More on right-wing intimidation of election workers

At today's @SenateRules's hearing, @SenAmyKlobuchar referenced our poll of election officials. 1 in 6 election officials have experienced threats and 20% say they’re very or somewhat unlikely to continue serving going into the 2024 election.https://t.co/7OJaUdcza5
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) March 28, 2023

Pandemic, politics and now prison — these are the threats election officials are facing https://t.co/Na33vSJKF1
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) April 19, 2022

Justice Dept.: U.S. federal agents have arrested a Nevada man for threatening a state election worker last year and telling her that she was "going to f—— die" for stealing the 2020 election from Trump.

To be clear: Biden won the election. No one stole it. Trump lost.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 28, 2022

Election workers are facing an unprecedented wave of personal threats as they ponder whether they to continue in their field ahead of 2022 midterms.

https://t.co/rwMC4gLdJA
— USA TODAY Politics (@usatodayDC) February 7, 2022

About 1 in 5 local election officials say they are likely to leave their jobs before the 2024 presidential election, with a third of that group citing false political attacks on the election system as the top reason for their departure. https://t.co/GViO3wX1rE
— CNN (@CNN) March 10, 2022

Washington Post article: Three in 10 Republicans think Trump may be president again before 2024

These folks have no connection with reality. It’s frightening.

Analysis: Three in 10 Republicans think maybe Trump will be president again before 2024 https://t.co/IvwPZsdXvm
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 28, 2022

Covers: Down on Me

“Down on Me” is best known for the 1967 version by Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin. It’s a traditional song.

Unable to sign

I used to collect signed sports memorabilia. I remember an ad many years ago that had two columns of baseball players – one for deceased players and one for living players. Where did they put Roy Campanella who was alive then but paralyzed? They listed him with the dead people with “unable to sign” in parentheses after his name. I guess he was as good as dead to them since he couldn’t write an autograph.

Super Bowl loser shirts

T-shirts are made for both the Super Bowl winner and loser in advance so they can be sold as soon as the game is over. The gear is sent to other countries. Manufacturers are not allowed to sell them in the US even though they would be collector’s items. Here’s a picture of people wearing shirts after the undefeated 2007 Patriots lost the Super Bowl. I don’t know where it came from.

Remember when the Buffalo Bills lost four Super Bowls in a row? Someone said “In the third world, they must think the Bills are awesome!”

https://brobible.com/sports/article/what-happens-super-bowl-loser-shirts/

What Happens to the Losing Team’s Pre-Printed Championship Shirts?

So THAT'S where it goes: the fate of the loser's '#SuperBowl champions' gear http://t.co/zTJaPA3yEc @C4NFL pic.twitter.com/Vmp5W6etnb
— michael lawrence (@MikeELawrence) February 6, 2015

Now that the Cincinnati Bengals lost Super Bowl 56, what happens to all their winning merchandise? Here’s what the NFL does. https://t.co/xDoHM3dCyf
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 14, 2022

What happens to Super Bowl T-shirts, other merch for the losing team?

View this post on Instagram

An Instagram post of a shirt for sale. I copied it below in case it is taken down.

View this post on Instagram

Tennessee school board bans a book about the Holocaust

Anti-semitism and racism are leading to book banning. It’s a dangerous trend. Maus is outstanding.

No. No. Absolutely not. https://t.co/akW4dGz1V3
— Jane Coaston (@janecoaston) January 26, 2022

The Mcminn County School board in Tennessee just voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust

The vote was 10-0https://t.co/kpgjoLZQq9 pic.twitter.com/liMpSKJHYS
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 26, 2022

Antisemitism.
— Danger?! Gremony Maju (@EmonyChan) January 26, 2022

There were lots of comments on my tweet

New cartoon: An American book ban… #Maus pic.twitter.com/QEWzxn7YT1
— Andy Marlette (@AndyMarlette) January 28, 2022

Just awful: A Missouri school board is set to decide whether to remove "Maus" after employees flagged it for review, due to a law banning "explicit sexual material."

I spoke to Art Spiegelman. He fears our country is "yearning" for "authoritarianism."https://t.co/C4PjlFCJ4D
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 14, 2023

Support Independent Bookstores

Baltimore Magazine had a fine article on local independent bookstores. The Barnes and Noble store at the Inner Harbor closed but I think there are more independent bookstores here than ever.

I especially recommend Charm City Books which is only a few blocks from my house. It’s a great store with a knowledgeable and helpful staff. They are a real asset to the neighborhood and the city. For example, they hold book drives for schools and other worthy causes, for example. I don’t see Amazon doing that. Charm City Books posts often on Instagram and I recommend following them.

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A post shared by Baltimore magazine (@baltmag)

Here’s a recent post about a Charm City Books book drive where they are collaborating with several other local independent bookstores:

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A post shared by Charm City Books (@charmcitybooks)

The extreme right-wing Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is now the policymaking vanguard of the Republican Party.

I explain here: https://t.co/IIzxE2agKb
— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) January 25, 2022

I have a new piece up at @ballsstrikes about one of the biggest threats posed by the Republican Supreme Court: the majority simply ignoring the unambiguous text and purpose of statutes when Congress's policy preferences are inconsistent with GOP orthodoxy https://t.co/AAncNDNYrt
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) January 24, 2022

By the way, Justice Thomas’s wife is on the advisory board of a group that filed an amicus brief supporting this anti- affirmative action case (the National Assoc. Of Scholars.)And she gave its leader a prize. https://t.co/zzB98tcPZd
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) January 25, 2022

People need to understand that the Supreme Court could use this case not just to eliminate affirmative action, but also do massive damage to the entirety of US civil rights, reinforcing racial gaps like K-12 school segregation by requiring government institutions to ignore them https://t.co/Hyh10oEg6m
— Will Stancil (@whstancil) January 24, 2022

Read @RuthMarcus And realize yet again that the right-wing waridal judges and justices are making a mockery of adherence to the law. This is banana republic stuff, and the Supreme Court now is dominated by partisan radical hacks. https://t.co/8wz0QJMeh7
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) January 25, 2022

Update on gerrymandering in Alabama

Looks like the right-wing Supreme Court is fine with racism. This is a bad decision.

The SCOTUS decision in Alabama can't be considered a surprise given the makeup of the court, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion. It both narrows the Democratic path to a more balanced congressional map and further clouds the already murky standards for 'majority-minority' CDs
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 7, 2022

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, allowed a congressional map drawn by Alabama Republicans to remain in place Monday, freezing a lower court ruling that said the map likely violates the Voting Rights Act, per ⁦@Arianedevogue⁩ https://t.co/UJzgokyBvJ
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 7, 2022

BREAKING: By a 5–4 vote, with Roberts joining the liberals in dissent, the Supreme Court halts a lower court order that required Alabama to redraw its congressional map, which diluted Black votes in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 7, 2022

The SCOTUS stay is obviously a huge win for Republicans and a blow to a coalition of Dems/civil rights groups seeking an additional Black opportunity seat in AL (and LA/SC). The 6R-1D GOP map will stand for 2022, and possibly longer.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 7, 2022

The Supreme Court's order and dissents can be found here. https://t.co/VfdCaw3aos

This is another major blow to the Voting Rights Act that will likely preserve Alabama's current racist gerrymander.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 7, 2022

Alabama officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let the state use its new map for congressional district boundaries, after a lower court said the map violated the Voting Rights Act. https://t.co/UObP6HxhdI
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 29, 2022

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has put on hold a lower court ruling that Alabama must draw new congressional districts before the 2022 elections, boosting Republican chances to hold six of the state’s seven seats in the House of Representatives. https://t.co/nA0JJ5CEPu
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 7, 2022

If courts were to insist on two Black *majority* districts in Alabama (#AL02 and #AL07 in the hypothetical below), the most at-risk GOP incumbents would be Reps. Jerry Carl (R) #AL01 and Barry Moore (R) #AL02, who could get merged into one Mobile/Wiregrass seat. pic.twitter.com/oyXUgRXzQh
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 25, 2022

At issue here: the GOP-passed Alabama map keeps Black voters packed in just one district, #AL07 (left), when it would be possible to draw *two* comfortable Black opportunity seats (hypothetical #AL06 and #AL07, right). pic.twitter.com/zQHeYvTS4w
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 25, 2022

Wow. Federal court strikes down AL GOP congressional map, orders a second Black opportunity district to be drawn (currently just 1/7 in a 27% Black state). Huge win for plaintiffs/Dems, though this is certainly headed for an appeal to SCOTUS. https://t.co/a4LiNZLtxc pic.twitter.com/HxQTvqeJwF
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 25, 2022

This was an action by an arm of the GOP doing the work of the party and has nothing to do with justice. https://t.co/jRVC77qFF3
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) February 7, 2022

Kavanaugh: "If the District Court’s judgment is eventually affirmed after appellate review, the injunction can take effect for congressional elections that occur after 2022."

Translation: it's perfectly ok to harm minority voting rights for at least one election cycle!
— Josh Douglas (@JoshuaADouglas) February 7, 2022

Update on gerrymandering in Tennessee

Tennessee Republicans passed an ambitious gerrymander that resulted in the biggest shakeup to the state's House delegation since 2010. The map dismantles the old TN-5 in order to create an 8-1 map that should most if not the entire decade. pic.twitter.com/4NfsdlQa2O
— Drew Savicki (@DrewSav) April 9, 2022

An urban county of 700,000 people that voted 65 pct for Biden and is 35 percent Black and Hispanic will henceforth be represented only by Republicans in Congress: https://t.co/HcqJKr2ra9
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) February 19, 2022

Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper will retire at the end of this year, after Tennessee Republicans shredded his Nashville-based district into three pieces in redistricting https://t.co/mzOeYiqVkp
— POLITICO (@politico) January 25, 2022

No surprise here, after new GOP map came out flipping #TN05 from Biden +24 to Trump +11. Cooper becomes the 29th House Dem to forgo reelection. https://t.co/vVppsVC8CH
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 25, 2022

It looks like this GOP proposal flips #TN05 from Biden +24 to ~Trump +9 – likely close enough to be competitive by the end of the decade, but would be a likely GOP pickup in 2022. https://t.co/DlzEuQNmea
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 12, 2022