Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), who represents a very blue congressional district in the Nashville area, on Tuesday announced that he will not seek re-election in the aftermath of the state Republicans’ redrawing of Tennessee’s congressional map.
Continue reading “Nashville’s Dem Rep Announces Retirement After GOP-Drawn Map Carves Up His District”Some Early Indications Of What Texas’ Restrictive Voting Law Will Mean
Matt Shuham’s article on the chaos unfolding in Texas right now is worth a read from beginning to end.
In short, in the wake of the state’s new voter restriction law, voters are confused and election administrators are overwhelmed. March primaries are approaching, and the Texas secretary of state’s office seems to be providing little in way of guidance.
For example: Houston’s elections administrators only learned of a key state database for voter information after an Austin official held a press conference to speak out in frustration. Another example: the secretary of state’s online instructions for absentee voters remained out of date until shortly after TPM contacted the office, asking about them.
Officials Scramble To Contend With Texas’ New Restrictive Voting Law Ahead Of Primaries
When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the state’s big new election bill, SB 1, into law in September — part of a Trumpian wave of new election restrictions across the country — the governor said the bill would help rebuild “trust” in the state’s elections.
Continue reading “Officials Scramble To Contend With Texas’ New Restrictive Voting Law Ahead Of Primaries”Judge Bats Away John Eastman’s Attempt To Hide Trump-Related Work Emails
A federal judge rejected ex-Trump legal adviser John Eastman’s attempt to quash the House Jan. 6 select committee’s subpoena to Chapman University requesting his work emails from when he was a law professor at the school — where he worked as he was trying to help then-President Donald Trump steal the 2020 election.
Continue reading “Judge Bats Away John Eastman’s Attempt To Hide Trump-Related Work Emails”Officer Goodman Doesn’t Want Jan 6 Recognition: A Statue Is For Birds ‘To Take A Dump On’
Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman on Tuesday expressed his mixed feelings about the recognition he’s been given ever since a video of him leading a mob of Trump supporters away from the Senate chamber so lawmakers could evacuate went viral last year.
Continue reading “Officer Goodman Doesn’t Want Jan 6 Recognition: A Statue Is For Birds ‘To Take A Dump On’”Addendum
I don’t want to get myself tagged as the guy who thinks Trump’s done. Far from it. I’m just pointing out what may be some fissures in the edifice. There’s one dimension I wanted to add. Everything Trump talks about now is in the past and about him: The Big Lie, Russia, Tony Fauci. When was the last time you heard him talk about the wall or crime or whatever other rightist nationalist applause lines? There are some. But not much. In a way this started in the earliest days of his Presidency when he became obsessed with how his 2016 victory wasn’t sufficiently appreciated, how the Russia probe was trying to steal it from him, etc.
Continue reading “Addendum”DOJ Civil: Progressives Should Pay Attention To The Actions Of This Powerful Litigating Division
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
If you search for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Google, you’ll find an overwhelming majority of search results are for the Civil Rights Division. That’s unsurprising — the average person is typically more aware of the Civil Rights Division’s work. And it makes sense: As the “crown jewel” of the DOJ, the division performs the crucial work of enforcing the laws that prohibit discrimination.
But progressives and activists should be tuned into both the work of the Civil Rights Division and the Civil Division, the latter of which has just as much potential to align with progressive priorities, like holding corporations accountable. Civil enforcement actions play a significant role in the DOJ’s larger corporate enforcement efforts. Progressives have justifiably pushed for a civil rights-minded attorney general, an empowered Civil Rights Division, and a whole-of-government approach to civil rights. The sweeping litigation responsibilities of the Civil Division often slip under the radar — but they’re just as relevant to the public interest.
Case in point: two recent lawsuits against Texas. While the Civil Rights Division is handling the lawsuit against Texas for its discriminatory electoral maps, the Civil Division is handling the lawsuit against Texas for its novel abortion ban.
Continue reading “DOJ Civil: Progressives Should Pay Attention To The Actions Of This Powerful Litigating Division”COVID Notes #10
THIS IS ONE OF the most interesting Twitter threads I’ve read in some time. I’m sure it’s gotten lots of discussion in specialist circles. But it hasn’t been much a part of the general news coverage of COVID. Basically new strains of the flu tend to evolve from recent dominant strains. So people build up an immunity to the Flu A that was big last year and Flu A evolves into Flu B that might get a lot of people sick two or three years in the future. But COVID isn’t working that way, at least not so far. Omicron didn’t evolve from Delta. And Delta didn’t evolve from the Alpha, Beta or Gamma lineages, says Adam Kucharski.
Continue reading “COVID Notes #10”Court Tosses Alabama GOP’s New District Map Because It Crammed Black Voting Power Into Just One District
A panel of three federal judges rejected the new Alabama district map drawn by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature on Monday in two lawsuits against Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) alleging that the district lines had been racially gerrymandered.
Continue reading “Court Tosses Alabama GOP’s New District Map Because It Crammed Black Voting Power Into Just One District”Is Trump’s Grip Loosening?
Our most consistent failure of perception is the tendency to project the realities or trends of the present indefinitely out into the future — like with ex-President Trump. Most of us assume that the 2024 GOP nomination is Trump’s for the taking if he decides to run and that he will run. That’s still the best assumption and it’s my assumption. But over recent weeks and with a burst of commentary in recent days it’s no longer the only assumption. There are at least some cracks — seeming cracks? — in Trump’s hold and they center for now on Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
Continue reading “Is Trump’s Grip Loosening?”