Saw this coming a mile away
From the We-Saw-that-Coming-from-a-Mile Department, there is brand new damage, and newly discovered prior damage perpetrated by Republicans. First, after shunning Trump’s support to get elected, falsely pledging to restore trust in government, “No matter who you voted for,” literally hours after being sworn in as Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin signed 11 Trumptopian executive orders. They include ending masks in schools, ending vaccines for state workers, and ending compliance with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Youngkin also barred teaching Critical Race Theory in schools. Great job, Youngkin, you succeeded in ending lifesaving mandates, while also ending non-existent teaching practices.
Second, we are now learning the Trump administration’s meddling in the 2020 census was “unprecedented” and intended for Republican political gain. The 2020 census was a dismal failure. Some census users have complained they will not have access to normal data such as income, household sizes, education levels, occupations, commute times, head of household by gender and income. It will take another decade to find out this crucial information.
These Republican actions will not go unchallenged. Youngkin is facing a Democrat-controlled state Senate. The head of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus said, “The war they have declared on Black history is dangerous.” Also, delegate Elizabeth Guzman stated, “Virginians will hold you accountable.”
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school is seeking to make details of the Trump administration’s 2020 Census plans for calculating the allotment of House seats public. Such plans included excluding non-citizens from population counts to leave an older whiter population base in states with larger immigrant populations.
The U.S. Constitution requires a census every 10 years and is a function of our democracy. Tampering with the census is an act of sedition. This newly disclosed memo describes political involvement in crucial aspects of the census. It must be made public and people like Wilbur Ross need to be held accountable.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.