Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of August 30

One in five Republicans say they think Donald Trump will be reinstated as president this year

In the latest Economist/YouGov poll, a sizable percentage of the public – and nearly three in four Republicans (77%) – say they do not accept his election and believe he was not legitimately elected president. The size of GOP doubt about President Biden’s election has not changed appreciably since his inauguration. Overall, more than a third of the public (38%) today are election doubters.

For some who reject the election outcome, there is even an expectation that the results will be altered. One in six overall (15%) and one in four Republicans (23%) now believe it is likely that former President Donald Trump will be reinstated in the White House by the end of the year. One in five Trump supporters (19%) believe the same.

United States Education Department probing 5 states over mask mandate bans

In letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, the department's Office for Civil Rights said the bans could discriminate against students with disabilities or underlying medical conditions.

• The letter marks an escalation in the Biden administration's standoff with Republican states that say wearing masks should be a personal decision and that parents should choose for their children.

Fourteen Republican state lawmakers have filed a new lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law, calling it unconstitutional and asking for it to be thrown out.

this general story is nothing new, Republicans trying to change voting laws to suppress the vote.

but, this one is extra stupid:

It is the latest attempt by Republicans to invalidate the 2019 law that Republican lawmakers almost unanimously supported.

from 2019:

In a compromise package

The Senate passed it Tuesday, 35-14, hours after the House passed it, 138-61.

All but two “no” votes were cast by Democrats, including some who said the bill doesn’t go far enough to expand voter access

it gets worse.

here are the names of the 14 state legislators who filed the lawsuit

and here is the roll call vote from 2019

of the 14:

• 2 (Bonner and Twardzik) only took office in 2020 and weren't around for the vote

• 1 (Zimmerman) voted no on the bill

• the other 11 of them voted Yes on a bill, then less than two years later decided the bill should be thrown out as unconstitutional

it's a reminder that "compromise" between Democrats and Republicans is not a worthwhile goal when one side of the compromise will do a 180 the moment it suits their interests.

and a reminder that "unconstitutional" has become a meaningless term, too often weaponized to dress up "we don't like this law" as "the founding fathers would not have liked this law, and therefore it's objectively bad".

The Atlantic: Biden deserves credit, not blame, for Afghanistan

Last U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan After Nearly 20 Years

House panel backs requiring women to register for the draft (if the US govt decides to use the draft again, as of right now it's apparently a contingency plan and has been so since 1973.)

During late night deliberations on the committee's annual defense policy bill, lawmakers voted 35-24 to adopt an amendment from Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) to expand registration for the Selective Service System beyond men.

The move caps off a contentious debate and could stir up conservative opposition to the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes defense spending and lays out military policy.

Several Republicans broke ranks to help Democrats to adopt the amendment.

If the provision remains in the defense bill and passes on the House floor, the change has a high chance of becoming law. The Senate Armed Services Committee adopted a similar provision in its defense bill, which awaits a floor vote.

"We don't need to draft women in order for women to have equality in this nation," said Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.). "Women are of worth and of value right now and we are equal with men without having to pass a new law that would require 50 percent of this country — our daughters and our sisters and our wives — to have to be drafted."

(Republicans claiming to support women is a new one, lol.)

My personal opinion in this is basically that a gender-neutral draft is better than a male only draft, but worse than keeping the volunteer only force the US army is, and I do think that this can be a "more female drone pilots" situation.