If you live somewhere that offers no-questions-asked mail-in voting, and your election commission gives you the option to automatically get mail ballots with each election, I would highly recommend doing this.
Earlier in the year a ballot just showed up in the mail. It was for the very local elections like school board, parks commissioner, stuff like that.
I almost certainly wouldn't have realized the election was even happening, but having the ballot in-hand made sure I voted in it.
Yes! I love vote by mail. Oregon was one of the first states to have automatic vote by mail, aka, vote at home. It happens automatically for all registered voters, no need to request a ballot sent by mail.
But there are now 8 states in the USA, plus Washington, DC, that have this kind of system.
Here's a good resource that shows which states in the US are more or less "vote-at-home friendly" -
There is no benefit to anyone on the left being on twitter.
Nina Turner tweeted "Insulin should be free." some libertarians responded "Nina should pick cotton for free."
Did this obvious racism hurt them? No, they now have more followers than ever. Being over there is just being bait for these extremists to build their network.
Grotesque racist images of Nina, rather than being demoted by the algorithm are being promoted since the people posting them paid for blue checks.
Yes, of course she was. And so are AOC and Turner. And that was intentional, or at least opportunistic, on their part. They are willing victims.
Look, this deserves a much more thorough response than I can put together on the fly, but there’s more going on here than the surface level. I can try to summarize, but it’s not going to be a full-fledged argument; maybe I need to write up a blog post on this.
Briefly, the far left is extremely cynical about systemic bigotry. On the one hand, their Marxist class reductionism teaches them that it can safely be ignored because it’s just economic anxiety and will magically go away as soon as they finish eating the rich.
This trickle-down approach makes them, at minimum, anti-anti-racist, but there’s also quite a bit of active bigotry in there, with antisemitism and misogyny perhaps the most visible.
On the other hand, their cynicism allows them to make use of purely descriptive representation as a way to immunize themselves from accurate accusations about this topic.
Bluntly, they run skinfolk so that they can play the “I can’t be bigoted because I’m a minority myself” card as well as the “Any criticism of me stems from bigotry” one.
The former is an obvious lie, while the latter is also false but muddled by the fact that there is definitely bigotry involved in the R’s attacks.
However, as I alluded to earlier, these attacks are desired and baited. It makes them seem sympathetic and gets people who ought to know better to rush to their defense.
Anyhow, this is getting long, and I don’t have enough space in this margin for a full proof, so this will have to be my answer for now.
The bottom line is that Twitter has turned into a cesspool for performative culture war combat, and there are no heroes in this. The people attacking Turner are bigoted trash and so is she. I say let them rot.
[EDITED: Oops, I was thinking of Andrew Yang’s group—not No Labels!]
No Labels is what happens when people with no ideas decide they should be in charge. https://www.npr.org/2023/07/22/1189362839/no-labels-americans-elect-third-party However, it has the potential to cause a reactionary to be elected, as it has before. Our two-party system is broken. Fixing it doesn't involve an anti-party sucking votes from the center.
Obviously, No Labels is a spoiler party. If they suck more votes from the right, perhaps they’ll help Biden. But based on who’s funding it, their goal is to suck votes from the left so as to help Trump.
As for our two-party system being broken, no, actually, it’s not. See below.
Texas A&M announces a new journalism dean. She's black and she's qualified— and an alum of the school! Ex-New York Times too.
They announce her appointment in a splashy event.
Dark forces of reaction mobilize.
The offer is watered down to one year, with no tenure. She says no way, and withdraws. National news is made. It's negative. And today, the president of A&M resigns!
It bugs me that Democrats don't understand or refuse to articulate why congressional Republicans still defend Trump and refuse to walk away from Trumpism.
It is because all Republicans are part of what is now little more than a massive criminal enterprise bought & paid for by a handful of billionaires - and their collective future - and in many cases their personal freedom - is tied to Republicans permanently seizing power to avoid accountability.
"Should we help the poor today? ....No, we must not let our emotions get the best of us: ensuring the birth of trillions of digital people must be our priority"
Most "will be concerned, appalled, or just plain disgusted, & understand that these ideas must be opposed"
"But when a movement backed by billionaires is gaining so much political, financial & institutional momentum without the awareness of most activists & everyday people, we’re basically sitting ducks"
'The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched The Banned Book Club... The Banned Book Club makes e-book versions of banned books available to readers in locations across the United States where titles have been banned. The e-books will be available to readers for free via the Palace e-reader app.'
The lecture attached above (in Teri Kanefield's post) should be required reading for all Americans.
This Harvard professor clearly distills exactly what is going on in our country politically now, and connects it to our Constitution -- so that we can understand how we got into this mess. So well-written and accessible and not overly lengthy.
How School Board Meetings Became Flashpoints for Anger and Chaos Across the Country
In the first wide-ranging analysis of school board unrest, ProPublica found nearly 60 incidents that led to arrests or criminal charges. Almost all were in suburban districts, and nearly every participant was white.
Unions need to Exploit “Choke Points” in Economy to Grow Working-Class Power
2/2
In transportation, "the crane operators in San Francisco or LA can tie up the whole supply chain.
"On railroads, the people sending messages are crucial.
"But it goes much further.... the people in the warehouses. If they don’t unload & load the freight, nothing moves, & things block up. It’s choked there at the warehouse.
"That’s how Hoffa built the Teamsters - the people in the warehouses"
I got married in 2008 days before Prop 8 unexpectedly passed and banned same-sex marriage in California. We lived in legal limbo until 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled the right to marry was guaranteed to same-sex couples.
CA wants to repeal Prop 8 formally in 2024 because the current Supreme Court signaled it would like to reverse its ruling, which would reinstate the same-sex marriage ban.
Wondering if I should get re-married preemptively in Sverige…
The Supreme Court overturning the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage is not a hypothetical threat.
Last week, a Texas judge used the recent Supreme Court ruling that affirmed businesses could refuse service to queer people to justify her refusal to perform same-sex marriages.
The July/August issue is reaching mailboxes and select newsstands now!
Digital subscribers: Watch your email for your copy, coming later today. Enjoy, and share it with a friend who needs to discover why #TexasNeedsAnObserver!
In the words of a botanist Youtuber who visited a Starr County site being cleared for Greg Abbott's #border wall: "This is fuckin’ morbid man. #Texas just does not give a fuck.”
Would-be dictator Donald Trump praises Xi Jinping. Insert "sweating superhero" meme here - the base has to choose between "Love of dictatorship" and "anti-Chinese racism." Which will they choose?
Of course Republicans always meant to prosecute women, and - of course - now they are.
Federal Republicans are using the budget to target ALL LGBT people, because that's what they do with power.
Virginia's Republican governor is banning most nicknames. Only the most gender-compliant and close-to-legal-name are permitted. Yes, really.
US policing can't be reformed because cops don't want to reform, Chapter MXCVIII.
Absolutely hate #Election2024 poll stories, esp ones so definite, w/ 500 likely voters. It gives lazy voters pause to skip. Remember when Hillary was going to knock Trump under the table or Biden was winning by large margins?
I live in #Ohio & USA TODAY Network (Columbus Dispatch reprints Cincinnati Enquirer article) should be a little more careful #Issue1#USPol#OHPol