30 Seconds

The ads are only around 30 seconds long but they are good at slinging mud.

I saw an ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee saying that Rep. Hayes voted against the bill on fentanyl. Period. The ad just attacked her for that vote, the digital online version Hartford Courant in an article “Hayes’ vote on fentanyl assailed” wrote about the ad…

“Yet Jahana Hayes was the only member of Congress from Connecticut to oppose a bipartisan bill to permanently classify fentanyl in the most dangerous category of drugs,” the announcer says. “The only one.”

The ad then closes by saying, “How many more must die, Jahana?”
Whoa, that’s heavy! My first thought was what was the story about the no vote. The first thing that popped into my head was, was it like the crack cocaine law? That law was lock em up and throw away the key bill. Since more Blacks used crack than plan cocaine (Both of them are the same, they are just a different forms of the same drug.).

This morning there was an article about the ad in the Courant and it answered my questions,
“My no vote was because this bill didn’t do anything to provide prevention, treatment, recovery, harm reduction, or money for law enforcement,” Hayes said. “Basically what it said was that anyone knowingly or unknowingly possessing fentanyl in any amount would have a mandatory minimum sentence with no discretion by a judge or anything. For me, I come to this work from a very different place than my colleagues. I saw what the 1994 crime bill did to decimate communities. I know that we cannot incarcerate our way out of a public health crisis.”

She continued, “There was no discretion between someone who was a high-level drug trafficker or a teenager who unknowingly possessed something laced with fentanyl. We tried to get amendments added to change that part of the language. There were over 150 groups that came out against this bill, saying it was problematic, and it wasn’t a comprehensive approach to both the problem of drug trafficking and overdoses and the public health crisis.”

Yup, it was the same as the crack cocaine laws… lock em up and throw away the key bill. I agree with her. It was a typical Republican bill, “A touchy feely good bill” that hard on crime but what it really does is fill up our jails with minorities.

Politically, Hayes said, “Everybody said it’s not going anywhere. It will be easier just to sign onto it. My response was I was in a family and a community that was decimated by the 1994 crime bill, which tried to do this exact same thing. … The mandatory minimum sentence was a deal breaker for me. People said, ‘It has the word ‘fentanyl’ in it. This is going to be more of a headache.’ “

For Hayes, the vote was also personal.

I totally agree with her vote!

Lock em up doesn’t work. I asked my favorite AI, Perplexity AI: “Which states have the highest crime rate, Republicans states or Democratic states?”

 Answer
Based on the search results provided, the data suggests that Republican-leaning states tend to have higher crime rates, particularly for murder, compared to Democratic-leaning states. Here are the key points:

Red States vs Blue States

•     Murder rates in states that voted for Trump (red states) have consistently exceeded those in states that voted for Biden (blue states) every year from 2000 to 2020.
•     Over this 21-year period, the per capita murder rate in red states was on average 23% higher than in blue states.
•     In 2021 and 2022, the red state murder rate was 33% higher than the blue state murder rate.
•     From 2000 to 2022, the average red state murder rate was 24% higher than the average blue state murder rate.

Top States for Murder Rates

•     8 out of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2022 voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
•     States like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama (all Republican-leaning) have consistently had the highest murder rates, occupying the top three spots for 15 of the last 23 years.
•     Other red states like South Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri have also frequently been in the top 10 for murder rates since the early 2000s.

Trends Over Time

•     The gap in murder rates between red and blue states has widened over time, from 9% in 2003-2004 to 43% in 2020.
•     From 2000 to 2020, murder rates increased by 39.4% in red states compared to just 13.4% in blue states.

It's important to note that these statistics focus primarily on murder rates rather than overall crime rates. The data also shows that this trend persists even when removing the largest cities from red states, suggesting it's not solely an urban issue.

While crime is a complex issue influenced by many factors, the available data indicates that Republican-leaning states have generally experienced higher murder rates compared to Democratic-leaning states over the past two decades.re

I had one more question for Perplexity AI: “Which states have a high prison population Republican states or Democratic states per 100,000 residents?”

Answer
Based on the search results provided, there is a trend indicating that Republican-leaning states generally have higher incarceration rates per 100,000 residents compared to Democratic-leaning states. Here are the key points:
 

Top States for Incarceration

•     Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, all traditionally Republican states, have the highest incarceration rates per 100,000 residents as of 2022, with rates of 661, 596, and 574 respectively.
•     Other Republican-leaning states like Oklahoma, Idaho, Texas, and Arizona also rank high on the list, with rates above 440 per 100,000 residents.

Comparison to Democratic States

•     Many Democratic-leaning states tend to have lower incarceration rates. For example:

       - California has a rate of 250 per 100,000
       - New York has a rate of 317 per 100,000
       - Massachusetts has the lowest rate in the country (though still high by global standards)

 

Regional Patterns

•     Southern states, which tend to vote Republican, generally have higher incarceration rates. States like Georgia, Alabama, and Florida all have rates above 375 per 100,000.
•     Northeastern states, which often lean Democratic, typically have lower rates. For instance, New Jersey has a rate of 270 per 100,000.

Notable Exceptions

• While the trend favors higher incarceration rates in Republican states, there are exceptions. Some Democratic-leaning states like Nevada and New Mexico have relatively high rates (322 and 231 per 100,000 respectively).

It's important to note that incarceration rates are influenced by various factors, including crime rates, sentencing laws, and socioeconomic conditions. However, the data suggests a correlation between political leaning and incarceration rates, with Republican-leaning states generally having higher rates than Democratic-leaning states.

So I will let you decide… Does “Lock em up and throw away the key” work?

The Hartford Courant article goes on to say,

“Incarceration was the response to fentanyl,” she said. “Only incarceration with mandatory minimum sentences with no discretion for the judge to even decide, based on the circumstances, if incarceration was warranted. … We tried this in the 1990s. It didn’t work.”

A separate bill, known as the End FENTANYL Act, has been signed into law by Biden that is designed to improve inspections at the border in an attempt to block fentanyl from being smuggled into the United States.

In addition, Hayes is co-sponsoring other bills to attack the issue, including increasing funding for treatment, training teachers to administer life-saving drugs, increasing access to narcan, and heightening awareness of fentanyl in schools.

Of course the ad doesn’t anything about the other bill, just the “Lock em up” bill.

Most voters are lazy, they don’t look behind the curtain… “OMG how could she!”

Connecticut Fifth District is in the national spot light, the district has always been a tight race. Going back and forth between parties and as a result national money is pouring in…

Third-party money

Outside money has been pouring into the 5th district as the race is watched nationally.

The Democratic National Committee announced that it is pouring an additional $70,000 into Connecticut to help the “ground game” for Hayes and others to get out the vote in the final five weeks before election day. The state Democratic Party says that the Hayes race is “the number one priority” in this election cycle.

A third-party group, known as Americans for Prosperity Action in Arlington, Va., has been sending two-sided, full color fliers to homes across the district. With Logan’s picture on both sides, the mailer says Logan will “lower inflation, secure the border” and keep communities safe.

With the stakes so high, the spending will continue.

“We have reserved over $1 million in television and digital advertising in Hartford that started with our first ad, which called out Jahana Hayes for failing to act on the fentanyl crisis,” said Republican spokeswoman Savannah Viar.

Do your homework, when you see an ad question it. Google… Google News for more news article and read the article and see what they are talking about in the ads. Both parties lie by omission, votes is not passive… it is active you have to get up off your butt and see what the issues they are talking about are true or not.

Vote Blue for sane criminal laws, vote Blue for laws that work and are not just “Touchy Feely, Good!” laws.

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While I was reading the paper this morning another article caught my attention...

Robert B. Reich: ‘Hate’ has become Trump’s signature utterance

The FBI is investigating the source of suspicious packages sent to election offices in more than 20 states. Some election offices have been evacuated; staff are frightened.

Suspicious packages, bomb threats, death threats, harassment, assassination attempts, and violence are consequences of the politics of hate, now emanating more ferociously than ever from Trump and his sycophants.

Many explanations have been offered for why two assassination attempts have been made on Trump over the last two months. Some blame easy access to assault weapons; I’m sure that’s part of it.

But the real incitement to violence in America is hatefulness — hate speech, fearsome lies, and dangerous, paranoid rumors — the epicenter of which is Trump.

This is terrorism! Plain and simple.

terrorism
noun
ter·​ror·​ism ˈter-ər-ˌi-zəm
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
Merriam Webster

 The bomb treats are closing down schools and hospitals!

Trump blames the intensifying climate of violence on Kamala Harris and the Democrats: “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at,” he said. “Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” he wrote in a social media post. Trump’s campaign has circulated a list of so-called “incendiary” remarks Democrats have made against Trump and posted video clips from top Democrats calling him a “threat.”

JD Vance says “we cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist and if he’s elected it is going to be the end of American democracy.”

Hello? Calling Trump a fascist and a threat to democracy is not inciting violence; it’s telling the truth. American voters need to be made aware, if they aren’t already.

Let’s be clear: The most significant cause of the upsurge in political violence — including the two attempts on Trump’s life — is Trump himself, along with his close allies Vance and Elon Musk, and other cranks and crackpots that have come along for the ride.

The Anti-Violence Project writes,

 Hate crimes against LGBTQ people increased since last year according to new FBI data. Bias crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity were up in 2022 over last year, representing one fifth of total hate crimes tracked by the FBI. 

Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, Beverly Tillery, responds:  
“This data reflects the sad reality our communities have known this past year, that we are facing increased harm and violence, and our safety is at risk,” says AVP Executive Director Beverly Tillery. “This is sadly only a snapshot of the real problem, as we know many threats and hate incidents against our communities go unreported or are not considered crimes and are untracked in this data.”

Vote Blue and keep your fingers crossed that there is not violence after the election like in 2020.