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New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
MLB's ‘apology' to Georgia, our party's nuts to ‘welcome' Zohran Mamdani and other commentary
Sports desk: MLB's 'Apology' to Georgia Major League Baseball was 'implicitly making amends to Atlanta with Tuesday's All-Star Game after moving the 2021 game in protest of Georgia election reforms,' declares J.T. Young at The Wall Street Journal. Objections to Georgia's 'Election Integrity Act, a package of common-sense measures to improve the voting process,' included calling it 'racist' and 'Jim Crow in the 21st Century,' and so MLB 'moved the All-Star Game to Denver.' Yet 'criticisms of Georgia's 2021 election law as racist and restrictive proved moot in the 2022 and 2024 election cycles.' Early voting 'surged' in 2022, 'hit a record high in 2024' and 'the number of black Georgians casting ballots increased by 800,000' between 2020 and 2024. 'By bringing the All-Star Game back to Georgia,' Major League Baseball was making 'a baseball apology.' Democrat: Our Party's Nuts To 'Welcome' Zohran Advertisement Veteran Dem operative Joe Klein at Sanity Clause mocks calls to welcome Zohran Mamdani into the 'big tent' of the Democratic Party. 'Lefties' like Mamdani are 'not a 'new brand' but the same old soreheads.' While his own 'big tent is closed to QAnon, Proud Boys. . . and to the Democratic Socialists of America,' many Dems are 'wobbly on Mamdani. Where the hell are you, Chuck Schumer?' After all, 'the Democratic Socialists are the Proud Boys of the Democratic Party.' The sad truth is that socialism makes 'a lot of sense' if you have 'no sense of how things actually work' — it's for people who have 'idealism but no experience.' Meanwhile, the DNC is busying planning 'litigation' against President Trump, but it has no plans for immigration or tax reform. 'Instead, we get anti-zionism and state-run grocery stores.' Conservative: What the Autopen Scandal Reveals It would be hard to find 'any reasonably informed American who honestly thinks President Joe Biden wasn't in a state of serious cognitive decline at the end of his term in office,' thunders The Federalist's John Daniel Davidson. The recent Times article on the Biden 'administration's use of the autopen' is an attempt at 'damage control' in light of probes into 'the high-profile clemency decisions that came down in the final days' of his presidency. The 'scandal reveals just how far the deep state was willing to go to keep a mentally compromised figurehead in office.' Indeed, at the end of the day, the Biden 'presidency stands as one of the greatest political scandals perpetrated against the American people' — and 'someone needs to answer for that.' Advertisement Science beat: Climate Idiocy Over Rat Boom A study claiming that 'global warming' caused an 'increase in the urban rat population' has gotten undeserved credit, scoffs Aaron Brown at Reason. The study 'contains nothing meaningful about either climate change or rats,' because, for starters, its underlying data was drawn from 'counting rat complaints reported by residents.' Different cities have different ways of recording rat complaints, with some including 'calls about roaches, bedbugs, cats, dogs, raccoons, and mice.' Other cities only recorded rat bites. 'Weak data and inaccurate statistics' make for bad science and are no basis for forming public policy. DC watch: Hold the Tears Over Rubio's Cuts Advertisement The New York Times and Washington Post are sounding alarms after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued layoffs in his department, but the move requires 'a little perspective,' cautions the Washington Examiner's Byron York. With more than 80,000 employees, how 'can a cut of 1,350 be 'devastating?'' Remember, 'the cuts are focused and not across the board,' with 'a significant number' seemingly hitting the department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Team Trump had 'already cut most of DRL's funding, so it was no surprise that the bureau's staff was next' — and they amount to 'only about 1.6% of the agency's staff.' Besides, such offices only 'distracted from the department's core goals.' Rubio needs to 'keep going, to put into place the reforms he envisioned for the department.' — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
USA Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Who was John Lewis? The civil rights icon inspires 'Good Trouble' protests
Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out across the country this week to protest President Donald Trump's administration and to honor the legacy of one of the nation's most enduring figureheads in the fight for social justice, John Lewis. The protests, "Good Trouble Lives On," are expected to take place in dozens of cities and towns on July 17, five years to the day since Lewis' death in 2020. The late congressman, who led some of the most seminal demonstrations during the Civil Rights movement, popularized the phrase "good trouble," referring to the kind of nonviolent action and civil disobedience he became known for early in his career. The late 17-term congressman was often called the 'moral compass'' of the U.S. House of Representatives, but he made a name for himself long before he became a lawmaker, as one of the youngest leaders in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Lewis' biography as a civil rights activist and lawmaker is a long one, involving some of the most significant U.S. political events and figures of the mid-20th century. Here's a brief overview of his past, as planned protests invoke his legacy on July 17. 'Good Trouble' protest locations: See where demonstrations are planned Where was John Lewis born? Lewis is the son of Alabama sharecroppers, born in Troy, Pike County, Alabama on February 21, 1940. Lewis began preaching in local churches when he was 15 years old, according to a biography from Stanford's Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. He then enrolled in the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville after high school. Lewis first met Martin Luther King Jr. in 1958, when he traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, to seek King's help in suing to transfer to Troy State University, an all-white institution closer to his home, according to the institute. Though he ended up not pursuing the litigation, the experience connected Lewis with King and other Black Civil Rights leaders and gave him his nickname, 'the boy from Troy." Inspired to 'get in good trouble again:' Black lawmakers salute the legacy of John Lewis What did John Lewis do during the Civil Rights movement? As a leader in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Lewis challenged Jim Crow segregation across the South, participating in and leading many nonviolent protests. "Lewis became heavily involved in the Nashville movement and participated in a series of student sit-ins in early 1960 that aimed to integrate movie theaters, restaurants, and other businesses," the MLK Research and Education Institute said, "In April 1960, he helped form SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and later participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961." During this time, he rose to prominence within the movement, as chronicled by the National Archives and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Archives. He was among a group who met with Kennedy in 1963 ahead of the historic March on Washington, and addressed the many thousands who descended upon the National Mall that day before King took the stage to deliver his 'I Have a Dream Speech.' John Lewis' involvement in 'Bloody Sunday' in Selma, Alabama Among all demonstrations and actions, he is perhaps most known for his involvement in what would be called "Bloody Sunday." Lewis helped lead hundreds of peaceful protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965 in support of equal voting rights for Black Americans. The protesters, including a then-25-year-old Lewis, where beaten back brutally by state troopers. Lewis suffered a fractured skull, and many others were injured by deployed gas, clubs, whips, and other weapons wielded by police. The brutal attack galvanized public support for the movement and is seen as a pivotal precursor to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Until his health failed, Lewis had led an annual bipartisan congressional pilgrimage to Selma to mark that anniversary. He stopped by the pilgrimage months before his death. What was John Lewis' political legacy as a Democratic congressman from Georgia? In 1987, Lewis was elected to represent Georgia's 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, often taking the lead on debates and legislation connected to civil rights and social justice, becoming known as the "conscience of the Congress," according to the National Archives. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she learned a lot from Lewis during their 30 years serving together in Congress. Pelosi said ''he taught us through words and action what true moral leadership looked like,' while members of the Congressional Black Caucus told USA TODAY that Lewis inspired them to continue the push for civil rights. Lewis was an ally to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and was an outspoken critic of the invasion and subsequent years-long war in Iraq. He also became a leading voice against gun violence and advocated for gun control legislation prominently following the shooting of former Rep. Gabby Giffords. "We have been too quiet for too long,'' Lewis said during a 2016 sit-in in the House chambers over gun control legislation. 'There comes a time when you have to say something, when you have to make a little noise, when you have to move your feet. This is the time.' Contributing: Deborah Barfield Berry and Susan Page, USA TODAY. Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr.
Fox News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts 'excited' about Atlanta All-Star Game after previously considering 2021 boycott
The MLB All-Star Game was relocated from Atlanta to Denver in 2021 in response to voting laws in the state of Georgia that then-President Joe Biden described as "Jim Crow on steroids." At the time, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was honored with managing the National League team due to his team playing in the previous year's World Series, said he would have had to consider declining to manage the game if the Midsummer Classic had not been moved. MLB made the change, saying that "the best way to demonstrate" the league's values of "[supporting] voting rights for all Americans and [opposing] restrictions to the ballot box" was to move the game. So, Roberts was in the dugout that summer, but the game was brought back to Atlanta this year, even though the laws remain in place. During a news conference, a reporter asked Roberts about his previous comments made in 2021 about being "relentless with our voices" and why the game is in Atlanta "when this is on the books." "I think it's just being relentless with our voices," the Dodgers' manager said at the time. "This is not just something that's an isolated moment in time that we're talking about. It's something that needs to be talked about [on an] ongoing [basis], and be relentless with it." Pat McAfee emceed the news conference and said he did not feel that anyone on the stage (Roberts, Paul Skenes, Aaron Boone and Tarik Skubal) "should be giving answers on that." "I would assume that there was a reason or some conversation that was had by the MLB and the state that all parties thought that this would be a wonderful host city for the All-Star Game. I think everybody is all very excited to be back in the beautiful city of Atlanta, I think. I don't want to speak out of pocket for anybody, but I do believe," McAfee continued. "I think Pat answered it perfect and honestly," Roberts chimed in. "I appreciate the question. I appreciate your thoughts. I do feel that I'm excited to be here. I think that it's a great city. I think baseball fans are excited to be here and celebrate these great athletes. "I'm not a politician. I do feel that everyone has their right to voice thoughts, but right now I really choose to just focus on the players in the game and be excited to be here. For me, to be able to manage these guys and to manage against these guys, I'm honored." The Election Integrity Act of 2021 placed new restrictions on voting by mail, added voter ID requirements and limited ballot drop boxes. Biden criticized the law as "Jim Crow on steroids." On Monday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp praised MLB for returning the game to Atlanta and creating economic opportunities for businesses in the city. "We're excited about the game finally being here. It should have been here several years ago. They never should have pulled it to start with, but thankfully the game's coming back," Kemp said in an appearance on "Fox & Friends." "It's good for the Braves organization. It's good for all the vendors and small business people in and around the ballpark and in the city of Atlanta up in Cobb County and really for our whole state." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Los Angeles Times
12-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
How L.A.'s queen of Black queer disco used her powers for good
When Rep. Maxine Waters learned Jewel Thais-Williams had died at 86 on Monday, the politician — who typically has something to say — fell silent for a moment or two. Thais-Williams is widely known in the Black and LGBTQ+ communities as the founder of the iconic nightclub Jewel's Catch One. It opened in 1973, and at its peak, celebrities from Grace Jones and the Pointer Sisters to Sharon Stone and Madonna walked through its doors. However, it wasn't flashbacks of the nightlife scene at the corner of Pico and Norton that caused Waters to pause. The congresswoman was reflecting on the impact Thais-Williams had on the country. 'Jewel was a warrior, a true warrior,' Waters told me. 'A lot of people talk about helping people. She just did it — over and over again — no matter the circumstances. She didn't wait for someone else to step up. She didn't ask for permission. She just went out and helped people … so many people. She was a wonder woman.' To truly understand Thais-Williams' legacy, you must first remember the time in which she began building it. In 1961, a Supreme Court ruling restricted women from tending bar unless they were the wife or a daughter of the owner. And while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 created a legal pathway to help dismantle sex discrimination, when Thais-Williams opened her bar less than a decade later, the residue from that Supreme Court ruling — and Jim Crow laws — was still quite palpable. On top of all of that, she was a lesbian. In 1973 California, employment law did not protect the queer community, Penal Code 647 was used to justify entrapment stings in public spaces, and the white gays of West Hollywood would often ask Black and brown patrons for three pieces of ID just to keep them out of clubs. Establishing Jewel's Catch One, becoming the first Black lesbian to own a bar in this country, was no crystal stair for Thais-Williams. 'When I first met Jewel, it was in the backyard of Catch One,' said Waters, who spearheaded the federal Minority AIDS Initiative and convinced the Congressional Black Caucus to host a hearing on the disease, which had been disproportionately killing minorities. 'I was trying to get federal funding to help people living with AIDS and went to see what she was doing. It was incredible. She was absolutely incredible. She was helping all of these men whose families had kicked them out and had nowhere else to go. She was feeding them out of her restaurant and helping them with treatment. And then she went to school to learn medicine and helped even more people. She was truly special.' Keith Boykin, founder of the National Black Justice Coalition and former aide to President Clinton, was a friend of Thais-Williams and told me 'the most important lesson I learned from Jewel is that building community in a time of oppression is an act of resistance.' In 1993, Boykin helped arrange the first sit-down meeting between a president and the LGBTQ+ community, a startling fact when you consider that by then there were nearly 400,000 reported cases of AIDS and nearly a quarter of a million Americans — predominantly gay men — had already died. The federal government's deafening silence through the '80s and early '90s had been met with loud resistance from organizations such as ACT UP, and, as Boykin said, community building. The work Waters and Thais-Williams did together is one of the highlights of the 2016 documentary 'Jewel's Catch One.' Its director, C. Fitz, told me she 'set out to make the film due to the fact I saw a large need to tell her story for our future.' 'I was compelled to make the film to shine a light on an important hidden hero in our community that changed lives and impacted history,' Fitz said. 'I wanted to tell the story certainly about her incredible club she created, but also her life as a whole and all she accomplished including being a healer with her clinic.' In 2001, Thais-Williams opened the Village Health Foundation, which offered traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, counseling and other holistic approaches to treating ailments that were disproportionately impacting the Black community. It took Fitz six years to make the film. As a result, she said, she carries numerous life lessons she learned from Thais-Williams with her each day, like 'the importance of laughter.' 'As hard as a day was, I always saw Jewel laughing,' Fitz said. 'We work so hard to make a difference, but we have to take care of ourselves inside and out too.' This week began with about 100 armed federal agents and members of the state's National Guard conducting a 'show of force' operation in a relatively empty MacArthur Park. Thankfully, there weren't any mass arrests, just mass concern about the president's tendency to use our military for political theater. Last month, when Waters tried to check on David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California who was being detained at a federal facility, the door was shut in her face. There's an obvious thread between the government cruelty of past decades — toward LBGTQ+ people, women and people of color — and the performative cruelty today against … well, all of those same groups still, and also in recent months especially against Latinos and immigrants. Waters had been in meetings most of the day when news about Thais-Williams reached her ears … and broke her heart. 'She was a fighter; that's what I love most about her,' Waters said. 'I'm a fighter too. That's one of the reasons why we got along so well.' With all due respect, I would argue 'fighting' isn't the reason the two of them got along so well. Everybody is fighting, in one way or another. It's what we fight for that keeps people together. It's what we fight for that ultimately defines the meaning of our lives. Thais-Williams may be known for opening a popular nightclub, but what she fought for — the people most in need of a champion — is what defined her life. YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Bihar electoral rolls revision: Elections are for a democratic nation, not an exclusive club
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar mandated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sparked significant controversy, resonating deeply with historical and contemporary struggles over voting rights. Far from a routine administrative update, this move represents a profound threat to democratic rights, raising the spectre of mass disenfranchisement reminiscent of voter suppression tactics historically observed in the United States during the Jim Crow era. The ECI's directive requires every voter in Bihar to submit fresh documentary proof of citizenship within a stringent one-month deadline, failing which their names will be automatically removed from the electoral rolls. This unprecedented demand reverses the foundational constitutional principle of universal adult suffrage, which B R Ambedkar championed despite initial misgivings within the Constituent Assembly. Ambedkar's steadfast vision ensured suffrage was universal, unconditional upon education, economic status, or documentation. He believed deeply in voting rights as the cornerstone of democracy and social equality. Historical context magnifies the gravity of the ECI's current directive. During India's first general elections, Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen employed groundbreaking administrative innovations to actualise universal suffrage. Confronted with enrolling 173 million voters — many of whom were illiterate — Sen turned an administrative challenge into a democratic opportunity by introducing election symbols, thus making voting practically feasible. These inclusive strategies starkly contrast with the current revision that risks exclusion based on the availability and authenticity of documentation. The situation in Bihar becomes stark when considering socio-economic realities. Approximately 2.5 crore adults in Bihar — nearly one-third of the state's adult population — lack the documentary proof required by the ECI. Commonly available documents like Aadhaar cards or ration cards are not accepted, whereas rare documents such as birth certificates, held by only 2.8 per cent of the population, or passports, held by just 2.4 per cent, are demanded. Such requirements disproportionately risk disenfranchising the poor, Dalit, Adivasi and Bahujan communities, and women. This procedural shift mirrors voter suppression tactics seen under American Jim Crow laws, which systematically disenfranchised Black voters through literacy tests, poll taxes, and restrictive documentation requirements. Only significant judicial interventions, notably through landmark cases such as Reynolds v. Sims (1964), and the Voting Rights Act (1965), dismantled these discriminatory practices. In India, judicial precedents affirm similar protections. The Supreme Court judgments in Md Rahim Ali vs State of Assam (2024) and Lal Babu Hussein & Others vs Electoral Registration Officer (1995) underscore the necessity of procedural fairness in determining citizenship and voter rights. These rulings insist on transparency, natural justice, and the right to contest any disenfranchisement. According to these judgments, allegations or vague suspicions cannot justify the exclusion of individuals from citizenship or voter lists without credible evidence and due process. Yet, the ECI's recent practice diverges from these judicial safeguards, echoing the troubling experiences of Assam under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). The 'D-voter' (doubtful voter) classification created misery for thousands in Assam, thrusting them into Foreigners Tribunals, where procedural biases and failures stripped many of their citizenship rights and pushed them towards statelessness. This bureaucratic nightmare illustrated the severe human costs of aggressive administrative practices without adequate constitutional protections. The present exercise in Bihar risks replicating these troubling precedents. As Yogendra Yadav highlights, the current move shifts the burden of proof from the state to vulnerable individuals who, under extreme socioeconomic constraints, must now demonstrate their citizenship status. Given Bihar's endemic poverty, floods, and limited administrative infrastructure, the abrupt and inflexible timeline set by the ECI further exacerbates exclusion. Demanding comprehensive documentation compliance within one month during the monsoon is inherently discriminatory against marginalised communities who lack easy access to administrative resources. Historian Ornit Shani's research in How India Became Democratic illuminates the original spirit behind the constitutional adoption of universal adult suffrage. Shani emphasises that India's pioneering approach to universal suffrage was driven by collective democratic imagination and a radical break from colonial electoral practices, which had categorised voters by community and class. Bureaucrats, under Sen's guidance, were mentored into recognising each adult Indian as a citizen and voter, transforming administrative structures to support democratic equality. In the original electoral roll preparation before India's first elections, the Constituent Assembly Secretariat actively responded to grassroots activism, fostering open communication with citizens to address and correct exclusionary practices. This included the sensitive handling of refugees and displaced persons following Partition. The Secretariat devised innovative procedures, such as allowing refugees to enrol based on their intention to reside permanently in their new localities, highlighting a flexible and humanitarian interpretation of citizenship in India's early years. A crucial argument presented by Shani is that democracy, particularly universal franchise, required imagination beyond the mere ideological. She emphasises that Indian officials and citizens collectively contributed to the conceptualisation and realisation of universal suffrage. The bureaucratic imagination was fundamentally transformed through this democratic experiment, shifting from colonial mindsets to envisioning every adult as a potential voter and inclusive administrative innovations, grounded in a nuanced understanding of procedural equality, were instrumental in democratising not just the electoral rolls but also the bureaucratic mindset and national imagination. Contrasting with this historical inclusivity, the current revision risks undermining the very democratic ethos upon which India's electoral system was established. The primary role of the Election Commission is to conduct free and fair elections among all citizens. It must, therefore, lean towards presuming citizenship, not exclusion. Elections are conducted for a democratic nation, not an exclusive membership club. In stark opposition to the progressive electoral policies and inclusive vision of Ambedkar and Sen, the Special Intensive Revision in Bihar under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar represents a regressive turn, undermining decades of democratic institution-building. By potentially stripping millions of their fundamental voting rights, it threatens the integrity of India's democracy. Thus, immediate judicial and legislative oversight becomes imperative. Historical lessons from voter suppression, both Indian and American, highlight the urgent need to protect democratic rights. The essence of India's democracy hinges upon upholding constitutional guarantees and ensuring electoral processes remain transparent, inclusive, and just. The writer is a senior advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India. Views are personal
