#Montana | West Virginia | Louisiana and Missouri

[xtruss]

How Recent State Laws Are Making It Harder to Sue Trucking Companies After Crashes

— July 12, 2023 | By James O'Donnell | Frontline

The trucking industry is engaged in a concerted lobbying effort that critics say will make it harder for victims of crashes to sue the companies involved and limit the compensation plaintiffs can win. In the past three years alone, the industry has helped prompt new laws in seven states including Texas and Florida, which rank among the highest in the nation for fatal truck crashes.

The industry says those new laws will help curb frivolous lawsuits and excessive payouts, but safety advocates say they instead shield trucking companies from legitimate liability after crashes and disincentivize the companies from working to prevent crashes in the first place.

The new laws come as fatal truck crashes are on the rise. More than 5,000 people die each year in crashes with large trucks, up by more than 50% compared with a decade ago. FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s recent documentary, America’s Dangerous Trucks, examined one gruesome kind of truck accident — underride crashes — and why they keep happening.

After a crash, the best way a survivor can receive compensation for serious injuries or the loss of a loved one is to sue the trucking company and driver, according to Joe Fried, an attorney in Georgia with two decades of experience in truck crash litigation who spoke to FRONTLINE. That’s because most truckers carrying general freight across state lines are required by law to have $750,000 in liability insurance, but lifetime medical costs after serious crashes can quickly exhaust that amount. Carriers may be ordered to pay more than that figure, but if the company goes bankrupt or does not have the assets to pay, victims may never receive it. The $750,000 minimum was set by Congress in 1980 and, despite numerous efforts to increase it, has remained unchanged.

In late 2019, one of the trucking industry’s most vocal leaders, Chris Spear of American Trucking Associations, described crash lawsuits as an “all-out assault” on the industry in a radio interview. In a speech to ATA members around that time, Spear announced curbing crash lawsuits as a “tier-one priority” for the organization and vowed to work with state governments and state lobbying groups to pass new laws to do so. Since then, the ATA has also said that crash lawsuits are becoming more frequent and expensive, therefore raising insurance costs for carriers.

Mark Geistfeld, a professor of civil litigation at NYU Law and the author of five books on liability, told FRONTLINE he’s heard similar refrains about frivolous lawsuits from industry groups since the 1980s. That’s when industry lobbyists began trying to pass what they called tort reforms at the state level. Geistfeld has examined tort reform since then, noting that while the movement is less active now than it was in the 1980s, industries like trucking are ramping up their efforts.

“They call it reform, but historically most of the reforms have been about cutting back on liability,” Geistfeld said, referring to the industry groups.

He called the issue of meritless lawsuits a “bogeyman,” as the legal system has ways of sanctioning plaintiff lawyers if they knowingly bring frivolous cases. Industries campaigning for tort reform, he said, are typically more focused on reducing the amount they’ll be liable to pay if found responsible. They do so through campaigns for new state laws that change things like how trials are conducted, set caps on damages or redefine what evidence can be produced at trial.

Iowa, Montana, West Virginia, Louisiana and Missouri have also passed new tort reform laws supported by the trucking lobby. They take different forms in each state: Louisiana and West Virginia repealed rules which had prevented defense lawyers from bringing in evidence about whether the plaintiff had been wearing a seatbelt, and a law in Missouri raised the bar for ordering a trucking company to pay punitive damages. Jeremy Kirkpatrick, spokesperson for the ATA, said the state laws mark “initial successes in a long term campaign.”

While negligent trucking companies should be held accountable, he said, the new tort reform efforts the ATA is supporting aim to restore “balance and fairness” to the litigation system and are not about reducing liability. When a trucking company’s insurance premiums go up after large verdicts and settlements, according to Kirkpatrick, leadership may cut costs by lowering wages, which can mean hiring less experienced drivers and can have a negative impact on safety.

“The trucking industry has become a target for plaintiff-attorney profiteering,” he said. “This is about reforming specific rules and practices that enable plaintiffs’ attorneys to inflate damages and engineer nuclear and disproportionate verdicts and settlements.”

Texas: Limits on Company Liability and Evidence

Texas, which ranked first in the nation for truck-related fatalities in 2020 with 643 deaths, passed a law in 2021 that says trucking companies cannot be sued for their role in a crash unless the driver has first been found liable by a court — a process called a bifurcated trial. It passed with support from the Texas Trucking Association, a state lobbying group and ATA member, which said the law will protect trucking companies from “biased and unfair courtroom tactics.”

Previously, according to trucking lawyer Fried, plaintiff attorneys could bring in evidence about a trucking company’s broader practices — such as how many other accidents it was involved in — to convey to the jury that the crashes were a systemic problem. It’s a practice long-derided by truck lobbying groups, which refer to it as “reptile theory” and say it wrongfully aims to rile up the jury against trucking companies to encourage larger verdicts.

The new Texas law changed that. In the first phase of the trial that determines compensatory damages, attorneys are now more confined to the facts immediately surrounding the specific accident and whether the company was negligent in hiring or vehicle maintenance before the crash. Broader evidence about the company’s past is only allowed if the driver or company is proven at fault and the trial moves to a second phase. It’s a legal change Fried expects trucking groups will try to bring to other states.

“This passed in Texas because the politics were ripe for it there,” he said. “But it’s definitely being pursued elsewhere.”

Florida: Shrinking the Window to Sue

The trucking lobby also notched a win in Florida, which ranks third in the nation for truck-related fatalities, with a law passed in March that made a number of changes to civil litigation that are particularly relevant to trucking. Alix Miller — president and CEO of Florida Trucking Association, an ATA member — lobbied heavily for its passage.

“Florida is one of the worst when it comes to trucking litigation,” Miller told FRONTLINE, saying that the state’s new law and others like it aim to make the legal system more balanced for defendants. The Florida law changes how medical bills are presented at trial by only admitting the amount paid versus the amount initially billed. It also reduces the statute of limitations from four to two years for personal injury cases.

Safety advocates say that a shorter time frame in which one can sue becomes an obstacle to victims in their effort to pursue accountability after crashes.

“When you talk to victims who have been through this, they will tell you that the first two to three years are completely disorienting,” said Zach Cahalan, executive director of Truck Safety Coalition, a group that provides resources and support to people involved in truck crashes and advocates nationally for safety regulations. He noted that victims often have to deal with a deluge of paperwork, medical bills, physical therapy appointments and other demands as they process the crash.

“By the time they realize that ‘Hey, I might need to pursue a civil trial,’” he said, “sometimes the statute of limitations is over.”

Iowa: Caps on Damages

Another path these laws have taken is to cap the amount of noneconomic damages awarded to plaintiffs — compensation for losses that, unlike medical bills or wages, cannot be easily measured, such as the loss of a child.

The Iowa legislature passed a law in April, supported by the Iowa Motor Truck Association, an ATA member, that caps pain and suffering payments to $5 million in accidents involving commercial vehicles, though it includes exceptions for certain situations of extreme negligence, like if the driver was intoxicated.

Supporters of the law say that plaintiff lawyers profit too much off of crash litigation and that the cap will help fix this. But Cahalan of the Truck Safety Coalition opposes such limits on damages, and he said instead that juries should continue to have agency in determining how much should be paid after a crash.

“Your ability to be made whole following a crash should not be arbitrary,” he said.

Geistfeld, from NYU Law, said that whether in trucking or another industry, the outcomes of tort reform efforts decide who is responsible for paying for the cost of injuries. They also shape the incentives that businesses weigh when deciding how to conduct their operations safely, he said.

“The idea, ultimately, is if the businesses are forced to pay for the liabilities of their drivers, then the businesses are going to adopt safety measures to try to make sure that they can do as much as possible to keep drivers from getting into crashes,” he said. “And that’s obviously good for society.”

— “America’s Dangerous Trucks” is part of a collaborative investigation from FRONTLINE and ProPublica. The documentary premiered on June 13, 2023, and is available to stream in the PBS App and on FRONTLINE’s Website.

[daily-table21]

Video: The Table: A Holiday Special

Status: Public

Link: The Table: A Holiday Special - YouTube

Date Posted: January 1st 2021

[ibetittering]

FREAKING OUT THE MUSIC IS BACK I'M SO HAPPY

[hadthatdreamagain]

miku worldwide usa edition (click to fully appreciate)

(go follow the cool artists under the cut)

finished map: here

washington: @mochasucculent

oregon: @the-jelliphish

california: @camiliar

arizona: @apelgif

nevada: kikiCPU

utah: @ace-o-hearts

montana: @just-luxx

idaho: @roxyrot

wyoming: @saintlethanavir

colorado: @yaelartworks

new mexico: @eldritch-ace

north dakota: @schwoopsiedoodles

south dakota: beebeerock

nebraska: @glassofoj-twitter

kansas: @petziez

oklahoma: @razzafrazzle

texas: @princepsed

minnesota: @pastabaguette

iowa: @rumpledcrow

missouri: @inkyharpy

arkansas: @basement-buddy

louisiana: @circusclownproductions

wisconsin: @plush0fairy

illinois: @shrimpimage

kentucky: @double-m-b

tennessee: @thebiscuiteternal

mississippi: @juneyybee

alabama: @burnt-scone

michigan: @chorne-the-firstborn

idiana: @meowjuniper

ohio: @teethflavoured

west virginia: @littleivyart

virginia: @splemonocracy

georgia: @alyossan

florida: kierscribbles

south carolina: @ash-animates

north carolina: @pinkcultgirl

maryland: @f4ceache

pennsylvania: @sukifoof-art

new york: @doodoobirds

new jersey: @porcelain-rob0t

delaware: easybriizydraws

rhode island: @crazywolf828

conneticut: @koreyeet

vermont: @maggotwithanf

massechusettes: @wishpetal

new hampshire: @ohnoshiv

maine: @limesade

alaska: @owldart

hawaii: @theexistingbox

[libraford]

The word 'rural' is in the public consciousness again and every time people start going in about the 'rural values' 'rural way of life' I remember just how subjective that word is.

I have a friend that lives in LA. He considers Columbus, OH to be 'rural.' A population of over 900k. Thriving arts community, tons of culture festivals, every kind of restaurant you can think of, one of the most annoying college campuses ever, several smaller colleges, lots of queer spaces, comic book conventions, huge concerts... rural.

The town I live in considers itself 'rural.' 38k population. Arts festival every year, a small pride celebration, monthly gallery hop, big Halloween festival. Five ice cream shops, three coffee shops, a couple fancy bars, so many grocery stores. Huge library, conservation and sustainability advocates, queer spaces, a hospital, one private college. Rural.

The town we nearly annexed, but lost the deal considers us 'urban' compared to them. Less than 5k. They have a limited hospital, often send their surgeries here. Downtown has hardware store, bars, craft supply store, a couple grocery stores, pizza places. There's some farmland, but much of the square acreage is golf. Mega churches. The houses here are 500k. Most people drive ATVs. They have a handful of festivals in the summer.

A town I would often get sent to to cover their high school sports- a little over 2k. There's a Subway, a Domino's, Family Dollar. Some bars, some corner stores. Some local crafts. All the students grow up knowing each other, most of them stay there. But they have craft fairs and art galleries, still.

Less rural still than the town I go through to get there, population of around 600. Houses, farmland, post office, general store.

Who would still look down upon the town of about 400 that I would go to sometimes- post office. Gas station. Bar. The school is the only big thing there.

And yet still, I have seen towns with population in the double digits that have a church and a post office.

Even just looking at the numbers doesn't lend accuracy to what 'rural' actually looks like. Because this is what it looks like in ohio, but it's different in West Virginia- where your closest neighbor might be a mile down a hill. Or in Montana, where your town might be planned very tightly and your neighbors are very close, but the nearest grocery store is an hour and a half away. These are places I've been, friends that I've talked to. I've never been to Missouri or Alabama or Louisiana- I'm sure they have a unique experience of being 'rural.'

So my point is that when people talk about 'the rural experience' or 'rural values,' they are talking about millions of people across the entire country who all have lived unique lives- and who may not even agree on what 'rural' is.

Think about who is talking, and who is being talked over, and who isn't even being asked to join the conversation.

[tittyinfinity]

If you're disabled in the US and have medicaid, you might be able to get approved for free home care services through your state's Home & Community Based Services! You can have someone come by and help you with chores and/or nursing care once or more every week for FREE! I've had it for 2 years and it's been life changing. Someone comes by to do chores for me twice a week, saving me from constantly feeling bad not being able to clean. You can select form a list of approved companies, or you can even have someone you know get paid by the state to help you out!

Here's where you can find more information about it!

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota(1) (2)

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Please reblog so that it can reach anyone who might need it!

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #29

July 26-August 2 2024

President Biden announced his plan to reform the Supreme Court and make sure no President is above the law. The conservative majority on the court ruled that Trump has "absolute immunity" from any prosecution for "official acts" while he was President. In response President Biden is calling for a constitutional amendment to make it clear that Presidents aren't above the law and don't have immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. In response to a wide ranging corruption scandal involving Justice Clarence Thomas, President Biden called on Congress to pass a legally binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court. The code would force Justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political actions, and force them to recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have conflicts of interest. President Biden also endorsed the idea of term limits for the Justices.

The Biden Administration sent out an email to everyone who has a federal student loan informing them of upcoming debt relief. The debt relief plan will bring the total number of a borrowers who've gotten relief from the Biden-Harris Administration to 30 million. The plan is due to be finalized this fall, and the Department of Education wanted to alert people early to allow them to be ready to quickly take advantage of it when it was in place and get relief as soon as possible.

President Biden announced that the federal government would step in and protect the pension of 600,000 Teamsters. Under the American Rescue Plan, passed by President Biden and the Democrats with no Republican votes, the government was empowered to bail out Union retirement funds which in recent years have faced devastating cut of up to 75% in some cases, leaving retired union workers in desperate situations. The Teamster union is just the latest in a number of such pension protections the President has done in office.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris oversaw the dramatic release of American hostages from Russia. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan held since 2018, Russian-American reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Alsu Kurmasheva convicted of criticizing the Russian Military, were all released from captivity and returned to the US at around midnight August 2nd. They were greeted on the tarmac by the President and Vice-President and their waiting families. The deal also secured the release of German medical worker Rico Krieger sentenced to death in Belarus, Russian-British opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, and 11 Russians convicted of opposing the war against Ukraine or being involved in Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption organization. Early drafts of the hostage deal were meant to include Navalny before his death in Russian custody early this year.

A new Biden Administration rule banning discrimination against LGBT students takes effect, but faces major Republican resistance. The new rule declares that Title IX protects Queer students from discrimination in public schools and any college that takes federal funds. The new rule also expands protections for victims of sexual misconduct and pregnant or parenting students. However Republican resistance means the rule can't take effect nation wide. Lawsuits from Republican controlled states, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, means the new protections won't come into effect those states till the case is ruled on likely in a Supreme Court ruling. The Biden administration crafted these Title IX rules to reflect the Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock case.

The Biden administration awarded $2 billion to black and minority farmers who were the victims of historic discrimination. Historically black farmers have been denied important loans from the USDA, or given smaller amounts than white farmers. This massive investment will grant 23,000 minority farmers between $10,000 and $500,000 each and a further 20,000 people who wanted to start farms by were improperly denied the loans they needed between $3,500-$6,000 to get started. Most payments went to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.

The Biden Administration took an important step to stop the criminalization of poverty by changing child safety guidelines so that poverty alone isn't grounds for taking a child into foster care. Studies show that children able to stay with parents or other family have much better outcomes then those separated. Many states have already removed poverty from their guidelines when it comes to removing children from the home, and the HHS guidelines push the remaining states to do the same.

Vice-President Harris announced the Biden Administration's agreement to a plan by North Carolina to forgive the state's medical debt. The plan by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper would forgive the medical debt of 2 million people in the state. North Carolina has the 3rd highest rate of medical debt in the nation. Vice-President Harris applauded the plan, pointing out that the Biden Administration has forgiven $650 million dollars worth of medical debt so far with plans to forgive up to $7 billion by 2026. The Vice-President unveiled plans to exclude medical debt from credit scores and issued a call for states and local governments to forgive debt, like North Carolina is, last month.

The Department of Transportation put forward a new rule to bank junk fees for family air travel. The new rule forces airlines to seat parents next to their children, with no extra cost. Currently parents are forced to pay extra to assure they are seated next to their children, no matter what age, if they don't they run the risk of being separated on a long flight. Airlines would be required to seat children age 13 and under with their parent or accompanying adult at no extra charge.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it is giving $3.5 billion to combat homelessness. This represents the single largest one year investment in fighting homelessness in HUD's history. The money will be distributed by grants to local organizations and programs. HUD has a special focus on survivors of domestic violence, youth homeless, and people experiencing the unique challenges of homelessness in rural areas.

The Treasury Department announced that Pennsylvania and New Mexico would be joining the IRS' direct file program for 2025. The program was tested as a pilot in a number of states in 2024, saving 140,000 tax payers $5.6 million in filing charges and getting tax returns of $90 million. The program, paid for by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, will be available to all 50 states, but Republicans strong object. Pennsylvania and New Mexico join Oregon and New Jersey in being new states to join.

Bonus: President Biden with the families of the released hostages calling their loved ones on the plane out of Russia

[gusty-wind]

Cost of illegal immigrants per state in 2023:

Alabama: 596 million Alaska: 130 million Arizona: 3.19 billion Arkansas: 356 million California: 30.9 billion Colorado: 1.94 billion Connecticut: 1.28 billion Delaware: 244 million Florida: 8.04 billion Georgia: 3.14 billion Hawaii: 771 million Idaho: 405 million Illinois: 5.27 billion Indiana: 886 million Iowa: 405 million Kansas: 603 million Kentucky: 367 million Louisiana: 604 million Maine: 90.3 million Maryland: 2.14 billion Massachusetts: 2.16 billion Michigan: 1.28 billion Minnesota: 657 million Mississippi: 100 million Missouri: 657 million Montana: 45 million Nebraska: 136 million Nevada: 1.47 billion New Hampshire: 108 million New Jersey: 5.27 billion New Mexico: 174 million New York: 9.95 billion North Carolina: 3.14 billion North Dakota: 43.25 million Ohio: 332.4 million Oklahoma: 273 million Oregon: 1.47 billion Pennsylvania: 1.64 billion Rhode Island: 313 million South Carolina: 746 million South Dakota: 57 million Tennessee: 341 million Texas: 5.35 billion Utah: 931 million Vermont: 75 million Virginia: 2.84 billion Washington: 2.62 billion West Virginia: 12.9 million Wisconsin: 246 million Wyoming: 18.1 million

This is not sustainable.

[destielmemenews]

2024 Presidential Election Results

A single, frequently updating post that will have the result of each state, in alphabetical order, as they come in. Check in often for updates!

CURRENT ELECTORAL VOTES, 270 TO WIN

🟦Harris: 226

🟥Trump: 312

Alabama - 🟥Trump

Alaska - 🟥Trump

Arizona - 🟥Trump

Arkansas - 🟥Trump

California - 🟦Harris

Colorado - 🟦Harris

Connecticut - 🟦Harris

Delaware - 🟦Harris

Florida - 🟥Trump

Georgia - 🟥Trump

Hawaii - 🟦Harris

Idaho - 🟥Trump

Illinois - 🟦Harris

Indiana - 🟥Trump

Iowa - 🟥Trump

Kansas - 🟥Trump

Kentucky - 🟥Trump

Louisiana - 🟥Trump

Maine - 🟦Harris (district 1)(at large) 🟥Trump (district 2)

Maryland - 🟦Harris

Massachusetts - 🟦Harris

Michigan - 🟥Trump

Minnesota - 🟦Harris

Mississippi - 🟥Trump

Missouri - 🟥Trump

Montana - 🟥Trump

Nebraska - 🟥Trump (district 1 and 3) 🟦Harris (district 2)

Nevada - 🟥Trump

New Hampshire - 🟦Harris

New Jersey - 🟦Harris

New Mexico - 🟦Harris

New York - 🟦Harris

North Carolina - 🟥Trump

North Dakota - 🟥Trump

Ohio - 🟥Trump

Oklahoma - 🟥Trump

Oregon - 🟦Harris

Pennsylvania - 🟥Trump

Rhode Island - 🟦Harris

South Carolina - 🟥Trump

South Dakota - 🟥Trump

Tennessee - 🟥Trump

Texas - 🟥Trump

Utah - 🟥Trump

Vermont - 🟦Harris

Virginia - 🟦Harris

Washington - 🟦Harris

Washington, D.C. - 🟦Harris

West Virginia - 🟥Trump

Wisconsin - 🟥Trump

Wyoming - 🟥Trump

270ToWin

Bloomberg

NPR

[zanmor]

Using Your Vote Strategically

Your vote doesn’t matter (probably). Luckily you can make it do a bit more.

Your vote is one of a few hundred million game pieces. Knowing how best to use it requires you to understand your place on the game board. Let’s take a look at that board.

Current polling has the following ten states (yellow on the above map) as highly competitive in this year’s presidential election: Maine, New Jersey, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia. Realistically those first three have only gone to Democrats since at least 2000 so speculation is more focused on the last seven (and even New Hampshire has been solidly Democrat since it voted for Bush in 2000).

If you’re one of the roughly 37.5 million voters who lives in one of those states, congratulations! Your vote will actually help decide who wins the presidency in November. As such you should probably vote for one of the major parties. To the other 82% of the electorate, it’s time to think a little harder about how you’ll utilize your vote in the fall.

Meanwhile there are 35 states that solidly belong to one of the two parties and that ain’t changing. They’re blue and red on the map above.

These states have only given electoral votes to their respective party since at least 2000 and current polling (according to 270towin.com) shows that they will do that again this year, well beyond any margin of error in the polls. California for instance is currently polling heavily in favor of the Democratic candidate and has voted for a Democratic candidate since 2000. Obviously that’s not about to change. That’s the case with these other 34 states as well. Which means if there’s any way to “throw your vote away” then it’s by blindly tossing it in with the millions of others that will not impact the electoral college or party platforms in any way.

The states where your vote matters least are:

California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Alaska, Missouri, Hawaii, Louisiana, Kansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Idaho, Tennessee, Utah, Arkansas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, Alabama, Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont, Delaware, Washington DC, Rhode Island, and New Mexico.

If you live in one of these states I have no qualms about advising you to vote third party in the general election. It will not change the electoral college outcome. But it can have important benefits you wouldn’t see by simply tossing another ballot on the mountain. I’ll talk below about those benefits. First, the last part of the game board.

The following six states (green on the above map) are technically polling within the margin of error where they could potentially go either way. I personally think it’s unlikely they’ll flip but you can make your own call on that and vote accordingly. If you live in North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, or Colorado, I think you’re likely to get more use from your vote giving it to a third party candidate based on current polling.

As I said above, I don’t expect that third party voting will impact the electoral college outside of those few truly competitive states.

So what does voting third party do?

If enough people vote third party it can do two helpful things: 1. if a party’s candidate receives over 5% of the popular vote then they can get federal matching funds in the next election, helping spread messages currently relegated to the sidelines, and 2. the major parties are more likely to take note of these votes and try to adjust their platforms to grab these voters in later elections. Voting for one of the two major parties doesn’t send any sort of message. What little utility your vote has in that regard is lost.

Voting for a candidate like Jill Stein of the Green Party can accomplish both of the above goals. Her platform is incredibly progressive. Across the board it’s a lot of things that leftists have been clamoring for. It will show establishment Democrats that there is voting support for those policies.

By supporting a third party candidate (not an independent solo candidate) we could see her get 5% of the popular vote and gain federal matching funds in 2028. It’s not about if she would be a good president or if you like her personally—she is not and never will get elected. It’s about hitting that 5% and showing the establishment that if they cater to the folks who like this platform that they can win votes.

Five percent of the 2020 election would have been just under 8 million votes. Four million Californian voters could have voted Green Party and Biden still would have won the state by over a million votes. We can definitely find 4 million votes in the other 40 states that otherwise are unlikely to impact the election. And we should.

[reality-detective]

WED. 30 OCT. 2024: NUMBERS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS ALLOWED TO VOTE IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS BY STATE.

Source is Social Security Admin. Numbers are growing each week. We are already over 10 million collectively. 👇

Alabama 57,272

Alaska 3,765

Arizona 1,313,742

Arkansas 6,141

California 188,019

Colorado 45,105

Connecticut 4,912

Delaware 0

District of Columbia 0

Florida 46,191

Georgia 246,698

Hawaii 0

Idaho 5,093

Illinois 373,398

Indiana 174,499

Iowa 10,043

Kansas 25,593

Kentucky 0

Louisiana 6,192

Maine 5,328

Maryland 70,041

Massachusetts 4,830

Michigan 20,196

Minnesota 27,768

Mississippi 1,587

Missouri 1,709,753

Montana 23,983

Nebraska 7,440

Nevada 66,105

New Hampshire 0

New Jersey 166,558

New Mexico 0

New York 116,616

North Carolina 374,665

North Dakota 0

Ohio 35,954

Oklahoma 0

Oregon 22,490

Pennsylvania 1,583,781

Rhode Island 59,286

South Carolina 0

South Dakota 15,878

Tennessee 0

Texas 3,129,627

Utah 14,539

Vermont 2,982

Virginia 0

Washington 19,004

West Virginia 0

Wisconsin 7,573

Wyoming 7,755

2024 TOTAL: 10,000,402

The Shit Show Continues 🤔

[galwednesday]

USA Ballot Measures Nov. 2024

41 states (and Washington DC) have ballot measures this year! Even if your state's electoral college result isn't in question, you may have ballot measures to vote on alongside the presidential election and state-wide elections.

Below the read more link is an alphabetical list of each state with ballot measures. Each state name links to the Ballotpedia.org page for that state's ballot measures, which will be updated with new developments as election day nears (some ballot measures are still tied up in court as of when I'm making this post in late September, so the approved ballot measures may change before you vote). Ballotpedia has information on each ballot measure, including what a yes/no would mean, arguments for and against, who supports/opposes each measure, and the full text of the measure.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Utah

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

But wait, there's more!

We also have 2024 ballot measures for:

Washington, D.C.

Local ballot measures

Check the full Ballotpedia.org list of local ballot measure elections in 2024 to see if there are any in your area!

[that-starlit-wanderer]

I've been very critical of Obama and his legacy since the election this year, in large part because I think he completely failed at the job of being the de facto head of a political party (despite not being a parliamentary system, the president in the US does play that role).

When he was elected in 2008 he inherited a massive House majority and a Senate supermajority. During his presidency his party was absolutely annihilated in two separate midterm elections. At the state level in particular the Democratic Party was in tatters; I can remember there being a lot of talk in the mid-late 2010s about how Democrats basically had no "bench" of presidential contenders because they've been so thoroughly decimated in gubernatorial races and other downballot elections in the first part of the decade.

And all this was just years after Republicans had been apparently swept out of power for a generation after the disasters of Iraq and the financial crisis had discredited them so badly!

The losses in the 2010 midterms in particular are something Democrats have arguably never recovered from, both from a redistricting pov and also because that election marks a point of no return for their standing in rural America in particular. When the new Congress took office in 2009, Democrats had senators from Alaska (1), Arkansas (2), Florida (1), Indiana (1), Iowa (1), Louisiana (1), Missouri (1), Montana (2), Nebraska (1), South Dakota (1), and West Virginia (2). That's 14 senators from what are now red states. Six years later when the new Congress took office in 2015 for the last two years of Obama's second term, only 5 of those 14 were still in office, and with Tester losing in Montana this year and Manchin retiring, there are now zero Democratic senators left from any of those states.

(For all that senators like Manchin rightfully get a lot of grief, it's mathematically impossible for Democrats win a workable Senate majority without red-state senators, at least based on what states are currently considered "red.")

Maybe that trend was inevitable with the increasing nationalization of congressional races, but it's still hard for me not to be critical of Obama given the wave of support he came into office with and the weakness of the Republican Party at the time, and the way he (imo) completely squandered that in ways that are still being felt.

[kleosvarietyblog]

USA PATCH NOTES

-made Wisconsin significantly larger by absorbing several other states into it, as well as giving it most of Michigan

-minnesota is now an independent country

-made missouri much smaller (much of what used to be missouri now belongs to wisconsin)

-resolved v-fighting between utah and wyoming

-split the rest of Michigan between ohio and indiana

-the entire delmarva peninsula is now part of Washington, D.C.

-gave georgia's coastline to south carolina

-further divided the dakotas

-southern montana is now part of southwest dakota

-the alaskan panhandle is now canadian

-3 of the hawaiian islands are now part of mexico

-merged arizona, nevada, and southern california into a single state

-alabama and mississippi's coastlines are now floridian

-oklahoma is now very very long

-eastern texas is now in louisiana

-arkansas is slightly larger

-western texas is part of new mexico

-merged northern california, western oregon, and the entirety of washington into a new state

-eastern oregan is part of idaho

-the idaho panhandle is now a separate state

-rotated the border between virginia and north carolina by 90° (virginia in the east, NC in the west)

-merged kentucky, east tennessee, and the maryland panhandle into west virginia

-merged the rest of maryland as well as most of western new york into Pennsylvania

-merged eastern Massachusetts and all of new hampshire into maine

-merged western massachusetts, new york city, long island, and all of new jersey into vermont

-renamed colorado to squareland

-rhode island is entirely unchanged

[yourreddancer]

FROM PUBLIC CITIZEN

On Friday night, 50 United States senators — all of them Republicans — voted to put our nation’s security in the hands of a man who is laughably unqualified.

Except it could not be less funny.

With a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, Pete Hegseth will now be Secretary of Defense.

Pete Hegseth isn’t qualified to be shift leader at a Dairy Queen (nothing against Dairy Queen). Putting him in charge of the entire United States military is a perversion — and every one of the 50 senators who voted for him knows it.

So why did they do it?

Because they were afraid that if they did the right thing and rejected Hegseth, Donald Trump would back someone else in their next election, and assistant president Elon Musk would spend millions to defeat them.

That’s why Trump defended his nominee so aggressively once news reports indicated how horrible Hegseth’s record is. It was a test. “Look how much they fear me.” “Look how willing they are to prostrate themselves at my feet.” “Look what I’ve turned them into.”

It’s really quite pathetic how craven and insecure they are.

Especially considering that even if they did lose their seats, ex-senators do pretty well. There are cushy positions on corporate boards or as high-paid lobbyists. There are deals to be had for books, podcasts, and speaking gigs. There are roles as pundits and hosts on Fox “News.” There are shady right-wing nonprofits and “think tanks” to run. There are car dealerships and cryptocurrencies to profit from. And on and on and on.

But no, these 50 senators were so afraid of Trump and so addicted to the illusion of political power (we say “illusion” because in reality they have forsaken any actual power in abject fealty to Trump) that they were willing to put Hegseth in charge of the $900 billion Pentagon, its 3 million employees, and all its warfighting capacity.

This is a man who has shown himself unable to run a small nonprofit. A man about whom there are credible reports of excessive drinking and out-of-control behavior. And a man against whom there are multiple allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence.

This is also a man who refused in his confirmation hearing to renounce the use of torture. A man who at his hearing was unaware of a major international alliance. And a man who has argued that women should not serve in combat roles.

Let’s not forget that for generations, it is Republicans who have held themselves out as the party that supports the military and is “strong on defense.”

In case you think your senator would never jeopardize America’s national security, here are the 50 Republican senators who just sold out our troops, our veterans, and our country:

Jim Banks, Indiana John Barrasso, Wyoming Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee John Boozman, Arkansas Katie Britt, Alabama Ted Budd, North Carolina Shelley Capito, West Virginia Bill Cassidy, Louisiana John Cornyn, Texas Tom Cotton, Arkansas Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Michael Crapo, Idaho Ted Cruz, Texas John Curtis, Utah Steve Daines, Montana Joni Ernst, Iowa Deb Fischer, Nebraska Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Charles Grassley, Iowa Bill Hagerty, Tennessee Joshua Hawley, Missouri John Hoeven, North Dakota Jon Husted, Ohio Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Jim Justice, West Virginia John Kennedy, Louisiana James Lankford, Oklahoma Mike Lee, Utah Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming Roger Marshall, Kansas Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania Ashley Moody, Florida Jerry Moran, Kansas Bernie Moreno, Ohio Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma Rand Paul, Kentucky Pete Ricketts, Nebraska James Risch, Idaho Mike Rounds, South Dakota Eric Schmitt, Missouri Rick Scott, Florida Tim Scott, South Carolina Tim Sheehy, Montana Dan Sullivan, Alaska John Thune, South Dakota Thom Tillis, North Carolina Tommy Tuberville, Alabama Roger Wicker, Mississippi Todd Young, Indiana

(Here are the three Republican senators who did not vote for the charlatan: Susan Collins, Maine; Mitch McConnell, Kentucky; Lisa Murkowski, Alaska.)

If you are feeling angry and/or fearful about what it will mean to have someone as devastatingly unqualified and dangerous as Pete Hegseth running the Department of Defense, join Public Citizen in a message to the 50 senators who just voted for exactly that.

Those who serve in uniform, our nation’s veterans, the hundreds of thousands of civilians who work in the military, and — most crucially of all — every single American deserve better (far better) than Pete Hegseth. You have put us all in harm’s way for no reason other than your own cowardice in the face of Donald Trump. Shame on you.

Click to add your name now.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen

[patriottruth]

Dumb donald Chump crossed all my lines, so I told his crimes to the FBI. 'Cause Kamala needed cold hard proof, so I gave her some. Now she's got the envelope, where you think she got it from?

To report donald j. trump and all of his potential allies to the FBI for the federal crimes of 2024 election fraud:

https://tips.fbi.gov/home Choice 1: Federal Election Crime

Choice 2: Voter/Ballot Fraud/Corrupt Election Official

For the "Subject" information, choose "This subject is a business" Business Name: Electors and governors attempting to elect insurrectionist Donald J. Trump in violation of Sec3/14A

When did the crime occur? 11/05/2024

Where did the crime occur? Specific location: AL, AK, AZ, AR, FL, GA, ID, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MI, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV, WI, WY

How did you discover the election fraud? Donald J. Trump is an impeached, congressionally investigated, criminally indicted and prosecuted insurrectionist attempting to hold federal office in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

What false information was provided? The lies that a U.S. national popular vote, or a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, could clear Donald J. Trump's insurrectionist disqualification, instead of a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate.

Did the individual receive something in exchange for their illegal voting activity? Unknown

Did the subject vote multiple times or vote when ineligible to vote? Yes

Did an election official violate a voting law? Yes

Were ballots from the election destroyed? Unknown

Were vote tallies falsified? Unknown

Was there a voting machine/tabulation/software malfunction? Unknown

Please provide a brief description of the incident: On December 17th, 2024, state electors and governors from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming will be faced with the choices of engaging in fraud by an elections official or other individual, conspiracy against the United States, corruptly obstructing, influencing, and impeding an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights by giving aid and comfort to disqualified insurrectionist Donald J. Trump in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. State electors and governors attempting to vote for and create certificates of ascertainment to elect Donald J. Trump would be instantly disqualified from holding office per Sec3/14A, thereby rendering all their actions unlawful.

Are you reporting on behalf of yourself or someone else? Someone else

Victim Information: First Name: Kamala Middle Name: Devi Last Name: Harris Date of Birth: 10/20/1964 Phone Number: Business: (202) 456-1111 Email: vice.president@whitehouse.gov Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500

Complainant Information: Please uncheck any fields you would prefer not to answer. You don't have to enter your personal information here if you don't want to.

Reported To Law Enforcement: Have you reported this information to another law enforcement or government agency (local, state, or federal)? No

At this point, you can click "Show All" to review your tip. Once you're satisfied with it, just click "Submit Tip" and you're good to go.

For anyone suggesting this is inaccurate, here you go (compiled from Wikipedia):

Article 2: Clause 3: Electoral College See also: Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Contingent election, Electoral College abolition amendment, Efforts to reform the United States Electoral College, and National Popular Vote Interstate Compact The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse [sic] by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse [sic] the President. But in chusing [sic] the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse [sic] from them by Ballot the Vice President.

Electoral College Elector Selection Process Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution requires each state legislature to determine how electors for the state are to be chosen, but it disqualifies any person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, from being an elector. Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, any person who has sworn an oath to support the United States Constitution in order to hold either a state or federal office, and later rebelled against the United States directly or by giving assistance to those doing so, is disqualified from being an elector. Congress may remove this disqualification by a two-thirds vote in each house. (Wikipedia)

Conspiracy against the United States, or conspiracy to defraud the United States, is a federal offense in the United States of America under 18 U.S.C. § 371. The statute originated under a federal law enacted in 1867 that was codified in the Revised Statutes of the United States in 1874, in a subsequent codification of federal penal statutes in 1909, and ultimately in the United States Code in 1948. The crime is that of two or more persons who conspire to commit an offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States.

Statute 18 U.S.C. § 371 provides that:

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding is a felony under U.S. federal law. It was enacted as part of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 in reaction to the Enron scandal, and closed a legal loophole on who could be charged with evidence tampering by defining the new crime very broadly.

This part of the Act later became known as a charge against defendants associated with the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack for attempting to obstruct that year's Electoral College vote count, as well as former President Donald Trump for broader alleged activities to obstruct the election. In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in Fischer v. United States that the statute could only be applied when the defendant impaired a physical document or object used in an official proceeding or attempted to do so, a higher bar for conviction than had been used in trials to that point.

Legal basis The crime is codified as 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2). The relevant subsection reads:

(c) Whoever corruptly—

(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

The term "official proceeding" is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1515(a)(1) to include proceedings before federal judges, Congress, federal government agencies, and regulators of insurance businesses.

Conspiracy against rights is a federal offense in the United States of America under 18 U.S.C. § 241:

If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person […] in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same;…

They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

Charges of conspiracy against rights concerning federal election offenses cover activities subverting the integrity of federal elections and do not require direct action towards an individual voter. Election conspiracies prosecuted under conspiracy against rights can be classified as either public schemes (where public officials commit a §241 violation under color of law) or private schemes (where conspirators impinge on the ability for voters to vote).

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on July 18, 2023, that she had charged sixteen individuals with eight felony counts each, including forgery and conspiracy, alleging they had knowingly signed certificates of ascertainment falsely claiming they were "duly elected and qualified electors" for Michigan. One defendant entered into a cooperation agreement with prosecutors in October 2023 in exchange for charges against him being dropped. Nessel's office disclosed during an April 2024 court hearing that Trump, Meadows, Giuliani and Ellis were unindicted co-conspirators.

On August 1, 2023, at the request of Jack Smith and the Justice Department, a federal grand jury indicted Trump on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against rights, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The indictment accused Trump of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election, and identified the fake electors scheme as part of the conspiracy.

On August 15, 2023, Trump and eighteen others were indicted in Georgia. The defendants, who included Trump, Giuliani, Eastman, Meadows, Chesebro, Sidney Powell, David Shafer and Shawn Still among others, were charged with a variety of offenses, many of which related to involvement in the fake electors plot. On October 20, Chesebro pleaded guilty to conspiring to file a false document and was sentenced to five years of probation; he also agreed to testify against the other defendants. Three other defendants (including Powell) also pleaded guilty to charges.

On December 6, 2023, a Clark County, Nevada, grand jury indicted six Republican party officials, including the chair of the Nevada Republican Party, on two felony charges each of submitting fraudulent documents to state and local officials.

By December 2023, 24 fake electors had been criminally charged in three states, and Chesebro was "a witness in all of the cases". However, in January 2024, the Attorney General of New Mexico stated that the fake electors couldn't be prosecuted given the laws of that state.

An Arizona grand jury named eleven alleged fake electors in an April 2024 indictment. Among those named were former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward and Tyler Bowyer, chief operating officer of Turning Point USA. Names of seven others charged were redacted from the indictment, and Trump was listed as "Unindicted Coconspirator 1". The Washington Post reported the redacted individuals were Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman. The Post reported that names of those indicted who were not in Arizona were redacted until they could be served with their indictments.