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batboyblog · 5 months ago

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Senate Elections 2024!

At the Start of the year I made a post about the US Senate elections this year. However a lot has changed since then (not just that) So I thought I'd make a new version.

How successful a President Kamala Harris is able to be will come down to who controls congress. A Republican House or Senate could frustrate many of the important agenda items Harris wants to get done. Also the Senate is key to appointing Judges, right now many America's rights are being decided in the courts where Trump and Republican appointed Judges are consistently ruling against trans rights, voting rights, abortion rights etc. Any hope of a smooth pipe line of Harris judges depends on the Senate. Senate Control hangs by a knife's edge, there are 6 soft blue seats we have to hold onto, two swing seats Dems are defending, and two soft red seats we can pick up, you can make all the difference!

If you don't live in one of the states below but want to help, you can Donate to the DSCC or sign up to phone bank with the Democrats

Arizona

Ruben Gallego (Hold)

Winning Arizona will be key to the outcome of the 2024 Presidential election. Congressman Ruben Gallego was a leader in the effort to replace Democrat turned Independent Senator Sinema with a real Democrat. Gallego was raised by a single mother, went to Harvard, and is a Marine combat vet. First elected to the Arizona State House in 2010 he advocated for immigrant rights. He was elected to Congress in 2014. Since coming to Congress Gallego has been a progressive voice, gaining attention for blunt attacks on the Trump administration. Republicans nominated around former TV host and conspiracy theorist Kari Lake. Lake rose to become a Republican star by supporting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and Covid. Lake ran for Arizona Governor in 2022 and after losing to Democrat Katie Hobbs she refused to concede and still maintains she won and is the rightful Governor of Arizona. Lake has called Democrats "Demonic", totally opposes abortion in all cases, and is the self proclaimed "Trump candidate". If Gallego is elected not only will he be a reliable Democratic vote and Progressive vote in the Senate, he'd be the first Hispanic to represent Arizona in the Senate, ever. If you live in Arizona please make sure you vote, but more if you have any time between now and November, volunteer to help Gallego! and if you don't live there you can still give.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Florida

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (Flip)

Florida's current Republican senator, Rick Scott, has spent his first term in Congress being one of the most extreme Republicans. Scott has pushed to defund education, roll back Social Security and Medicare, attacked trans rights, and wants to ban Abortion in all cases. Rick Scott is the wealthiest member of Congress and also was in involved in the largest case of Medicare fraud in US history. Scott challenged Mitch McConnell for the leadership of the Senate GOP getting support from extremists like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and JD Vance, and now is running to replace McConnell. Scott won in 2018 with less than 10,000 votes. The Democrat is former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. When she was elected to Congress in 2018 she became the first South American born immigrant and first person of Ecuadorian heritage to be elected to Congress. In Congress Mucarsel-Powell was a member of the Progressive caucus, she fought to expand medicare, and secured $200 million for Everglades restoration. After a narrow defeat in 2020 Mucarsel-Powell joined the gun control advocacy group Giffords to fight for gun control a personal issue for her. If you're in Florida please make sure you vote, and volunteer to help remove one of the most extreme Senators. Everyone else give what you can.

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Maryland

Angela Alsobrooks (Hold)

Maryland is normally an easy Democratic win but two-term Republican former Governor Larry Hogan announced he was running, turning what should be an easy race for Democrats into a real fight. Hogan is trying to sell himself as a Trump septic moderate, but he's endorsed by Trump, JD Vance, and Mitch McConnell. Hogan spent his final year as Governor frustrating Democratic efforts to protect abortion, legalize marijuana, and take serious action on climate change. In the Senate he'll be a vote in the pocket of Republican leadership. The Democrat is Angela Alsobrooks, the executive of Prince George's County. As County Executive Alsobrooks got high marks for her response to Covid. She's worked to expand pre-K to all students in the county, as well expanding health care access including mental health access. As a candidate for Senate Alsobrooks has been a strong supporter of Abortion rights, pushing for more action on gun violence, and has been a strong supporter of LGBT rights her whole political life. After Vice-President Harris left the Senate there were no black women represented in the upper house. Together with Delaware's Lisa Blunt Rochester Alsobrooks could make history, if both are elected this year it'll be the first time ever that two black women have served at the same time in the US Senate. If you're in Maryland make sure to get out to vote, to volunteer as much as you're able, and everyone give whatever you can to protect abortion rights and support progressive black women!

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Michigan

Elissa Slotkin (Hold)

Michigan is a critical 2024 swing state. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is running to replace retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow. Slotkin worked for the CIA, the State Department, and the Department of Defense rising to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Obama. She is fluent in Arabic and Swahili. First elected to Congress in 2018 Slotkin won and has been re-elected repeatedly to represent a swing district, becoming the first Democrat elected there since 1998. In Congress Slotkin has supported gun control, and ending money in politics. Her national security experience made her an important voice pushing for the first impeachment of Trump in 2019. She gained national attention for holding open town halls on her choice to vote to impeach Trump facing down Republican protesters. In her run for Senate Slotkin has continued to stress her support for gun legislation, ending money in politics and stresses protecting the right to choose. Republicans have consolidated around former Congressman Mike Rogers. Rogers retired to Florida after his time in the House only moving back last year to run for Senate. During his time in Congress Rogers tried twice to ban the abortion pill mifepristone. Rogers is endorsed by Trump and controversial former Detroit Police Chief James Craig. If you're in Michigan vote to protect the right to choose and stop a Trump Republican, and make sure to volunteer as much as you can, and every give what you can to help win this key swing state.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Montana

Jon Tester (Re-elect)

Normally deep red Montana represents one of the hardest Senate seats for Democrats to hang onto. Jon Tester is the only Democrat to hold statewide office or represent Montana in Congress. Elected narrowly in 2006 Tester has beaten the odds time and time again and is trying again. In his time in the Senate Tester has been a consistent voice for small farmers and local businesses against big corporations and mega companies. Tester has fought against corruption and for openness, and is one of the most effective members of Congress consistently having the most bills past into law of any member of Congress. Republicans have embraced an ultra wealthy former CEO, Tim Sheehy as their nominee to unseat Tester. Sheehy was caught lying about being shot in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL, when he in fact accidentally shot himself at Glacier National Park in Montana. Past his embarrassing war wound story, Sheehy is an ultra rich CEO who has spent 2 million of his own money on the race so far. Sheehy has been endorsed by Trump, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sheehy wants to ban all abortion, repeal Obamacare, and remove any limits on gun ownership, despite having shot himself. If you can only donate to two races, this and Ohio are the most important, if you can only donate to one? flip a coin. Everyone in Montana make sure you get out to vote and just as important volunteer, there will be no Presidential or Governor or any other campaign to help Tester along its all on him, and everyone give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Nevada

Jacky Rosen (Re-elect)

Nevada is a critical swing state in the 2024 election. Jacky Rosen first came to Congress flipping a Red House seat in 2016 and then unseating a Republican Senator in 2018. Since coming to Congress Rosen has been a champion for turning Nevada into a clean energy leader. She's also has helped pass gun control legislation and is a fierce advocate the right to choose. Republicans have nominated Army veteran and conservative influencer Sam Brown to run against Rosen. Brown unsuccessfully ran in a Republican primary for the Texas State House in 2014, and for the Republican nomination for US Senate in Nevada in 2022. Now with the endorsement of Donald Trump Brown finally managed to win a primary. Sam Brown is the only Republican candidate Trump mentioned in his 92 minute convention speech at the RNC. Brown wants to roll back Nevada's Green energy progress and boost fossil fuels, he also wants to roll back any and all restrictions on guns. If you're in Nevada make sure to get out and vote, and volunteer to keep this key Senate seat out of the hands of a Trump Republican. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Ohio

Sherrod Brown (Re-elect)

Ohio is one of the hardest senate seats for Democrats to defend this year. Senator Sherrod Brown has been the only statewide elected Democrat in Ohio since 2011. First elected to Congress in 1992 and to the Senate in 2006 Brown has defied the odds by being a popular Progressive in an ever more Red state. Brown consistently ranks along side Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as one of the most left wing Senators. From his first days in Congress Brown refused the Congressional health plan, repeatedly introducing single payer health care bills going back to the 1990s. Brown has been a proud and consistent ally of Unions, particularly the UAW, and tough on banks and big business. Republicans have nominated used car salesman and crypto enthusiast Bernie Moreno. Moreno is a weirdo, he accused LGBT activists of a "radical agenda of indoctrination" and then got caught looking for "men for 1-on-1 sex" on AdultFriendFinder. Moreno supports a federal abortion ban, has been sued by former employees for wage thief and discrimination, and wants to end birth right citizenship. Moreno has been endorsed by Turning Point USA, Donald Trump Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Kari Lake, Ted Cruz, JD Vance, and of course Donald Trump. If you're in Ohio make sure you get out to vote, and volunteer to support a great Senator. Everyone outside of Ohio give what you can, if you can only donate to two campaigns this and Montana need it the most, if you can only give to one, flip a coin.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Pennsylvania

Bob Casey (Re-elect)

Pennsylvania is a key swing state in the 2024 Presidential election. Bob Casey was first elected to the Senate in 2006 defeating right wing extremist Rick Santorum by the largest margin in state history. Starting his career as a moderate to conservative Democrat Casey has become a strong advocate for gun control since 2012 voting for every gun control measure to reach the Senate. Casey also made strong opposition to the Trump administration a cornerstone of time in office. While personally pro-life, Casey has endorsed the right to choose and voted codify abortion rights. Casey has been a leading critic of corporate greed during the inflation and authored a bill to ban shrinkflation. Republicans have nominated multi-millionaire former CEO and Bush administration official David McCormick. McCormick served in the Treasury under George W. Bush, his wife worked at the NSC under Trump. He lived in Westport, Connecticut as the CEO of an investment management firm, till he decided he wanted to be a US Senator in 2022 and he moved to Pennsylvania. He lost the 2022 GOP primary to Dr. Oz and is giving another go in 2024. McCormick is endorsed by George W. Bush, Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum, Karl Rove, Doug Mastriano, Jim Jordan, and of course Donald Trump. If you're in Pennsylvania make sure you get out to vote, and to volunteer to keep Pennsylvania blue. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Texas

Colin Allred (Flip)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz might be the most hated man in politics. Since his election in 2012 Cruz has been on a single minded mission to be totally unlikeable. Shutting down the government under President Obama, endorsing Trump after Trump insulted his wife, supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, fleeing his state to go on vacation in Mexico after an ice storm and power outage (and abandoning his dog), blaming the Uvalde school shooting on video games, yes Ted Cruz really has done it all. Cruz is one of the most right wing members of the Senate and a loud Trump supporter. Last election in 2018 Cruz barely hung onto his seat and Democrats are hoping with 6 more years of radicalism Texans are ready for change. Democrats have nominated Congressman Colin Allred. Allred is a former professional footballer, played Linebacker for the Tennessee Titans. After football Allred went to law school, and got a job with the Obama Administration. In 2018 he won an upset victory unseating an 11 term Republican in a district that had been Republican since 1968. In Congress Allred fought for gun reform, to keep down the price of proscription drugs, and invest in American infrastructure. In his run for Senate he's standing up for the right to choose against one of the most radically anti-abortion Republicans in the country. If you're in Texas make sure you vote and volunteer to give Ted Cruz the boot, and everyone give what you can to get Blue Texas.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Wisconsin

Tammy Baldwin (Re-elect)

Wisconsin is a critical swing state in the 2024 Presidential election. Senator Tammy Baldwin is a historic trailblazer, when she was first elected to Congress in 1998 she was the first woman to ever represent Wisconsin in Congress, the first open Lesbian elected to Congress, and the first openly gay non-incumbent to be elected to Congress. She co-founded the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. When she was elected to the US Senate in 2012 she was the first and is still the only openly gay person ever elected to the Senate. Past her advocacy for LGBT rights Baldwin has been a progressive her whole time in Congress endorsing single-payer health care, and being a strong voice for abortion rights. Republicans are supporting a California bank owner and weirdo named Eric Hovde. Strange mustache owner Hovde has attacked trans kids, flip flopped on abortion (totally against, now open to some abortion), and insulted farmers as "not hardworking" and thats why the retirement age should be 72. If you're in Wisconsin make sure to vote and volunteer to protect a progressive trailblazer and stop a California weirdo banker. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Where ever you live in the US there is a critical race happening, so please check out ways to Volunteer and where ever you live there are options to phone bank text bank write letters or postcards to voters (postcards 2) but like I said wherever you are there are local candidates who need your help, and if you live in any of these critical states please give your time and energy.

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justinspoliticalcorner · 8 days ago

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Cecilia Nowell at The Guardian:

On the campaign trail this year, Donald Trump routinely criticized US media. The president-elect called for CBS to be stripped of its broadcast license after it aired an interview with Kamala Harris, refused to participate in an interview with 60 Minutes and routinely called journalists the “enemy of the people”. But perhaps no American media has attracted as much ire from the president-elect as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – a non-profit corporation created by federal law in 1967 to distribute funding to public media organizations like PBS and NPR.

“NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in April. “THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!” As the Trump prepares to take office next month, public media organizations – such as NPR and PBS, which have aired longtime favorites such as Curious George and All Things Considered – are readying themselves for funding cuts and other attacks against their programming. After Trump was re-elected in November, NPR member stations circulated a report warning that “it would be unwise to assume that events will play out as they have in the past” where funding is concerned, the New York Times reported Friday, and PBS board members received an update from political consultants earlier this month. Trump and his allies have repeatedly called for the federal government to cut all funding to public media. In March 2017, Trump called for Congress to cut all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the first proposed budget of his presidency – a call he repeated throughout his presidency.

In response to a 2020 effort to defund public media, the PBS president and CEO, Paula Kerger, issued a statement noting that “PBS and our member stations have earned bipartisan Congressional support because of the vital role that public television plays in homes and communities across the country. For 50 years, PBS has served as a trusted source for educational and thought-provoking programming, including school readiness initiatives for children, support for teachers and caregivers, public safety communications and lifelong learning across broadcast and digital platforms.” But the conservative playbook Project 2025 has continued echoing conservative calls to cut funding to PBS and NPR, stating that the new Trump administration should strip public media of federal funding and licenses for noncommercial education stations.

[...] In November, shortly after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Musk coauthored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with Vivek Ramaswamy (the two have been tasked with leading a “department of government efficiency”, an agency Trump claims he will create). In it, the pair identified the $535m Congress allocates each year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as one line item they would cut to reduce federal expenditures. As recently as this week, Musk posted on X that “legacy media must die”. Although these attacks against public media are growing more concerted, they’re not new. Every Republican administration has aimed to defund public media since the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was founded. American public media traces its origins to the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, passed under Lyndon B Johnson’s administration. A public-private partnership, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting connects 1,190 public radio stations and 356 public television stations with federal grants, allowing those stations to maintain editorial independence and also raise funds from members and sponsorships. Today, 99% of the US population lives within listening range of at least one public media station.

The attacks on NPR and PBS should worry us all, as it is part of Donald Trump's authoritarian war on press freedom.

#Trump Administration II #NPR #PBS #Donald Trump #CPB #Corporation For Public Broadcasting #Project 2025 #War On The Press #Public Broadcasting Act #Television

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mariacallous · 2 months ago

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“Make cats safe again” read the MAGA-style baseball caps perched on the heads of five AI-generated felines printed on a black T-shirt alongside a Trump 2024 banner. It’s yours for just $29.99 (10 percent off if you order three) from United Patriot, an online store that proclaims it is “not afraid to speak the truth!”

The T-shirt may seem innocuous enough. But its slogan references a racist lie, spread by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been eating local pets. The false claims have led to a wave of xenophobic abuse including bomb threats and vandalism against the local Haitian community.

The item is also one of thousands being sold by a group of online operators who are targeting the US election using hate, lies, and conspiracy theories, all to make a quick buck.

United Patriot is one of four ecommerce companies identified by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) that have been advertising merchandise, often aimed at Trump supporters, using different levels of misinformation and hate speech.

They have collectively paid to publish over 15,000 “political” ads that have racked up millions of impressions on Facebook. And though the operations present themselves as patriotic outlets selling US products, TBIJ has found evidence suggesting many are being at least partly run from overseas.

Both operations are just examples of a bigger global problem that goes far beyond one election in one country.

“Evidence has shown that we engage more with content that is provocative and emotionally charged,” says Hannah Perry, digital policy head of research at think tank Demos. “Because algorithms on platforms such as Facebook are designed to optimize for engagement—keeping us on platforms for longer and prolonging our exposure to advertising—such algorithms disproportionately surface inflammatory and divisive content.

“Actors will no doubt target the US election to attract an outsized audience relative to other domestic stories.”

The operations we identified are all enabled by the economics of the internet, which encourage workers from Nigeria to the Philippines to the US to amplify hate and falsehoods to millions in the pursuit of profit. And they show how people simply out to make money currently have their sights set on one of the most finely balanced elections in history.

From Biden to Betting Scams

“A White House video in which Joe Biden goes 45 seconds without blinking is raising serious questions about who is currently serving as president of the United States,” says a presenter over a picture of the current president, claiming he has been dead since June 2022.

The video, produced by The People’s Voice channel on the video platform Rumble, is clearly aimed at capturing conspiracy-minded Americans. It is just one of hundreds of US-focused posts hosted on a network of Facebook pages run largely from Nigeria aimed at extracting money for sports betting scams. Twenty-five of the most active pages identified by TBIJ have amassed more than 669,000 followers, more than doubling from 290,000 followers last year.

An investigation by Nigerian media outlet HumAngle reported in September that the wider network, which may be as large as 240 Facebook pages, appears to scam people out of money by offering them the opportunity to profit from high-odd bets placed on what the pages say are “fixed” sports matches. Despite HumAngle’s reporting, 199 of the accounts remained active with a combined following of more than 2.7 million accounts.

To attract users to these scams, the pages have been boosting engagement by publishing political content—in particular, conspiracy theories and false claims about the US presidential race. Some posts falsely claimed Kamala Harris, the sitting US vice president and 2024 Democratic nominee, is a man. Others focused on the idea that natural disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton were engineered by Democratic leaders to prevent people from voting in swing states. Both are conspiracy theories that have gained traction in the last few months.

The pages have co-opted the branding of hacktivist movement Anonymous, an ostensibly anti-establishment group of online activists and hackers that rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Wearing masks similar to those adopted by the movement (originally taken from the film and comic book series V for Vendetta), those behind the scams will often overlay footage of themselves over clips pushing disinformation.

But while they align themselves with a political movement and push political falsehoods, they are using them to make money.

Daniel Roberts, a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta, tells TBIJ: “Scammers persistently target people online and in the real world—and that’s why we work with governments, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies to deter bad actors. This is a highly adversarial space, and we continue to update our enforcement systems to respond to evolving scammer behavior. We are reviewing the accounts shared with us and will enforce against any that violate our policies.”

Promoting Popularity

Online marketing, whether it is promoting legitimate goods, hateful T-shirts, or attempts to scam people out of their money, relies on getting people to see posts. Social media algorithms tend to boost content that they predict will attract a lot of attention.

In recent years, it has become clear that conspiracy theories, misinformation, and hate are very good at tapping into the emotions that drive this kind of engagement. And that, in turn, means that anyone with something to sell is incentivized to push that kind of content to boost their profits. Post something that receives a high level of engagement (say, a conspiracy theory) and it’s more likely that your other content will be promoted by the algorithm.

Other posts on the Nigerian network’s pages claim to be able to foresee the future. Predictions about politics or natural disasters are published alongside their claims to deliver returns on high-risk bets. They also often post “testimonials”—short videos depicting people thanking the pages’ operators for “changing their lives” through fixed sports betting. All are gimmicks to lure in new targets for sports bettings scams.

According to a conversation with the admins of one of the pages, a ticket to participate in the fixed betting would cost someone $4,250. A “mini-ticket” costs $2,100. TBIJ obtained a bitcoin address used by one such page with about 70,000 followers and found that the wallet had facilitated nearly $1 million worth of transactions. These schemes have been used to scam many Nigerians and others over the years, according to HumAngle.

The target market, however, is far more global.

As the US election has gained pace, the volume of content on the network of sites aimed at US citizens has ramped up, with the pages trying to remain relevant by referencing new events.

Many posts piggyback on false claims about US government relief available to hurricane victims, such as the Trump campaign’s claims that relief funding was restricted because the money was instead going to immigrants or to the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression. “I hate that our government never runs out of money for illegals and foreign wars. But runs out of money to help struggling Americans,” one post reads.

Another shows an AI-generated picture of Trump standing in a flooded area and handing toilet paper to the victims, captioned, “a picture they don’t want you to see.”

Profiting off Patriotism

Like the Nigerian network, other similar ecommerce merch stores rely heavily on Facebook for their marketing and promote similar conspiracy theories in order to gain traction.

Many of the ads run by United Patriot include graphics that reference and promote destroying the pride flag, misogynistic slurs against Harris, transphobia, anti-vaccine logos, anti-Ukrainian sentiment, gun ownership, and mentions of the “stolen election.”

Misogyny aimed at Harris regularly featured in ads run by another of the sites, which also sells merchandise containing anti-trans slurs. Another of the sites posted a video falsely claiming Dominion voting machines helped steal the election from Trump.

The messages, potentially misleading US citizens or stoking hate towards various groups, will have been seen by many times more people than actually made a purchase.

Those running the network of Facebook pages in Nigeria may simply believe that US-focused clickbait is the best way to boost the number of people who see their scams. In contrast, the ecommerce operations identified by TBIJ give every impression that they are proudly American.

Yet analysis of their listed physical addresses and online presence suggests that the businesses are at least partly run from Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, and Croatia (with Facebook page admins based in those countries). None of the ecommerce sites identified by TBIJ provided a US address that could be tied to their business.

United Patriot, which says its “patriotic collection of amazing apparel items … are all printed locally here in America,” claims on its Facebook page and website to be located at an address in Gardena, California. However, TBIJ could not find proof of that business registered at the address. The only other commercial activity found at the address was a warehouse providing services for wholesale shipments for people based overseas, as well as two online stores that have been accused in Google reviews of being scams.

The Better Business Bureau, a nonprofit focused on “marketplace trust,” told United Patriots in November 2022 that it should change or substantiate claims made on its website about items “printed in the US.”

Another such site, Red First LLC, says it is based in Carrollton, Texas, at the same address as a fraudulent merchant claiming to resell Ralph Lauren clothing. This does not necessarily mean the companies are owned by the same person, but suggests the address may have been used by scammers.

Nor are all these operations strictly pushing right-wing messages. Red First LLC (which trafficks notably less in hate and misinformation than the other three companies) has created at least 5,000 ads over the last two years. While it promotes mostly right-wing merchandise and content, such as T-shirts bearing misogynistic insults toward Harris and signs suggesting the 2020 election was stolen, it has also in a small number of cases posted pro-Harris content. The commercial imperative behind the operation means it isn’t averse to backing the other side.

Meta Under Scrutiny

As attempts to influence public opinion and elections have ramped up across social media, companies such as Facebook owner Meta have come under scrutiny for the role they play in hosting bad actors trying to polarize public opinion on their platforms.

In 2021, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, blew the whistle on the company’s role in spreading disinformation and the increase in racial hatred. Numerous studies have also shown that social media platforms’ algorithms, including Facebook’s, create bigger engagement opportunities for far-right, conspiratorial, and hateful content.

“The US election is an already fraught and divisive political event. If the aim of these scammers is to bring people in, then appealing directly to emotion to circumvent media criticality is key,” says Joe Ondrak, senior research and technology lead at anti-disinformation startup Logically.

“There is likely a large pool of potential victims and easily exploitable narratives for them to choose from. The way algorithms reward engagement means that misinformation, conspiracy theory, and hate speech are easy ways to find a wide audience.”

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darkmaga-returns · 2 months ago

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News Items is “the most valuable newsletter out there.” — Peggy Noonan.

1. Of the counties with nearly complete results, more than 90 percent shifted in favor of former President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election, according to a Times analysis of election results reported as of early Wednesday. Mr. Trump improved on his 2020 margin in 2,367 counties. His margin decreased in only 240 counties. There were 536 counties where too few votes had been counted to be included in the analysis. Support for Mr. Trump over his three consecutive presidential runs has swayed back and forth, but early results showed that even a number of states where Vice President Kamala Harris was ahead had shifted right. (Source: nytimes.com)

2. Map:

(Sources: nytimes.com. The Guardian has terrific “arrow maps” as well. There is no paywall at theguardian.com)

3. Hispanic counties have long been Democratic strongholds in Texas. Yet this year, all but one of the of the state’s majority-Hispanic counties shifted to the right. And eight of the 10 counties Trump flipped were majority Hispanic. (Source: nytimes.com)

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newstfionline · 3 months ago

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Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Nerves frayed in Canada and Mexico over US trade relations (BBC) As Americans prepare to vote for their next president, Canadians and Mexicans are watching on nervously. The two-way trade of goods between the US and Mexico totalled $807bn (£621bn) last year, making Mexico the US’s biggest trading partner when it comes to physical items. Meanwhile, the US’s goods trade with Canada in 2023 was in second place on $782bn. By comparison the figure for the US and China was $576bn. Mexico and Canada’s future trade with the US could be impacted if Donald Trump wins the US election. This is because he is proposing to introduce substantial import tariffs. These would be 60% for goods from China, and 20% on products from all other countries, apparently including Mexico and Canada. By contrast, Kamala Harris is widely expected to maintain the current more open trade policies of President Biden. This is despite the fact she voted against the 2020 United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) free trade deal, saying it didn’t go far enough on tackling climate change. Trump and Harris have “starkly different visions for the future of US economic relations with the world”, said one study in September.

Inside the Last-Ditch Hunt by Harris and Trump for Undecided Voters (NYT) Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump are carrying out a virtual house-to-house hunt for the final few voters who are still up for grabs, guided by months of painstaking research about these elusive Americans. Inside the Delaware headquarters of Ms. Harris’s campaign, analysts have spent 18 months curating a list of which television shows and podcasts voters consume in the battleground states. Her team has assigned every voter in these states a “contactability score” from 0 to 100 to determine just how hard that person will be to reach—and who is best to deliver her closing message. The results are guiding Ms. Harris’s media and travel schedule, as well as campaign stops by brand-name supporters. For instance, the movie star Julia Roberts and the basketball great Magic Johnson earned high marks among certain voters, so they have been deployed to swing states. At Mr. Trump’s headquarters, in South Florida, his team recently refreshed its model of the battleground electorate and found that just 5 percent of voters were still undecided, half as many as in August. The Trump team calls them the “target persuadables”—younger, more racially diverse people with lower incomes who tend to use streaming services and social media. Mr. Trump has made appearance after appearance on those platforms, including on podcasts aimed at young men.

A Nationwide Blackout, Now a Hurricane. How Much Can Cuba Endure? (NYT) The lights came back on Sunday night in Lidia Núñez Gómez’s Havana neighborhood—the first time since Friday morning—so she rushed to use her electric cooker to save the frozen chicken legs and pork her son had sent her from the United States. Meat is scarce, the power was sure to go out again soon, and Ms. Núñez, 81, needed to keep food from rotting. Her daughter, Nilza Valdés Núñez, 61, fury in her voice and tears in her eyes, took stock of months of power outages, plus food and gas shortages. With a hurricane slamming the eastern coast of the country and a four-day blackout that plunged the entire country into darkness, she summed up the past few days like this: “super bad.” “The lack of electricity, of gas, and all the other problems we have here,” Ms. Valdés said, pausing to weep, “make you feel bad.” Cuba, a Communist country long accustomed to shortages of all kinds and spotty electrical service, is in the throes of a crisis so severe that experts say it threatens to explode into social unrest.

Peru’s ex-president Toledo gets more than 20 years in prison in case linked to corruption scandal (AP) Peru’s former President Alejandro Toledo on Monday was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison in a case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which became synonymous with corruption across Latin America, where it paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials and others. Authorities accused Toledo of accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for allowing the construction of a highway in the South American country. Odebrecht, which built some of Latin America’s most crucial infrastructure projects, admitted to U.S. authorities in 2016 to having bought government contracts throughout the region with generous bribes. The investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice spun probes in several countries, including Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador.

Once You Try a Four-Day Workweek, It’s Hard to Go Back (Bloomberg) Germany’s brief experiment with a four-day workweek is over, but for many of the businesses that participated, there’s no going back. “I don’t want to work on Fridays anymore. I just don’t,” says Sören Fricke, co-founder of event planner Solidsense. “Friday has actually become the third day of the weekend. You only work if there is no other option.” Solidsense is one of 45 companies that participated in the six-month trial, during which employees worked fewer hours but still received their full paycheck. In the end, 73% of the participants said they’re prepared to make the change permanent or extend the experiment.

Putin Brings Together Economies He Hopes Will Eclipse the West (NYT) After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the West imposed sweeping economic sanctions, cut its access to the global banking system, and sought to isolate Russia diplomatically from the rest of the world. But President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is determined to show the West that he has important allies on his side. This week Russia is hosting the so-called BRICS group—which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—in a gathering of emerging market countries. The meeting, which begins Tuesday, has expanded this year to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Its wonky name notwithstanding (it was coined by a Wall Street banker in 2001), BRICS now includes countries representing almost half the world’s population and more than 35 percent of global economic output, adjusted by purchasing power. The conference is intended to present a hefty showcase of economic might but also entice new countries into a coalition Russia hopes to build that would form a new world order not dominated by the West.

King Charles III ends first Australian visit by a reigning British monarch in 13 years (AP) King Charles III ends the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch in 13 years Tuesday as anti-monarchists hope the debate surrounding his journey is a step toward an Australian citizen becoming head of state. Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, watched dancers perform at a Sydney Indigenous community center. The couple used tongs to cook sausages at a community barbecue lunch at the central suburb of Parramatta and later shook the hands of well-wishers for the last time during their visit outside the Sydney Opera House. Their final engagement was an inspection of navy ships on Sydney Harbor in an event known as a fleet review. Charles’s trip to Australia was scaled down because he is undergoing cancer treatment. He arrives in Samoa on Wednesday.

Hug it out, but make it quick. New Zealand airport sets time limit on goodbyes (AP) Emotional farewells are a common sight at airports, but travelers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to be quick. A new three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the airport’s drop-off area is intended to prevent lingering cuddles from causing traffic jams. “Max hug time three minutes,” warn signs outside the terminal, adding that those seeking “fonder farewells” should head to the airport’s parking lot instead. The cuddle cap was imposed in September to “keep things moving smoothly” in the redesigned passenger drop-off area outside the airport, CEO Dan De Bono told The Associated Press on Tuesday. It was the airport’s way of reminding people that the zone was for “quick farewells” only. But passengers need not worry unduly about enforcement. “We do not have hug police,” De Bono said. Visitors might, however, be asked to move their lingering embraces to the parking lot, where they can cuddle free of charge for up to 15 minutes.

Blinken heads to the Middle East for the 11th time since the Gaza war (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading again to the Middle East, making his 11th trip to the region since the war in Gaza erupted last year and as Israel steps up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The State Department said Blinken would depart Monday for a weeklong trip to Israel. His other stops are likely to include Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, officials say. Since the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Israeli response, Blinken has traveled to the Middle East 10 other times seeking an end to the crisis. His previous trips have yielded little in the way of ending hostilities, but he has managed to increase aid deliveries to Gaza in the past.

Israel’s wars are expensive (AP) On top of the grievous toll in human life and misery, Israel’s war against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups has been expensive, and the painfully high financial costs are raising concerns about the long-term effect of the fighting on the country’s economy. The Israeli government is spending much more per month on the military, from $1.8 billion before Hamas started the fighting by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, to around $4.7 billion by the end of last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In the three months after Hamas attacked, Israel’s economic output shrank 5.6%, the worst performance of any of the 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of mostly rich nations. The war has inflicted an even heavier toll on Gaza’s already broken economy, where 90% of the population has been displaced and the vast majority of the workforce is unemployed. The West Bank economy has also been hit hard, where tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers lost their jobs in Israel after Oct. 7 and Israeli military raids and checkpoints have hindered movement. The World Bank says the West Bank economy contracted by 25% in the first quarter.

The fear, loathing and excitement surrounding AI in the workplace (AP) Artificial intelligence’s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them. Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.

#headlines #news

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 10 months ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 8, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 9, 2024

Last night, Republicans and Democrats offered very different visions of the roles and rights of women in American society.

In the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden thanked Vice President Kamala Harris “for being an incredible leader defending reproductive freedom and so much more.” Biden condemned “state laws banning the freedom to choose, criminalizing doctors, forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states to get the treatment they need,” and he called out Republicans “promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom.”

Biden quoted back to the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court, sitting in front of him in the chamber, their words when in June 2022 they overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion.

The justices wrote: “Women are not without electoral or political power.”

Biden responded: “You’re about to realize just how much you were right about that.” “Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women. But they found out. When reproductive freedom was on the ballot, we won in 2022 and 2023. And we’ll win again in 2024.” Biden promised to restore Roe v. Wade if Americans elect a Congress that supports the right to choose.

Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) gave the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union address. Sitting in a kitchen rather than in a setting that reflected her position in one of the nation’s highest elected offices, Britt conspicuously wore a necklace with a cross and spoke in a breathy, childlike voice as she wavered between smiles and the suggestion she was on the verge of tears.

“What the hell am I watching right now?” an unnamed Trump advisor asked Nikki McCann Ramirez and Asawin Suebsaeng of Rolling Stone.

Britt’s performance was the logical outcome of right-wing demonization of women’s rights advocates since the 1960s. That popular demonization began soon after women calling for “liberation” from the strict gender roles of the post–World War II years protested the 1968 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The protesters tossed items related to women’s roles as homemakers and sex symbols—bras, girdles, pots and pans, and Playboy magazines—into a trash can. That act so horrified traditionalists that a journalist likened the women to young men burning their draft cards, starting the myth that the protesting women had burned their bras.

Two years later, with his popularity dropping before the 1972 election, President Richard Nixon wooed Catholic Democrats by abandoning his support for abortion rights. The following March, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, declaring that “[e]quality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex,” and sent it off to the states for ratification.

Advocates of traditional gender roles used abortion as a proxy to attack women’s rights in general. Railing against the Equal Rights Amendment in her first statement on abortion in 1972, activist Phyllis Schlafly did not mention fetuses, but instead attacked “women’s lib”—the women’s liberation movement—which she claimed was “a total assault on the role of the American woman as wife and mother, and on the family as the basic unit of society.”

The Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, including women in the ranks of marginalized Americans whose civil rights were protected by the federal government. Since the 1950s, opponents of such federal protection for Black and Brown Americans had tied such federal action to communism because it meant the government used tax dollars for the benefit of specific groups. In their minds, this amounted to a redistribution of wealth from hardworking taxpayers to undeserving special interests.

The cultural backlash to the idea of women’s equality strengthened. In 1974 the television show Little House on the Prairie, based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, began its nine-year run. It portrayed western women as wives and mothers cared for by menfolk, complementing the image of the cowboy individualist championed by the antigovernment right wing.

As historian Peggy O’Donnell noted in Jezebel in 2019, prairie dresses, with their image of “traditional” femininity and motherhood, the female version of cowboy clothing, became fashionable, even as the era’s popular televangelists railed against feminists.

Constantly evoking the image of the western cowboy, Ronald Reagan won the White House. Four years later, sociologist Kristin Luker discovered that "pro-life" activists believed that selfish “pro-choice” women were denigrating the roles of wife and mother and were demanding rights they didn’t need or deserve.

Increasingly, Republicans portrayed women who demanded equality as a special interest made up of feminist scolds who wanted federal support they did not deserve. In 1984, when Democratic presidential candidate Walter “Fritz” Mondale tapped the very well qualified Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate, opponents circulated fake campaign buttons backing “Fritz and Tits,” and even 60 percent of Democrats thought Ferraro was there only because Mondale was under pressure from women's groups who wanted special legislation.

Powerful women either fell out of public view or were pilloried for intruding on a man’s world as those opposing women’s equality portrayed women either as wives and mothers, who looked to their husbands for financial security and safety, or as sex objects available for men’s pleasure.

By 1988, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh had begun to demonize women’s rights advocates as “feminazis” for whom “the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur.” After the 1993 siege of the headquarters of a religious cult near Waco, Texas, that left 76 people dead and inspired the rise of right-wing militias to resist the federal government, Limbaugh emphasized that the attorney general who ordered the operation was the first female attorney general: Janet Reno.

Such rhetoric turned out Republican voters, especially the white evangelical base, and after it launched in 1996, the Fox News Channel (FNC) reinforced the idea that individualist men should be running society. Most FNC personalities were older men; the network’s female personalities were young, beautiful, and deferential. (FNC chair and chief executive officer Roger Ailes resigned in 2016 after accounts emerged of alleged sexual harassment.)

By 2016 the competing ideologies concerning the role of women in American society were encapsulated by the contest between Donald Trump and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton was highly educated and extremely well qualified. She advocated protecting the rights of women and minorities and warned that Trump would pack the Supreme Court with extremists who would undermine abortion rights. She provided detailed policy papers.

Trump, in turn, bragged of sexual assault and called for Clinton to be arrested: “Lock her up!” became the call and response at his rallies. Ending access to abortion had become the rallying cry for the evangelicals who supported Trump, and he promised to end those rights, even flirting with the idea of criminal punishments for women seeking abortions. Far from being disqualifying, Trump’s denigration of women embodied the sort of traditional gender roles fundamentalists embraced.

Once in office, Trump nominated and the Republican-dominated Senate confirmed three radical Supreme Court justices who in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, taking away the recognition of a constitutional right Americans had enjoyed for almost 50 years.

When Britt delivered the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union from a kitchen, wearing a cross and using a submissive speaking style, she represented the outcome of the longstanding opposition to women’s equal rights in the United States.

The Democrats’ position last night was a sharp contrast. Biden stood in front of the nation’s first female vice president as he denounced the Republican assault on women’s rights. He warned the country: “America cannot go back.”

Perfect timing for today’s celebration of International Women’s Day.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN'

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#letters from an american #heather cox richardson #women's rights #history #women's history #human rights #resist #anti-woman GOP #anti-equality GOP #cultural backlash #US History #equal rights amendment

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svgoceandesigns1 · 2 months ago

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Kamala Harris For The People 2024 SVG, Dancing Girl Vintage SVG PNG, Cricut File, Instant Download File, Cricut File Silhouette Art, Logo Design, Designs For Shirts. ♥ Welcome to SVG OCEAN DESIGNS Store! ♥ ► PLEASE NOTE: – Since this item is digital, no physical product will be sent to you. – Your files will be ready to download immediately after your purchase. Once payment has been completed, SVG Ocean Designs will send you an email letting you know your File is ready for Download. You may also check your Order/Purchase History on SVG Ocean Designs website and it should be available for download there as well. – Please make sure you have the right software required and knowledge to use this graphic before making your purchase. – Due to monitor differences and your printer settings, the actual colors of your printed product may vary slightly. – Due to the digital nature of this listing, there are “no refunds or exchanges”. – If you have a specific Design you would like made, just message me! I will be more than glad to create a Custom Oder for you. ► YOU RECEIVE: This listing includes a zip file with the following formats: – SVG File (check your software to confirm it is compatible with your machine): Includes wording in both white and black (SVG only). Other files are black wording. – PNG File: PNG High Resolution 300 dpi Clipart (transparent background – resize smaller and slightly larger without loss of quality). – DXF: high resolution, perfect for print and many more. – EPS: high resolution, perfect for print, Design and many more. ► USAGE: – Can be used with Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Cameo, Silhouette Studio, Adobe Illustrator, ...and any other software or machines that work with SVG/PNG files. Please make sDisney Father's Dayure your machine and software are compatible before purchasing. – You can edit, resize and change colors in any vector or cutting software like Inkscape, Adobe illustrator, Cricut design space, etc. SVG cut files are perfect for all your DIY projects or handmade businDisney Father's Dayess Product. You can use them for T-shirts, scrapbooks, wall vinyls, stickers, invitations cards, web and more!!! Perfect for T-shirts, iron-ons, mugs, printables, card making, scrapbooking, etc. ►TERMS OF USE: – NO refunds on digital products. Please contact me if you experience any problems with the purchase. – Watermark and wood background won’t be shown in the downloaded files. – Please DO NOT resell, distribute, share, copy, or reproduce my designs. – Customer service and satisfaction is our top priority. If you have any questions before placing orders, please contact with us via email "[email protected]". – New products and latest trends =>> Click Here . Thank you so much for visiting our store! SVG OCEAN DESIGNS Read the full article

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lordprophet · 2 months ago

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Marketplace Behavioral Choices as an Election Outcome Barometer & Informal Voter Poll as Relates to Donald Trump's Recent Major Business Ventures Bode Against His Electability as US President

Marketplace Behavioral Choices as an Election Outcome Barometer & Informal Voter Poll as Relates to Donald Trump's Recent Major Business Ventures, Cryptocurrency & Truth/er Social, Bode Against His Electability as US President

(Click on the herewith hyperlink to read the above healdline-related news article: https://www.newser.com/story/357929/trump-crypto-launch-doesnt-live-up-to-hype.html )

If this bad news on Donald Trump's foray into the cryptocurrency market and the shockingly far-below-expectations, of market analysts, in the resultant actual low level of investment participation in it by the Trump-friendly investor market, as well as that of the recent sharp declines in both the value of the stock and company of his social media platform Truth/er Social ( https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-shares-donald-trump-truth-social-82d8839bb5f5a96e93e2404399ead072 ), is or are an election outcome behavioral barometer and informal political-voting trendline poll and thereof harbinger of the strength of support and unity of the GOP and plutocrat-class constituencies and their loyalty and enthusiasm for financially-and-morally-bankruptcy-legacy Donald Trump in actually voting for him (grandpa madman, bully, demagogue, misogynist, sexual-harasser, dirty-old-man-lecher Donald Trump) to be elected US president again (after a hiatus from the US presidency by rejection of him for reelection by a large majority of the votes of the electorate and Electoral College in the 11/2020 US presidential election) in the upcoming 11-05-2024 US presidential election, then I would not bet on his election to that office again or would bet a low-wager-to-high-returns ratio on him being elected or flat out bet against him. Election politics-related behavioral quasi-voting, such as the above referenced marketplace voting, or choosing, may be found to be competitive with traditional expert enterprise political election polling. We shall know soon.

Moreover, numbers of individual voter, as well as total amounts of, political support contributions of money to competing candidates or referendum/a initiatives are an informal poll and indicator of the electorate's voting choices and majority-choice outcomes in elections, a voting choice indicator that at this time strongly weights in favor of the US Vice President Kamala Harris for US president candidacy according to the following Forbes Magazine news article: Donald Trump V. Kamala Harris 2024: Which Campaign Raised More Money (forbes.com) .

Perhaps the metamessage of the bad news for these recent major business ventures, trending as misadventures, of Donald Trump is that the large majority of investors, including Republicans, and people in general, don't trust a modus-operandi double-talking unscrupulous and dishonest person with their money, girlfriends, wives and daughters, and votes, and their democracy. Click on the following hyperlink to see and read two sample news articles of Trump’s recent gluttonous grifts, apart from his constant, and perceptibly unscrupulous fundraising schemes, offerings and investor business ventures, such as digital NFT trading cards for $99.00., with additional bundles respectively for $1,485.00 and $7,425.00, perfume and cologne at $199.00 per item, $59.99 for made-in-atheist-China bibles at a production and shipping cost per unit of less than $3.00 (Click on, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/11/trump-bibles-made-in-china/75625791007/ ), $499.00 gold-colored sneakers, $10,000 watches, IPO $70.00 shares in Trump social media platform Trump Truthless Social, having declined to $20.00 or less in value since IPO offering, current faltering cryptocurrency venture, $99.00 to $499.00 book choices on his presidency, since in 11/2020 he was voted out of and problematically, in 01/2021, left his expired US presidency, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-products-for-sale-list .

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celtfather · 2 months ago

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Scotland's Whisky #682

Should you go on a tour of the whiskies of Scotland with the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #682? Subscribe now!

The Friel Sisters, Kevin Meehan, Cherish The Ladies, Dancing With Hobbits, Enda Reilly, Adam Agee & Jon Sousa, Keltricity, La famille LeBlanc, Dublin Gulch, The Inland Seas, Sheridan Rúitín, Old Man Flanagan's Ghost, Stout Pounders, Michael Darcy & The Atlantic Tramps, The Ciderhouse Rebellion, Molly Donnery

GET CELTIC MUSIC NEWS IN YOUR INBOX

The Celtic Music Magazine is a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Enjoy seven weekly news items for Celtic music and culture online. Subscribe now and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2024

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2024 episode. You have just three weeks to vote this year. Vote Now!

You can follow our playlist on Spotify to listen to those top voted tracks as they are added every 2 - 3 weeks. It also makes it easier for you to add these artists to your own playlists. You can also check out our Irish & Celtic Music Videos.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:06 - The Friel Sisters "It’s in the Wind / The Laurel Tree / Repeal the Union" from Before the Sun

3:34 - WELCOME

7:15 - Kevin Meehan "Inches From Dublin" from Spanish Point

10:51 - Cherish The Ladies "The Cameronian Set: Tha M'Intinn Raoir/Duke of Gordon/The Cameronian/Lady of The House" from One And All, The Best of Cherish the Ladies

16:12 - Dancing With Hobbits "Big Feet Big Heart" from Dancing With Hobbits

17:37 - Enda Reilly "Whiskey Fire (The Great Fire Of Dublin)" from Hy - Brasil

21:47 - FEEDBACK

26:43 - Adam Agee & Jon Sousa "Foxhunter's Reel / The Flowers of Red Hill" from Ceol na gCarad

30:06 - Keltricity "The Plooman" from Live at Terra Firma Radio

34:38 - La famille LeBlanc "Suite à Ti - Joe l’aveugle" from New/Nouveau - Perdrais - je mon temps...(Would I be losing my time...)

39:18 - Dublin Gulch "The Orphan Girl" from Tap 'Er Light

42:15 - The Inland Seas "I Can Hew" from Down by the Greenwood Side

44:48 - THANKS

46:15 - Sheridan Rúitín "Tell Me Ma" from single

49:58 - Old Man Flanagan's Ghost "Simple Little Boat" from Simple Little Boat

52:19 - Stout Pounders "Whiskey Me Away (Live)" from Liver Let Live

55:35 - Michael Darcy & The Atlantic Tramps "Sailing Off to the Yankee Land" from Down to the

Roots

1:00:28 - CLOSING

1:01:15 - The Ciderhouse Rebellion with Molly Donnery "My Father's Cabin Small” from A Little Bit Slanted

1:05:23 - CREDITS

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. Visit our website to follow the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode.

Todd Wiley is the editor of the Celtic Music Magazine. Subscribe to get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free. Plus, you’ll get 7 weekly news items about what’s happening with Celtic music and culture online. Best of all, you will connect with your Celtic heritage.

Please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Finally, remember. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and think about how you can make a positive impact on your environment.

Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

Finally, Marc Gunn and the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast proudly endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States of America. I know these are partisan times. But I firmly believe Harris is the best person to lead our country to a better future for all Americans. She also has an actual plan to make our already robust economy even stronger. She also has a career of protecting the rights of women. Whether you agree or not, please vote in this year’s election. Your vote matters and is how democracy stays strong.

WELCOME THE IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC PODCAST

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn.

This podcast is for fans of Celtic music. If that’s the music you love, please follow the show right now.

It is here to build a diverse Celtic community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you. If you hear music you love, please email artists to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast. Musicians depend on your generosity to keep making music. So please find a way to support them. Buy a CD, Album Pin, Shirt, Digital Download, or join their communities on Patreon.

You can find a link to all of the artists in the shownotes, along with show times, when you visit our website at celticmusicpodcast.com.

I am still looking for potential Celtic designs to highlight for the 2025 season. I will accept submissions until the end of November. I will contact you if your design is picked. So please email those designs to me ASAP. You can send it to follow@bestcelticmusic

New episodes of Celtic Christmas Music are coming to the podcast universe. I’m planning the first episode to be released on November 17, right before Thanksgiving so that you can start enjoying Celtic Christmas music as soon as you are ready to listen. The current plan is to release weekly episodes. But we shall see if I can pull that off. If you’re in a Celtic band with Christmas or holiday music, please email me follow@bestcelticmusic

If you are a Celtic musician or in a Celtic band, then please submit your band to be played on the podcast. You don’t have to send in music or an EPK. You will get a free eBook called Celtic Musicians Guide to Digital Music and learn how to follow the podcast. It’s 100% free. Just email Email follow@bestcelticmusic and of course, listeners can learn how to subscribe to the podcast and get a free music - only episode.

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

You are amazing. It is because of your generosity that you get to hear so much great Celtic music each and every week.

Your kindness pays for our engineer, graphic designer, Celtic Music Magazine editor, promotion of the podcast, and allows me to buy the music I play here. It also pays for my time creating the show each and every week.

As a patron, you get ad - free and music - only episodes before regular listeners, vote in the Celtic Top 20, stand - alone stories, you get a private feed to listen to the show or you can listen through the Patreon app. All that for as little as $1 per episode.

A special thanks to our new and continued Patrons of the Podcast: Keith, Bruce K, SMak, Steve Pomper, Donald Fletcher

HERE IS YOUR THREE STEP PLAN TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Go to our Patreon page.

Decide how much you want to pledge every week, $1, $5, $25. Make sure to cap how much you want to spend per month.

Keep listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to celebrate Celtic culture through music.

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast on Patreon at SongHenge.com.

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

#celticmusic #irishmusic #celticmusicpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? Please email me. I’d love to see a picture of what you're doing while listening or of a band that you saw recently.

Email me at follow@bestcelticmusic.

Rene St.Aubin emailed: "When is your next trip to Ireland to get the feel of music and culture"

Robin MacDonald emailed from Wolf Creek, OR: "Hello Marc, I have been listening to your podcast, Irish & Celtic Music, on Amazon Prime. However just within the last few weeks it has completely disappeared! It will not even come up on a search, which is crazy because your music CDs do. How odd. Did you get some sort of notification from Amazon Prime Music that your podcast was no longer going to be available?

I will have to figure out a new way to listen to it and I will! I just enjoyed the convenience as I am not able to stream music much at work (bandwidth) but Amazon Prime Music seemed to always work. Best Regards,"

Robin followed that up with: "Hello Marc, Enjoy your trip! Thanks for getting back to me and for the link. There’s good news though, your Celtic Christmas podcasts are still available on Amazon Prime! Love it always, any time of the year. "

Patrick Rieger emailed some photos: "Hi Marc, My family and I have been busy the past month with a stop at our favorite pub and two renaissance festivals, so I'll be sending a few emails about the incredible musicians we enjoyed.

On August 24, we went to Mullaney's Harp & Fiddle to see John McCann and Hamish, and an hour after they started everyone, including John and Hamish, got a surprise: the third member of the Corned Beef and Curry Band dropped in, Bob Banerjee. Bob is the most incredible fiddle player I have ever seen, and he has an endless number of bad jokes. He is the curry in the band's name, having been born in India. So for a few hours, this great band was back together. Irish musician Mark Guiser was in the audience that night, and was invited onto the stage for a few songs. Two wedding parties then dropped in for some post - reception fun. The energy, excitement and fun hadn't been that high at the Harp in a long time, and my wife and I only left because our son needed to get to bed.

In one photo is The Corned Beef & Curry Band, from left to right, John McCann, Bob Banerjee, and Hamish,

In the other, Mark Guiser and Bob. They were playing Hallelujah with Mark singing."

Check out this episode!

#celtic #Irish #Scottish #music #Ireland #Scotland

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head-post · 3 months ago

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American voters find Harris more likable while Trump more powerful

The latest personality ratings for the 2024 presidential candidates show that Vice President Kamala Harris has a significant lead over former President Donald Trump in US voters’ perceptions of her as a likeable person, while she has a smaller lead in perceptions as someone with strong moral character and who is honest and trustworthy. Trump is ahead of Harris in perceptions of him as a strong and decisive leader and a person capable of seeing things through to the end.

Despite this clear difference in image – Harris is credited with character, Trump with leadership – neither candidate has an advantage in voters’ perceptions that each possesses the other five presidential qualities: running the government effectively, showing common sense in crises, having a vision for the country’s future, caring about people’s needs and being a person people would be proud to have as president.

These findings come from a Gallup poll conducted in September 16-28 following the September 10 presidential debate, which gave Americans the only opportunity in the entire campaign to see the candidates interact.

Trustworthiness rating

Perceptions of Trump are similar to what Gallup found at the same time in 2020, except that voters are now slightly more likely to believe he would show common sense in a crisis situation – up six percentage points to 52%.

Trump’s honesty and trustworthiness rating is now higher than the 38% in 2016 when he won the election. However, even at that low level, Trump’s honesty rating was higher than Hillary Clinton’s 31%. That changed in 2020 when, despite raising his “honesty” score to 41%, Trump fell 11 points behind Joe Biden on that measure.

In fact, in the three presidential election cycles since 2012, when Gallup first assessed presidential qualities in this way, the candidate with the higher “honest/trustworthy” score has won. Other characteristics were not asked as often so their history can be traced.

Brief evaluations show mixed results

Harris is ahead of Trump 51% to 45% on another question asked more broadly: whether each candidate possesses “the personality and leadership qualities a president should possess.” So while Trump separately does better on the ‘strong and decisive leader’ item, Harris’s higher marks for being likable and having strong moral qualities may matter more to voters’ responses to that question.

At the same time, Americans believe both candidates are equal on the issues. About half (49%) said they agree with Trump “on the issues that are most important to you,” while 47% agree with Harris.

Harris leads in California, but Latino support softens

Harris maintains a lead over Trump in California, but Trump’s gains among the state’s Latino voters show troubling signs for Democrats nationally, according to a new poll.

Kamala Harris’ overall lead over Trump in California is 57%-35%, little changed from an August lead of 59%-34%, according to the poll conducted by the Institute for Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and co-sponsored by The Times.

The state’s streak of voting for Democrats in every presidential election since 1988, when President George H.W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis, is unlikely to be broken. His 54 electoral votes – the biggest prize on Election Day – will almost certainly go to Harris.

Harris’ margin among Latinos in this state is similar to her overall margin, 54% to 35%. But that’s a steep drop from President Biden’s margin of victory in 2020, when he beat Trump 75% to 23% among California Latinos, according to the poll.

Support for Democrats is waning

This new poll is consistent with other national polls and surveys in swing states that show waning support for Democrats from a group of voters who have been a major segment of the party’s coalition in recent decades. That shift began in 2020, when Biden lost ground among Hispanic voters to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in 2016.

Harris is ahead of Trump by an average of 2-3 percentage points in national polls, but the race for electoral votes is seen as a toss-up.

Two of the seven swing states – Arizona and Nevada – have large Latino populations that could make the difference. Latino voters could also make an impact in other states with smaller numbers – Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, for example – given that polls show a very close contest. Christina Mora, co-director of the Institute for Governmental Studies and an expert on immigration and racial politics, said:

If anywhere there should be the happiest Latinos, the most progressive Latinos, it’s here. But they experience all the pain points of inequality.

Immigration reform dampened enthusiasm

Latinos, who make up about 3 in 10 voters in California, have been among those hardest hit by the state’s housing crisis and the effects of inflation, which has ebbed in recent months but left high prices in its wake. The Biden administration’s lack of progress on immigration reform has also dampened enthusiasm among progressive Latinos, Mora said.

Despite Trump’s use of incendiary phrases, including claims that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and taking away “black jobs,” he has capitalised on the frustration of some segments of the Latino population, including many second- and third-generation families.

Harris, the first South Asian-American and first black woman to lead a presidential ticket, has also lost some support among Asian and black voters compared to 2020, but they remain key parts of her coalition. In California, 66% of Asian/Pacific Islander voters and 72% of black voters support her.

Harris has made up for some of those losses in California with white voters, among whom she leads Trump 56%-37%, more than Biden’s 51%-47% advantage in 2020. That margin coincides with another national trend – the drift of white voters with college degrees toward the Democratic Party, while voters without college degrees are moving to Trump’s side.

According to the poll, Trump has a slight edge among white Californians without a college degree; among college-educated voters, Harris leads by a wide margin. This educational divide also helps explain some of Trump’s gains among black and Latino voters without degrees.

Harris seen as a uniter

Only a small fraction of likely voters – 5 percent – are undecided, according to the poll, which is in line with the national average of 5.6 percent. However, the relatively large sample size of more than 3,000 voters provided more detailed information about this group than other surveys typically provide.

These undecided voters are more likely to view Trump in a negative light (55% to 31%) than Harris (43% to 39%), and they are more likely to believe Trump is too extreme and a danger to democracy if elected president. But at the same time, they expect Trump to do a better job of managing the economy and foreign affairs and “has the toughness to be president” compared to Harris.

Those voters see Trump as deeply flawed and are more likely to see Harris as a uniter, Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s leader, said. He also added:

But they still think he would be a stronger candidate on a number of those qualities.