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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 months ago

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VP Harris unleashes Tim Walz!

August 14, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

Three overlapping developments on Tuesday boosted Democratic prospects in November. The race remains tight nationally, in swing states, and in the electoral college —but the trends all favor Democrats.

The developments include Governor Tim Walz's strong debut as a solo campaigner, the fallout from Trump’s anti-union remarks on Musk's Twitter interview on Monday, and the qualification of ballot initiatives in Arizona and Missouri that would guarantee reproductive freedom for citizens of those states.

Tim Walz makes strong solo debut in Los Angeles

Proving the wisdom of selecting Tim Walz for the vice-presidential slot, Walz turned in a strong performance during his first solo campaign outing at the Los Angeles convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Tim Walz gave a rousing speech, emphasizing the Harris-Walz support for labor unions—and Trump-Vance’s hostility to organized labor.

The full speech is included in this article: PBS News, Walz tells union members in Los Angeles that Trump and Vance have ‘waged war on working people’. It is worth your time to watch a few minutes of the twenty-minute speech. It will inspire confidence in Tim Walz as a partner, ally, and effective surrogate for Kamala Harris.

As usual, Tim Walz did not mince words. While noting that he and Kamala Harris both joined union members on the picket lines, he reminded the audience of 4,000 union members that UAW president Shawn Fain just called Donald Trump “a scab.” Walz said that Trump had spent his career “stiffing service workers on his own properties” and opposing increases in the minimum wage.

Walz recounted Trump's recent statement at a gathering of billionaires, “You’re rich as hell and we are going to cut your taxes.” Walz asked, “Who do you know wants to cut taxes on billionaires but opposes raising the minimum?” Walz then put a cherry on top by reviewing the Senate voting record of JD Vance, noting that he is one of only four Senators who “has never cast a vote in favor of a pro-worker bill.”

Walz addressed the manufactured controversy over his military service record by taking the high road, praising everyone who “put on the uniform” to serve our country:

[JD Vance] is attacking me for my record of service. I am proud to serve my country and always will be. . . . I was a member of the Veterans Affair Committee and a champion of our men and women in uniform. I am damn proud of my service to this country, and I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record. For anyone brave enough to put on the uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I have just a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Walz’s earnest delivery on this point is worth watching. See the jump link to the video here: Tim Walz comments on his service in the National Guard.

Walz closed his speech by urging Democrats and union members not to take anything for granted in the 2024 election:

This is going to be a close, tough race. But if each of us does an extra shift, devotes an extra hour, does a little bit more, we get to wake up on the morning after the election and know that the work we did transformed the lives of millions, transformed generations, impacted the world. That’s how it happens. We organize, we donate, we volunteer. . . . We have eighty four days to control our destiny.

It is easy to see why Tim Walz has a net positive (11+) favorability rating—a rating that eclipses every other candidate on the presidential and vice-presidential slates for 2024. JD Vance, by comparison, has a net negative (-9) favorability rating nationally, a rarity for a vice-presidential candidate. Worse (for Vance), among the voters who know him best (in Ohio), Vance holds a negative favorability rating of -16!

The more voters get to know Tim Walz, the more they like him. The opposite is true for JD Vance. Kamala Harris chose well!

UAW sues Trump and Musk for comments made during Trump's Twitter interview

Among the many bizarre occurrences during Musk’s “conversation” with Trump on Twitter, Trump praised Musk for firing workers at Telsa who attempted to unionize. See Newsweek, Donald Trump Cheers Elon Musk Over Firing Workers: 'You're the Greatest!'

During the Twitter conversation, Trump said,

I love it. You're the greatest . . . I mean, I look at what you do. You just walk in and you just say, 'You wanna quit?' They go on strike, I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, 'That's OK, you're all gone . . . Every one of you is gone.'"

Unfortunately for Trump and Musk, it is a violation of federal law to intimidate workers for attempting to organize. On Tuesday, the UAW filed a complaint against both Trump and Musk. The UAW issued a blistering statement along with the complaint:

Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. “When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected. Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”

Ouch! For a hot minute, Trump was courting the labor vote. No more! Although the Teamsters Union declined (last month) to endorse Biden or Trump, the Black Caucus of the Teamsters Union voted on Tuesday (after the Twitter interview) to endorse Kamala Harris. See. Politico, Teamsters' Black caucus defies leadership with Harris endorsement.

So, in an unscripted “interview” with Elon Musk, Trump manages to start a war with organized labor. Meanwhile, Tim Walz is proving his chops as a national campaign surrogate for Kamala Harris. It’s nice when Democratic strengths overlap with Republican weaknesses.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

#Tim Walz #Robert B Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #election 2024 #scab #Shawn Fain #UAW #Unions #working class people #good jobs #organized labor

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thoughtlessarse · 4 months ago

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His smile is confident, his hair well-combed and his eyes are squinting slightly: The first candidate you’ll likely see on the ballot in Venezuela’s upcoming presidential election is Nicolás Maduro, the incumbent seeking reelection. Unlike some of his nine challengers, Maduro shows up not once or twice, but a whopping 13 times on the ballot — and he’s certain to catch the voters’ attention. Each time, it’s for one of the several political groups he is representing in the highly anticipated July 28 presidential election. Maduro takes up the entire first of the ballot’s four rows while the rest of the candidates’ photos are sprinkled here and there, including that of former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, the only contender with real chances of denying the president a third term. Still, the sheer number of Maduro’s images appearing on the ballot belies the seriousness of the moment. Venezuela faces its toughest electoral test in decades. The outcome could give Maduro another six years in power or end the self-described socialist’s policies that once successfully boosted anti-poverty programs but whose sustained mismanagement later pushed the country into an ongoing economic crisis. Venezuela’s electoral rules allow for candidates’ pictures to appear on the ballots — the electronic ones within Venezuela and printed for those voting abroad — as many times as the number of parties that support them. This year’s ballot has 38 pictures, each with every candidate’s name and party underneath.

#venezuela #venezuelan pol #presidential election 2024 #maduro

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eretzyisrael · 2 months ago

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by Seth Mandel

Targeting social-media ads is nothing new, but Slotkin’s choices are telling and the whole affair is merely the latest in a line of moves revealing that the congresswoman is deprioritizing the current wave of anti-Semitism at a time when a Jewish Democrat with national-security credentials could have been a crucial voice for a sane politics and the safety of her constituents.

She started by distancing herself from President Biden’s Israel policy at a time when the administration was playing an important role in defending the morality of the Jewish state’s extensive counteroffensive in Gaza as it became increasingly unpopular among a segment of the party’s progressive activist base. She voted against censuring Rashida Tlaib, her fellow Michigander, when the latter boosted calls for the destruction of Israel. (Though she did criticize Tlaib on social media.)

Slotkin joined a congressional letter to Biden that portrayed the conflict as Benjamin Netanyahu’s war more than Israel’s war and legitimized Hamas’s false statistics about civilian casualties. She used Iran’s killing of three American servicemembers in Jordan as an opportunity to push for a “pause” in Israel’s pursuit of victory over Hamas.

It is in this context that Slotkin’s Facebook ad strategy is notable. Her campaign, according to the Free Beacon, is pouring over $1 million into such ads in a 90-day period. She’s also targeting users interested in “State of Palestine” and “Gaza Strip.” But again, it’s not so much who she’s targeting the ads to but who she doesn’t want to see them. Slotkin is confident that voters with an interest in the “state of Palestine” and in Hamas-allied propaganda channels will find the campaign’s portrayal of the candidate a good fit. She is not so comfortable with Jewish-interested voters meeting this particular version of “Elissa Slotkin.”

Democrats are fretting over their slight lead in Michigan in both the presidential race and down the ballot. But the numbers have never given them good reason to think they must cater to Hamas’s supporters in that state or elsewhere. In the presidential primary, a movement to get Democrats to cast a protest vote for “Uncommitted” instead of Biden received slightly more than Uncommitted garnered against Barack Obama in his reelection campaign—and even that slight improvement, coming after a concerted organizing effort, could have been the result of the same problems that were dragging Biden’s polls down nationally. There was nothing in the numbers to even suggest the Arab vote would cost Biden the state, which he won narrowly in 2020.

#elissa slotkin #israel #hamas #gaza #joe biden

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360degreesasthecrowflies · 1 year ago

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Some thoughts on corporate teambuilding events, capitalism & boomer-vision

I had my first 'teambuilding conference' at work yesterday and it was such an interesting thing to be in the room for. I might write something longer about it at some point but a few key things that stood out right away:

These kinds of events feel very much like the brainchild of boomers and still taking that work ethic/approach to work as a) absolutely universal across the organisation as a norm - newsflash they very much are NOT - and b) absolutely natural, obvious, default. We had roughly two hours on the history of the organisation and 'what's happened in the four years since you were all last here, and what we expect to see in the next five years when we do another one of these' - as if a majority of the people in the room have been there for so long AND expect to be in the same job, or at least in similar roles, for life. But interestingly, obviously enough people on the organising committee or in the room DID feel that that was realistic, and something that we would actually be invested in learning more about. The thing is, I do care about my job. I don't dislike it and I do think broadly it's valuable. But that doesn't mean I care a jot about the organisation, the leadership or its history, growth etc. for anything more than if they can still afford to pay me or if they can still afford to provide the services to the client they said they would and signed up to. It feels almost performative that anyone in the room would care more than that.

Similarly, there were a lot of other assumptions made about the people in the room, which particularly came out through the 'wellbeing/mindfulness' activity we did in the afternoon. The assumption was very much that we were a room of people whose only issues might be small interpersonal things in the backdrop to what was otherwise a comfortable, middle-class, married, parenting, healthy and able bodied, existence. (e.g. - overthinking things, not believing in yourself enough etc... as if the only possible barriers to thriving in the workplace in 2023 might be personal psychological barriers a person has created for themself and can overcome easily by the power of positive thinking, reframing or confidence boosts etc.) Which in itself felt quite... anti intersectionality and awareness of the individual real and impactful external difficulties, that people might be struggling with or up against. (So again, performative)

One of the things we had specifically was to, in groups, discuss the 'three things you're grateful for today', that we were assured we would all have if we just thought hard enough about. It was great to be told how we all had that by the unbelievably cheery, straight white married dad guy who was giving the presentation. Didn't you know, he didn't used to be thankful for his children or the fact he owned a house? Like my dude, at which point does your own low self-awareness of your own privilege become a teaching point for a group of strangers without the recognition that that actually kinda comes off like a brag? I also was struck once again by the implicit messaging that work should be a place where everyone is comfortable to share everything about themself with everyone, and to be a major, if not the only, social space that adults inhabit. Once again, this feels like something that a very non diverse board thought up. As a queer person in a majority straight, and likely conservative workplace, I need to always police myself and say what's safe, because ultimately, I'm not there working as a hobby. This is how I pay for things in my life, and that relies on keeping that environment as safe and comfortable as possible to avoid real conflicts that might escalate and actively put me in danger. This is the country that just voted for Brexit and Boris Johnson after all.

There was once again, a lot to read between the lines, and - perhaps because of the establishing backdrop, giving us the presentation about unity, history etc. and so on - was that a deliberate psychological technique I now wonder? - anyway, a lot of people in the room didn't seem to be actually reading between those lines. So some things that were mentioned in the later sessions in the day; the financial pressures the company was under to meet obligations (so... that means cuts, or a lack of payrises, or possibly not delivering our services as promised?), or the fact that a majority of our projects delivered little value and didn't cover themselves monetarily (so... how are we going to afford to do them? why are we doing them? ARE we going to keep doing them, are people going to lose their jobs?) The interesting thing once again that struck me was that these things were both presented as inevitabilities, but also things that we as a group of people would all have to deal with together as they came up, as if just because we CURRENTLY worked there in certain roles, if anything changed, we would somehow have to just take it and suck it up and suffer in those roles instead of... moving on for a better opportunity and leaving the leadership to pick up the pieces of the messes that they themselves ended up making. Like folks, the thing is, if you're going to tout collective responsibility and organisational solidarity, you can't have a hierarchical model of who makes the decisions. And if you're going to, it's pretty bad form to attempt to psychologically manipulate your underlings to feel bad about things they have no control over, and to stay in a bad or difficult situation that you single-handedly ended up creating.

Of course, what was interesting is that those of us in the room who were a bit younger and who have already worked through hardships and adversities, who are used to not being respected or treated fairly in the workplace or appreciated for what we do and given opportunities to progress, literally didn't give any of this the time of day. It came across to us like polite fiction towards the members of staff who wanted to delude themselves and put their heads in the sand. Ironically, this team day that was meant to be about discovering our commonalities and finding better ways to work together just illustrated more clearly than ever how some of us are living in the real world regarding the current economy and situation, and some of us aren't. Well sadly, if things do go a bit tits up, it's those who aren't who are going to be caught out, and the longer these kinds of delusions and optimistic beliefs persist, the bigger that crash is going to be both financially and in terms of self image and what they've invested in psychologically. And then what good is wellbeing and mindfulness going to be when the very foundations that you've built yourself around have crumbled under you?

#text post #uk #2023 #capitalism #boomers #corporate culture #wellbeing #privilege #intersectionality #lgbtq #workplace #boomers at work #generation gap #cost of living crisis #uk politics #personal

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tomorrowusa · 1 year ago

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It has been a bad week for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. Youngkin (AKA: Glenn Trumpkin) has been trying to position himself as the savior of the Republican Party in order to gain national political traction.

Trumpkin's centerpiece of Republican salvation has been what I call Faux Roe. It's his proposal to restrict abortion to the first 15 weeks and offer almost no exceptions thereafter. His plan was to flip the Virginia Senate and enact Faux Roe into law. He had tried to portray the real Roe v. Wade and Democratic support for it as "extremist".

Not only did Trumpkin fail to flip the state Senate, but Republicans also lost control of the Virginia House of Delegates. Trumpkin will now have to face a legislature with BOTH chambers under Democratic control for the last two years of his term.

Democrats have secured full control of the Virginia state legislature, winning a majority in the house of delegates and depriving the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, of the opportunity to enact a 15-week abortion ban. Democrats maintained their majority in the state senate and flipped control of the house of delegates, where Republicans previously held a narrow advantage. Democrats’ victories quashed Youngkin’s hopes of securing a Republican-controlled legislature that would be able to advance his policy agenda, casting doubt upon his prospects as a potential presidential candidate. “Governor Youngkin and Virginia Republicans did everything they could to take total control of state government, but the people of the Commonwealth rejected them,” Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic party of Virginia, said in a statement. “Virginians won’t go backwards. Instead of extremism and culture wars, people voted for commonsense leadership and problem solvers.”

Virginia's off-off year elections take place in odd years prior to Congressional and presidential elections. They provide some insight as to the direction of the prevailing political winds.

As one of the only states holding off-year elections, the Virginia results could serve as a bellwether for the presidential race next year.

Things haven't been going well for radical anti-abortion, anti-democracy Republicans in general.

The Democratic victory in Virginia was good news for President Biden.

Why Democrats’ big Virginia win is also a victory for Biden

Joe Biden wasn’t on the ballot on Tuesday in Virginia. But Democrats’ big win will bring welcome news on the other side of the Potomac. Virginia’s off-year elections have long been seen as a bellwether of the broader political environment — and a partial referendum on the incumbent president. So Democrats sweeping control of the state legislature — which both parties believed was in play — will serve as a boost to Biden’s reelection campaign next year. [ ... ] Tuesday’s wins will likely validate Democrats’ plans to continue to run on abortion next year, a strategy that has given them a series of almost uninterrupted wins since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. “In hundreds of races since Donald Trump’s conservative Supreme Court appointments overturned Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen Americans overwhelmingly side with President Biden and Democrats’ vision for this country,” Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez said in a statement Tuesday night. “That same choice will be before voters again next November, and we are confident the American people will send President Biden and Vice President Harris back to the White House to keep working for them.” They also show that Youngkin doesn’t have the silver bullet for solving the GOP’s electoral problems with abortion, as his operation had hoped.

Republicans had been trying for 49 years to get Roe v. Wade overturned. When the GOP Supreme Court finally did the deed last year, it turned out to be a poison pill for Republicans running for office.

In Virginia, Democrats won 21 of 40 seats in the Senate and 51 of 100 seats in the House of Delegates.

When the official counting of late absentee ballots and provisional ballots is completed next week, Dems could end up gaining one additional seat in each chamber. 🎉

#virginia #election 2023 #virginia senate #virginia house of delegates #virginia legislature #republican fail #glenn youngkin #trumpkin #roe v. wade #faux roe #abortion #a woman's right to choose #reproductive freedom

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chark80 · 5 months ago

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I guess I'll add how I think about it. I'm not anti-voting per se, because I do think everyone should vote, but I believe people should vote their conscience: third party, vote for the best candidate on the ticket. I suppose I view a Trump presidency as being worse than a second Biden administration, but again not by a ton. I also view a second Trump presidency (or someone like him) as more or less inevitable, given the extreme racism, anti immigration sentiment, homophobia, etc. of centrists and right wingers in this country. So I basically believe that

1) The DNC needs to learn the lesson ASAP. They've held my vote hostage my entire adult life and have hardly done anything to "stop the rise of fascism" and I have 0 confidence if Biden won a second term it'd do anything to protect us come 2028

2) The democrats are actually more effective as an opposition party, especially rank and file voters who become more politically aware and active. I think this is crucial to activating class consciousness and ultimate building a more stable and effective political coalition in the long term

3) Biden is directly supporting a genocide. I understand that Trump would be worse in this arena, but that's kind of a red line for me that disqualifies you from my support like ever

Biden's NLRB has been great. His justice department has done pretty good work at going after monopolies. Honestly I'd probably vote for him for a second term if he weren't, you know, actively murdering children, so hey if somehow he does a complete 180 prior to November maybe that'll change. But for now, I'm gonna vote for the best candidate on the ticket, cause this is a democracy and that's what you do in a democracy. Don't let a shitty DNC who supports the rise of figures like Trump (which also gives me a lot of ick, supporting dems knowing they boost fascists as a strategy to try and guilt us into voting for them) hold your vote hostage. Vote, for sure, but vote for folks who deserve it.

i kind of wish the anti voting people wouldn’t dance around the idea of what happens after the election. Like okay, the democrats lose, you taught them a lesson (and fwiw, I do think its a legitimate message to send- the people are not happy with the actions and status quo of the DNC). Now What. Trump, the multiply indicted crime president who incited a violent mob upon the capitol, is now President. He has all the qualities you hate about Biden, AND more, except he and his administration have even less reason to be sensitive to the wishes of their democratic constituents. He is a puppet for the far right and white supremacists and christian nationalists. I really shouldn’t even have to go over this- we LIVED it already. Genuinely asking, is this what you want? Because frankly I do not think 4 more years of Trump is worth it over Biden. Your hands are not clean, this is the future you want to choose. I just don’t understand why.

#biden #politica #voting #us politics #leftism

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covid-safer-hotties · 2 months ago

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Trump-RFK Jr. alliance resurrects debate over COVID restrictions, vaccine skepticism in 2024 campaign - Published Sept 1, 2024

WASHINGTON — In securing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement, Donald Trump gained an ally who could steer him crucial votes by providing cover on some of the themes that defined Kennedy’s campaign: distrust of the COVID vaccine, opposition to government mandates, and lingering outrage over the handling of the pandemic.

With the 2024 presidential election set to be decided by razor-thin margins in a handful of states, Trump and his team are betting that winning over Kennedy supporters — many of whom deeply distrust Trump, whose Operation Warp Speed initiative launched the COVID vaccines — could help push them to victory.

Already, Trump surrogates are spelling out how Kennedy’s backing could boost the campaign. “RFK brings a special subset to the campaign,” said Corey Lewandowski, a Trump 2024 senior adviser, on MSNBC Wednesday night. “Those moms and women, 25 to 40 years old, who are concerned about their children, and the vaccines and the food they’re being ingested … are coming now to the Trump campaign disproportionately because they support the belief that RFK is going to help fix that problem going forward.”

Influential pro-Trump activists such as Charlie Kirk, meanwhile, have reposted several accounts of Kennedy supporters announcing their intent to vote for Trump.

In his first appearance with Kennedy last week in Arizona, Trump promised to work with him as president to establish a “panel of top experts” to investigate chronic health problems and childhood diseases — many of which Kennedy has long insisted are caused by vaccines.

This bargain, however, could easily backfire on Trump, and not only because his alliance with Kennedy tethers him to a broad range of fringe views. Democrats are confident that most voters will reject a Trump campaign infused with Kennedy rhetoric on COVID and vaccines — and, more to the point, will resent having to revisit a pandemic that most would love to leave behind.

“The sentiment of most voters in Michigan is, we want to move on, we don’t want to re-litigate 2020 or COVID-19,” said Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state senator from Michigan, where violent backlash to COVID safety measures sparked a foiled right-wing militia plot to kidnap and assassinate Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

In any event, Kennedy’s place as a factor in the 2024 election ensures that more than four years removed from the onset of the pandemic, a small but vocal faction is poised to re-inject COVID fixations back into the political arena — and potentially a second Trump administration.

Kennedy’s supporters are hoping so.

“As Kennedy pounds away at the news cycle campaigning with Trump, every interview will further solidify the promises Trump has made to Kennedy,” Michael Kane, who founded a group for teachers opposed to vaccine mandates, wrote in an article on Substack.

The prospect of a general election filled with Kennedy and top Republicans campaigning on vaccine skepticism has public health advocates alarmed. And they are downright frightened that Kennedy could wind up with significant power if Trump wins.

Heading into this election season, anti-vaccine and COVID-skeptic energy was “softening,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., who specializes in public health.

“The embrace of these two political leaders will just amp up all the anti-vaccine sentiment … the implicit promise of putting [Kennedy] in a senior position in the administration shows that anti-vaccination is coming from the fringes into the halls of power,” Gostin said. “This is a perfect storm.”

Asked about the impact of Kennedy’s endorsement, Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes said Trump’s “broad coalition of supporters” is expanding “across partisan lines.”

“While Kamala Harris doubles down on her ‘values’ to open our border to migrant criminals and enact Venezuela-style price controls, we look forward to expanding President Trump’s ‘big tent campaign’ with these powerful voices on the team as we work to restore America’s greatness,” said Hughes.

Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment.

Kennedy has long leveraged his famous name to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and mandates, even for common childhood vaccines for diseases such as polio and measles.

Kennedy disputed the notion that he was anti-vaccine during his presidential run, recasting his lifelong advocacy as a quest for “medical freedom” to reject mandates. But his campaign became a magnet for COVID vaccine skeptics and those still consumed with anger toward figures such as Anthony Fauci, the lead federal pandemic specialist.

As recently as May, Kennedy was attacking Trump over his handling of the pandemic as president. “With lockdowns, mass mandates, the travel restrictions, President Trump presided over the greatest restriction on individual liberties this country has ever known,” Kennedy said at the Libertarian Party convention.

In the wake of that pressure, Trump had dialed up his rhetoric on the subject, saying at a conservative conference in July that he would “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate” if re-elected.

Since Kennedy endorsed Trump, top Republicans have been forced to publicly answer for Kennedy’s positions on vaccines and the pandemic. Largely, they have defended them.

When Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about Kennedy’s endorsement, he said he didn’t agree with Kennedy on everything. But Vance instead condemned the COVID-era masking of young children, claiming “we knew it caused developmental disabilities.” (That assertion was not widely researched during the height of the pandemic; scientific studies have remained inconclusive on the topic.)

Vance added that if officials had listened to voices like Kennedy, “I think our kids would have been much better off in the wake of the pandemic.”

In 2022, many Republicans who put COVID backlash at the center of their campaigns fared poorly, particularly those who challenged governors who were in charge of their states’ pandemic responses. In the 2024 GOP primary, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida sought to outflank Trump on the pandemic, betting that most right-wing voters would follow him; they didn’t.

Democratic campaign organizations said they plan to tie Kennedy and Trump together in the eyes of voters.

“When RFK Jr. talks about ‘children’s health’ what he’s really talking about are his anti-vaxx positions, including casting doubt on [measles, mumps, and rubella] and polio vaccines,” said Matt Corridoni, a Democratic National Committee spokesperson. “We’re going to hold Trump’s feet to the fire on his embrace of RFK Jr. and these extreme positions.”

For the thousands of Kennedy supporters motivated primarily by his stances on vaccines, however, their support is far from assured. In fact, many of them may only vote for Trump if he does something that is sure to inflame anti-vaccine sentiment: condemn his own administration’s historic effort to develop the COVID vaccines.

Before Kennedy endorsed Trump, his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said on a podcast that “the hesitation we have right now in joining forces with Trump is that he has not apologized or publicly come out and said Operation Warp Speed was his fault.”

Kane, the cofounder of Teachers for Choice, expressed doubt that any such admission was coming.

“Many Kennedy supporters won’t vote for Trump unless he admits OPERATION WARP SPEED was a dangerous failure,” he wrote. “It was a dangerous failure. But Trump will never admit that; and certainly never before November 5th.”

#covid #mask up #pandemic #covid 19 #wear a mask #coronavirus #sars cov 2 #public health #still coviding #wear a respirator

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xtruss · 2 years ago

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Time Magazine Covers Imran Khan’s ‘Astonishing Saga’

In a cover story for Time Magazine, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and Illegally Ousted Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has called for a “New Social Contract” to empower political institutions, lamenting that he was “Helpless” while in government because the Corrupt Army Chief did not “Think Corruption Was That Big a Deal.”

Titled “Imran Khan on his Plan to Return to Power,” the wide-ranging article outlines the year the ousted prime minister has spent out of power, highlighting the U.S.’s disenchantment with his rhetoric and his vague plans for Pakistan’s economic revival if he is re-elected. “Our economy has gone into a tailspin,” Khan tells author Charlie Campbell, claiming the country has the “worst economic indicators in our history.”

However, the article notes, this is unlikely to garner much sympathy from the West, which has been “put off” by Khan’s anti-American bluster and cozying up to autocrats and extremists, including the Taliban. Referring to his ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his declaring Osama bin Laden a “Martyr” and praise for Beijing’s confinement of Uighur Muslims, it points to his “strong sense of grievance” over War Criminal U.S. President Joe Biden’s failure to call him after entering the White House. “Morality in foreign policy is reserved for powerful countries,” Khan tells Campbell in justification for his at-times contradictory positions.

Nonetheless, the article maintains, the PTI chief can “Legitimately Claim” to have democracy on his side, as poll numbers show his messaging is finding support among the masses. To counter this, it notes, the state has “Flirted” with the idea of detaining Khan—which the former prime minister claims is worse than a martial law—leading to at-times-violent clashes between his supporters and law enforcers. Adding to the intrigue, it states, is Khan’s continued insistence that he faces another assassination attempt after surviving an attack on his convoy in November that left him injured for months. “One bullet damaged a nerve so my foot is still recovering,” the PTI chief tells Campbell. “I have a problem walking for too long,” he adds.

With no end in sight to the confrontation between the government and Khan, Time magazine warns the confrontation could remain in the streets indefinitely. “Political Stability in Pakistan Comes Through Elections,” states Khan. “That Is The Starting Point For Economic Recovery,” he says, adding that “Never Has One Man Scared the ‘Corrupt To Their CoresEstablishment’ … As Much As Right Now.” He continues: “They Worry About How To Keep Me Out; The People How To Get Me Back In.”

Recalling that Khan has accused the U.S. of instigating his downfall through a “Regime Change Conspiracy,” the article posits that the “actual intrigue is purely Pakistani.” Highlighting Khan’s rift with the military after refusing to replace then-ISI chief Lt. Gen. (retd.) Faiz Hameed, it says this allowed the opposition to oust him through a no-confidence vote, which coupled with the assassination attempt on his life to boost his supporters’ “Sense of Injustice.” Khan, in the interview, claims the rift developed because of the military’s unwillingness to go after the Sharifs and Bhuttos for alleged corruption. But according to analysts, says Time, “it was Khan’s relentless taunting of the U.S. that torpedoed his relationship with the military, which remains much more interested in retaining good relations with Washington.”

While Khan has stressed to Time that “Criticizing U.S. Foreign Policy Does Not Make You Anti-American,” the articles makes it clear that Pakistan’s instability has raised the question of who actually “Wins” from supporting the country. Noting that Washington now prioritizes its ties with India due to Pakistan’s relationship with China, it cites the U.S. exit from Afghanistan as a key reason for this. “Lots of Americans in Washington say we lost the war in Afghanistan because the Pakistanis stabbed us in the back,” says Cameron Munter, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, who warns that Islamabad’s economic struggles have left a country “ripe for a Bolshevik revolution.”

According to Time, Pakistan’s current political instability comes amid devastating floods, runaway inflation, and resurgent cross-border terrorist attacks from neighboring Afghanistan. “It’s a country where rape and corruption are rife, and the economy hinges on unlocking a stalled IMF bailout, Pakistan’s 22nd since independence in 1947,” it states, noting inflation in March hit 47 percent year-over-year, as the rupee lost 54 percent of its value. This “new nadir” of the economy, as described by author Campbell, was triggered by Khan’s governance, which saw mismanagement that exacerbated global headwinds from the pandemic and soaring oil prices.

Stressing that the PTI-led government did little to address Pakistan’s fundamental structural issues of tax avoidance, it notes that the country has relied on foreign money to balance its budget and provide government services. “But if Khan recognized the problem, he did little to solve it,” it states, noting he was in an “uncommonly strong position” after 2018 with the backing of the military and progressives, as well as the tolerance of the Islamists. Now, it warns, he would be in a significantly weaker position to enact reforms if he were to return to power. Khan, meanwhile, has offered few details on his economic plan, merely reiterating his aim to turn Pakistan into an “Islamic Welfare State.”

Noting that Khan’s time in government saw Pakistan praised for its handling of the pandemic; the “Ten Billion Tree Tsunami” reforestation drive; the 2019 return of international test cricket, the article recalls that he also provoked outrage by saying the Taliban had “Broken the Shackles of Slavery” by taking back power—which he says was “Taken Out of Context”—and made various comments seen as misogynistic.

For now, states the article, many within the PTI fear that the government would declare the party a “Terrorist Organization” or ban it from politics. Ultimately, though, it says all sides are using the tools at their disposal to prevent their own demise: “Khan wields popular protest and the banner of democracy; the government has the courts and security apparatus.” The entire crisis, Campbell cites Khan as stating, can be resolved through elections. “The same people who tried to kill me are still sitting in power,” he says. “And they are petrified that if I got back [in] they would be held accountable. So they’re more dangerous.”

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that-disabled-radfem · 3 years ago

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Happy back-to-school y’all

I’ve attended and worked at a couple of super liberal universities. I avoid the gender studies departments for obvious reasons and I still had a lecture in which the female prof gave a brief overview of TERFs and proclaimed her hatred of JKR. Being openly critical of gender ideology, the porn industry, kinks, and ‘sex work’ are the kind of things that can ruin your future in academia. Not to mention the fact that any speech or actions that could be labelled transphobic (ie. defining woman as adult human female) can get you a suspension according to many universities anti-hate-speech policies.

So, here’s a list of small and smallish (small in terms of overt TERFery, some may require more effort than others) radical feminist actions you can take as a university student:

(this is a liberal arts perspective so if you’re a stem gal this may not apply. but also if you’re in stem maybe you can actually acknowledge that women are oppressed as a sex class without getting kicked out of school. idk)

(Note for TRAs hate reading this: One of the core actions of radical feminism is creating female networks. This is not so that we can brainwash people into being anti-trans. This is because female solidarity is necessary for creating class consciousness and overturning patriarchy. It is harder to subjugate the female sex when we stand together.)

Take classes with female profs. Multiple sections of a class? Pick the one taught by a woman. Have to chose an elective? Only look at electives offered by women. When classes have low numbers they get cancelled. When classes are super popular, universities are forced to consider promoting the faculty that teach them

Make relationships with these female profs. Go to office hours. Chat after class. Ask them about their research. Building female networks is sooooo important!

Actually fill in your end of year course feedback forms. Profs often need these when applying for tenure or applying for a job at another university so it is very important (especially with young and/or new profs) that you fill out these forms and give specific examples of how great these women are. Go off about what you love about them! Give her a brilliant review because you know the idiot boy in that class who won’t shut up even though he knows nothing is going to give her only negative feedback because he thinks any woman who leaves the house is a feminazi b*tch.

(note: obviously don’t go praising any prof - female or male - who is blatantly racist, homophobic, etc.)

(Also if you have shitty male profs write down all the horrible things they have done and said and put it in these forms because once a shitty man gets tenure they are virtually untouchable)

(also also, leave a good review on rate my profs or whatever other thing students use to figure out if they want to take classes. idc if you copy paste your feedback from the formal review. rave about the class to your friends. do what you can to get good enrolment for that prof for reasons above.)

Participate in class. Talk over the male students. Say what you mean and mean it. Call out the boys when they say dumb shit

Write about women. If you have the option to make a text written by a woman your primary text in an essay, do it. Pick the female-centred option if you’re writing an exam-essay with multiple prompts. (Profs often look at what works on their syllabus are being written about/engaged with as a marker of whether to keep those texts the next time they teach the class. If there are badass women on your syllabus, write about them to keep them on the syllabus) Use female-written secondary sources whenever possible.

(pro tip: many women in academia are more than happy to talk to you about their papers. expand your female networks by reaching out to article authors through email and asking them about their cool shit)

Get your essays published! Many departments have undergrad journals you can publish in. This will ensure more people read about the women you write about and will demonstrate to the department that people like learning about women

Consider trying to publish your undergrad essay with a legit peer-reviewed journal. If you can do it, your use of female-written secondary sources boosts the reputations of the women who wrote those secondary sources. Also this helps generally to increase scholarship about women’s writing!

Present your papers at conferences! Many schools have their own undergraduate/departmental conferences that you can present at. Push yourself by submitting to outside conferences. Bring attention to women’s works by presenting your papers. Take a space at a conference that would otherwise be reserved for mediocre men

Talk to your profs and/or your department and/or your university about mandating the inclusion of female works in classes if this isn’t something they do already

Sit next to other women in your classes. Talk to them. Make friends. Form study groups. Proofread each other’s essays. Give each other knowing looks when the boys are being dumb. Just interact with other women! Build those female networks!

Be generous with your compliments. A female classmate and I were talking to a prof after class and the classmate told me (out of the blue) that I always have such interesting things to say. I think about that whenever I’m lacking confidence about my academic skills. Compliment the women in your classes for speaking up, for sharing their opinions, for challenging your classmates/profs, for doing cool presentations, etc.

Talk to other women about sexist things going on on campus. Make everyone aware of the sexist profs. Complain about how there are many more tenured men than tenured women. Go on rate my professor and be explicit about how the sexist profs are sexist

Be active on campus and in societies. If a society has an all male executive or is male-dominated, any women who join that society make it less intimidating for more women to join. Run for executive positions! Bring in more women!

(Pro tip: Many societies’ elections are super gameable. You can be eligible to vote in a society election sometimes just by being a student at that university — even without having done anything with the society before. Other societies might just require that you’ve taken a class in a particular department or attended a society event. (Check the society’s governing documents.) Use those female networks you’ve been building. If you can bring three or four random people to vote for you, that might be enough for you to win. Societies have trouble meeting quorum (the minimum number of people in attendance to do votes) so it is really super achievable to rig an election with a few friends. And don’t feel bad about this. The system is rigged against women so you have every right to exploit loopholes!)

(Also feel free to go vote “non-confidence”/“re-open election” if only shitty men are running. Too often people see that only candidates they don’t like are running and so they give up. But you can actually stop them getting elected)

Your campus may have a LGBTQIA+alphabetsoup society. That society definitely needs more L and B women representation. It may be tedious to argue with the nb straight dudes who insist that it’s fine to use “q***r” in the society’s posters and that attraction has nothing to do with genitals, but just imagine what could happen if we could make these sorts of societies actually safe spaces for same-sex attracted women and advocated for our concerns

Attend random societies’ election meetings. Get women elected and peace out. (or actually get involved but I’m trying to emphasize the lowest commitment option with this one)

Write for the campus newspaper. Write about what women are doing - women’s sports, cool society activities, whatever. Review female movies, books, tv shows, local theatre productions. Write about sexism on campus. We need more female by-lines and more stories about women

Get involved with your campus’s sexual assault & r*pe hotline/sexual assault survivor’s centre/whatever similar organization your campus has if you can. This is hard work and definitely not for everyone (pls take care of yourself first, especially if you are a survivor)

(If your campus doesn’t have an organization for supporting survivor’s of sexualized violence, start one! This is probably going to be a lot of hard work though, so don’t do it alone)

Talk to your student council about providing free menstrual hygiene products on campus if your campus doesn’t already do this. If your campus provides free condoms (which they probs do), use that as leverage (ie. ‘sex is optional, menstruation is not. so why do we have free condoms and no free pads?’)

If you’re an older student, get involved with younger students (orientation week and such activities are good for this). Show the freshman that you can be a successful and well-liked woman without shaving your legs, wearing heels, wearing make-up, etc. Mentor these young women. Offer to go for coffee or proofread essays.

Come to class looking like a human being. Be visibly make-up less, unshaven, unfeminine, etc. to show off the many different ways of being a woman

Talk to the custodial staff and learn their names. (I know there are men who work in this profession, but it is dominated by low-income women) Say hi in the hallways, ask them about their lives, show them they’re appreciated

Be explicit with your language. When you are talking about sex-based oppression, say it. Don’t say ‘sex worker’ when you mean survivor of human trafficking. This tip is obviously a bit tricky in terms of overt TERFyness, so use your best judgement

That’s all from me for now! Feel free to add your suggestions and remember that feminism is about action

#back to school #university #terf safe #terfs DO interact #feminist action

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rideboldlyride · 3 years ago

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Because I need to test the waters and could use some inspo and confidence boost... Here's the beginning of a short story I want to write entirely before I publish. I would summarize, but I think it's pretty obvious how this is going.

This is going to be heavy on the anti-k@taang.

The news hit the nations with uproar. Aang and Katara, despite their three children and multiple years together, were no longer married.

It was nearly a unanimous, unspoken vote-- Katara must have done something. But then, the mob whispered, why did Aang allow her to keep the children?

Not all the children, some would whisper. The youngest was often seen at the Avatar’s side.

It doesn’t matter, the more brazen would interrupt, the Avatar was still young enough, and there would be many other women who would do right by him.

All that mattered was making sure the Avatar was happy.

***

The laughter of Bumi and Kya trails after them as they plummet down the side of the snowy dune, and the sight of the penguin-otters following their lead brings a grin to Katara’s face.

Behind her, the soft crunch of snow herald’s the arrival of another.

“Whatcha doin’ up here?”

She turns her contented smile towards her brother. He stands tall, a nearly picture-perfect image of the next chief, and she can’t help the swell of pride she feels in her chest.

“Watching the kids play. They’ve figured out how to convince the penguin-otters to sled with them.”

His smile matches hers as he squats down beside her. “Ya know, I haven’t seen you smile this much in a while.”

“It’s hard not to smile when your kids are happy.”

Sokka hums in agreement, a matching smile on his face. She can see the far off look in his eye and she knows his mind is on his own daughters back in the town. But when he finally turns to look at her, his face grows somber.

“Do you remember what made you happiest, Katara?”

#atla #zutara #zuko #katara #divorced katara #widowed zuko #the kids are all here #and the kids are pretty awesome.#except tenzin #but even he comes around....

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ravenadottir · 3 years ago

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what do you think the characters would be doing after the show/how would they be using their platform? for example, i think lottie would be using hers to give people astrology readings and stuff and i think the season 3 mc would be sooo problematic online

ok but you know what? definitely! s3 mc would be causing the stir she wanted to in the villa and couldn't. i'm almost certain she would be raging and saying absurd things to get attention, something like gabby hana you know? BIG YIKES.

one thing is certain... all of them (purposely or not) would be making thirst traps... and definitely supporting masks and registering to vote. so that's a certainty for almost all of them.

lottie. witchtok constantly. not necessarily giving readings but she would be an apologist and majority on that tag. her instagram would be split into two accounts: one for her personal endeavours like thirst traps and *looks of the day*, and a second for her brand as a makeup artist/personal stylist. cause i think that would be so fucking cool! lottie knows how to perpetuate her personal brand and would use social media for that as well. here's some edits i did in the past to explain it better. i headcanon a collab with elisa for wigs that they would both wear on social media, so that's something i really like! plus, advocating for women's rights, especially when a male politician says something dumb, so you know, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

bobby. in the middle of the pandemic? can't help thinking he would be doing some humorous videos, but in my head they're not the funny type. just some cringey ones... don't get me wrong, but bobby is only funny when he's not trying to, and in social media he strikes me as the type that not only makes videos but also puts the towel over his head to play a girl, so that's probably the majority of his content. some food of course, and DEFINITELY some *cute* selfies that he knows it works as thirst traps. i think he talks about registering to vote and blm, but doesn't give his opinion on anything else, politics wise. here's bobby's feed for the rest.

gary. i'm not thrilled to inform that gary would be thirst trapping all the time. now that he's relatively famous there's no reason why not posting those pics and videos. between tik tok trends to show off his muscles, and instagram to... well, do that exact same thing, he might take some time to show nan and the soup kitchen, but overall... thirst traps. possibly being blunt about masks and registering but his content is very closed off. also, he will get a dog and encourage people to adopt. there's a lot of pranks on dicky and vice versa, so that's something i thought for his social media, just couldn't find a good faceclaim that has a variety of pics.

lucas. mostly bringing awareness about covid and the use of masks, probably pointing it out a couple of political disputes, and definitely advising people to be careful about their votes all around the world. i like to think he's a huge advocate for legalization of a certain practice that women have to beg to have (you know the one), and i think he knows exactly how to make a thirst trap without making one. stop asian hate and blm carrds present, and often giving his followers the incentive to donate. DEFINITELY 'look of the day' for at least the weekend, and lots and lots of landscape from the places he's been visiting or wishing to.

henrik. he's everywhere and he takes his phone to talk about it. no doubt henrik is having the time of his life by travelling alone, or with his wife, and doing lives at all times. i think you would see him doing lives in the middle of the night, or watching the sunset/sunrise with his followers, besides making his *questionable* forest foraging and recipes. survival videos? MOST LIKELY THAN YOU THINK. here's his social media, where i covered mostly of what his relationship would like on instagram. (heavily based off "beyond the hill").

carl. the amount of rpg on his stories? immaculate. chess? you bet! lots and lots of carl's launchings for his company, which does have a separate account but he can't quite separate himself from it and it shows on his feed. his relationship would be discreetly displayed with cryptic captions since he's not so sentimental. here's his feed with some personal things he would be encouraged to post and boost that confidence of his.

anon that asked for more hannah stuff, this is for you:

hannah. i have one for her because i do like her aesthetic. don't mind the faceclaim, it was the only one i could find in so many situations. horses, books, some *cute* selfies, travelling pics and more. on tiktok definitely booktok, no doubt about it. she might do a lot of the "telling the story of my book as a story time" trend to promote it and say "technically it's real life."

elisa. it's all about branding and she knows how to do it well! some influencers might not get political because of how they can be perceived but i think elisa doesn't give a flying fuck about that. she talks often about blm and vaccines on her stories. i get a jackie aina vibe from her when talking about brands that support/encourage dark skin models and influencers, so that's a plus. she will give shit to a makeup brand that doesn't care for shade range and won't hide her feelings about it. here's her usual feed, with looks and tours (that i'm certain she would do a lot). i also think she'll eventually cave and have a brand of wigs, clothes and makeup, AS SHE SHOULD.

hope. there's no question about her activism on social media and i like to imagine she would be speaking up against anti-vaxxers and racism, mostly. just like yewande, she would probably talk about every time she felt the show might've favoured people that don't look like her. we would be getting the hot tea on everything since she's so honest. there's also lots of looks and promoting her friends' products because she supports them so much. priya's clothing line, elisa x lottie collab, etc. here's the feed i made for her a while ago.

chelsea. she might not be that deep into politics but she'll talk about covid and how people should be more careful about it, "wearing all these cute masks my babes lozza made for us!". LOTS of *look of the day* and tours on the spaces she decorates, besides the behind the scenes of parties and weddings (of ex-islanders) that i know she would throw. her feed also includes her closet, supporting her friends' endeavours and promoting them, besides some random mug collection shots and FOR SURE a pug selfie with mc.

priya. there's not much to say except for the occasional thirst trap (with those amazing thigh, ffs she should), lots of vaccine warnings, definitely political anecdotes and her clothing brand. i love to think she would have an actual boutique once things get settled after covid, and she would use social media to promote every line. her feed consists mostly of her travelling, designs, supporting the girls and her photoshoots.

kassam. lots and lots of backstage photos and that *prickly* way of demanding people to use their brains and wear a mask, besides getting the vaccine. in studio or just before the stage, selfies with a clothing line with his logo and definitely pics with islanders he didn't get to meet but is now friends with. during covid he would be using his lives to play for his followers, like lots of dj's and musicians i've seen doing on reddit and tiktok, probably called "late night music" or something like that. encouraging followers to donate for causes as well.

noah. not so huge on social media, might be the most discrete of them all. there would be lots and lots of pictures of the mornings before he opens the library, because i sincerely think he would keep his job. not the most outspoken about certain matters but carrds like the blm's and 'stop asian hate''s are on all of his bio's. i do like to imagine him taking selfies with the boys from the show, like ibrahim. he would be so present in noah's feed it's not even funny. the casual "cute unintentional" thirst trap too. family photos from ages ago and lots of his siblings as well. he does love to write long captions for whenever he posts his girlfriend. one thing though, during the first few months on the outside, he wouldn't be so present, afraid of facing the bashing on him if he got with mc in the show. that could be a reason for him to stay away until people "forget" about it.

marisol. SO - MANY - SUITS - SELFIES it makes me cry happy tears. between advocating for women's rights in a more technical way, she would definitely be using her platform to also talk about lgbtq+, especially after the realization she had during her journey. lots and lots of activism about those things, and i think she would be doing a fine job. definitely promoting the girls' products/services and an occasional thirst trap with a braless suit look.

rocco. covidiot. (i just wanted to use this nickname one more time). he might get a hard time from followers and villa buddies because of his stance on vaccines. i just hope he reads some articles instead of sharing bibity-bobity-bullshit on facebook and instagram. there's lots of vaccine memes on his comment sections no matter what he posts though. it's gonna take a while for the public to move on.

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allthebrazilianpolitics · 3 years ago

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Will Bolsonaro Put Brazil’s Democracy At Risk?

[Image description: Jair Bolsonaro.]

After President Jair Bolsonaro’s consistent attacks on the validity of Brazil’s all-electronic voting in recent months, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) of Brazil has declared the system not fraudulent and opened an investigation into Bolsonaro’s unfounded allegations as dissemination of false information. With popular criticism of the far-right president’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro’s reelection chances are not looking good for the upcoming presidential race in 2022, in which Bolsonaro will face up against the leftist former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva [observation by the mod: neither Lula nor Bolsonaro have official announced 2022 candidacies yet]. Bolsonaro’s attacks could be an attempt to rally support for an eventual rejection of fair election results and a power grab.

“Threatening the realization of an election represents anti-democratic behaviour,” stated Luís Roberto Barroso, the president of the TSE. “Polluting the public debate with disinformation, lies, hatred and conspiracy theories represents anti-democratic behaviour.”

In January of 2021, Bolsonaro invoked the United States’ election controversies, telling his supporters, “If we don’t have a printed vote in 2022, a way to audit the vote, we’re going to have a worse problem than the United States… there, people voted and boosted the vote by mail because of the pandemic and there were people there who voted three, four times, dead people who voted.” Bolsonaro is an admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who also worked to undermine confidence in election results when faced with a probable loss in 2020, and made unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

Bolsonaro proposed a constitutional amendment which would require electronic votes be printed and recounted manually in case of fraud, but a congressional committee voted against the amendment on August 5th. The judges of the TSE have posited that counting paper ballots would make the voting system more susceptible to fraud, contradictory to Bolsonaro’s insistent claims of the opposite.

As it stands, Bolsonaro’s chances of winning the 2022 election are getting slimmer. A June poll by Inteligência em Pesquisa e Consultoria (IPEC) found 49% of respondents favored Lula while only 23% favored the incumbent Bolsonaro. Elected as a populist with strong support from the military in 2018, Bolsonaro is now being met with demands for his impeachment and investigations into corruption focused on him, his family, and close allies. Denialism and incompetence in response to the coronavirus pandemic, bringing Brazil to second place in COVID-19 deaths out of all nations, has soured the Brazilian public to Bolsonaro.

Now facing a situation similar to Trump’s during the 2020 elections, Bolsonaro has been employing some of the former U.S. president’s same strategies to hold onto power. However, where Trump failed, some fear there is a greater chance for Bolsonaro to succeed.

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #jair bolsonaro #democracy #brazilian elections #brazilian elections 2022 #mod nise da silveira

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natoshajacobs · 4 years ago

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Reasons Why Peoples of US Voting for Trump

Here are some reasons why US peoples are voting for President Trump:

Trump did all of this while fighting flagrant abuse and impeachment charges.

“1. Trump recently signed three bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

2. Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.

3. Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.

4. Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the two years before he was elected.

5. Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.

6. Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.

7. Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.

8. Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.

9. Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.

10. Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding moms.

11. The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country’s highest-paid workers.

12. Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.

13. Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.

14. Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.

15. He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.

16. Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies. When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.

17. Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.

18. In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.

19. He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.

20. VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.

21. Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.

22. Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, in 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.

23. Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.

24. Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.

25. All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.

26. Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price.

27. President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.

28. In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society. The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.

29. The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.

30. Over 90% of those benefiting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.

31. The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.

32. Trump increased funding for historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.

33. Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.

34. New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.

35. Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

36. Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.

37. The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.

38. Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.

39. President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

40. Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.

41. (Prior to the unexpected coronavirus pandemic] Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all time high.

42. (Prior to the unexpected coronavirus pandemic] More than 7 million jobs created since election.

43. [Prior to the unexpected coronavirus pandemic] More Americans were employed than ever recorded before in our history.

44. More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.

45. Trump appointed five openly gay ambassadors.

46. Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

47. Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.

48. In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.

49. Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.

50. Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.

51. Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.

52. The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.

53. Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims — serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.

54. The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.

55. President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.

56. The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.

57. The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.

58. Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.

59. ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.

60. Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.

61. Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

62. Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.

63. Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.

64. President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.

65. Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.

66. Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.

67. Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.

68. Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.

69. Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.

70. Okay’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.

71. Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.

72. Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.

73. Trump secured billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.

74. The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.

75. Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.

76. President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.

77. 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.

78. Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.

79. Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.

80. Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.

81. Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.

82. Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.

83. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] manufacturing jobs were growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.

84. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] the stock market reached record highs.

85. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] Median household income hit highest level ever recorded.

86. ( Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] African-American unemployment is at an all time low.

87. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all time low.

88. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] Asian-American unemployment is at an all time low.

89. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] women’s unemployment rate was at a 65-year low.

90. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.

91. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] We had the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.

92. The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.

93. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future — the highest ever.

94. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.

95. Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.

96. Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.

97. Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.

98. Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs — saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.

99. Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.

100. Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.

101. Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, 97.Expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.

102. U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.

103. The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.

104. NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.

105. Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.

106. . Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.

107. . Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.

108. Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

109. Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.

110. Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.

111. Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.

112. Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.

113. Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.

114. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it. It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.

115. In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.

116. The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20–35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.

117. In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.

118. In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.

119. Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s the law, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.

120. [Prior to the coronavirus pandemic] US stock market continually hit all-time record highs.

Please explain to me why anyone would have a problem with OUR president? Because he has misspoke a few times? Tell me when you find a perfect person, please….I’ll wait!

The media has painted him in a negative light and has under-reported or ignored his accomplishments. He is the best president we ever had.

If you are a true TRUMP supporter then you can get this GOLD AND SILVER PLATED PRESIDENT TRUMP 2020 COIN FREE : CLICK HERE

#donald trump #united states #vote2020 #etectionofamerica2020 #america #supportersoftrump #votefortrump

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imagitory · 5 years ago

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*exhales heavily*

Okay...I don’t usually go off the deep end in political essays that often. If it’s a quick thing like “f**k Neo-Nazis,” then sure, fine, that’s easy. I don’t have to explain why Neo-Nazis -- especially the cowardly ones that try to label themselves as the “alt-right” in a vain attempt to seem more acceptable to modern society -- can go screw themselves. Everyone already knows they’re awful -- or at least, everyone should already know they’re awful. If you’re the sort of person that wants to try to “teach” me about how the alt-right are not Neo-Nazis, then this post isn’t for you, so kindly don’t interact and keep scrolling.

This post is instead for my Democratic followers, whether you support Bernie, Biden, Warren, whatever. Please feel free to skip over it, though, my dear followers -- I know this whole political season has been very draining, and I have a lot more positive posts on my blog that you can consult instead. If you do want to read my thoughts, though, here’s a cut.

Hi, guys. How’s it going? We really dodged a bullet with Bloomberg dropping out of the race, didn’t we? At least now no one should be able to say Democrats and Republicans are alike, right? The Democrats kicked their racist, sexist, obnoxious, out-of-touch billionaire accused of multiple sexual assaults to the curb, while the Republicans made theirs president.

On that note, though...we still have the Republican version of Michael Bloomberg -- the one and only Donald Trump -- in office. We all remember how he got there...Hillary won the popular vote, but thanks to the ridiculously outdated electoral college rules and Russian interference, the electoral votes went Trump’s way. We could conjure up multiple reasons for Hillary’s loss, but at least in my opinion, I would say we learned a few lessons from the 2016 election that I think we should keep in mind. (Alongside making sure Russians butt the hell out of our elections and fact-checking all the rampant misinformation from our media outlets.)

1) We Democrats have more things in common than we might think, sometimes.

Clinton was infinitely closer to Bernie, politics-wise, than Bernie was to Trump or Gary Johnson. Yet there were those who were so upset about Hillary’s nomination and the role Democratic Party officials had in coaxing delegates to support her that they protest-voted against Hillary, even if that vote wasn’t in their best interest. We don’t have a system that lets us rank who we want for office from most to least, so sometimes we have to accept a bird in the hand rather than reach for two in the bush. You might feel good about voting your conscience in the short term, but you probably won’t when it results in your vote being a drop in the bucket that doesn’t prevent someone like Donald Trump from winning. We’ve already seen this happen not just in the Trump-Clinton election of 2016, but in the Bush-Gore election of 2000.

2) Despite that first point, if we want unity, our Democratic candidate must be aware of how diverse our party is.

Even if we do end up having to settle for a less liberal candidate in order to win an election, that candidate MUST acknowledge that we are not like the Republican Party. We will not march lock-step with people we don’t agree with just because they’re in our party or we agree with some things, and we will certainly not be satisfied with simple pacifism. The Republican Party has been tilting farther and farther to the right over the last three decades, to the point that their policies now involve mass internment of Mexican immigrants and family separation, directly paralleling plans carried out by the THIRD EFFIN’ REICH. We cannot keep begging for civility and peace and trying to reach a compromise -- you cannot compromise with this kind of extremism without sacrificing all of your principles, because those kinds of people do not make concessions.

I remain convinced even after four years that Hillary should’ve chosen Bernie to be her running mate -- if she had, the rift between the centrist and more liberal branches of the Democratic Party might have been healed enough that we could’ve looked at our ticket with excitement and hope, as we had for Obama and Biden back in 2008. Instead Hillary chose Tim Kaine, an inoffensive centrist Democrat who added absolutely nothing to her presidential bid. He couldn’t even help Hillary out by boosting the campaign with youthful energy or natural charm -- Bernie would’ve both boosted morale among younger and/or more liberal voters and lit a fire under those who were anxious about what a Trump presidency could lead to. The same could’ve been true if Bernie had been chosen to be president -- if he’d chosen Hillary, she could’ve better appealed to moderate voters intimidated by the thought of voting for a Democratic Socialist and run on her international experience as Secretary of State.

3) In order to make any difference at all, we must vote, and we must win.

I’m the first person to acknowledge that I hate voting against my convictions. If the Democrats had chosen Michael Bloomberg, I would’ve probably been ready for whole-scale revolution, right then and there. But let’s be frank here -- in 2016, we got complacent. We assumed that Trump would lose. We assumed that America wouldn’t choose racism, or Islamaphobia, or sexism, or Nazism. BUT WE DID. In the end, our country -- like many other countries before us were -- is more afraid of the promise of social change than we are of the threat of fascism. Yes, I called Trump’s vision of the country fascism, and I stand by it. Fascism is defined as far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial authority, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy and often supplemented with government-sanctioned racism -- and yeah, given that Trump clearly wants to do whatever he wants whenever he wants without facing any consequences for his actions, persecute any so-called “enemies,” make money for himself while in office (even using his office and political power to achieve that end), and scapegoat minorities, I think my point is made. And so I will state it again -- America is more afraid of the future and the progress that could come with it than it is of the cruelty, bigotry, and tyranny of our past. It’s an absolute tragedy, but it’s true. Americans were absolutely terrified of Obamacare until it actually became law and people saw how cool it was, not to be booted off your care for preexisting conditions and stuff. Once that happened, Americans were ready to bite off the hand of any Republican who made any move toward repealing it. If it’s something we’ve never done before, it’s beaten back like the plague, but once it’s something we’ve become accustomed to, you can tear it from our cold, dead hands.

In the 1930′s, Germany had a choice between three political parties -- the Communists, the Democratic Socialists, and the Nazis -- and in the end, the reason the Nazis got power was because the Communists and the Socialists could not band together to stop that greater threat. The Nazis were able to paint a pretty picture to the German people of returning their country to its supposedly long lost, mythic greatness, and they won power, even if they were still not the majority when Hitler got into office. And as soon as the Nazis got power, they never let it go and went out of their way to destroy both Communists and Socialists, just like they did with Jewish people, the Romani, and the rest. We are at such a crossroads now. I am deathly afraid that the Republicans will try to find some way to keep power even if Trump were to lose, but we cannot let that happen. We must stand together, strong and united.

The more liberal of us must acknowledge that radical change cannot be put into place quickly. Our system is broken and falling apart thanks to the Republicans’ on-going sabotage, and we cannot hope to remodel our house until our foundation is secure. Even the Republicans were not able to destroy our country in so many ways these last four years without dismantling a lot of other things first -- corrupting our elections with money thanks to the Citizens United ruling -- sparking two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that drained us of money and added to the backlog of veterans that have yet to receive their deserved financial support -- intimidating political officials away from substantive gun control legislation -- chipping away at abortion rights nation-wide -- stacking the courts, both local and Supreme, with unqualified, strongly right-leaning candidates -- gerrymandering districts like crazy so as to split Democratic-leaning areas and puff up Republican-leaning ones -- even spreading misinformation through shows on their own private so-called “News” network. It will take time to repair all of the damage the Republicans have wrought, but we must first win if we are even to have the chance to try.

On the flip side, the more centrist of us must acknowledge that we cannot go back to the way we were because the way we were was WRONG. We might have nostalgic visions of it being more civil and peaceful, but the tremors of war were still rippling under our feet. The Neo-Nazi rats that elected Trump were gathering under us, and we let them. We let them gain enough confidence to come out into the light in large numbers and we stood by, assuming that they wouldn’t succeed in their goals. We ignored the rampant spread of anti-immigrant rhetoric and Islamaphobia -- we downplayed the racism, the homophobia, and the sexism. Sometimes it was due to arrogance, and sometimes it was due to flat-out indifference, because those things didn’t directly affect us. We should know by now that that rosy view of our past was not how things were -- just as many of our Founding Fathers were still slave owners, and America interned our own citizens in camps during World War II, and the supposedly great Ronald Reagan turned a blind eye while thousands of Americans died of AIDS, our country saw the signs of racism, xenophobia, and ultranationalism coming out in full again and didn’t fight back. And now that racist, xenophobic ultranationalism is in control of the Oval Office. If we have any chance of stopping them, we can’t simply go backwards -- we must charge ahead. We can’t simply pretend like everything can go back to normal -- we must accept responsibility for what we’ve done and pursue justice in making things right. We must fight back against these far-right, tyrannical policies and we must pay restitution to those our country has hurt. I do not want the Mexican families we have destroyed to be treated the way our Japanese American brethren were after they were released from the internment camps in the 40′s -- dismissed and forgotten, with our flag figuratively slapping them in the face every time some stupid guy crowed his head off about America being the greatest country on earth. I may have hated Trump’s immigration policy -- I might not have voted for him -- but he still represents my country, and therefore me, to the rest of the world, and even if he’ll never apologize for a single damn thing that he’s done, I want my country to make things right.

Maybe once a Democrat -- even if it’s a centrist like Biden -- is in the White House again, we’ll have the chance for real change -- good change. We certainly won’t get it as long as we’re stuck on the outside looking in.

Now of course, even when this whole presidential thing is done, we can’t rest on our laurels. We must get out in force for local elections too -- we must take back the Senate and keep control of the House. We must pressure our lawmakers to get the money out of politics, and fix gerrymandering, and restore environmental protections, and hold corporations accountable, and tax the rich, and abolish the Electoral College, and put term limits on Congresspeople, and impeach Brett Kavanaugh, and fund dismantling the backlog on VA benefits, and cancel student loan debt, and implement universal health care, and pass gun control legislation, and do all the other things we need done.

I really hope that whichever candidate we end up with -- whether it’s Biden (*sighs begrudgingly*), Bernie (*smiles*), or Warren (*wiggles in glee*) -- that candidate will strongly consider choosing a Vice President who is either more centrist (if they’re more liberal) or more liberal (if they’re more centrist) and filling their Cabinet with those other ex-presidential hopefuls who still have something to offer. Kamala Harris was Attorney General of California -- why not have her become Attorney General of the United States next? How about Tom Steyer as Head of the EPA, or Cory Booker as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development?

Here’s the thing about us being more diverse in thought than the Republicans -- it means we have a great swath of very different members with very different skill sets, as well as the ability to learn, critique, rationalize, change, and improve. And if we are to defeat an institution like Trump’s that demands lock-step, mindless obedience and praise, it seems to me that’s something we should use to our advantage.

#excuse me politics coming through #personal #hopefully I won't get too many of my followers upset with this #feel free to ignore this if you're not in the mood for politics I get it #democrats #republicans #i just republiCAN’T #donald trump #joe biden #elizabeth warren #bernie sanders #opinion #oh boy here i go

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