Holy crap, they plan on manipulating census numbers to give repubs an edge in the House

[EleanorR]

The memo, issued Monday, orders an internal task force to explore statistical methods of compiling an accurate estimate of noncitizens. It says the aim is to carry out President Trump’s July mandate to exclude undocumented residents from population totals used to determine how many House seats each state is entitled to. The directive, which is being challenged in court, is widely seen as an effort to shift some House seats to Republicans during reapportionment next spring.

Some experts inside and outside the bureau see the memorandum as the precursor to an effort to manipulate population figures to give Republicans an even greater edge in reapportionment. In essence, they say, they fear that the methods the bureau is being asked to devise will create a road map for the Trump administration to tailor the numbers for maximum political benefit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/us/2020-census-undocumented-immigrants.html

[spanone]

1. Everything is under attack by the trump machine

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. We cant stop someone with a loaded gun pointed at your head who doesnt

either care about the consequences, or in this case has no consequences.

I have been screaming it for years.

[Hoyt]

3. It's hard to determine, but there are a lot of immigrants in red/rube areas.

I’m not sure removing them from count will necessarily help GOPers. trump and his flock might be surprised how it works out, assuming they get away with it.

[Mariana]

5. Undocumented residents in Republican-voting areas

will not be excluded from the count. Only undocumented residents in Democratic-voting areas are to be removed. That is the goal, anyway.

[Hoyt]

7. That would be even more difficult to get away with.

[Grasswire2]

4. ACT, Democrats in Congress! REACTING IS NOT ENOUGH.

It took six freaking months to get Barr under oath.

DO SOMETHING BOLD.

[Nexus2]

6. What would you suggest?

Serious question, no snark intended because I don't have a clue.

[Grasswire2]

9. You asked.

Charge him now with evident crimes.

Freeze all Trump assets.

Lock him up -- extreme flight risk. Test the DoJ oppressive memo in the courts.

INTERVENE by leaking incriminating testimony and evidence on floor of Senate. Warner says that's not off the table.

Shut down the putsch and the purges.

Turn the tables. Seize the narrative. All perfectly lawful.

We're very close to losing the republic right now.

[jorgevlorgan]

19. Unfortunately we wont be able to do that until after we win the presidency

Since republicans still have the senate and a ton of clout. Biden will have a lot of power to reverse a lot of this crap, and even redo that census. But winning is the thing that needs to happen first.

[JI7]

8. Can you give specifics ?

[jorgevlorgan]

18. Actually just winning the presidency will be enough to reverse it.

Biden will have the power to do the count all over again if he wins.

[NurseJackie]

27. ...

[JI7]

10. One of many reasons it's important to vote for Democrats

[roamer65]

11. I wish we had a riding system like Canada.

Smaller constituencies, better representation.

Also more members of the House would make it harder for lobbyists to manipulate.

[NYC Liberal]

12. Take another census next year.

The constitution says the census has to happen “within every subsequent Term of ten Years.” That could be interpreted to mean the census needs to happen at LEAST once every 10 years, but it could happen more often that that.

[dalton99a]

16. +1.

[still_one]

13. If we win we redo the census s due to the pandemic

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

“If all that information were to go to the Department of Commerce or the White House, that would be highly irregular,” said John Thompson, a 31-year Census Bureau veteran who ran the agency from 2013 to 2017. “In previous censuses, even the managers running the census did not see the apportionment figures until the whole process had been finished.”

Mr. Thompson was quick to note that the memorandum doesn’t explicitly suggest any impropriety. “It’s pretty carefully written, and it doesn’t say what’s going to happen with the information,” he said. “And it doesn’t say where the information is going.”

Nevertheless, some career Census Bureau employees say it’s hard to see an innocent reason for the request. A cover letter seeking “thoughts, questions and concerns” was signed by the bureau’s respected deputy director, Ronald S. Jarmin. But the experts are convinced that the memorandum was written elsewhere, by political appointees recently added to the bureau or by the Commerce Department, which oversees the agency.

“All of this is unprecedented,” one bureau expert familiar with the memorandum said in an interview this week. “The worry is that they’ll be used for apportionment in a way that will destroy the credibility of the census and the Census Bureau.” That person, like some others interviewed for this article, refused to be quoted by name for fear of retaliation.

[elleng]

15. naturally

[warmfeet]

17. The civil war started in 2017.

It's ramping up quickly now.

[Tommymac]

23. No, it started in 1981...

Most of us just didn't realize it, as we were too busy discoing the night away while Ronnie quietly enabled the investor class.

[johnnyfins]

20. Holy Crap!!!!!! Really?

I don't want to cause infighting here but WTF? Fascism is on the march RIGHT FUCKING NOW in the USA. RIGHT FUCKING NOW! It's not on the horizon, or in the future, it's here. WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[johnnyfins]

21. This clown of a president thinks he has been given the right to do ANYTHING!!!!!

ANYTHING through executive order. That is FASCISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bucolic_frolic]

22. THis is what the GOP did to us post Civil War

Scarcely a Democratic President until Wilson and FDR. They are using the legal system to squeeze us financially and in all other ways too. We have to fight this if we can figure out what to do.

[Tommymac]

24. What to do? That's easy. VOTE.

Go Joe

[LiberalLovinLug]

25. Man I hope enough people are aware that it may be too late if Trump gets "re-elected"

If he and his cronies are stooping this low, as well as curtailing the Post Office, and the other voter suppression tactics, this time, imagine what he and Barr will have set in place by 2024. They will literally have a Fascist dictatorship with no hope of ever voting in a Democrat after that.

[brooklynite]

26. You realize that Biden will control the Census Bureau in January, right?

[RhodeIslandOne]

29. May I ask why you talk down to people here?

Biden has to win first, Trump is taking steps to make sure he doesn’t. Funny enough you like talking down to people about those measures too.

[brooklynite]

31. I don't consider Challenging people on simplistic "we're doomed" lamentations...

...to be “talking down”. You, of course, are free to challenge the content of anything I say. Or just ignore me.

[RhodeIslandOne]

32. Because the paths to "don't worry, we can fix this"....

....are closing.

[Demovictory9]

28. wow. Is this still America?

[SoonerPride]

30. No. We have been a Russia satellite wince 2016.