Another Reason It Failed

Make no mistake, the Democratic House voted months ago to extend unemployment benefits at $600 / week, add another $1,200 supplement, and delay evictions until January.

The bill sits on Moscow Mitch's desk, his equivalent of the circular file, the wastebasket for Hell. Just like the bill the House recently passed to allow the Census to extend through next spring, which the Administration just announced they will be cutting off early this fall. It's a different story, but has the same reason for going nowhere: screwing up this fall's election by suppressing the vote.

Both, by never going through, prevent possibly millions of American citizens from voting.

1: Severe undercounting of people not only messes with redistricting, (making many votes not representative because of gerrymandering), but means both that on election day, polling locations are insufficient for the population both in their sheer numbers, resulting in long lines, but also that ballots and whatever machines are used for registering them are too few. If an area's population is miscounted too low, while more people than "possible" by that wrong count vote, it gives another "excuse" to claim election fraud.

2: Evictions potentially can displace tens of millions. Without a stable address, or any address, it is nearly impossible to register to vote, the necessary first step before casting a ballot. A P.O. box won't do. "Under the ____ Bridge" isn't an address. Starting right now, even the legal eviction appeals process will end before the election. The banks are already starting to contact their mortgagees who are in arrears. Landlords have fewer restrictions on when they can toss folks out. With a rampant pandemic and loss of millions of jobs, voila! Homelessness! Right on schedule!

Don't believe all that crap about spending "too much money" by putting it where it will improve both the crashing economy and help secure our citizens. It's never too much money when it's going to support the rich and line the pockets of political supporters. It's never too much money when it goes to support a military project like the F-35, a boondoggle which wasn't asked for and doesn't perform anyway. It's only ever too much money when the Democrats wish to use it to help the poor. Rethuglicans only believe people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, while making it as impossible as they can. If you have no boots in the first place, how do you pull yourself  up? A rising tide only lifts the boats with sound hulls, and drowns those with no boats at all.

What's Moscow Mitch got to do with this? The fact of having the power doesn't mean - and never used to mean - that nothing got past your desk and onto the floor for discussion and a vote unless it was completely in step with the party line. First, simple corruption: his wife is getting sweet deals to line her/their pockets. Second, he's been Schroederized.

Never heard of that one? It's common in Europe, a term for those leaders who are in the thrall of Putin. They exist there, and their own people know who they are. So do we here, starting with Trump. Add Manafort, Flynn, Stone, Moscow Mitch....... It seems these days that you can finish that sentence with "ad infinitum."

But, but, but... it's not in the Mueller Report. Of course not. He was given very strict limits in what he could and could not investigate. No financial info on Trump, no following the money, for just one example. A lot of investigative reporting from those few who still qualify as journalists has provided us with glimpses. In order to get more, there must be criminal investigations, unrelenting and unembarrassed. This will never happen under Trump/Barr, and their only hope is seizing the election.

Our only hope is stopping them by getting out the vote in such numbers that they can't succeed. We need a new, strong justice department that looks into every corner and under every rug. We need - NEED - to make sure that not only we can and do vote, but that everybody we know does the same.

It's for real this time!