Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 17, 2022. As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, the late civil rights leader would have been 93 today if he were still on this planet. In honor of the occasion and the push to pass the President’s voting rights legislation, the members of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s family marched in Washington, D.C., demanding that the Senate scrap the filibuster and pass that darn legislation. This march is covered in an online article for The Washington Post by Katherine Shaver in “Martin Luther King Jr.’s family marches in D.C. for Senate action on voting rights bill.”

Today those family members, King’s son, Martin Luther King III, his wife, Andrea Waters King, and their 13-year-old daughter, Yolanda Renee King, joined several hundred other activists and residents in a frigid walk across the newly rebuilt Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

Those people participating in this march hoisted signs saying “Black votes matter,” “Jews for the freedom to vote,” and “Voter suppression is un-American.”

One of those participants was D.C. resident Lydia Curtis, 64, who marched to honor King, she said, and advocate for access to the ballot box, as well as other rights King fought for.

Curtis elaborated, “I’m 64, and all the issues we’re marching for are the same things.” The substitute teacher in D.C. schools added, “I’m marching so my daughter doesn’t have to march 10 years from now.”

The Senate is expected to take up voting rights tomorrow. However, Democrats lack the votes to change the rules to avoid a filibuster from Republican opponents, and there are many. Actually, the entire party seems to be opposed to this essential legislation. Those two Democratic firewalls, Senators Joe Manchin III (W-VA) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) have said they would oppose attempts to change the filibuster, saying it protects the views of the political minority and encourages bipartisan compromise. This argument holds no water as these two bastards are complicit in the overturn of democracy by the opposing party.

The son of the assassinated civil rights leader, King III, said that “history will not remember them kindly,” referring to Sinema and Manchin’s blocking of voting rights legislation in the Senate. I’m afraid we have no time for history to judge them unkindly, since the time to pass this legislation is now, not years from now, especially if the repugnicans horribly win back the House in 2022.

If the filibuster is not scrapped, another option lawmakers could take is to engage in debate on the voting rights bill before casting their votes for or against it. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) has said he could start debate on the voting rights bill with a simple majority of 51 votes because of rules that govern the way it passed the House. If senators are forced to now take a stance on the issue, maybe they might be embarrassed to come out against the legislation if their votes will not be recorded in an anonymous manner.

The threat is all too real as nineteen states, spurred on by Dumpf’s “Big Lie,” have recently changed election laws, including expanding ID requirements and limiting early voting and voting by mail. Civil rights leaders and Democrats contend those changes will suppress the vote, particularly among minorities, while repugnicans ridiculously say they are needed to prevent voter fraud and restore public faith in the electoral process. The only public faith that would be restored, in my opinion, is the true disenfranchisement of voters of color who generally vote Democratic. This is what the repugnicans are truly invested in enacting.

“The pending federal legislation would establish national standards for voter registration, early voting, voting by mail, and permissible voter IDs. It would also restore federal oversight over certain election law changes in states with a history of racial discrimination, according to march organizers.”

Talking about how this drive to suppress the vote among minority voters is harming people of color, the Reverend George Gilbert, a D.C. resident and racial-justice activist, said “They opened the schools and allowed us to drink out of the water fountain,” but “they still don’t want us to have the same access” to voting. Let’s see tomorrow what happens in the Senate if this legislation is indeed taken up for consideration.

One of those repugnicans who drew the scorn of many on Twitter today is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who used the words of the late civil rights leader in comments he made today on Twitter, in which the actions of the top Dumpf lackey were criticized for the deep hypocrisy of his party’s stance on true voting rights reform. One astute Twitter user said, “Dude, you voted no on all voting rights bills.” Another user was more pointed, “All you’ve done is fight against a voting rights bill that would make things more equal . . . you’re a fake, sick man. Disgusting.” Other fired-up users brought up McCarthy’s opposition to the results of the 2020 election that gave Joe Biden his victory. This I had forgotten, but during the pandemic, this truly disgusting man heavily opposed Democrats’ push for mail-in voting to ease risks during the early stages of the pandemic – an effort the “Kiss the Ring of Trump” McCarthy called “disgusting,” alleging that it politicized the pandemic. He appeared oblivious to the reality of many people appearing en masse to vote in public that was in itself a health issue which would result in more infections among those voting for a president. How horrible! He deserves the antipathy directed toward him on Twitter – and more.

More criticism poured in against McCarthy’s purloining of Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, as one angry Twitter user wrote, “They love to quote #MLK, but don’t want to stand in unity to end voter suppression.” Another critical Twitter user wrote, “You don’t get to exploit the memory of Dr. King for your political purposes while you and @GOP work to deprive Black people of their #Voting-Rights.” Maybe this dim bulb should think twice before he exploits the soaring language of a civil rights icon to advance his own political ends on such a platform as Twitter which everyone is reading and able to cast their “no” votes for his comments.

So don’t accept any Republican today using the stirring words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as they work to undermine voting reform for millions of Americans. Damn them all!

Today progressed rather uneventfully, except for my installing a new virus protection program, McAfee, to protect my iMac after I innocently opened an email from a friend on Facebook last night that said I was tagged on a picture in some situation, so my curiosity overcame my caution about opening the message. Several hours later, this same friend went on Facebook to say his account was hacked. While I was typing my blog last night, I was afraid the computer would shut down or fail to operate. Thank God that didn’t happen.

So when I work up today, I set to install new virus protection software and scanned the contents of the computer. So far, there have been no threats found. I will still bring this issue up with a computer expert who might pay us a visit tomorrow. He was recommended to me a few weeks ago by our cat sitter, “Laurie.” I called him then, but he never returned my call. Elliot called him for me this morning, and surprisingly, he answered his call, live. He mentioned that he will leave his other job tomorrow between 5 and 6.

I was too nervous to have breakfast out because of my ongoing computer issue. So I had scrambled eggs with toast at home this time.

Later I went out to run some errands for Elliot. I went to the bank for him; I brought in some clothes to the cleaners for him; I bought some ground Italian roast coffee at Starbucks for him. The weather wasn’t as inclement as I had originally thought. There was no snow on the ground when I first left the building. It was windy, though.

At some point, I spoke to my New Jersey friend, “Harry,” before going out for Elliot. We discussed getting together this week, possibly Thursday.

When I brought in Elliot’s clothes to the cleaner, I was struck by the line of people across the street. I said to myself, This isn’t a coronavirus pandemic testing site. I then realized it was a line for Chip City, the new cookie shop that opened right here on Austin Street. I thought this cookie emporium must be very terrific if there is a line of willing customers in the frigid cold outside waiting to enter the shop. I would never join them, I felt. No cookie is worth it, I would have to say. I should have interviewed a customer on line, but I didn’t. I would be curious to know why that person is willing to wait outside in the cold. Was it worth the wait? I would inquire.

When I got back, the scan I started hours ago was still going on. I have one going on here on my screen now. I had scanned Elliot’s files earlier and found nothing amiss.

Let’s hope tomorrow we are not let down by our political leaders in the current fight for voting rights. We will all be poised to watch our television sets tomorrow.

Stay safe and be well.