PROTECT VOTING

“It is a mistake to think of the first Klan as just a social club that got out of hand; it was a guerrilla army. They were the military wing of the Democratic Party in the South, using terror to undo the results of the Civil War and restore white supremacy through systematic intimidation and the physical elimination of political rivals.”

“President Trump said on Truth Social that dozens of planes took part in the operation to save the airmen after his F-15 fighter jet was hit over western Iran on Friday. This brave warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran. US rescue aircraft came under fire, but managed to reach the airmen and fly him out of the country.”

“Andrew Johnson’s presidency is a disaster for the freedmen because he essentially signals to the former Confederates that the old order can be restored. By pardoning the planter elite and opposing the Radical Republicans, he gives the green light to the Black Codes and the emerging vigilante groups like the Klan to operate with a sense of impunity.”

“The union posted an announcement on its website saying it had reached a tentative agreement after just a few weeks of negotiations, and weeks before the current contract expires. Details have yet to be revealed, but they are expected to include health benefit protections and new rules about the use of artificial intelligence.”

“President Trump's executive order calls for his administration to create lists of adult US citizens in each state. It also calls for banning the US. Postal Service from delivering mail and ballots to anyone not on those lists. In their lawsuits, Democrats, voting rights groups, and almost two dozen states argue the Constitution gives state legislatures and Congress, not the president, the power to set rules for federal elections.”

“Ulysses S. Grant eventually realizes that soft power won't work, leading to the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. He suspends habeas corpus in parts of South Carolina and sends in the federal cavalry to actually hunt these people down, which effectively breaks the back of the first iteration of the Klan for a generation.”

“The violence is not random; it is strategically targeted at the ballot box. Klansmen would ride out at night to terrorize local leaders of the Union League or Black voters, making it clear that exercising their newly won constitutional rights would come at the cost of their lives or their homes and families.”

“While the Klan was physically defeated in the 1870s, the underlying ideology won out when the North lost its will to occupy the South. The withdrawal of federal troops in 1877 paved the way for Jim Crow, proving that a short-term military victory against a terror group doesn't always translate into a lasting victory for social justice.”

“Oil is a globally priced commodity. So even though we won't have a physical shortage here, because we've got Canada for heavy oil and we produce our own, the reality is that the price is global, and there's a real physical shortage. And so we don't escape that price impact, and that translates to what it costs a refiner to buy the crude and therefore what you pay for gasoline at the pump.”

“In Louisiana, police say a 57-year-old man has been charged with driving while impaired, and 18 counts of first-degree negligent injuring after he allegedly drove his car into a crowd at a parade yesterday afternoon. Police say Todd Landry's blood alcohol content was above the legal limit and that the crash at the Louisiana Lao New Year Festival didn't appear intentional.”