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There is no gambling bill, because Alabama Republicans tried to play dirty. There are likely more astute, reserved ways to say it, but the truth is the truth. And thats the truth: Republicans didnt just get a little dirt on themselves, they wallowed in the mud.

In the 11th hour literally of a debate over a priority gaming bill, House Republicans submarined more than four days of talks, debates and negotiations and tried to ram through a surprise piece of legislation. It didnt work, because their deceitfulness was somehow outweighed by their incompetence.

But nevertheless, there is no gambling bill. And there likely wont be one. Because the Alabama GOP decided to kill it.

From this point forward, good faith means nothing in this body, said normally reserved and calm Rep. Chris England, the chair of the states Democratic Party, following the failed attempt.

He had every right to feel that way. And Republicans while they likely wont care at all about the loss of respect of their colleagues across the aisle should at least face some hard questions from their constituents about this abysmal, embarrassing failure to pass bipartisan legislation that is extremely popular with voters.

Because passing it should have been simple by Thursday.

The gaming package would have allowed for six casino sites at the four dog tracks, Dothan and a northeast Alabama location a statewide lottery and sports wagering. It had been debated for weeks, and the bills sponsors and interested parties were relatively sure the votes were in place to pass it.

Except, when the House version of the bill that had already passed the Senate came floating out of the governors office (for some reason) on Saturday night, it was a trainwreck of a bill. There were massive problems all throughout and pretty much everyone involved was unhappy.

Over the next 48 hours, much of that was rectified. Except for the demands of one group Alabama Democrats.

On the grand scale, their demands were relatively minor: include minority vendors, make sure minority owners get a fair shot, provide current operators who will be shut down with at least a two-year grace period and offer some assurances that the money allocated for rural health care in the bill would actually go towards Medicaid expansion.

Thats nothing. The only big ask was Medicaid expansion, and the Dems were perfectly willing to compromise on how the assurances were provided.

But getting those items in the bill was like pulling teeth. Over the course of the last 36 hours, as it became apparent to Republicans that Dems were holding strong in their demands, there were dozens of different meetings. The back and forth stretched into late Thursday evening, and by around 5 p.m., several Democratic lawmakers believed that a compromise had been struck.

The problem at that point, however, was time. There wasnt enough time to get the bill on the floor, debate it and pass it because there was still opposition to it, mainly from the same guys who spent a full day disparaging Colorado during the medical marijuana debate.

So, most everyone resigned themselves to the fact that gambling was going to occupy the Legislatures final day on May 17th.

Everyone but a handful of people in House Republican leadership.

Led by rules chairman Mike Jones, a plot was hatched to submit a new legislative calendar at nearly 11 p.m. That calendar had only one bill a lottery-only bill that also authorized a compact between the state and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Republicans were literally going to try to ram through a bill that no one even had a copy of at nearly midnight. A bill that would dramatically alter the gaming landscape of Alabama. A bill that would reduce Alabamas revenue from gaming by half. A bill that would kill more than two years of negotiations and compromise.

But they forgot one thing: There are still some rules they cant break.

House rules require up to an hour of debate if you change the calendar. The new calendar had been submitted at 10:53. When Democrats and some hardline Republicans indicated they planned to use the entire hour leaving just seven minutes to adopt the calendar and pass the lottery bill Republicans quickly realized their mistake and withdrew it, claiming there was a paperwork error.

Democrats, as you might imagine, were not pleased. And you shouldnt be either.

We can disagree on a lot of things, but following the rules and being decent humans shouldnt be among them. And helping the poorest and most vulnerable in our state shouldnt be either.

Look at the lengths to which Alabama Republicans are willing to stoop to keep from giving poor people health care. Because thats what this is all about their desire not to expand Medicaid, even in the face of every fact and figure saying theyd be dumb not to do so.

But here we are. There is no Medicaid expansion. There is no gambling bill.

All we have is what we started with: A bunch of incompetent fools in charge.

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Opinion | The lottery, gaming bill all but died Thursday night. Blame Republicans - alreporter.com

Its time for Democrats to stop cowering in the face of Republican threats. (rudall30/Shutterstock)

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I am not worried about what Mitch McConnell will do should Republicans take back the Senate in 2022. I am not worried about what Republicans will do should they retake all of government in 2024. I am not worried, because I already know the answer: When Republicans have power again, they will do the worst. I dont waste a lot of time or mental energy contemplating the worst, because history has shown that I am simply not creative enough to imagine what evil Republicans will come up with next. No matter where I think the bottom is, Republicans will always find a new one.

Unfortunately, many centrist and moderate Democrats seem paralyzed by the fear of what Republicans will do if they take back the Senate or the White House. Theyre afraid to pass sweeping policy or procedural reforms because of how they think Republicans will punish Democratic politicians in the future. Its hard to even have a debate about big, structural changes to how government functions because too many arguments devolve to If Democrats do anything, Republicans will be super mean.

Consider filibuster reform. Amid all the angst, the discussion about ditching the filibuster quickly becomes no more than a vehicle for Democrats to share doomsday predictions about what McConnell and the GOP could do with just 51 votes. Conversations about court reform engender their own But where does it end? arguments, in this case about how Republicans will repack the court as soon as they regain the upper hand. Meanwhile, every time I turn on C-SPAN, I see Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz standing on the Senate floor as if they didnt encourage a mob to storm the place mere months ago. Holding colleagues accountable for insurrection is also, apparently, something the Democrats are not interested in.

The basic argument from conservative Democrats is that the party should be cautious in its use of power. Taking aggressive, provocative actions, like ending or reforming the filibuster, might encourage Republicans to use power viciously should they ever get it again. But that argument is ludicrous. It proceeds from the false premise that Republicans are restrained by what Democrats are willing to do. The truth is that Republicans are restrained only by what their racist white voters will allow, and those voters have proved time and again that they will allow anything so long as their tribe comes out on top. Democrats are acting like they shouldnt poke the sleeping velociraptor, when in fact that sleeping dinosaur is bait, and theyre already being hunted by other raptors waiting to pounce.

I will acknowledge that Republicans will use any action by Democrats as an excuse to further vitiate democracy, should they get a chance. If Democrats kill or even just weaken the filibuster, Republicans will use whatever small Senate majority theyre able to cobble together to ram through the most divisive and extremist laws they can think of. If Democrats add four justices to the Supreme Court, Republicans will add 10 when they get a chance. If Democrats prosecute Trump for corruption and tax fraud, Republicans will prosecute Joe Biden for having ice cream before dinner if they have to. That is their way.

Republicans are not bluffing when they promise retribution should Democrats use the power they have won. But so what? How is that any worse than what we have now? Republicans supported a whole-cloth lie about the results of the last election, which led directly to a massive insurrection against the government. Many of their voters were willing to capture and kill elected representatives or quietly supported those who would. Republicans have chosen to pursue power at any cost, and yet there are Democrats like Joe Manchin who think defending procedural gridlock will heal these divides.

Who in their right mind thinks Republicans wont use all the power they have in, say, 2025 just because Democrats showed restraint in 2021? Republicans never hold their fire because theyre afraid of the Democratic response. They never say, If were not careful, we might piss off Chris Coons.Current Issue

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The only way to protect people from what Republicans will do once they regain power is to make it difficult for the white supremacist rump of the party to gain power again. The only way to do that, legitimately, is to secure voting rights. The cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy.

If everybody votes, Republicans cannot win. Even Republicans know that. The current incarnation of their party appeals to a majority of white voters, but even a two-thirds majority of white voters is a minority of Americans. Faced with this reality, with not being able to win, Republicans would either have to broaden their appeal beyond white supremacists or start another civil war for whiteness. (Im counting on the former, because as we saw after January 6, most of these MAGA bros are front-running cowards who cant organize without tacit support from Facebook and Twitter.)

Securing the vote is the only thing Democrats can do to protect themselves from Republican revenge fantasies. Its the only thing that can neutralize the Republicans who still make it into office. And, not for nothing, protecting democracy is also in the literal job description of our elected representatives.

There are other things Democrats should have the courage to do to win the next elections. It would be nice to see the party support Medicare for All; it would be nice if the senator from Arizona found it in her heart to support wage earners getting an extra few bucks an hour while they serve her sangria. Democrats should be able to walk, chew gum, and distribute the Covid-19 vaccine at the same time. But the only way Democrats can win the next election is if they secure voting rights ahead of that election. Democrats could mail everybody a pot of gold and still lose if only white people are allowed to vote.

If you like this article, please give today to help fund The Nations work.

If securing voting rights means Democrats have to break the filibuster to pass legislation (and it does), then they must do that. If enforcing the constitutional protections of the right to vote means Democrats have to add justices to the Supreme Court (and it does), then Democrats must do that. If these and other acts of protecting democracy mean Lindsey Graham will go on Fox News and angry-cry while vowing vengeance, Democrats must risk that and sell tickets to the meltdown. Voting rights, voting access, and voting certification are among the only things that matter.

Democrats should not be paralyzed by fear; they should be motivated by it. As my ancestors would have surely noted, theres no sense in worrying about what the slave catcher will do if they catch you. The only thing to do is to make it to freedom.

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Republicans Will Punish Democrats for Every Reform They Make - The Nation

Texas is mounting its offenses earlier and more aggressively than it did against the previous Democratic president including a new challenge on Tuesday. Its the same role California and New York played when Donald Trump was president, suing over abortion restrictions, changes to Obamacare and immigration measures. California didnt let up, filing nine lawsuits against the federal government on Trumps last day in office.

Yet, Bidens long years in the public eye, the more moderate tone he hit on the campaign trail opposite liberal stalwarts like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the fact that hes white, have made him less polarizing than Obama.

And while Biden may still prove to be a useful villain for GOP leaders frustrated with policies more liberal than Obamas, they are also trying to fend off a far-right insurgency as Republicans court more moderate suburban voters.

There was more grassroots opposition to Obama, the stimulus and Obamacare, said Republican consultant Brendan Steinhauser, who has worked on campaigns for Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, both Texas Republicans. Trump activated a different type of Republican voter, he said one who worries less about pushing conservative economics and more about culture war flash points.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, left, comes on stage to hand President Donald Trump what he says is the "No" vote card from Wednesday's House impeachment vote as Trump speaks at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Where Texas Republicans used the legal system a decade ago to deliver a steady stream of red meat to their base, Biden is a far less popular target after losing Texas by less than 6 percentage points in 2020, an unusually close result in the reliably red state.

The coronavirus also has many Texans, long a go-it-alone breed, rethinking the role of the federal government to step in during a crisis. About 48 percent of Texans approved of Bidens handling of the pandemic, compared with 44 percent for GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to March polls from The Texas Politics Project.

Its a different time and a different place, Steinhauser said.

Still, Texans view of the administration could quickly change if Biden moves to limit guns or loosen abortion restrictions. One thing the fractured GOP base can agree on for now is trying to counter the presidents agenda.

When Biden marked his first 100 days in office, celebrating the reopening of K-8 schools, economic stimulus and vaccination efforts, he had also racked up lawsuits from Texas over the Keystone XL oil pipeline, restrictions on drilling on federal land and a range of immigration issues.

Late last month, Texas filed another suit against the White House over Covid protocols in immigration facilities and joined a multistate suit challenging the administrations plans to start calculating the social cost of carbon emissions again. A newest lawsuit was launched on Tuesday, challenging restrictions in the latest Covid relief law that bars states from using the money to offset tax cuts. And Abbott and Paxton have blamed the White House for the increase in migrants traveling up to the Southern border.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said state agencies are being very vigilant about the Biden administrations actions.

From right, Penelope Bonnen, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, and Texas Agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, stand for a prayer during the opening of the 86th Texas Legislative session, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Regretfully, were off to a precarious beginning, Bush, who is considering a run for Texas attorney general that would pit him against Paxton in the Republican primary next year, said in an interview. Were standing up a legal defense task force thats looking a lot at the same issues that we took on during the Obama days.

Its a familiar role for Texas officials who have long bragged about leading lawsuits against the Obama administration. Its a way to portray themselves as a bulwark against federal overreach even though the suits themselves have a mixed record.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, has hired more attorneys to prepare lawsuits against the Biden administration and plans to be active, said Chuck DeVore, TPPFs vice president of national initiatives.

He and other Texas Republicans argue that the lawsuits arent about politics, but are being used to counter the Biden administration left-leaning policies.

Were not seeing anything out of the current administration that leaves us to believe that they give a flying crud about the state of Texas, said Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, a former aide to Paxton.

Yet, the pandemic has also created a faultline in the Texas Republican Party, chipping away at Abbotts grip on the state GOP and making space for far-right party leaders who criticized his mask mandates and stay-at-home order. Last summer, former Florida Rep. Allen West was elected chair of the Texas GOP and has since used his perch to chastise traditional business-friendly moderates in the state. Like Republicans elsewhere, his allegiance to Trump has roiled the shrinking share of traditional GOP loyalists eager to move past the former president.

Abbott is well-funded heading into the 2022 governors race. But to survive the primary and general election, he will have to thread a path between disparate factions that include Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for Biden a president whose overall approval in an April poll rivals Abbotts and who hasnt had to contend with the litany of racially motivated animus Obama faced.

The antagonistic relationship between Texas and the federal government goes back to the New Deal, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor who is writing a book about former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The state, which has no income tax, pulls about a third of its budget from the federal government, a higher share than many other states, he said. Thats partly due to agricultural assistance and federal aid disbursed after natural disasters, but also because Texas has a large share of enrollees in entitlement programs like Medicaid.

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Texas Republicans want Biden to play the villain. They just need to make it stick. - POLITICO

The Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday argued that "the practice of America was built on racism," while addressing GOP Sen. Tim ScottTimothy (Tim) Eugene ScottUpdating the aging infrastructure in Historically Black Colleges and Universities McConnell amid Trump criticism: 'I'm looking forward, not backward' Theinstructive popularity of Biden's 'New Deal' for the middle class MORE's (S.C.) claim last week that "America is not a racist country."

Sharptonwas speakingat the funeral of Andrew Brown Jr., who was shot by deputies in Elizabeth City, N.C., last month.

I watched, the other night, the president make his first address to the joint session of Congress," Sharpton said. "And then I watched the rebuttal by the senator from South Carolina. Seems something awkward to me, where a white president talked about white supremacy and a Black senator said ... America is not racist. Seemed a little strange to me."

Now, everybody in America is not racist. But are you talking about whether the practice of America's racist, or the people, cause the practice of America was built on racism, the civil right activist added.

Brown was shot while driving away fromPasquotank County Sheriff's deputies who were serving an arrest warrant for felony drug charges, according topolice. His fatal shooting by police happened shortly after the trial of a Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering another Black man, George Floyd, last year. Floyd's deathprompted widespread protests over police violence and racism.

Sharpton gave an impassioned address atBrown'sfuneral, joining in the calls for the body camera footage of the shooting to be publicly released. He attacked the reasoning that has been given by the Pasquotank County Sheriff's office and a North Carolina judge who said publicly releasing the footage would endanger a fair trial.

I know a con game when I see it. Release the whole tape, and let the folks see what happened to Andrew Brown, Sharpton said. How is a tape gonna prejudice a grand jury, when a grand jury got to see the tape in order to decide whether or not they will prosecute? Don't talk to us like we're stupid!

If theres nothing on the tape, there won't be nothing on it in 45 days and if theres something on it in 45 days, there's something on it today, Sharpton continued. You don't need time to get a tape out, cut it out.

Sharpton acknowledged Brown's criminal history, but statedthe fatal shooting was done "unjustifiably and illegally."

"And when you break the law, you've got to be held accountable to the law. Andrew Brown Jr., if he did wrong, bringhim to court. But you don't have a right to bring him to his funeral," Sharpton said.

Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump also spoke at the funeral, repeating his own calls for the body camera footage to be released.

"Andrew cannot make the plea for transparency. It is up to us to make the plea for transparency and demand that these videotapes be released," Crump said. "We know that it was a reckless, unjustifiable shooting."

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Sharpton responds to Tim Scott: 'The practice of America was built on racism' | TheHill - The Hill

Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton says, is Black Americas attorney general.

In less than a decade, the Florida-based attorney has become the voice for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd -- Black people whose deaths at the hands of police and vigilantes sparked a movement.

He has won multimillion-dollar settlements in police brutality cases. Hes pushed cities to ban no-knock warrants. He has told a congressional committee that reform is needed because its become painfully obvious we have two systems of justice; one for white Americans and one for Black Americans.

And hes stood with Black farmers taking on an agribusiness giant, and families exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.

Hes a real believer in what hes doing. He has taken the attacks. He has taken the cases that others wouldnt take, Sharpton said, adding, People can go to him. The reason I trust him is because he has never misled me. Good or bad, hell tell me the truth about a client.

These days, he seems to be everywhere. In April, he joined with George Floyds family in celebrating the conviction of ex-cop Derek Chauvin. Then he was among the mourners at the funeral for Daunte Wright, who was shot during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis in the week leading up to Chauvins verdict a juxtaposition he finds incredible.

If ever there was a time for police to be on their best behavior, if ever there was a time for them to use the greatest standard of care, if ever there was a time for them to de-escalate, it was during this trial, which I believe was one of the most consequential police (and) civil rights cases in our history, Crump told The Associated Press.

After Wrights funeral, he was back in Florida to call for a federal investigation of a deputy who fatally shot two Black teenagers. And he began this past week demanding that police in North Carolina be more transparent after deputies fatally shot a Black man outside of his house.

Critics see him as an opportunist who never fails to show up amid another tragedy. But those who know Crump say hes been fighting for fairness long before his name was in headlines.

Where theres injustice, thats where he wants to be, said Ronald Haley, a Louisiana attorney, whos among a wide network of lawyers Crump works with on lawsuits. He understands hes needed everywhere, but he also understands he cant be everywhere.

Crump, 51, is a tireless worker who mixes Southern charm, a talent for attracting media attention to his cases and a firm belief that racism afflicts the nation, and the courts are the place to take it on.

He has an uncanny way of making his clients feel like kin, they say.

He has never missed a Thanksgiving to check in on me, he calls on Christmas, said Allisa Findley, who first met Crump three days after her brother, Botham Jean, was fatally shot in his apartment by a white Dallas police officer who mistook the Black mans apartment for her own.

Even the little things, he makes time for it, when there are no cameras rolling, she said. He does feel like family. I consider Ben family.

Terrence Floyd, the 42-year-old brother of George Floyd, said Crumps attention and care for his family over the last year has bonded them beyond the attorney-client relationship.

It feels like its more family-based than business, he said. After a while, I went from calling him Mr. Crump to calling him Unc, like he was one of my uncles.

Crump keeps up a dizzying schedule that takes him all over, but he makes sure hes home for Sunday services at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. He lives in Tallahassee with his wife and their 8-year-old daughter, Brooklyn; he also helped raise two cousins and became their legal guardian.

I look at my daughter, Crump said, I look in her eyes, and then I look in the eyes of my nieces and nephews, and my little cousins all these little Black and brown children. You see so much hope, so much optimism in their eyes. Weve got to give them a better world.

He added: What Im trying to do, as much as I can, even sometimes singlehandedly, is increase the value of Black life.

Crumps path to becoming a lawyer and advocate began while growing up in Lumberton, North Carolina, where he was the oldest of nine siblings and step-siblings.

In his book Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People, he described learning in elementary school that a white classmates weekly allowance was as much as what his mother made in a week working two jobs at a shoe factory and a hotel laundry.

I wanted to understand why people on the white side of the tracks had it so good and Black people on our side of the tracks had it so bad, he wrote.

He often recounts how he learned about the world by reading the newspaper to his grandmother and how his mother taught him the story of famed civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall, who became his hero.

He has always gravitated toward leadership and being the answer to injustice, said Sean Pittman, an attorney who has been his friend for 30 years, since they met at Florida State University. There, Crump was president of the Black Student Union and led protests to bring attention to how the school recruited and treated Black students.

But his rise from personal injury attorney to a voice of Black America began in 2013 when he represented the family of Trayvon Martin, a teenager killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. He then took on the case for the family of Michael Brown who was fatally shot by a white officer near St. Louis.

Crump organized marches and brought media attention to both of their deaths each happening during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

He has gone on to win financial settlements in about 200 police brutality cases. In March, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyds family, which Crump said is the largest pretrial civil rights lawsuit settlement ever.

I keep hoping and believing, if we can make them pay multimillions of dollars every time they shoot a Black person in the back, that there will be less Black people shot in the back, Crump said. Thats my theory, but it remains unanswered because they keep killing us.

In recent years he has produced and hosted an A&E documentary Who Killed Tupac? and launched a production company to make shows about injustice and civil rights.

Crump even had a brief role in the 2017 film Marshall, which tells of the early life of his hero, who became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice.

His higher profile has brought more scrutiny and turned him into a frequent target. Conservative author Candace Owens in April accused Crump of trying to profit from police shootings and encouraging violent protests.

Keeping racial issues alive has become a business in America, she told Fox News Channels Laura Ingraham. Its Al Sharpton yesterday, Jesse Jackson tomorrow, Ben Crump today.

It doesnt really bother Crump: You cant care what the enemies of equality think of you, he said. It would be the height of arrogance to think that everybody is going to love you. Its not a popularity contest.

Its fitting that he is now mentioned among the giants of civil rights, said John Bowman, who has known him since Michael Browns killing and is now president of the St. Louis County NAACP.

I cant get in his head and say he charted out this course, and said, Im going to be the next strongest voice for injustice, Bowman said. I do know that when the call was made, he didnt shy away or step back from it.

But Crump says he eventually would like to step back from it all.

I literally pray for the day when I can close down the police brutality division of my law firm, he said, because I am so tired of seeing Black people killed by the police unjustifiably. Id like to tell my staff that we no longer have to fight in the courts, or be counselors to so many grieving mothers and fathers.

____

Morrison reported from New York City. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

____

Morrison is a member of APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison. Also, follow Seewer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jseewerap.

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'Black America's attorney general' seems to be everywhere - Associated Press