When In Doubt, Cheat !

 When I was a little one, I was taught to not lie and not cheat.  

Thus, I did not cheat at tiddly winks, checkers, chess, basketball, school, college, graduate school, my CV, my career and so on.  Am I perfect ?  Hardly.

So how is cheating defined ?

To act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or examination.

or

Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate criteria.  The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating conduct a potentially subjective process.

Lying and hypocrisy are generally considered separate acts and not considered part of cheating but cheating, lying, and hypocrisy often occur together.

Consider these examples:

Voting Rights Cheating and Lying - Lawyer Cleta Mitchell, known for her effort to overturn the 2020 election and her establishment of the Republican National Committee Voter Integrity Unit (to stamp out the massive voter fraud that is responsible for Republican losses in 2020 and 2022 😕), recently proposed to GOP strategists a plan to limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters, according to a copy of her presentation reviewed by The Washington Post.  “What are these college campus locations?” she asked, according to the audio. “What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.”  OMG, the students don't have to walk 5 miles through snow to vote like she did !  

Also, she is apparently hoping that the Virginia Senate flips to their side so they can reduce or eliminate the 45 day early voting period since they are CONVINCED massive voter fraud is happening. This, of course, is meant to make it more difficult for people like you and me to vote. Numerous Republican voter suppression bills were defeated by Virginia Senate Democrats in this latest 2023 General Assembly Session.  

Missouri is also trying to restrict efforts to put up a constitutional amendment on the ballot without approval of 5 of 8 RED and gerrymandered congressional districts.  What's the big deal ?  Why do you need to change the state Constitution ?  Perhaps to protect voting rights, women's rights, protect books and libraries, and many other freedoms and rights.  

In Virginia, we would want to get rid of the Virginia Constitutional amendment that bans same sex marriage (HJ553).  The General Assembly Republicans also voted against constitutional  amendments for Environmental Justice (HJ 524), Reproductive Rights (HJ 519), changing the voting age to 16 (HJ 459), restoration of voting rights (HJ 520, SJ 223), rights for mental health care in school (HJ 509), among others.

Abortion Rights Cheating and Lying  - "For 111 years, Ohio voters have lived with a set of rules for amending their state constitution through citizen initiative. The requirements have not changed and the threshold for enactment has always been 50 percent plus one."  Now, the Republicans want to pass legislation to raise the bar (60%) for passage of an amendment and make it more onerous to get the necessary signatures for a ballot initiative in order to prevent  Ohio voters from changing their state constitution.  Why is this happening now ?  The Republicans in control of the state government are very afraid that the majority of Ohio residents will, heaven forbid, use the rules that have worked well for the last 111 years and democracy to enshrine the right to abortion in THEIR state constitution.  Republicans deny the link to abortion and say it is necessary to protect the integrity of the Ohio Constitution but it is quite obvious that the effort for a reproductive rights amendment may pass since over 59% in Ohio support the amendment.  When you can't win on the merits then cheat and change the rules in your favor.

Pre-emptive Power Grab Legislation Cheating - Do you remember state governments passing laws to prohibit local Health Department officials from promoting Covid and other vaccines and pushing back on quack treatments like Ivermectin ?  This is an example of a state government that does not like certain local policies or practices and deciding to pass legislation to bar a local policy.  Other examples of local progressive policies that have been thwarted by Republican state governments include the state taking over local city police departments (Republicans have repeatedly and falsely claimed about the crime hellscape in mostly Democratic cities), abortion, gun control (Virginia General Assembly Republicans introduced bills this 2023 session to prohibit localities from regulating guns - HB 1427, HB 1428, SB 805), minimum wage, school boards and policies, public health policy, energy policy, LGBTQ healthcare, etc.  

"Last month Mississippi's Republican governor Tate Reeves signed a law giving state-appointed leaders control of policing in Jackson, the state's largest city. In Florida, lawmakers are taking aim at school districts, rent control and gun rights and energy laws. Other similar fights are ongoing from Oklahoma and Texas to Idaho and Alabama."

Democrats also tend to do this but "most analysts point to state-mandated minimum wage increases as an area where Democrats have traditionally tried to set state-wide rules that may conflict with local leaders."

Oh, the horror of raising the minimum wage !!!!!

Other Power Grab Efforts Cheating, Silencing And Denying Constituent Representation - Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, Zooey Zephyr.  Need I say more ?

Hypocrisy - Do you remember when the Republicans objected to unfunded mandates and states rights and limited government ?  Seems quaint nowadays.  The Dobbs decision allegedly threw the abortion rights decisions back to the states but how long did it take for Lindsey Graham (South Carolina Senator) to propose a national 15 week ban ?  How long did it take for conservatives to sue to ban Mifepristone nationally ?  

MORE POWER !!! - When you give Republicans power, this is what happens.  They do not have common sense policy positions that will actually serve the people, improve lives, promote opportunities for individuals and communities so they resort to cheating and lying to maintain power over each one of us.  The slow shift in the Overton window and more liberal Millennial and Gen Z generations is not in their favor so they are desperately trying to maintain power against the severe threat of women, LGBTQ and people of color and new ideas and science and acceptance of other positions and ...

Addendum - 5/29/23 - Texas Republicans pass voting bills targeting large Democratic countyexas Republicans pass voting bills targeting large Democratic county.  WaPo reports that Texas just passed voting bills targeting the largest Blue county in Texas.  Texas is largely ruled by a complete control of the state government (executive and legislative branches) but the population has been gradually trending more blue.  The new law targets Houston and Harris County with a sizable Black population.  Now, the law does not mention those locality names because the Texas Constitution bans laws that can apply only to local jurisdictions.  Instead, the bill applies to counties of more than 3.5 or 4 million population.  FYI, Harris county just happens to be the only county that meets those criteria.  Coincidence ?  

So what is in these bills:

• Gives the secretary of state under certain conditions the power to run elections in Harris County, home to Houston and 4.8 million residents.
• Shifts the oversight of elections from its appointed elections administrator to the county clerk and county assessor.
• Requires the county to change who oversees its elections starting Sept. 1 (just weeks before Houston holds its election for mayor and the quick transition could easily cause voting administration problems). 
• Under the bill, the Texas Secretary of State could oversee elections in Harris County if she found “good cause to believe that a recurring pattern of problems with election administration or voter registration exists in the county.” She would get to sign off on all of the county’s election procedures and could install members of her staff in Harris County offices.
• changes illegal voting from a misdemeanor to a felony with a penalty of as much as 20 years in prison after having changed it to a misdemeanor in 2021 even though illegal voting is rare in Texas.
• Allows the general public to inspect ballots two months after any election.  Critics are worried the Texas legislation would allow members of the general public to handle ballots, running the risk they could add markings to them or otherwise damage them. 

Getting the idea ?  A short turnover and restructuring of the officials in charge of Harris County elections (in 3 months) is likely to cause voting administration problems which would provide the justification for the Texas Secretary of State to intervene (based on a "recurring pattern of problems") and take over the Harris County election system with state staff - all just in time for the 2024 Presidential Election !   

Harris County plans to file a lawsuit as soon as the Governor signs the bills.

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Thus, it is vital to stand up and speak out in any way we can.  We need to Roar Like McMorrow !

Do something and anything to help us win both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and put a stop to MAGA and Youngkin:

• Speak your mind and push back against the lies and hate and stand up for justice and fairness
• Join the Staunton Democratic Committee
• Donate to the Staunton Democratic Committee
• Volunteer - volunteer@staunton-democrats.care
• Contact me if you need ideas !  info@staunton-democrats.care