Category: Black Leaders

Hundreds protest in Raleigh and Portland; 2 officers tried to use stun guns on Jacob Blake

The Wisconsin Department of Justice on Friday released a statement saying two officers deployed shock weapons when trying to arrest Jacob Blake, just before one of the officers shot him seven times in the back.The news about the stun guns comes amid protests, arrests and public outcry about the shooting. Among other news, Kyle Rittenhouse, the

Republicans Are Taking Advantage of the Pandemic to Suppress the Vote

Kamala Harris has blasted Republicans for trying to exploit the Coronavirus pandemic to suppress the vote in November’s elections. The Democratic senator has called out Donald Trump’s own double standard on mail-in ballots. The vice presidential candidate wrote an op-ed in Wednesday’s Washington Post marking the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave some

LeBron James Announces Huge Effort to Recruit Poll Workers in Black Neighborhood

LeBron James is not only one of the richest and most successful athletes in the world, he’s also one of the most charitable. The Lakers star has paid for numerous college educations, served thousands of meals and even built a school in his home town of Akron, Ohio. This year, the basketball star has turned

LeBron James Launches A Campaign to Push for More Poll Workers

More Than a Vote, a collective of athletes headlined by LeBron James that is fighting to combat voter suppression, will announce a multimillion-dollar initiative to increase the number of poll workers in Black electoral districts ahead of November’s general election.The project, a collaboration with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, aims to recruit young people to

New Tennessee Law Severely Sharpens Punishments for Some Protesters, Potentially Endangering Their Voting Rights

Tennessee ProtestsProtesters are seen marching upon the Tennessee State Capitol building on June 4, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. Credit – Jason Kempin/Getty ImagesA new Tennessee law, signed by the governor this week, makes it a felony for protesters to camp out overnight on state property. If convicted, they could lose their voting rights and face

Tracing the roots of city boy Trump’s racist ‘suburban dream’ nonsense—all the way to Rush Limbaugh

Let’s start with Trump’s current campaign. On June 30, President Shitgibbon tweeted that he was “studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating impact” on the suburbs. He also claimed that his opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, wants to make things “much worse”—correction: “MUCH WORSE.” Trump added that he “may END!” the

Tennessee passes a law that can permanently remove voting rights from peaceful protesters

As the Associated Press reports, the bill does a number of things including:  Institutes a mandatory 45 day sentence for “rioting” Increases fines for blocking highways requires that protesters pay for any damage to state property makes assaulting a “first responder” a Class C felony with a 90 day mandatory sentence Most of these changes seem

Closing Night at the D.N.C.: Joe Biden Accepts Democratic Nomination

Joseph R. Biden Jr. accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night, beginning a general-election challenge to President Trump that Democrats cast this week as a rescue mission for a country equally besieged by a crippling pandemic and a White House defined by incompetence, racism and abuse of power.Speaking before a row of flags in

Former Postal Governor Tells Congress Mnuchin Politicized Postal Service

Lawmakers of both parties, along with civil rights groups and state attorneys general, have raised concerns about the operational changes given the growing likelihood that many Americans will need to vote by mail this November because of the coronavirus pandemic. At a time when Mr. Trump is attacking mail-in voting, voting rights advocates fear that

Obama Returns to the DNC With a Chance to Rescue His Legacy From Trump

“But he never did,” Mr. Obama said in the excerpts. “He’s shown no interest in putting in the work, no interest in finding common ground, no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends, no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality

Democrats Nominate Biden for President, Delivering Long-Sought Prize

Democrats formally nominated Joseph R. Biden Jr. for the presidency on Tuesday night, anointing him as their standard-bearer against President Trump with an extraordinary virtual roll call vote that showcased the cultural diversity of their coalition and exposed a generational gulf that is increasingly defining the party.Denied the chance to assemble in Milwaukee because of

Michelle Obama delivers epic speech on the opening night of the Democratic convention

Good evening, everyone. It’s a hard time, and everyone’s feeling it in different ways. And I know a lot of folks are reluctant to tune into a political convention right now or to politics in general. Believe me, I get that. But I am here tonight because I love this country with all my heart,

Democratic National Convention Night 1: What To Know

[Speakers, start time, schedule and more: Here’s how to watch the Democratic National Convention.]The first-ever virtual convention begins tonight, as Democrats gather — sort of — to nominate Joseph R. Biden Jr. for the presidency and Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate. Even with coronavirus-imposed restrictions, the speeches over the next few

USPS and Mail-In Ballots: States Warned It May Not Meet Deadlines

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service has warned states that it may not be able to meet their deadlines for delivering last-minute mail-in ballots, further fueling the clash over the new postmaster general’s handling of vote-by-mail operations as President Trump continued to rail against the practice.In letters sent in July to all 50 states and the

Stupid Trump tries to cheat, but screws his own voters instead

Trump’s attacks on the U.S. Postal Service will cement his landslide loss, and take down even more Republicans than was already the case.  First of all, here’s Trump’s stark reality: he’s got zero juice in urban America and he’s lost the suburbs. All that’s left are rural communities. HIs party is inextricably tied to that, as

Postal Service Warns States It May Not Meet Mail-In Ballot Deadlines

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service has warned states that it may not be able to meet their deadlines for delivering last-minute mail-in ballots, further fueling the clash over the new postmaster general’s handling of vote-by-mail operations as President Trump continued to rail against the practice.In letters sent in July to all 50 states and the

Biden Campaign Slams Trump for “Sabotaging” Postal Service

Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential campaign slammed President Donald Trump, accusing him of “sabotaging” the United States Postal Service following remarks Trump made in which he appeared to admit as much. “The President of the United States is sabotaging a basic service that hundreds of millions of people rely upon, cutting a critical lifeline for rural

Stay on top of the battle for the House with our new TV ad reservation tracker

Campaign Action To help keep track of the expanding House battlefield, Daily Kos Elections has created a spreadsheet that includes every reservation we have from the big four House committees, which are the CLF and NRCC on the GOP side and the DCCC and House Majority PAC for the Democrats. We’ll be constantly updating this

Corruption is Not A Second Amendment Right

The law was not kind to corrupt people this week.  The DC Circuit sided with congressional oversight when it said the House could sue Don McGahn  if he didn’t comply with a subpoena.  We learned that Deutsche Bank  gave up Donald Trump’s financials to Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance, and the crown jewel came with New

Pelosi Is Playing Hardball on Coronavirus Relief. She Thinks She’ll Win.

WASHINGTON — As the clock ticked down Thursday on a self-imposed deadline for a breakthrough in coronavirus relief talks with no deal in sight, Jim Cramer, the brash CNBC host, had an on-air proposal for Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.Why not try invoking the memory of the late civil rights icon John Lewis to try

Joe Biden “Is No Longer Worthy of the Black Vote”

Donald Trump continued his criticism of Joe Biden on Friday following the former Vice President’s remarks about diversity in the African American community. The President has repeatedly tried to frame Biden’s comments as evidence that he does not deserve votes from Black Americans. He made the claim again on Twitter. “After yesterday’s statement, Sleepy Joe

In Saturday primary, Honolulu voters may choose new path on criminal justice

Seven candidates are competing here, but recent polls show that only three of them have a good chance to advance to an all-but-certain second round in November: public defender Jacquie Esser; defense attorney Megan Kau, who is a former local prosecutor; and former Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Steve Alm, who served as U.S. attorney during

Democrats confront Trump officials over new policies slowing mail delivery

Campaign Action That postmaster general/donor, Louis DeJoy, has cut overtime for postal workers, ensuring backlogs, and has told workers to leave mail behind to wait until the next day under expanded circumstances. He’s also looking at instituting a much broader one-day delay on mail sorting and delivery. There can be no doubt that DeJoy is intentionally

Michelle Obama blames Trump for her ‘low-grade depression’

Former first lady Michelle Obama says she’s suffering from “low-grade depression” in part because of President Trump. “I’m dealing with some form of low-grade depression. Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife and just seeing this administration. Watching the hypocrisy of it day in and day out is dispiriting,” Obama

Kris Kobach Loses Kansas Senate Primary, Easing Republican Worries

Kansas Republicans on Tuesday rebuffed the Senate bid of Kris W. Kobach, a polarizing figure in state politics and a staunch ally of President Trump’s. The result was a major relief to party leaders in Kansas and Washington who had worried that he would uniquely jeopardize the seat in the general election.Representative Roger Marshall, a

Maxine Waters Criticizes Trump for His Attacks Against Mail-In Ballots

Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif) accused President Donald Trump of deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service as he’s mounted more attacks against vote-by-mail initiatives. “Trump put Postmaster DeJoy in charge of the postal service to dismantle the USPS & sabotage vote by mail. New procedures are causing massive delays,” Waters tweeted. She added: “Trump &

Mail Delays Fuel Concern Trump Is Undercutting Postal System Ahead of Voting

In the suburban Virginia district of Representative Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat who leads the House subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, 1,300 people voted by mail in a 2019 primary — last month, more than 34,000 did.“We are worried about new management at the Postal Service that is carrying out Trump’s avowed opposition to

Obama Resurrects Hope In His Eulogy to John Lewis

During this past week many of us mourned the loss of John Lewis and the kind of greatness he had.  The iconic civil rights leader was a man who refused to give up or give in after being beaten within an inch of his life.  Those who knew him described him as someone you just

Trump sabotages postal service and census to rig elections in 2020 and beyond

​ Campaign Action ​Trump, however, has spent the past several months lying about mail voting by making baseless claims that it leads to voter fraud. Meanwhile, a rushed census exacerbates the already heightened risk of undercounts of certain populations, such as those who lack internet access or live in remote areas, due to the pandemic.

Voting by Mail Is Popular. So Is the False Idea That It’s Ripe for Fraud.

Top Republicans were quick to dismiss the suggestion of putting off Election Day — but Democrats went further, calling it evidence that the president would stop at nothing to throw doubt on the validity of an election that he currently appears likely to lose.At this moment of coronavirus-driven insecurity, where do Americans stand on voting