Cranking up the voter suppression engine…
This is shameful. De Santis likes his political stunts. Unfortunately this fuels the narrative of voter fraud - there isn’t any, or if there is, it is minuscule, and usually due to administrative error that does not affect the outcome of any vote - but the extreme right wing crazies will salivate over this.
It also looks racist to my eye.
Further, if you have broken a law and done time, then after that you are free and clear. Or at least you should be. But in America you are not. You are still classed a felon, and some of your freedoms are still restricted, such as voting.
The idea of having paid your debt to society is anathema.
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This is the point. These people followed the process. They were approved by the state to register. To arrest them now in large enough numbers that it becomes a story is supposed to make every other ex-felon who has been refranchised think twice about voting in November.
There are about 20 cases like this one and not one will stand up. But the point is they wont be resolved until well after November. He’s banking on the political (fuck, legal) blow back for this being small enough to justify the suppression of the ex-felon vote.
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I think this belongs in here…
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Weird story on a couple of levels
Garland’s DoJ put in additional protections for journalists in response to criticism of the 2 previous administrations for how aggressively they pursued journalists in investigations of leaks of classified information. This is believed to be the first case pursued since those additional restrictions came into force.
This all happened in April. In that time the guy promptly quit his high profile job, pulled out of a promotional tour for his emmy nominated documentary and saw the campaign for it dropped. And he appears to have completely disappeared from view, both publicly and privately. In all the time since no one has treated any of that as odd, and news of the raid is only breaking now with absolutely no indication at all on what prompted it all, other than unnamed sources talking about evidence of confidential information on his seized devices.
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In far more normal news
He [Sheriff Grady] noted that Florida has a “stand your ground law,” which allows people to use or threaten force to protect their homes if they feel someone is threatening them or is trying to make forcible entry, but “that doesn’t mean you can go search people out and shoot them.”
The same Sheriff Grady, the man who has made himself famous by basically turning Polk County in the Wild West (forgetting most the heroes of the west were the bad guys)…
People have a right to be safe in their homes… I highly recommend, if a looter enters your home, you grab your gun and you shoot him, you shoot him so he looks like grated cheese.
It’s almost like these stand your ground laws dont actually work at all in reality and invariably result in shit outcomes when people try to apply them
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The perfect illustration of politics today
There is a vibe that crime is up and its due to liberal policies that are soft on crime. The facts do not remotely support that. I would go as far as to say they clearly disprove it. The reality is sated in a debate and is met by appeals to the vibe and the truth is laughed off stage.
Whatever this cognitive phenomenon is that allows us to hold a feeling so strongly, and know that “everyone knows it”, despite it clearly not being true, is why people continue to vote for Republicans when their interest is in a strong economy and national security.
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Caveat that Steele might not be the best person to make this point, but its relevant and nonetheless true.
Barr appointed Durham as he Big Lie’s Bob Mueller. One of the biggest criticisms of the Mueller report was how long it was taking, how much money it was costing and how little it was producing. You can eviscerate every one of those criticisms with facts, but the biggest tell of how bullshit they all were was how silent they are over this investigation. It has now been running for over 3 years, over a year longer than the Muller investigation. He has now been lost two cases he brought to trial and lost them in humiliating fashion. That leaves him with just one criminal conviction, one for which the wrongdoing was already identified by a separate DOJ IG investigation and one the judge deemed as a sloppy shortcut rather than politically motivated.
This whole thing exists as a pretext for Fox news to hang their conspiracy theories on. The lack of productivity of the investigation doesnt matter, because the months (years of breathlessly pointing to the investigation as de facto evidence of wrong doing is enough to lodge it in the psyche of people.
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It’s odd that Mississippi has the highest per capita number. New Orleans is the deadliest city. Spillover from that? From Memphis? I do think the greater violence in the American South has long historical fingers.
The causes are obviously complex, but it tracks fairly well to the state’s poverty rates. Alaska is a pretty big outlier, which I think points to the complexity of what other factors seem to be driving it.
Alaska is the outlier in that it has relatively low poverty yet high violent crime. Are snowmobile accidents rated as violent crimes? Do lots of people get mistaken for a bear trying to attack? Not sure.
Durham even repeated in court , after his final case was dismissed , the lie that the Mueller investigation had found no proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. These mistruths are so deeply seared into the public consciousness apparently that he can repeat them still without regard to any reputational harm. Shameless and shocking , but not surprising.
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Im fascinated by the reputational damage element of this.
He has utterly debased himself. Not just with his objective performance, but his lackylike over reach (his public disagreement with Horowitz’s report on the predication of Crossfire Hurricane) and his conduct in court. Unlike many of the people around Trump at this point, he was well respected. He had a career and reputation to tarnish. Like Barr, he was someone the reasonable people in the media said was an accomplished, well-respected lawman who would play this down the middle. I knew at the time it was BS about Barr, knowing enough about him and his actions in the Bush Sr whitehouse. Does this give insight into the issue? Do these guys just know that while you may need to go out of sight for a time, you’ll eventually just be invited back no matter how awfully you behave.
It’s different but similar that MSNBC seem to have forgotten why they fired Chris Matthews as he’s now seemingly returned under the radar
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You have to wonder what the motivation was for both men (Barr and Durham). It was said that what spurred Barr was his long held contention and belief in the absolute power of the office of the President (whether that conviction would apply equally to a Democrat President is unlikely I think) but once installed I think he gave the game away with a couple of (totally inappropriate ) speeches he gave railing against socialism and the religious persecution of evangelical christians which was destroying the country. I think he was simply another zealot after all.
Durham , I don’t know that much about , apart from the fact he was highly regarded and had had a distinguished career before deciding to let himself be dragged into this wild goose chase. Kinda makes his motivation even more mysterious.
I’m surprised that Baltimore is not at # 1
In the list of cities it is, but this was listing states.
Ah thanks, Been to Baltimore many times, the missus and I are Oriole fans and we know exactly where to go and where not. 
How the fuck did that happen?
I very nearly went to university in Baltimore. There is a lot to love about the city and the region in general is amazing. But fuck me, there is a reason the David Simon set all his tv shows about crime and corrupt cops there.
I will post that story in the morning.
My best guess is twofold:
Alaska is the highest ratio male to female State in the US. I don’t want to be stereotypical, but I think most violent crime and killing is carried out by men.
The second part of that is the wild frontier aspect of Alaska. The State is huge beyond belief, more than 4x the size of Germany, with a population of only 700,000 or so. It attracts a certain type - self sufficient, heavily armed people, a Wild West settler sort, enjoying the remote homestead sort of environment.
Edit:
Seems like the ingredients are there for violent crime. Phone the police? They might come in a couple of days! So I will go and shoot the bastard myself then…
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