U.S. Has No Standing to Counsel Venezuela About Democracy

[Sir X]

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, in a little-told story, the Chavista government has worked hard to address the legacy of slavery in that country and to help lift up Afro-Venezuelans -- a community largely forgotten and ignored before Chavez came to power in 1999. As one Venezuelan commentator, Jesús Chucho García, recently wrote in explaining why Afro-Venezuelan communities have not participating in the recent protests against the government:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-ko...p_ref=politics

[Mosiah]

Indeed, there are*more black men in jail now than slaves in 1850.

But some of us ready to declare allegiance to the Venezuelan opposition. Not me, baba!

[Mosiah]

Can the US lecture country on democracy?

With eye on 2014, GOP ramps up war on voting
11/23/13 03:30 PM—UPDATED 02/05/14 12:12 PM

By Zachary Roth
Working ballot by ballot, county by county, the Republican Party is attempting to alter voting laws in the biggest and most important swing states in the country in hopes of carving out a sweeping electoral advantage for years to come.

Changes already on the books or in bills before state legislatures would make voting harder, create longer lines, and threaten to disenfranchise millions of voters from Ohio to Florida, Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, Georgia to Arizona and Texas.

Efforts underway include moving election days, ending early voting and forcing strict new voter ID laws. The results could significantly cut voter turnout in states where, historically, low participation has benefited Republicans.

In the 10 months since President Obama created a bipartisan panel to address voting difficulties, 90 restrictive voting bills have been introduced in 33 states. So far, nine have become law, according to a recent comprehensive roundup by the Brennan Center for Justice – but others are moving quickly through statehouses.

“We are continuing to see laws that appear to be aimed at making it more difficult to vote—for no good reason,” Daniel Tokaji, an election law expert at Ohio State University, said in an interview.

This is not what election experts predicted after 2012, when the GOP’s voter suppression attempts backfired. Some laws were blocked by the courts. Still, restrictive legislation did not halt record turnout by black and Latino voters. Non-white voters made up a larger-than-ever share of the electorate last fall, and gave eight in 10 votes to President Obama.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gop-war-voting-sweeps-us