#2025 School Board Elections

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Nathalie Baptiste at HuffPost:

Over the last few years, elections for public education officials have gone from overlooked and low-profile to heated and politicized affairs, a shift that’s due in large part to conservatives increasingly eyeing schools as places where they can wield significant influence and enact a specific agenda. Moms for Liberty, a far-right group that popped up in Florida during the COVID pandemic and has since campaigned nationwide for a variety of conservative causes, is a significant driver of this shift. The so-called “parental rights” organization has thrown its support behind school board candidates across the country who have gone on to ban books, pass policies that hurt LGBTQ+ kids, and limit what teachers can do and say in their classrooms. In 2022, more than half of the candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty won their races, with those in Florida seeing particular success. But the following year, the group’s high-profile attempts in Pennsylvania were largely a dud.

This year, the group said it has identified 77 candidates for endorsements but has not publicly released the list. “We continue to strive to have all voters across the country engage in their local school board elections and get to know the candidates because we know that change happens at the local level,” Moms for Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in an emailed statement to HuffPost. “We have seen an incredible win rate the past two years that shows the power of our grassroots organization and we are excited to see that same kind of win rate this year.” But even as the group keeps a lower public profile than it has during previous elections, its impact is clear. Across the country, far-right extremists are looking to get on school boards and reshape public schooling.

The blueprint for a right-wing, Moms for Liberty-style candidate has been made, and conservatives are following it. These candidates typically rail against “critical race theory,” a college-level academic framework for understanding structural racism that has been co-opted by conservatives to mean talking about race at all and making white people feel uncomfortable. They falsely claim books about gender or sexual identity are inherently "pornographic". They may smear teachers as "groomers", and make sure transgender children are targeted and ostracized at school. Parental rights and fighting to keep trans kids from playing sports are now Republican talking points at all levels of government. “The work of Moms for Liberty hasn’t been as visible. But the rhetoric they use and their candidates are very much visible,” Tamika Walker Kelly, the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, told HuffPost. In blue, red, and purple states alike, this election is shaping up to have dozens of hotly contested school board races that feature right-wing candidates going up against their more liberal counterparts and hoping to shape the next generation of public school students.

[...]

The state superintendent for public instruction oversees more than 2,500 schools in North Carolina and an $11 billion budget. The race is between Democrat Mo Green, the former superintendent of Guilford County schools, and Republican Michele Morrow, who homeschooled her own children. After defeating the Republican incumbent in March, Morrow made headlines when CNN discovered that she had attended the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection with her children. (There is no evidence that she entered the Capitol building or committed any crimes.) She has also called for the execution of prominent Democrats and made a video saying former President Donald Trump should use the U.S. military to stay in power after he lost the election in 2020. Morrow ran for school board in Wake County in 2022 and lost by 20 points. As a candidate for superintendent, she has lobbed homophobic and transphobic attacks at Green and vowed to rid the state’s schools of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and censor what teachers can say in the classroom.

Far-right extremist school board candidates across several states, campaigning on “parental rights” themes such as anti-LGBTQ+ inclusion and book bans, could reshape the next generation of schooling if they are successful.

In recent elections, far-right school board candidates have largely failed to win their races due to their focus on being culture warriors first.

[thebookworm0001]

anyway hi stop fucking saying voting doesn’t matter because as a public school English teacher in Texas it absolutely fucking does

[justahumblememefarmer]

Putting some positivity out there about the election

Harris has raised a record amount of money from small donors after Biden dropped out, in addition to being able to access all the funds from their campaign they already had

Trump is deeply unpopular and people have already seen the chaos that 4 years of his presidency would bring. A lot of people have been energized to vote against him, even if they're not fond of Dems

Polling showed a red wave for Republicans in the 2022 midterms, and yet they only barely had control of the House, and couldn't even agree on a Speaker for a historic amount of time. Dems also increased their lead in the Senate. Historically, midterms favor the opposition party and have lower turnout, so this is a good sign for the House in 2024

Dems are fighting back in swing states. PA and GA both put in Democratic senators in the midterms

In my home state of PA, I am from Bucks County, which is a swing county for the state. Moms for Libery took over the school board and used it to attack queer students, enact book bans, and funnel money to themselves and the superintendent. At the most recent election, Dems turned out and took back every single open seat, ousting the board and superintendent. Worry about similar takeovers in surrounding school boards also increased turnout

Abortion rights are on the ballot in many states, which has been a winning issue for Dems and increased turnout

Republicans were prepared to attack a feeble old Biden who isn't the strongest speaker. I don't think they expected him to actually drop out, and they now have to put an 78 year old convicted felon up against a prosecutor

Awareness of Project 2025 and it's contents has entered the public sphere and is being much more openly discussed on the news. While Trump has insisted he has nothing to do with it, most of the authors worked in his administration and Trump has worked closely with the Heritage foundation

Feel free to add more things on this thread, but the most important thing is to get out there and VOTE

Vote for President

Vote for Senators

Vote for Congresspeople

Vote in your local elections

Vote Blue down ballot

[azeutreciathewicked]

To add: There are a lot of states that have local elections in 2025. And many are running uncontested. There may be opportunities to run or get someone to run who is much better than who is already there. Or you can go join a campaign that is working to get a good person elected. Local elections benefit greatly from face-to-face canvassing and name recognition, so having volunteers getting out and talking to people has a huge impact.

Another avenue to look at is advisory boards and similar administrative non-elected positions. For example, my local library system has advisory boards positions for community members, and there are often empty spots on those (or they are filled with incumbents who have been there forever). IRBs (Internal Review Boards) for research usually have community member positions, and decisions made there affect what types of research gets done and how. There are LOTS of these types of boards that want community member involvement; you just have to look a bit. And they can have big impacts on the everyday lives of people and how much access they get to information, education, and other public goods.

It would be awesome to get more young and left people into these positions: not only do they benefit the communities they are in by bringing diverse voices, but they also increase visibility for third parties and groom potential future candidates for higher office. And, speaking as a forever DM/GM, don't underestimate the value of persistent social groups, especially in-person ones. One of the big ways that people can make a difference is by offering social opportunities that help people feel connected to people around this (this is especially salient for boys and men based on research on socialization patterns). And those of us who play know that TTRPGs are often a safe place for people to experiment and explore their identities (if they are an egg or not out yet), and as a facilitator, we can ensure that those spaces continue to be safe and welcoming.

Hey, do you have any organizing tips for rural/suburban (rust belt) areas? I keep seeing posts about how we all need to build community for the coming 4 years, but, like, how? I join what existing groups I can (including non-political things like DnD), but there’s not many considering my citys population has declined every year for like 60 years. There’s no pride group in my county, nor is there a DSA presence. I do what I can running a political group, but I’m not the most charismatic and can’t seem to get people to show up regularly. (I’ve seen you talk about canvassing and dude- mad respect. I suck at it, even though I’ve knocked doors for years)

you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little sick today, low grade fever, so if I'm a little on the fuzzy side thats why.

first off being consistent and organized is far far FAR more important than charisma when it comes to organizing and leading any kind of group

any ways right now there's a lot of phone banking to "cure" ballots, chasing people who cased provisional ballots, there are a lot of very close House and Senate races that may well come down to these ballots, everyone can check Mobilize for info on that

from there I'd say look up your state's Democratic Party and there should be county parties for every county in the state, start going volunteer for whatever needs doing you'll be amazed by how a willingness to say yes will push you up the party, I'd also look to see if there's a local PFLAG chapter, that might be a jumping off spot for organizing a local pride

I always push people to look into Run For Something you might find a candidate running in your area you can help and support, or you can make calls and help local progressives all over the place, also check out the NDTC which is focused on training, while a lot of its stuff is for candidates it also has stuff for volunteers and people helping on campaigns, I'd sign up for Swing Left, Sister District, and MoveOn.Org

hope any of that was helpful.

[simply-ivanka]

Democrats, Blame Yourselves

Voters on Tuesday repudiated the results of progressive policies.

By The Editorial Board Wall Street Journal

If Democrats want some sage counsel on how to recover from their electoral drubbing on Tuesday, we suggest they recall that classic relationship breakup line from Seinfeld’s George Costanza: “It’s not you; it’s me.”

The temptation after a defeat this humiliating is to hunt for scapegoats—fading Joe Biden, untutored Kamala Harris, Russian disinformation, benighted and racist voters. They’d be wiser to look in the mirror.

The defeat was less a resounding endorsement of Mr. Trump than a repudiation of progressive governance. America rejected the consequences of left-wing policies. Democrats lost ground from 2020 across many demographic groups, according to the exit polls. Even women moved percentage points closer to Mr. Trump. How could Democrats possibly lose like this to a man they think is Hitler? Allow us to offer a list for liberal reflection:

• The failure of Bidenomics. Democrats once understood that private business drives growth and higher incomes. Sometime in the 21st century, they came to believe that government spending creates wealth—via the “Keynesian multiplier” and other nostrums.

Thus they passed, on a party-line vote, a $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill that wasn’t really needed, fueling the highest inflation in decades. This robbed millions of workers of real wage gains, which haunted Democrats on Tuesday as two-thirds of voters said they were unhappy with the state of the economy.

• Cultural imperialism. Democrats took their 2020 victory as an invitation to turn identity politics into woke policy. They stood with transgender activists instead of parents who don’t want boys to play girls sports or elementary teachers to pass out pronoun pins. Republicans hammered Democrats with ads that attacked Democratic votes against tying federal funds to transgender school policies.

Democrats also began using the term “Latinx,” which sounds to many Spanish-speakers like illiterate cultural imperialism from elites. Could that and other woke policies have played a role in Mr. Trump winning 46% of the Hispanic vote and 55% of Latino men, according to the exit polls?

• Regulatory coercion. In pursuit of their climate obsessions, Democrats pushed coercive mandates, including an EPA rule effectively saying that by 2032 only 30% of new car sales can be gas-powered models. The EV mandate caused layoffs among auto workers in Michigan that Mr. Trump attacked in TV ads and on the stump.

• Lawfare. Democrats used Mr. Trump’s divisiveness to escalate against him at every turn. After calling him a Russian stooge and impeaching him twice, Mr. Biden labeled him a “fascist” and Democrats tried to bar him from the ballot.

They criminally indicted Mr. Trump—four times—and targeted his family business with a civil suit. They convicted him in New York, under an elected Democratic prosecutor who stretched the law to turn misdemeanors into felonies, in a case that wouldn’t have been brought against another businessman.

The strategy turned Mr. Trump into a martyr to GOP voters and cemented his support in the Republican primaries.

• Breaking democratic norms. Democrats decided to use taxes from plumbers and welders to forgive college loans for lawyers and grad students in grievance studies. When the Supreme Court struck Mr. Biden’s effort down as an abuse of power, he tried again and taunted the Court to stop him.

Democrats tried to override the Senate filibuster to seize control of the nation’s voting laws and impose practices such as ballot harvesting, as Mr. Biden raged that his opponents were creating “Jim Crow 2.0.”

They tried to override the filibuster to pass a national abortion law that would go beyond Roe v. Wade. They promised to override the filibuster in 2025 to bulldoze the High Court. They ran Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema out of the party for disagreeing.

All of this and other progressive preoccupations caused Democrats to lose sight of the larger public interest. They came to believe, backed by the mainstream press, that voters would tolerate it all because Mr. Trump was simply unacceptable.

This opened the door for Mr. Trump to remind voters that they were better off under his policies four years earlier. Mr. Trump won more than 72 million ballots. He improved his standing with minority voters. He gained votes even in Democratic states.

Voters were telling Democrats on Tuesday that the party has wandered into ideological fever swamps where most Americans don’t want to go. Winning those voters again will require more than firing back up the anti-Trump “resistance.”

[thosemotivationalquotes]

Voting resources for the 2024 U.S. Election

Voting and Voter Registration

General voter registration

Absentee ballot info

Update your registration

Voter registration deadlines - by state

Check to make sure you are registered

Early voting - by state

Info for college students living in a different state than where they are registered

Info for unhoused voters

Homebound Voters

Disabled Voters

Info for voters living in another country

Options for people concerned about missing work to vote

Does your work have to give you time off to vote - by state

Voter ID requirements by state

Detailed info for voting guides - by state

Where is my polling place

Resources for non-English speakers

What to expect when voting at a polling place

Track your mail in ballot

Deadlines to mail in your ballot - by state

Information on Political Candidates

Project 2025 overview

Donald Trump political overview

Agenda 47 - full document

JD Vance - Republican VP pick

Kamala Harris political overview

Tim Walz - Democrat VP pick

Senate race overview

Governor elections

School board elections

Other Election/Voting Resources

Swing states map

Abortion related ballot measures

What is a primary election?

What are electoral votes?

What is a provisional ballot?

Discounted rides for Lyft and Lime

What congressional district am I in?

Ranked choice voting

I will add more resources as I find them!

I will also be using the tag ‘Kenzie talks election 2024’ to talk about election stuff starting 11/4

[redfoxwritesstuff]

Hi, I'm so worried about what's going to happen in the future. I love fanfic but project 2025 has got me scared. I'm worried that I will lose your stories.

I need everyone to take a breath, gather around all my lil foxkits and take a seat with momma Kit.

It's okay. I mean, it's *not* but it is. The sun rose today. And it will tomorrow. Yes, something very bad happened last night. Yes, it's lookin like things will turn out perfectly for the oppressors. We lost multiple battles last night.

But the war isn't over until we breathe our last breath.

Fanfic and written porn, small noncommercial creations are not currently in danger. We have to trust AO3 to do what they have to, up to relocating if needed, to protect their cause. They're worried about mainstream money makers who could potentially be a lobbying force.

Project 2025 has far bigger priorities than us playin dolls with words on AO3

Yes, shit sucks. But changes don't happen overnight. Yes, burning the house down is easier, it's quicker but it still takes time.

Cry, scream, do what you must but go out and vote. Vote in school board elections, vote for minor local political roles, vote for mayor, vote for governor. It's slow but you *can* flip your local politics and that will push change up.

Don't stop fighting.

Don't give up.

[azeutreciathewicked]

Let's GOOOOOOOO Georgia! Source Protip: Stop looking at polls. Don't look at the poll - they shouldn't affect your actions from here on. It's just a coping mechanism to feel like you have control in being "prepared" for an outcome. It's a psychological trick that is only going to hurt your mental health. What is good to do: make sure you're ready to vote. Research your local candidates and issues because local politics affects your everyday life so much more than federal. Stop looking at any story about the Orange Weirdo. Just stop. It doesn't matter what he does. He could be whisked away into Fairyland and it doesn't change what we need to do - vote blue. There are plenty of other threats out there that we need to keep out of office. Project 2025 will persist even without him. Instead: look at early voting data. Look at all the motivated people who are sending in their ballots and getting in line to vote early. Be like them, don't be a slacker and freeload. You need to vote early if you can and bring 3 people with you to vote too. Help your local friends and family do research on local candidates and issues. School board, corporation commissioner, lands commissioner, elections officials - these are all SUPER IMPORTANT. Read your ballot measures / propositions CAREFULLY. There can be bullshit tucked away in there to trick you. There may be stealth counter measures on the ballot to trick you and keep you from voting for the right ones. If you want to do more, find a voter help line or Get Out The Vote org to volunteer for. We help each other.

When we vote, we win!

[just-rogi]

White libs will say shit like “well both parties are supporting the genocide of brown people so you have to consider other things when voting…like how it will affect white women and white queers remember VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO!!”

And not realize…. How fucked is it ? To say that??? Like we know. We KNOW! The fucking smugness with which they say shit like “yeah this imperialist war machine is gonna slaughter you and your Arab family no matter what.. now grow up and vote the way we tell you like a good little proletariat… the suffering of your people is a moot point so vote for the guy who is better for white women and white queers”

And I will. And I know her policy is better. And I know cop city is still better than project 2025. I’m under no delusion that Harris isn’t significantly better than trump. But every single liberal smugly saying ‘they are both gonna firebomb poor Arabs so get over it so we can focus on real issues��� makes my stomach turn. Yet again people of color are being told to vote en mass for the benefit of white people and are told that our suffering is not only inevitable, but irrelevant and that we OWE something to white democrats by nature of them not being “as bad” as the far right…. While at the same time being told to shut up about the genocide.

I’m gonna vote for her. I always was and it was never a question for me because I understand the game is a losing one. But every single liberal saying vote blue no matter who needs to shut the fuck up. You want more people of color to vote blue? Fine. Use the argument that when Harris is in office you will rally to nonstop with calls and protests and lobbying and strikes to the the White House and state reps and local reps until all brown and black bodies are safe… but that require white liberals to actually care about black and brown rights when it’s not an election year which will never happen.

Y’all are Pearl clutching over roe v wade and obergfell v hodges, saying we are going backwards when black and brown people have been telling you for DECADES we are still fighting for desegregation! Over 50% of students of color attend majority minority schools [population of 90%< students of color] but I don’t hear y’all complaining about brown v board of education. I’m fucking sick and tired of liberals begging for people of color to show up on Election Day and then telling us not only to shut up about violence against us in this country… but that we are stupid and immature for even considering it when voting because genocide is bipartisan and we should get over it

[booksinmythorax]

Hey so uhh. If you live in the US, your local library probably needs a lot of help. Some ways to show up for public and school libraries and librarians right now:

-Show up to library board meetings and school board meetings and say you're in favor of freedom to read. If you can't show up to the meetings, write letters and make phone calls. Bonus points if you're a parent and say you want to defend your right to decide what your child is allowed to read.

-Keep track of local and state news regarding libraries around you and inform the appropriate elected officials of your stance in favor of freedom to read. Here, phone calls are best, but emails and letters are also ok. The Literary Activism newsletter from BookRiot is my favorite roundup of censorship and library news around the US.

-Call your federal Congressional representative and tell them to support the Fight Book Bans Act.

-VOTE in local elections and look out for dog whistles like "parental choice" and "protecting children's innocence" in candidate platforms.

-VOTE Democrat in state and national level elections so we don't have to deal with these people (direct quotes from the article above):

"Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s 900-page ideological blueprint for a potential second Trump administration, declares in its opening pages that “pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children,” should be stripped of First Amendment protection and outlawed."

"In May, after two religious conservatives who had sought to remove books from the libraries won seats on the [Post Falls, Idaho] library board, its members began overhauling the library’s policies on collections. A draft, viewed by The New York Times, seeks to ban materials containing “any description, exhibition, presentation or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse,” including “buttocks with less than a fully opaque covering.”"

⬆️ The word "description" means this policy could remove nearly every book from the library in question.

What we're looking at here is fascism attacking public access to information. It needs to be taken seriously and dealt with as a real threat.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Pavlovitz at The Beautiful Mess:

Ever since Republicans killed Roe v Wade, I’ve been hearing that Gen Z is so pissed off that Republicans have taken away women’s body autonomy, that they are going to show up en masse in November to reject them and Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris.

And the numbers are indeed showing unprecedented engagement by young voters and that they’re skewing decidedly Democrat. And while this reality gives me hope for this nation and its future, the idea that teenagers and twenty-somethings are expected to come in and save themselves from a political battle we adults lost, is an indictment of us all. They shouldn’t be in this place to begin with and we need to look in the mirror and face our shared failures: Over one hundred million of us couldn’t be bothered to vote. Others selfishly squandered their votes with third party support. Still others foolishly bought into the lie that Republicans would never overturn a law that was fixed and settled. Others of us may have simply relaxed, believing America would never see the unthinkable happen—until it did. No matter where we have individually fallen short, we all need to examine our consciences, repent from our specific mistakes, and most of all, be a part of repairing the damage we’ve made possible. Collectively, we have allowed Donald Trump, his predatory party, and three purchased, hand-picked Supreme Court justices to legislatively violate our daughters. It’s as simple as that.

We have failed to protect them from and that should fully grieve us all. So, yes, I’m glad Gen Z is disgusted, but we as their parents should be, too. Not only should we be disgusted, we should be vocal and visible. I hope we see more moms and dads come to the defense of all our kids; showing up at school board meetings and town civil gatherings and rallies and courthouse steps and church meetings and on social media and at family gatherings, and most of all in the voting booth. We should be forming a sprawling, outraged army that will flip America Blue without Gen Z’s help. We cannot fail our kids again, as we won’t get another chance to fix anything. As Donald Trump has promised, our votes and voices will not matter after November if we do not prevail. Right now, based on polls, the GOP is a few percentage points or a handful of states or possibly tens of thousands of votes away from instituting a national federal abortion ban, from subjugating every woman to Conservative Evangelical will, from continuing to take children’s healthcare out of the hands of parents and their physicians and into the hands of Conservative politicians.

And they won’t stop there. They will target same-sex marriage. They will continue to remove worker protections from minors, make it easier for adults to marry children, outlaw birth control, eliminate gender-affirming care. Part of Project 2025’s agenda includes erasing LGBTQ young people by removing all mentions of them in government institutions and organizations. Republicans have promised to criminalize LGBTQ advocates and allies and we need to believe them. The sickest of ironies in this moment, is that with all their histrionics and carrying on about the Left endangering the children of this nation, the Republican Party and the Evangelical Church have been projecting. They are the ones targeting our kids: their bodies, their marriages, their medical decisions, their very identities.

Parents and parents alone should make the decisions about what happens to their daughters and sons. These are choices to be made in the sacred space that is a family in their home, free from outside interference. Government does not belong there and the Church, only if invited by personal faith. Republicans and Evangelicals have no right to enter into that space and legislate their moral prejudices or mandate their antiquated theology for the rest of us. Another human being’s body and bedroom is not their jurisdiction: not a politician’s or a pastor’s.

Another home run post by John Pavlovitz.

[ikiyou]

Thoughts about democracy and my blog

So I hadn't really planned on continuing a lot of 'political' posts past the election...had the outcome been different.

But here we are, and some of the intentions in Trump's Project 2025 might become reality.

And anyone who follows me probably knows how I feel about the election, given all my posts today. I'm sure a large percentage of my followers feel the same way.

It is our civic duty - all of ours - to stand up for democracy and human rights in whatever way we are capable. Since I live overseas, I cannot join my local school board or help my local library.

The only thing I can do is continue to post where I have an audience, so that people can remain educated.

However, I never intended that this blog be anything but a BSD haven. And I don't want that to change. But to start a blog for 'political' purposes would undermine the efforts of democracy and education, because only politically minded people would follow such a blog, and I would be posting in a useless echo chamber.

But in deference to the people who follow me, you likely do so only for BSD content. So if I make other posts, I will probably give them a tag, like democracy, or something, so you can filter them out if you don't want to see them.

But to those who are interested, many probably also believe in the same things I believe: human rights, democracy, creative freedoms. Speaking to you would also be speaking to an echo chamber.

The problem with democratic activism is finding a way to speak to those who don't share your beliefs. And, like a business, you either need to sell them what they want, or convince them they want what you're selling.

In Harris's case, that would have meant convincing voters that the economy would be great again under the Democrats.

Talking about the more important issues, like human rights, isn't of interest to the people whose votes really matter.

And yet, it is still vitally important to document and explain actions, impacts, and trends of what has been happening and what may happen.

And further still, some of those actions may target our creative and fandom freedoms. Voices like Trump's want to silence dissent, LGBT topics, and other creative expression (whump, dark fic, etc). The possibility exists for freedom of speech to be attacked. A03 is only protected as long as we protect freedom of speech and creativity.

So, these democratic issues have an impact on us as members of the BSD fandom. If BSD has meaning for you, so too does democracy and freedom.

So, I will probably continue to write about the things that will happen in the US when able, or to reblog better written and timely posts about it. I am well aware these posts will get little to no traction here - not only is it an echo chamber, those posts never do well. But then again, most of what I post gets little engagement.

But the only thing we can do is try.

[partisan-by-default]

Way back when I was a mere egg, I knew a woman who was a member of the John Birch Society. She had grown up in London during the blitz and so she was rabid in her politics. Or maybe there was some other reason. But one day, she said (speaking of the Democratic president) that tr@itors should be lined up and sh0t.

I'm not an advocate of the death penalty, although there are times when I find it difficult to object. For instance, if Hitler had been captured, a prison sentence would have allowed his followers to treat him as a martyr, just as there were those who believed Manson was a martyr. (No, he was not.)

If and when the convicted felon is jailed, his followers will insist he's a victim of a conspiracy and blah blah blah.

But ... they would go even crazier if the above-mentioned consequences were imposed.

Put that aside for the moment.

Right now, we are facing the culmination of a decades long plan to deliver the US government into the hands of a dictatorship. It began with the John Birch Society, it was the goal of the so-called "new right" that backed Ronald Reagan's residency in our White House. Over time, they targeted school boards, the judiciary, state and federal elections, and more. They gave Rupert Murdoch a free pass to sow divisiveness with his propaganda spewing Fox News.

And the ascendancy of the perpetraitor gave them the opportunity to fill the supreme court with their own people who no longer believe in the sanctity of our Constitution.

This isn't an accident. It's a plan. The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 is the open admission of their immediate goals. After they gain complete power, the real nightmare begins. It's not just tax cuts for the rich. It's about punishing the poor and looting the middle class.

Prices will go up. The national debt will go up. The economy will stagger.

They will add all kinds of restrictions on the rights of trans people. They will end marriage equality and pass restrictions on LGBTQ+ families. Adoption rights will end. Abortion will become federally illegal. There will be no place for asylum seeking immigrants. Mass deportations have been promised. An end to birthright citizenship is on the table. Tariffs on foreign goods will be disastrous for the global economy and the domestic economy as well.

Oh, and the convicted felon will seek revenge on all of his political enemies. Does that sound familiar? That's what the nazis did. Because he will legitimize and normalize hate, hate crimes will go up.

Our support for Ukraine will end. Our support for NATO will end. He will be taking orders from Putin.

And any attempt to end his power will be seen as traitorous and his puppet judges will do as he commands.

He wants absolute power and if he gets back into our White House, he will use his executive authority to end our democratic republic.

No, I am not an alarmist -- I'm listening to his words and the words of his followers and enablers. They've published their plans. That's their agenda. And this time around, they'll be better able to accomplish it.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Kevin (KAL) Kallaugher

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 23, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 24, 2024

On Thursday, Moody’s Analytics, which evaluates risk, performance, and financial modeling, compared the economic promises of President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Authors Mark Zandi, Brendan LaCerda, and Justin Begley concluded that while a second Biden presidency would see cooling inflation and continued economic growth of 2.1%, a Trump presidency would be an economic disaster.

Trump has promised to slash taxes on the wealthy, increase tariffs across the board, and deport at least 11 million immigrant workers. According to the analysts, these policies would trigger a recession by mid-2025. The economy would slow to an average growth of 1.3%. At the same time, tariffs and fewer immigrant workers would increase the costs of consumer goods. That inflation—reaching 3.6%—would result in 3.2 million fewer jobs and a higher unemployment rate. 

Trump’s proposed tariffs would not fully offset his tax cuts, adding trillions to the national debt. 

Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, said that Trump’s tariff policy “would be bad for workers and bad for consumers.” Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi said: “Biden’s policies are better for the economy.”   

In the New York Times today, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute at the Yale School of Management, debunked the notion that corporate leaders support Trump. Sonnenfeld notes that he works with about 1,000 chief executives a year and speaks with business leaders almost every day. Although 60 to 70 percent of them are registered Republicans, he wrote, Trump “continues to suffer from the lowest level of corporate support in the history of the Republican Party.”

Among Fortune 100 chief executives, who lead the top 100 public and private U.S. companies ranked by revenue, Sonnenfeld notes, not one has donated to Trump this year. 

While they might not be enthusiastic Biden supporters, unhappy with his push to enforce antitrust laws and rein in corporate greed, the president has produced results they like: investment in infrastructure, repair of supply chains, investment in domestic manufacturing, achievement of record corporate profits, and transformation of the U.S. into the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. 

In contrast, they fear Trump. The populist plans that thrill supporters—like hiking tariffs and taking financial policy away from the independent Federal Reserve Board and putting it in his own hands—are red flags to business leaders. Such positions have more in common with the far left than with traditional Republican economic policies, Sonnenfeld says. Those policies reflect that Trump has surrounded himself with what Sonnenfeld calls “MAGA extremists and junior varsity opportunists,” while the more senior voices of his first term have been sidelined. 

On Saturday, Trump spoke in Philadelphia with a message that The Guardian’s David Smith described as “light on facts, heavy on fear.” He appears to be trying to overwrite his own criminal conviction with the idea that Biden’s immigration policy has brought violent undocumented migrants to the United States, creating a surge of crime. He told rally attendees that murders in their city have reached their highest level in six decades, while in fact, violent crime in the city is the lowest it’s been in a decade. 

In February, Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to reject a strong bipartisan border bill so he could use immigration as his primary issue in the election. That focus on immigration was key to the rise of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to power, and it is notable that Trump’s picture of the United States echoes the rhetoric of the authoritarians hoping to overturn democracy around the world.  

On Friday, during a podcast hosted by venture capitalists, Trump blamed Biden for starting Russia’s war against Ukraine by calling for Ukraine’s admission to NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that resists Russian aggression. This statement utterly rewrites the history of Trump’s support for Russia’s annexation of the same Ukrainian regions it has now occupied: as Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort testified, the Kremlin helped Trump’s 2016 campaign in exchange for the U.S. permitting Russian incursions there.

More significant in this moment, though, is that Trump, who is running to become the leader of the United States, is siding against the United States and parroting Russian propaganda. Mark Hertling, a retired lieutenant general of the United States Army who served for 37 years and commanded U.S. Army operations in Europe and Africa, wrote: “This statement is—to put it mildly—stunningly misinformed and dangerous.”

Trump told host Sean Spicer that the U.S. is a “failing nation,” claiming that airplane flights are being delayed for four days and people are “pitching tents” because their flight is never going to happen. In reality, as Bill Kristol pointed out, with 16.3 million U.S. flights, 2023 was the busiest year in U.S. history for air travel, and the cancellation rate was below 1.2%. This was the lowest rate in a decade. 

Trump is insisting at his rallies that crime is skyrocketing under Biden. In reality, crime rose rapidly at the end of Trump’s term but is now dropping. From 2022 to 2023, according to the FBI, the only crime that went up was motor vehicle theft. Murders dropped by 13.2%, rape by 12.5%, robbery by 4.7%, burglary by 9.8%. The first quarter of 2024 showed even greater drops. Compared to the same quarter in 2023, violent crime is down 15.2%, murder down 26.4%, rape down 25.7%, robbery down 17.8%, burglary down 16.7%. Even vehicle theft is down 17.3%. 

Trump’s negative picture might play well to his die-hard supporters, but portraying the U.S. as a hellscape has rarely been a recipe for winning a presidential election.

President Biden and Trump are scheduled to debate on Thursday, June 27, and Trump’s team is trying to lower expectations for his performance. He became so incoherent in Philadelphia that the Fox News Channel actually cut away while he was talking. The Biden-Harris team has taken simply to posting Trump’s comments, prompting Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo to note: “It’s pretty bad when one candidates rapid response account just posts the other guys quote verbatim with no explanation at all.”

After months of insisting that Biden is mentally unfit, now Trump and his surrogates are saying Biden will perform well in the debate because he will be on drugs. There is no evidence that Biden has ever used performance-enhancing drugs, but curiously, Trump’s former White House physician Ronny Jackson (whom Trump repeatedly misidentified as Ronny Johnson last week) gave Fox News Channel host Maria Bartiromo a very detailed list of drugs that could sharpen attention and clarity. One of the ones he mentioned, Provigil, was on the list of those widely and improperly distributed by the White House Medical Unit in the Trump White House. 

Jackson said that he was “demanding” that Biden take drug tests before and after the debate. A White House spokesperson responded: “[A]fter losing every public and private negotiation with President Biden—and after seeing him succeed where they failed across the board, ranging from actually rebuilding America’s infrastructure to actually reducing violent crime to actually outcompeting China—it tracks that those same Republican officials mistake confidence for a drug.”

With the evaluation that Biden is better for the economy and Trump’s apocalyptic vision of the U.S. is not based in reality, it jumps out that on Thursday, a filing with the Federal Election Commission showed that the day after a jury convicted former president Donald Trump on 34 criminal counts, billionaire Tim Mellon made a $50 million donation to one of Trump’s superpacs. Since 2018, Mellon has contributed more than $200 million to Republicans, giving $110 million to Republican candidates and funding committees in the 2024 election alone. He has also given $25 million to independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. 

In a 2015 autobiography, Mellon embraced the old trope that “Black Studies, Women’s Studies, LGBT Studies, they have all cluttered Higher Education with a mishmash of meaningless tripe designed to brainwash gullible young adults into going along with the Dependency Syndrome,” saying that food assistance, affordable health care “and on, and on, and on” had made Americans on government assistance “slaves of a new Master, Uncle Sam.” “The largess is funded by the hardworking folks, fewer and fewer in number, who are too honest or too proud to allow themselves to sink into this morass,” he wrote. 

It is this trope that the Biden administration has smashed, returning to the idea that the government should answer to the needs of all its people. The last three years have proved the superiority of this vision by creating a roaring economy; rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, supply chains, and manufacturing; cutting crime rates, and reinforcing international alliances. 

As Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor and chief executive officer of the energy company Canary, told Wall Street Journal reporter Tarini Parti about Mellon: “He’s clearly terrified of Biden remaining the president.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[whitegownsandflowercrowns]

Hey guys, so I know a lot of people are freaking out about Project 2025 (and rightfully so) but I want us all to take this as a call to action, rather than a defeating hopelessness.

Look, I know that “vote” isn’t going to magically fix everything, but in this case, it can seriously help. When you see the goals of Project 2025, I want that to serve you a reminder to GET OUT AND VOTE. VOTE in the presidential election. VOTE for your senators and house representatives. VOTE for your mayors. VOTE for your school board. VOTE for people who are in favor of trans rights. VOTE for people who are anti-censorship. VOTE for people who support access to abortion. VOTE for your own best interests. Vote for America.

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Laphonza Romanique Butler

On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom chose well-known labor organizer and political strategist Laphonza Butler to be the next US Senator from California, following the death of long-serving Senator Dianne Feinstein on September 29, 2023. Butler, who was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris at the US Capitol on October 3, 2023, is the first openly LGBT Senator from California, the first Black lesbian in the US Senate, and the second Black woman to represent California in the Senate, following Vice President Kamala Harris. California must hold two concurrent Senate elections in March 2024: a special election to fill out the rest of Feinstein’s term in spite of there being an appointed Senator, and another election for the full six-year term beginning in January 2025.

Senator Butler’s career path includes labor, corporate, academic, and political engagement. Social justice has been her focus within these varied endeavors. Born in Magnolia, Mississippi, in 1979, Butler comes from a working-class family. Her father was a small business owner who died of a terminal illness when Butler was in high school. She saw her mother become the household’s sole provider for three children, working as a classroom aide, a home care provider, a security guard, and a bookkeeper.

Butler earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Jackson State University in 2001. After graduation she began a career as a labor organizer in several states, working with nurses, custodians, and hospital workers. In accepting her appointment, Butler said that she would strive to honor Feinstein’s legacy by “committing to work for women and girls, workers and unions, struggling parents, and all of California.” Her previous job as President of Emily’s List, which helps elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, means it is likely abortion rights will be an important part of the Democrats’ election strategy in 2024.

In 2009 Butler moved to California where she organized nurses as well as in-home caregivers, and became President of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 2015 of United Long Term Care Workers; she also served as President of the SEIU State Council. Butler has served on the board of the Children’s Defense Fund, the political action committee BlackPAC, and the Bay Area Economic Council Institute think tank. In addition, she is the former director of the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve System, and a former Regent of the University of California.

Butler is married to Neneki Lee. The couple has an 8-year-old daughter. Lee is the National Division Director for Public Services at SEIU. When she became President of Emily’s list in 2021, Butler and her family moved to Maryland while maintaining their home in Los Angeles. As of October, 2023, they have re-domiciled to Los Angeles and Butler has re-registered to vote in California.

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/laphonza-romanique-butler-1979/