Roper: With woke friends like these

By Rob Roper

With the “woke” seeping their poisonous politics into every aspect of American culture like a bad smell, it’s sad but not shocking to see Major League Baseball caving to calls to move the All Star Game out of Atlanta to Denver. Here, in a nutshell, is why this is so colossally stupid, and why this episode should serve as a cautionary tale for Black Americans who think it might be a good idea to get into political bed with these dishonest, selfish, manipulative people.

Rob Roper is the president of the Ethan Allen Institute.

The “woke” faux outrage is over Georgia’s post-Covid election law reforms. I say “faux” because the scandal is entirely manufactured by a media willing to blatantly lie, and the power-hungry politicians in Washington who desire to control electoral outcomes by nationalizing election law, and obliterating state’s rights. To do so, they need a story so horrific — racists “suppressing” Black voters at the state level — that a public as outraged as it is ignorant will not just allow but cheer on the subversion of the Constitution.

President Biden himself called Georgia’s laws, “Jim Crow on steroids.” This is an insult to all Black Americans who actually lived through Jim Crow and fought to overthrow it. And it’s a blatant lie about Georgia’s law. In fact, The Atlanta Journal & Constitution had to issue a correction to its own reporting, admitting the Georgia law actually, in the aggregate, increases citizen access to the ballot box. Even the Washington Post fact checkers gave Biden’s claims “Four Pinocchios” for its complete lack of truth.

But a detailed evaluation of the Georgia law is for another time. This is about the woke response and how it reveals woke care about Black Communities and voting rights is really a sham.

First, Care for Black Communities. Atlanta, where the MLB All Star Game was set to be played this July, is a majority Black city (51%). In Atlanta, nearly 30% of businesses are Black owned. The median household income is $59,948. The economic impact of moving the game out this community is estimated at $100 million. This is who will be punished by the woke. Who will be rewarded? The city of Denver, Colorado, which is 81% White, and less than 10% Black. It is among the top dozen “whitest” cities in the country, and of all the U.S. cities that host major league baseball teams, it is the whitest. Denverites have a median household income of $68,592. So, in Woke-land, the way you combat “Jim Crow” racism is to shift economic activity and opportunity away from poorer Blacker communities to richer Whiter communities. Brilliant. (This, by the way, is not a unique pattern of woke policy in practice.)

And, Care About Voting Rights. Georgia is being raked over the coals for Voter ID provisions in its election laws, the length of time allowed for early voting, and a totally misrepresented statute that disallows partisan activists from campaigning and handing out campaign materials (including food and drinks) to voters waiting in line less than 150 feet from a polling place. So, Colorado should have none of these things, right? Or at least vastly more liberal iterations of them? Nope.

Colorado requires a valid ID for all voters showing up in person at the polls, such as a driver’s license, passport, IRS issued ID card, or other options. If you vote by mail in Colorado, which most people do, strict signature verification takes place before your vote is processed. Early voting? “Racist” Georgia mandates 17 days of early voting plus two optional (local choice) Sundays for “Souls to the Polls” programs traditional in Black church communities. “Woke” Colorado allows just 15 days of early voting. Colorado also bans the controversial practice of “ballot harvesting,” and vigorously purges its rolls of ineligible voters. As for campaigning to voters waiting in line, it’s illegal in Colorado, too, 100 feet from a polling place. (For my Vermont readers, this is illegal here as well. We’ve been living under Jim Crow all these years! Who knew?)

So, no, the woke do not care about what actual voting laws are or do, nor about how they actually impact voters of any or all demographic backgrounds. They do not care about improving the lives and prospects of Black communities, at least not if such improvements come at cost of hindering their twisted political agenda and quest for power and control. If you consider yourself woke to the history of racism in U.S. and its legacy, that’s great. But if you’re still asleep to how you’re being manipulated into becoming the very thing you think you’re fighting against, wake up!

Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Erik Drost

15 thoughts on “Roper: With woke friends like these

  1. The Communist “Woke a Dope” strategy is working beautifully! Once people finally wake up, they will find their freedom no longer exists.

  2. The “Great American Pastime” of baseball started in open country fields and empty city lots over 150 years ago. It has grown into a smug, indifferent business that no longer reflects the values of our Nation. This would be a great summer to buy some cheap tickets to Minor League ballgames, or climb for free into rickety bleachers and cheer for a Little League team on their own small field of dreams. Visit their supporting refreshment stands and grin at the surprise of not paying $10 or more for a hotdog! Bring your own peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Send a strong message to the pampered MLB teams to stick their custom made bats where the sun don’t shine…

  3. The reason the “Woke” of our society are able to behave in such an outrageous manner is the near total absence of an honest press. The origin of this dishonesty starts at the very top with the incredible statements made by President Biden and sadly parroted via inane talking points from his Press Secretary Jen Psaki……..A person who each time she speaks demonstrates a distain for the intelligence of the American people.

    The “Four Pinocchios” hung on Mr. Biden by the Washington Post may hopefully be a sign that even the America’s grossly bias media can no longer tolerate the “Wokeness” wrecking this country.

  4. As the old saying goes, “You have to fight fire with fire.” Over 74 million Americans voted for Trump and a majority of the Trump voters are not buying the trash the WOKE folks are selling and they are seeing what the WOKE’s actual agenda really is.

    Just imagine if 70 plus million people stop going to baseball games, stopped buying Coke or buying tickets on Delta Airlines. Imagine if over 70 million Americans closed their FB & Twitter accounts boycotted companies who buy into this stuff. Maybe then, all of us, in mass, the push back against the WOKE would begin.

  5. I have generally enjoyed and agreed with most of the positions Mr. Roper articulates on this site. However, in this case I am extremely disappointed in his conclusions in this effort.
    If anyone thinks that it is a coincidence that Georgia and 42 other Republican states have rushed headlong into “voter reform” after Trumps LEGITIMATE loss at the polls in November, they have their heads in the sand. On the whole, the “voter reform” effort is a concerted effort to minimize the democratic vote and the ease of voting for American Black, Latinos, and indigenous citizens. Mr. Roper knows this. It is demonstrably provable. It is NOT the “Big Lie”. It is, in fact, the truth.
    It is disingenuous to denigrate the MLB for moving the game to Colorado. Yes, what he says about the loss to Georgia neigborhoods is true and yes, what he. Says about Colorado is true. But, he knows full well that it is a gesture made potent by the making alone and meaningful by it’s action. But, of course, he doesn’t want to acknowledge that there is definitely a shift in this country which he seemingly cannot analyze objectively and with honesty, unfortunately.

    • Gary,
      Just stop you’re embarrassing yourself.

      Signed,
      Any reasonable person living in reality.

      • Well Brian, No one can figure out where Gary lives but it sure is not in reality. It is true that President Trump lives rent free in Gary’s head, though. None of us can do anything in society without an ID but the woke crowd tries to shame us into their belief that certain people of certain colors are too stupid to get an ID. This in and of itself is a racist judgement from the crowd so woke they can’t see their own racism toward so called people of color.

        As it turns out, some people are ignorant to their convoluted ideas because of their ideology. Once a person is indoctrinated into the cult of woke, critical thinking is nonexistent. It reminds me of the Borg, the Star Fleets arch enemy on Star Trek. The Borg collective had no individual thoughts, wore a monocle on one eye and took direction from the mother ship. The dem/prog collective is the modern Borg and an enemy of free people everywhere. They try to rewrite history, ignore our constitution, use less than honest tactics and have become an invasive infection into all of our customs and institutions with the assistance of the media. Obviously, Gary has been infected with woke.

    • Based on this lame, confused response I find it highly unlikely you agree with any of Mr. Roper’s positions. Dude, you’re a poser, and nothing more.

    • Gary Cassady you’re drinking the liberal koolaaid. Read the story again and do some research. You’ll find out how wrong you are.

    • Gary,

      Every store I go to, to buy something, I have to show my ID, aka credit card.

      Before I see “withdraw you card now” on the screen, a remote computer was busy checking me out.

      When I take a trip on an airline, I have to show my boarding pass, and passport (which has a photo), and valid ID (which has a photo). After all we do not want a repeat of 9/11

      Are you telling me a voter, in-person, should not show a RECENT VALID ID (with photo) to show to poll workers BEFORE being allowed to vote?

      The absentee person has to insert a valid ID (with photo) in his ballot envelope, before mailing, plus he has to sign the outside of the envelope, so his signature can be compared with the one on file with Town Clerks.

      If he/she does not want to do that, the option is to vote in person.

      In Georgia voting on VOTING DAY was EXPANDED from 7 am to 7 pm.
      Biden, terminally befuddled, lied when he said polls would close at 5 pm.

      SUNDAY voting, of enormous advantage to colored folks, remains UNALTERED; Stacy Abrams was happy.

      The big problem in Georgia was the COUNTING BALLOTS MULTIPLE TIMES, and BALLOT STUFFING, i.e., creating ballots out of thin air and dropping them in drop-off boxes with no signature, no IDs.

      Some of these “mail-in” ballots had NEVER been in an envelope, showed no creases.

      HERE IS A WRITE-UP ABOUT A VOTING IRREGULARITY THAT LED TO MANY LAWSUITS
      https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/here-is-a-write-up-about-a-voting-irregularity-that-led-to-many

    • Gary,

      Here is something from next door.
      The SAME stuff happens in Vermont as well and in Georgia, etc.

      NEW HAMPSHIRE; An Urgent Job for the New Hampshire Legislature

      The Legislature of New Hampshire became Republican, because the “activist student vote” was absent.
      They likely voted in their own states.

      NH has a perfect opportunity to immediately revise NH voting laws.
      Strictly regulate the circumstances and methods of COUNTING the votes.
      None of the counting machines should be programmable by insiders and outsiders
      None should be connectable to the internet.
      None should have an insertable electronic card
      Abolish most absentee voting.
      Do not allow out-of-state students to register and vote. They would not be “deprived”, because they can, and should, vote in their own state.

      NOTE: The Legislature of New Hampshire became Republican, because the “activist student vote” was absent. They likely also voted in their own states. After all, every vote counts!

      Example of COUNTING Fraud in New Hampshire

      Hand recount of the Windham (Rockingham Dist. 7) New Hampshire House race revealed Dominion election counting machines shorted all four Republicans by about 300 votes. Gee, how is this possible?

      This fraud was revealed, because St. Laurent, Democrat, who lost by 24 votes, challenged the count, and got a recount.

      Soli, Republican, recovered the 297 votes falsely taken from him by sneaky Dem/Prog vote counters

      St. Laurent had to give back 99 votes falsely attributed to him by sneaky Dem/Prog vote counters
      As a result, instead of losing by 24 votes, St. Laurent ended up losing by 420 votes!!! Yikes!!

      St. Laurent must not be glad he asked for a recount, because the recount of the votes of the other 3 Republicans showed each of them had been screwed out of 300 votes as well, thanks to Dem/Prog COUNTING shenanigans.

      The thinking of the Dem/Progs must have been: “Heh, this is a close race. Maybe we can flip it”.

      Which Dem/Progs were holding back votes so they would not be counted in a timely manner?

      See URL
      https://granitegrok.com/mg_windham/2020/11/recount-in-windham-rock-dist-7-machine-shorted-every-republican-by-about-300-votes

    • Voter List Manipulation

      In Democrat-controlled Vermont cities and towns, feeding fake ballots (stuffing the ballot box) is a common practice.

      Manipulating voter lists provides corrupt election officials more names to “play” with, to enhance Democrat power and command/control.

      1) Not deleting dead people
      2) Not deleting people who moved to another state
      3) Enabling non-citizens and illegal aliens to vote (with documents, or not)
      4) Enabling temporary residents to vote, even if they would reside less time in state than required by law
      5) Enabling convicted felons to vote (in jail or not)
      6) Enabling under-age people to vote
      7) Enabling feeble-minded people in nursing homes to “vote”, by filling in their ballots
      8) Enabling out-of-state students to vote.

      NOTE: The Legislature of New Hampshire became Republican, because the “activist student vote” was absent. They likely also voted in their own states.

      Voter Irregularities and Illegalities

      Absentee ballots cast without statutorily required application
      Absentee ballots cast that arrived after Election day.
      Absentee ballots cast that were requested before and after statutory deadline
      Absentee ballots cast from addresses other than where voters legally reside.
      Absentee ballots cast that were returned by whomever on or before the postmark date
      Absentee ballots cast without a postmark
      Absentee ballots requested under the name of a registered voter, without his/her consent
      Dead voters registering and casing votes
      Double voters IN-STATE
      Felon voters
      Ghost voters
      Illegal ballot harvesting
      “Indefinitely Confined” voter abuses (Wisconsin)
      Juvenile voters, i.e., less than 18 years old.
      Mail-in ballots cast by voters who were registered after the registration deadline
      No address on file for voter
      Non-citizen voters
      No corresponding voter registration numbers, i.e., excess voters (Michigan)
      Non-registered voters, i.e., not on voter lists
      Out-of-state voters who voted in-state.
      Over-votes, i.e., more votes cast than registered in a district.
      Votes counted during poll watcher and poll observer abuses (Pennsylvania)
      Signature matching errors
      Voting machine irregularities, i.e., vote switching from Trump to Biden, unexplainable vote count spikes
      Vote cast by voters who were over 100 years old
      Vote cast by voters who vote in the wrong County

    • Gary,

      More info for your hopper, which all of the VT Media ignored.
      If one does enough research, one can find all sorts of nuggets.

      NEW HAMPSHIRE; An Urgent Job for the New Hampshire Legislature

      NH has a perfect opportunity to immediately revise NH voting laws.
      Strictly regulate the circumstances and methods of COUNTING the votes.
      None of the counting machines should be programmable by insiders and outsiders
      None should be connectable to the internet.
      None should have an insertable electronic card
      Abolish most absentee voting.
      Do not allow out-of-state students to register and vote. They would not be “deprived”, because they can, and should, vote in their own state.

      NOTE: The Legislature of New Hampshire became Republican, because the “activist student vote” was absent. They likely also voted in their own states. After all, every vote counts!

      Example of MAJOR COUNTING AND BALLOT BOX STUFFING Fraud in New Hampshire

      NOTE: If such COUNTING AND BALLOT BOX STUFFING frauds go on in New Hampshire, they would not happen in Vermont?

      A hand recount of the Windham (Rockingham District 7) New Hampshire House 2020 race revealed Dominion election counting machines shorted all four Republicans by about 300 votes. Gee, how is this possible?

      This was no a trivial matter. The difference was 1,363 votes out of 10,006 vote cast, 13.63%

      A forensic audit will determine the huge discrepancy between the election day results and subsequent recount of Windham’s November 3, 2020, State Rep. race where a difference of 1,363 total votes from just 10,006 ballots was uncovered.
      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/04/update-new-hampshire-house-passes-sb43-mandate-audit-windhams-disturbing-2020-election-results/

      The Reveal of the COUNTING Fraud

      This fraud was revealed, because Mr. St. Laurent, Democrat, who lost by 24 votes, challenged the count, and got a recount.

      Mr. Soti, Republican, his opponent, recovered the 297 votes falsely taken from him by sneaky Dem/Prog vote COUNTERS

      Mr. St. Laurent, his opponent, had to give back 99 votes FALSELY attributed to him by sneaky Dem/Prog vote COUNTERS
      As a result, instead of losing by 24 votes, Mr. St. Laurent ended up losing by 420 votes!!! Yikes!!

      St. Laurent must not be glad he asked for a recount, because the recount of the votes of the other 3 Republicans showed each of them had been screwed out of about 300 votes as well, thanks to sneaky Dem/Prog COUNTING shenanigans.

      The thinking of the Dem/Progs must have been: “Heh, this is a close race. Maybe we can flip it”.

      Dem/Progs vote COUNTERS were holding back votes so they would not be counted in a timely manner, or they fiddled with the vote counting machines. See URL
      https://granitegrok.com/mg_windham/2020/11/recount-in-windham-rock-dist-7-machine-shorted-every-republican-by-about-300-votes

    • Gary,

      Here is some more information for your hopper

      Pennsylvania REMOVING DEAD PEOPLE from registered voter lists.

      Why is Vermont not doing that?

      All Condos has to do is compare his lists against the Social Security data base.

      The state of Pennsylvania agreed to remove the names of deceased people from voter rolls, an election-integrity watchdog group announced after reaching a settlement with state officials.

      https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/pennsylvania-forced-to-remove-21000-dead-people-off-its-voter-rolls-settlement_3767667.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email2&utm_campaign=mb-2021-04-09&mktids=2c58d6bdff29a0e53461953674e0352a&est=xeCXibAf9nWpSlHcSuMnuxqN2YhHbtjuuz152GM%2Fs3yfUecyi4YaZd5pEcFkXQ0%3D

      The lawsuit, filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, in November 2020, alleged that some 21,000 registrants who had died were still on the state’s voter rolls at the time of the 2020 presidential election.

      Pennsylvania agreed to compare its voter-registration database with the Social Security Death Index, and then direct all county election commissions to remove the names of dead registrants.

      “This marks an important victory for the integrity of elections in Pennsylvania,” Public Interest Legal Foundation President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said in a statement in announcing the court’s decision.

      “The Commonwealth’s failure to remove deceased registrants created a VAST OPPORTUNITY FOR VOTER FRAUD AND VOTE COUNTING FRAUD. It is important to not have dead voters active on the rolls for 5, 10, or even 20 years. This settlement fixes that.”

      The lawsuit was filed after the Nov. 3 election and when then-candidate Joe Biden took a lead over President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. Ultimately, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Commonwealth’s office certified the election.

      The foundation said it found that 9,212 of the 21,000 voters had been dead for more than FIVE years, and nearly 2,000 voters had been dead for more than TEN years.

      VERMONT HAS THE SAME SITUATION

      The settlement stipulates that the “Department of State shall transmit to each county commission the names of the individuals registered in each respective county identified as deceased as a result of the comparison undertaken” with the “death data set received” from Electronic Registration Information Center that was then “compared to the full voter registration database … for the purpose of identifying persons who are ineligible to vote by reason of the registrant’s death.”

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