GOP Group Mails KKK Images to Black Voters

The CDC is burying a study that shows COVID vaccines work, Trump is dismantling the Forest Service, and a man who signed fake electoral certificates in 2020 is now running elections again

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

The CDC has a study showing the covid vaccine works, and a Trump official is making sure you can’t read it. A man who signed fake electoral certificates in 2020 is now running elections again in Michigan. The Forest Service is being dismantled and shipped to Utah. And in Virginia, someone is mailing KKK imagery to Black voters.

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The CDC Has a Study Proving the Covid Vaccine Works, So They’re Burying It

The government has data proving COVID vaccine saves lives, which is apparently classified information.

The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed publication of a report showing the COVID-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half.

The study found updated COVID vaccines reduced covid-linked hospitalizations by 55% in healthy adults. Acting CDC director Jay Bhattacharya delayed publication over concerns about the study’s methodology. Two scientists familiar with the decision spoke about it on condition of anonymity, for fear of retaliation.

The timing is notable. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called covid vaccines “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” The CDC is currently without a permanent director. And a study showing that vaccines work would be rather inconvenient for an administration that has spent the past year telling pregnant women to “fight like hell” not to take Tylenol.

There’s no need to speculate. A government health agency had a study showing its vaccine works, and a political appointee decided this was not yet the right moment for the public to know that.

Someone Is Mailing KKK Images to Black Voters In Virginia

Virginia has a redistricting vote on April 21st. One side has Barack Obama. The other side has pictures of the Klan. We will let you guess which side is which.

The state’s upcoming referendum vote would allow the state legislature to temporarily redraw congressional maps. It would potentially give Democrats an advantage in 10 of Virginia’s 11 House seats, in direct response to Trump’s push to gerrymander Republican maps in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.

A GOP-aligned political action committee in Virginia called Democracy and Justice has used images and language from the civil rights movement to raise fears of gerrymandering, which has historically been used to rein in Black political power. The ads also recycle old statements against gerrymandering from both Gov. Abigail Spanberger and former President Obama, to suggest that they oppose the referendum.

Some of the ads use images of Klansmen in white hoods to warn against voting for the redistricting amendment.

Obama has supported anti-gerrymandering efforts around the country, but endorsed Democratic redistricting in response to Trump’s push for Texas and other Republican states to create new GOP districts. Spanberger has made a similar pivot, and both have appeared in ads supporting Virginia’s plans for temporary redistricting.

To recap: the group opposing gerrymandering sent targeted mailers to Black voters featuring pictures of the Klan. They would like you to know they are the ones worried about fairness.

The Man Who Tried to Steal Michigan’s 2020 Election Is Now Running Michigan’s Elections

Stan Grot is once again in charge of Shelby Township’s elections.

Grot, the Shelby Township Clerk, was one of 16 people charged with a number of felonies connected to their role as so-called “false electors” for President Donald Trump in 2020. As a result, the state stripped Grot of his ability to run the community’s elections in 2023.

The charges against Grot and the others were dismissed when a judge ruled last year that prosecutors had not sufficiently proven that the people in question had criminal intent. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel last month announced she wouldn’t appeal the dismissal, after determining that her chances of success on appeal were limited.

Nessel still released a 110-page report concluding that what the false electors did was wrong. The report concluded that it would be “fundamentally unjust” to prosecute lower-level participants in an effort she said was led by the now-president, who faces no legal consequences for any of it.

Grot and his attorney have maintained his innocence, saying party officials told Grot the document he signed falsely certifying the state’s electoral votes for Trump was a contingency signed in case Biden’s victory was overturned. This defense is only slightly undercut by the fact that Biden won Michigan by more than 150,000 votes.

Just in Time For Wildfire Season, the Trump Administration Is Dismantling the Forest Service

At the end of March, the Trump administration announced what it is calling a “reorganization” of the US Forest Service — in the same sense that a demolition crew ‘reorganizes’ a building. The headquarters is being shipped to Salt Lake City. Every regional office is being shut down. The research program is being eliminated.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the move, expected to be completed by summer 2027, will bring leaders closer to the landscapes they manage and the people who depend on them.

The people who depend on the Forest Service to prevent their towns from burning down in wildfires were not immediately available for comment, but they expect those fires will continue regardless of where the agency’s mail goes.

The Bureau of Land Management headquarters move in Trump’s first term involved a few hundred positions. This involves thousands. That one closed zero regional offices. This one closes all 10. That one touched one agency’s headquarters. This one dismantles the headquarters, collapses the regional structure, and wipes out the scientific backbone of the largest forestry organization on Earth.

The agency’s regional offices will be replaced by 15 state-based offices. Additionally, more than 50 research stations will close across 31 states. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz, who was appointed from the logging industry to run the agency that regulates the logging industry, has described this as active management.

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