans benefits and medical care.

What Senate Committee Deals With Slot Machines 2020

Relevance to the Academy: Issues related to the Department of Veterans Affairs' health care system, programs and research apparatus.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.1

475 BC – Roman consul Publius Valerius Poplicola celebrates a Roman triumph for his victory over Veii and the Sabines. 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. 524 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar. 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. 1169 – Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland. 1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state. 1455 – Battle of Arkinholm, Royal forces end the Black Douglas hegemony in Scotland. 1576 – Stephen Báthory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become co-rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1707 – The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect. 1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. 1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain. 1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Upper Bavaria, by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt. 1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. 1786 – In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time. 1794 – War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793. 1820 – Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool. 1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom. 1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established. 1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple. 1851 – Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London. 1856 – The Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honor of Queen Isabela II. 1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes its capture of New Orleans. 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins. 1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. 1866 – The Memphis Race Riots begin. In three days time, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1869 – The Folies Bergère opens in Paris. 1875 – Alexandra Palace reopens after being burned down in a fire in 1873. 1884 – The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions demands the eight-hour work day in the United States. 1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States. 1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business. 1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries. 1893 – The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago. 1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C. 1898 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors die. There are no American vessel losses or combat deaths. 1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history. 1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives. 1919 – German troops enter Munich to suppress the Bavarian Soviet Republic. 1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members. 1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor. 1929 – The 7.2 Mw  Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121. 1930 – "Pluto" is officially proposed for the name of the newly-discovered dwarf planet Pluto by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory Observation Circular. The name quickly catches on. 1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City. 1941 – World War II: German forces launch a major attack during the siege of Tobruk. 1944 – World War II: Two hundred Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani, Athens in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi. 1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin. 1945 – World War II: Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda. 1945 – World War II: Forces of the Soviet Red Army liberate Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at Stalag Luft I near Barth, Germany. 1945 – World War II: Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army. 1945 – World War II: Yugoslav Partisans liberate Trieste. 1946 – Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians. 1946 – The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy. 1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded. 1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public. 1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease. 1957 – Thirty-four people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire, England. 1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra; also known as "Maharashtra Day". 1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis. 1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections. 1965 – Cross-Strait relations: Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China, takes place. 1967 – Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu are married in Las Vegas. 1970 – Vietnam War: Protests erupt following the announcement by Richard Nixon that the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces would attack Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign. 1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service. 1974 – The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón. 1977 – Thirty-six people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations. 1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone. 1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War. 1983 – The Sydney Entertainment Centre is opened. 1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. 1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States. 1990 – The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. 1993 – Dingiri Banda Wijetunga became president of Sri Lanka automatically after killing of R Premadasa in LTTE bomb explosion. 1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. 1995 – Croatian War of Independence: Croatian forces launch Operation Flash. 1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924. 1999 – SpongeBob SquarePants premieres on Nickelodeon. 2001 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion. 2002 – OpenOffice.org released version 1.0, the first stable version of the software. 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended". 2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin. 2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden. 2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. 2019 – Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

@dykeofwellington

#he’s no better than any other politician

#and is indeed actively worse than quite a few

#politics

#us politics I am curious as to why you think he’s actively worse than someone like Steyer, or Tulsi Gabbard, or simply in general. Why do you feel he’s actively worse than the rest? I would also love to know who you think is the best choice out of the lot? and you’re reasoning behind that?

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Hey for some reason I can’t reblog the post where you asked the above about Bernie. I’m going to give a very brief rundown of thoughts. 

First, let’s clear up some rather broad, assumptions made: 

am curious as to why you think he’s actively worse than someone like Steyer, or Tulsi Gabbard, or simply in general. / Why do you feel he’s actively worse than the rest?

I never said any politician’s name. Just a general indication that he’s worse than a few. I think it’s interesting you assumed I meant those two and not that he’s worse than, let’s say, Julian Castro. 

I clearly said “no better than any other politician” which puts him on equal footing with Warren etc. so this assumption: Why do you feel he’s actively worse than the rest? is unwarranted. 

What I was saying was basically - no better than e.g. Warren and worse than quite a few e.g. Castro, Clinton (I know, come fight me leftists who drank the almost 30 years of GOP koolaid on her) etc. 

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A quick rundown of issues I have with Bernie include, but are not limited to: 

Inability to deal with sexual harassment in his campaign in a meaningful way (he apologized and such, but there’s not to my eyes been a significant change)

General sexism in his campaign as well as sexism displayed by followers. He’s just got a sexism issue overall.

Lack of meaningful, recent civil rights record 

Unwilling to coalition build with colleagues in government (a profoundly necessary skill if you want to get anything done as president). Basically, he’s not a team player. We need team players. Team players is how DC works. (e.g. “Ms. Clinton, pointing out that Mr. Obama had to fight tooth-and-nail even for relatively centrist solutions such as the Affordable Care Act, draws the lesson that the next president must have a strong sense of practicality and realism; big rallies cannot wish away the complex politics of Congress. Mr. Sanders, by contrast, claims that Mr. Obama had insufficient revolutionary zeal.” Sanders’ view is not helpful nor realistic.) 

Lack of passing meaningful policy/legislation in his 25 years as senator which indicates an overall inability to solve issues within the existing system as well as a manifestation of the above mentioned inability to coalition build. While many senators propose many bills and pass few (that’s kind of par for the course) Sanders’ are particularly lack lustre. Of the seven enacted of which he was primary sponsor, three were designations (S. 885, H.J.Res. 231, S. 893) and one was a national park boundary movement (H.R. 1353). 

Bernie Sanders was the primary sponsor of seven bills that were enacted:

S. 885 (113th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, as the “Thaddeus Stevens Post Office”.

S. 2782 (113th): A bill to amend title 36, United States Code, to improve the Federal charter for the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and for other purposes

S. 893 (113th): Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013H.R. 5245 (109th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1 Marble Street in Fair Haven, Vermont, as the “Matthew Lyon Post Office Building”.

H.J.Res. 129 (104th): Granting the consent of Congress to the Vermont-New Hampshire Interstate Public Water Supply Compact.

H.R. 1353 (102nd): Entitled the “Taconic Mountains Protection Act of 1991”.

H.J.Res. 132 (102nd): To designate March 4, 1991, as “Vermont Bicentennial Day”.

Medicare for All: it’s an incredibly complicated thing to implement and I’m personally not convinced Sanders’ plan is the right approach, nor that it would pass congress when introduced. 

Weak stance on gun control and relationship with the NRA

Tendency to shout over and shut people down, especially those asking questions he doesn’t want to answer 

His lack of attempting to control his supporters - their misogyny and racism - are indicative of the kind of person running the campaign. These things rot from top down. 

How powerfully his ego influences his actions, especially in 2016 when it took Obama hauling him into the white house before he finally stepped down and stopped running 

That whole Russia murkiness

His continued view that the primaries are rigged when they aren’t, he just lost, is actively harmful 

He has, or has benefited from, super PACs (he has some direct PAC contributions, but it’s not a large amount. Most of his benefits from PACs come in other forms than direct contributions). 

So, this is not something I particularly care about overall, because running for president is expensive (which is a Problem), and it’s a current reality to campaign financing. But he made such a big deal out of it I take vindictive pleasure in him having them/benefitting from them because I can now corner Luke Savage at a mutual friend’s annual Christmas party and tell him to shove it up his arse. 

Support of Gabbard who is a bit of a Russian plant (not to mention a terrible candidate overall) 

He is old, he is white, he is straight, he is cis, he is male - we have the most diverse range of potential nominees and if we think he’s the Answer or Saviour there’s a lot of unpacking of internalized stuff that needs to happen. 

A personal thing, but I really, really dislike his shoutiness. He reminds me of every socialist bro who has shouted down women and other marginalized people at parties I’ve been to (I know quite a few Jacobin/Socialist hacks e.g. aforementioned Luke Savage who uses the Sanders Certified approach If You Shout Enough They Can’t Get A Word In Therefore You Win to conversations and debates) and it leaves my skin crawling. 

No policy to address the needs and interests of First Nations/Native Americans including living standards, water access, education, treaty rights, any sort of reconciliation and addressing the issue of colonialism and genocide etc. (I think Castro is the only one with anything addressing Native American needs)

Breach of Clinton’s campaign voter data. Super. Shady. 

Ultimately, I’m not an idealist because idealism doesn’t make for good policy. While I dislike the term leftist because it invokes, to my mind, the blind, unthinking frothing wrath of Bernie Bros(tm), I do have leftist goals. 

However, I am practical about the approach, which will almost always be incremental. It’s like building a house: you lay foundations before you start on the walls, roof and insulation. Bernie wants an instant house to appear out of no where. That’s not how life nor government, works.

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t push to improve things and make for a better world, a more just society. But the reality is: we have a system we must work within and so we need people who can do that effectively. That said, we can and should try to improve the system on the way, as well. But burning it down and starting from scratch is a pipe dream. Best lay it to the side and fight for things that can actually improve lives today. In the here and now. 

in the end, I don’t like Bernie Sanders because he is an old, shouty white man driven by ego who is crude, mean, and isn’t a real democrat. I think we can do better. 

My current list of choices for the Democratic nominee (which is open to change. It will depend on how debates play out and further policy details put forward by candidates): 

Julian Castro (I like his platform the most; he has experience in DC from the Obama administration; knows how to be a team player; he’s young, intelligent and well spoken; has that “presidential” look that many voters like to see, which you know. Makes sense. Mostly I like his platform and everything I’ve heard and read about him has been positive. He also runs a (mostly) positive campaign! Unlike Some Old White Shouty Men. I can go on.)

Kamala Harris (She has a good platform with sound policy plans; she has grit and stamina needed to run against Trump; She runs a positive campaign - even using her funding to support other democrats currently primarying republicans/are just up for general re-election; she’s a senator so has experience and allies in DC with whom she can coalition build; she’s a team player; she will give us a good shot in Florida and N. Carolina; she has strong support from Black Americans who are the base of the democratic party; as DA she fought against prop 22 and prop 8 [yes, she’s not perfect as DA or AG but point to someone with a perfect track record. I’ll wait. I’m not here for perfection or purity politics, I’m here for someone who can win and will implement descent policy while in power], she pioneered one of the first open data initiative to expose racism in the legal system, lol she’s not a millionaire unlike Some Old White Shouty Man - which is neither here nor there for me personally, because again I’m realistic, just a refreshing thing. I can go on.) 

Elizabeth Warren (I’m rather luke-warm on her but she’s better than the other options.)

My ideal ticket, currently, is: Harris/Castro. 

Again - this is open to change. And, at the end of the day, I will vote for the democratic nominee in 2020 no matter what because we can’t have another four years of Trump. 

[fierceautie]

Quack exposed: Genesis 2 Church of Health and Healing

In 1996, Jim Humble, a former scientologist,  claimed to discover MMS while mining for gold in the jungles of South America. He claimed that it cured malaria (this is not true). After some time, he invited a missionary group to Africa where he experiments with MMs on the locals there. Hex poisoned over 5,000 people there. He also claims he is a G-d from the Andromeda galaxy. "And then I asked to be put in the part of the space navy that watched over the Earth," Humble said. In 2010 Jim Humble and Mark Grenon founded the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. The both of them are self styled Archbishops of their made up church. They did this so they could distribute MMS more easily. They needed to found a church because the mainstream medical community relies on fact and not anecdotal evidence. He lists MMS as a religious sacrament so it is harder to prosecute. He even said that it has nothing to do with religion. He co-founded the Genesis 2 church to "legalize the use of MMS" and avoid getting caught. Their main idea is that chlorine dioxide can kill pathogens in the body that causes illnesses. They say it should be ingested every day to maintain health. They set up shop in Bradenton, Florida out of their home. It is not an actual church. They say that Genesis 2 is a non religious church that was founded to create a legal structure to protect Jim Humble's teachings. They do not claim to serve G-d. They serve humankind. They do reference Bible quotes throughout the website (not active anymore) They chose the name Genesis 2 to reference a new beginning. This is related to their goal of restoring health and removing humans from the current "world of death" to the "world of living."Thier members and website suggest to help people, they must spread the "knowledge" of MMS. They maintain the belief that "big pharma" has a coverup happening related to MMS. They claim that MMS is safe for everyone. The members carry around a card that says: “This card signifies that this member of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing has the God-given, unalienable right to control and maintain their personal health. All members are exempt from any means not chosen, including but not limited to: vaccinations, medications, X-rays, scans, implants, mandatory voting, and health insurance mandated by a human government or authority.” Several times a year, G2 held seminars on how to use MMS and a group of people would be certified in bleach in just a short weekend. They also had weekly 1 hour podcasts complaining about how everyone is out the get them. Mark Grenon claims to have been a Boy Scout. Scouts does not teach what he does. Sent a Letter To Trump When He Was In Office May 19, 2020 Dear President Trump and Attorney General Barr, I am writing you both to ask for the immediate arrest of US Attorneys Matthew J. Feeley, Ross S. Goldstein, David A. Frank, and US Judge Kathleen M. Williams for violating with gross negligence and contempt our 1st Amendment rights as a Church to practice our beliefs. The above mention individuals have been complicit in Case 1:20-cv-21601 by allowing the FDA and FTC to categorize our Church Sacraments as a ‘drug’ and thereof having power to regulate and or approve. Not only is this offense to us and ALL religions but a Church Sacrament does not need to be approved by the FDA or FTC to be practiced. According to the 1st Amendment there can be ‘no law’ that prohibits us never mind a code. Here is the code which the FDA is using as the basis for the case against us the Genesis II Church and 4 of its members. The FDA is using Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”), 21 U.S.C. § 332(a), alleging that Defendants directly or indirectly: A. Violate 21 U.S.C. § 331(d), by introducing or delivering for introduction into interstate commerce new drugs, as defined in 21 U.S.C. § 321(p), that are neither approved pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 355 nor exempt from approval; The FDA goes on to build this ‘case’ against us by adding: 1. MMS is a “drug” as defined by 21 U.S.C. § 321(g). Defendants have posted content on their websites claiming that MMS is intended for curing, mitigating, treating, or preventing COVID19, Alzheimer’s, autism, brain cancer, HIV / AIDS, and multiple sclerosis. (DE 3-1 at Exs. 3-12, 14-16, 18-20.) 2. MMS is a “new drug” as defined in 21 U.S.C. § 321 (p)(1) and (p)(2). We as a Church are having our rights violated and need relief immediately from this unlawful attack against our Church and the 1st Amendment. DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER COLOR OF LAW SUMMARY: Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Please consider this petition for the arrest of the perpetrators of this case or the immediate dismissal of this unlawful case. Sincerely, Archbishop Mark S. Grenon Co-founder of the Genesis II Church When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”, Proverbs 29:2 In the News In 2009 an American woman had taken MMS to prevent malaria on a cruise. The authorities found that the cause of death was undetermined so this fueled G2 to claim no one ever died from MMS. She died hours after taking this dangerous substance.    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/moms-go-undercover-fight-fake-autism-cures-private-facebook-groups-n1007871   In 2019, NBC ran an article about mothers in the United States and the UK. fighting MMS being used on autistic children and vulnerable adults. It features G2 and their role in the poisoning of children. This article was the 2nd most read online article by NBC in 2019. This article raised a lot of awareness around this issue. It even warranted a Dr. Oz appearance:     The FDA issued a warning in August of 2019, but did not take any other action. This only effected disabled kids after all.  COVID 19 The the global pandemic happened. Since G2 says MMS is the miracle cure for everything, they simply could not help themselves! They claimed that MMS cured and prevented COVID 19. This caught the FDA's attention. When it affected able bodied adults, they suddenly cared.   The FDA sent G2 a warning letter:   https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/genesis-2-church-606459-04082020

Restraining Order Against the Manufacture and Distribution of MMS by G2

It finally happened. Yesterday the Genesis 2 Church had court at the Federal Courthouse in Miami. Miami is only 50 miles from where I live in South Florida. I took a drive with another member of my organization to see this happen. Unfortunately, it was a closed hearing. We knew this was a possibility. It was an emergency hearing to determine if the temporary injunction on the sale and promotion of MMS would become permanent. On May 1, 2020, it was released that there was a preliminary injunction placed on Genesis 2 Church: “‘Genesis 2 Church now has been banned from selling, promoting, signposting, distributing MMS Chlorine Diixide bleach! They cannot: ‘label, hold, and/or distribute any drug, including but not limited to MMS, that does not have an approved new drug application pursuant to 21.’1. The United States’ motion for a preliminary injunction (DE 3) is GRANTED.2. Upon entry of this Order, Defendants and each and all of their directors, officers, agents, representatives, employees, successors, assigns, attorneys, and any and all persons in active concert or participation with any of them (hereinafter, “Associated Persons”) who receive actual notice of this Order, shall not, during the pendency of this action, directly or indirectly, label, hold, and/or distribute any drug, including but not limited to MMS, that does not have an approved new drug application pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 355(b) or abbreviated new drug application pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 355(j), or an investigational new drug application in effect for its use pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 355(i), or any drug that is misbranded within the meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 352.3. Upon entry of this Order, Defendants and Associated Persons, shall not, directly or indirectly, violate 21 U.S.C. § 331(k) by causing any drug, including but not limited to MMS, to become misbranded within the meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 352(a) and/or (f)(1) after shipment of one or more of its components in interstate commerce.4. Upon entry of this Order, Defendants and Associated Persons shall immediately refrain from disposing of or transferring any assets that may interfere with implementation of payment of restitution to consumers who purchased Defendants’ drugs, should the Court ultimately order such restitution payments in its final judgment in this matter.5. Upon entry of this Order, Defendants and Associated Persons are prohibited from destroying, discarding, altering, transferring or otherwise making unavailable any document or record in electronic format or otherwise within their custody or control that are related to (a) MMS; (b) misbranded drugs; and/or (c) unapproved new drugs.6. Representatives of FDA shall be permitted, without prior notice and as and when FDA deems necessary, to inspect Defendants’ places of business and take any other measures necessary to monitor and ensure continuing compliance with the terms of this Order. During such inspections, FDA representatives shall be permitted to: have immediate access to buildings, including but not limited to 2014 Garden Ln, Bradenton, FL 34205-5274 (the “Facility”), equipment, raw ingredients, in-process materials, finished products, containers, packaging material, labeling, and other promotional material therein; take photographs and make video recordings; take samples of Defendants’ in-process or unfinished and finished products, containers, packaging material, labeling, and other promotional material; and examine and copy all records relating to the labeling, holding, and distribution of any and all drugs and their components. The inspections shall be permitted upon presentation of a copy of this Order and appropriate credentials. The inspection authority granted by this Order is separate and apart from, and in addition to, the authority to make inspections under the FDCA, 21 U.S.C. § 374.7. Defendants shall bear the cost of any inspections, analytical work, and supervisory activities that FDA deems necessary to evaluate Defendants’ compliance with any of the terms of this Order.8. Defendants shall post a copy of this Order in a common area at the Facility and at any other location at which Defendants conduct business and shall ensure that the Order remains posted for as long as the Order remains in effect.9. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the United States shall promptly provide notice of this action and this Order to Defendants by attempting service at last known email addresses and physical addresses. Pursuant Rule 65(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, United States of America shall not be required to post security for the instant action. DONE AND ORDERED in chambers in Miami, Florida, this 1st day of May, 2020.'” Not only did MMS get banned, but the Genesis 2 Church is being held in Contempt of Court for violating the temporary injuction !  “ORDERTHIS MATTER is before the Court on the United States’ motion for an order to show cause why Defendants should not be held in contempt (DE 23). The Court determines that a hearing is required to consider the issues raised in Plaintiff’s motion.” Congratulations to everyone involved. WE DID IT!  Reminders why MMS is dangerous:

Parents are poisoning their children with bleach … – NBC Newswww.nbcnews.com › tech › internet › moms-go-underc…

  After ignored temporary injunctions and court appearances, the FDA raided the Grenon's residence. There were Federal charges filed against Mark Grenon and his 3 adult sons. After a search warrant was executed, they recovered:   50 gallons of muriatic acid 22 gallons of miracle mineral solution 8,300 pounds of sodium chlorite.   Two of the Grenon sons were arrested and the other two were hiding in El Rodadero, Magdalena, Columbia.     Mark Grenon's Reaction after the raid:

  Not long after this, Grenon and his other son were arrested in Columbia. All the people involved are currently in jail under marshall hold. They are currently still awaiting a court date in jail. I plan on being at court since I only live 2 hours away from the court house! Indicted in Miami! Yesterday, April 23, 2021 Mark, Jonathon, Jordan and Joseph Grenon were indicted in the south district of Florida Federal court. It was for marketing and selling a fake cure for COVID 19. They did not act on it when autistic kids were being poisoned but hey, its something.   "According to the indictment, the Grenons, all of Bradenton, Florida, manufactured, promoted, and sold a product they named Miracle Mineral Solution (“MMS”).  MMS is a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite and water which, when ingested orally, became chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach typically used for industrial water treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp, and paper. The Grenons claimed that ingesting MMS could treat, prevent, and cure COVID-19, according to the charges.  The FDA, however, had not approved MMS for treatment of COVID-19, or for any other use.  Rather, in prior official warning statements, the FDA had strongly urged consumers not to purchase or use MMS for any reason, explaining that drinking MMS was the same as drinking bleach and could cause dangerous side effects, including severe vomiting, diarrhea, and life-threatening low blood pressure. See https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/danger-dont-drink-miracle-mineral-solution-or-similar-products.  In fact, FDA received reports of people requiring hospitalizations, developing life-threatening conditions, and even dying after drinking MMS."   "The indictment further alleges that before marketing MMS as a cure for COVID-19, the Grenons marketed MMS as a miracle cure-all for dozens of other serious diseases and disorders, even though the FDA had not approved MMS for any use. The Grenons sold tens of thousands of bottles of MMS nationwide, including to consumers throughout South Florida, according to the allegations. They sold this dangerous product under the guise of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing (“Genesis”), an entity they are accused of creating to avoid government regulation of MMS and shield themselves from prosecution. According to charging documents, Genesis’ own websites describe Genesis as a “non-religious church,” and Defendant Mark Grenon, the co-founder of Genesis, has repeatedly acknowledged that Genesis “has nothing to do with religion,” and that he founded Genesis to “legalize the use of MMS” and avoid “going to jail.”  The Genesis websites further stated that MMS could be acquired only through a “donation” to Genesis, but the donation amounts for MMS orders were set at specific dollar amounts, and were mandatory, such that the donation amounts were effectively just sales prices.  The indictment alleges that the Grenons received more than $1 million from selling MMS."   They are also being charged with criminal contempt.   So not only are they being brought up on civil charges, they are being brought up on criminal charges.   Monday, April 26 2021 is arraignment in Miami and I plan on being there. I will update more then.   Arraignment in April 26, 2021 On this day I drove down to Miami to exercise my rights under the Sunshine Law. I wanted to watch it with my own eyes and wanted him to see my face.  Nothing more, nothing less.   ANYWAY.   I was not allowed in due to COVID restrictions, which was fine. I didn't fight it. Read the full article

[patriotsnet]

What Have Republicans Done For The Middle Class

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-have-republicans-done-for-the-middle-class/

What Have Republicans Done For The Middle Class

Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

Republican Tax Plan Worse Than We Thought For Middle Class Americans? | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

The massive tax cuts that wealthy people get do not eliminate the naturally occurring expenses of our nation. The money has to be made up from somewhere, and whenever the elite class gets a tax cut, it ends up being the middle class that is forced to shoulder the burden.

If you look at the tax code from back in the decades when the United States was fiscally solvent, there were always massive taxes on extreme wealth. These taxes existed to provide incentive to major corporations to invest in their people and maintain a high standard of living for the middle class. This allowed those businesses to show a higher payroll expense and provided them with an obvious means of staying out of the high tax brackets.

Now that there are no longer any high tax brackets, those corporations just keep that money for themselves. Thats why the minimum wage has stagnated for decades and its no longer possible for families to support themselves on a single income.

Views On Cost Of Living Across Social Classes

Overall, 49% of the public says their familys income is falling behind the cost of living, while 42% say it is staying about even and just 7% say it is going up faster.

Across class lines, fully 66% of those who identify as lower class say they are falling behind the cost of living, compared with 29% who say they are staying about even and 4% who say their income is going up faster than the cost of living. Views are mixed among the middle class: 48% say their income is staying about even with the cost of living, but almost as many say it is falling behind; 6% say it is going up faster. Even among the upper class, about as many say their income is falling behind the cost of living as going up faster ; a 58% majority of upper-class adults say their income in staying about even with the cost of living.

Over the past two years, the overall share of the public saying they are falling behind the cost of living has declined as the share saying they are staying about even has increased.

Across the social classes, there has been a comparable uptick in the share saying they are keeping up with the cost of living among those who say they are upper class , middle class and lower class .

Life Satisfaction And Views Of Personal Finances Across Social Classes

Assessments of life satisfaction differ across self-identified social classes, with some of the widest differences seen between the views of the lower class and those of the upper and middle classes.

Majorities across groups say they are very satisfied with their family life. However, somewhat greater shares of those in the upper class and middle class say this than of those in the lower class .

About three-quarters of upper-class adults say they are very satisfied with their present housing situation; 68% of those in the middle class also say this. Among lower-class adults, far fewer say they are very satisfied with their current housing.

Similarly, most upper- and middle-class adults say they are very satisfied with their education, compared with 43% of lower-class adults.

Among those currently employed, 62% of upper-class adults say they are very satisfied with their current job, while about half of those in the middle class say they are very satisfied with their job. Among employed adults who describe themselves as lower class, 40% say they are very satisfied with their current job.

As the country has recovered from the Great Recession, assessments of personal finances have improved across most groups, particularly among those who describe themselves as middle class.

Among those who say they are middle class, positive personal financial ratings are up 12 points, from 43% who described their finances as excellent or good in 2011 to 55% in the current survey.

Recommended Reading: Have Democrats Tried To Impeach Every Republican President

The Middle Class Rises

The middle class, which Pew defines as two-thirds to two times the national median income for a given household size, began to grow after World War II due to a surge in economic growth and because President Franklin Delano Roosevelts New Deal gave workers more power. Before that, most Americans were poor or nearly so.

For example, legislation such as the Wagner Act established rights for workers, most critically for collective bargaining. The government also began new programs, such as Social Security and unemployment insurance, that helped older Americans avoid dying in poverty and supported families with children through tough times. The Home Owners Loan Corporation, set up in 1933, helped middle-class homeowners pay their mortgages and remain in their homes.

Together, these new policies helped fuel a strong postwar economic boom and ensured the gains were shared by a broad cross-section of society. This greatly expanded the U.S. middle class, which reached a peak of nearly 60 percent of the population in the late 70s. Americans increased optimism about their economic future prompted businesses to invest more, creating a virtuous cycle of growth.

Government spending programs were paid for largely with individual income tax rates of 70 percent on wealthy individuals and high taxes on corporate profits. Companies paid more than one-quarter of all federal government tax revenues in the 1950s . Today they contribute just 5 percent of government tax revenues.

Fouling Our Air And Drinking Water

Vote

EPA Greenhouse Gas Regulation : House Vote 249. Adopted 255172: Republicans 2360; Democrats 19172 on April 7, 2011

Purpose

This bill would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, from regulating greenhouse gases in any effort to address climate change. It would amend the Clean Air Act to strike specific elements from the definition of an air pollutant unless regulation of those chemicals is not used in an attempt to address climate change. It also would clarify that the bill does not limit the authority of a state to regulate the emission of a greenhouse gas unless the regulation attempts to address climate change. This bill would harm all Americans. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are emitted from power plants, industrial facilities, and other sources, and released into the atmosphere. As these gases linger in the atmosphere, they trap heat radiating back from Earth, and the surface temperature of our planet rises. The rise in temperature causes rising sea levels, increased rainfall, floods, drought, wildfires, and severe storms, which not only harm our environment but also hurt our economy.

Vote

Commercial Boiler Emissions : House Vote 791. Adopted 275142: Republicans 2340; Democrats 41142 on October 13, 2011

Purpose

Vote

Water Pollution Regulatory AuthorityPassage : House Vote 573. Adopted 239184: Republicans 22313; Democrats 16171 on July 13, 2011

Purpose

Read Also: Kaine’s Lapel Pin

Republicans Are Protecting The Middle Class

H.R. 622, The State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act, which makes the state and local sales tax deduction permanent, will bring much-needed tax fairness and certainty for hardworking taxpayers in states without a state income tax.

It will put more of the hard-earned money back into the pockets of people in states like Texas, Washington, Florida and Nevada that currently dont have the option.

It will allow families to keep more of their paycheck each year instead of feeding the corrupt IRS.

Middle class economics should be about helping families keep more of what they earn in sales tax states, and supporting family-owned farms and businesses rather than lining D.C.s pockets.

and the American Dream

For the first time in ten years the House will vote to repeal the estate tax through, H.R. 1105, The Death Tax Repeal Act, in an effort to bury the Estate Tax once and for all.

The Death Tax is an immoral tax and a calculated attack on the American Dream. It hurts our economy, punishes success and prevents family-owned businesses and farms from being passed down to the next generation. Over time it will steal the nest egg of minority and women-owned businesses, the fastest growing group of new start-ups in America who are building wealth for the very first time.

President Obama has been advised that if these bills hit his desk he should veto both of them. Why is the President turning his back on hardworking taxpayers? Why are we punishing success

How Democrats Became The Party Of The Upper Middle Class

Democrats may find it impossible to reclaim their historical identity.

When House Democrats introduced;what they call;the Heroes Act;this month, they described it as a bold and comprehensive coronavirus response bill that will meet the challenge this pandemic poses to our nation. Among;its provisions: restoring the full deductibility of state and local taxes, which the Republican tax legislation of 2017 had limited.

The issue doesnt have much to do with the coronavirus.;Theres only a loose relationship between the states hardest hit by it and the states whose residents have faced the most tax increases because of the deductibility limit. Liberal think tanks have criticized the idea of raising the cap,;noting;that 56% of its benefits would flow to the top 1% of households, and 80% would go to the top 5%.

Repealing the cap is nonetheless a party priority. After House Democrats impeached President Donald Trump on Dec.;18, it was the first order of business they took up. They passed full deductibility on Dec. 19.

As Democrats have kept raising the issue, Republicans have taken pleasure in pointing out that the politicians who usually decry budget-busting tax cuts for the rich were in this case demanding some.

Most nonwhite Americans vote for Democrats regardless of diploma . What underlies the new educational divide is a marked change in the preferences of white voters.

Also Check: Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Names

Scrapping Consumer Product Safety

Vote

Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations, Consumer Product Safety Database : House Vote 137. Adopted in Committee of the Whole: 234187, Republicans 22710; Democrats 7177 on February 19, 2011

Purpose

This amendment would have barred the use of funds made available to implement the consumer product safety information database established under the Consumer Product Safety Act. In March 2011 the Consumer Product Safety Commission estab- lished the SaferProducts.gov database to provide all Americans with safety information on products they have bought or will consider buying. Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for the Consumer Federation of America, argued Republicans were trying to pull the plug on a vital consumer resource.

Views On Government Help For Middle Class Wealthy And Poor

Where Are The Middle Class Tax Cuts President Donald Trump Promised? | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

A clear majority of Americans say the federal government does not do enough to help the middle class, but the middle class is hardly alone on this list. Majorities also say the government doesnt do enough for older people, poor people or children.

Overall, 62% say the government doesnt do enough to help the middle class, while 29% say it does about the right amount and 6% say it does too much. Roughly the same share says the government does not do enough for poor people or for children , and 66% say the government doesnt do enough to help older people.

Wealthy people are the one group included in the survey for which the public thinks the government does too much: 61% say this, while 24% say the government does about the right amount and 9% say it does not do enough.

Republicans and Democrats differ significantly in views of how much help the government gives the wealthy and poor. But there is greater consensus across party lines when it comes to the middle class, with most in both parties saying the government does not do enough for this group.

Fully 77% of Democrats say the government does too much for wealthy people, while 12% say it does about the right amount and 9% say it doesnt do enough. Among Republicans, views are more mixed: 44% say the government does too much to help the wealthy, 39% say it does about the right amount and 9% say it does not do enough.

Read Also: Why Do Republicans Say Democrat Party

Perceptions Of The Parties

Judgments about Romney and Obama mirror the views of middle-class Americans toward the Republican and Democratic parties.

According to the survey, only about a quarter to a third of the middle class says that the Republicans or Democrats primarily favor middle-class interests over those of the rich or poor. Republicans are perceived as the party of the rich, while the middle class is divided over whether the Democratic Party is more concerned about their needs or those of the poor.

To examine the intersection of social class and politics, the Pew Research survey asked respondents if each of the two major political parties favors the rich, favors the middle class or favors the poor.

Overall, the middle class was somewhat more likely to say that the Democratic Party rather than the GOP favored its interests . 13 But about as many say the Democrats favor the poor , and 16% believe the party favors the rich.

At the same time about six-in-ten middle-class adults say the GOP favors the rich

roughly double the 26% who say the Republican Party primarily favors middle-class Americans.

The survey also found that the middle class is politically diverse: Roughly equal shares of middle-class adults identify with the Democratic Party or say they are independents , while somewhat fewer align with the Republican Party . As a group, middle-class adults are more likely to identify themselves as political conservatives than liberals . About a third say they are moderates.

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

Don’t Miss: Why Are Republicans Siding With Trump

President Obama And Mitt Romney Both Say They Are Focused On Improving The Lives Of Middle

Just more than half — 52% — of middle-class adults said the president’s policies would benefit them should he win a second term. A lower number — 42% — of respondents said that Romney’s policies would help the middle class.

The new findings were published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. The poll was conducted before Rep. Paul Ryan was added to the Republican ticket.

Part of a larger report on the middle class, the survey also indicates that Americans have some strong opinions about which groups would benefit from the candidates’ proposed policies.

A full 71% of respondents said that Romney’s policies would benefit the rich, while only 38% said the same of Obama’s plans.

The numbers flip when middle-class adults were asked about the poor. More than three-in-five — or 62% — said Obama’s policies would help the poor, while only one-in-three said Romney’s plans would help the group.

When asked to rate the parties rather than the candidates, respondents were even less likely to say politicians were looking out for their interests. Just 26% said that Republicans favor middle-class interests over those of the rich and poor. Only slightly more — 37% — said the same of Democrats.

Do Leaders In Congress Agree With The Rich Or The Middle Class

Three other papers similarly found that Democrats and Republicans differ strongly in how they represent different economic classes. But they complicate the story by showing that each partys behavior is influenced by interest groups, by what constituents of their own party say, and whether economic or social issues are at stake.

Matt Grossmann and William Isaac at Michigan State have put together a paper reaching similar conclusions. The authors looked specifically at the views of Democratic and Republican presidents and leaders in Congress and in the presidency, based on a data set covering 1,863 policy proposals the federal government considered from 1981 to 2002 and polling data on how the rich and middle class viewed these ideas.

That lets them see how much each party’s leaders agree with the middle class versus the rich as well as whose views are represented by interest groups like the ACLU, Sierra Club, American Conservative Union, or Americans for Tax Reform.

These interest groups, they find, tend to lean left overall even as some individual ones are conservative. They tend to support economic and social policies backed by the middle class, and oppose foreign policies backed by the wealthy. And Grossmann and Isaac found those groups representing certain subsets of the population were more influential than individual voters.

Read Also: Did Any Republicans Vote To Impeach

Repealing The Affordable Care Act

Vote

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act : House Vote 14. Adopted 245189: Republicans 2420; Democrats 3189 on January 19, 2011

Purpose

This bill called for repealing the Affordable Care Act, which ensures that 32 million people will gain insurance coverage, addresses rising health care costs, and includes important consumer protections against discriminatory insurance practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions or charging higher rates based on a patients sex, race, or age. The proposed House bill would restore the provisions of the law amended or repealed by the Affordable Care Act and repeals certain provisions of the health care reconciliation law without offering an alternative to help the middle class cope with ever-rising health care costs. The Democratic Senate has vowed to protect the Affordable Care Act.

Vote

Repeal of Essential Health Care Benefits Section of the Affordable Care Act : House Vote 141. Adopted 239183: Republicans 2352; Democrats 4181 on February 19, 2011

Purpose

The categories are: ambulatory patient services; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services, and chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

[the-firebird69]

we flood it and force you to blab your code all day. take all the winnings and apply it to his new house and more. we build from scratch materials from all over earth we gathered...and do now.  and have for each other...and we see it lol. Thor Freya and you will be in it shortly and free of this nightmere walk bys threats midnight intrusions cops all the time these suck so badly Raphael and Goddess Wife and we use it too now Nuada Arrianne and we thank you all and him for his generosity towards us and me to him he loves me has to he says. Hera Zues we bend the rules and more and get him out you show your colors for years now mock us due to his action to call us. your insane we are here he called now it is  doublling trippling and finally  we shall rule. Olympus

https://www.actionnetwork.com/legal-online-sports-betting/florida-legislature-begins-amended-compact-sports-betting-approval-may-17

[orbemnews]

Republican state lawmakers look to empower partisan poll watchers, setting off alarms about potential voter intimidation Bills in several states would grant new authority to poll watchers — who work on behalf of candidates and political parties — to observe voters and election workers. Critics say it could lead to conflict and chaos at polling places and an improper targeting of voters of color. In Texas, a measure under consideration by the Republican-controlled legislature would grant partisan poll watchers the right to videotape voters as they receive assistance casting their ballots. Meanwhile, in Georgia, the state’s controversial new voting law makes it explicit that any Georgian can challenge the qualifications of an unlimited number of their fellow voters. The new law comes after a Texas group, True the Vote, teamed up with Georgia activists last year to question the qualifications of more than 360,000 voters ahead of two Senate runoff elections. Most counties dismissed True the Vote’s challenges, but Georgia’s new statute requires local election administrators to consider these challenges, threatening them with state sanctions if they don’t. “If you believe that these challenges aren’t going to be racially targeted, then you are crazy,” said Marc Elias, a leading Democratic election lawyer who has sued on behalf of voting rights groups to stop the Georgia law from taking effect. “This is going to become a tool of voter suppression by Republicans in the state of Georgia.” The moves to empower partisan actors come after record numbers of voters turned out in 2020. States relaxed election rules to allow more voting by mail and the use of drop boxes to avoid spreading Covid-19. That turnout surge in states such as Georgia helped Democrats seize the White House and the majority in the US Senate. As part of their failed efforts to overturn the election results, former President Donald Trump and his allies repeatedly argued fraud could have occurred because Trump-aligned poll watchers lacked sufficient access to the voting and counting process in several states. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Around the country, Republican legislators have responded with measures that grant more authority to poll watchers. A new analysis by the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice found that, as of April 15, lawmakers in 20 states had introduced at least 40 bills to expand poll watchers’ powers. New powers proposed in Texas Poll watchers are partisan volunteers who, as their name implies, “watch” or observe what’s happening at polling places. Their primary function is to help ensure their party or candidate has a fair shot of winning the election. Both political parties deploy them. Federal law prohibits harassment of voters, and most state laws prevent poll watchers from interfering with the voting process. In Texas, bills moving through the state legislature would give them new authority. One Texas provision gives a poll watcher the right to record images and sounds at a polling place — including at the voting station if the poll voter is receiving help “the watcher reasonably believes to be unlawful.” A separate measure bars election judges — the poll workers who preside over each precinct — from removing poll watchers unless the watcher “knowingly or intentionally” tries to “influence the independent exercise of the voter of another in the presence of the ballot or during the voting process.” It also threatens election workers with misdemeanors for knowingly preventing poll watchers from observing the process. “It’s a surveillance role,” Sarah Labowitz, policy director of the ACLU of Texas, said of the way the proposed laws treat poll watchers. “It really empowers the poll watchers over the voter and the election judges.” In a recent interview on CNN, the bill’s sponsor, GOP state Sen. Bryan Hughes, said the videotaping provision will “make sure voters are casting their ballots — not being influenced by someone else.” He described the taping as akin to a police body camera that will help resolve disputes between poll watchers and election officials. The law provides for the tape to be sent to the Secretary of State. Floor action on sweeping election bills in the Texas House could happen as early as next week. In Florida, the observation requirement during signature-matching raised concerns among election supervisors. In an interview Saturday on CNN’s “New Day,” Mark Earley, the supervisor of elections in Leon County, said the law will allow observers to see the ballots via video feeds — after election officials worried about poll watchers crowding secure areas. “But many counties don’t have the technology or the money to make that happen or even the space to make that happen, so there’s still concerns going forward with that,” he said. Fraught history Poll watching and citizen challenges have been fraught issues. State laws in the 19th century made it difficult for African Americans to vote and to prove their qualifications — even after the 15th Amendment granted Black men the right to cast ballots. In Florida, for example, a challenged voter needed to produce two witnesses to vouch for him. But the law said election officials needed to know each of the witnesses — which a Brennan Center study on the history of voter challenges described as an enormous hurdle for Black voters. Polling places in segregated Florida were staffed by White residents who were unlikely to know African American witnesses. Last year’s election was the first presidential contest since 1980 in which the Republican National Committee could conduct its own poll watching operations. A federal consent decree had barred the RNC from the practice for more than three decades after the national party targeted Black and Latino voters in New Jersey. The operation, carried out during a 1981 gubernatorial election, involved posting armed, off-duty law enforcements officers at polling places in heavily minority communities. It also included erecting posters warning the area was being patrolled the “national ballot security task force” and offering a $1,000 reward for reports of violations of state election laws. The consent decree ended in 2018. Carol Anderson, an historian and professor of African American Studies at Emory University, said the new proposals build on a history of voter intimidation that long has targeted people of color. “What’s built into this is the inequality of the system itself,” she said. “You know that somebody who is Black or Hispanic will not be able to go up into an all-White precinct and start challenging those voters without having a massive law-enforcement response.” She called the wave of new laws “infuriating.” “It’s infuriating because we’ve done this dance before,” Anderson said. “We know what a Jim Crow democracy looks like and the damage it does to the United States of America and to its people.” Georgia challenges One provision of Georgia’s controversial new election law requires that watchers can observe procedures at ballot tabulation centers. But the measure that could have a far greater impact sets out new requirements for handling challenges to voters’ qualifications. In the run-up to the US Senate runoffs, True the Vote teamed up with Georgia residents to challenge the qualifications of more than 364,000 voters whose names it says appeared on databases from the US Postal Service and commercial sources as having changed their addresses. Voting rights advocates counter that the change-of-address information is not a reliable way to determine eligibility and could unfairly target students, military personnel and others who temporarily change where the receive mail but remain eligible to vote in Georgia. Most Georgia counties opted against taking up the challenges. But under the new law, local election boards must set a hearing on a challenge within 10 business days of notifying the voter of the challenge. “Failure to comply with the provisions of this Code section by the board of registrars shall subject such board to sanctions by the State Election Board,” the law adds. Elias said it will be impossible for election officials to comply with requirements to hold a hearing on each voter challenge when outside groups mount tens of thousands of such challenges. “It’s going to require these counties to drop everything and adjudicate these hearings before the election,” he said. “How the hell is a county supposed to do that?” That failure to do so, he said, could give state officials grounds to sanction local election officials and invoke other provisions of the new law that allow the state elections board to replace local superintendents. Voter challenges could lead to long lines and chaos at the polls on Election Day, he added. Rep. Barry Fleming, the Republican architect of Georgia’s new law, did not respond to several interview requests from CNN. Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of True the Vote, cast her effort as a push to clean up Georgia voter rolls as election officials prepared to send out absentee ballots in the runoffs. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock prevailed in those races, giving their party control of the US Senate. In that election, Georgia relied on signature matching in absentee voting. The new law now requires voter identification to cast absentee ballots. Engelbrecht, who rose in conservative politics as a Tea Party activist in Texas, has aggressively pursued claims of voter fraud, including in the 2020 election. In an interview with CNN, Engelbrecht said the challenges she supported in Georgia involved so many voters because she took a broad brush — examining the voting rolls in every one of state’s 159 counties — to avoid targeting any particular group of voters. “We, as a country, should agree that accuracy in voting matters,” Engelbrecht said. “There has to be some standard of we’re going to make sure when people move away that we don’t send a live ballot that doesn’t require any standard or identification or no way of tracking it once it’s opened and voted. That just begs for controversy.” This story has been updated with additional information. CNN’s Kelly Mena contributed to this report. Source link Orbem News #Alarms #empower #intimidation #lawmakers #Partisan #Politics #Poll #Potential #Republican #Republicanstatelawmakersaregivingpartisanpollwatchersnewpowers #setting #settingoffalarmsaboutpotentialvoterintimidation.-CNNPolitics #state #Voter #watchers

[leyahroehl]

home insurance austin

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home insurance austin has a long history, but have never been a popular choice. In fact they haven t become popular as much as you would think, although the same is true for many people who have coverage from more traditional insurance companies. All insurance products advertised on  are underwritten by insurance carriers that have partnered with , LLC. , LLC may receive compensation from an insurer or other intermediary in connection with your engagement with the website. All decisions regarding any insurance products, including approval for coverage, premium, commissions and fees, will be made solely by the insurer underwriting the insurance under the insurer’s then-current criteria. All insurance products are governed by the terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions set forth in the applicable insurance policy. Please see a copy of your policy for the full terms, conditions and exclusions. Any information on the Site does not in any way alter, supplement, or amend the terms, conditions, limitations or exclusions of the applicable insurance policy and is intended only. home insurance austinville. The average annual premium for this coverage is $4,858. Most companies will provide you with an initial quote for auto liability insurance in $300 to $500 of that level of protection. After that, you are going to need to choose an insurer to renew your policy with. For the most part though, premiums start to decrease over time as we age. The average rate after age 50 is generally 10 to 15 percent lower than you would expect for average insurance costs. The car insurance rate for this age group varies a lot depending on where you live. One specific variable though is the average annual premium. For example, if your zipcode is in the United Kingdom, you might be asked to pay up to $1,100 of annual car insurance to get your car fixed. In this case, you can expect to pay slightly more. It does not matter if your car is older, newer, or is worth expensive, you can expect to pay a considerably higher rate for car insurance. home insurance austin/california I was wondering if other companies would help me with this as the best way to get a good deal on car insurance for my car to be a bit cheaper.. to pay off that car and make it insurance and a little more.. . i did . I ve been doing this for years with a big credit card. I got quotes on insurances and was still able to get some good deals. So I am now in some savings. I want to be sure to have cheaper car insurance to cover more accidents and damage. My agent gave me a good quote and she was very friendly and gave me a pretty good coverage. So I want to try it out, I will be doing more than I m not sure what would be the best company for any driver. I will be a good student or something or get some work. I want to make sure to have good credit. I plan on checking around with my parents and getting into college. I will check the.

Homeowners Insurance Customer Service Options

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Cheapest ZIP Codes in Austin for Home Insurance

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Contact Evans, Ewan & Brady Insurance Agency for Homeowners Insurance. Our staff provides personalized attention, a quality professional service, and a comprehensive selection of affordable and personalized insurance options. Because they’re experts, their clients come out in a number of ways, and that makes it difficult for our clients to take full advantage of the selection of insurance choices available. Our clients are often the ones who choose us because we’re not just happy to work with you, but we are able to offer the right combination of tailored fit for the right price. Our agents are more than happy to help with any of your insurance needs. We work with many of the best companies, and our experience is second to none. We have years of experience working with a variety of insurance partners in our area. We understand the benefits of working with a team of professional agents and have the knowledge and experience to help you find the policy that is perfect for your situation at an affordable price. We may also be able to match you with a top notch insurance provider that will provide the.

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[naturecoaster]

Openings on Pasco County Construction Board (PCCB)

~~Contractor and citizen volunteers needed, apply by October 30~~ Openings on Pasco County Construction Board (PCCB) The Pasco County Construction Board (PCCB) is seeking applications from contractors and citizens to fill several vacancies on its unpaid, volunteer advisory board.  The PCCB hears and decides complaints about contractors, unpermitted work, and appeals regarding construction and home improvement, contractor licensing and Florida Building Code interpretations and amendments. The PCCB has openings for consumer representatives and licensed contractors, including General or Residential Contractor, Aluminum Contractor, Roofing Contractor, and A/C or Mechanical Contractor.  Board members serve staggered, three-year terms and typically meet on the third Wednesday or Thursday every other month at 9:30 a.m. Applications will be accepted through Friday, October 30, 2020. You can apply online at: bit.ly/PCCBapplication.  Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and either reside in or regularly conduct business in Pasco County. Contractors interested in applying in must: Hold a State or County contractor licenseBe actively engaged in the construction businessHave five consecutive years of contracting experience Consumer Representative (citizen) applicants must not be, either presently or in the past, a member or practitioner of a profession regulated by the PCCB or a member of any closely related profession. Read the full article

[marymosley]

Why The Government Can Shut Down Church Gatherings During Pandemic

Below is my column in The Hill newspaper. This weekend the Kansas Supreme Court ruled with the Governor in upholding her order to close church services over 10 persons. That is particularly notable since, as mentioned in the column, Kansas is a state with enhanced protections for the free exercise of religion.

Here is the column:

“Jesus bore it so that you would not have to.” If that recent declaration by the Awaken Church of Jonesboro in Arkansas is true, Jesus might also be viewed as the first coronavirus offender, because the Last Supper hosted three disciples too many under the social gathering limits in most states during this crisis. At the time, of course, Roman Governor Pontius Pilate was trying to contain Christianity itself, which now some church leaders accuse American governors of doing. Some churches plan to defy state public health directives by carrying out large Easter services.

The issue is playing out in several states. In Kansas, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has barred religious gatherings with more than 10 people. That action prompted the Republican controlled state legislature to then vote to rescind the order as an attack on free exercise of religion. Kelly asked her staff to explore all her legal options. Under the Constitution, she is on strong grounds to issue such an order. While untested, the free exercise clause is not a license for religious spreaders in a pandemic.

This may be the most compelling use of the belief that the Constitution “is not a suicide pact.” I have been critical of that often repeated reference by those who want to ignore fundamental rights. It was originally attributed to Abraham Lincoln after he had violated the Constitution by unilaterally suspending habeas corpus. It is more often attributed to Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, without noting that he used the line in one of his most reprehensible opinions, a dissent to the Supreme Court extending protections to a priest arrested for his controversial speech.

These churches would convert the free exercise clause into a suicide pact of sorts. The interpretation not only puts the faithful at risk of infection but also their communities. No constitutional rights are truly absolute. Rights such as free exercise of religion and free speech can be overcome with a sufficiently compelling purpose of state and the least restrictive means of achieving that purpose. There is nothing more compelling than battling a pandemic, and limiting gathering size is the only effective deterrent to the coronavirus spreading until a vaccine can be made available.

However, that has not stopped defiance. In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis overruled local orders limiting or barring church gatherings. In Arkansas, Pastor Chad Gonzales of Awaken Church defied demands to end services. His declaration of Jesus as a coronavirus victim was based on the belief that Jesus took away every sin and disease on the cross, a particularly powerful message for Easter. Similarly, Pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church in Louisiana was arrested for holding large services. Spell declared his intention to hold large Easter services and insisted that he will never yield to this “dictator law.” Even more chilling was his statement that “true Christians do not mind dying.”

If this were a matter of just congregants dying, a constitutional argument could be made for the right to make a self destructive decision based on faith. Adults can forgo simple medicines or transfusions that would save their lives. Likewise, the snake handlers in West Virginia can still engage in that dangerous practice based on a passage in the Bible that the faithful “shall take up serpents” and the story of Paul surviving a venomous viper. Yet even in practices that kill only the faithful, many states have outlawed snake handling as dangerous to both humans and snakes.

One of the key factors in any constitutional review is whether free exercise of religion is truly being denied, as suggested by these pastors. There is a curtailing of free exercise of religion, including the important element of congregating together in faith, but these orders only temporarily halt one form of faithful expression and do not stop worshiping. Most faiths have moved online during the lockdown. Just as states can force churches to satisfy building or fire codes, they can bar congregating in churches and temples as public health risks in a pandemic like this one.

The objection from these pastors is not frivolous as there is a substantial curtailment in an expression of faith. But this is not an effort to establish a favored state church. It is content neutral on particular faiths impacted by the limitation on crowd size. Their views are not frivolous, but they are still reckless. Free exercise of religion does not allow dangerous acts, even if they are part of a demonstration of faith. A pastor should not be able to disregard public health limits on congregation size to fight a pandemic threat any more than he can disregard a fire safety threat.

The real issue here may be more about state law. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt declared that “Kansas statute and the Kansas Constitution bill of rights each forbid the governor from criminalizing participation in worship gatherings by executive order.” Kansas law goes beyond the First Amendment in its protections. However, even the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act allows for a denial of forms of free exercise when based on a compelling state interest and least intrusive means. Schmidt notes that the orders do not stop grocery shopping and other gatherings. But religious services can be supplied online, while grocery shopping for most people continues to take actual visits to the stores.

This Easter will feel different for many of us. Yet the heart of the holiday, both religious and social, has never been stronger or more defining. This pandemic has drawn millions of Americans, believers and nonbelievers, to rediscover faith, family, and other core values. Our separation during this period is part of our sense of obligation to our neighbors as well as to our health care workers in a time of crisis. I am not so sure about Jesus being a coronavirus sufferer, as Awaken Church says, but I know he is a symbol of collective responsibility and of treating others the way you would wish to be treated. This includes protecting others from the spread of a deadly disease, just as you would wish to be protected by them.

The Constitution does not leave the states as mere bystanders forced to watch as pastors such as Tony Spell bus in hundreds of people for church services. Such services are worse than a “suicide pact.” They are a pact to serve potential spreaders. Spell may declare that “true Christians do not mind dying,” but their neighbors might mind a great deal.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates online @JonathanTurley.

Why The Government Can Shut Down Church Gatherings During Pandemic published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

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The battle for voting rights in the age of mass incarceration

Norris Henderson, an activist for criminal justice reform including voting rights for former prisoners, in New Orleans, on November 7, 2019. | Akasha Rabut for Vox

Ex-prisoners are getting their voting rights back. But the backlash has already started.

Shauntelle Mitchell waited in her local polling station in Slidell, Louisiana, and contemplated leaving. The October primary election would be her first time voting in years — her criminal record had prevented her from casting a ballot since 2011. This year, re-registered and finally free to vote, she felt nervous.

“All eyes was on me,” Mitchell, 43, recalled. “I started to walk out, because I felt people was looking at me, and I was like, ‘Why go through the whole process to walk away? You came here to vote, to try to make a difference, even if the candidate you picked does not win.’” She stopped herself and turned around. “I stood my ground and voted.”

Mitchell’s vote came at a historic moment: the first state-wide election held after Louisiana restored voting rights to some 36,000 people convicted of felonies, as Mitchell had been. It was a significant win for criminal justice reform activists in a state that had the highest incarceration rate in the nation until last year.

Louisiana activist Norris Henderson has been in the fight for so long, he’s been dubbed “St. Norris” by other organizers. On a recent fall day, Henderson took the stage in a round room in Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary for the first presidential town hall hosted by formerly incarcerated people. Invitations had been extended to the entire field, and three Democratic candidates for president — Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, and businessman Tom Steyer — showed up.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

Sen. Cory Booker attended a presidential town hall to discuss voting in the age of mass incarceration at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 28, 2019.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

Billionaire Tom Steyer speaks during the town hall.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

Sen. Kamala Harris at the town hall.

“This has been a journey for us to get here,” he said. The room’s rough stone walls and Gothic, arching doorways surrounded him, leading to America’s original cellblocks. “Some people question why would we do something inside a prison, particularly this prison. This was where America first experienced mass incarceration. This was the first prison built in America.”

Today, some 200 years since Eastern State opened, an estimated 2.3 million people are held across the nation’s criminal justice system in prisons, juvenile facilities, jails, and immigrant detention centers. Nearly 60 percent of this population are people of color.

The town hall’s setting spoke directly to an inherent contradiction in the democratic ideal of “one person, one vote” presented by the age of mass incarceration: For people drawn into the system, one conviction often equals no vote — sometimes for life. Even when voting rights gains are made, they can be precarious.

Laws banning former prisoners from voting in America date back to the colonial era and remain the norm in much of the nation. Only 16 states and DC automatically re-enfranchise people convicted of felonies when they’re released, and two states — Maine and Vermont — allow people to vote from prisons. During the 2016 presidential elections, more than 6 million people were prevented from casting ballots through the criminal justice system, according to the Sentencing Project.

In tandem with the growing movement to end mass incarceration, there is a building consensus that these laws disenfranchise huge swaths of the population from participating in representative politics. Between 1996 and 2008, seven states repealed lifetime disenfranchisement laws for at least some ex-offenders.

Nevada, California, New York, and Arizona have all expanded voting rights for ex-felons this year. In Wisconsin, activists and politicians pushed a bill in October to immediately return the vote to those leaving prison. When Democrat Andy Beshear won Kentucky’s gubernatorial race in early November, it was viewed in part as a win for ex-felon re-enfranchisement — Beshear had campaigned on restoring voting rights to an estimated 100,000 people.

Nowhere has this fight been more consequential than in Louisiana and Florida, where activists scored two enormous victories. Last year, voting rights were restored to an estimated 36,000 people convicted of felonies in Louisiana through bipartisan legislation and 1.5 million in Florida during state elections through the Amendment 4 ballot initiative. That such expansions took place in these Southern states has both practical and symbolic significance: Florida’s high incarceration rate meant that extending the vote to former felons is considered the largest voting rights advancement since the 1970s.

John Raoux/AP

Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (left) arrives with family members to register to vote in Orlando, Florida, on January 8, 2019. Meade has a felony on his record.

But the gains have not gone uncontested. Across the nation, voting rights wins have been undercut by laws requiring fines and fees in order to vote, relinquishing voting restoration for felons of certain crimes, and otherwise placing former prisoners in webs of bureaucracy with little clarity over how to regain their rights. It’s a lesson in the fragility of even momentous political gains, and the likelihood of setbacks.

“The right to vote is a marker of our citizenship, a marker of who counts, of who matters, a marker of who is part of our community and who is excluded,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. It is, he added, “essential to protecting all other rights and freedoms we care about.”

Norris Henderson sports a thin mustache, a smooth bald head and dark-rimmed glasses that he keeps in the pouch of his collared shirt. He has a calm presence and a subtly scrutinizing gaze. Henderson began organizing for prisoner’s rights while incarcerated himself 40 years ago. He’s considered a national authority in the movement — in addition to leading Voters Organized to Educate, a network of the nation’s leading formerly incarcerated activists from 35 states, which hosted the town hall, he’s also the head of Voice of the Experienced (dubbed VOTE), a similar group tackling mass incarceration and helping imprisoned people and their families in Louisiana.

A few weeks before the town hall, Henderson, 65, sat in his beige office in a converted school attached to an African American Catholic church in New Orleans, the city where Henderson was born and raised. It’s the city he returned to in 2003 when he was released from Louisiana State Penitentiary after serving nearly 28 years for a second-degree murder that he maintains he didn’t commit. Decades later, his organizing was instrumental in expanding voting rights in the state. “You almost don’t exist in this country if you don’t have your right to vote,” he said in an interview with the nonpartisan law and policy institute the Brennan Center for Justice.

Akasha Rabut for Vox

Norris Henderson in his office in New Orleans, Louisiana. Henderson is an activist focusing on criminal justice reform — the passage of voting rights restoration in Louisiana was a major win for him.

Laws banning felons from voting have colonial origins, but they became entrenched after the Civil War as a tool to protect white supremacy. As states expanded their criminal codes to make felonies of crimes associated with African Americans, they also stripped those convicted of felonies of the right to vote, creating what Voters Organized to Educate describes as a class of “political refugees” that spans generations.

Virginia lawmakers, for example, made petty theft a felony and Mississippi politicians singled out forgery, burglary, arson, and perjury — laws considered more likely for African Americans to commit or be convicted of. In her excoriation of mass incarceration, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander began the book with the story of a man in 2010 who can’t vote because of a conviction, whose father couldn’t vote because of poll taxes, whose grandfather or great-grandfather couldn’t because of the Ku Klux Klan, nor his great-great-grandfather, who was enslaved.

For Henderson, voting rights are just one more path to undoing the racist origins of mass incarceration. That October morning, his office walls were, like his desk, covered with papers, and he’d been miserable. Louisiana’s Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, had failed to win reelection outright, sparking a run-off with a construction mogul named Eddie Rispone who ran a campaign big on Trump and short on policy specifics. If Rispone wins on November 16, Henderson will lose an ally and gain an unknown quantity a mere nine months after a law passed restoring the vote to tens of thousands of Louisiana’s formerly incarcerated population.

Henderson pointed to a printed spreadsheet outlining voter turnout in the heavily Democratic Crescent City, which hadn’t broken 40 percent (it was 46 percent statewide). “Our people didn’t show up,” he said. He scoffed at the idea that President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, or Donald Trump Jr. had made the difference — all three of whom descended up in the state in a glitzy trifecta to galvanize Republicans ahead of the election. Instead, political analysts concluded Democratic and black voter turnout was down, despite statewide get-out-the-vote efforts.

Of the potential 36,000 re-enfranchised felons, only 581 had registered to vote by early September. “Voter apathy is so real in our state,” Ashley Shelton, the executive director of a network of progressive groups called the Power Coalition, told me on election night. “We don’t have a lot of voter suppression laws because they don’t have to.”

Henderson had expected Edwards’s win to “send a message” to the nation, which was beginning to view the race as a bellwether for 2020, about the kinds of progressive policies even Deep South voters want. Instead, Louisiana’s runoff election and the legal battle in Florida underline the potential fragility of voting rights gains.

Akasha Rabut for Vox

Posters in Henderson’s office. Henderson served nearly 28 years before his release. “You almost don’t exist in this country if you don’t have your right to vote,” he said in an interview with the nonpartisan law and policy institute the Brennan Center for Justice.

They’re not the only examples. In Massachusetts, people in prisons could cast ballots until 2000, when voters made it illegal. Both Tennessee and South Dakota have expanded felon disenfranchisement over the last 10 years. And in Tennessee, the requirement to repay fines and fees before being allowed to vote has reportedly placed some in an unnavigable maze of bureaucracy with no clear way to regain their rights. Today, 32 states require various levels of completion of parole, probation, and/or repaying fines, fees and restitution, if voting rights are returned at all, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

One year after Florida voters passed Amendment 4, the state’s legislature is fighting a lawsuit attempting to curtail the amendment’s historic expansion of voting rights. Amendment 4 stated that those convicted of felonies, with the exception those convicted of murder or felony sex offenses, can vote after they’ve completed “all terms of sentence.” The amendment’s proponents, including its creator Desmond Meade, had argued it could take immediate effect without the need of any new legislation. The state’s Republican politicians disagreed.

This summer, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law passed along party lines stating that former felons can only vote once they’ve paid back all fines and fees ordered by a court during sentencing or as a condition of probation, parole or community service, for any felony conviction in the country. In Florida, such fees begin the moment of an arrest and extend until freedom: There is a fee for requesting a public defender, and fees for ankle bracelets and other monitoring during probation or parole.

One analysis by Florida political scientist Dan Smith found an estimated 82 percent of the 1.5 million people re-enfranchised by Amendment 4 would be denied the right to vote under the new law because they owe the state money, including a rate twice as high for those who are black compared to those who are white.

Smith found even small fees within $500 could present an insurmountable barrier, and noted that anyone working with a newly freed voter to help them to determine whether they have paid back all fines or fees “will have great difficulty” figuring that out in Florida’s “highly decentralized” system, let alone making that determination for crimes sentenced by another state or federal court. The move has been slammed by some critics, including the ACLU of Florida, as a poll tax.

“I think what the legislature did and what Ron DeSantis did is require people to pay in order to vote,” said Kubic, the ACLU of Florida’s executive director, which sued the state over the law along with the Brennan Center for Justice and other groups.

In October, a federal judge partly blocked the law, rejecting the poll tax claim but concluding that the state could not “deny the right to vote to a felon who would be allowed to vote but for the failure to pay amounts the felon has been genuinely unable to pay.”

Josh Ritchie/Washington Post/Getty Images

Erica Racz at the bar where she bartends in Fort Myers, Florida, June 26, 2019. She has a felony on her record and is being asked to pay off court fees and fines before she can have her voting rights restored.

State Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from Pinellas County who helped shape the new legislation, says he believes “being a felon shouldn’t be a scarlet letter that you carry around the rest of your life,” but that the new law follows “spirit and the letter” of Amendment 4. He added that it keeps with the testimony of John Mills, a lawyer who represented the proponents of Amendment 4 and told Florida’s Supreme Court that some fees were implied in the phrase “all terms of sentence.”

Meanwhile, Meade and his organization, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, haven’t waited on the legal battle. This summer, they began fundraising hundreds of thousands of dollars to repay people’s fines and fees and launched an initiative to help them register to vote.

The group’s get-out-the-vote and Amendment 4 education bus tour was scheduled to hit more than a dozen cities in November, and FRRC says it identified 100,000 former felons still eligible to vote under the new law in Miami-Dade County alone. Numerous deadlines loomed: There were multiple November local elections, including Orlando’s mayoral election, where Meade himself had hoped to vote for the first time since the 1980s, when he was convicted on drug and firearms charges.

Amendment 4’s final interpretation — and its ability to expand voting rights — will likely lie with the Florida Supreme Court, which is expected to issue a non-binding opinion on whether fines and fees are rightly implied by the amendment’s language. In the meantime, Florida lawmakers face the challenge of creating an avenue for those who can’t afford to pay their fees to still vote, as ordered by the judge.

“It’s an open question what that looks like,” Kubic said, but he expects such a process to be in place before the 2020 presidential elections. If he’s right, the nation will be scrutinizing Florida’s election with more than the usual intensity, looking for signs that a new voting block could change the political fate of the state, and the White House.

Myrna Perez, who leads the Brennan Center for Justice’s voting rights and elections program, said this new phase of Florida’s Amendment 4 battle can’t undo what she’s called “the greatest civil rights advancement any of us will see in our lifetime.” But it is replete with lessons for activists. “We’re going to be doing calculations about how much you want to anticipate the backlash in the fight for these kinds of amendments,” she said.

The amendment proved that ballot initiatives can do in a single election what politicians can take decades to achieve. But she noted that ballot language itself is tricky. Floridian activists opted for the general phrase “all terms of sentence,” rather than using more specific, but perhaps also more complicated language, that could have avoided the entire debate on fines and fees.

“This is a data point about what can happen when you try for a policy that is easy for the average Floridian to understand,” Perez said. One needs to write a short statement that’s clear enough to be understood by average voters, but one that is also “detailed enough to forestall attempts to thwart it.”

Wilfredo Lee/AP

Supporters for Amendment 4 rallied for votes in Miami, Florida, on October 22, 2018.

It is also, despite ongoing litigation, another example of the bipartisan appeal of criminal justice reform among voters — the same appeal that has made the need to tackle mass incarceration an unlikely unifying issue of the Trump era. In order for Amendment 4 to have passed in the first place, a significant chunk of Florida’s Republican voters had to approve it, even if many of the state’s Republican politicians were less enthusiastic.

In Louisiana, seven of the original 10 criminal justice reform bills passed as a package in 2017 were carried by Republicans. Donald Trump recently received a controversial award for signing the bipartisan First Step Act, which allows thousands of federal prisoners to earn an early release, and Democratic presidential hopefuls have each tried to own an animating issue for the left with detailed and sometimes ambitious criminal justice policy proposals.

Even so, most of the 2020 Democratic field candidates who were absent from Henderson’s criminal justice forum won’t easily be able to shake such a slight to a group with little historical reason to trust either party. Henderson had warned a few weeks earlier: “If you don’t show up for us in October 2019, don’t look for us in November 2020.” He nevertheless characterized the event as a success as he took the stage again to wrap the event. “We’re not begging nobody for anything,” he said. “Today is the beginning of us making demands.”

Among the Louisiana reforms, restoring voting rights has been one of Henderson and his fellow activists’ greatest achievements — the other being ending Louisiana’s Jim Crow-era practice of allowing convictions even when juries were split 10-2, created expressly to “establish the supremacy of the white race” in 1898.

The law, which re-enfranchised those who’ve been out of prisons or jails for five years beginning March of this year, passed the Republican-dominated house by just two votes last year. Now, its future depends upon the ongoing support of enough of the state’s politicians, some of whom have already moved to reduce its impact. In the last session, one lawmaker attempted to block those convicted of sex crimes against minors from voting, a bill that failed.

Jason E. Miczek/AP Images for Voters Organized to Educate

Sen. Cory Booker, left, greets moderators Daryl Atkinson of Voters Organized to Educate, Rev. Vivian Nixon, second from left, and DeAnna Hoskins, during the presidential town hall at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

“It was little things like that, just the idea before these things even get implemented correctly,” Henderson said. “It was like, ‘It ain’t gonna work.’ Well, how do you know it ain’t gonna work? You gotta give it a chance to work.”

If Edwards loses, “it’s gonna be a whole bunch of ifa-woulda-shouldas,” Henderson said. “But that don’t get us nowhere, that just gets us into rolling back four years of progressive accomplishments. As opposed to fighting for new things, it’s kind of like trying to fight to hold onto things.”

What that means for elections in hotly contested states like Florida remains to be seen. Common speculation is that these newly enfranchised voters could have handed Hillary Clinton the Oval Office if they’d been able to vote in 2016, but that’s assuming a strong partisan lean among people convicted of crimes that some political scientists argue is likely false. One analysis of the impact of Florida’s Amendment 4 found that while black voters who’ve been imprisoned do tend to register as Democrats, their non-black counterparts —who are the majority — lean Republican. It could be that expanding voting rights to former felons won’t fit neatly into a partisan narrative — that it really will, simply put, expand democracy for democracy’s sake.

For millions of formerly incarcerated people, it’s a right that could matter immensely. Shauntelle Mitchell described it as a moment of power. “I’ve had a lot of people saying you know, you’ve been to jail before so your voting is not gonna count,” Mitchell said. “The thing I have to do is to not let no one put me down and tell me my voice doesn’t count. That’s what made me register and go vote. Even if the people I choose don’t win, I still made a difference.”

On November 16, when Louisianians decide whether they want four more years of John Bel Edwards — and criminal justice reforms — Mitchell will be one of them.

Rosemary Westwood is a writer in New Orleans and the publisher of the weekly newsletter on reproductive rights, the Roe Report. In past lives, she’s produced and reported radio news, created a podcast, and worked as a newspaper columnist.

Akasha Rabut is is a photographer and educator based in New Orleans. Her work explores multicultural phenomena and traditions rooted in the American South.

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