Heather Cox Richardson, History Professor and Columnist - Letters from an American
Stephan:
I have not seen a single person on electronic media, or in a publication report what I think is a major story. The only commentator I seen comment on this is Heather Cox Richardson, and bravo to her I say. If you have credit card debt this may be a big deal for you personally.
Heather Cox Richardson Credit: Boston College
Possibly the biggest story today in terms of its impact on most Americans’ lives is that as part of its war on junk fees, the Biden administration announced an $8 cap on late fees charged by credit card issuers that have more than a million accounts. These companies hold more than 95% of outstanding credit card debt. Currently, fees average $32, and they fall on more than 45 million people. The White House estimates that late fees currently cost Americans about $25 billion a year. The rule change will save Americans about $10 billion a year.
The administration also announced a “strike force” to crack down on “unfair and illegal pricing.” Certain corporations raised prices as strained supply chains made it more expensive to make their products. But after supply chains were fixed and their costs dropped, corporations kept consumer prices high and passed on record profits to their shareholders. The strike force will encourage federal agencies to share information to enable them to identify businesses that are breaking the law.
Banking organizations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out swinging. Executive vice president […]
Here are the facts about Christian nationalism. (I dislike having to capitalize Christian in this context inasmuch as this movement has nothing to do with Jesus’ teachings.) This is what we are up against. The only we democracy survives is if you, me, and everyone we know votes and we all vote only for Democrats. Anything less and this may be the last fair election in America’s future. I am neither exaggerating nor being partisan in the traditional sense. We have one party that has been taken over by fascists, and one that still supports democracy. In that sense, it is very simple.
To view a PDF of slides presented during PRRI’s February 28, 2024, webinar on the report, please click here. For a replay of the PRRI webinar via YouTube, please click here.
Executive Summary
Throughout 2023, PRRI interviewed more than 22,000 adults as part of its American Values Atlas, which provides for the first time the ability to estimate support for Christian nationalism in all 50 states. Additionally, this new analysis examines how religion, party, education, race, and other factors intersect with Christian nationalist views.
Roughly three in ten Americans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.
Three in ten Americans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents (10%) or Sympathizers (20%), compared with two-thirds who qualify as Skeptics (37%) or Rejecters (30%).
These percentages have remained stable since PRRI first asked these questions in late 2022.
Residents of red states are significantly more likely than those in blue states to hold Christian nationalist beliefs.
On the map, states with the highest levels of support for Christian nationalism form a horseshoe shape, starting in the upper Midwest, dipping down into the deep South, and then moving up again through the Appalachian Mountains. There are five states in which more than 45% of residents are Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers: […]
How is it possible that millions of Americans are prepared to vote for a convicted rapist, and convicted fraudster, with dozens of indictments still to be adjudicated? I was thinking of that as I heard MSNBC say how well North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson was doing in today’s elections. This is a man who is notable for claiming the Holocaust never happened and for his regular anti-semitism, and LGBTQ slurs. (Please go to www.realmarkrobinson.com to see how truly vile this man is.) The biggest problem the United States faces, I am sorry to say, is that about a third of Americans are White supremacists, male-dominant, christofacists. As this latest poll notes, “The poll also found that Trump has a five-point lead over President Biden in a rematch.”
Criminal Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Credit: Greg Nash
More than 20 percent of those planning on voting for former President Trump believe he has committed a serious crime, according to a recent poll.
A New York Times/Siena College poll found that 21 percent of those voters planning on backing Trump in November’s election think he has committed a serious federal crime.
Sixty-eight percent said he has not, and another 12 percent said they were not sure or refused to answer, the poll noted.
Trump is entangled in a number of court battles across the country, including two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The former president pleaded not guilty to four felony counts in the federal 2020 election interference case that accuses him of engaging in numerous conspiracies to stay in office after losing the election.
He also pleaded not guilty to 40 charges in the federal classified documents case that alleges he mishandled classified information and tried to obstruct the government from retrieving them after leaving office.
The Republican cult is trying to gut public education. This cult does now want children to be educated, they just want them to be indoctrinated. To give some context to what the MAGAts want realize this: 51% of Americans can’t read above 6th-grade level, and 43% can’t read above 5th-grade level. Examples: We played football. They walked to the park. Or put another way, readers at this level could not read and comprehend this article. If you care about public education get involved at your local level. Go to the meetings of the boards that control your local public schools and demand ideology-free fact-based instruction.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Credit: Steven Senne / AP
On February 13, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, did something Democratic officials seldom do in public: He spoke the truth about what’s behind the relentless attacks on public schools by rightwing advocacy groups and their financial backers.
As HuffPostreported, one of the topics that came up during a meeting between Cardona and Black journalists that took place at the Department of Education, was the recent wave of new laws passed in mostly red states that target programs in K-12 schools and institutions of higher education that address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Advocates for DEI programs say they are needed to ensure positive academic, health, and social outcomes for students who often face discrimination and fewer educational opportunities due to their race, class, religion, gender, or ability level. Opponents say they shame white students and cause “reverse discrimination.”
Cardona called new laws passed by Republican state lawmakers to eliminate […]
Kevin Morris and Coryn Grange, - Brennan Center for Justice
Stephan:
As I work and listen to a range of television channels report the elections, what increasingly worries me is what the Brennan Center for Justice reports, “If the United States wants to make good on its foundational claims of a democratic system of governance open to all citizens, it must find ways to close the racial turnout gap. Wider now than at any point in at least the past 16 years, the gap costs millions of votes from Americans of color all around the country. Perhaps most worrisome of all, the gap is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under the preclearance regime of the 1965 Voting Rights Act until the disastrous Shelby County ruling.” You cannot sustain a democracy if citizens don’t vote.
Introduction
The gap in voter participation between Black and white Americans decreased following the civil rights revolution of the 1960s. Unfortunately, our research shows that for more than a decade, this trend has been reversing. This report uses data to which few previous researchers have had access to document the racial turnout gap in the 21st century.
The racial turnout gap — or the difference in the turnout rate between white and nonwhite voters — is a key way of measuring participation equality. We find that the gap has consistently grown since 2012 and is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was suspended by the Supreme Court in its 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder. footnote1_biczm6x1
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to “preclear” any changes to their voting policies and practices with the U.S. Department of Justice (or federal courts). In the Supreme Court’s Shelby County decision, Chief Justice John Roberts, […]
