Bloomberg pays fines for 32,000 felons in Florida, paving their way to the voting booth

highroller · 2020-09-24T11:29:55.221Z

Yep we’ll see. The court system is more that just Fox News soundbites.

Borgia_dude · 2020-09-24T11:37:05.795Z

WuWei:

It matters morally.

Explain.

DMK · 2020-09-24T11:47:33.301Z

matt1618:

Well, we’ll see what the Florida Attorney General does on this, she is planning action on this so we’ll see how this plays out if the statute reflects what he says…

Let’s hope Bloomberg gets his hand slapped or worse.

Borgia_dude · 2020-09-24T11:48:30.802Z

Konssurvative1:

Jez…you are saying that it is important to have someone else restore the rights of disinfranchised felons. How are they to show that they are being personally responsible for paying their debt to society. If Bloomberg does it for them.

So rich people are better than poor people because they can more easily pay their debt to society? Assuming a rich and poor person are convicted felons.

Borgia_dude · 2020-09-24T11:50:10.046Z

DMK:

Apocalypto:

What loophole?

Someone else paying your fine for you. But, you knew that.

So a mother shouldn’t be able to pay the fine? A church shouldn’t be able to pay the fine?

WuWei · 2020-09-24T18:26:34.088Z

5 posts were merged into an existing topic: What is the fight over appointing a Supreme Court Justice really about?

Konssurvative1 · 2020-09-24T12:00:23.918Z

No, I am saying that restoring ones rights is ones own personal responsibility. Not a rich billionaires’.

Borgia_dude · 2020-09-24T12:18:55.860Z

Bill.in.PA:

Do Bloomberg’s gifts amount to an attempt to “corruptly influence” voting?

No. They don’t.

Apocalypto · 2020-09-24T12:31:32.095Z

So it was never about the revenue for Florida.

Conservative_frk · 2020-09-24T12:33:52.065Z

I agree with this. It is part of their rehabilitation.

toreyj01 · 2020-09-24T12:35:50.714Z

If we are concerned about White felons not getting their fines paid, what is stopping a wealthy Conservative from doing the same thing? White voters without a college degree (which would be, probably, the majority of white felons) typically vote for the GOP.

tnt · 2020-09-24T12:36:36.914Z

I always here about how charity will right the ship in america. If people don’t have food, shelter, health care, it’s not the government’s job to provide them - charity will see them through.

So, here you go…

Konssurvative1 · 2020-09-24T13:10:18.987Z

No…ToreyJ I am not concerned about white felons or black felons getting their fines paid. I am concerned about the lesson taught and the message received. ■■■■ up and it’s ok…someone will let you off the hook. What bloomberg did was to let a bunch of people off the ■■■■■■■ hook…and that isn’t right in my world.

STODR · 2020-09-24T13:11:08.079Z

Who said we were worried about white felons not getting them paid? What we said is it is more proof he is doing it to affect the vote not about restoring their vote just because he is a good guy.

toreyj01 · 2020-09-24T14:29:59.829Z

Konssurvative1:

No…ToreyJ I am not concerned about white felons or black felons getting their fines paid. I am concerned about the lesson taught and the message received. ■■■■ up and it’s ok…someone will let you off the hook. What bloomberg did was to let a bunch of people off the ■■■■■■■ hook…and that isn’t right in my world.

He didn’t let them off the hook, they all served time and completed probation. That is no walk in the park. Now, they are out. But the stigma of being an ex-Con means higher rates of joblessness, homelessness and suicide. If we want these guys to succeed we need to integrate them back into society as full members, not strip them of their constitutional right to vote because we know who they are more likely to vote for.

And that is the gist of why these rules are in place, to lower the rate of minority voting. This goes back all the way to the Jim Crow south. Between convict leasing, mass incarceration and literacy tests the South was able to suppress the vote of over 90 percent of the black population. Florida’s laws are a remnant of those times, yet the GOP seeks to keep it going as long as possible.

So spare me the indignity of suggesting that Bloomberg is doing this for political reasons, when the fact is these rules exist for political reasons, to suppress minority voting.

STODR · 2020-09-24T14:38:12.149Z

Why does it affect minorities more then others?

biggestal99 · 2020-09-24T14:39:14.000Z

STODR:

Why does it affect minorities more then others?

Minorities are poorer.

Allan

toreyj01 · 2020-09-24T14:54:46.488Z

STODR:

Why does it affect minorities more then others?

Because they are disproportionately imprisoned for crimes that whites might face fines for, or even overlooked. It was systematic back in the day. For instance, in the Jim Crow south a Black Man could face five years of hard time for vagrancy, where he often died in Coal Mines after being leased from the Prison.

A third of the post CW economy was based on prison labor during the Jim Crow south. Once the guy survived that, he never got to vote for the rest of his life.

Which was interesting, after the CW 96 percent of Black men had the right to vote and in the South, there were Black Senators and Black members of the HOR. Until the Union forces left and Reconciliation ended. Between 1870 and 1890 the number of Black men eligible to vote went from 96% to 9%. It would be nearly a hundred years before a black person won a seat in congress.

These rules are a vestige of those times, and when the voters in FLA decided enough was enough the GOP sued to make sure they could still keep some of them off the voting rolls. If Bloomberg decided enough was enough, good on him.

STODR · 2020-09-24T15:35:09.881Z

Funny and all that happened under Democrates.

highroller · 2020-09-24T15:37:07.977Z

You are now Republicans; Changing your name and who you vote for doesn’t change who you are if you support the same tactics.