GOV. KAY IVEY has called a special session of the Legislature for redistricting the state’s legislative seats and congressional districts.
But does anybody believe the fix isn’t already in? Now that the U.S. Justice Department isn’t required to review redistricting before it’s enacted, no doubt the Republicans will draw districts that make them stronger. There’s no effort at fairness. Today, not even any lip service.
Republicans are in control, and they’re going to do all they can to keep black Alabamians either crammed into “token” districts or “sardined” into one minority congressional district. Can’t have too much representation or Republicans know they would be in trouble.
There is no answer; Democrats remain too politically weak to have any sway in the redistricting decisions ahead, or, even to have any say-so.
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WHO IS IT that can afford specific prescription medicines today, even with good insurance? I guess there is an answer: Very rich people with boutique health plans paid for by their companies. Or members of Congress, for sure.
But what about ordinary people? My wife has some health issues that require many prescriptions. She is covered by Medicare and has a good supplement. However, one of the cutting-edge prescriptions her doctors want her to have – an antibiotic and digestive aide – will cost her more than $1,400 a month, with her insurance. Another, which holds down flare-ups with her psoriatic arthritis, is more than $850 a month with her insurance and a prescription savings plan.
We cannot afford that. Imagine one monthly prescription $300 more than rent, and another more than two times monthly utilities, including wireless phones? I know we’re not alone; indeed, we may be in the majority of those who can’t afford their monthly prescriptions because we need a place to live, food to eat, a car to drive – and other medical bills.
What choices does a family have? There is no answer.
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IF ONLY CRUCIAL medicines could be free. Would you take them?
A lot of you won’t, which boggles the mind. No question – the science, the medicine, the evidence is clear – COVID 19 vaccine will go far in preventing you from dying from the virus if you even get sick. Yet, millions of people – many thousands in Alabama – refuse to get a vaccine because of misinformation that has led them astray.
The vaccine that will save your life is free. Won’t cost you a dime. So are the boosters that help keep you safe. Too many people simply aren’t thinking. They’re too afraid to think because they’ve been duped by dopes. And many of them die alone, in an Intensive Care Unit, on a ventilator, their loved ones unable even to hold their hands.
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WHEN WILL low-information people give up the Big Lie? How long will Republicans be led blindly by a tyrant who cares nothing for them, but knows they are so feeble-minded they’ll swallow anything he says?
No person in my lifetime has done more to damage our democracy than Donald J. Trump.
About 90 percent of the crap that comes out of his mouth is lies; the other 10 percent is gibberish.
Yet a lot of conservatives and many (most?) Republicans can’t get enough of Trump’s racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, and the Big Lie – that he somehow was robbed from a second term as president in 2020 by voter fraud. Fact: Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes. Biden won the Electoral College in a landslide.
These are the facts. The vote has been ratified by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Yet, Trump knows many of his followers don’t care about fair. They are secure in his awful cult. And they’re proud of that.
Ironically, Trump claims to be an admirer of our 16 th president, Abraham Lincoln. Trump knows so little about Lincoln, yet one quote often attributed to Lincoln does say a lot where Trump and his fervent supporters are concerned: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes a column each week for Alabama Political Reporter. Email: jkennedy@alreporter.com.
