This is not about politics. It is about the 2021 MLB All-Star Game which should absolutely be returned to Atlanta, where they planned to honor Hank Aaron in his “adopted hometown” of Atlanta.
I know many of you want me to ignore what MLB did to Atlanta in moving the All-Star Game, but MLB is the one who made that racist decision. How is it a racist decision? It is my opinion that if you call someone racist or label something racist, which is not, then you are some type of racist yourself. You have a choice here: You can continue on or stop reading, but Eli Steele, who is a Black, blind Jewish filmmaker, recently wrote a piece for the New York Post entitled: Victimization vs. honor in Atlanta: Culture clash in voter-law furor. I am printing the Article in its entirety.
You can read it or not, but to ignore it is to let injustice and lies stand and I cannot in all good conscience do that. MLB and it’s President, Rob Manfred made the decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta based upon falsehoods spewed by Stacy Abrams, Park Cannon, and President Joe Biden, who called it “Jim Crow on steroids.” It doesn’t matter how many times it’s repeated by Biden, Abrams, or the media and TV journalists. IT’S STILL A BIG FAT LIE!
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will regret his decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s new election laws. He’s dropped baseball into a red-hot controversy, based on imaginary facts and flawed assertions. I’ll put it another way, Mr. Manfred doesn’t know what he’s talking about!
Now, MLB can have their All-Star Game anywhere they choose but don’t base the decision on a lie. Don’t label something racist that is not. Just man up, Rob Manfred, and say “I don’t like that the Republicans want to be able to verify each vote, so I am going to move the All-Star Game because of that.” OK, Rob Manfred, you have a right to move the All-Star Game, but you don’t have a right to lie and you don’t have a right to create divisions in our Great Country based upon lies. Baseball should unite us as it did after 9/11, but Biden, Manfred, and the Media are distorting the facts. Rob Manfred, move the All-Star Game back to Atlanta.
Without further ado, here is Eli Steele:
“One of the questions facing Americans these days is whether we live in a culture of honor or a culture of victimization. Though these two cultures share the same land and history, they could not differ more vastly in how one lives life.
To live in the culture of honor, the emphasis is always on self-mastery: Make something of yourself. This culture believes the more the individual develops oneself, the stronger of an asset the individual is to society. It is often these men and women who lead productive lives, contribute wisely and even make history.
On the other hand, to live within the culture of victimization, the individual lives in a world largely defined by horrific deeds that took place in the past. This form of existence derives its power not from individual agency but by invoking the specter of past horrors. Within this culture, the emphasis is often placed on loyalty to the group over the individual.
When I arrived in Atlanta in the middle of the ongoing voter-bill controversy, I felt a strong connection to the culture of honor that built and shaped this city. As I drove on the tree-lined freeways and streets, I saw endless tributes to civil-rights leaders, including Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr. Seventy years ago in segregated Atlanta, these honors would have been unimaginable.
But these men and women had refused to accept the fate of inferiority assigned to them by whites and the local, state and federal governments. Instead, these self-made individuals lived within the culture of honor, and it was their display of unimpeachable morality that forced many racists into a reckoning with their un-American hypocrisies. These resilient people changed America.
As I thought of them, I felt a strange sense of disconnect. I came to Atlanta because the new voting bill signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had been called “Jim Crow 2.0.” One could argue that the timing of the bill was questionable, coming on the heels of one of America’s oddest elections. Nearly all of the fraud charges had been dismissed, and it was easy to see why many Georgians would be skeptical of the need to change voting rules. But were these rules worthy of the Jim Crow 2.0 label?
Growing up in a civil-rights family, I was fairly young when I learned about voter suppression during the Jim Crow era.
To this day, I have never passed the literacy tests that often required blacks to answer 30 questions correctly and under 10 minutes in order to vote. Here are two questions: “Write every other word in the first line and print every third word in the same line, but capitalize the fifth word that you write,” and, “Divide a vertical line into two equal parts by bisecting it with a curve horizontal line that is straight at the point of bisection of the vertical.” Imagine how many Americans today would be disenfranchised if they had to pass such a test.
And this was not even the worst form of voter suppression by far. On Election Day in 1920, two wealthy black landowners, July Perry and Mose Norman, tried to vote along with other black people in the small central Florida town of Ocoee. By the next morning, Perry was lynched, Norman disappeared, and all 500 blacks, except for one, were run out of Ocoee, which remained virtually all-white until the 1980s.
Perhaps that is why my strange feeling of disconnect only intensified as I listened to President Biden denounce the water restrictions, an act so pernicious that it warranted a name bigger than Jim Crow: “Jim Eagle.” I read through the bill and did not see the horrors of the past sneaking into the present. People may hand out water as long as they are 150 feet away from the polls. There will be two Sundays for “souls to the polls” voting.
To eliminate the five-hour waits to vote, the bill mandates more voting equipment and access. As for the controversial voter ID requirements, the long list of acceptable IDs includes utility bills. There were certainly some questionable items in the bill, including the removal of the secretary of state from the elections board, but nothing that resembled Jim Crow or Jim Eagle.
I then learned that Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon was giving a news conference in Liberty Park across the street from the state Capitol. Cannon had been arrested two weeks prior for refusing to stop knocking on Kemp’s door as he signed the voting bill.
I wanted to hear from Cannon what exactly was Jim Crow 2.0 about the new bill. Instead, Cannon spent the next 10 minutes describing her arrest and the bill with provocative terms: “nooses around our necks,” “lynchings,” “apartheid,” “good ole boys,” “racists” and on.
It was not until several hours later that I realized Cannon was speaking to us from within the culture of victimization. If this bill was indeed Jim Crow 2.0, then would it not be prudent to point to the exact specifics so that the citizens of Georgia may lead a recall effort against Kemp? Instead, the use of the past Jim Crow horrors by Cannon and her counterparts, including Stacey Abrams, added to the confusion.
Amid that confusion, Major League Baseball moves the All-Star Game from majority-black Atlanta to mostly white Denver. Many have estimated this loss to be in the millions of dollars. As I spoke with Atlantans, such as Shelley Wynter of WSB Radio and Marvil Rodney of Rodney’s Jamaican Soul Food, it became clear that the wage-earners would be mostly affected. Shelley pointed out that many locals saw the All-Star Game as a way to overcome losses from the pandemic.
Marvil said in addition to that, he would have to do things like cancel a $20,000 order for meat that he had planned for that week of festivities. Both were self-made men who were looking forward to hosting Americans from all over in the city shaped by legends like Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King.
In other words, the folks who lived within the culture of honor would have to pay for the follies of those who live within the culture of victimization, as well as those who fear the power of these people. It speaks volumes to where we are as a country.
Major League Baseball’s offices are located in Manhattan and the commissioner, a native of Rome, N.Y., lives in the Empire State. Why is that relevant? Georgia has no-excuse absentee voting by mail, but New York state doesn’t. New Yorkers must be absent, ill or disabled, a primary caregiver of someone who is ill or physically disabled, or in jail awaiting grand-jury action or sentencing to get a mail-in ballot. Neighboring Connecticut has similar restrictions: Only those Nutmeg State voters who are in the military, ill, absent, disabled, have religious objections or are working at the polls can vote by mail. Where’s Mr. Manfred’s crusade to ensure that Yankees and Mets players and fans and baseball staff in New York and Connecticut have the same voting rights as Georgians?
Similarly, Georgia has a robust early-voting period, expanded by the new law to 17 days, with two optional Sundays. New York has only eight days of early voting, while neighboring Connecticut and New Jersey have none. You’d think the woke commissioner would speak out against these “restrictions to the ballot box,” but you’d be wrong.
If Mr. Manfred’s concerns were authentic, he’d condemn states such as Missouri, which has two major-league teams — the Royals and the Cardinals — but doesn’t allow no-excuse absentee voting or early voting. But he won’t.
There’s no early voting in Michigan, so you’d think he’d work to ensure every Detroit Tiger fan “participates in shaping the United States,” which he said he wants for “everyone.” But again, he won’t.
Ohio and Pennsylvania each have two pro baseball teams, yet neither state has early voting. Minnesota has the Twins and Wisconsin has the Brewers, yet no early voting. While Massachusetts allowed a no-excuse vote by mail in 2020 because of the pandemic, it expires June 30. And Red Sox fans across the border in New Hampshire must have an excuse to vote by mail and there’s no early voting. When will Mr. Manfred speak out against all this voter suppression? Or is Georgia the only state worthy of his condemnation?
MOVE THE ALL-STAR GAME BACK TO ATLANTA… DO IT NOW!
Feel free to talk baseball. I just had to make this statement. When this first happened, I was so angry that I wanted to quit, but many others convinced me that this was an important community and I agreed. My wife urged me to return and use this platform to speak out against MLB’s decision. That is exactly what I am doing. There are thousands of Dodger fans who read this blog and maybe, just maybe, somehow, some way they can get Rob Manfred’s ear. It’s not too late. It’s never too late.
Not gonna happen Mark. We all know your angry. Your entitled to your opinion and you probably find writing cathartic. But at this point I have to wonder if your musings on this are bordering on obsession.
When the battle is lost, the tool of the loser often becomes slander.
That wasn’t slanderous Mark.
“Bordering on obsession?”
If that’s slander, then you may have a problem.
Which may, in your eyes, also be slanderous I guess.
It wasn’t egregious, but there was some subtle gaslighting going on.
“You keep on saying things that I don’t agree with. Maybe there’s something wrong with you psychologically.”
Here’s the test: If MushersPop generally agrees with Mark, then what he said was sincere and in good faith. If he doesn’t, then it’s a pretty safe bet he was gaslighting.
I think we are all concerned about you. If you think that’s slander, fine. Hope that makes you feel better.
Well….
You open by asserting, “This is not about politics.”
In reality, the controversy over where the All-Star game should be played is ONLY about politics. Your much-appreciated site is called “LADodgerTalk.” And the location of the All-Star game is pretty irrelevant to the Dodgers… though I’d be curious about the opinions of Dave Roberts and Mookie Betts.
But since you decided to get political (again), I will offer a counterpoint. I will try to offer a brief counterpoint.
–First, don’t pretend that Georgians are united in support of a new law created by a partisan, Trumpian legislature because they are butthurt and whiney that Biden, Warnock and Ossoff prevailed in Georgia. The MAJORITY of Georgians rejected the Trumpublicans, plain and simple. Georgia’s REPUBLICAN Secretary of State and Governor, as well as other election officers, all certified that the election was fairly conducted on a level playing field. Trump’s claims of fraud have no credible support. To the contrary, it was Trump himself–the friggin’ President of the United States–who disgustingly urged Georgia officials to “find” just enough votes to tilt the election in his favor. In retrospect, it’s not hard to interpret this effort as part of Trump’s ugly effort to promote the idea the election was “stolen.” This effort, aptly described as the Big Lie, inspired the violent, deadly insurrection on Jan. 6–the first time in the nation’s history that we failed to have a peaceful transfer of power because of self-styled “patriots” who attacked Capitol police, leading to the deaths of three. This has been a shameful time in our nation’s history, and it was authored by Trump and the Trumpublicans. Much of corporate America, including Georgia-base icons Delta and Coca-Cola, have also taken a forthright stand against the new Georgia law, precisely because it threatens the sacred American ideal that of voter equality.
Imagine that California’s Democratic Legislature and Gov. Newsom created a new law that tilted the playing field against conservative regions because they were worried that Newsom would lose a recall election. This is why so many Georgians are so outraged about Georgia’s highly partisan new law. (If you seriously want election reform that is non-partisan, then set up a bi-partisan commission of lawmakers and judges to address the issue and search for common ground and compromises. That isn’t what Georgia’s legislature did. )
To me the most noxious aspect of Georgia’s new law is how it empowers lawmakers to potentially monkey with the votes cast by the electorate. It’s not as crude as Trump trying to get Raffensperg to conspire in a fraudulent effort “find” votes–don’t be surprised if Trump gets indicted–but the effect would be similar. (Trump, you’ll recall, urged Raffensperg to find just one more vote than necessary to tilt the election.
As the Washington Post reported:
The law also gives the General Assembly new power to control the State Election Board and to replace local election administrators.
“This is a very surgical, precise act that is seeking to take away just the smallest margin of error so that they can decide who wins and who loses elections,” James Woodall, the president of the Georgia NAACP, said on a call with reporters last week.
In other words, Georgia’s new law would create the opportunity for corruption to steal elections.
To get back to the Dodgers, do we fans want an umpire that is unbiased and consistent–that calls the game fair and square–or do we want one that favors the Dodgers?
I prefer the honest umpire.
LOL you got issues Mark.
When the battle is lost, the tool of the loser often becomes slander.
Should have never been moved in the first place.
We get bombarded with these discussions everyday. Find another outlet for your issues. This is supposed to our escape to fun.
This IS baseball. You can choose to make it about politics… or not, but to ignore it is to condone lying.
Haha New York Post
Why is The New York Post funny?
Because it’s a bad source.
So I assume that you agree with the suppression of the NY Post story that exposed the wrongdoings of Hunter and Joe Biden in the days leading up to the election. 1st Amendment be damned! But then again, you said it was a “bad” source so that pretty much justifies the suppression of freedom of the press, and the resulting suppression of votes, right?
Come on BNY, Say’s who? The NY Times? CNN?
Going to miss tonight’s game. I will be on the road. Jay Bruce retired after yesterday’s Yankees game. At one time it was thought that Friedman was going to trade for him. Dodger fans who complained about the loss yesterday should take a look at what happened to the Yankees over the weekend. They were swept by the Rays and are off to an abysmal start. Dodgers are 13-3, 3.5 games ahead of the Giants and Padres. I think, and have to believe, that we will have a pretty good idea about the Pads when they come into Dodger Stadium this weekend. My sis asked me if I wanted to go to a Dodger game while I am out there. I told her that I did not think it was a good idea yet. Not because of the pandemic or that stuff, but because the ticket prices are just too damn high. So, when the minor league season starts in May, we are going to see about going to a Quakes game and see the kids. I hope all of you have a great day. I hope the Dodgers bounce back from a bad game and have a great one in Seattle tonight. Be well my friends.
Be safe and keep the rubber side down and the metal side up!
One last thought this morning. I wish I still had my Sirrus Radio hooked up in my truck. I could at least listen to games when I am driving. I used to have on in my big rig. You get Steiner and Monday, but I do not mind that. Nice change of pace from Orel’s constant drone. My truck has a satellite option on the radio, but it is not activated. It was weird how many people went bonkers over the Red Sox alternate uni’s over the weekend. Uni’s were in the colors of the Boston marathon. Myself, I thought it was strange that the cap looked a lot like a UCLA Bruin cap. But brace yourself. The Dodgers will do the same thing I think in August. The uni’s have to celebrate something associated with the city. I am thinking it might have something to do with Hispanic heritage. But they have not announced anything yet. Adrian Gonzalez signed with a Mexican League team. He is prepping to play in the next international games. Matt Kemp will be part of Team USA in the next Olympics. Acuna of the Braves left yesterdays game with a lower ab strain.
You can listen if you have Internet. AM570 on iHeart radio has the radio broadcast.
No internet in my truck
Bear, I don’t know if you will get this but Safe travels………………….
If a tree falls in a forest, with no one to hear it, does it make a sound? If a liberal hears a lie, is it a lie or a rallying cry?
Mark, I fear you are casting pearls before swine.
What we are seeing and hearing is what I have mentioned before, we have passed the tipping point, right is wrong and wrong is right, hard to pull back from such a bastardization of truth, morals and the sense of right and wrong.
The Truth still Hurts and you can lead jackasses to the truth but you can’t make them drink it.
Well said, Truth.
Please don’t call Mark a jackass.
I agree that Manfred made a huge mistake and he put the lies of the left before the good of the game and the country. It’s a shame that we have reached that point in this country. It’s being divided more and more by the lies from fake news and that phony president that has no right to his office. But I still love the Dodgers and always I continue to follow them despite the mistakes of MLB.
Continue to fight the good fight, Mark.
This community is a microcosm of the country, where I think at least half (probably more) of the country believe that MLB’s actions were wrong! The other half probably never read the bill. I had a conversation over the weekend with three of my liberal friends. We agree to disagree and we do not talk over each other. We let each person have their say and then the opportunity to rebuttal. After about an hour, two of my friends said that they saw my point and agreed with me. The third friend said “You are all a bunch of racists” and stormed out, leaving me with his bar tab. When the battle is lost, the loser often resorts to slander because they can’t counter the logic!
You can disagree all you want, but ad hominem attacks, whereby the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself, will not be tolerated. This avoids genuine debate by creating a diversion to some irrelevant but often highly charged issue.
I understand the feeling of powerlessness.
I feel like I’m the last person who would believe in conspiracies, but I do think there is a such thing as a ruling class in this country. Young people who are born and raised in upper middle class or wealthy progressive neighborhoods, who go to exclusive universities where, now more than ever, they’re inculcated with Woke ideology. They then, because their pedigree grants them access to power, get hired in PR firms, write for the NYT, work in the human resources divisions of Coca Cola or Delta Airlines … get lifetime gigs in government, where they leverage their networks for more power and influence and go live in those same exclusive neighborhoods.
Decisions like the move out of Atlanta are made by these people. MLB makes these decisions because they want to align themselves with where the power is. Have you ever asked yourself why it is that these people in power are so quick to define America as fundamentally racist, but when it comes to China refuse to denounce their obvious atrocities. “They just have different ‘norms,'” says Biden. Meanwhile, his family does business with the Chinese. Go figure
The decisions are not made by middle class people: the folks who drive trucks, are contractors, small business owners, plumbers, factory workers, dentists who put themselves through dental school, who work in a cubicle – people who busted their asses and built something and have skills; the people who were brought up to love this country, who get goose bumps when they hear the National Anthem, who were brought up to say things like “it’s a free country,” who fly the flag on their front porches, who go to church, who love fireworks on the 4th of July, who have internalized the MLK ethos that people should be judged as individuals and by their character, NOT by their group identification, who believe that America is a pretty good place inhabited by good, hard working, decent people.
These folks no longer have a voice and they don’t make the decisions anymore. The ruling class doesn’t care about or want to listen to them. The ruling class despises these people and despises their patriotism because they despise America and would like to radically transform it.
Working class folks understand this. It’s why the Tea Party emerged, and why Trump, in spite of his obvious flaws, won. Trump was a middle finger to this change in America, which is why his election made made the ruling class absolutely unhinged.
Not sure what to tell you. You have a voice and a platform, but how much power do you have? And now you have to deal with trolls like Huey Dewey and Louie in this discussion.
IMHO, the only reason that Trump won is that he ran against someone more hated or loathed than himself.
Also IMHO, the reason Trump’s election made people unhinged is that he’s a narcissist and a pathological liar.
That said, Trump wasn’t all bad. His dereg stuff was long-overdue for the most (non-environmental) part. And his foreign policy was actually refreshing (while still being chaotic and unreasoned.)
“IMHO, the only reason that Trump won is that he ran against someone more hated or loathed than himself.”
Oh, that was definitely true. She was not a likable candidate. Obama was and is likable and charismatic. I don’t think that was the ONLY reason, however. Remember, Trump not only beat Hillary, but he also beat Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio and all the moderate and more or less likable Republicans candidates. Trump was a narcissist and a bully and was not afraid to be unfiltered and confrontational. From a pure marketing strategy, this can be effective. Trevor Bauer even knows this, and implements some of that conflict strategy to build his personal brand. People could be both appalled by his unfiltered recklessness, but also attracted to him as a disruptor. He might be offensive, but he’s authentic, and that’s a commodity that’s rare in politicians and a commodity that marketers are constantly trying to create.
Hillary and her husband are perhaps the most inauthentic Presidential aspirants in history – but they were very good at it, were obsessed with the public relations component of politics. The Democrats are still using that PR template to manufacture a persona around Biden.
His dereg stuff, yes. That was a key part of the economic growth in his term… and a foreign policy reset, yes. His admin also deserves credit, IMHO, in helping to broker the peace deal between Israel and the UAE. People don’t appreciate how significant that is. Peace in the Middle East was always considered an oxymoron, like some sort of “when pigs fly” kind of pipe dream. I also think the policy of economic pressure on Iran was effective and working. His insult-then-praise style of negotiation was strangely, surprisingly effective at times. He is still the first Prez to step into the demilitarized zone in Korea and meet face to face with the North Korean leader …. this after literally mocking him and calling him “Little Rocket Man.” LOL…a part of me really misses that.
Other than that, he was incoherent and undisciplined and was a lousy communicator – especially about the larger issues. He was a brawler who operated on impulse and his instincts. He didn’t understand the larger forces at play because he was too much of a self absorbed narcissist. In our current cultural civil war, we needed a Lincoln and a Gettysburg Address. Instead we got the Trumpster and his Twitter feed.
Trump often let his alligator mouth overload his hummingbird ass!
Agree on a lot of that! I’m not sure there wasn’t peace before between UAE/SA and Israel, but at least formalizing it was a terrific step. Too much single-tasking on Palestine for generations. (again, my silly opinion)
I think his political instincts for better or worse really shone in the Republican primaries. As you documented, that may be the high point.
But, then again, I despise primaries and want them abolished. But I’m weird.
I think his Iran policy was nonsensical, but I’m not sure there’s a good Iranian foreign policy TBH. As was his North Korea policy which seems to be predicated on selling the North Korean dictators about their untapped Commercial Real Estate potential. Insert shrug emoji here.
If he is smart (and he’s probably not), he won’t run again.
I’d like to see a bi-partisan ticket of Tulsi Gabbard and Tim Scott!
Won’t happen.
The one that’s floated out there is Tulsi Gabbard and Dan Crenshaw. Makes too much sense for such a crazy country right now.
They are both not liked, who would vote for them?
Since we’re dreaming, Mike Gallagher and Andrew Yang or Bloomberg?
Down by one in the 9th…and Roberts decides to use Raley to pinch-hit instead of Muncy? WHY???
I typed that before Raley popped out. (At least with my delayed audio feed.)
Ugh.
Now Rios batting…. Just one swing could tie it up…
“Outside, ball four, and the Dodgers have the tying run aboard!”
Nice. Mookie stepping up…with Corey on deck….Now Mookie, with two strikes, fouling off pitches… oh my, an HBP. “He’s in pain,” says Rick Monday.
Uh oh… But Mookie stays in and takes first.
“Betts is still in a lot of discomfort.” … Uh oh.
Corey up….
Double play.
Ugh.
While we are at it, here is something else that is very near and dear to me:
.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds)
What Is Mission 22
Founded in 2013 by former Green Beret Magnus Johnson, Mission 22 operates under the motto “United We Heal” and has taken immense steps to help in the fight against veteran suicide. The organization supports the veteran community with three main programs, veteran treatment, memorials, and community outreach via social impact. Mission 22 provides treatment programs to veterans that are struggling with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress), TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), and many other issue veterans face. Mission 22 serves combat veterans, those injured in training who therefore could not deploy, and victims of MST. Mission 22 also has an Ambassador volunteer program for people to get involved as well. Ambassadors educate the public on veteran issues, help get veterans into Mission 22 treatment programs and create resources in their communities. Through these three programs, it enables a push for the betterment of our community and support when veterans need it the most, right now.
US Water Systems’ Role
Starting Monday 4/19/2021 we have pledged to donate 5% of every US Water Systems branded product we sell to Mission 22. Our goal is to raise as much as possible and exposed the startling adversity that our Veterans face. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, there were over 6,000 veterans in the country who committed suicide during 2017. In fact, since 2008, there have been at least 6,000 veteran suicides every year. They also report that the suicide rate for veterans is 1.5 times that for non-veteran adults. Suicide prevention is a priority, and we believe that Mission 22 is an organization that helps to address this situation by giving veterans the resources and support that they need.
We realize that not everyone who reads this may be in the market for a new water treatment system, so if you’d like to help support the fight against veteran suicide please click the donate now button.
“This is not about politics.” That was the sentence you used to start your post Mark.
I am not going to argue the pros and cons of what you have written. Others are doing a fine job of that.
But………………… don’t start your comments by claiming they aren’t about politics. Of course they are. Just because you are also referencing baseball doesn’t mean it isn’t about politics.
You consistently use that disclaimer as a means of starting a conversation here about politics. You say baseball should be honest about their motives. I suggest you try to do the same. It’s your blog. You can talk about whatever you want to here. But don’t pretend it isn’t about politics.
Somebody call the waaaahhmublance.
Mark, I appreiate you in many ways. I particularly appreciate your respect and commitment to our veterans. I am a Vietnam vet who served in country. After 50 years I am wondering why and what did we accomplish. Sometimes we don’t always have the answer nor do we always need to. At least I don’t, I did what I thought was right at the time and I live with that without regret.
I appreciate your support and respect your convictions.
Here’s the full story: https://www.uswatersystems.com/blog/us-water-systems-partners-with-mission-22
Very nice.
Bobo I sincerely appreciate your service. I was nine when the war ended but have taught it to high school students for 26 years. In addition to the extremely important pushback against a truly evil and murderous ideology in Korea and Vietnam, your efforts also helped prevent that ideology from taking over and oppressing millions of innocents in other Asian nations. Some deride this “Domino Theory” as somehow false, but simple logic tells us that resources are limited, and that was especially true for Communist aggressors whose economic systems were extremely unproductive. So again, thank you.
I once read a story in a local newspaper about a South Vietnamese soldier who had fought side by side with Americans for years. After his country was handed over to the communists he was captured and tortured for years, including being kept in a metal box not much bigger than a casket during hot summer months. He eventually made it to America and was reunited with his family. His English remained poor but his gratitude was immense.
At the end of the article it was mentioned that he was a custodian in my school district. I looked at his picture and realized this quiet man had been emptying the trash in my classroom every afternoon for years, and I had never said much more than “thank you” to him. The next time I saw him I showed him the article, thanked him and shook his hand. He smiled and nodded but clearly did not want to talk about it.
BTW I just donated to Mark’s charity and encourage others to do the same.
Thanks for serving, Bobo!
I got an idea… Lets have one for Hammering Hank and the next day one for Ahmaud Arbery..
It just strengthens the Mantra, The South ain’t gonna rise again…
Fox news out, back to M.T. & Tucker Carlson…
P.S. Great Mission 22 collaboration M.T.
PJ,
I am not sure where you are going with that. I think the Arbery shooting was particularly egregious, and the vigilante racists who committed the murder are appropriately charged with it, and I rarely listen to Tucker Carlson. I don’t see any connection between Hank Aaron and Ahmaud Arbery other than they were both Black men who both have experienced racism. Last week, an Atlanta High School (Forrest Hill Academy), named after ex-Confederate leader and KKK Grand Dragon Nathan Bedford Forrest changed their name to Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy. Progress for sure!
Vin Scully delivered this famous line about Hank Aaron: “What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol.”
Atlanta also was different from the rest of the South with its large cluster of historically black colleges. It also was home to the civil rights movement. And it had a powerful core of enlightened business and political leaders.
“You can go 20 miles outside of Atlanta and be in a different part of the world,” Hank Aaron said. “Atlanta has always been different. You had so many great civil rights leaders here, and you had the universities. In Atlanta, you were not in the deep South. I never had problems in Atlanta.”
RC Ray, thanks for sharing that.
Because I was assigned to training sailors of the SV Navy
I know that the Vietnamese are wonderful people. It is overwhelming how the cruelty of humanity can sometimes be displayed.
I have a few friends who are Vietnamese ( US citizens now )
and it is a joy have their friendship.
Vietnamese are great citizens. The Orange County community came over here in the late 70s after the fall of Saigon with nothing, but they are a thriving community, and the ones I know are very successful. Funny thing about Vietnamese, is that they’re a lot like Cubans. They are usually strongly right politically.
Bulldogs and Penguins should know about this cuz he lives there, but Huntington Beach here in OC is a little different. There’s some kind of weekend protest going on there every weekend. I’d roll through there on my bike rides and there’d be Trump rallies and all kinds of commotion. Some of the most vocal pro-Trumpers were the local Vietnamese community, who’d come in from in Westminster.
Like Cubans, they’re immigrants who have first hand experience with communism and want no part of it here.
Verified. There’s a strong contingent of Vietnamese Trumps supporters in Westminster. I remember when the first Vietnamese kid came to my elementary school in the mid 70’s (Star View).
Before and after the election large caravans of Vietnamese people would drive from Westminster to Main and PCH where the pier is. They all had Flags mounted on their cars, or were waving them out their windows. They are very patriotic and grateful to be here.
I grew up in Westminster, about a mile and a half from where they setup Little Saigon. I saw that area completely transition into a community with Asian Characters on the all the buildings. Over the years I would go to that area semi-often for Pho or Dim Sum. I feel very safe in that area as soon as my car is parked. 😉
Where do you live Dodgers Patch, you sound like you’re my neighbor. Me and my wife ride bikes on the baordwalk to the Pier almost every weekend year round.
I live in Irvine. My and my cycling crew will roll in from Irvine and ride through HB on PCH on the way to the Seal Beach pier. I’m one of those annoying people with the lycra and the skinny tires riding those expensive bicycles.
Rode through HB last Sunday and there was all kinds of drama going on. Had to stop and take it all in.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zcgYPEWP4bZ25t5g9
As someone who married into a large family of Saigon-born boat refugees who risked their lives to leave Vietnam, I find the generalizations about the Vietnamese people to be well-intentioned but somewhat patronizing.
If we say, “Vietnamese are good people,” well, are we saying they are better than other people? Are we going to generalize about the worthiness of other ethnic groups?
I don’t mind arguing that most immigrants, regardless of ethnicity, have a better grasp of American ideals than many native-born “patriots.”
By the way, I can add that, thanks to my wife’s brilliant career, I’ve live in Asia for the last decade, including six years in Hanoi. And guess what? I came to the conclusion that Vietnamese in Vietnam–those commies!– are, generally speaking, good people too.
People are people and some are better than others. The one common trait is that nobody chooses their parents, nobody chooses where or when they were born.
Not meant to be patronizing at all. It is simply an observation and a positive comment in isolation of a particular group. Your conflating to assume, therefore, something negative about other groups is entirely a creation in your own head.
On the other hand, when you characterize an entire group disparagingly and condescendingly in air quotes as “patriots,” well, that is patronizing and, I would argue, bigoted.
Here’s something we can all agree with regardless of our politics. Everybody still loves Vin, right?
https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/1384181073668558850
On second thought Vin is extremely problematic. When Fernando pitched his no hitter, he said, “If you’ve got a sombrero, throw it to the sky!”
The association of sombreros and Mexicans is an ugly racist trope. Vin is a white supremacist shitlord who is perpetuating the white supremacist, misogynist heteronormative patriarchy. Vin is CANCELLED!
I must have been the only one (Bear aside), who watched the game yesterday.
Very disappointing result, especially as our Starter (Bauer) was dealing and their’s (Snell), wasn’t.
That quality start should have resulted in a W – although 2 Runs probably wasn’t enough ultimately.
Still, really enjoyed the series – felt like the Post Season.
Not sure where Mark is taking this but I fear that it’s not going to sit well with some good people here.
Hey Wat, like you I”ll ignore continuous nonsensical political posts.
What’s the word over there about this SuperLeague? I don’t like the sounds of it
Patch,
You beat me. I was uploading the photo. Ole’ Vin has tears in his eyes. I hope he comes back and does a game or two with Joe Davis. Instead of hearing transistor radios, let him call the game over the PA!
That would be awesome, if only for a few plays or an inning or two. Honestly, I’d only want that only if he were up for it. I have a mom who’s the same age and she’s suffering cognitive decline and has very little short term memory. I wouldn’t want to hear him struggle.
Awesome photo. It would be great for Vin to sit in now and then and provide color.
Calling him the greatest baseball announcer ever is a bit like calling Lincoln the greatest POTUS. What Walt Whitman was to American poetry, what Mark Twain was to American prose, Vin was that to sportscasting.
All considered, I think the Dodgers crew now does a pretty good job. I don’t hear anyone like the guy with the Padres who says, after a nice play by Tommy Pham, that it was “Pham-tastic!”, or the Halos announcer who thinks it is clever to say, whenever Trout hits an HR, that it’s “Trout-a’-here!” Ugh.
Vin was so smooth that the poetry could be missed, as when he likened the landing of a perfect bunt to a “poached egg.” If anyone else here had the three-volume Golden Book of Baseball lore, you can look up the transcript of Vin calling the last inning of Koufax’s perfect game. The perfect narrator of a perfect game.
Unlike many, he also knew when to be quiet and let the roar of the crowd tell the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExcjEctgPaE
We need more granular metrics, but…
So though it got some backlash after All-Star Game relocation … #MLB seeing record-high streaming viewership.
Through 1st three weeks, league says more than 1.3 billion streamed live games on its http://MLB.TV service
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/19/mlb-seeing-record-high-streaming-viewership-despite-all-star-game-backlash.html
That’s mostly because people can’t go in person.
That, and half the country is in favor of what MLB did… and half of the other half don’t really care.
Two comments I will address:
1. “Not sure where Mark is taking this but I fear that it’s not going to sit well with some good people here.”
2. “…don’t start your comments by claiming they aren’t about politics. Of course they are. “
My response:
1. Of course it does not sit well with some and it sits very well with others. We would never have had any of these conversations had the Commissioner made it a new part of a game that was not political. If you don’t stand for something, you can fall for anything!
2. My comments were about baseball and how they have injected politics into the game.
What MLB, Delta, Coke, and Cancel Culture, in general, is doing is wrong. If you are on the Left, you may even like it, but then someday they will come for you. Martin Niemoller said it best:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
I believe politics is best left away from most blogs… unless it is a political blog. It certainly does not belong anywhere near baseball. That’s what I am doing. Most bloggers don’t want to address it for two reasons:
1. Risk of losing access to Press Credentials; and
2. Losing ad money on blogs they monetize.
I don’t do either one, although I was the VERY FIRST BLOGGER to sit in a MLB Pressbox. That was a past life.
LADT gets a lot more readers than commenters (Like 150X) and maybe that number will go down – I don’t care. I am not here to please people. I am here to provide a community, but I will not be fake. This is me. This is what you get. I have a passion for God, Family, Life, Water, and the Dodgers. I have no passion for politics, although I am better informed than most. I tolerate other opinions and I would fight for your right to have an opinion.
I do not agree with kneeling for the National Anthem but I would fight for your right to do that. However, I do think it is wrong for the NFL and NBA to get involved in it. MLB put us here and I cannot ignore it. I will not ignore it!
Mark, I just wanted let you know that your comments sit very well with me. Keep up the good work.
Go Dodgers!
Most of your comments don’t sit well with me, but I agree with you about the All-Star game. 😉
Mark,
They couldn’t go last year, which is the comparative year!
Hang in Watford!!! Tomorrow might be about Dodger baseball and how Carrot top May dominates the Mariners..
Vin is the Man, the Myth, the Legend…
Patch… I’ve been married to a VN woman for 19 years…First and foremost I love the woman and her family of 6 sisters who have stood by me during my surgeries…
Yes you mention the North and the hair on her neck would stand straight.. Funny thing is I got her to go Hanoi for some good food and 3 day boat trip to Halong Bay, a wonderous site…
My wife is 100% Filipino. I have a daughter-in-law that is 100% Chinese. We have some 100% Vietnamese friends who own a local restaurant. All are immigrants and I love their perspective. My next-door neighbor is Serbian (who came here in 1995). What stories they can tell!
Great people all around, and there are probably even more Filipinos in Orange County than Vietnamese.
I wrote a long post, and decided not to send it. But I am going to say something about this. For the millionth time, no credible official found fraud in this election. Biden led in polls all the way up to the election, by about eight points. He won by about 4.6% percent, seven million votes. So the polls were rigged, the election was rigged, everything was rigged, except when Republicans win, like in the Congressional races?
People want to analyze this bill, and they miss the crucial question, why did the Republican-dominated legislature pass the bill? Why was it written? The Republican Secretary of State of Georgia said that the election was free and fair, no fraud. No one found any fraud. No one has found more than a few dozen cases of voter fraud in the last twenty years of looking.
The absolute purpose of this bill is to make it more difficult for people in Atlanta, most particularly Black people, to vote. That is why they wrote it. They couldn’t quite say that, though. Do you know that many Black people in that city had to stand in line for eight hours to vote? Republicans in the rural parts of the state, their strength, get in and out. That is on purpose. Now they want to make it even harder to vote. They even make it a crime to supply water to someone standing in line? Now, why would they put that in the bill?? Any ideas? Mine is that they know that Blacks are standing in line for hours, so they want to make it even harder for them, maybe they will collapse or go home. That is the goal of that provision. How naive can people be?
Finally, they put in another provision that the state legislature controlled by Republicans can appoint the certification boards, and can actually overturn the vote. That is because some Republicans were worried that even with all these impediments to voting, they might sometimes lose a race or two; so they put in something which allows them to overturn those. I have never seen anything more anti-democratic in this country, though I read that the Texas bill is even worse. It is not coincidence. They are trying it in Arizona, too.
The purpose of the bill is obvious. People who keep saying “voter fraud,” or either unaware of its absolute scarcity, or don’t care, they just want the excuse. Does anybody rationally think that people are going into polling places pretending that they are someone else? How would they know who to pretend to be? What if any of those people they are pretending to be, had already voted, then they get arrested. There was a Black woman in Texas a few years ago, who voted twice, she said it was an error, and she got 5-10 years in prison. But a bunch of tricky liberals are going in and doing this, not just once, but millions of times? How can anyone be so willfully delusional? It is a fabrication, intended to do two things: to be able to contend that every Democratic victory is the result of fraud; and provide the ostensible rationale for massive voter suppression in Democratic districts, which are mostly large cities.
This bill was specifically intended to insure that Republicans would never lose an election in Georgia again. It may well accomplish that. Moving the all-star game is another matter, one can argue that. But not by imagining that this bill was at all necessary or democratically intended. All this furor over moving the game is a deflection, to hide the purpose of the bill. Obvious psychology, just like yelling “no collusion!” thousands of times was intended to hide the criminality.
+1.
William,
Your post is long on accusations but short on facts to support those accusations. Explain to me what you said:
The absolute purpose of this bill is to make it more difficult for people in Atlanta, most particularly Black people, to vote. That is why they wrote it.
You are an attorney. Give me facts. Give me the evidence.
I will give you the first opportunity to prove it, but many things that you are saying are simply not factual.
Mark, there are people who are much more knowledgeable about voting laws than I am, such as Marc Elias of Democracy Docket, and Ari Berman. I will just add that any bill which limits the use of ballot drop boxes, is doing that to make it harder to get your vote in. The drop boxes are there to avoid ten hour waits in line at the polls. You don’t think that people are breaking into them, or sticking in hundreds of forged ballots, I hope.
They also constrict the time in which you an ask for an absentee ballot. Why? Republicans used to thrive on absentee ballots. Now that Democrats did that more, particularly in the pandemic, they are cutting that. Again, absentee ballots make it easier to vote, and avoid ten-hour lines. Republicans in Georgia rarely face that, they live in sparsely populated rural areas.
The increased signature verification is another way to get rid of votes. First, people are not forging signatures. Second, who is doing the verifying? In the Jim Crow days, the literacy tests were graded by Whites, and somehow most Whites passed even if they were illiterate, and most Blacks failed,; that according to a piece in a very reputable historical journal.
In general, anything which makes it harder to vote, for no legitimate reason, is targeted at poor people and minorities. Again, most of the Blacks in Atlanta are forced to stand in line for hours to vote. Saying that they cannot be brought water or food is cruel, and the only reason is to discourage them from voting.
Right-wing governor of Georgia Brian Kemp said, right after signing the bill, “President Biden, the left, and the national media are determined to destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box.” Does one think that he is just trying for fair elections, after his own secretary of state said unequivocally that the election was completely free of fraud, and he refused to accede to Trump;s demand to ”find 12,000 votes’ to swing the election.? Kemp, former secretary of state of Georgia, got elected governor by purging the voting rolls of 200,000 or more voters, almost all in Black districts.
Black voters were predominantly responsible for the Democrats winning the presidential election in Georgia, and the two Senate runoff elections. Making it harder for Blacks to vote, and then putting in a provision that the Republican legislature can actually nullify their votes by simply handing the election to the Republicans, is directly aimed at them.
What is wrong with ONE person with an ID = ONE vote. Period and so simple.
Everything else is noise.
Under certain conditions, absentee ballots are appropriate. Mass mailing ballots to everyone is nothing but a democratic ploy to induce more votes, fraudulent or not.
I received a ballot for my wife who has been dead three years. I also know for a fact that in the area that I work, a very poor, high African American population, the people there sold their ballots for a whopping $20.
To say that there was no fraud is disingenuous at best and a flat out lie, informed or uninformed, at worse.
Most all democrat policies are for nothing more than replacing population for votes. Its worked in california and Nevada. Its only its way to working in Arizona and even one day maybe Texas in my lifetime. Pelosi and the others do not care one lick about migrants and their plight. They want their vote.
Anyone that makes the case that ID to vote is racist is beyond stupid and nothing more than a ideologue for left. Voting is a right but like most other rights, you must prove your ID. Guns, assembly, even getting a job in the press or opening a business as the press.
One party is for unfetter access to vote regardless of citizenship for the power it creates.
Again though, through the left’s media things like “want people to die of thirst” are repeated. LOL
The law simply says that a political organization or proponent cannot do that as a water bottle, food, etc. would be considered a gift…..which it is. Poll workers CAN give out water so I doubt anyone will be falling over dead from not drinking water from the November heat waves that we all know are prevalent in the USA :eyeroll: But as the Democratic Party and the media have essentially stated, minorities must be so stupid that they cannot obtain a legal ID that they will also surely be unable to figure out to eat before and bring a water bottle for themselves. :BIGGER EYEROLL”
Really, is there anyone MORE racist that the Democrats who think minorities just cant make it in the USA without their hand held?
Go Dodgers
Was there no fraud. Probably not.
Was the amount of fraud beyond negligible. Yes. This has been investigated, determined and re-investigated and confirmed.
IDs may be fine in your eyes, but you are irrelevant. Historically, they haven’t been needed. Then oddly when black turns out at its highest levels, they are found to be essential.
That’s really interesting to me.
I’ve read a LOT of stupid stuff on this board (like Mark’s citing of 2 dead people voting as an indicator of massive amounts of that type of fraud) but this comment may take the cake:
BEGIN PASTE:
Pelosi and the others do not care one lick about migrants and their plight. They want their vote.
If you happen to think that someone who is willing to wait in the heat and for numerous hours are going to say to themselves, “I’ve been waiting so long to vote for candidate X, but since I got this bottle of water I’m changing my vote even though nobody knows who I vote for” You may just be silly enough to think the above about Pelosi.
Some of this stuff is so stupid.
There are actually over 1,200 verified cases of dead people voting, but it is very hard to prove. Why? because dead men tell no tales!
It’s typically more than water. They give out a lot of stuff, but the key thing is that the new law should prevent 10 hours lines. If it’s over an hour they have to make accommodations.
Whether they were required in the past is irrelevant. With the rapid (and unwise) expansion of voting by mail in ballot, the only check on the identity of the voter is very crude signature matching by which and election worker, working through thousands of ballots, checks that the signature on the ballot matches some signature on record. I don’t have to explain how this method is susceptible to any manner of human error or human manipulation. To what extent is hard to say b/c this is hard to audit.
Fraud is simply an inevitable product of two inputs: motive and opportunity. If banks don’t bother to put their money in a safe and just leave it in a big pile in the middle of the floor, the likelihood that it will be stolen is increased (duh).
If the other side winning an election is now thought of as “the end of our democracy,” the motive for fraud is high. If the opportunity (little to no safeguards) is high, can you guess the result?
I think the law prohibits contact by political operatives with people who are standing in line to vote. Simply because you find a particular scenario that seems silly – giving water to someone voting on a hot day – does not obviate the need to limit influence by political operatives.
Apologies, this reply is scattered!
That’s not true Mark, unless you are aggregating a number of years/elections. In which case my point remains it’s insignificant.
Equating vote fraud with bank robbery now?
Grasp harder for those straws. They look for fraud all the time.
Voting is the foundation of democracy.
As the foundation of democracy is should be as easy as possible. (I’m editorializing now!) It should be for an entire week, or at the least on weekends. Tuesdays are anachronistic.
Trump said the unspoken aloud, Republicans are afraid that if everyone voted they wouldn’t have a chance. This is overblown, as is the Democrats believing that if everyone voted they would automatically win.
Fraud would be a massive problem.
They look for it after every election.
They never find it.
NEVER in significant numbers.
Nobody thinks the other side winning is the end of democracy. Where did you read that?
For William (my response in BOLD):
Mark, there are people who are much more knowledgeable about voting laws than I am, such as Marc Elias of Democracy Docket, and Ari Berman. I will just add that any bill which limits the use of ballot drop boxes, is doing that to make it harder to get your vote in. The drop boxes are there to avoid ten hour waits in line at the polls. You don’t think that people are breaking into them, or sticking in hundreds of forged ballots, I hope.
I don’t know what people are doing or if they are breaking into ballot boxes.
Drop boxes allow voters to submit their ballots early into locked containers, rather than relying on sending them in via post or standing in long lines on election day.
Democrats say the new law reduces the number of these boxes, making it harder to vote.
There will be fewer in forthcoming elections, but this needs to be put in context.
Prior to the 2020 election, drop boxes weren’t used in Georgia. They were brought in as part of emergency Covid action.
The new law does significantly reduce the number of drop boxes from the 2020 level. For example, Fulton County says it will go down from 38 to eight drop boxes.
The new law also means the boxes will be held in buildings and can only be accessed in the hours that early voting is allowed, rather than 24 hours a day as was the case in 2020.
But Georgia Governor Brian Kemp says: “People act like we’re taking something away – it never existed until the pandemic, it was done by emergency rule, not by legislative action.”
Although the new law reduces the amount of drop boxes across Georgia compared with the last election cycle, it does make them a permanent feature in future elections in the state.
It should also be noted that the bill allows two days of early Sunday voting, which is now formally signed into law. An additional day of mandatory Saturday early voting has also been added. The bill also mandates more voting equipment and more access.
President Biden has said: “What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. Deciding that you’re going to end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work.”
But it’s not the case that voting has to finish at 5pm.
The law allows counties to set voting hours anywhere between 7am and 7pm, as was the case previously.
The new law does lay out the hours that are REQUIRED AS A MINIMUM on election day, saying “voting shall be conducted beginning at 9:00 A.M. and ending at 5:00 P.M.”, as opposed to “during normal business hours” stated in the old law.
The new law says postal ballots can be sent out to voters who request them 29 days before election day, as opposed to 49 days previously… and unlike most states, you do not have to have a reason to request a mail-in ballot. In New York, you can request a ballot up to 39 days before the election. In the President’s Home State of Delaware there is no early voting and various states have times from 10 days to 39 days, and you have to have a valid excuse to vote by mail (and only a few reasons are allowed).
NO ONE WILL HAVE TO WAIT IN LINE TEN HOURS! The new law requires the state to monitor polling locations to see if any have lines longer than an hour, or still have voters waiting in line for more than an hour after polls were supposed to close. In those cases, the state is required to either form new precinct locations to ease the strain or beef up the existing polling locations’ capacities to handle large numbers of voters. This applies specifically to populous precincts, mostly in urban areas.
The LA Times wrote about Drop Box worries, and discussed a scam Republicans tried to concoct with Drop Boxes: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-10-12/voter-drop-boxes-mailers
They also constrict the time in which you an ask for an absentee ballot. Why? Republicans used to thrive on absentee ballots. Now that Democrats did that more, particularly in the pandemic, they are cutting that. Again, absentee ballots make it easier to vote, and avoid ten-hour lines. Republicans in Georgia rarely face that, they live in sparsely populated rural areas.
The increased signature verification is another way to get rid of votes. First, people are not forging signatures. Second, who is doing the verifying? In the Jim Crow days, the literacy tests were graded by Whites, and somehow most Whites passed even if they were illiterate, and most Blacks failed,; that according to a piece in a very reputable historical journal.
I dismiss all that as hyperbole. Cut out the Jim Crow BS, There is no increased signature verification. That is false. Instead voters will have to pRrovide one form of identification, such as a driver’s licence, utility bill, BMV ID (free) or social security number. 97% of Georgia voters already have a drivers license. This is a dead horse. Quit beating it! I also addressed why there were not be 10 hour lines anymore!
In general, anything which makes it harder to vote, for no legitimate reason, is targeted at poor people and minorities. Again, most of the Blacks in Atlanta are forced to stand in line for hours to vote. Saying that they cannot be brought water or food is cruel, and the only reason is to discourage them from voting.
In the Past Election, Stacy Abrams Voters Rights Group, which was heavily funded to the tunes of $6 Million Dollars had volunteers give out food and water with pamphlets and swag and told the voters to “remember who gave you this.” That is what they are trying to stop. Poll workers are still allowed to give away water, but people will have to follow certain restrictions under the new regulations. The law makes it an offence to give away food or water within 150 feet of a polling place or within 25 feet of any voter in line, but REMEMBER, they are monitoring the lines and if they get more than an hour long, they will add more polling places.
Right-wing governor of Georgia Brian Kemp said, right after signing the bill, “President Biden, the left, and the national media are determined to destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box.” Does one think that he is just trying for fair elections, after his own secretary of state said unequivocally that the election was completely free of fraud, and he refused to accede to Trump’s demand to ”find 12,000 votes’ to swing the election.? Kemp, former secretary of state of Georgia, got elected governor by purging the voting rolls of 200,000 or more voters, almost all in Black districts.
I have read articles on both sides of this and do not have an opinion one way or the other. You could be right… or wrong. It’s mostly anecdotal. I personally know people who voted twice for Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Black voters were predominantly responsible for the Democrats winning the presidential election in Georgia, and the two Senate runoff elections. Making it harder for Blacks to vote, and then putting in a provision that the Republican legislature can actually nullify their votes by simply handing the election to the Republicans, is directly aimed at them.
That’s a closing argument and I take the other side. I could say it makes it easier for any real person to vote, but harder for people to cheat.
So, if California’s Legislature and Gov. Newsom pass a sweeping new election law that Republicans claim will make it harder for them to recall Newsom, you’d be OK with that?
How, politically speaking, would that be any different from the highly partisan effort of Georgia’s Legislature and governor?
If you want to alter the playing field in a fair way, there is a way to do so: appoint a bipartisan commission and find common ground.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, probably the WORST thing about Georgia’s law is how it empowers elected officials to control a panel charged with overseeing the election. The potential for corruption is greater.
I’m left wondering how many people think it is perfectly kosher for an American POTUS to call up a state election official after an election and try to persuade him to “find” just enough votes to tilt the election in his favor.
If you are not troubled by Trump’s attempt to enlist Georgia’s Secretary of State in a conspiracy to steal an election, would you be fine with President Biden making such a call?
Nobody should be surprised if Georgia prosecutors indict Trump . The evidence of his criminality is trying to disenfranchise Georgia’s majority is much greater than that scant evidence of small-time voter fraud scattered about.
Most Georgians know this. They are not fooled and not conned. That’s why they elected Biden, Warnock and Ossoff.
The Republicans claim a lot of things I do not agree with and I do not agree with 100% of the Georgia Bill, but I would read it for myself and decide of it restricted voting or not. The problem I have today is that ANYTHING you do today, the Dems label as Racist. EVERYTHING! I agree that the panel overseeing the election can present problems, but I do not believe it restricts voting or is racist.
I am no Trump fan. I thought his call to the Secretary of State and Governor was really dumb! I do think as time passes, we will uncover considerable voting “irregularities” but that is just my opinion. For Trump to ask Mike Pence to overturn the election also shows he lives in a fantasy. You can think what Trump did is criminal, but to get a conviction, it must be “beyond a reasonable doubt” and he would very get convicted. However, he would be convicted of being a moron.
Are the Dodgers still playing baseball???
Here’s tonights’ lineup.
1. Betts CF
2. Seager SS
3. Turner DH
4. Smith C
5. Taylor 2B
6. Pollock LF
7. McKinstry rf
8. Noisy 3B
9. Rios 1B
Thanks Mark for your perspective on the MLB All Star game and for providing a thorough and rational explanation of the GA law.
The MLB commissioner made this a baseball issue by moving the all star game out of Atlanta.
At this point, I do not see Manfred reversing his irresponsible decision.
Let’s not forget the three intense and exciting games over the weekend. Great series win for the Dodgers! And three fantastic performances by the starting pitchers. Dodgers off to a great start and hopefully they can keep some distance in front of the talented Padres.
I’m hoping for no Dodger hangover tonight after an emotional weekend with the Padres. Might to hard to kick it in gear for a Monday night. The Mariners are better and can’t be taken lightly. Every game matters and let’s not get distracted and lose to teams we should beat.
an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.
plural noun: obsessions
“he was in the grip of an obsession he was powerless to resist”
gas·light
/ˈɡaslīt/
verb
gerund or present participle: gaslighting
manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.
“in the first episode, Karen Valentine is being gaslighted by her husband”
Speaking of obsessions, have you ever heard of TDS?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_derangement_syndrome#:~:text=Trump%20derangement%20syndrome%20(TDS)%20is,actions%20undertaken%20by%20his%20administration.
Enjoying the Dodgers game in Seattle with my sons and grandson. It makes everything in my world right!
Give us a full report, Rob!
Bluto, those are documented cases back to 2000.
Do I think fraud played a part in the 2020 election?
Yes.
Was it significant?
I don’t know.
Was fraud proven?
Not in a court of law.
Is Joe Biden the Lawful President?
Yes, until President Harris takes office.
My final opinion: I think Trump was too delusional to believe he had lost and Giuliani was horrid as a lawyer. They had no case. But, I can still believe there was fraud. I have no clue if it cost him the election, but I accept the results. Facts and opinions are not mutually exclusive. End of story
I don’t think that number is accurate, but I haven’t looked that diligently. Where did you see it?
I agree with everything except fraud playing a part, but I appreciate your faith and persistance.
Don’t think Harris will be the next President. I’m not sold on her as a candidate.
The Heritage Foundation… so there is that!
Remember I said this: I’ll take the under that Joe Biden will be President in 2022.
That will make Harris President.
You mean 2024.
Yeah, I’m not sure that she makes it through the Primary.
As for the Heritage Foundation, it seems that number is 19.
NINETEEN.
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation’s Voter Fraud Database contained, as of December 2019, 19 cases since 1997 in which one or more individuals were found to have voted or attempted to vote in the name of a deceased voter. Cases of both in-person and absentee fraud were documented. Heritage states that its database contains a sampling of “election fraud cases from across the country, broken down by state, where individuals were either convicted of vote fraud, or where a judge overturned the results of an election.”
https://ballotpedia.org/Votes_cast_in_the_names_of_deceased_people#cite_note-5
FWIW: THe methodology of that Ballotpedia site in this instance is super-sketchy.
No, I mean 2022. Joe better watch what he eats and drinks. He’s not long for this job.
https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/commentary/voter-fraud-database-tops-1000-proven-cases
Yeah, the above site refutes that.
It’s 19.
19 Cases as of 2019 from 1997.
The horse is dead Mark.
On a lighter note:
https://twitter.com/Evi3Zamora/status/1382781106269818884?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1382781106269818884%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fgreat-outdoors%2Fman-chucks-bobcat-after-it-attacks-wife-driveway-surveillance-footage-shows
It’s Bobcat Chucking!
Bobcat with a tail?
Maybe the vet never bobed it? 😉
This would not be the first fake video ever…
There is a lot of super sketchy stuff on both sides. Here’s an interesting piece:
https://www.city-journal.org/voter-fraud-future-election-disasters
Dustin May is learning the same lessons the Young Clayton Kershaw did.
It’s going to be fun watching him grow!
Bluto,
As I said, I do not claim the election was fraudulent. This is all a side point.
I simply do not believe the new voter rules in GA are Jim Eagle. That is the focus of today’s blog.
I am not a Trump Fan. I liked a lot of what he did, but not the way he did it.
I think the Far Left and the Far Right are much the same, except that the far right is heavily armed and the far left are idealists. We know who would win that fight.
I am more of a Moderate. Can’t we all just get along?
Oh, we will get along! I don’t care if people believe stuff.
I care when then posit opinion as fact, when they cite erroneous things, when they act self-important.
But I generally get along or appreciate all, depending on how you define appreciate.
I even look to Bear’s post with interest even though his rationale behind guns and red flag laws befuddle my mind.
It’s all good. I quite like the blog and people here even if I’m terribly uninformed and hate textualism and primaries and think the House should be at least 2x larger.
Memo to Dustin May: “The middle of the plate is not your friend!”
Have I ever said this?
Zach McKinstry is a Ballplayer!
Down by one in the 9th…and Roberts decides to use Raley to pinch-hit instead of Muncy? WHY???
I typed that before Raley popped out. (At least with my delayed audio feed.)
Ugh.
Now Rios batting…. Just one swing could tie it up…
“Outside, ball four, and the Dodgers have the tying run aboard!”
Nice. Mookie stepping up…with Corey on deck….Now Mookie, with two strikes, fouling off pitches… oh my, an HBP. “He’s in pain,” says Rick Monday.
Uh oh… But Mookie stays in and takes first.
“Betts is still in a lot of discomfort.” … Uh oh.
Corey up….
Double play.
Ugh.
Disappointing defeat, but aren’t they all!
Hope it hasn’t come at a cost. Mookie looked in a lot of pain there.
I’m worried about Mookie and his right forearm…Nasty location for a HPB…
Check for swelling and xray when able to… Keep passing the ice…
Like MT says, Gotta stay away rom the heart of the plate…