Voter Suppression, Voting Machine Glitches, And GOP Racism Mounts Ahead Of Election Day
Go vote like your voice depends on it! Because it does.
Donald Trump waves as he leaves a campaign rally, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Altoona, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Today’s stories you might’ve missed:
- Voter irregularities and suppression efforts have been persistent right to the end. Georgia and its Republican candidate for governor Brian Kemp, both having become synonymous with voter suppression this election cycle, are again at the forefront. Mr. Kemp, fresh off a loss in court for his voter purges, is now calling for an investigation into unsubstantiated claims of hacking from Democratic operatives. There are also reports of problems with voting machines in Georgia and Texas, which have been to the benefit of Republican candidates over Democratic ones. Anyone that thinks their vote has no significance should take a long look at the lengths Republicans go to prevent Americans from exercising this fundamental right.
- NBC and Fox News pulled a racist and misleading ad endorsed by President Trump from its airwaves today. Facebook has also apologized for letting the Trump campaign play the ad on their platform. The ad, an attempt to rile up fears among Trump’s base against incoming migrants, should never have been run in the first place, given its egregiously erroneous, hateful and false content. The apologies and withdrawals come too little, too late, particularly in the case of NBC; the ad was aired during Sunday Night Football for millions to see.
- Protests have broken out in Iran after American re-imposition of sanctions on the country. The sanctions were reinstated after President Trump’s withdrawal from a nuclear deal with Iran earlier this year. All other signatories of the deal- China, Russia, Germany, France, and the UK have remained in the deal and have decried Trump’s move. European countries are mulling ways to bypass sanctions for their companies operating in Iran (whether they can do so successfully is unclear.) The new sanctions will damage an already ailing Iranian economy.
- Egypt’s interior ministry is reporting that it has gunned down 19 militants in the west of the country after an attack on Coptic Christian pilgrims killed seven people there on Friday. ISIS has claimed responsibility for that attack. While greatly diminished since their peak, the terrorist group is still active in many parts of the Middle East, notably in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. Coptic Christians have often been targets of attacks following the Arab Spring. Last year, 28 people were killed in a bus attack.
- Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo, goes on trial today in New York. Guzman had previously escaped twice from Mexican custody and is accused of smuggling as much as 155 tons of cocaine over 25 years. His convictions would mark a big, if symbolic, victory in the fight against drug cartels in Central America, which have been responsible for tens of thousands of homicides and destabilization in the region.
Subscribe to get the Rantt Rundown in your inbox every evening!
