I’m seeing more things fall into place that tells me that this Administration plans on hanging around a lot longer, without taking any chances on losing power on such a flimsy premise as “The Will of the People.”
TFG signed another executive order
to further complicate the voting process, with a key point being that they won’t
count any ballot that is not in hand by Election Day, no matter when it was
postmarked.
You see the play there, right? With control of the post
office operations (whether by presidential appointment or being privatized
into the hands of another corporate toadie), they can open or close the stream
of mailed ballots depending on whether TFG or his party is ahead or behind. I
would also bet that batches of mailed ballots from known Blue strongholds will
somehow become “misplaced,” “destroyed,” or taken out into the Potomac and sunk
like a mob rat.
Another point is an added requirement to provide proof of
citizenship at registration. “But wait, I’m already registered!” you may
wonder. Have you seen the Red State efforts to “rid the voter rolls of
ineligible or non-voters?” They take as much care in researching that as the
DOGE teen squad does when “carefully ridding the government of waste,” which is
to say they hack and burn anyone and anything that looks like a Democrat. So then, when someone who’s been registered all their lives suddenly gets bounced and
has to reregister, they better hope they have a copy of their birth certificate
or social security card. Doubly so for a woman who changed her name when she got married.
This is now, as “voter ID requirements” have always been,
a method of removing low-income, young, or immigrant voters to better put a thumb
on the scale for Republicans. The more barriers to voting, the better for Republicans.
The Baltimore Sun finally got one of their headlines right:
Unfortunately, I don’t think they meant it the way I see it.
If there’s an election at all, it’ll be rigged so tight
we’ll have to be lubed up just to get in the door of the polling place. TFG
already thanked his benefactor, Elon, for winning him the last election, and I
doubt that was just about money. Money is readily available from the existing
Republican donor class; Elon’s wasn’t anything special. But his people’s
hacking skills were.
Why am I still calling this out? It’s because I think we
need to make a fuss about it and bring it up at every turn, to get the idea out
there and degrade it before it’s put into the hands of the judiciary. And buy
that, I mean the Supreme Court, aka the only court Republicans currently
recognize, because it’s the one stacked in their favor. The new Mainstream Media isn’t
going to do it anymore… they’ve been bought and threatened into compliance
already, just like the rest of the business world. No one wants to do anything
to upset the Orange King, lest they incur his wrath.
And that’s the real key to the whole Executive Order
thing. A president has no power over elections; the states do. So, in theory,
his EO is meaningless. Of course, SCOTUS may invent a reason why it isn’t. But
the real hammer is the threat of withholding funds to states that refuse to
comply.
What with FEMA on the way out the door, he won’t have
that angle to use, but there are still government funds for numerous
other services, like highway funds, research grants, development and
construction money, etc. Blue states on a budget might think twice before
defying the EO on voting, lest they upend their books even worse than they
already are.
The only real power left is that of individuals acting
in unison, a true grassroots movement. The longer we wait, the worse it’s going
to be. Immigrants are already being “disappeared” out in broad daylight; it’s
only a short matter of time before they start coming for native citizens they
don’t like.
With modern surveillance techniques, we’re bound to see a
time when they pick up what we’re writing before we can even press publish.
Hey, who’s that at the door? Who are you? I’m calling 9-1 mmmph!
In other news, happy 70th birthday to one of my long-time idols,
AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, one of the greatest to ever strap on a Gibson SG.
Back in The Day, AC/DC was the soundtrack to every party I ever threw. We
always saved them for the peak of the night, when everyone was rolling.
I’ve got tickets to see them in Pittsburgh this May, and I
can’t wait. I’ve seen them five times, from 1985 to 1996, so wow, it’s been
29 years. (Attending that last show cost me the opportunity to film a home porno movie. True story.)
Angus, the eternal schoolboy, certainly isn’t as young as he once was.
Angus Young
Angus Old
He doesn’t have the kind of energy he used to, but Jesus,
who does? That he’s still out there at all, at 70, is a miracle. And it’s not
like he’s just standing there. You’ve seen him play. He hops around like a
rooster on speed for two hours a night. Forever the Energizer Bunny.
So, happy birthday, A-Bomb. If this is your last tour, you’ve
certainly earned some rest. You’ll always be remembered as one of the best.