#elections2017

[wnyc]

After the election of President Trump, Khader El-Yateem decided to run for political office. He is the first Arab-American to run for City Council in New York City.

LISTEN to the full story.

[heypoliticsdad]

NYC General Election Endorsements November 2017

Oh yes, y’all, strap in. Another long one awaits. I am not weighing in on every race here; there’s too much for me to keep track of and there’s a lot I don’t know. Especially in city council races, it’s so local that it’s hard to keep track if you’re too far away. It’s also true that a lot of these races aren’t that contested (have you changed your party affiliation?), so there isn’t much to say. In races where there is a clear front runner, even if I kind of hate them, I’m not bothering to weigh in. 

I also am noticing two things about these endorsements: one, that there are two places where I recommend a male upstart over an existing female candidate; two, that I am clearly biased against incumbents. I’m not quite sure what to do with either of those things, but I wanted to name them as important. The city council stands to lose several women this time around, and while my feminism isn’t as simplistic as “women are automatically the best candidate,” I am still unsure what role misogyny is playing here, especially when incumbency means you have more to be hated for.

Want to know who’s on your ballot? Go here. Want to know where you vote? Go here. Polls are open 6am to 9pm so you really have no excuse.

Finally: when in doubt, write in Beyoncé. 

Mayor: Write in Beyoncé I can’t in good faith say vote for Bill de Blasio. He just hasn’t done enough good. The approval of the Bedford Armory redevelopment is just the latest fuckery in his “affordable housing” plan; he has the stank of corruption around him. He’s done some cool things but a lot of those cool things were already in process. Short of some kind of freak occurrence, he’s going to win (I’m not even going to bother looking up the correct spelling of his GOP opponent’s last name, it’s like that) and so you might as well write someone in. Beyoncé gets shit done. She would be ruthlessly effective and the longer she goes the more politicized she becomes. If we’re going to live in an oligarchy, I want my billionaire overlord to be the one that sunk a police car in a music video.

Public Advocate: Team Tish! I like what Tish James has done for us. I feel like I am waiting for the romance to be over and it’s possible I’ve missed some things. But she’s been a good public advocate, has stuck up for people, and I feel an overall sense of goodwill about her. The Public Advocate job is a weird one – tasked with advocating for the public – and I think necessarily this requires about some grandstanding as well as actually resolving complaints. It seems like she’s done good work so far, has the work to back up the grandstanding, and she’s definitely the best of the options.

Comptroller: Oh whatever, just go for Scott Stringer, or Beyoncé He’s better than the other guy, I think.

Manhattan DA: Write in Marc Fliedner. Remember the Brooklyn DA primary? With 500 people lining up around the block to be the most progressive? Marc Fliedner was one of those. He actually got ranked the best by the 5 Boro Defenders, a largely POC group of public defenders in the city. I ended up going for Anne Swern by a hair; Marc would have also been a good choice. Now he’s running in Manhattan as a write-in against Cy Vance, the sitting DA who is recently best known as declining to prosecute people who contributed to his campaign. (de Blasio, the Kushners, Harvey Weinstein). I feel great endorsing Marc as a write-in. Tell your friends!

District 1: Christopher Marte, I think I don’t know a lot about the long-term context of this race. I know that Margaret Chin is one of these funny third-term council members, a long-time incumbent. It’s hard to tell what her district thinks of her. I can’t find a good reason she gives for not doing participatory budgeting and it seems like there’s a lot of rage in the neighborhood around her work to preserve affordable housing, especially around the Two Bridges development. I’m a pragmatic guy at heart and her answers were, well, pragmatic; however, they’re a lot of that weird “people don’t really know what went into making these deals, we really tried” without actually telling people what went into making the deals and what she tried. Christopher Marte is from the neighborhood, evidently very involved, but in the way where it’s hard to know if what he does is as important as it looks on paper. He has the League of Independent Theaters’ endorsement, which also matters to me, although Chin’s overall list is much longer and includes Make the Road NYC and Planned Parenthood. She’s squarely in the middle of the City and State NY’s ranking of city council members. I read both of their responses to the Citizens Union survey about open government and found his more compelling. So vote Christopher Marte, I think, but I’m willing to be wrong about this one.

District 35: Jabari Brisport Laurie Cumbo sold out her district to the Bedford Armory. She has repeatedly bowed to developer pressure and the people just don’t like her. She attracted primary pressure, but the power of incumbency propelled her; luckily, people are still running. His Citizens Unite survey is full of the kind of truisms about government you get from the idealistic left, but what the eff, he’ll be a strong member of the progressive caucus. It’s a shame Ede Fox didn’t beat Cumbo in the primary, but I am happy to open the door to Brisport. I don’t think Cumbo is bad – she’s actually very highly ranked as a councilmember in responsiveness to her constituents, and she’s been the prime sponsor on a lot of bills about things that I think matter (% for arts reporting, public art, sex ed, multilingual information on housing.) Butttt…..I’m leaning Brisport. By a hair.

District 40: Brian Cunningham, Brian Cunningham, Brian Cunningham Mathieu Eugene has been a trash councilman. He has been the lead sponsor on only 7 bills in 10 years. He can’t even get a crosswalk made for a school. He might not even live in the district. Cunningham is young, he’s full of energy, he’s from the neighborhood, he’s worked with youth, and even if he ends out to be no good he’ll be no good in a new, better way. Cunningham is endorsed by the Working Families Party, the Stonewall Democrats, Planned Parenthood, TenantsPAC, and the Brooklyn Independent Democrats (we like them! They’re not the IDC!) 60% of the district voted for someone other than Eugene in the Democratic primary, but the vote split; Cunningham had the Reform endorsement which meant he could be on the general ballot on their line. He’s got good ideas about housing and more than that seems to actually care about what he does. You’re going to have to go to the Reform Party line to vote for him – he got the WFP endorsement too late to be on the ballot with them – so scoot that pencil to the right column and fill in that box. (Full disclosure: I’ve been volunteering with them.)

Prop 1: The Con Con:……no, but I hate myself a little and I might change my mind. Oh, the Con Con. I have been wrestling with this one and frankly it’s part of why this is coming out only one day before the election. There is so much good that could come from this, and so much bad that could come from it. The right says it’s a bad idea because the left would control the agenda; the left says it’s a bad idea because the right would control the agenda. Public unions are against it because of the risk to pensions. It’ll cost so much! (Will it cost so much?) It’s the only way to make change aside from our dysfunctional system! (Is it the only way to make change aside from our dysfunctional system?) The last one did nothing in the end! The one before that did so much! Most of our progressive laws come from constitutional conventions! The Koch brothers would take it over! NYCLU is against it; Citizens Union is for it. Unions are against it; progressive politicians are for it. The New York Times is against it; Newsday Long Island is for it. I have been watching debates and reading articles and it is one giant, messy ball.

The fact of the matter is this: no one knows what will happen because everything goes up for grabs. Everyone agrees on this. The pro side is arguing this presents an enormous opportunity for change: home rule for cities! Gender expression could be a protected class! Early voting! Legislative term limits! A unicameral legislature! The con side is basically making the same argument, only the bad side: loss of union pensions! Rolling back of the right to shelter! Gerrymandered senate districts leading to a conservative delegate base! The pro side says this is a chance for the government to truly be shaped by the people; the con side says the process will be hopelessly corrupt and just cost people money.

Voting yes hits all my love of sweeping action and big change. Past conventions are what have given us many of the things that already make New York relatively progressive: the “forever wild” land preserve, the right to welfare, expansion of voting rights. It’s a seductive argument. How often do we as progressives get a chance to build something from the ground up?

And yet. You might have noticed this isn’t a great time for progressives at the ballot box. One of the few things that I have not heard countered by the pro side is the fact that the statewide left is weak; Democrats aren’t even organized enough to get rid of the IDC, let alone a statewide progressive caucus. The unions are against it because they don’t feel they can guarantee a progressive outcome, and to me when someone publicly says they aren’t sure how powerful they are, you listen. That gerrymandering is real, and while a majority of the state senate districts went for Clinton over Trump, the state Senate is split more or less evenly. 

How all that translates to a vote really boils down to this: are you a pragmatist or are you an idealist? Are you a risktaker or do we play it safe? In my heart of hearts, I want to believe in the con con. I want to believe we can do something great. But…I just can’t get over the feeling in my gut that this is not the moment. Politics worldwide don’t look good for progressive, expansive views, and especially in the United States it’s a moment for the left to be very careful with the risks we take. So I say vote no, but grudgingly, and I reserve the right to change my mind at the last minute in the voting box and make an idealistic, possibly reckless vote.

Prop 2: Cut Pensions for Public Officials Convicted of Corruption Yes really. It’s a question. FOR GOODNESS SAKE’S VOTE YES. It doesn’t even automatically cut these pensions. It just makes it an option for judges when the circumstances warrant it. VOTE YES. I’m not even giving you a link; if you vote against this, just go home.

Prop 3: Land Bank for Modifications for Forever Wild This is one of those upstate questions that we down here don’t really think about. Basically, it comes down to this: right now, the “forever wild” lands upstate can’t be developed for any reason. This seems good until you realize, say, a bridge needs to be repaired, only it can’t be repaired without a constitutional amendment because the repair would need to use some small corner of the forever wild land. This proposition would create a bank wherein the state would buy 250 acres of new forever wild land and then make the same amount of land available for projects like bridges and internet cables. This makes sense and is endorsed by the Nature Conservancy as well as a broad coalition of preservation groups for both the Adirondacks and the Catskills, which is good enough for me. 

Ok, if you made it to the end, one more thing: this ad for Kalman Yeger in Boro Park. That race is its own hot ticket - Yoni Hikind, Dov Hikind’s son, against Kalman Yeger. The Forward goes into the underground heat, but I just want to give Kalman Yeger an award for the jingle of the election (and for all I know, this is a dis track, but I don’t know enough Yiddish to figure it out):

[johnhenrysoto]

Official Challenger for the Hudson County Board of Elections. Little ol' John Henry Soto. 😁 #Entrepreneur #elections2017 #politics #bayonne #NewJersey # (at Horace Mann No 6)

[thewightknight]

Make sure to get out there and vote! #vote #voting #elections2017

[polyglottraveler]

When I tell people that I want to leave France after I graduate college, and work and live in a foreign country, they often ask me why I hate France. My roommate even told me that I was being ungrateful for wanting to leave the country I was raised in. But the thing is, I don’t hate France. On the contrary, I love it 🇫🇷 We have great people, pretty towns, incredible landscapes... and the food is amazing! 🍇🧀🍷But I just think that there is so much more out there to experience, so many people to meet, so many towns to discover, so many landscapes to admire, so many foods to try, so many languages to learn! 🌎🌍🌏 I want to know different cultures, traditions, ways of life, and I won’t be able to do it if I spend the rest of my life in France. I am grateful for the 20 years I spent in that beautiful country but I feel like it’s time for me to live elsewhere ✈️ So no, I don’t hate France, even with all the crap happening right now because of the election. I love my country, just like I love so many more.

[hadasaab]

सं��र्ष एक "आवाज़" है बाहुबल और धनबल से ऊपर प्रत्याशी संदीप जांगिड़ की एतिहासिक निर्विरोध विजय, छात्र राजनीति में उन छात्रनेताओं के लिए मिसाल है जो सिर्फ मेहनत और छात्र हितो को ध्यान में रखकर काम करते है। #StudentUnion #Elections2017 #UOK #Kota #Abvp (at University of Kota)

[kafu]

Eh, toi, oui toi là. Détends-toi. Respire et LÂCHE CETTE BOUTEILLE !!

[rodque]

Liberia: 2017 General Elections

This blogpost will be updated regularly (and reposted) to reflect evolving electoral reality in Liberia. 

Liberian electorate will on October 10 go to the polls to elect a new president and 73 representatives for a six-year term. Final results will be announced 15 days later on October 25, according to Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) election calendar.

How significant is the 2017 general election?

The 2017 general election is historically important for a number of reasons:

Incumbent President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is constitutionally unqualified to seek a third-term and she shows no sign of reneging on her promise to step down in January 2018;

The last time a sort of democratic transition took place was in 1944, which makes the October 10 election the country most significant and consequential election in over 70 years;

And although President Johnson-Sirleaf is not on the ballot (her vice is), the October 10 election could be a referendum on her party’s 12 years of governance.

Will the election commission deliver a free, fair and credible election?

The current commission head by Chairman Jerome G. Korkoya has successful hosted a number of free, fair and credible by-elections and a Special Senatorial Election, despite (of course!) technical and financial constraints. 

But of recent Chairman Korkoya has been mired in a legal controversy over his purported U.S. citizenship, which is incompatible with Liberia’s immigration and naturalization laws.

Nonetheless, the National Election Commission (NEC) is on course with the implementation of the 2017 election calendar.

Will the National Election Commission enforce the Code of Conduct?

Liberia’s 1986 Constitution calls for a Code of Conduct (COC) for public officials and employees of government. But, due in large part to the country’s intermittent 14 years of civil war, this constitutional mandate was not enacted until 2014.

By 2015, however, the constitutionality of the COC - specifically the controversial Part V, Sections 5.1 and 5.2 which sort of “bans” certain category of public officials from actively participation in political activities - was challenged by a potentially affected party. The Supreme Court in its March 2017 ruling upheld the constitutionality of the Code of Conduct, albeit nothing that the law “suffers grave language or textual deficit.” 

In addition to the Code, the residency and domicile  clauses of the 1986 Constitution are likely to be challenged and contested by potentially affected parties if enforced by NEC. 

Enforcement of regulations and statues remains a huge challenge, hence it remains to be seen whether the COC will be adhered to or enforced. 

How many candidates? 

There are at least 21 registered political parties in Liberia, according to the NEC’s website. But it is expected that  no more than 10 political parties will put up presidential candidates.  

Who are the candidates?

A combination of a few old and many new political actors are campaigning to succeed Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Prominent among the old political actors are Sirleaf’s vice Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the governing Unity Party (UP), George Weah of the Coalition of Democratic, Charles Brumskine of the Liberty Party (LP), and Prince Johnson of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR).

Notable new presidential contenders are Alexander  Cummings of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), Benoni Urey of All Liberian Party (ALP), J. Mills Jones of the Movement of Economic Empowerment (MOVEE), and MacDella Cooper of the Union of Liberian Democrats (ULD).

Recent polls (see here, here, and here) put Boakai, Weah, and Brumskine ahead of the presidential pack.

How are the campaigns using social media? 

Most of the presidential contenders are utilizing social media to among others take jab at one another and carry events (such as endorsements, primaries and rallies) live on Facebook.  

MacDella Cooper of the ULD, to name but a few,  has an active social media present as well as Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the UP, George Weah of the CDC and Charles Walker Brumskine of the LP.

How important is ethnicity in the 2017 elections?

The Congo-Country divide is a trending issue in the 2017 elections, with one party accusing the other of propagating the divide between the settlers (commonly known as Congo people) who founded the Republic in 1847 and the non-settlers (i.e., Country people) who were met on the ground in the 1820s. 

Regional factor and vote-rich county politics are also in play as presidential hopefuls such as Charles Brumskine, Alexander Cummings and George Weah picked their running mate from the strategic, vote-rich counties of Nimba and Bong.

The governing UP presidential hopeful, Joseph Boakai, is yet to select his running mate.

How are the political parties funding their campaigns?

According to the New Elections Law of Liberia and NEC’s 2017 regulations and guidelines, those of “Liberian nationality or origin” regardless of residency “shall have the right to contribute to the funds and election expenses of any political party or candidate.” 

But such funding shall not exceed $2, 000, 000,  $1, 500, 000, $600, 000 and $400, 000, respectively, for president, vice president, senator and representative.

If current spending levels continue, the opposition Liberty Party is poised to outspend all political parties including the governing Unity Party.

Will there be post-election violence?

Probably not. Or perhaps. But if the previous three nation-wide elections (2005, 2011, and 2014) are any guide, nothing of significant proportion as is typically seen in a post-election violence setting could occur in Liberia.

Make it trend, #LiberiaDecides #LiberiaElections2017 or #LIB2017.

[dominique-vigreux]

#elections2017 #election2017 #electionpresidentielle2017🇫🇷 #nilunnilautre #contrelefn

[teresaferreiro]

I'm still looking for tories who know how to apply the art of dialectics and would like share their point of view through a have a polite, constructive discussion. So far this is all I've got. #wellspoken #manners #politeness #highiq #intellectual #respectful #desilusão #desilusión #depressing #thefearoffreedom #miedoalalibertad #erichfromm #tories #tory #elections #elections2017 #uk #brexit #theresamay #why #socialpsychology #delusional #discussions #debate #please

[121creatives]

Corbyn - its the real thing #corbyn #vote #labourparty #politics #UK #elections2017 #graphicdesign #typography #branding #remix #acreativeprocess #121creatives

[roughlytwentytwofrogs]

I am so so so happy you guys have no idea.

[thesoftkiwifruit]

Done.

[videoki77]

"..Lots of surprises in store This isn't a party It's a whole lot more We've had enough of this blind man's bluff You've kept us in the dark for long enough This is more than a party.." #depechemode #kevinsfotografikexperience #comeonUK #elections2017 #ukelections #shadowshapes #choosewisely ##againstthesun

[kwekukweku00]

#vote #votelabour #jeremycorbyn #elections2017 #elections #torylies #theresamay #pollingday #conservatives #tottenham #vote2017 #forthemanynotthefew

[o-street-blog]

[TREES ARE NOT ONLY WHAT THEM SEEM]

Today, I’ll go into story mode. Have to.

A few years back, I was just a regular small firm architect in the East of France, doing some graphic design on the side, first to pay part of my studies, then because it became a part of myself. I used to spend some time here & there doing DIY, restoring furniture, making a piece of it or two, nothing fancy, didn’t have the time, skills, or tools. 5 years ago, I had managed to combine the first two into a still struggling but decent living design consultancy studio. I enjoyed it, and I still do, but I want more, with less. I want my life to be part of something bigger than myself, more real, more authentic, more spiritual even. I want my job to show what I believe, not making a hard time trying to feel the other way around. In that line of work, it’s your duty to respect the decisions of your clients, but somehow, you nearly always struggle with preserving your beliefs and own creativity. The eternal dilemma of “Shall I be a bitch and make real cash ? Or shall I make it the hard but right way ?” I’m both an optimistic and an idealist. But a pragmatic one. All that and some sh*t I had to figure out inside my mind, with time, made me go to real dark places.

That picture was taken just after that time by my buddy @mll_photographer, aside from a promo shoot we made for the @rocksforthemyst ’s brand. So, years have passed, and I installed a workshop in my family-in-law’s basement. So I’ve taken every bit of time I had beside what I do for a living to go on a shuhari like kind of journey, which I’m still on the early steps. So I learnt & experimented woodworking, until, finally, a few months from now, we’ll be launching our own handcrafted home decor company. Beside the obvious inspiration of calm and realness that picture represents, it captured so much more. Something that makes me feel both lucky and humble. Imagine it’s around 5am, you’re on top of the hills, toward the beautiful landscape you can call home. Imagine you’re here with your love and some fabulous friends, brothers really, you made along the way. All that silent presence and support I could benefit while coming back to light, as was the day. All that is both held and represented in that picture. A whole world and track to follow, knowing that together, we can face the unexpected. They are to me, as much solidary as those trees facing us, supporting each other in letting everything around, including themselves, breath and live. Especially my love, more than anyone, who despite some sh*t to deal with on her own, found the love and courage to dig with me, in my heart and bones, a way to figure out the strength I needed desperately. That’s more than just a story of happiness or friendship, a story of sole solidarity. It’s a story of love and brotherhood. It’s my buddy Mika. It’s my mate Thomas. It’s - last but not least - my love, Nadège. The one that coped and stood by my side with all the good and bad, and still do !

As I was saying earlier, I’m a pragmatic one, a guy that goes for facts, so don’t you think this story is gonna end with butterflies and lilies (well, it may be so, but beside the point).

As some of you may know, we are french, and, especially after the UK and the USA have turned themselves down a dark road the past year, we had to face a pain & stressful electoral challenge. One - despite economic models that don’t fit the means neither the needs, nor that we want, despite a climate imposed by those who chose fear over love to fill their heart with - one battle has been won. We chose not to give in to fear already, even if that it meant going with the youngest, wildest liberal president we may ever have known.

A tremendous amount of work awaits our president elect. And I honestly wish him all the best. I hope he’ll find a way to set political petty prides aside to give the world and our country something good. I hope he’ll find a way to convince those to do so, to go for the greater one, not for the name of a political party. Situation is too much of a mess to have that kind of luxury. We, are important, not the label you come up with. We need a vision. And how not to remind ourselves, vision has quite a wide range, but always blurry on the edges. I hope he’ll find a way to reconcile the french people, and make of France a good example for once, it’s been a while since we did, if, we ever did.

But we won’t rely on him. “We, are our only hope” said Brother Ali , and we’ll all have to do our part. Let’s show them we can build an economic model on our own. Let’s show we can be both competitive and nature-oriented. Let’s acknowledge our mistakes and get rid of them, one by one, piece by piece, one step at a time. Let’s find a way to use the best out of the global and the local. Let’s show how traditions and progress aren’t some opposites. Let’s find balance. Let’s find common sense again. Let’s make an example out of every voice we all are, every choice we all make.

Let’s make that hum a chorus.

Today, I will thank my love, my people, my country and my countrymen, because we, I mean the People, believe neither hate nor wild capitalism are answers to how we did the world wrong, we did ourselves wrong. We who believe happiness isn’t the same thing as pleasure and domestic comfort. We who believe we can be strong. We who believe we can make it. We who won’t wait in line for something good to finally happen. To someone good to finally appear and step up. We who chose Hope, and do something for it.

Today is only a beginning. Just another one in a peaceful war.

“We shall overcome” they once said. Now it’s time we actually do something for it. Some day must be today.

Wrapping myself up again in that cloak of idealism, I will still believe in all I said, and there still is much place under that cloak.

At the end of this day, I am going to put the “Wake Up” record of The Roots and John Legend down the needle, lean back, and think. Again. Just hope I’m not alone to do so.

#itsabouttomorrow