Now this is interesting: four North Carolinians are suing for libel after former Governor Pat McCrory's defense fund accused them of voting illegally in the 2016 gubernatorial election (an election Mr. McCrory lost to Roy Cooper). That should teach right-wingers who lose elections to accuse specific people of "voter fraud," but then, if we keep demanding proof of right-wing "voter fraud" accusations, they'll have to get down to names eventually. And yes, North Carolina was using the notorious Interstate Crosscheck database at the time, so I bet that's how the McCrory group got its names. I sincerely hope the plaintiffs prevail.
Here's some more good news: Dollar General workers at a Barkhamstead, Connecticut store are aiming to unionize. Did we not just discuss how unions should have been going after retail workers all this time? Well, these six workers contacted the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in mid-September, filed for an election just a few days later, and will vote on the matter on October 22. In the meantime Dollar General corporate flacks have descended upon them with anti-union propaganda, and one of the six workers got fired, I wonder why? I wish them the best, and I hope I can continue to believe that the Biden NLRB is way, way better than the Trump NLRB.
Jennifer Rubin wonders why Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema seem to be trying to kill the Build Back Better Act when it would benefit their home states greatly. Pedants would argue that Joe Manchin actually has supported Medicare drug price negotiation, but he sure ain't "out front pushing for this item," as Ms. Rubin says, and (as I've said) maybe he only came out for it because he knew Ms. Sinema would oppose it anyway. He has also favored rolling back the Trump tax-cuts-for-the-rich, but again, he ain't out front on that, and again, he also knows Ms. Sinema opposes that rollback. Ms. Rubin's many other points -- not very many rich folks in West Virginia, big solar job growth in Arizona, lots of Medicare recipients in both states -- withstand more serious scrutiny.
You know I have little patience for folks who say "you can make polls say anything you want"? Well, that doesn't apply to cherry-picking poll data, like the kind David Moore describes at FAIR. In buttressing his absurd claim that Joe Manchin totally gets his constituents, a Washington Post columnist reports that 49% of independents, in one mid-August poll, and not just in West Virginia, think the Build Back Better Act aims to spend too much, which is a little like saying the 1974-75 Washington Capitals were a pretty good team because Tommy Williams scored 22 goals that year. (That team won eight games and had one other 20-goal scorer.) Think the actual West Virginia polling referenced herein occurred to that Post writer?
As Republicans "ramp() up" attacks on giving our IRS more enforcement power, dig Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) saying "I can’t ever recall anyone saying that they want the IRS to poke into their business more on a day-to-day basis." But has anyone told him I wish the IRS could catch tax cheats who break our laws and make the rest of us pay more? Because I'm pretty sure that's what this is really all about.
Finally, noted conservative Max Boot reiterates that he's going to keep voting for Democrats"until the GOP ceases to pose an existential threat to our freedom," and of course I sympathize, but again -- as with George Will, who has made very similar noises -- I wonder how much sway Mr. Boot has with his brethren on the right. I'd say he has sway with no more than 3% of the electorate -- judging by how well Michael Wood did in the Texas's 6th special, when he leaned hard (and effectively, I thought) into never-Trumpism -- and while 3% ain't nothing, I'd caution against thinking very many of the folks you disagreed with back in the day have now come to their senses, even after the events of January 6.
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