Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred
This summer’s Major League Baseball Draft and the All-Star Game won’t be held in Atlanta, MLB officials announced Friday.
The withdrawal of the two events from the city in July is in response to Georgia’s recently enacted voting restrictions, which critics, including President Biden, have denounced as “Jim Crow in the 21st century” because they say the legislation will disproportionately affect communities of color.
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB draft,” league commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
“Fair access to voting continues to have our game’s unwavering support,” Manfred said.
Republicans around this land keep on playing their Jim Crow games with each other. Meanwhile, the National Pastime is taking their bat and ball back to Freedomland.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp responds, citing cancel culture: https://twitter.com/GovKemp/status/1378082791557115911
Donald Trump Demands Boycott of Coke, Delta, UPS in Georgia Voter Law Fight https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-demands-boycott-coke-delta-ups-georgia-voter-law-fight-1580906
Trump might have ‘found’ the votes he needed to win Georgia under state’s new election law https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/04/03/georgia-voting-law-boosts-republican-control-of-elections-column/4840793001/
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says it’s a “big lie” to call the new voting law in Georgia racist and he warned big business to “stay out of politics” after major corporations and even Major League Baseball distanced themselves from the state amid vast public pressure. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-business-race-and-ethnicity-baseball-9535999a0dd7c0c6d949a891df896749
McConnell more pointedly warned the big business that have been responding to public pressure on their corporate actions not to give in to the advocacy campaigns.
“It’s jaw-dropping to see powerful American institutions not just permit themselves to be bullied, but join in the bullying themselves,” he said.
McConnell warned companies not to get involved in voting issues or other upcoming debates on environmental policy or gun violence heading to Congress.”
Citizens United v. FEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been reminded of his support of the Citizens United ruling after he warned big businesses to “stay out of politics” as they denounced a controversial new voting law in Georgia. https://www.newsweek.com/mitch-mcconnell-citizens-united-ceo-warning-1581174
Speaking at a roundtable event in 2011, McConnell said the Citizens United ruling “leveled the playing field” between newspaper owners and other corporations that wished to have a say in politics.
“All Citizens United basically did was to level the playing field for corporate America, and for union America, and say you like a media company can… independently express your views about anything in this country,” he said at the time. “Why shouldn’t everybody be free to do that?”
“Mitch McConnell told CEOs to ‘stay out of politics’ over the Georgia voting law, despite being one of the biggest recipients of corporate cash in Congress” https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-tells-ceos-stay-out-politics-takes-corporate-cash-2021-4
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is calling on Republicans to boycott Coca-Cola after the company stated its disapproval for a new voting law in Georgia.
“If they want to boycott us why don’t we boycott them,” Paul said during an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday. “This is the only thing that will teach them a lesson. If Coca-Cola wants to only operate in Democrat states and have only Democrats drink them, God love ’em. We’ll see how well they do when half the country quits drinking Coca-Cola.” https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/546704-rand-paul-calls-for-republicans-to-boycott-coca-cola
8AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 7th