The Hollywood Liberal

NHL Player in Blackface for Halloween
Phoenix Coyotes NHL player Raffi Torres and his wife, Gianna, dressed in blackface as rapper Jay-Z and singer Beyonce Knowles at a Halloween party, sparking outrage when a photo of the couple was shared on Twitter. “For those who forgotten their history — and these two folks clearly did — blackface was a type of makeup worn by vaudeville performers in the 19th century as a parody of African Americans. It was degrading then, and it is degrading now,” writes Bill Plaschke.

Late Late Night FDL: I Still Can’t Say Goodbye
Chet Atkins — I Still Can’t Say Goodbye.

Chet Atkins — I Still Can’t Say Goodbye.

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Vote Cain

By Larry Wright, Cagle Cartoons, The Detroit News

Related Entries

• November 2, 2011 Too Big to Jail
• November 2, 2011 American Decline Is Crushing the Middle Class

Herman Cain Accuser Will Not Go Public, Lawyer Says
One of the women who has leveled sexual harassment allegations at Herman Cain has decided not to go public with her story, according to her…

New Poll: Cain’s SC Lead Continues To Grow
Despite two days of allegations of sexual harassment dating back to the 1990s, Georgia businessman Herman Cain’s meteoric rise to the top of the GOP…

Biblical Blunder At White House After Obama Said God Wants Jobs Bill
WASHINGTON — It was a blunder of biblical proportions. White House spokesman Jay Carney invoked scripture Wednesday to back up President Barack Obama’s suggestion that…

Joe Lapointe: Occupy Wall Street: Meet Some of the Protesters at Zuccotti Park
While there may be a few “Marxists” and “radicals” at Zuccotti and other sites, you don’t have to hang around long to sense that many are middle-class people who think they are getting a raw deal and fear for their future.

WATCH: Rick Perry Blasts Mitt Romney On ‘Hannity’
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry blasted rival Mitt Romney during a Wednesday night appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.” When Sean Hannity asked Perry what he…

WSJ Ignores Evidence That GOP War On Voting Could Disenfranchise Millions

The Wall Street Journal ignored evidence that newly passed restrictions on voting rights could make it more difficult for millions of eligible voters to vote in 2012, while letting former Bush DOJ official Hans von Spakovsky claim there is “no evidence” those restrictions could suppress voting. The Brennan Center for Justice estimated that changes to voting laws could suppress up to five million votes during the 2012 elections.

Wall Street Journal Helps Hans Von Spakovsky Dismiss Concerns Of Voter Suppression

WSJ: Spakovsky “Said There’s No Evidence” GOP Voting Laws Could Suppress Voters. The Wall Street Journal reported:

More than 30 states have changed voter laws since 2008, including seven that added requirements that voters show photo identification at their polling places. Republicans say limits on early voting are needed to cut the administrative costs of elections, and new I.D. requirements are necessary to defend polling places from fraud.

Democrats say both types of rules are aimed at suppressing their vote. The Obama campaign was adept in 2008 at bringing first-time voters to the polls during early voting periods, and groups it’s now targeting–students, the elderly and the poor–are the most likely to not have a government-issued photo I.D.

Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission board member now with the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, said there’s no evidence the new voter laws would suppress Democratic voters. [The Wall Street Journal, 11/2/11]

Brennan Center For Justice: Restrictive Voting Laws Could Make It “Significantly Harder” For Millions To Cast Votes

Brennan Center For Justice Estimates “More Than Five Million Voters Could Be Affected By The New Laws.” The Brennan Center for Justice issued a report estimating that newly enacted restrictions on voting “could make it significantly harder for more than 5 million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.”  From the Brennan Center for Justice:

1.   3.2 million voters affected by new photo ID laws. New photo ID laws for voting will be in effect for the 2012 election in five states (Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin), which have a combined citizen voting age population of just under 29 million. 3.2 million (11 percent) of those potential voters do not have state-issued photo ID. Rhode Island voters are excluded from this count, because Rhode Island’s new law’s requirements are significantly less onerous than those in the other states.

2.   240,000 additional citizens and potential voters affected by new proof of citizenship laws. New proof of citizenship laws will be in effect in three states (Alabama, Kansas, Ten­nessee), two of which will also have new photo ID laws. Assuming conservatively that those without proof of citizenship overlap substantially with those without state-issued photo ID, we excluded those two states. The citizen voting age population in the remaining state (Ala­bama) is 3.43 million; 240,000 (7 percent) of those potential voters do not have documentary proof of citizenship.

3.   202,000 voters registered in 2008 through voter registration drives that have now been made extremely difficult or impossible under new laws. Two states (Florida and Texas) passed laws restricting voter registration drives, causing all or most of those drives to stop. In 2008, 2.13 million voters registered in Florida and, very conservatively, at least 8.24 percent or 176,000 of them did so through drives. At least 501,000 voters registered in Texas, and at least 5.13 percent or 26,000 of them did so via drives.

4.   60,000 voters registered in 2008 through Election Day voter registration where it has now been repealed. Maine abolished Election Day registration. In 2008, 60,000 Maine citi­zens registered and voted on Election Day.

5.   One to two million voters who voted in 2008 on days eliminated under new laws rolling back early voting. The early voting period was cut by half or more in three states (Florida, Georgia and Ohio). In 2008, nearly 8 million Americans voted early in these states. An esti­mated 1 to 2 million voted on days eliminated by these new laws. 

6.   At least 100,000 disenfranchised citizens who might have regained voting rights by 2012. Two states (Florida and Iowa) made it substantially more difficult or impossible for people with past felony convictions to get their voting rights restored. Up to one million people in Florida could have benefited from the prior practice; based on the rates of restoration in Florida under the prior policy, 100,000 citizens likely would have gotten their rights restored by 2012. Other voting restrictions passed this year that are not included in this estimate. [Voting Law Changes In 2012, Brennan Center for Justice, October 2011; Brennan Center for Justice, 10/3/11]

Spakovsky Reportedly Shifted DOJ To Purging Voters

Click here to read about Hans von Spakovsky’s efforts at the Justice Department to purge voters

In Fact, Instances Of Voter Fraud Are Actually Very Rare

To see how rare documented cases of voter fraud are, click here

Ann Coulter: ‘Our Blacks Are So Much Better Than Their Blacks’
If you were waiting for Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity to weigh in on the Herman Cain sexual harassment allegations — and what they mean for racism, sexual harassment and America — you’re in luck.

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Visiting Vancouver: Asian fusion & marijuana dispensaries
My granddaughter Mena is a sixth-generation Undocumented American. Her great-great-great grandfather came over to California from China for the gold rush and stayed on to help build the transcontinental railroad. But then, back in the 19th century, EVERYBODY in California was an Undocumented American. And, today in Vancouver, I also learned about documented and undocumented […]

Handicapping the 2012 Election
Nate Silver develops a forecasting model for the 2012 presidential election and runs the numbers:

“Average these four scenarios together and the probabilities come out to almost exactly 50-50. A month or two ago, when Perry and Romney appeared about equally likely to be the Republican nominee, it would therefore have been proper to think of the election as a toss-up.”

“With Perry having slumped in the polls, however, and Romney the more likely nominee, the odds tilt slightly toward Obama joining the list of one-termers. It is early, and almost no matter what, the election will be a losable one for Republicans. But Obama’s position is tenuous enough that it might not be a winnable one for him.”

Texas Judge Confirms Video of Him Beating Daughter
“A Texas judge faces a police investigation and judicial probe after a video showing him beating his then-16-year-old disabled daughter was posted on the Internet,” CNN reports.

“The graphic video drew international outrage after it was posted by a woman who said she was the victim of the beating seven years ago and that her parents — including her father, Aransas County, Texas, Court-At-Law Judge William Adams (R) — were the ones seen beating and cursing at her in the video.”

Adams confirmed the video’s authenticity to KXTV: “She’s mad because I’ve ordered her to bring the car back, in a nutshell, but yeah that’s me, I lost my temper. Her mother was there, she wasn’t hurt.. it was a long time ago.. I really don’t want to get into this right now because as you can see my life’s been made very difficult over this child.”

Adams is up for re-election in three years.

Illusionary peace negotiations can only lead to a hallucinated peace
The world seems to be in deep, collective amnesia. We have been here before–at a point where half-baked initiatives and distorted negotiations based on the power imbalance on the ground and non-compliant with international law were touted as “the right…

Arms Industry Job Claims: Don’t Be Scared, Be Skeptical
Military spending should not be seen as a jobs program. To paraphrase President Dwight D. Eisenhower, we should spend everything we need to defend the country, and not one penny more. But that hasn’t stopped the arms lobby from attempting…

Occupy TPM Cafe!
I love Occupy Fill-In-the-Blank. I will explain how I think it can work. The meaning of the whole enterprise is admirably and concisely reflected in the sign depicted here. On the surface it may appear the product of simple-minded confusion….

Hispanic Students Still Not Showing Up For School In Alabama
On Monday, a month since Alabama’s extreme immigration law went into effect, 1,807 Hispanic students did not show up for school across the state. The Alabama Department of Education told Politico that the number is about 800 more than what is considered normal for Hispanic students, following a spike in absences after the law kicked […]

On Monday, a month since Alabama’s extreme immigration law went into effect, 1,807 Hispanic students did not show up for school across the state. The Alabama Department of Education told Politico that the number is about 800 more than what is considered normal for Hispanic students, following a spike in absences after the law kicked in and school districts began asking new enrollees about their citizenship. The Eleventh Circuit temporarily blocked that portion of the law later in October, but ThinkProgress speculated at the time that “the damage may already be done” and students would not return. The high rate of absences and number of people fleeing the state isn’t enough for Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who said, “Illegal aliens are continuing to leave Alabama — not as fast as we would want, not as many as we would want — but still they’re leaving and it makes us happy.” Meanwhile, the Justice Department is asking Alabama school districts for information about the absences to determine if school districts were following federal law that a student may not be denied access to education based on immigration status.