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The US spends a lot on jails, and many jails charge cities and states a minimum occupancy penalty if they're not filled. Seriously. And then Covid dropped the prison population by 157,000 people.
https://eji.org/news/private-prison-quotas-drive-mass-incarceration/
I've told you before that Black folk mainly get pulled over for systemic racism, not interpersonal. Court fee revenues are a lot, and traffic ticket revenues are approx $14B a year.
https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/five-facts-about-fines-and-fees-revenues
Some small cities like Ferguson Missouri get 23% of their city revenue from these tickets and fines. This doesn't only happen to Black drivers, but it disproportionately happens to Black drivers.
Many of these local criminal justice departments and city governments nationwide were worried that they were about to go bankrupt during the pandemic, because there was so little traffic, and so few Black motorists and families to prey upon, that their revenues dropped. Just like public transportation revenues dropped. And bar and restaurant revenue dropped. And drug store revenues dropped.
https://www.dcfpi.org/all/raising-revenue-through-fines-and-fees-is-unsound-and-unsafe/
The thing that Biden rescued most with his "American Rescue Plan," cop fund diversion stunt, is this awful, racist, predatory criminal justice system. This money covered these local government budget shortfalls, as well as expansion of more policing.
As we can see now, the "crime spike" was a lie. And they knew it was a lie at the time. Like Black folk have said, police don't do what you think they do. By time, by number of arrests, most of what police do (~80%) is giving tickets and fines to poor people, disproportionately Black, and arresting them for low level offenses, creating court fees and prison revenue.
We keep up the pretense of crime waves, to keep this wealth extraction from Black folk going. Because local governments are financially dependent on it. Because they don't want to tax rich people.
You might think that "Biden had no control over local governments." But Biden himself, even as a senator, bragged about how much control he had over how local governments spend their criminal justice money, and set policy, even though it was on paper only a federal bill. So please don't argue with me on this point. Argue with Biden himself.
I know this feels like an invitation to debate, but I promise you it's not. I'm tired, and will be muting people on this.
This is not an invitation to debate. It's just another futile attempt to try to get people to see what Biden looks like from the perspective of someone who lives on the other side of his criminal justice policies.
It's not "
Black men don't know all the good that Biden did like I know it! He rescued the economy! Why don't they get that? I know more about his policies than they do!"
It's "I don't know the horrific scale of what Biden policies have done. I don't know anyone that has had their life savings stolen by asset forfeiture, or who has been shot by police, or who is innocent and in jail at the moment. These things aren't real to me."
It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with Black men who are disappointed in Biden. But you should at least *understand* why. You should at least know the *specific policies* that Black voters are upset at.
https://theappeal.org/covid-funds-police-prisons-arpa/
Because as I said before, Dems cannot win an election without the Black voting block. For any Dem candidate: If you do not create sufficient distance from these Biden policies, you will lose.
@mekkaokereke All I know is Trump is going to be a thousand times worse.
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io1. Yelling "Trump is worse!" Is not a strategy. Yes, we know Trump is worse. We've been telling people *exactly* what their plan is, from before it was called Project 2025. Look at the date on this post, and how accurate each of the bullets is. I'm not clairvoyant. I just read the first draft of their paper. 
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/112440450555443222
2. Most of the people yelling "Trump is worse!" haven't really looked at the Biden numbers from his first term.
https://bsky.app/profile/mekka.mekka-tech.com/post/3ldqptiz4622y
A key difference is that Trump doesn't expect or need *checks notes* 90% of Black people to vote for policies that destroy themselves in order to win elections. A political party that puts up anti-Black numbers like this, but expects Black people to vote for it? Is not going to win elections. Not in 2025 and beyond.
Imagine I'm being attacked by a great white shark, 20 feet from shore. 
Another shark, an oceanic white tip might yell, "Swim over here! I'm 2 miles from shore! 2 miles is a long way, but you can make it!" I might ask the oceanic white tip shark if swimming that 2 miles will save my life. "LOL! No! Absolutely not! I'll eat you too! But I take smaller bites! I'm a slower eater! The great white shark is worse!"
I'm not swimming that 2 miles, and I'm not staying in the water 20 feet off shore. That's a false choice. I'm getting out of the water.
Many people reading this think that means 3rd party or Jill Stein or some nonsense, but it doesn't. Harris was not Biden or Trump. But then she re-Bidened at the last minute and lost.
@mekkaokereke @Makyris I'm wondering if the DNC is going to recalibrate to appeal to its previous base. I'm guessing the answer is no. The party pretty much abandoned my state after 2010 at both the state and federal level.
I don't think so. And most Black folk in my group chats don't think so either. Centrist Dems are already tacking even further to the far-right. They moved against AOC and kept her off of committee. They are terrified of her. And rather than stop exploiting Black people and treating our rights as trading chips, even more Dems are offering trans people and their rights up too as another ill-conceived appeasement chip alongside Black people.
So no, I don't think we have learned any lessons at all. We're all still doing the same things:
* Black men are still trying to explain what we're asking for: basic human rights. And we're still being infantilized as just wanting "legalized weed and crypto," 
or not understanding Trump's plans, or not appreciating Biden enough.
* Centrists are still saying, "We should have stanned Cheney even harder!"
* anti-DEI rhetoric is still ongoing, and being treated by Dem leadership as legitimate conversation rather than plain old racism and sexism. Dems that will ask Black women to save us again in the mid-terms, are again saying nothing now while Black women are being attacked. We're still expecting one-way solidarity.
* Police budgets are still increasing. "Tough on crime Dem," is still something that they aspire to.
In short, no tigers have changed any stripes.
I am optimistic that AOC support will continue to grow, along with support for other progressives. Centrist candidates lost, and progressive candidates won. In a "free flow of information" political landscape, centrist Dem candidates cannot win. And right-pushing newspapers have gone full mask-off. Everyone sees it now, which limits their influencing effect.
@mekkaokereke "A key difference is that Trump doesn't expect or need *checks notes* 90% of Black people to vote for policies that destroy themselves in order to win elections." Yes he does, that's why I'm flummoxed by your assertions. He absolutely does, and far far worse. Good Lord have you listened to his rhetoric?
I'm deeply confused by what you're saying here. Trump doesn't need Black votes to win elections. That's true for the Republican party generally. Democrats do need Black votes.
I don't see the connection that you're trying to draw between that electoral reality and Trump's rhetoric.
@DireVole You're saying black votes only matter to the DNC? I don't believe that. But also are you saying if the DNC isn't perfect you're willing to withhold your vote and thus giving control to Republicans?
I did not say any of those things.
No part of this conversation suggests that the DNC _only_ cares about Black votes. Quite the opposite. An important point here is that Democratic politicians often pursue policies as though Black votes _don't_ matter. To all of our detriment, I should add.
I didn't even touch on the subject of voting, either for myself or for others. FWIW I broadly agree with Mekka's published perspectives on the subject.
@Makyris @mekkaokereke no he literally does not need those votes. Do you know how we know?
Because he didn't have them, and he won anyway. Did you miss that?
@tillshadeisgone @mekkaokereke Trump did indeed expand the number of Black and minority votes. The Black vote isn't a monolith just like the White vote isn't. Every vote matters.
@Makyris okay you're not understanding what I'm saying, or what mekka said. So let's go back, once again, to what mekka posted, which you then quoted.
A key difference is that Trump doesn't expect or need checks notes 90% of Black people to vote for policies that destroy themselves in order to win elections.
So from the article that you just posted, did Trump need 90% of Black voters to vote for him in order to win? No. He won with way, WAY less than that. That's a fact. Not disputable.
90% of the Black vote is what Biden had, and he won. It's also what Kamala didn't have, and she lost. Mekka was referencing those exact numbers to make his point. Does that make more sense?
@mekkaokereke @Makyris this is the thing I have a hard time articulating when I get frustrated with people yelling "non-voters really screwed us this time!"
When your choices are:
-Vote against your own interest
-Vote against your own interest, but harder
-Vote in your interest, but know your candidate will lose
If you want to win a political race, you have to actually oppose your opponent. Being a watered down, respectable version of them is a terrible way to show you're different, mainly because it doesn't show that.
@sillyCoelophysis @mekkaokereke @Makyris Groceries cost 4x as much, all my bills are higher, and I make the same income. I don’t blame this on Biden (the inflation/price gouging is definitely mostly because of Trump), but I did expect him to do, like, do something about it. Instead, I got “actually, the economy is better than ever” which is maddening to hear because… it’s not. Go back and read the first sentence.
@sidereal @sillyCoelophysis @mekkaokereke @Makyris
Paul Krugman had a nice graph about this as well, that when people do realize income growth they credit it entirely as their own achievement
(Yes Biden should have done way more, but a rise in real income is a salary increase not prices declining)
@sidereal @sillyCoelophysis @mekkaokereke I absolutely agree, on all counts. But I also know Trump is going to make it a thousand times worse, so I still voted for Kamala Harris.
@sidereal @sillyCoelophysis @mekkaokereke @Makyris Do groceries cost 4x more for real? I keep hearing that, but I’m not seeing it. Most of the numbers I’m seeing are closer to 1.25x.
@sidereal @sillyCoelophysis @mekkaokereke @Makyris
My experience is very different.
Grocery prices are up 31%, not 300%. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1CTr0) Wage increases are higher than inflation. Unemployment remains low.
@sillyCoelophysis @mekkaokereke I also agree, on all counts. Yet the fact still remains Trump is going to make things a thousand times worse. So my initial point still stands. Not voting was a vote for Trump.