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ausetkmt · 1 year

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A Georgia grand jury indicted 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump and several allies Monday on conspiracy charges of trying to steal Georgia's electoral votes from President Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

The indictment, bringing 41 charges against 19 defendants, accuses Trump and confederates of a coordinated plan to have state officials essentially spike Biden's victory and award the state to Trump. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched her investigation of Trump in February 2021. The indictment had been expected since a special grand jury recommended unspecified charges in February 2023.

Here is what we know about the Georgia case:

Trump and the others named in the 98-page indictment have until noon on Friday, Aug. 25, to voluntarily surrender.

The legal case revolves mostly around the state's RICO statute, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which penalizes activities of individuals engaging in organized crime.

Others indicted included former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Willis said she would seek a trial "in the next six weeks" but scheduling is up to the appointed judge.

Much of the indictment focused on behind-the-scenes pressure campaign on state election workers and the overt harassment that resulted from Trump's naming of Ruby Freeman, a poll worker he falsely accused of fraud.

Willis said Trump had opportunities to legally challenge the election's results, but chose instead to pursue a criminal scheme that was counter to Georgia's process she called, "essential to the functioning of our Democracy."

The Trump campaign condemned the charges as politically motivated. "Call it election interference or election manipulation," said a campaign statement.

Willis wants a Trump trial date 'within six months'

Willis told reporters she would like a trial date for the Trump case "within the next six months," emphasizing RICO defendants get prison — not probation.

"It is not a probated sentence," she said during a brief news conference in which she outlined the charges in the indictment.

The Atlanta DA also said she would like to try all 19 defendants together.

Willis said Trump and the other defendants have until Friday, Aug. 25, to surrender or face arrest; she did not comment on the details of a Trump arraignment.

The indictment outlines a "criminal conspiracy" to overturn the results of the 2020 election, she. She read the names of the defendants, outlined the allegations, and said the defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

"We do want to move this case along, and so we will be asking for a proposed order that occurs a trial date within the next six months."

Harassment of election worker Ruby Freeman a focus in the indictment

The indictment alleges that Trump and his allies falsely accused Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman of committing election fraud and repeated these allegations to Georgia legislators and officials.

“In furtherance of this scheme, members of the enterprise traveled from out of state to harass Freeman, intimidate her, and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit,” the indictment says.

Freeman had previously testified before the U.S. House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack along with her daughter Shaye Moss that they both faced harassment after being falsely accused of election fraud.

They were cleared by Georgia authorities of wrongdoing earlier this year.

- Sudiksha Kochi

House GOP leadership: Fulton County DA ‘weaponizing their office’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., posted on X following the unsealed indictment Monday pointing fingers at President Joe Biden writing that the current president has weaponized government against Trump to interfere in the 2024 election.

“Now a radical DA in Georgia is following Biden’s lead by attacking President Trump and using it to fundraise her political career,” he posted.

Among GOP leadership, Republican Conference Chair New York Rep. Elise Stefanik also took to X to defend Trump writing that he had “every legal right” to challenge the results of the election and that Willis displayed “political bias” toward Trump.

“This is another rogue Far Left radical District Attorney weaponizing their office to target Joe Biden’s top political opponent President Trump,” she wrote.

- Rachel Looker

The indictment by the numbers: 98 pages, 41 charges, 19 defendants

It's a big document, with large bottom lines: 98 pages with at least 41 charges and 19 defendants, including attorneys and so-called "fake electors" as well as Trump himself.

The legal case revolves mostly around the state's RICO statute, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which penalizes activities of individuals engaging in organized crime. Trump himself faces 13 felony charges in this indictment, bringing to 91 the total charges against him across four separate indictments.

The Atlanta indictment accuses Trump and more than a dozen confederates of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to wipe out Biden's victory in Georgia and award the state to the then-president; the scheme allegedly involved improper pressure of state election officials and the use of so-called "fake electors."

− David Jackson

Rudy Giuliani, who pioneered the use of RICO, indicted on RICO charges

President Richard Nixon signed the federal RICO provisions into law in 1970, part of an effort to give authorities the power to go after the heads of Mafia families who managed to insulate themselves from prosecution.

Before he became a personal attorney to Trump and was caught up in the investigations swirling around the former president, it was Giuliani who put a national spotlight on RICO statutes. The former U.S. attorney wielded that law to prosecute the leaders of several mob families in New York in the late 1980s.

Last year, Giuliani's attorneys acknowledged that he was a target of the Georgia probe. According to the indictment, Giuliani repeatedly made false statements about the outcome of the election as he attempted to convince state lawmakers in several states to appoint electors who would support Trump.

− John Fritze

What are fake electors?

Legal experts say the election fraud charges represent the most serious case against him because of allegations he tried to steal the election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden.

Within days of election, Trump’s legal advisers ginned up the strategy that one of the architects called "somewhat dicey" in Georgia. The plan called for then-Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as Senate president, to reject Electoral College votes from states that supported Biden and to flip them to Trump when Congress tallied the votes Jan. 6, 2021.

Electors met nationwide on Dec. 14, 2020, including Georgia's Republican alternates, who allegedly signed documents falsely claiming they were duly elected, according to the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol attack.

Witnesses told investigators an organizer of the Georgia alternates had trouble setting up a new printer to create the certificates. Participants described the meetings as keeping Trump's legal options open in case he won his legal challenges.

Why did Trump call Raffensperger?

Trump tried to call Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 18 times and finally reached him on Jan. 2, 2021.

"All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said.

Trump also insisted that “the ballots are corrupt” and someone was “shredding” them. He told Raffensperger “it is more illegal for you than it is for them because you know what they did and you’re not reporting it.”

Raffensperger told House investigators he considered Trump's comment a threat. But he said officials found no widespread election fraud. He had recertified the results Dec. 7, 2020, and the state Supreme Court rejected one election challenge Dec. 12, although others loomed.

"Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said of a false allegation that unregistered voters cast ballots.

What are Trump's other cases?

Trump faces several civil and criminal cases as he campaigns for president in 2024:

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith notified Trump he’s a target in the investigation of election fraud in the 2020 election. Trump’s lawyers met with Smith’s team July 24 and an indictment could come any day.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has a $250 million civil trial scheduled to start Oct. 2 against Trump’s namesake company on allegations of fraud for lying for a decade about the value of properties.

E. Jean Carroll won a $5 million defamation case against Trump, which he is appealing. She has another trial scheduled to begin in New York on Jan. 15 – the day of Iowa Republican presidential caucuses.

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg has a criminal trial scheduled to start March 25 on 34 charges of falsifying business records to pay hush money before the 2016 election to a woman who claimed to have had sex with him.

Smith has a federal trial tentatively scheduled to start May 20 in Florida on charges related to classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate a year and a half after leaving the White House. Trump faces 40 charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice, retaining national defense records and concealing the records from authorities.

− Bart Jansen

A President Trump probably couldn't do much about a Georgia prosecution

Even if Donald Trump is elected president again, there wouldn't be much he could do about a case against him in Georgia.

It would be a state case and the federal government has no authority over state prosecutions. That is also the situation with the hush money case out of New York.

The two other cases against the former president are federal: one involving classified information and the other an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. If elected, Trump could theoretically pardon himself, or otherwise make those cases go away.

− David Jackson

Indictments follow chaotic day

The indictments came at the end of a chaotic day at the Fulton County courthouse.

Reuters reported Monday that a court document listed charges against him appeared briefly on the court’s website before disappearing. But the Fulton County District Attorney’s office said no indictment had yet been returned.

Witnesses such as former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan were seen entering and exiting the courthouse, despite the custom of keeping grand jury deliberations secret.

Reporters waited anxiously in the courtroom until the indictments were handed to the judge in early evening.

− Bart Jansen

Trump can still run in 2024 despite his previous charges

Though Trump has been indicted in other federal and state investigations, he can still run for president in the 2024 election.

Barbara McQuade, a criminal law expert at the University of Michigan, previously told USA TODAY that even if Trump were charged, convicted and sentenced to prison, he would still be able to run for president.

The three exclusive requirements to run for president are to be a natural-born citizen, to be at least 35 years old and to have been a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years, according to the U.S. Constitution.

Trump told reporters in March that he “won’t even think about leaving” the 2024 race, despite his legal troubles.− Sudiksha Kochi

Pro-Trump Republicans attack local prosecutors; other GOP members put blame on Trump

As the political world waited for the unsealing of Atlanta indictments, Republicans paired off into two groups. Trump allies said they would attack the prosecution, while others said the party should consider another standard-bearer.

"Are we going to let county prosecutors start prosecuting the President of the United States?" said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Fox News. "The former President of the United States. To my Democratic friends, be careful what you wish for."

Others said the issue is Trump himself.

Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican congressman from New York state who faces a tough re-election battle, told CNN that "I think Donald Trump's conduct post-election was wrong ... I want the party to move in a different direction."

Lawler also said that, if Trump is convicted, "he should not be running for public office."

− David Jackson

Trump campaign blasts Georgia prosecutor as ‘rabid partisan’

Trump’s presidential campaign issued a statement Monday evening blasting Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as a “rabid partisan” and accusing her of interfering with the 2024 presidential campaign.

The campaign predicted Willis’ investigation would fail along with the charges filed against Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, federal charges filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith and a civil lawsuit against his company by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“These activities by Democrat leaders constitute a grave threat to American democracy and are direct attempts to deprive the American people of their rightful choice to cast their vote for President,” the statement said. “It is un-American and wrong.”

– Bart Jansen

Donald Trump Jr. protests the still-sealed indictment

Donald Trump's allies aren't waiting for indictments to be unsealed. They're already on the attack.

“Prosecutorial misconduct like this is what a RIGGED SYSTEM looks like,” said Donald Trump, Jr., on the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter.

In the angry missive re-posted by a number of supporters, the younger Trump added: “How is the AG of Georgia not stepping in to stop this travesty of justice, after the Fulton County DA violated my father's Constitutional Rights and tainted the Grand Jury? Going full Banana Republic!!!”

− David Jackson

What is an indictment?

An indictment is a formal document that contains allegations that someone committed a crime. It includes the charges laid out against a person and is filed before a case can move forward in court, David Weinstein, a former federal and state prosecutor, previously told USA TODAY.

Weinstein said that an indictment means a grand jury decided that there’s “more likely than not” enough evidence – based on testimony – to move forward with charging a person. At least twelve jurors must be in agreement that a defendant allegedly committed a crime to issue an indictment.

After a person is indicted, they must go to trial where a jury will reach an unanimous decision on whether to pursue conviction.

− USA TODAY staff

Republican witness in Georgia: Party needs to 'pivot' from Trump

One of last grand jury witnesses, former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, did not provide reporters a legal analysis of the case after his testimony, but did offer political reaction: His party needs to turn away from Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump was the worst candidate ever in the history of the party, even worse than Herschel Walker, and now we’re going to have to pivot from there," Duncan told reporters after his testimony and before the indictment was announced; Walker is the Republican candidate who lost last year's Senate race in Georgia.

Duncan added: "We want to win an election in 2024, it’s going to have to be somebody other than Donald Trump if we do it. As long as we make this about the three-ring circus called Donald Trump, we’re going to lose every time. And you don’t have to go any further than Georgia to see that play out.”

Other Republicans said Duncan is kidding himself, and that Trump owns a big part of the GOP that will simply rally around him, just as they did after the first three indicted cases.

− David Jackson

#TRUMP #trump lies revealed #trump indicted in fulton county ga #Fani Willis DA #Brad Raffensperger #gop #gop lies #vote theft schemes #trump lies #Georgia

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101now · 2 years

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Republican McCarthy wins House speaker on 15th ballot: recap

WASHINGTON – Rep. Kevin McCarthy clinched the election to become the 55th person to serve as speaker of the House after a marathon 15 rounds of voting since Tuesday and a series of concessions that moved power from his new position to a cadre of hard-right lawmakers. His election came two years after the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol – a day when McCarthy, his top deputies and 19 of…

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#15th #all #ballot:#house #mccarthy #recap #republican #speaker #wins

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eleanorblue · 2 years

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EleanorBlue’s Five-Part 2022 Midterms Recap; Part Three, Section A: Open Seats in the Senate

I missed the last two days due to Exhaustion and also schoolwork. But now we’re back to talk about the Senate! Before I get started, let me just say: THE GEORGIA SENATE RUN-OFF IS IN ONE WEEK. RAPHAEL WARNOCK NEEDS ALL THE HELP HE CAN GET TO DEFEAT HERSCHEL WALKER. If you’d like to donate to his campaign, you can go here.

Okay. Back to the recaps.

I thought this was going to be just one post, but it’s gotten wayyyy too long. So, I’ve divided the Senate section into two: Open Seats and Incumbent Races.

The Senate was the Big One. The one everyone was watching. The one that launched thousands upon thousands of emails and texts begging for donations.

“We’re counting on you, EleanorBlue.”

“EleanorBlue, can you rush a donation by tonight to help me defeat [terrible guy]?”

“We need your support EleanorBlue.”

“The clock is ticking, EleanorBlue.”

I discussed in Part 1 why control of the Senate was so important, but just as a brief recap: if Democrats control the Senate, they can continue confirming Biden judges. It will also be easier to get budgets and legislation passed if we don’t have to fight Mitch McConnell in the Senate and just [insert whoever’s gonna come out of that fucking clown car to be Speaker here] in the House. Democrats held the Senate 50-50, with VP Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. So, we needed to hold everything that was up and we had a few opportunities to flip seats to expand our majority.

How did we do with the open seats?

Pennsylvania

*airhorn noises*

GO FETTERMAN GO!

Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman defeated pee-drinking puppy-killing New Jersey resident Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The pair were competing for a vacant Senate seat opened after Sen. Pat Toomey (R) retired. This is a much-needed flip for Democrats, in a state that only went for Biden by two points, 50% to 48%.

I am so excited about John Fetterman. I just want to talk about him for a bit.

He was very active online during the campaign, as was his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, a formerly undocumented immigrant from Brazil. Fetterman (and his campaign) knew how to use social media in the way most (septuagenarian, octogenarian) senators Do Not. He is an economic populist who has tried to bring his message to those who feel marginalized or left behind. He is very pro-union, supports a $15 minimum wage, and wants to legalize marijuana. When he was mayor of Braddock, he officiated multiple same-sex marriages, even though Pennsylvania law made same-sex marriages illegal at the time.

Fetterman connected with people unlike any other candidate this cycle. People could identify with him.

His opponent, Dr. Oz, was a millionaire from New Jersey with a Hollywood Star who could not have seemed less relatable. When asked how many houses he owned, Oz said he had “only” two homes and ten properties, which (a) doesn’t make sense and (b) is not really a situation in which you want to use the word “only.” The Fetterman campaign capitalized on a truly bizarre campaign video Oz made of himself buying an odd assortment groceries in an attempt to demonstrate how terrible inflation is, in which he used the word “crudité” instead of, you know, “vegetable platter,” and fumbled the name of the grocery store.

“Look at me, I am a regular human like you who is familiar with grocery prices because I definitely go to the grocery store and struggle with the cost each week!”

In May, Fetterman had a stroke. He was off the campaign trail for months, and a health scare always hurts candidates in the minds of voters. Fetterman’s team stepped up and launched tons of funny, relatable, and accurate digital ads--though nothing can truly make up for a candidate holding events with real people. As best they could, the Fetterman campaign tried to turn the stroke into an asset--they characterized him as a fighter, as someone who got knocked down and got back up, and said that he was fighting for everyone who’d ever struggled like him. Oz attacked him for the stroke, of course, but the nastiness of his attacks may have hurt Oz more than they helped.

Oz and Fetterman debated in late October, and the media immediately piled on Fetterman--with some reason. He did not have a fantastic time. The stroke left him with auditory processing issues, and the closed captioning system at the debate malfunctioned, making his performance seem shaky and weak.

Here’s a headline from Politico about the debate:

Fetterman’s debate performance prompts Democratic handwringing

Yeah, it sure did. Maybe more than it should have, considering during that very same debate, Dr. Oz announced that he thought that discussion of abortion should occur between women, doctors, and...local political leaders?!?

“My child has a congenital condition making them incompatible with life and I’m considering getting an abortion to spare them the pain they would suffer after birth. I’ve spoken with my doctor about this. Now I just need to contact my local Board of Zoning representative to make this incredibly challenging decision!”

Fetterman ran an excellent campaign, with the motto “every county, every vote.” No rural Pennsylvania county was too red for him. He spoke with people--and inspired and convinced people--in the deepest red counties. How did that work out?

John Fetterman beat Dr. Oz 50.9% to 46.6%, flipping a red seat blue.

“Pennsylvania elections are about margins, and he cut into the margins Republicans had across the counties that they usually control,” said Christopher Borick, a political scientist and pollster at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. “He got a lot of looks from voters who aren’t very open to looking at Democrats right now.”

Thus ends my love letter to John Fetterman. Phew. I promise my analyses of the next few races won’t go on so long.

Ohio

Ugh. Yeah, this sucks, but I wasn’t surprised.

Like Pennsylvania, Ohio had an open Senate seat vacated by Senator Rob Portman (R). This was an opportunity for Democrats to flip another seat, but I think we all knew going in that Ohio would be much harder than Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. Ohio used to be a swing state. Like Florida, it is not anymore (even though Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown won reelection in 2018). In 2012, Ohio went for Obama by 2 points, 50.1% to 48.2%. In 2016, Ohio went for Trump by 9 points, 51.1% to 43.5%. In 2020, Ohio went for Trump again by 8 points, 53.3% to 45.2%. It’s pretty red these days! No matter what kind of campaign U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D) ran, it was going to be a tough slog.

Ryan is pro-choice, former...author and personality JD Vance supports a 15-week abortion ban. Vance has spread the Big Lie, Ryan is pro-democracy. Vance has expressed admiration for Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán (ugh ugh ugh gross blegh) and has blamed America’s problems on the “childless left.” Vance bizarrely accused Biden of intentionally opening the southern border with the express purpose of flooding Ohio with fentanyl to kill MAGA voters. (For those of you reading this who are not from the U.S. or are not sure where Ohio is, I encourage you to quickly google a map to see how far Ohio is from the southern border.)

In his campaign, Ryan avoided describing himself as a Democrat and tried to draw a contrast between himself, as a regular down-to-earth Ohioan whose grandfather was a steelworker, and Vance, as a venture capitalist and fraud. He also made China one of the primary focuses of his campaign, blaming the country for stealing Ohio jobs and driving up unemployment.

Pundit hat time. I don’t think this was a terrible strategy. It’s a bit similar to Fetterman’s economic populism, and at bare minimum, Ryan worried the Republican party enough that they diverted millions of dollars they could have used in other races to holding very red Ohio. But the electorate of Ohio was just too red for Ryan.

Also? In my personal and not data-based opinion...I don’t think Ryan was that compelling of a candidate. I couldn’t get really excited about him the way I got excited about Fetterman or Barnes or Beasley (who I will talk about later). Tim Ryan is like a glass of skim milk. Good for you, but boring. JD Vance is like a cocktail of rat poison and drain cleaner. It’ll probably kill you, but it’s a hell of a lot more exciting and unusual than skim milk.

But a lot of people who are not me like skim milk, and a lot of people did like Tim Ryan. Tim Ryan lost by 6.5 points, 53.2% to 46.7%. That margin is a little narrower than Biden’s margin in 2020, so good for you, Tim Ryan. He also may have had an impact on several House races, which I’ll talk about later. It’s so annoying that JD flipping Vance is going to be a senator, but I am not shocked.

North Carolina

Shucks.

North Carolina is one of those states like Ohio and Florida in that is used to be a swing state but has been reliably Republican for the last few election cycles. But! I don’t think we can or should rule it out. Like I mentioned in my state government post (even though I talked about NC as a deep red state), North Carolina has a Democratic governor and would definitely have a more purple legislature if it wasn’t gerrymandered so badly. Besides, in the 2020 election, Trump only won by 1.3 points, 49.9% to 48.6%. North Carolina should be flippable!

Well, not in this race. Senator Richard Burr (R) retired, leaving an open seat. Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley (D) ran a strong race against U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (R). She focused on lowering inflation and protecting abortion rights. She outraised Budd by a lot, but outside groups and PACs poured money into the race to support Budd. I guess it worked. Budd, a 2020-election denier who co-sponsored a national ban on abortion (though since running he has stated that Biden is the legitimate president of the United States) beat Beasley by 4 points, 50.7% to 47%. That sucks. Cheri Beasley would have been a fantastic senator, and while I’m not shocked that she didn’t win given the makeup of North Carolina, I am disappointed.

I just said that Cheri Beasley outraised Budd. She did. However, I’ve seen lots of reporting that she did not get the financial support she needed from the Democratic party, who appeared to prioritize other races over hers. Though liberal groups and PACs began to put money into her race in late September-October, it was a case of too little, too late. Conservative groups were able to run attack ads that portrayed Beasley as a radical leftist in the pocket of Joe Biden. (Lol.) These ads often used blatantly racist imagery to paint Beasley as dangerous and as soft on crime. (Hmm, does this remind anyone of Johnson’s campaign against Mandela Barnes?) Without sufficient financial support from the party, it looks like Beasley was unable to run enough counter ads to defend herself and attack Budd.

Provided this analysis holds as we get further from the election and learn more about what happened, this was a pretty huge mistake on the part of the Democratic Party. I really think we could have flipped North Carolina. It is a shame we didn’t.

Okay. Those were the Big Three open seats. The remainder of the open seats were in very blue or very red states I’m going to go through them super fast, because there’s honestly not much to say.

Alabama

Senator Richard Shelby (R, but used to be D like a thousand years ago) retired after 35 years in the Senate. He was replaced by his former chief of staff Katie Britt (R), who defeated Will Boyd (D) by 36 points, 66.6% to 30.9%. Absolutely no credible new source has reported on her positions so I can’t cite anything without going to, like the 1819 project, but she’s very conservative. Obviously. Interestingly, she was not Trump’s choice in the primary--that was Mo Brooks. I guess she can’t be worse than him.

Missouri

Senator Roy Blunt (R) retired after 12 years in the Senate. He was replaced by former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R), who defeated Trudy Busch Valentine (D) by 13 points, 55.4% to 42.1%. Reading his Wikipedia page makes my skin crawl. He is as big of a dipshit as you’d imagine. The only funny thing about Eric Schmitt is that the night before the Missouri Republican primary Trump put out an endorsement for “ERIC,” confusing everyone as both top candidates were named Eric. When asked for clarification, Trump’s team said “the endorsement speaks for itself,” which it did not. Both Erics immediately claimed the endorsement.

Oklahoma

...where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. Senator Jim Inhofe (R) announced his resignation in February 2022, presumably on account of being eighty-seven years old, prompting a special election to replace him. He’d served in the Senate for twenty-seven years. Inhofe was the bozo who brought a snowball onto the Senate floor as proof that climate change doesn’t exist. He endorsed his top aide, Luke Holland, as his replacement, but Holland lost the primary to U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin. Mullin (R) then went on to defeat former U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn by 27 points, 61.8% to 35.2%. He’s an election denier and an anti-abortion zealot. Now he’s in the U.S. Senate. Fun!

Vermont

In November 2021, Senator Patrick Leahy (D) announced he would retire after forty-eight years in the Senate. Can you imagine sitting in the Senate for forty-eight years? I cannot. He is the third-longest serving senator ever. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D), Vermont’s lone congressional representative, ran to replace him against political newcomer Gerald Malloy (R), who just moved to Vermont from Massachusetts. Welch defeated Malloy by 40 points, 68.4% to 28.1%. Welch’s top priorities appear to be expanding the Affordable Care Act and fighting climate change, which is great. He’ll be a good senator. I’m glad I could end this list on Vermont instead of on Alabama, Missouri, or Oklahoma.

Wrap-Up

That’s it for the open seats. We only managed to flip one, which was...well, not entirely unexpected, but still disappointing. Next up we have the defending incumbents. Thanks for reading, and I’ll se you tomorrow!

#surviving the american political hellscape #2022 midterm elections #2022 midterms #eleanorblue does politics #2022 senate elections

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 1, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

August 1, 2021 (Sunday)

Last Sunday, educator and civil rights leader Dr. Robert Parris Moses died at 86.

Born in New York City in 1935, the son of a homemaker and a janitor, Moses was working on a PhD at Harvard when his parents’ health brought him back to New York City. There, he began to teach math in 1958.

In 1960, images of Black Americans in the South picketing for their rights “hit me powerfully, in the soul as well as the brain,” he later said. He moved to Mississippi and began to work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced “snick”). In 1961, he began to direct SNCC’s Mississippi Project to promote voter registration in Mississippi, where, although about 40% of the state’s population was Black, most Black Americans had been frozen out of the polls through poll taxes, subjective literacy tests, and violence. In his quest to get people registered to vote, Moses endured attacks from thugs wielding knives, white supremacists wielding guns, and law enforcement officers wielding power. He earned a reputation for being quiet and calm in times that were anything but.

By 1964, Moses was one of the key leaders in the effort to register Black voters in Mississippi. In April, working with Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker, he helped to found the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge Mississippi’s all-white Democratic Party.

That summer, Moses led the Freedom Summer Project to bring together college students from northern schools to work together with Black people from Mississippi to educate and register Black voters. On June 21, just as the project was getting underway, Ku Klux Klan members working with local law enforcement officers murdered three organizers outside Philadelphia, Mississippi: James Chaney, from Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York. The white supremacists buried the bodies in an earthen dam that was under construction. When the men disappeared, Moses told the other organizers that no one would blame them for going home. His quiet leadership inspired most of them to stay.

On August 4, investigators found the bodies of the three missing men. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party met on August 6 and decided to challenge the Mississippi Democratic Party to represent the state at the Democratic National Convention. And yet, when the Democratic National Convention met, the Democratic National Committee leaders and President Lyndon B. Johnson chose to recognize the all-white Democratic Party rather than the integrated ticket of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

At the end of 1964, Moses resigned from his leadership position in Mississippi, worried that his role had become "too strong, too central, so that people who did not need to, began to lean on me, to use me as a crutch." Key to Moses’s leadership was that he did not want to be out front; he wanted to empower others to take control of their own lives.

Civil rights historian Taylor Branch told reporter Julia Cass in a story Mother Jones published in 2002: “Moses pioneered an alternative style of leadership from the princely church leader that [the Reverend Martin Luther] King [Jr.] epitomized…. He was the thoughtful, self-effacing loner. He is really the father of grassroots organizing—not the Moses summoning his people on the mountaintop as King did, but, ironically, the anti-Moses, going door-to-door, listening to people, letting them lead.”

Moses was disillusioned when the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party did not win the right to represent the state in the Democratic National Convention. For all the work that individual sharecroppers and hairdressers and housewives had done in Mississippi, national leaders had let them down. “You cannot trust the system,” he said in 1965. “I will have nothing to do with the political system any longer.”

Moses turned to protesting the Vietnam War. He and his wife, Janet, moved to Tanzania when he was drafted despite being five years over the cutoff age. After 8 years in Africa, the Moses family moved back to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Moses resumed his doctoral work in the philosophy of mathematics.

Back in America, Moses turned his philosophy of empowerment to the schools, advancing the idea that mathematical literacy is central to the ability of young people to participate in the twenty-first-century economy. In the 1980s, he launched The Algebra Project to give young Americans access to higher mathematics. “I believe that the absence of math literacy in urban and rural communities throughout this country is an issue as urgent as the lack of registered Black voters in Mississippi was in 1961,” he wrote. “In the 1960s, we opened up political access…. The most important social problem affecting people of color today is economic access, and this depends crucially on math and science literacy, because the American economy is now based on knowledge and technology, not labor.”

Moses’s focus on empowerment and self-determination was very much in keeping with the original concept of American democracy.

And yet, his efforts, along with those of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, to turn to national politicians to cement gains at the grass roots were not in vain. In 1965, Congress passed and Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, protecting the rights of Black Americans to vote, focusing on states with historical voter suppression.

Just fifteen years later, in 1980, Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan spoke at Philadelphia, Mississippi, where he defended state’s rights, and the unwinding of the civil rights advances of the post–World War II years began.

Now, in 2021, we seem to be headed back to the one-party society Moses fought. In response to record voter turnout in the 2020 election, 18 states have passed 30 new laws that make it harder to vote. At the same time, Republican-dominated legislatures are gathering into their own hands the power to override the voters.

In Louisiana on Friday, Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder removed three Democrats and one unaffiliated member from committee leadership positions in retaliation for their unwillingness to override the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill banning transgender girls from participating in school sports. They will be replaced by Republicans.

In Georgia, legislators have begun the process of transferring control of the elections in Fulton County, one of the most reliably Democratic counties in the nation, from county officials to Republican state officials.

Public schools are also under attack, with Republicans threatening to cut funding to schools that require masks to stop the spread of coronavirus or that teach “divisive concepts” that make students uncomfortable, usually topics that involve race.

Republican lawmakers have proposed attaching funding to students rather than to schools, enabling parents to use tax dollars to enroll their children in private schools. This sounds like a revival of the all-white “segregation academies” that sprang up in the South after the Supreme Court required desegregation of public schools. Those academies, funded with public money, were so successful that, according to Professor Noliwe Rooks, an Americanist who specializes in issues of race and education and who chairs the Africana Studies department at Brown University, in 1974, 3,500 academies in the South enrolled 750,000 white children. As white students left the public schools, funds available to educate the many Black and few white children left behind fell drastically.

Unequal educational options were hallmarks of the one-party state systems Moses worked to undermine. When he explained The Algebra Project, Moses called the historically limited educational opportunities for Black children in America “sharecropper schooling.” “[Y]ou went through it, but your options were you were going to chop and pick cotton or do domestic work….”

In 1965, Congress and the president finally recognized that all the organizing in the world couldn’t overcome the apparatus of a rigged system. They used the power of the federal government to turn the work of individuals like Bob Moses, scholar and visionary, organizer and teacher, into the law of the land.

But watching the turbulence in American life last year, Moses warned that the nation “can lurch backward as quickly as it can lurch forward.”

—-

Notes:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2002/05/moses-factor/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/us/bob-moses-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/george-floyd-protests.html

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-july-2021

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/08/trump-schools-reopening-federal-funding-352311

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/cindy-hyde-smith-mike-espy-senate-mississippi.html

https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-8eaa96bcc646a118a70b95a06994c2d3

https://www.ajc.com/politics/capitol-recap-georgia-moves-closer-to-takeover-of-fulton-elections/O2ZVJZ3NKRD7HP5QHTSBIXUQ34/

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #biography #Civil Rights #history #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 5 years

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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Finland to Eurovision with a meme icon and his side-kick

youtube

“heeeeeey what is that song on that video???” Definitely not Darude - Sandstorm. Grow the fuck up.

I mean that they basically threw off the open call for songs from Finnish artists, instead opting for having one artist national final, usually one very known but very gettable-bored-of name so that they could get some more viewership rather when they pick a random nobody from a bunch of other random nobodies. Last year YLE got themselves an artist whose Eurovision ticket was long overdue, but this year they went the extra step and brought us HIM.

No, not that HIM. They can't go anyway as they've already disbanded. I'm talking about HIM.

Yes, THAT HIM. Meet Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, which thankfully has a pseudonym to publish his music with - Darude. Almost 20 years ago he published this beautiful techno single "Sandstorm" with lyrics like "du du du du du du du du du du du du". And now it's become the big-ass target of memery for the past few years on the Internet, with Darude being very well aware of it all - I don't think he has escaped questions about "Sandstorm" now that the Eurovision interviewers media is on horizon and interviews literally every single representative, no matter if they're shy or unpopular with the bookies at all.

And even if "Sandstorm" was the only thing to shake his tiny little Finnish world, it did not break Darude to be just a one-hit wonder (well he still looks like one but yeah) and he's got more music out ever since. And it probably sounds a little too tragic when YLE resorts to just nagging and begging Darude to represent their nation, even kinda secretly hoping that thanks to him Finland can have a qualification just solely for the meme factor. Darude even said so that he at first rejected their calls, but this year became THE year for him to go, and he's not alone obviously - his credited vocalist friend for this ride to Tel Aviv became Sebastian Rejman, a bit washed-up media star who already did some collaborating with Darude.

So the format was basically the same for this year's UMK - artist announced separately, then each of their 3 songs gets published every week on a specific weekday, with single cover art and a music video already, and the Finnish people together with international juries vote for the best track. Simple as that. Unlike with Saara Aalto though, all Darude & Sebastian songs were barely even distinct from one another in sound - just techno songs that have a piece of "Sandstorm" with themselves. Well only 2 do anyway. But still, techno/house songs to listen to on the radio when you're driving and minding your own business. And I had hard time picking favourites but all of them were alright I guess. Yet somehow my least favourite happened to win... and that was "Look Away", very much so inspired by natural disasters and how do we all ignore everything around us. No matter if it's a storm or hurricane or tornado or wind throwing sand at our eyes.

I don't know why the song didn't click with me all that much at first, I suppose it was because it's just a mindless gloomy techno song that raises global awareness (we already have Denmark talking about that, but they're insisting that "love is forever", while Finland is just... getting up more seriously in all this), and besides that, it's just incredibly repetitive. It consists more of the pre-chorus-ish chorus (I mean the line "is it in my head? Am I the only one?" and that other line preceding) and the actual chorus that mostly goes like "look away, look away, look away...". Even to the point when the song ends with some additional “look away”ing but under a different drum beat. What's it with Finns having a passion for the word "away"? We already had seen them sending a "Sing It Away", which was basically a cheer-up tune telling you to sing your problems off... while this year? We're trying to NOT look into the problems dead in the eye. We're looking... erm, uh, away.

But now I do have to say that I somewhat like it. Tell it to ya - the B minor chord is possibly one of my least favourite music keys, so I might as well be a little bit more negative on it if takes the song with itself to sound incredibly dull and painfully meh. So thankfully we'll be hearing it live half a step lower (idk if that's what it is with most EDM singers in Eurovision that shit like this can be possible, as well as idk why are they allowed into Eurovision in the first place. But seriously, why can't you just choose the same key you sang in in studio for Eurovision...), which made the song sound better to me - as a Nightcore junkie, I am passionate about hearing songs in different keys all the darn time, to see in what key would a certain song sound the best. It's usually the song's key that makes me like a song better or worse live rather than a live performance itself (though in some NFs I can see which of my favourite acts are DoA by not even emoting towards them - my emotion has to be evoked, and if I evoke it on purpose, well then, I'd just rather stay motionless completely on anything and only yelp if a song causes me to do this unexplainedly). We'll see how Sebastian will execute his singing live. As for now, he's the captain of this sinking ship that hit a small iceberg (another one of the disasters we usually "look away" from until it's found in our history books). Not Darude. Darude's just merely a musical hold-up of the disaster. It all has to depend on the vocalist and if the staging clicks with the audience. Sure, Darude can put on a red wig and green sunglasses so that he could click with the meme audience, but that won't get the Finns far.

So I like this song, it actually has some cool musical moments thrown in (I like the piano for one), I can enjoy this off my free time. But Estonia does it better at the "Finno-Ugric EDM-ish entry about Mother Nature's tantrums" category and I ain't even sorry for saying this. But I gotta be sorry for Darude. This year's UMK had the lesser care about it because... well, these songs weren't exactly inspiring or anything, and with people wanting something groundbreaking, their hopes kept on vaning away with each and every song release of the UMK entries': "oh so the next 2 two songs will be good right?" "oh so then the last one will be the best one, yeah right?" "...oh, okay then .-." And him, as the Finnish meme king, should have deserved a better year for a better Eurovision stint, so he could have become something à la Epic Sax Guy. Right now I mostly see a middle-aged DJ with 2 kids, not a redhead dude with green sunglasses looking shadily on us. And that's okay sometimes because memes don't necessarily need to be remembered for memes (just like I mostly remember Kanye West for music, and then memes come second), but Finland's gonna take a miracle to get through, and I hardly see any. That's an aina mun pity.

Approval factor: Eh, it's alright, but I would certainly not hold it up to high regards post-contest? lol.

Follow-up factor: it's kiiiiinda bleak knowing that after giving us probably one of the most favourable dark horse efforts for Eurovision they're now going down the dancier route, with one entry after being a banger, the other being a dad banger. Ah well. It doesn't flow so neatly in my eyes, it seems.

Qualification factor: almost dead in the tracks. Finland flows anywhere they can, having a lot of bad luck for 3 years this decade, and I doubt that the juries will be supporting this heavily, considering they are better at rating good vocalists over bad ones, so I don't think this will sail through. But I secretly have hopes in this. It's not that bad, but Estonia is in this semi too, and it's a friendlier EDM track, so I don't quite think that repetitive will out-compell the good formulaic. Plus, Sebastian has a lot to fix vocally, and I doubt that he will carry Finland any further if he doesn't fix anything, so so far the chances of Finland aren't looking up imo. Bottom 5 at the semi is more likely if not already the actual outcome. Maaaaybe 10th in the semi at best, but I doubt it.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

The more this section pops up in my works, the less I wanna recap national finals anymore. I hope there’s more breather moments with me having to review a lot of internal selection songs in between the ones from NFs, because this whole season was an utter disaster, and it’d help if the next one isn’t. So let’s check in on Finland's selection’s best:

• But seriously, did anyone ever see Darude as a Finnish representative coming??? No??? Me neither. I was just sitting there, waiting to see if there's a hope for Mikael Saari (you know, that balladeer guy from previous UMKs - I do believe some audiences love him just as much as Saara Aalto, who only was on one UMK and one Euroviisut) to be announced on this special separate programme. Nope - the trilingual hosting trio of the programme that included Krista Siegfrids in it as the token Swedish speaker just happened to happily proclaim Darude as THE Finnish hopeful... and the world was s h o o k e t h. Just look at him go. His smug grin is still iconic on here.

• During the wait for all the UMK songs to pile up, the excitement for Darude faded away and everyone moved on to support other countries. I can't blame them, because I have found like one decent song this UMK that's still worth listening to twice a year or so - "Superman". Where Darude becomes the everyday hero for ordinary people that have difficulties in live to do mundane stuff. Maybe this song would have made him look like a better meme than his current entry would have? Just watch him go on his DJ booth dressing like a knock-off superhero because EBU doesn't allow blatant advertising. A way better gimmick than Gromee's snakey hands. Alas, no one will have to hear "Superman" anymore. Granted it's just an EDM song just like any other, but somehow I liked it best, end of.

youtube

• There's at least one memorable screenshot from UMK as well, so I'm happy with that. I saw this pop up on my Twitter time line and I could not stop laughing inside. Seriously. Krista and this other guy should host ESC provided Eurovision is ever coming back to Finland. They had a lot of iconic outfit changes during the NF itself (and the NF itself had "Look Away" with some dancer on a cube but they scrapped the tall cube for Tel Aviv entirely), but those floral onesies are my favourite.

Now I kinda hope that there’s something that will alarm YLE in the meantime that Finland needs a better approach for Eurovision and we’ll see another fully-fledged UMK in the works next year, and then Finland can be great again. For now, I’ll just wish “onnea” to Darude and Sebastian, with hopes that people don’t look away from their song at all! (but most likely they will so what’s the point.)

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #finland 2019 #darude ft. sebastian rejman #look away #finland

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taylorscottbarnett · 6 years

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People always want quick change

However they never really understand how that works, and US Civics classes should really do a lot better job on HOW our institutions work, and the history of them, rather than just things like “Checks and Balances / Separation of Powers”. Because change rarely happens quickly in America -- and that’s by design. The US House if Representatives (without gerrymandering), is designed to reflect quick changing attitudes of a populace. It’s why we have elections every two years. So at least one chamber of Congress can keep up with the changing attitudes of America. It’s also why Representatives have always been directly elected -- and why they are representative of how large a population is. Large, heavily populated states, {like Virginia), thought that they deserved more say, because they had, well more people. The US Senate is -- by design, slow. Agonizingly slow. It was originally designed to be the State’s representatives in the Federal Government, chosen by the people. While large states held outsized influence in the House (like Virginia at the start of the United States), it’s co-equal counterparts in the Senate were designed to be the US State’s representation in the Federal Government, and a place where small states, (like New Jersey), wanted a check on Virginia's power. They didn’t want their larger neighbors to just run over smaller states and do whatever they wanted in the Federal Government. Connecticut Compromise, that created our federal government did both. This however led to more issues. Northern states that relied heavily on manufacturing rather than slave labor for its economy didn’t want the south to have outsized influence in Congress due to slaves being counted as population, even though they had no rights.

Those very things still define our congress today, more than any other -- although the roles are reversed -- with many southern and western states having less population (and more conservative populations at that) compared to densely packed eastern and western states. The US House, even when gerrymandered a particular party’s advantage, still can be changed if popular will is strong enough. (Meaning you debated your case, and enough people found you to be a good choice). Recent examples being the election of 2006 and 2008, where outrage over Bush and Republicans over the Iraq war and the economy overthrew Republicans flipped the US Senate to Democratic Control in 2008, by ushering in 6 new Democratic Senators and flipped the House by sending 31 Democrats to the chamber. Keep in mind, those very same issues, sent more Republicans to Congress the year before in 2004. (4 Senators and 3 Representatives) Outrage over the recession’s strains on the economy, and the Affordable Care Act, flipped the House back to Republicans in 2010, and very nearly the US Senate -- (however this was stemmed by just two votes counting Biden’s tie-breaking vote). The Senate took voters anger and took the kettle off the burner. In 2012, Voters again didn’t like what Mitt Romney and Speaker John Boehner (the leader of the Republican resistance in Congress) were selling. The states sent two more Democrats to Washington. Emboldening Democrats and Obama’s power, while chipping away at Republicans resistance by decreasing their majority by 8. This also had the effect of increasing Democratic control in the South, as a lot of those elected to the House came from southern states -- and they nearly solidified the parties power in the North East -- they replaced the only two Republican senators up for election with Democrats -- and every state north-east of New York fell into Democratic hands. Yet once more in the 2014 Midterms Republicans finally took control of the US Senate, and more than wiped out Democratic gains in the House. They held more seats in the US House in 2014 -- Republicans gained their largest majority in the House since 1928. And in 2016, Republicans finally took back the White House, giving them control over all of the Federal Government, for the first time since 2004 -- and in the entire 00′s decade Republicans only held that trifecta from 2002-2004, one election cycle. Even with that gain, they still lost 2 seats in the Senate, and 6 in the House. Public outrage at the party in power again exploded last year -- and unlike 2010, it was with a good economy and Democrats running -- and winning -- on healthcare, a bitter irony for Republicans who ran against a bad economy and against Democrats on Healthcare in 2010. The very same issue that swept Republicans into power in 2010, cleared them out 8 years later -- not only that, but the thing they’d been rallying against for over a decade, The Affordable Care Act expanded and they failed to establish huge victories in the Senate -- while in the last two midterms they had drastic winnings. (Fun fact, because of how the US Senate Elections are staggered to slow down party -- and idea -- turnover, the very election that increased Democratic power in the Senate in 2012, increased Republican power in 2018.) More on that fun fact, the very seats that Democrats held onto in 2012 were lost in 2018. The net seat turnover was even the same. Democrats picked up 2 seats in 2012, and with the very same seats up for grabs in 2018 Republicans flipped 2. It took 6 years to flip those seats. Six. Years.

My point in this history recap? Lots of Gen-z voters will come of voting age by the time of 2020. A generation that outnumbers my own, that makes up 25% of the U.S. population.

Change takes time. Change takes effort. Change takes fortitude to not get discouraged when everything doesn’t work out like you’d imagined. We got the House. Flipped a lot of states. We retook chambers and governorships everyone predicted we’d lost for decades -- and over the last eight years, we’ve come closer than we’ve ever been to single-payer healthcare. But that dream won't come in 2020. It likely won't come in 2022, or 2024, or 2026 either. And if Republicans get to nominate another SCOTUS justice or two it won't come for a generation or longer. Don’t get distracted if you find what’s accomplished from the Democratic party to be less than you wanted.

Obamacare wasn’t single-payer. It had conservative and liberal parts. It progressed. Huge progress in a century-long fight to get a single-payer healthcare plan passed in US. States that led the resistance against the ACA and Medicaid expansion have almost all addopted it. Expanding access to millions of families. People voted in referedums to expand it. States that lead the Tea-Party to power have addopted it. A few holdouts remain, and god-knows my own govenor has tried everything he can to weaken it in Kentucky. However, not one state has repealled the expansion. Not one. It’s taken damn near a decade since it was passed, but we are up to 37 states (and D.C.). That’s huge. We have progress on healthcare Republicans tried for over a decade to destroy. It survived court challenges, it survived over 50 repeal votes in the US House. It survived Republicans controlling Congress and the White House. It’s survived SCOTUS multiple times. And Republicans KNEW this would happen. That’s why they fought it so hard. They KNEW if the Affordable Care Act was passed and implmented, they’d never be able to repeal it. They KNEW they didn’t have a workable option that would cover people and lower premiums. They knew The ACA was Obama’s legacy and it would be as lasting as Medicare and Medicad are LBJ’s legacy -- hell they helped cement it by calling it Obamacare -- a label Democrats used to run from, that they even embrace now. This is what change looks like in America. It’s slow. It’s frustrating. It’s kinda crazy. But change -- lasting change, is incremental and takes time, effort, fighting and defending your progress. Remember that EVERY election. Remember that you don’t have to agree with everything a Democrat says. You can dissagree and still agree on lots of things. Remember that progress in Congress takes more than just deep blue states. You have to compromise with purple states and red states to get things done. That might mean you don’t get everything you want. That’s ok. Just keep moving forward. That is America. That’s the very core of our DNA. We keep moving forward no matter what, and no matter how long it takes, we fight until our country does what’s right.

#democrats #progressives #politics #conservatives #liberals #obama #trump

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grumpycakes · 11 months

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SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE VOTE 2, DISASTER BOOGALOO CONT.

OCTOBER 18 2023 • DAY 2 VOTE 2 • 11:30am

< Previous (day 1)

McHenry, interim Speaker, doesn't slam the gavel so damn loud for once!!!!

They have the Chaplin lead the house in a prayer. And like, she seems lovely, the prayer was fine. But the fact that we have a CHAPLIN SAY PRAYER BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMENCES A VOTE. WHEN WE HAVE A WHOLE ASS RULE ABOUT SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

anyway

They are lead in the pledge of allegiance like goddamn children in US schools.

They do the WHO'S HERE, vote/buzz in to make sure they have a Quorum (aka enough ppl here to hold a legit vote of the majority of congress). There's a timer for the vote but it always runs out and sits at 0 for a few mins before they call it. It's strange.

433 are here, 212 Democrats, 221 Republicans, 217 votes for a majority, (Jordan can only lose 4 votes)

McHenry gives the SIDDOWN IT'S NOMINATING SPEECH TIME command. He had to call for the tellers like an annoyed teacher when the students they're calling aren't coming up. He is condescending and annoying to me.

SPEECHES

Mic Cole Republican Representative from Oklahoma

Talks about how he'd said the people who did this would cause chaos and uncertainty. And that he was proven right (loll you fucking said it dude)

He talks about how this garners finger pointing/blame/badmouthing between the aisle but that HE'S not going to (Very big of you, ur so good/s)

He's friends w Jim Jordan and goes into telling us how great and superspecialawesome Jordan is

When he mentions that Jordan has great personal integrity there are GROANS from the house. Damn

Says being the speaker takes a spine of steel (lolll idk if he's meaning this as a jab at McCarthy and spinelessness, but I love it)

Bullshit about Dems not helping out but that they shouldn't have to rely on them and that if you're a republican your choice should be easy (IT SHOULD, SO WHAT DOES THAT SAY)

Standard Republican BS on spending, border wall lies, racist dog whistles about illegal border crossing. Bad time all around

LOLL I realized Border Security is also BS so that's fitting

Says no one has done more for Border Security than Jordan ( first off, doubt it. Second that is NOT A GOOD THING)

Goes into Israel guilt trip

Says it's Israel's right to respond forcefully and gets a goddamn standing ovation (please stop glorifying war)

Calls on all Repub.s to use they're narrow majority to get them a speaker

CAN WE NOT UNITE CONGRESS ON HELPING A COUNTRY DO WAR????

Jim Aguilar Democratic Representative of California

Starts by saying he's here to nominate Hakeem Jeffries (bratty dems cheer about it lol)

Promises to make speeches shorter if this gets as ridonk as last time (can we start it now tho???)

Points out that Jim Jordan has had secret meetings and probably made back deals to get speakership

Points out that Jeffries has 212 votes, not technically a majority, but more than any Repub

Points out that Jordan denies the election of 2020, hasn't ever actually made legislation, or done like basic lawmaking shit

Warns of Jordan's extreme agenda of stripping abortion rights, gutting social security and medicaid/care, and his apparent willingness to not go after Jan 6 perps.

Calls out the Repubs for putting us through 15 days of chaos, and that 15 days is enough

Gets to boast about how united Dems are (very nana nana boo boo lol)

blahblahblah Jeffries, Dems get shit done standard shit

DEMOCRATS CHANT JEFFRIES FOR LIKE A MINUTE. Like I get it, but also ew

VOTING STARTS

NOTABLE VOTES

(key: * change in voting from yesterday | + same vote as yesterday)

Bacon - McCarthy + (Poor clerk has to pause to write McCarthy in)

Bilirakis - Actually votes today! Jordan *

Buchannon - Donalds * (OH he voted for Jordan yesterday!!! mmmmm two more and Jordan loses)

Buck - Emmer +

Chavez Deremer - McCarthy + (Lots of murmuring as I'm sure everyone is aware that Jordan has now lost)

Conolly - Says something about election deniers, votes for Jeffries, sounds like the Republicans didn't like it

D'Esposito - Zelden +

Diaz-Balart - Scalise +

Ellzey - Mike Garcia +

Ferguson - Scalise * (BRAND NEW DEFECTOR WEEWOOWEEWOO)

Garbarino - Zelden +

Gimenez - McCarthy +

Gonzalez (Tom) - Scalise +

Granger - Scalise +

James - Candance Miller of Michigan * (new suggestion, but he didn't vote for Jordan yesterday either)

Jeffries and Jordan get applause when they vote for themselves (rolls eyes into oblivion)

Kelly of PA - "Former Speaker of the house John Boehner" * (voted for Scalise Yesterday. Also that's how you spELL BAYNOR???)

Kiggans - McCarthy +

LaLota - Zelden +

LaMalfa - JORDAN * (Gets cheers for falling in line eugh)

Lawler - McCarthy +

Lee of NV - Jeffries but people cheered about it??? +

McCarthy - Jordan (Still gets applause about it but it's less than yesterday lololol)

Miller-Meeks - Granger * (NEW DEFECTOR WEEWOO)

Payne - MIA/Jeffries on recall but he gets claps about it??? +

Pelosi - Jeffries + (We... we don't gotta cheer for her every time do we???)

Rutherford - Scalise +

Scalise - Jordan (loll love that he's just like "I do not see it")

Simpson - Scalise +

Spartz - MIA/Actually Votes today on recall!! Jordan * (they clap about it)

Stauber - Westerman * (WHO THE FUCK?? New defector wee w-)

Tlaib - MIA/Votes Jeffries on recall +

Trone - MIA/Votes Jeffries on recall + (hey T Dems, get it together!!!)

VanOrden - Jordan + (HAS THAT ONE FAN CLAP FOR HIM ABOUT IT AGAIN. YEA JUST ONE DUDE)

Womack - Scalise +

McHenry calls them to order and then SHUSHES THEM, AGAIN LIKE AN ANNOYING TEACHER. YOU ARE GROSS AND CREEPY.

433 Present • 217 votes to win

199 votes for Jordan (OH SHIT U LOST GROUND)

212 votes Jeffries (Dems just gotta cheer about it like the petty assholes they are and deserve to be)

5 McCarthy (HA HA)

3 Lee Zelden

7 Scalise

1 Byron Donalds *

1 Mike Garcia

1 Candace Miller *

1 John Boehner *

1 Kay Granger *

1 Bruce Westerman *

(Some new names on there!)

No majority, no speaker has been chosen.

McHenry must be scarred from the back to back voting in Jan and AGAIN IMMEDIATELY calls the house into recess and the feeds cut.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS/NEWS

As stated before NOTHING can happen EXCEPT to vote in a new Speaker without a Speaker appointed. And they're fast approaching the deadline for needing to have the budget done. So the Republicans basically have 2 choices.

1 Pick a different Nominee. Problem here is that there's enough far rights to stop the election of a Moderate/wiling to COMPROMISE AND WORK WITH OTHERS candidate. And there are enough moderates to stop the election of a super far right candidate.

Wee could be in a hellish limbo

2 Make a resolution w the help of Democrats to empower McHenry, Intnerim (Pro Tempur) Speaker, allowing him to oversee the budget shit and LET CONGRESS DO SOME GOVERNING.

Jordan got 4 votes to go to him he didn't have before, but LOST 5 VOTES at the same time. Jordan left everyone with the impression that he would be gaining votes. If he were a less power hungry fart, he'd step down, but he refuses.

Speaker of the house is 3rd in line to the presidency (so if Prez and Vice Prez get axed the Speaker becomes president). So it does make sense that some are fighting very hard to not vote in Jordan. However, trump and the MAGA bs has such a chokehold on the Republican base that the Moderate Republicans don't want to vote for a candidate not backed by trump. But like, what in the dystopian hell.

Jordan, to be taken seriously as a candidate, would have PREFERABLY won back votes. And while he kinda did, he kinda also lost one MORE than he gained. Amazing you failure party.

YES TECHNICALLY either 10 REPUBLICANS vote as present and let Jeffries get elected OR 5 DEMOCRATS vote themselves present adjusting the needed vote to 215 (which Jordan is still not getting). Again, Political Suicide, not going to happen.

Republicans were going to have a meeting at about 1 30PM EST.

A spokes person for Jordan said he's not STEPPING DOWN AND IS READY FOR A 3RD ROUND OF VOTING! (for the love)

Next vote to probably be held tomorrow about midday EST

Next Day 3 >

#speaker of the house vote #10/18/2023 #noon to 2pm EST #Speaker of the House Vote Recap #i never know if I'm giving too much or too little info...#US Politics

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dragoni · 6 years

Link

McConnell lied about how legislation works. His complicity means he wants the government to be shutdown #McConnellShutdown

The president's willing acceptance of culpability, however, has allowed another individual—the third of the three elected officials with a role in ending this debacle—to avoid the level of scrutiny his actions merit.

The fact that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, to this point, has managed to keep him name mostly out of the debate is a tribute to his congenital dishonesty, unquenchable thirst for power, or some combination thereof.

Exposing Mitch McConnell’s LIE and Tyranny

On the rare occasions he has been asked about this sudden bout of amnesia, McConnell has argued that as Senate majority leader, his hands are tied. "The Senate will not waste its time," he explained on January 2, with a bill that "the President will not sign."

Two days later, from the Senate floor, he added:

"Making laws takes a presidential signature. We all learned that in grade school."

As constitutional scholars and/or anyone who watched Schoolhouse Rock knows, this is a lie.

“A bill passed by the legislature goes to the president, but should the president choose to exercise their veto power, the bill returns to the House and Senate, which can override the veto with a pair of two-thirds majorities.”

67 senators, by my count, is fewer than the 100 senators who voted to fund the government less than three weeks ago.

In other words, McConnell could vote on the House's bills to re-open the government, and pass them no matter what the president thinks.

He could hold votes on the six House bills that would fund crucial government agencies and programs—food stamps, Homeland Security, the IRS—and save the wall debate for another day. His inaction on these matters is a conscious choice.

Important recap of how we got here

This bears repeating every day until the government is open: Less than 24 hours before the shutdown, by voice vote, McConnell's Republican-controlled Senate passed a then-uncontroversial bill that did not contain wall money to fund the government through February 8.

The next day, all the country's worst right-wing media personalities crawled inside Donald Trump's ear and worked him into a frothy rage, and to spare the president the humiliation of having to fight a spending bill passed by his own party, disgraced lickspittle Paul Ryan decided not to bring the bill to the House floor. The shutdown began shortly thereafter.

Again: The Senate passed a continuing resolution by a vote of, effectively, 100-0, which means that every single Republican senator had concluded that their party need not shut down the government over the border wall. (Schumer and House speaker Nancy Pelosi briefly made this point last night, but since they chose to present themselves on TV as a Capitol Hill update to American Gothic, it may have eluded its intended audience.)

Only two things have changed since that unanimous vote: First, Democrats control the House, which means that Ryan's spinelessness is no longer an obstacle to holding votes. And second, Donald Trump told them McConnell he wouldn't sign any bill that doesn't include wall funding, and so McConnell has pretended to forget all about it.

#ShameMcConnell #AbolishMcConnell #AbolishGOP

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capricorn-0mnikorn · 6 years

Text

So, there’s kind of a mess going on with Virginia State politics (in case you haven’t heard)

A recap for those who don’t follow American news on the state level (This bit has been pretty widely covered by late night satirists) :

A photo from the Governor’s medical school yearbook page showing two people at a Halloween party -- one in blackface, the other dressed up as the KKK. There are calls for the Governor to resign (The Governor says it isn’t him, ‘cause he remembers dressing up in blackface as Michael Jackson) ... insert commentary on racism among physicians, here..

The Second in line for governor, should Governor Northam resign, has two counts of sexual assault against him. So he is also being pressured to resign, and is refusing.

The Third in line for Governor has also admitted to wearing blackface, and doesn’t see the big deal.

The Fourth in line for the governorship is the speaker of the House of Delegates, and he’s a Republican (And Donald Trump is gloating)

But here's a little tidbit that may have been missed in the national coverage of last 2017's statewide elections: The really mind-blowing thing is, the speaker got the job in the first place by a literal luck of the draw.

Some history:

For about 3 weeks after the November election, we had a 50-50 tie in the State legislature, when the Democrat Shelly Simonds was declared the winner of her race. But then, there was a recount, and that came down to a single absentee ballot -- that had been initially thrown out, because there were ambiguous markings making it unclear as to which candidate was actually being voted on. ... But the recount official (Who had, by the way, just happened to be appointed by the Republican candidate in the race), convinced a three-judge panel that the absentee voter had actually meant to vote Republican.

So the final race that could have led to a 50-50 tie in the House, came down to a perfect tie in votes....

So they put the two names in a bowl, and drew one of them out to declare the winner -- who happened to be the Republican incumbent.

(Meanwhile, the Virginia House recently blocked -- along party lines -- a bill that would enable the state to join in fighting climate change with neighboring states).

One Vote out of 23,216 votes for that one seat. That’s what all this is hinging on.

...In case you were wondering if, come November, your vote really matters: it does. This is your proof.

Here’s an article from Slate, about the tie-breaking draw.

Here’s an article from the Washington Post, from before that one ballot was counted in the Republican’s favor, about how Virginia might’ve dealt with a 50-50 tie.

#U.S. Politics #Virginia politics #voting #queue

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iowastatedailyarchive · 6 years

Text

The I.A.C. Student, Vol. 1 No. 1 (7 August 1890)

A happy 128th birthday to the Iowa State Daily! To celebrate, here is the first issue, dated 7 August 1890. Included are the actual pages and the text to every story.

Some quick thoughts after reading it... So. Many. Periods. In headlines. Though women are on staff, there are no female pronouns when talking about student life and achievements after college. A lot of the writing is dry, recapping event activities in chronological order, especially visible in the baseball game recap. The writing style can take some real getting used to. The mission statement is on the second page, not the front page. Only one story, a tribute/obituary, has author initials on it, the other stories are done without a byline (a practice that’ll go on for decades.)

I’ve corrected some of the grammatical and punctuation errors; some I’m not sure about and there don’t seem to be any rules for comma usage, which can be a challenge — sorry, copy editors. The newspaper also had no guide when it comes to titled works, as it uses both title case, italics, and quotation marks. I could make notes on some of these stories to give them historical context, including the story that hints at the Dinkey, the military notes piece, and the literary societies, but maybe another day. This is already quite long.

Quick reference for the stories in this issue

Headlines in brackets are my creation as many items don’t have headlines — a practice that’ll last for a couple decades.

PAGE 1 Masthead and staff The Joint Session: A recap of the session that brought together all of the college literary societies. Are our Courses too Heavy: An examination about if IAC students are worked too hard [Join a literary society, freshman]: Editors tell the freshman they’d be wise to join one of the college literary societies.

PAGE 2 The IAC Student: The mission state of the newspaper Passing in Panorama: A long piece about life at IAC during the course of a year Philomathean: A recap of the literary society’s first meeting of the school year (debate topic: Should Congress have appropriated $5,000 for the benefit of the Pan-American Congress)

PAGE 3 Welch: A recap of the literary society’s first meeting of the school year (debate topic: That longer terms of office and less rotation would be a benefit to the United States government) Crescent: A recap of the literary society’s first meeting of the school year (debate topic: That a two-thirds vote should be sufficient to convict in a trial by jury) Cliolious: A recap of the literary society’s meeting on 2 Aug (debate topic: That an international copyright should exist) Alumni Notes: Blurbs on various college alumni and where they are in life [An Iowan at Harvard?]: A brief about a frugal man at Harvard

PAGE 4 Christian Association Notes: Some notes and thoughts of the YMCA/YWCA, one of the new organizations on campus [YMCA/YWCA proven worthwhile]: The opening reception of the YMCA/YWCA for the term show that the org is here for the better [Social notes and updates]: Briefs on a new student, a professor’s party, and updates on the decoration sessions. What Are You Here For?: Make sure you are at IAC for the right reasons [YMCA/YWCA reception a success]: A recap of the YMCA/YWCA opening reception [Notes on mail call, vocal music]: Quick notes on mail call and an upcoming concert Athletic Notes: Blurbs about athletics at the college, which is still in its infancy. The Vets Hold an Interesting Session: A recap of the Veterinary Medical Society meeting, which included discussion of Anthrax.

PAGE 5 Advertisements: An assortment of advertisements from Ames and Des Moines businesses.

PAGE 6 Baseball: A inning-by-inning recap of the freshmen baseball game. Of note, baseball is the latest craze sweeping the campus. Engineers: A recap of the Engineering Society’s first meeting of the school year Christian Endeaver Society Entertainment: A recap of the music program and ice cream social hosted the Christian Endeavor Society, a program of the Congregations Church in Ames Advertisements: An assortment of advertisements from Ames and Des Moines businesses.

PAGE 7 Military Notes: Blurbs about the happenings in the military arm of the college [Science Club]: A recap of the Science Club’s first meeting of the school year, including a look at a meteor which was donated to the college museum The Library: An update on the Library as it improves its card catalog plus a look at how useful the library is to students Bachelor Session: A recap of the Bachelors’ first meeting of the school year (debate topic: That the state should have absolute control of the liquor traffic within its borders) [Tennis association stalls]: The creation of the tennis association has stalled. (Tennis will soon be the big sport on campus.) [Railroad desired to connect Ames, college]: Some junior civil engineers are working on plans for a railroad to connect Ames to the college.

PAGE 8 Scraps from our waste basket: Odds and ends of things often about other colleges, but also some words of wisdom and silly observations [Strange noises in the night]: Brief about a proctor trying to locate students up to no good Tribute to Chas. J. Cotey, ‘87, late professor, Dakota Agricultural College: A tribute and obituary to Charles J. Cotey, an alumni and successful businessman [Why successful freshman can falter]: Quick take on why a successful freshman can quickly falter in schoolwork [Social notes and more]: Blurbs about sports, events, students, faculty, staff, and college life

Page 1

The I. A. C. Student.

Issued Fortnightly During College Year.

Intelligencer Job Print, Ames, Iowa.

Subscription 50 cents per term. Single Copies 10 cents. On sale at Book Stores. Advertising rates made known on application.

Contributions Solicited. All communications should be addressed to

THE I.A.C. STUDENT.

G. H. SCHULTE. Bus. Mg’r. Ames, lowa.

F. E. Davidson ‘90, G. H. Schulte '90, Miss Kate Stevens 90, E. S. McCord ‘91, J. E. Spaan '91, Miss Clarice McCarthy '91,

F.C. Stewart '92, W. H. Cochran '93, Miss Ella Curtis '93, R. H. Fairfield '93, E. E. Faville ‘93, A. M. Harvey '93.

THE JOINT SESSION.

An Interesting Program Presented to an Appreciative Audience.

In obedience to a custom of many years, the five literary societies of the college held a joint session in the college chapel on Saturday evening, July 26th.

The audience was not as large as might be wished, as many of the students spent the evening elsewhere. The great difficulty in preparing a creditable program is the very short time available for preparation. It is a fact that our joint sessions do not rank with the average literary society session either in interest or merit. However the last was the best we have heard for some time.

Mr. Meredith acted as chaplain of the evening, reading a very interesting chapter of the scriptures. For a change we would like to hear a simple earnest prayer from one of the students, as an introduction to our literary sessions, instead of the scripture readings.

Messrs. Minchen and Adams rendered a very choice selection of guitar music, and were loudly encored. Their reputation is well established as two of our best musicians.

Mr. Bishop in behalf of the various societies welcomed the audience m a few appropriate remarks.

“The Little Red Hen" was next delivered by Miss Charlotte Barrows. Miss Barrows was fortunate in the selection of a declamation. Her delivery is simple and uneffected.

The next performance was an oration by Miss Kate Stevens entitled "Physical Culture." She reviewed the standards of manhood and womanhood of all nations; clearly showing that all united the ideals of beauty, strength and power. She pointed out the tendency in America to-day, to cultivate the intellect to the exclusion of the body, clearly portraying the results necessary to follow if a halt is not called to this unsystematic development. Miss Stevens is one of the ablest students of which the I. A C. can boast. She is a clear thinker and always thinks to a purpose.

The song by Miss Ward was well rendered and duly appreciated by the audience.

The debate was "Should the National Election Bill Becomes Law?" Mr. Hodson opened the debate in a brilliant manner. Mr. Graham led the negative. It was at once apparent that he was prepared to debate. He looked at the question from a conservative point of view, clearly portraying the evils which would necessarily follow should the bill become a law. Mr. Starkey, the second speaker on the affirmative is a radical partisan, and of course, thought the bill ought to pass. Mr. Thomburg replied to the arguments in a telling manner.

Mr. Hodson in his closing speech waxed eloquent, and brought down the house. Mr. Graham closed the debate in his quiet characteristic matter. He being a senior having passed up Polit. and Psych. of course made the best debate.

After music by Messrs. Minchem and Adams, Mr. Clyde Jones told us of the “Behring Sea Controversy." Mr. Jones has a very earnest manner of speaking and held the attention of all the audience, not excepting a few smart (?) folks who had been giggling and passing notes during most of the entertainment.

Impromptu speeches were next in order. Messrs Stewart, Dyer and Olmsted and Miss Alice Mann responding. The speakers were well prepared and got off some good takes on the audience.

Mr. Lovejoy sustained his well known reputation as a declarmer when he rendered Ingersol's Vision."

G. H. Schulte next told us of "Ilis Experience in Courtship." It will be remembered Mr. Schulte won first honors in the decathlon contest in '88. His rendering is direct and forceable. He was frequently interrupted by bursts of applause.

The vocal duet by Messrs Morton and Cochran was one of the best we have heard in some time.

The Parody by Miss Elmira Wilson was well written and distinctly read. In prophetic language she told of the future of the I.A.C. girls.

Mr. Dean next favored the audience with a very fine sketch of our Departed Hero," Dr. Welch.

A tableaux closed the entertainment, and the joint session was once more a thing of the past.

Are our Courses too Heavy.

We have heard many students complain that too much work was required of them. They make comparisons between the work required here and at other schools, which do not require more than one-half as much of their students as is required by our faculty. This is no argument against our course. If these same grumblers will but look at the records of I. A. C. graduates and compare their success with those of the graduates of these other schools they will find the odds all in favor of the I. A. C. It does seem however that students of some of our courses have more required work than others.

15 hours without laboratory work is hardly on & level with 16 hours, and 7 laboratories.

We think however that instead of the latter course being made easier the other should be made more difficult.

That as much work should be required to obtain a degree in the general as in the engineering courses.

[Suggested headline: Join a literary society, freshmen]

To the new students we would say: You cannot afford not to be a member of one of the college literary societies. Do not put it off until next term, but join at once, and go to work. No matter if you cannot debate like the seniors or orate like the juniors. They were once freshmen, but by hard persistant effort have secured that greatest of all attainments, the power to speak readily in public. No matter if you do not expect to follow a literary profession. There are times in every man's life when it will be hundreds in his pocket if he can clearly and readily state his thoughts in public. A thorough knowledge of parliamentary law and usages is as essential to a thorough education as a knowledge of mathematics. The literary society fills a place in our educational system which can be filled by nothing else. It is a place where character is formed, where wit is sharpened, where thought unfolds in its grandest magnificence.

Observe the society workers, those who seem to carry their society in their mind and heart continually Those who are considered the best literary workers. Follow them after they have left college and have mingled with the world, and we will venture the assertion that 99 times out of 100 you will find them the most successful men in life. No matter whether they graduated with honor or were "voted over." Marks do not make the man. It is the ability to hustle, to move men, and things that gives them this advantage over their competitors. See to it then that you not only have a trained intellect, and a large fund of useful knowledge, but the ability to hustle in this hustling world.

Page 2

THE I. A. C. STUDENT.

The succession of events that break the routine of college life is now specially marked by the appearance of a paper that will make a complete record of their [occurrence].

THE I. A. C. STUDENT now comes to the Students, Faculty, Alumni and Friends of the institution for the first time. The policy of its managers is simple and easily understood. We shall try and publish a College Newspaper. THE I. A. C. is our field and we shall endeavor to advance the institution in every manner possible. We shall not attempt to run a scientific or literary Magazine, and we doubt if there is a demand for our ideas on politics or religion. It is our object to create a genuine college newspaper, one free from all [alliances], and in this work we invite all the [friends] of the institution to help us.

Passing in Panorama.

"History repeats itself." Nowhere is the truth of this saying so clearly shown as at the I. A. C. Not that we are working in a rut, our students are as enterprising as the students of other colleges. But human nature is always the same, and under similar conditions manifests itself in similar ways. In the main each year is a [repetition] of the previous one. The Freshmen are always green, the Sophomores always boastful.

The first week of the term is characterized by trunks, handshaking, introductions and general miscellaneousness. At the President's office, candidates for Freshman standing are telling the President how smart they are—how they've passed up algebra and geometry, and that they think they ought to be admitted without an examination. The Sophomors, Juniors and Seniors would "like to see you a moment, privately, President Chamberlain.”

Soon come the skip-tum-a-loo pig-in-the-parlor socials where all are expected to be as if they had been acquainted with each other all their lives, instead of an hour.

Toward the latter part of April little knots of Sophomores may be seen here and there talking earnestly. This is an indication of the coming of the Freshman picture and the great Freshman-Sophomore "scrap" attending it.

Them follows the reception. The Sophomores spout and strut while the Freshman stares admiringly and says to himself, That's Fine. He informs his neighbor, ”that when a man gets through this college he knows something."

At this period the toughs of the Freshman class, begin to come into prominence. The nights on Freshman floor are now hideous. Next day the salute is, "Been to see the President yet?”

The Freshmen organize a ball team and try tilts with each of the three upper class nines successively. Perhaps they are successful, perhaps not—it makes no difference. No more is heard about ball during the remainder of the term. All have turned their attention to tennis and mashing.

The first of May brings the book-agents. They tell tho boys beautiful stories about pleasant vacations of travel, golden crops of suckers and the immense value of the experience acquired.

The Freshmen and Sophomors are wondering where the [battalion] will spend Decoration Day. Some say at Boone, others Marshalltown, and Nevada, etc, etc.

Up to this time nothing has been heard of the Juniors. All seem to think that they are for ornament only. But, behold! the time of the junior ex, draws nigh. The animal making that unearthly noise in the next room is not a demented bovine, but only a Junior ex, speaker rehearsing his oration.

With the fare days of June, comes the event of the year—Col. Lincol'n reception to his officers and Co. G. captains, lieutenants and sergeants—how they scramble. Here's a little advice boys, On such occasions adopt this motto, "send your mail early and avoid the rush.“

The closing days of the term are days of hurry and hard work. The last Sunday finds many vacant seats in chapel. The sophomores are making out their surveying plots, the juniors are wrestling with engineering and literature, while the seniors are preparing for Monday's examination in psychology.

Vacation is to short. In four weeks the trunk act must again be performed, while the freshmen come swaggering along, puffing and sweating in these heavy uniforms. (Been showing off on the the train you know). First of all, the social must be attended to. Then all eyes are turned toward the orchard. Emigration sets in toward the west, and the sentiment of the times seems to be, 'Go west young man, and fill up with apples." The season advances and the President forbids the indiscriminate appropriation of fruit. Then it is that apples are hauled in by the sackful in the wee small hours of the night; then it is that Jerry and the proctors spend sleepless nights.

When the grapes are ripe, the orchard loses its charm, and the vineyard becomes the center of interest. Before, grape-time came the class picnics. They are very pleasant affairs, but like the Colonel's reception are apt to cause the boys some anxiety.

After the picnics are over, all are talking about the State Fair. Are we going? When? How long to stay? Is Co. G. going? The same questions and the same indefinite answers. Why can's people vary their conversation some? This Fair question is a dry chestnut.

The Fair comes. It is over. O how tired! O how sleepy next morning, when the jingle rings.

The year's work now rapidly draws to a close. The seniors are "burning midnight oil" over their theses. We come to commencement week. Decoration of the chapel is in progress. The upper classes do their work quietly and with dispatch, but the freshman can't agree on what they want to do, nor how to do it. They waste the so much time that they have to finish up while the rest are at supper.

During the exercises of the week, every fellow sticks to his best girl, having in mind the fact that a four month's vacation is close at hand. The final day comes. The noble seniors march upon the platform for the last time. How grand to distinguish one's self by forgetting his oration! How awe inspiring the scene! How relieved the audience when it is over, and cramped limbs and poisoned lungs are permitted to gain their normal condition! Congratulations come now, Tears flow freely, Tis over. We are off for four month's vacation. Goodbye.

Philomathean.

The Philomatheans held their first regular session of this term Saturday evening the 2nd, inst.

The society was called to order at the usual time and after devotional by the Chaplain, the president Mr. Howard, was installed.

The outgoing president, Mr. C. D. Davidson, in his usual pleasant manner thanked the society for the honors given him, and gave the members a few valuable hints which we hope will be remembered.

Next on the program came the debate. The question was: “Should Congress have appropriated $5,000 for the benefit of the Pan-American Congress.” The question was ably debated by Messrs. Faille and Fairfield as leaders and Messrs. D. A. Thornburg and Jackson as assistants.

Miss Lane read a very amusing parody which was not only amusing but also interesting. The subject has been for the past two or three weeks, an all absorbing theme in the I. A. C.

Mr. Roddis then gave a selection from Will Carlton, “Making an Editor Out’n O'Him."

The two minute speeches by Misses Walley and Stevens and Mr. Reynolds were nothing very weighty, but " A little nonsense now and then is relished by the best of men.”

The voluntaries by Miss Stevens and Mr. Wooding were very good indeed, and were enjoyed by all. Miss Stevens pictured very beautifully the story of a "Union Spy," and Mr. Woodring rendered the familiar but none the less amusing poem, “The Snack in School.”

Mr. Peterson, of Des Moines, then addressed the society, giving some reminiscences of his school days and some ideas as to the value of society work.

The literary part of the program was interspersed with some charming selections of music.

During the business session Mr. Brown was initiated, thus adding another good member to the society.

Page 3

Welch.

Saturday evening when the society boll ceased ringing the Welch boys quietly settled into their chairs and prepared themselves for the intellectual feast of the evening. They were complimented by the presence of a number of visitors.

An address of welcome by President F. E. Davidson opened the evening program, and the work of the term.

During the session declamations were rendered by Messrs Kent, Raymond and Rickets. An interesting essay was read by Mr. Waterhouse, and a medley of splendid merit by Mr. O'Niel.

Mr. Christie's speech on Mexico, showed us its political history; and possibilities for the future, as well as a glimpse of its resources, and geographical peculiarities.

Mr. Emerson spoke on the question of American fisheries and presented a reasonable solution to this perplexing problem.

An able debate was given on the question “That longer terms of office and less rotation, would be a benefit to the United States government." Messrs McCord and Jones handled the affirmative and Messrs Angus and Henry the negative. The debate was given to the affirmative.

An oration on James A. Garfield was next delivered by Mr. Bramhall. It was a production of excellent merit and was highly spoken of..

Several excellent declamations were given as voluntaries.

The society is to be congratulated on having added to its list of members, the names of Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Lewis.

Crescent.

The society was called to order by the Vice President, R. M. Dyer, Miss Quint being appointed secretary. The roll call by Mr. Spinny showed that many were absent from the room.

The question for debate was:

Resolved: That, a two-thirds.vote should be sufficient to convict in a trial by jury.

Mr. Spinny the first speaker on the affirmative showed that in reality a majority vote rules in case of trial by jury, and that a law to that effect is in force in some countries.

Mr. Dyer the first speaker on the negative holds that there is no balance between right and wrong, and a man is either wholly right or wholly wrong. He further makes the remark that, if he should ever be so unfortunate as to be called up in court for trial, for stealing watermelons or chickens, he wants the unanimous vote of twelve jurymen to convict him.

Mr. Beyer, attacked the watermellon argument. Mr. Peterson volunteered. He is in favor of the jury system as it is, but states that he would rather be judged by a judge than by a jury under present conditions. In speaking of the possibility of bribing one or two members of the jury, he says that it is done and often a criminal is set free in that way, but under the present system, it does not often happen that the innocent are convicted. He holds that it is better for fifty or one hundred, or any number of criminals to go unpunished than to convict one innocent person.

Mr. Cory in his oration reviewe four gov't. He holds that the American theory is the solution of the problem of gov't.

Miss Nichols showed in her oration that he is radically opposed to foreign emigration.

Declamations by Misses Williams and Ward were well delivered.

Mr. Shaul in his five minutes speech discussed the Moroal Progress of the ninetenth Century.

The different pieces of music were well rendered, and the crescents may be proud of their own quartette.

Cliolious.

The Cliolian Society met August 2, with the attendance not as large as usual.

Owing to the "tennis party” some of the members were absent; among them our president and vice president.

Miss Jennie Morrison was chosen to preside during the evening.

Miss Sadie Barrows favored the audience with a pleasing piano solo, after which Miss Garth read a touching poem—The Bridge Keeper's Story.

Miss Boyd's essay, "Abilities and Opportunities," was well read and showed much thought and careful preparation.

The question for debate was:

Resolved: That an International copyright should exist.

The leaders on both affirmative and negative being detained at the tennis party on account of the rain. Misses Morrison and Thornburg handled the question with marked ability.

The judges decided in favor of the affirmative.

Our thoughts wandered to home and Mother for a few minutes, while Miss Garth sang “Some Day I'll Wander Back Again."

“A Railroad Episode," by Burdette, was nicely rendered by Mable Owens.

The current events arranged by Misses Freed and Porter covered a wide range of subjects.

Miss Charlotte Barrows and her assistants demonstrated in an amusing pantomine, that it is better to let well enough alone[.]

Miss Doolitle read a beautiful essay entitled "Mary and Martha," which was [written] by one of her former pupils.

Miss Justas rendered “Boat Song," by Mendelsshou, after which the society adjourned.

[Suggested headline: railroad accident in Nevada]

A young man named J. P. Oleson working with a bridge gang at Nevada, tried to board a moving train, and missing his hold, had his foot crushed so badly that it had to be amputated, Dr. Fairchild performing the operation and brought the boy to the sanitary building where he is now getting along nicely.

Alumni Notes

‘87. C. F. Curtis, of Nevada, Sundayed with friends at the I. A. C.

‘83. Attorney O. C. Peterson, of Des Moines, was a welcome visitor at the college.

‘85. C. S Bowie is superintendent of the electric light system at Tacoma, Washington, and draws a good salary.

‘88. W. L. Thomson and E. K. were recent visitors at the I. A.C.

'89. C. H. Stearns, Professor of National Sciences in Drake University, is rusticating among the mountains of Colorado.

‘84. T. F. Bevington is city attorney of Sioux City, an exceedingly lucrative position

‘87. F. W. Mally has resigned his position in the University of Illinois, and accepted an appointment in the U. S. Entomological commission.

‘88. Besides being professor of agriculture in the Texas Agricultural College, Geo. W. Curtis has lately been made director of the state experimental station.

‘89. M. W. Thornburg is taking a post graduate course at the college, and has charge of the preparatory class in physiology.

'89. P. H. Rolfs principal of schools at Lawler, Iowa, is spending his vacation at the I. A. C.

‘89. B. T. Green has left the college for a needed vacation preparatory to entering upon his duties as professor of mathematics in the Presbyterian college at Fort Dodge

‘76. Mr. J. F. Hardin and wife (Mamie Carpenter of class *77.) have just departed from a two weeks visit at the I. A. C. Mr. Hardin is engaged in law and real estate business at Eldora, and makes an annual pilgrimage to his Alma Mater.

'84. Miss Mannie Wilson, recently graduated from the normal college at [Framingham], Massachusetts. She will teach in the Bay state the coming year.

‘82. Geo. W. Catt is a bridge engineer at Seattle, Washington, and is reported to be worth half a million.

‘84. E. J. Nichols, when last heard from was engaged in engineering at Texaskania, at a [salary] of two thousand.

Miss Sloan, daughter of C. H. ('84) and Emma Porter Sloan (‘85) will enter the I. A. C. as a student in 1906.

Fred Faville, the orator of '87, has resigned a very lucrative position with the government at Baltimore, M. D. During his stay there Fred devoted his spare hours to the study of law, and will enter the senior law class at Iowa City in September.

[Suggested headline: An Iowan at Harvard?]

A young man graduated at Harvard Law school last June, who had completed the four years collegiate course at Harvard, followed by three years in the Law school, and has supported himself throughout the seven years, coming out with a balance of $5,000 in his pocket. When we remember that the expenses at Harvard is not far from $1,000 per year, we are led to believe that the gentleman was either a Des Moines boodler or an Iowan book agent.

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Christian Association Notes

The Y. M. and Y. W.C. A's of the I. A. C. are the last societies organized here, but not the least. They are destined, here as in other colleges, to become prominent factors in the affairs of the institution. They will, as nearly as possible, take the place of the church, which the student enjoys at home, but of which he is deprived here. They like the church bringing up the standard of morality in localities, will raise that standard at college. Then as the standard of morality rises, the need of strict rules becomes less. A little observation among different colleges, will show how much more pleasant for both faculty and students it is when the students are governed by the desire to do right, rather than by proctors and ironclad rules.

Although these associations may not in every respect take the place of the church, as one of the principal means of growth in spiritually, they surpass the church. A splendid opening is here afforded for active Christian work.

To confine ourselves to our own associations, we may say that they have made a good start in their work. They organized near the close of last term, the Y. M. C. A. with a membership of 92, which has since been raised to 116, and the Y. W. C. A. with about 60, which has also been increased.

A full set of committees have entered upon their work. The Wednesday and Sunday evening meetings have opened with good attendance, which should however be increased.

In truth, the associations have taken up with ready hands and hearts the work which destiny has designed they should advance. THE STUDENT wishes them Godspeed.

[Suggested headline: YMCA/YWCA proven worthwhile]

When the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A’s were talked of here, some were opposed to organizing, preferring to run along awhile in the old rut. They doubtless think differently now.

Receptions, like the one given at the opening of this term, are just what we need, and should have at opening of every term. They are just formal enough to be worthy of an intellectual and moral set of students, and informal enough to gain with ease the object of their inauguration.

[Suggested headline: Social notes and updates]

Freshman Hewstreet of Ames, who was at Cornell last year is with us this term.

Prof. Knapp gave a Lawn Tennis party Saturday evening at Woodward Place. Those who were so fortunate as to be invited reported a most enjoyable time.

In the LATE report of the decoration sessions held at the I. A. C. we noticed that an oration by R. F. Hodson, entitled Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln, and also one by F. E. Davidson, entitled, Our Destiny, were by mistake left out.

What Are You Here For?

No doubt most of our students would answer, if asked this question—work. But would not some at least think that their object in coming to college a very vague one. When we see students trying to shirk their work or selecting an easy course, we have serious doubts of their success. They seem to be seeking a good time, little dreaming that they injure no one but themselves. Were you sent here, or did you come? Are you searching for a royal road to learning, or are you willing to toil weeks, months, and years, in training and developing those faculties which nature has most bounteously bestowed upon you? This is no place for idle dreaming, but a place for effort, for work; sincere, honest and faithful work.

[Suggested headline: YMCA/YWCA reception a success]

The Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. gave their first reception on Friday evening July 25th, to which a most cordial invitation was extended to all the students.

The reception was held on the first floor of the Main Building.

The balls were elegantly decorated, and the artistic arrangements of the decorations made them more inviting than ever before showing the taste of the ladies of the Y. W. C. A.

The reception committee were Misses Morrison, Mills and Roberts assisted by Messrs Reynolds, Norton, Merrill and Shoemaker and the hearty welcomes which were extended to all, insured each one, of other than an unpleasant time.

The principal feature of the reception was the tendency on the part of everyone present to be entertaining, and in this way all were made to enjoy a pleasant evening. An appropriate program was carried out consisting of the following:

Recitation, Legion of the Organ Builder, G. W. Randiett.

Sextette, Miss Mills and Mr. Norton, accompanied by Misses Nichols, Chamberlain and Messrs Norton and Reynolds.

Reading, A Tale of the Two Cities, Mrs. Chamberlain.

Piano Duet, Mrs. Barrows and Mrs. Owens.

Monologue, Auntie Doleful's Visit, Miss Curtiss.

Recitation, The Soldier's Death Dream, E. E. Faville.

Vocal Duet, The Pilot, Messrs Cochran and Norton.

Address, J. C. Norton.

[Suggested headline: Notes on mail call, vocal music]

We are much pleased to see the tear of the "want-a letter-student," quickly dried up, as he rushes out for his noon day mail, all on account of the promptness of our mail cart.

The next attraction is the cantata "Ruth the Moabitess” to be given in the chapel Saturday evening, August 9. All lovers of vocal music look [forward] to this coming event, expecting a treat. The societies will give way to it and a large attendance is expected.

Athletic Notes.

The I. A. C. A. A., is out of debt and is in a prosperous condition.

Trotter and Chicago. run a 100 yard race the other evening, Chicago won by several yards making it in 17 seconds.

The new vaulting polo costing $6.50 is in constant use up to date. Foster, Davidson and Strong seem to be about equally skillful in using it. Look out for a record of 10 feet this fall.

Prof. Weihe has kindly consented to teach a class of athletically inclined students to use the bars. The boys like to see the faculty take an interest in student matters.

Quite a number of the boys have purchased running shoes and suits. Some good records will be made this fall. Davidson is reported to have made the 100 yards in 10 5-10 seconds last week.

In the state field of Michigan, Burnette of the M. A. C. won 10 first prizes and two seconds.

Yale's noted sprinter, Sherrill, lowered his 100 yard record 10 1-5 to 10 seconds at the spring meeting, May 12. Another Yale man, Williams, broke the inter-collegiate 120 yard hurdle race, his time being 16 3-5 seconds.

The best record ever made in any intercollegiate meeting on throwing the ball was made May 17, 1879, by R. H. Treman of Cornell University N. Y. He throwing 379 feet 6 5-10 inches. W. Zmunt, of the I. A. C., last term beat this record by several feet, on the I. A. C. grounds in the presence of some fifty spectators.

Our boys must bear in mind that if they expect to do anything in the next state field day that they must begin to train at once and keep up their training, one cannot get in condition to make records without severe training.

The Vets. Hold an Interesting Session.

The Veterinary Medical Society held a very interesting session at their hall, August 1, 1890.

The following responded according to program.

First a speech by Mr. Whitbeck, subject “Fistula." The subject was ably discussed by all present.

Next was a speech by J. Replogle on the subject of Caponizing. His talk was interesting and instructive.

Following this was a paper by Mr. Sorenson on the subject of Anthrax, which was readily discussed by the society on account of its being one of the most complex diseases that a surgeon has to treat.

Mr. Ingmand then spoke of The Out-look for Veterinary Practitioners, which was well received by the society. Volunteers were called for Messrs Heck and Austin responded.

Several new members were initiated at the business session and became regular members of the society.

The Society with Professor M. Stalker as president is enjoying great prosperity and cannot help but benefit its members.

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