An older version of this post was published during the Democratic Presidential Primary.

Earlier in the week we talked about the five most interesting votes Kamala Harris has made in her first term as senator. Now we’re taking a look back into Harris’s earlier career at five initiatives she was responsible for creating during her time as District Attorney of San Francisco & Attorney General for California.

1. Helped Reform California’s Justice Department

After winning re-election for Attorney General in 2014, Harris called for a 90 day review into the Department of Justice’s training on racial bias and force. This review lead to a few changes within the department including the first certified implicit bias training for officers in the country, plans to increase recruitment of diverse special agents, increased transparency after officer-involved-shootings, and the addition of body cameras. …

The President is working to undermine the Post Office. Why? Because he believes more voting will hurt his odds of holding onto power.

We know that’s the reason because in states where President Trump expects to need mail-in votes to win the state, like Florida, he gives complete confidence in the work of “great Republican governors” to make vote-by-mail secure.

But everywhere else in the country, the President is committed to scaring people (Democrats) into not voting, while simultaneously trying to get other people (Republicans) to believe that the election results will be rigged unless he wins.

If you haven’t heard, there will be a presidential election in the United States soon.

The Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, is set to announce his 2nd-in-Command sometime in early August.

Folks have differing opinions on who he’s considering and who he should pick. But there’s been one emerging theme in the coverage that needs to stop: constant questioning about battleground state advantages that come from a VP selection.

The conventional wisdom about a Vice Presidential nominee is that maybe you should pick one from a battleground state, so that this “home court advantage” helps your party win that state come November. …

Few ideas are more incorrect than the idea that protestors on the street are the creators of civil unrest.

Let’s go through what actually goes on, step by step.

1. A police officer pulls over a black American.
2. The black American does absolutely nothing to suggest they are a danger to the cop or anyone else.
3. The cop murders the black American anyways.
4. The community goes out to the streets to tell their government to stop killing black Americans.
5. The government says no it will not stop.
6. The courts rule that the cops did nothing wrong.
7. Without a shred of irony, law enforcement responds to calls that they’re too violent with even more violence. They’ll use tanks, tear gas, and giant rubber bullets against citizens in order to keep the peace. …

Alexis de Tocqueville was, and remains, one of the world’s most influential political scholars. In the 1830s, Tocqueville traveled from his home country of revolutionary France to the young United States to uncover our way of life and government.

In Tocqueville’s tome, called Democracy in America, he describes one moment in American history that is undeniably great. A moment when this country’s overconfident self-image was actually justified.

The moment was: Moving from our first constitution to our second.

If you’re not from America, you should know that after the Revolutionary War against the British, America created two constitutions at two different times. The first constitution was called the Articles of Confederation, and it gave lots of power to the state governments of the original colonies. The Articles of Confederation made it difficult to raise money on a federal level, and the document was ultimately inadequate for creating a sense of patriotic, economic, or social unity between the united states. …

One of the most common forms of racism in our country is what’s called the short leash.

The short leash has to do with policing perceived faults of women or minorities, and it’s what you see in those viral videos of Karens calling the cops on black Americans for the heinous crimes of bird-watching or sitting on their own front porch.

The idea behind the short leash is essentially this: a member of a minority can be tolerated and ignored if they shut up and know their place. …

NASCAR has exactly one full-time African American driver, and his name is Bubba Wallace.

Earlier this week, a noose was found inside of Bubba’s garage. This racist gesture was committed by an anonymous person who is clearly against the recent efforts in this country for racial equality. This coward was perhaps inspired by the racing league’s recent decision to ban the confederate flag, per Bubba’s suggestion.

What was incredible to see in response was the unequivocal, relentless support among the people at NASCAR in support of Bubba Wallace. During their most recent event, NASCAR honored their fellow driver, with the pro racers and crew members from across the league walking in solidarity around Talladega Speedway. …

Federal Agencies, those folks who enforce the law under the president’s command, are not allowed to create or destroy regulations in whatever way they want.

Congress passes laws, most notably one called the Administrative Procedure Act, which dictates how an agency must consider new policies. This is what the DACA Supreme Court decision was about.

In particular, there is an idea within this law called the “arbitrary and capricious” rule. When agencies makes decisions, they have to provide strong reasons to the public before they invest time and money in changing direction.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security broke this law because of the way in which they tried to end DACA. However, DACA itself still isn’t very safe. …