Last Call For Count, Trumpula

The Trumpies figured out exactly how to cheat the 2020 US Census tally, by undercounting Black folk, Latinos, and Native Americans by some 10 million combined, and then covering up the figure by overcounting white Americans by around the same number.

The 2020 census continued a longstanding trend of undercounting Black people, Latinos and Native Americans, while overcounting people who identified as white and not Latino, according to estimates from a report the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.

Latinos were left out of the 2020 census at more than three times the rate of a decade earlier.

Among Native Americans living on reservations and Black people, the net undercount rates were numerically higher but not statistically different from the 2010 rates.

People who identified as white and not Latino were overcounted at almost double the rate in 2010. Asian Americans were also overcounted. The bureau said based on its estimates, it's unclear how well the 2020 tally counted Pacific Islanders.

The long-awaited findings came from a follow-up survey the bureau conducted to measure the accuracy of the latest head count of people living in the U.S., which is used to redistribute political representation and federal funding across the country for the next 10 years.

Disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic and interference by former President Donald Trump's administration raised alarms about the increased risk of the once-a-decade tally missing swaths of the country's population. COVID-19 also caused multiple delays to the bureau's Post-Enumeration Survey that's used to determine how accurate the census results are and inform planning for the next national count in 2030.

Still, the bureau said previously that it believes the census results are "fit to use" for reallocating each state's share of congressional seats and Electoral College votes, as well as redrawing voting districts.

Census numbers are also used to guide the distribution of an estimated $1.5 trillion each year in federal money to communities for health care, education, transportation and other public services. Some tribal, state and local officials are considering ways of challenging the results for potential corrections that would be factored into future funding decisions.

 

Stat audits will be coming later, but I have to suspect that the figures that showed California lost population for the first time in decades while Texas earned multiple new House seats may not be 100% accurate.

 

The Trumpies cheated, deliberately, at everything, folks. Everything. That included, apparently, the 2020 US Census.

The Burned Bridges Of Madison Cawthorn

GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn keeps getting into trouble again and again, and while he may be the youngest member of the House, he's learned the lesson that Republicans are never held accountable for any reason.

U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina told supporters he thought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a "thug"—a comment that runs counter to the overwhelming share of Republicans with a favorable view of the leader fending off a military invasion from Russia.

"Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug," Cawthorn said in a video obtained by WRAL. "Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies."

It was unclear where the video was taken. Cawthorn had a number of events in the state over the weekend.

On Thursday afternoon, one hour after WRAL reported the comments, Cawthorn appeared to walk back his comments, saying on Twitter that Russian President Vladimir's actions are "disgusting."

"I am praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," he added.

Cawthorn, who is running for reelection in the state's westernmost district, faces a string of primary challengers.

One of his 11th Congressional District opponents, Michele Woodhouse, called the comments out of touch and “boorish" and said she considers Zelenskyy "a hero."

Republican state Sen. Chuck Edwards, who is taking up a more ideologically centered lane in his primary bid against Cawthorn, clapped back on the congressman's remarks.

"Let’s be clear. The thug is Vladimir Putin," Edwards wrote on Twitter. "We must unite as a nation to pray for President Zelenskyy and the brave people of Ukraine who are fighting for their lives and their freedom. Anything less is counter to everything we stand for in America."

 

And if you think Cawthorn is going to pay for this in the primary this spring, understand that it doesn't matter at all.

North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn is facing multiple charges after three separate traffic incidents in three different counties.

On Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol says just before 1 p.m. troopers conducted a traffic stop involving a white 2009 Dodge passenger vehicle for a speed violation on I-40 near mile marker 59 in Buncombe County. The driver, identified as David Madison Cawthorn, 26, was charged on a citation for traveling 89-mph in a 65-mph zone and was given a court date of Jan. 4, 2022, in Buncombe County District Court.

A few months later, on Saturday, Jan. 8, just before 6:30 p.m., troopers again stopped a 2009 Dodge passenger vehicle for a speeding violation, this time on US 74 in Polk County. The driver, Cawthorn, was charged with speeding 87-mph in a 70-mph zone and was given a court date of Monday, April 18 in Columbus.

Nearly two months later, Cawthorn was again pulled over, this time on Thursday, March 3 at approximately 10:30 p.m., this time in a 2019 Toyota, for a left of center violation on US 74B in Cleveland County.

According to Highway Patrol Spokesperson Sgt. Marcus Bethea, during the course of the investigation it was determined that the driver’s license was in a state of revocation and he was subsequently charged with driving while license revoked. Cawthorn was given a court date of Friday, May 6 in Shelby.

 

Again, Cawthorn has faced multiple issues in the 14 months he's been in office, not to mention his role in the January 6th seditious insurrection against the government hes a part of. But accountability is something that doesn't happen to Republicans.

Until that changes, we don't have a democracy at all.

Our Little White Supremacist Domestic Terrorism Problem, Con't

In an interview with NPR's Carrie Johnson, US Attorney General Merrick Garland says that the federal investigation into the January 6th seditious insurrection will not end "until we hold everyone accountable who committed criminal acts with respect to January 6."

On his first anniversary as attorney general, Merrick Garland said he's committed to unraveling the conspiracy behind the storming of the U.S. Capitol, in what he calls "the most urgent investigation in the history of the Justice Department."

Members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot have asserted former President Trump could be charged with conspiracy and obstruction for his actions. But Democrats in Congress and even some of Garland's friends have worried he'll shy away from the political firestorm that would result from charging a former commander-in-chief with a crime.

"We are not avoiding cases that are political or cases that are controversial or sensitive," the attorney general said in an exclusive interview with NPR. "What we are avoiding is making decisions on a political basis, on a partisan basis."

This week, prosecutors won their first convictions in federal court in a Jan. 6 case against former Texas oil worker Guy Reffitt. That followed a guilty plea to seditious conspiracy by an Alabama man affiliated with the far-right Oath Keepers militia.

"We begin with the cases that are right in front of us with the overt actions and then we build from there," Garland said. "And that is a process that we will continue to build until we hold everyone accountable who committed criminal acts with respect to January 6."

Garland discussed his wide remit, where the priorities range from price-fixing in the chicken industry to Russian oligarchs financing the war in Ukraine with ill-gotten gains. 

The sharp-eyed will note that the next question that must be asked is "Does the overwhelming evidence that Donald Trump conducted a conspiracy to defraud the US government and the American people rise to to the level of criminal acts?"

We'll find out the answer in the months ahead. Even if Republicans are able to kill the House January 6th Committee, and House GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy has signaled several times that it will be among his first acts in January 2023 as Speaker if elected, the Justice Department will soldier on.