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phynali · 4 years ago

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Canonization and Fandom Purity Culture

I wrote a 1k-word twitter thread (as proof that I am Not made for Twitter and it’s goddamn 240-character limit) and am pasting it here with edits and updates (it’s now 2k words).

I have thoughts to share (which I know have been stated more eloquently before by others) about this trend of demanding/obsessing that certain ships become "canon" and how it overlaps with the rise of fandom purity culture.

Under the cut.

Here in 2021 there is a seemingly large and certainly loud and active contingent of online fandoms who desire (or even demand) "canon validation" for a given interpretation of a source material. This is more true with shipping than anywhere else.

First, it is important to note that the trend is not limited to queer ships or to any single fandom. In the past few years I've seen it for Riverdale, Voltron, Supernatural (perhaps most extreme?), The 100, etc., and less recent with the MCU, Sherlock, Teen Wolf, Hawaii 5-0, etc. It is a broad trend across ships, fandoms, and mediums.

So if it is more common for queer ships, it is hardly unique to them. Similarly, pretending that it is about queer representation is a clever misdirect to disguise the fact that it is most often about ships and shipping wars. If you ever need proof of that, consider that a character can be queer without being in a given relationship or reciprocating another character's affections. Thus a call for more/better queer rep itself is very different than a call for specific ships to be made canon.

Also note that when audiences frame it as wanting to recognize a specific *character* as queer, it is almost always in the context of a ship. Litmus test: would making that character queer but having them *explicitly reject* the other half of the ship be seen as a betrayal?

(Note: none or this is to say we shouldn't push for more queer rep and more *quality and well-written* queer rep! Just that that isn't what I'm talking about here, and not what seeking canon validation for a specific interpretation or a specific ship is almost ever about.)

Why does this matter?

the language of representation and social justice should not be co-opted to prop up ship wars

it is reciprocal with a trend toward increasing toxicity in transformative fandom spaces

Number 1 here is self-explanatory (I hope). Let's chat about 2.

Demands for canon validation correlate with a rise in fanpol / fandom purity culture. What is fandom purity culture (and fandom policing)? This toxic mentality is about justifying one's shipping preferences and aiming to be pure (non-problematic) in your fictional appetites regarding romance and sex.

Note that this purity culture is so named as it arises linearly from American Protestantism, conservative puritanical anxiety around thought crimes, and overlaps in many ways with terf ideologies and regressively anti-kink paradigms.

It goes like this: problematic content is "gross" and therefore morally reprehensible. Much like how queer sex/relationships get labelled as "gross" (Other) and thus morally sinful, or how kink gets labelled as "harmful" and thus morally wrong. The Problematic label is applied by fanpol to ships with offset age or power dynamics, complicated histories, and anything they choose to label as "harmful". As such, they would decry my comparison here to queerphobia itself as also being harmful, because their (completely fictional) targets are ~actually~ evil.

(The irony of this is completely lost on them).

This mode of interacting with creative works leaves no room to explore dark or erotic themes or dynamics which may exist in fiction but not healthily in reality. Gothic romance is verboten. Even breathe the word incest and you will be labelled a monster (nevermind Greek tragedy or GoT).

As with most puritanical bullshit, fanpol ideology only applies these beliefs to sex and never to violence/murder/etc, proving what lies at its core. It also demands its American-based values be applied to all fictional periods and places as the One True Moral Standard. It evangelizes – look no further than how these people try to recruit others to their cause, aim to elevate themselves as righteous, and try to persuade (‘save’) others from their degenerate ways of thinking.

“See the light” they promise “here are our callouts and blog posts to convince you. Decry your past sins of problematic shipping, be baptized by our in-group adulation and welcome, and then go forth and send hate to others until they too see the light.” In many ways “get therapy” by the antis is akin to “I’ll pray for you” by the Christian-right (and ultimately ironic).

(Although it has been pointed out to me that these fans are likely not themselves specifically ex-evangelicals, but rather those who have brushed up with evangelical norms and modes of thinking without specifically being victims of it. In many ways they are more simply conservative Christian in temperament and attitude without necessarily being raised into religion by belief).

What this has to do with canon validation is that these fans look to canon for approval, for Truth. On the one hand, if it is in the canon then it must be good / pure or at least acceptable. The authority (canon) has deemed it thus. It is safe and acceptable to discuss and to enjoy watching or consuming. In this way, validation from canon means a measure of safety from being Bad and Problematic.

For example, where a GoT fan could discuss Cersei/Jaime's (toxic, interesting) dynamic in depth as it related to the canon, fans who shipped Jon/Sansa (healthy, interesting) were Gross and Bad. The canon as Truth provided a safety net, a launch point. "It's GRRM, not me, who is problematic." It wasn’t okay to ship the problematic bad gross incest ship, but it being in the canon material meant it was open for discussion, for nuance, for “this adds an interesting layer to the story” which is denied to all non-canon ships labelled as problematic.

(Note: there are of course people who have zero interest in watching GoT for a whole slew of very valid reasons, including but not limited to the incest. That’s a different to this trend. A less charged example might be The Umbrella Academy, where a brother canonically is in love with his sister and antis still praise the show, but if you dare to ship any of the potential incest ships then you are the one who is disgusting).

On the other hand, a very interesting alternate (or additional) explanation for this phenomenon was raised to me on twitter. (These ideas aren’t mine originally, but I wholly endorse them as a big part of what is likely going on): Namely, as with authoritarian individuals in general, they see themselves as right and correct, but the canon (which has not yet validated their ship) is not correct, and is in fact problematic, and so they can save the canon from itself.

As mentioned, these fanpol types see their interpretation as Good and Pure. So if they can push (demand, bully) the canon into conforming to their worldview and validating their interpretation, then they have shown the (sinful) creators the light and led them to the righteous path. This only works if the canon allows itself to saved though, otherwise the creators remain Evil for spurning them.

How is this different from fans simply hoping for their ship to be canon?

For a second here, let’s rewind to the 90s (since Whedon has been in the news recently). This “I want it to be canon” thing isn’t 100% new, of course. We saw this trend then for the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it was different then. At the time, fans who hoped for a ship to be canon might have been cheering for a problematic one to begin with (Buffy/Spike). So shipping was still present, minus vocal fanpol.

(And Buffy fans learned that canon validation...can leave a lot to be desired. A heavy lesson was learned about the ways that fan desires can play out horrifically in canon, and how some things are best left out of the hands of canon-writers).

These days, this is still largely true. Many fans hope for their ships to go canon, as they always have. There are tropes like “will they/won’t they” that TV shows may even be designed around, which a certain narrative anticipation and a very deliberate build up to that.

But while shipping *hopes* occur for many fans, almost all ships fans that *demand* to go canon and obsess over are now the ones deemed as Unproblematic, or as Less Problematic. I’m talking here about the ships that aren’t necessarily an explicit will/won’t they dynamic but do have some canon dynamic that leads them to being shipped, but which the creators aren’t necessarily deliberately teasing and building up a romantic end-game for.

These ships often have fans who are happy to stick to fandom, but there has also been a huge uptick in the portion of fans who are approaching shipping with an explicit lens of “will they go canon?” and “don’t you want them to be canon?” and now even “they have to go canon” and “the canon is wrong if they don’t make this ship canon”, to a final end-point of “if the ship doesn’t go canon, the source material is Wrong and Bad.”

These latter opinions are the one we see more by extreme fans (‘stans’), hardcore shippers, but especially by fanpol-types, the ones who embrace fandom purity culture at least to some extent.

Why them?

In pushing for canon validation, fanpol types seek to elevate their (pure) interpretation of canon. As mentioned above, it’s validation of their authority, a safety-net, and a way to save the canon from itself if only they can bully the canon into validating their right and good interpretation.

There’s also another reason, which is that canon validation is a tool to bludgeon those seen as problematic. They can use it to denounce other (problematic) ships as Not Being Canon and therefore highlight their own as Right and Good, because it is represented in the True Meaning of the Work.

Canon validation then is a cudgel sought by virtuous crusaders to wield against their unclean enemies. It is an ideological pursuit. It is organised around identity and in groups sometimes as insular as cults.

How does this happen?

Fanpol tend to be younger or more vulnerable fans, susceptible to authoritarian manipulators. As many have highlighted before, authoritarian groups and exclusionary ideologies like terfs are very good at using websites like tumblr to mobilize others around their organizing beliefs. Fanpol tend to feel legitimate discomfort, but instead of taking responsibility for their media engagement, ringleaders stoke and help them direct their discomfort as anger onto others; “I feel ashamed and uncomfortable, and therefore you should be held accountable for my emotions.” Authoritarian communities endorse social dominance orientations, deference to ringleaders, and obedient faith to the principles those ringleaders endorse.

As these fans attach more and more of their identity to a given media (or ship), and derive more and more validation and more of their belongingness needs from this fanpol community, they also become more and more anxious about being excluding from this group. This is because such communities have rigid rules and very conditional bases for social acceptance. Question or "betray" the organizing ideology and be punished or excommunicated. If that is all you have, you are left with nothing. Being labelled problematic then is a social death.

What this means is that these fans cannot accept all interpretations of a media as equally valid: to do so Betrays the ideology. It promises exclusion. And, in line with a perspective around ‘saving’ canon and leading others into the light – forcing and bending the canon to their will is what will make it Good (and therefore acceptable to enjoy, and therefore proof of them as righteous by having saved others). As was also pointed out to me on twitter, endorsement from canon or its creators also satiates that deep need they have for authority figures to approve of them.

Due to all of this, these fans come to obsess over canon validation of their own interpretation. In a way, they have no other option but to do so. They need this validation -- as their weapon, as their authority, as their safety net, as their approval, as their evangelical mission of saviorship.

Canon validation is proof: I am Good. I am Right(eous). I am Safe.

(In many ways, I do ache for some of these people, so wrapped up in toxic communities and mindsets and so afraid to step out of line for fear of swift retribution, policing their own thoughts and art against the encroaching possibility that anything be less than pure. It’s not healthy, it’s never going to be healthy.)

In the end, people are going to write their own stories. You are well within your rights to critique those stories, to hate them, to interpret them how you will, but you can never control their story (it's theirs).

Some final notes:

This trend may be partially to do with queer ships now being *able* to go canon where before so no such expectation would exist. Similarly, social media has made this easier to vocalize. Still, who makes these demands and the underlying reasons are telling. There are also many legitimate critiques of censorship, queerbaiting (nebulous discussions to be had here), and homophobia in media to be had, and which may front specific ships in their critique. But critique is distinct from asking that canon validate one's own interpretation.

#fandom purity culture #antis #discourse

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megakawaiistudentfest · 4 years ago

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What is your opinion on "cancel culture"?

Sorry, this got really really really long.

This is a complicated subject, in part because American conservatives have started throwing around accusations of “cancel culture” for ordinary free market activity and in part because “cancel culture” is a new name for a very old thing that goes back at least to Biblical times, and probably as far back as humans had language.

First, what cancel culture is not. Cancel culture is not someone choosing not to buy a product because they don’t like the things the product’s makers are doing.

If a fast food chain gives money to a gay conversion therapy group, and I decide not to eat there because I don’t want my money going to anti-gay organizations, that’s not cancel culture.

If a heavy metal band puts a picture of the devil on their album cover, and Joe decides that as an evangelical Christian he doesn’t want to buy albums with pictures of devils on the covers, that’s not cancel culture.

Both those things are examples of the ordinary action of free markets. In a free market economy, consumers make choices about which products to buy. They make those choices based on values important to them. They weigh the value of the money they have against the value of the product and make their decision.

The value of the product can and does include intangible things like emotion. It always has. Modern conservatives who blather about “cancel culture” when someone chooses not to shop at Hobby Lobby because they use their “Christian values” to deny health benefits to employees are low-grade morons. Liberals who blather about “cancel culture” when a right-wing Evangelical won’t shop at Starbucks because they use the ‘wrong’ color Christmas coffee cup are low-grade morons.

And anyone who thinks “cancel culture” is a liberal invention or a conservative invention is especially dim.

So what is cancel culture?

Cancel culture is, at least hypothetically, the idea that people should be shunned for ideas or actions that others find disagreeable.

I say “hypothetically” because in reality that’s not the way it usually plays out. In reality, that idea becomes co-opted into in-group and out-group dynamics, and specifically into using ostracism as a loud public display of in-group values.

What’s the difference between that and boycotting Starbucks or Hobby Lobby?

Cancel culture extends beyond making economic choices. It often extends, for example, to disavowing people in their personal lives, shutting them down in social activities, and (this is a very important component) going after those who support the canceled person or thing, or are insufficiently critical of the canceled person or thing.

The greatest example of cancel culture in American history is without doubt the McCarthyist Red Scare.

Suspected “communists” lost their jobs. They were unable to find new jobs. They were excluded from social events. They were attacked in their personal lives. Their wives, husbands, and children were attacked. Anyone who said “no, I don’t think so-and-so is a Communist” lost their jobs and their wives and children were attacked. People caught up in Communist sweeps sometimes had to leave the country.

Cancel culture frequently plays out within in-groups, not between groups. Cancel culture usually involves a person being canceled from within their own in-group by their own peers, not canceled by someone from a different group.

When the Dixie Chicks were canceled for criticizing the invasion of Iraq, they were canceled by people like them: southern conservatives.

People tend to be canceled for perceived violations of the group they belong to. Part of why cancel culture can appear so vicious is that the people doing the canceling are coming from a place of rage and betrayal. Emotionally, they believe, “I thought you were one of us, but you turned out to be The Enemy.” They feel personally harmed by the person or thing being canceled, even if they have never met or interacted with that person or thing. Cancel culture rests on a foundation of parasociality and in-group dynamics.

Cancel culture is a coordinated attempt to enforce values and norms. When a person or thing is canceled, perceived supporters of the person or thing are also attacked, sometimes even more viciously than the original person or thing. Anyone who is not sufficiently zealous about condemning the canceled person or thing becomes The Enemy.

Cancel culture extends beyond “I won’t support this person” to “I will make sure nobody supports this person.” People who wish to cancel a person or thing don’t simply vote with their own dollars, they try to vote with everyone else’s too.

They may, for example, attack venues that host the canceled person or thing. When the Dixie Chicks were canceled, listeners threatened radio DJs who played their music (and one radio station suspended two DJs for playing them). Radio stations received phone calls night and day telling them to ban Dixie Chicks.

Owners of venues that hosted Dixie Chicks concerts received death threats. Venues had to install metal detectors ahead of Dixie Chicks shows.

Cancel culture is selective outrage. It tends to be triggered not by bad or immoral behavior, but specifically by bad or immoral behavior that makes the people doing the canceling feel personally betrayed.

When the Dixie Chicks were canceled, radio stations continued to play Tracy Lawrence, even though he was convicted of beating his wife.

Spouse abuse is an accepted, or at least widely tolerated, behavior among American conservatives. Condemning the Iraq invasion felt like a personal betrayal of American conservatives’ pro-military, pro-war-on-terror values.

Cancel culture involves bandwagoning. People who participate in cancel culture generally do so because they see others doing so. It is an easy, low-cost way to virtue signal without risk. It does not require courage to go along with the crowd.

I will cop to doing this myself. When Amber Heard made her accusations against Johnny Depp, I jumped on the bandwagon, right here on Quora. It was an easy, zero-cost way for me to virtue-signal. (I have written about that here.)

The thing about bandwagoning is that not only does it offer a way to virtue-signal with no risk and require no courage, people don’t want to fact-check.

When you hear so-and-so has done Something Awful, engaging with the accusation and finding out if it’s true takes time, energy, and emotional resources. Not only that, people who do that work can end up in the crosshairs themselves. Even saying “hey, wait a minute” can make you a target of rage.

Canceling is about moral purity. It becomes an in-group/out-group signifier. “Are you one of US? Or are you with The Enemy?” That’s why the reactions—sending death threats to station managers of radio stations that play the Dixie Chicks, Winona Ryder saying she expected death threats for testifying in court Johnny Depp never abused her—seem so outrageously over the top.

In-group/out-group signifiers provoke strong reactions, even violence, because they feel like existential threats. When a person you believed was part of your in-group becomes part of your out-group, any support for the canceled person is a threat to group cohesion and identity. Because human beings are a social species, that can be perceived as an existential threat.

That’s why it’s not about not eating at Chick-Fil-A. It’s about doing everything in your power to extinguish the person or thing being canceled, and extinguish anyone who supports, directly or indirectly, the person or thing being canceled.

If you don’t buy the new Dixie Chicks albums, that’s free market economics.

If you don’t go to the new Johnny Depp movie, that’s free market economics.

If you stalk, harass, and threaten the manager of the radio station that plays Dixie Chicks, if you threaten to firebomb the concert hall that hosts a Dixie Chicks concert, if you say you’re going to buy a gun to shoot Johnny Depp, if you threaten to kill Johnny Depp’s ex because she says in public he always treated her well, that’s not free market economics. That’s something else, on a whole different level.

What do I think of this?

I think this is part of human nature. I think it has always been part of human nature and always will be a part of human nature as long as we are recognizably human.

I think I’ve participated in it. I look back on the ways I’ve participated in it and I’m ashamed of myself.

I am far less likely now than I was even two years ago to engage in bandwagoning and virtue signaling at someone else’s expense, especially when it seems easy and costs me nothing, and I don’t have all the facts. That doesn’t excuse the fact that I’ve done it.

I think there are a lot of parts of human nature that served us well when we lived in tribes of 50 people and were just figuring out how to use sharpened sticks that don’t serve us well now, and part of trying to be a decent human being is guarding against those things. It’s hard, because they feel natural. They feel virtuous.

I feel like anyone who thinks this is a “liberal thing” or a “conservative thing” is disingenuous. This is a human thing.

And finally, I think I will likely get pushback from both liberals and conservatives for saying this.

#cancel culture #liberals #conservatives #virtue signaling #bandwagon #bandwagoning #in-group out-group dynamics #ostracism #quora #Franklin Veaux

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patriotsnet · 4 years ago

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Can Republicans Vote In Iowa Caucus

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/can-republicans-vote-in-iowa-caucus/

Can Republicans Vote In Iowa Caucus

Former Massachusetts Governor Takes Narrow Victory In First Republican Party Vote To Determine Who Will Challenge Barack Obama In November

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney hugs his wife Ann at his Iowa Caucus night rally in Des Moines.

Omar karmi

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA // Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney may have won the inaugural contest to determine who will be Barack Obama’s main challenger in this year’s US presidential elections.

Iowa vote

Obama campaign warns of ‘extremist’ Republicans. Read article

But his victory in the Iowa caucuses by the narrowest of margins – eight votes out of 122,255 ballots cast – shows that his Republican Party is anything but certain about what kind of candidate it wants to challenge Mr Obama in November.

Mr Romney may consider himself to have the advantage, and the millionaire businessman will certainly try to paint himself as the only candidate with broad enough appeal to mount a serious challenge to Mr Obama.

Nevertheless, his hair-breadth’s victory mirrors a party that is hardly united in passion behind him. His appeal appears to lie in the cold-blooded perception that the economy would be safe in his hands were he president.

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, who took a surprising second place in Iowa, will continue to appeal to America’s religious conservative voters as the campaigns move to other states. His focus on family values helped him in Iowa where the evangelical Christian vote is a significant bloc.

“In many ways, Iowa is about who has to quit,” Mr Muller said.

[email protected]

The Iowa Caucuses Are Separated Out For Democrats And Republicans And They Each Do Things Pretty Differently

The process of “caucusing” on both sides takes roughly an hour or so in the evening.

For the Republicans, the process is generally considered to be simpler. Those in the caucus meetings are called activists, and they gather in groups to make their campaign. This is all in preparation for the final pitch. It can be pretty informal at times with candidates’ names written on pieces of paper, or some opting for a more formal . The votes are counted by chosen representatives and then sent along to Iowa’s GOP headquarters where the final numbers are kept.

For the Democrats, it’s not that simple.

First of all, there are no secret ballots for the Democrats and those attending Iowa caucus gatherings will be asked to physically move to a section of the room devoted to their candidate.

Some end up in uncommitted groups if they can’t make a decision. At this point, groups must have at least 15% of the people that came to that caucus location in their group to remain in the running. This is called being “viable.”

If a group isn’t considered viable at that point, attendees can either move to a group that is or try to convince others to join them. Once all the low-performing candidates have been weeded out and each group accounts for at least 15% of the room, delegates are awarded. The more support a candidate has during a caucus, the more delegates they are allocated.

The Iowa Caucuses Are On: Republicans Say Early Political Trips Reinforce Plans For 2024 Caucus

USA TODAY

Bloomberg

Mike Pompeo rattled off a list of his accomplishments as Secretary of State under former President Donald Trump, touted his Midwest roots and took nearly an hour of questions from a roomful of eager Iowa Republicans.

“We put America first, and we got it right,” he told the group of about 100 people who sipped coffee and finished plates of eggs and toast at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale Friday.

It was part of Pompeo’s two-day swing through Iowa to help support the party in a state where Republicans nearly swept the board in the last election cycle and no major candidates have yet announced their intentions for the next one.

In the lead-up to the 2020 election, all eyes are on Iowa. Get updates of all things Iowa politics delivered to your inbox.

The subtext of his visit, however, is not 2022 but 2024.

Pompeo has hinted at a possible run for president, and his early forays into Iowa are yet another data point signaling the Republican presidential shadow primary has already begun.

“I see a lot of cameras in the back. I think there’s going to be some big announcement,” Pompeo joked, alluding to as much. “We’re in Iowa and all.”

Two other potential contenders — GOP Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina — have also announced trips to Iowa next month. Others, like former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, visited the state to help Republicans campaign late last year.

Iowa Democrats Want To Be Fair To Candidates But Also Have A Clear Winner The Result Is A Mess

The funny or perhaps maddening aspect to all this is that the Iowa caucus results barely matter to the true way Democrats choose their nominee: national convention delegates.

This year, Iowa has 41 of those pledged delegates — about 1 percent of the national total. And since they’re allotted proportionally based on the above results, it’s tough for any candidate to rack up a big lead there.

But the caucuses’ big impact on the race has little to do with delegates anyway. It’s all about the perceptions of the political world. The media, party insiders, donors, activists, the candidates themselves, and even voters elsewhere look at what can be relatively small differences in Iowa results — and come to conclusions about which candidates have “won” or “lost.”

You’ll notice that in our hypothetical precinct results, though, we got three different results for who “won”:

For the pre-realignment total, Sanders had the most votes.

For the final vote total, Biden had the most.

For state delegate equivalents, Sanders and Biden were tied.

Of course, the result didn’t change that much; Biden and Sanders were the top two candidates and are close to each other in all three metrics. But the state delegate equivalent formula means that discrepancies from the vote total may — will — be introduced in each those 1,600-plus precincts. If one candidate ends up being systematically disadvantaged by these discrepancies, a different metric could mean a different “winner.”

Dc Dispatch: Biden Signs Rural Mental Health Bill Republicans Vote Against Jan 6 Commission

The U.S. Capitol.

Ahead of the July 4th holiday, members of Iowa’s congressional delegation led the passage of a veteran’s mental health bill, visited Iowa in a glimpse of what the 2024 caucus cycle might look like and voted on whether to create a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Here’s what you missed in D.C. this week:

Biden signs rural mental health bill named for Iowa veteran

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a bill to establish new mental health programs for rural veterans. Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democrat, was the bill’s sponsor. Reps. Ashley Hinson, Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, all Republicans, joined her as co-sponsors on the legislation.

The bill is named for Sergeant Brandon Ketchum, an Iowa native and Army veteran who died by suicide in 2016. Ketchum was turned away by the Iowa City Veterans Administration Medical Center when he sought in-patient care.

“Brandon asked for help but was turned away because of a lack of resources,” Axne said in a May speech on the House floor. “We must make sure — in his memory and for the sake of others still serving — that when our soldiers return home, they can get the treatment they need.”

House votes to create select committee on Jan. 6 insurrection

Iowa’s senators attend GOP event in Sioux Center

Grassley also spoke in favor of the 60-vote filibuster rule in the Senate. He argued that the filibuster is the only way to ensure bipartisanship in Washington.

House passes INVEST in America Act

Iowa Caucuses Explained: What They Are Why They Don’t Really Matter And Why We Care Anyway

After months of media hype and TV debates and the ups-and-downs of polling, the long political warmup is over. The race for the presidency will finally get under way Feb. 1 when real voters make real choices in Iowa, the first state on the complicated U.S. election calendar. The Iowa caucuses are quirky, different for each party, and attract international attention. Adrian Morrow and Paul Koring explain what’s going on

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign event in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

JIM YOUNG/REUTERS

The Iowa Caucuses Are More About Gaining Momentum In The Race Than Predicting A Nominee

Did you know that every president since Jimmy Carter has been in the top three at the Iowa caucuses? Yes, it’s true. Well, save for when Tom Harkin of Iowa ran back in 1992. But, this is all to guide you to my point, that the Iowa caucuses are more of a mechanism to sort of speed the race up. It’s a way to gain momentum, rather than a solid predictor of who is going to be the nominee for each party, and go on to win the presidency.

Gop Anger At Barack Obama Washington Hillary Clinton Dc Republicans The Establishment

Iowa’s record-setting Democratic turnout in 2008 has been attributed in part to an unpopular president and a party’s frustration at being locked out of the White House for eight years.

Republican George W. Bush’s job approval was just 34 percent at the end of his term. A GOP groundswell is possible now that the tables are turned, and a Democrat with 44 percent approval occupies the White House.

Except for George H. W. Bush, no party has kept the White House three terms in a row since World War I, Goldford noted. Republicans believe that the “two-terms-and-you’re-out dynamic” points to a GOP victory in the general election, he said.

WHERE IN IOWA?: Track presidential campaign visits across the state

Curl: President Trump First Ever To Win Republican And Democratic Caucuses In Iowa

A perfect storm had rolled in just in time for the state’s first-in-the-nation vote on the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. A newly, apparently untested app meant to ease communication among precinct chiefs during the caucuses failed completely, with the app designers blaming “coding issues.” A failsafe backstop — having precinct chiefs simply phone in the results to the state party headquarters — also failed, with workers being too busy to answer the calls.

The whole mess was a terrible start for Democrats vying to replace President Trump in the White House. Memes immediately exploded across the internet, with one being repeated often: The Democrats want to run the country, but they can’t even hold a caucus in the cornfields.

For the record, the Republicans also held their caucuses in Iowa on Monday. While they garnered little media coverage, Trump blew out his primary rivals, winning more than 97% of the vote over former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh, who each came in with about 1% each.

In many ways, Trump won both caucuses. And he knew it. He took to Twitter early to needle Democrats for their pathetic efforts in Iowa.

“The Democrat Party in Iowa really messed up, but the Republican Party did not. I had the largest re-election vote in the history of that great state, by far, beating President Obama’s previous record by a lot. Also, 97% Plus of the vote! Thank you Iowa!” Trump wrote first thing in the morning.

Countdown To Iowa: A Caucus Guide For What To Know About America’s First Vote

Caucuses are only the first stage in key voting states’ selection process and provide a litmus test for which party candidates could fare well in the primaries

Explainer: how the confusing Iowa caucuses actually work

Last modified on Wed 26 Feb 2020 18.01 GMT

The Iowa caucuses are a unique political institution that play a crucial role in the American primary process. However, they aren’t particularly intuitive to understand or follow.

What time do the caucuses start?

The caucuses start at 7pm local time on Monday, but campaigns encourage their supporters to show up half an hour early.

How do the caucuses unfold?

Very different rules govern the Democratic and Republican caucuses:

Republicans have a relatively straightforward process, in which they cast secret ballots in their precinct caucuses – church halls, school buildings.

Can unregistered voters take part?

Any Iowan who will be over the age of 18 at the time of the presidential election can participate. Attendees can register on the night at the caucuses and can switch their party affiliation there as well. This means a Democrat can go to the Republican caucuses and vice versa. Four years ago, 121,503 people showed up to the 2012 Republican caucuses. Democrats have traditionally had higher turnout and, in their last competitive caucus in 2008, 239,872 people attended.

What happens then?

A simple guide to the Hawkeye state caucuses.

How are delegates decided?

Where will the candidates be on the night?

Once The Voting Is Over Its Time To Translate Those Results Into Delegates

Delegates, after all, are the point of presidential primaries and caucuses. It’s delegates, not the sheer number of votes, that political parties count to determine who will be their nominee.

After the alignments, the viable candidates will be allocated what’s called “State Delegate Equivalents,” according to their performance at that site.

These delegates, through a process involving Democratic Party math and the state convention, will eventually correlate to the number of national delegates a candidate gets at the national conventions.

The Iowa Democratic Party doesn’t declare a winner, but historically the person with the most SDEs has been considered the winner. However, with the first- and second-round results being reported out this year, it’s conceivable candidates could have more opportunities to spin the results in their favor.

Registered Republican voters show up at their caucus site, hear some speeches and vote for their preferred candidate. The votes are counted and the delegates are elected to the county convention based on the proportion of support a candidate receives.

Despite several state Republican parties canceling their 2020 primaries because an incumbent is running for reelection, Iowa Republicans will hold their caucus on Feb. 3.

The Difference Between A Republican And Democratic 2020 Caucus Experience

IOWA — Precinct locations throughout Siouxland are geared up to open their doors for caucus-goers Monday night.

The process of caucusing can be confusing since it differs so much from a primary vote.

There are many Democratic candidates to choose from, 11 to be exact, and Democratic caucuses different from Republican.

Democrats have an open vote.

For comparison: during the primaries, you simply vote but in the caucus, you have a discussion and then vote.

You physically vote with your body, and you move to certain parts of the room to show which candidate you support.

So, after each campaign makes its pitch, Democrats split up into “preference groups”, which support a specific candidate. But, unless a “preference group” is made up of at least 15% of the people at that caucus, the group isn’t viable.

Those supporters can choose to re-align and support another candidate that’s still “viable” and what some may not know is that undecided could be one of those viable groups

“If a group of undecided people align together and they are above 15%, then yeah, they have to stay with that group of undecided,” said Theresa Weaber-Basye, Co-Chair for Precinct 10. “And they could make their decision further down the road as to where their vote will go.”

While the Democrats have a large ballot of candidates to choose from, it’s different for the Republicans.

Votes are then counted and winner takes all.

To learn more about how a caucus works,

Iowa Is Not The Only State That Conducts Caucuses Instead Of Primaries

Caucuses are different from primaries for a number of reasons. You do not simply show up, check a box, and leave with an “I voted” sticker.

The process can take hours, as voters gather at a venue to hear out supporters of various candidates, debate issues, and ultimately come to a conclusion about which person will make the best presidential nominee. Voters select delegates who will represent them at the party’s annual convention in the summer.

When voters arrive at the venue, which can be anywhere from a high school gymnasium to a restaurant, supporters of certain candidates break off into groups, including groups for undecided voters. Then voters, who are typically activists and very politically engaged, will plead their case to everyone about why their preferred candidate is the best choice.

With a large field of candidates and a diverse spectrum of ideology in the Democratic race, this could take all night. On Monday night’s Iowa caucuses, the process stretched into the next day due to the errors in reporting the results. By Tuesday afternoon, Iowa’s results still hadn’t been released.

Most caucuses have a threshold to earn delegates, meaning that a candidate might need 15% or more of the votes to be awarded delegates. For instance, Ted Cruz earned eight delegates in the 2017 Iowa caucuses, while Donald Trump and Marco Rubio each earned seven, respectively.

The states with caucuses are:

Iowa

The US territories conducting caucuses are:

What Are The Iowa Caucuses And How Do They Work All You Need To Know

The midwestern state is the first to vote in the presidential primary race. So what are caucuses, and how do they work? Here’s your guide to the night

The Iowa caucuses take place on Monday 3 February, kicking off the long process of nominating a Democratic presidential candidate who will eventually take on Donald Trump in November’s US election.

The primary race is made up of a series of contests called primaries and caucuses that take place in all 50 states plus Washington DC and outlying territories, by which the parties select their presidential nominee from the candidates who are running.

The goal in these contests is for candidates is to amass support from voters that translates into a majority of delegates, whose job it is to nominate a presidential candidate at the party conventions in July and August.

When it comes to choosing a presidential candidate, Iowa traditionally goes first. Though Iowa has relatively few delegates, it is highly influential because it gives Americans their first chance to see what support the candidates have, and a win could provide a vital boost in momentum, as it did for Barack Obama in 2008.

Democratic and Republican caucuses will take place on Monday evening, but because Trump does not face any serious competition from his challengers for the nomination, all eyes will be on the Democratic contenders this year.

County District State Convention And National Convention Delegates

Total pledged delegates 41

A total of 11,402 county convention delegates are elected according to the procedure described above across 1,678 precinct caucuses and 87 satellite caucuses. They will then go to their local county convention on March 21, to choose 2,107 district and state delegates who are pledged to support presidential candidates according to the proportional state delegate equivalents result of the caucuses. These elected districts and state delegates will subsequently go to the district conventions on April 25 and state convention on June 13 . In total, 41 pledged national convention delegates are elected for the 2020 Democratic National Convention with their pledged support being determined proportionally to the presidential candidate’s total number of SDEs won statewide and in each of the state’s four congressional districts; but only for those presidential candidates who manage to qualify by winning at least a 15% share of the SDEs statewide or in the specific district. Meaning that all presidential candidates winning less than a 15% share of SDEs statewide and in CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4, will win 0 pledged national convention delegates.

Why Does Such A Small Homogeneous State Get Such An Oversized Role

Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status is the end result of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which was marred by conflict in the convention hall, and racial and Vietnam War protests and violence in the streets. Party leaders decided to turn away from a top-down process of selecting nominees and instead move toward a voter-driven process that was viewed as more democratic. Iowa had long held caucuses, but the state’s months-long delegate selection process resulted in it being selected to go first. Republicans soon followed suit.

The caucuses have long drawn criticism. They take place at a set time in the evening, so they preclude the participation of some Iowans, such as night shift workers. The new Democratic satellite caucuses are designed to address this.

The number of participants is dismally low. In 2016 — a contest when both the Democratic and Republican nominations were up for grabs — fewer than 358,000 Iowans caucused, less than 16% of those eligible to vote.

To put that number in perspective, more than 8.5 million Californians voted in the two parties’ 2016 presidential primaries, or 47.7% of the state’s registered voters. Iowa caucus supporters argue that it is critical for candidates to be able to make their case to voters in person, and in states that don’t require massive media buys.

Democrats increasingly worried about the prospect of Bernie Sanders winning their nomination are pushing harder to block him, galvanizing his backers in the process.

Presidential Caucuses Are Complicated Why Do Some States Use Them

Politics

As the 2020 presidential nomination season kicks off in February, it won’t start with a primary — where voters go to their polling place and cast a secret ballot — but with caucuses. While the vast majority of states hold primary elections, a few use these more complicated events to show their preferences for candidates.

In recent years, some states have ditched caucuses for primaries, but Iowa, Nevada and Wyoming are holdouts. So why choose a caucus?

Party caucuses have been used in various forms in the United States since the 1800s to address a range of political topics. In Iowa’s case, caucuses not only allow activists and voters to make a case for their preferred candidate, but also to talk about issues that could be incorporated into the state party platform, said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor with Drake University in Iowa.

They also attract enthusiastic party members. Caucusing requires passion and a strong connection to a particular candidate, in contrast to the simple and private act of marking a ballot in a primary. “ make candidates and potential candidates talk to voters as real, live, individual human beings,” Goldford said. Candidates meet with voters in a more personal way, he added, rather than using them as “campaign props.” Especially in early caucus states, a relatively small group of people wields a lot of power to influence average voters around the country.

Are The Iowa Caucuses Predictive Of Who Will Win The White House

Maybe. But probably not. Among Democrats, the winner of the caucuses has won the nomination in seven out of the 10 contested races since 1972. But only two candidates — Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama — have gone on to win the White House. Among Republicans, the caucus winner has won the nomination in three of eight contested contests, but only won the White House once: George W. Bush in 2000.

The caucuses definitely have had their moments, allowing candidates to prove theirviability. Among the top examples is Obama in 2008. His ability to win the caucuses — beating John Edwards and Hillary Clinton in an overwhelmingly white state — helped dispel doubts that the United States could elect a black president.

Record Turnout Means Big Numbers For Everyone Not Just Trump

More than 180,000 Republicans caucused Monday night, shattering the 2012 record of 121,503 people. According to entrance polling from The New York Times, 45% of those Republican caucusgoers were participating in the process for the first time.

Many predicted record turnout primarily would benefit Trump, suggesting Trump would inspire people who had not previously been engaged in the political process.

And that held true — to a degree.

Thirty percent of those first-time caucusgoers were supporting Trump. But Rubio and Cruz also benefited, earning 22% and 23% of those voters respectively, effectively stopping Trump from running away with it.

“Even though the Trump people were able to bring some new voters to the polls, they just couldn’t overcome a groundswell of Republicans who now have a good reason to go out and vote,” said Bryan English, Cruz’s state director, noting Cruz’s attractiveness to the GOP base.

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expatimes · 4 years ago

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Surge in Latino support for Trump helps him win Florida | US & Canada

A wave of support from Hispanic voters gave President Donald Trump a narrow victory in Florida on Tuesday night, boosting his chances of re-election.

Trump, who won the state in 2016, outperformed his 2016 margins with Florida's Hispanic voters, who made up 19 percent of all the state's voters. A lot of the swing came in Miami-Dade, the county that contains Florida's largest Cuban and Venezuelan communities, many of whom are strongly anti-left wing.

Trump and his allies have frequently painted opponent Joe Biden, a moderate Democrat, as either a socialist himself or in hock to the “radical left”. Some Miami voters told the Reuters news agency this struck home.

Trump also ate into Latinos' support for Democrats in Texas, results showed. It was still unclear how this will affect the overall race for the presidency, which may not be called for days.

Nationally, Trump got a higher proportion of support from non-white voters, when compared with 2016, according to Edison Research exit polls, offsetting a decline in support among white people compared with his successful race against Hillary Clinton.

Support for Trump this year rose by three points among all Latinos, and 15 points among older ones; it jumped by 11 points among Black voters aged 30 to 44.

The jump among Latinos comes despite Trump's harsh stance on immigration, and his administration's treatment of asylum-seekers - a hallmark of his presidency.

“The Latino surge is real, and it is happening across the country,” tweeted White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday night.

Engage with Latino voters

Biden can still win the election with victories in other states. If he loses, some of the blame can be laid on his failure to engage with Latino voters, said Jaime professor Regalado, a political science at California State University in Los Angeles.

“He just wasn't there,” Regalado said. “He didn't spend a lot of time courting Latinos until the final two weeks of the campaign. It could turn out to be a huge mistake. ”

The Biden campaign had no comment on Tuesday night, but the campaign has in past weeks and months disputed criticism from some Democrats that it was not sufficiently focused on this demographic.

Unofficial results on Tuesday night showed Trump was winning about 47 percent of the Hispanic vote in Florida, increasing his vote share in the county over 2016 by about 12 percentage points.

That swing denied Biden the votes he needed from South Florida to balance Trump's strength in the state's mainly rural Panhandle and win Florida's 29 Electoral College votes.

Texas's Starr County, which is 99 percent Latino, had an even more dramatic shift - in 2016, fewer than 19 percent of the votes went to Trump; This year he won nearly half of the vote.

'Opportunity not handouts'

While out celebrating Trump's victory at Versailles, a popular hangout in Little Havana on Tuesday night, Jose Cuevas, the 62-year-old owner of a manufacturing company that makes cabinets, said he arrived in the United States in 1968 as Cubans escaped communism.

“We had everything taken away from us. We were adopted by the United States with open arms, ”said Cuevas.

“We came here for opportunity, not handouts. I firmly believe it's that welfare mentality that Democrats sell to create their base and that goes against Cubans completely. ”

Supporters of President Donald Trump chant and wave flags outside the Versailles Cuban restaurant during an Election Night celebration in Miami [Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo]

Biden, a three-decade senator who voted for free trade agreements and calls himself a capitalist, beat Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist senator from Vermont, in the Democratic Party's nominating contest with promises of more moderate policies.

Nonetheless, Trump's efforts to cast Democrats as socialist may have been crucial in Florida, said Sergio Garcia professor-Rios, a of Government and Latino studies at Cornell University. “That mobilized a lot of Cuban Americans,” he said.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Joe Gruters said Trump's message had resonated with many voters in South Florida.

“People want safety and security in their communities. They want freedom and liberty. They don't want to go backwards, ”said Gruters. "They want to live in a capitalist society where anybody has the chance to move up and do well for themselves."

The Trump campaign worked to erode Biden's margins among voters of color, specifically targeting certain groups. Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, a Cuban American from Miami, co-chaired the national Latinos for Trump group.

Trump also appealed to evangelical Hispanic voters, holding an event at 7,000-capacity King Jesus International Ministry Church in Miami in January, which is led by Pastor Guillermo Maldonado.

Democratic Latino activists complained Biden was ignoring Hispanic voters, and in the weeks leading up to the election opinion polls in key states suggested Biden was underperforming with Latinos.

The Biden campaign opted to focus on Puerto Ricans in Florida because the former community has grown since Hurricane Maria in 2017, one person briefed on the campaign strategy said.

#world Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=13314&feed_id=14158

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gospelmusic · 4 years ago

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Catholic Daily Mass Reading + Reflection, 19 October 2020

Monday 19, October 2020

Weekday (29) Vestment: White/ Green/Red Today’s Rosary: The Joyful Mystery SS. John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, Priest and Companions, Mythers; Six Jesuits, with two of their lay companions, suffered martyrdom in North America between the years 1642 and 1649. They had been sent there to preach the Gospel but the local people captured and tortured them, eventually killing them. St Paul of the Cross, P. (Opt Mem) Paul Francis Danei was born in Italy in 1694. Feeling the call to live a consecrated life, he left his parents, gave his goods to the poor and lived as a hermit. Later he became a priest and began to evangelize with great zeal and power. He' founded the Passionists, taking the name of Paul of the Cross. He practiced austere mortifications, stressing, both in his life and teaching, the mystery of the cross. He died in Rome in 1775. OYO: Tomorrow is the 13th Anniversary of the Episcopal ordination of Most Revd Emmanuel A. Badejo, 20th October 2007.

FIRST READING

“He made us alive together with Christ and made us sit with him in the heavenly places.” A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians (Ephesians 2: 1-10) Brethren: You he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit, with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God — not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. The word of the Lord. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 100: 1-2.3.4.5 (R. 3b)

R/. The Lord made us; we belong to him. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy. R Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us; we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep of his flock. R. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with songs of praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. R. Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age. R.

ALLELUIA Matthew 5:3

Alleluia. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

GOSPEL

“The things you have prepared, whose will they be?” A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Luke 12: 13-21) At that time: One of the multitude said to Jesus, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” The Gospel of the Lord.

Today’s Reflection

Today the Lord puts before us a parable that mirrors the dual nature of our human inclinations – the pursuit of wealth and the salvation of souls. Physical and spiritual wellbeing divide our thoughts along whether to continue in merriment and debauchery or to turn our face back to the creator for salvation. In this parable, the most cherished of both worlds is highlighted, the salvation of the soul. Store up for yourself righteousness that will last for eternity. Earthly inheritance, success and wealth without a spiritually balanced personality is worthless. We must put our trust in God with whom our success is secured. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?

A BLESSING FOR THE NEW WEEK

O God our Heavenly Father, we thank you with all our hearts for this new working week you have brought us into, we thank you because it is by your grace that we are here today, for in you we live and move and have our being. Loving Father, we present ourselves before you as we begin this week and we ask for your blessings upon us, we ask you to keep us safe from every danger, we ask you to be within us to animate us, be with us to protect us and provide for our needs, guide our steps wherever we go, bless the labours of our hands, may our works and businesses be successful and fruitful. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Keep our families in your loving care, our spouses, parents, siblings, children and all who are near and dear to us, let us continue to have recourse to your goodness and mercy so that we would be able to reach out to others, to give a helping hand and to do the little we can to make the world a better place for everyone in Jesus name amen

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Follow us on social media: Facebook: @hottestnaijadotcom Twitter: @wherehot Instagram: @hottest9jablog Disclaimer: This post contains links by our advertisers. Presence of such links does not warrant endorsements by HottestNaija. Your use of their services, is subject to their terms of service. Click here to take a look at our posts on gospel music download or click this link to see all posts that include gospel music lyrics You may also like our gospel worship songs page which contains, the best, coolest and hottest Nigerian Gospel Songs, and Foreign Gospel Songs. Whatsoever is the mood, we've got you covered. Do you feel like dancing, rejoicing, shouting, screaming, or you're filled with jubilation because of the Mighty things the Lord has done? Then look no further, cos our gospel praise songs page, containing the hottest Nigerian and foreign praise songs collection, was prepared specifically for you. Peradventure you need the lyrics of the songs you are downloading now, just downloaded, or have downloaded before, our lyrics page is the best place to look. What more could be more helpful and entertaining than seeing the lyrics of your most favourite song before you, as the music unfolds unto the climax. Hey we've been there before, and still encounter it from time to time when the vocals get lost in the cloud of heavy orchestration. Are You a Classical Music lover, our classical music page, contains the best of classical songs, composed and written by composers like G. F Handel, Bach, Joseph Haydn, etc. As you listen to your best gospel song, you may also want to get some more insight and knowledge about the word of God, from eBooks written by God's servants, or you may want to learn something new or build yourself up in some way. Then our eBook Page is the right place to look. You may be in need of entertainment, and probably want to watch a video too. We understand that as well. You can get entertaining music videos from our videos page.

#Music #Lyrics

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inthenightsoupkitchen · 8 years ago

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The Church Meeting

This week was the bimonthly congregational meeting which, because we are Methodists, is just one more excuse to get together and eat food. I came up in the Evangelical Free church, which I escaped in college for many, many reasons, but one that I didn’t even know about at the time was that they just do not take food seriously. Hot dogs and spaghetti dinners were the usual high points of food-eating time at my childhood church, and even those were few and far between. Then I found the United Methodist Church. Wow.

My first United Methodist church (it was not a First United Methodist Church, although I have been to those as well, ha-ha) was a very small congregation indeed, about fifty people knocking around one of those beautiful old historic churches. But even with such a small group, the food was always A++. Monthly potluck just so everybody could get together and eat, plus Sunday morning snacks. It was great! I picked up some good good recipes there. Also, we were super-duper poor at that point in our lives, and people were incredibly nice about slipping us leftovers. Food is a love language, and it’s definitely one of mine. I honestly grieved for two years after we moved away because I missed that church so much. But it’s a happy story too, they’ve got 150 people now and are doing very well, so hey!

In any case, you can’t have a church council meeting or a charge conference without dinner, that would be an abomination. My friend Aaron (I am changing peoples’ names here for privacy, btw) runs Week 1 of the Soup Kitchen and he’s also in charge of cooking for these meetings. He is really good at bulk cooking. The meal was gallons and gallons of chicken cassoulet, a big green salad, and these amazing rolls. So good. Typically after the dinner I go and help with childcare, my other ministry thing, but this time I had to stick around and get voted in. I then ended up almost missing it anyway because Aaron and Ross who runs Week 2 and I were trying to figure out how to move all the leftovers across the street to the soup kitchen. There was enough left that it could be the main dish for soup kitchen this week, saving everyone some money and time.

Eventually we decided to do it after the meeting and I got back in there in time to become Officially In Charge Of The Thing. It took me almost the entire meeting and reading all the paperwork to figure out what my position actually is and when I need to get voted on again. Back in my little church, I was on the church council as well, but that also meant being part of the board of trustees and any other board need that happened to come up, because there were so few of us. I once became Vice President of the Board of Trustees because somebody volunteered me when I was out of the room. This church is a little bit more formalized than that, but I think I’ve got it figured out now.

The pastor then preached a sermon, which was unusual but I totally rolled with it because it was super good. As any among you who are Methodists probably know, the church is currently losing its collective shit over the issue of whether gay people are worth giving equal rights to, and the current political atmosphere is doing nothing to heal that growing schism. He couldn’t tell us much more than that we have to wait, and that anybody who tells you this is a settled question or that they have the weight of the church behind their answer is lying, which is a useful message right now. But then he went on to talk about how to separate bad theology from good theology, and I wound up taking notes on a sermon for the first time in like a decade.

Our theology is a message of love, mercy, and grace. Bad theology says God calls you to come to him where he is, and you have to somehow get there from where you are. Love says that God goes to you where you are, wherever you are. Bad theology says God helps those who help themselves. Mercy says that God helps, period. Bad theology says that God has a reason why he makes bad things happen to us. Grace says that God doesn’t make those things happen, but he can create reason and new purpose through the chaos and wreckage. It was a powerful message in a week when people were working hard to co-opt the message of the church with some very bad theology. (Wesleyan Covenant Association,yes that does mean you, and what the hell are you doing on Tumblr anyway?)

Anyway, after the meeting wrapped up, it was time to move food. I got trapped into a meeting with the new mission board director, my new boss (I will discuss this meeting later), and by the time I finally managed to get to my cassoulet-moving, Aaron and Ross were both gone. Argh. So I got myself a little handcart and I pulled my little car up to the door, and I moved myself ten gallons of cassoulet and seven gallon bags of salad (lot of leftovers that night!) into my trunk and eventually across the street and into the kitchen at the other building. It was dark and spooky over there (this was almost 9pm by now), so I started singing hymns as I flipped on the lights to look for ghosts and murderers who might want to steal my cassoulet. Neither showed up, but one other church member did, and he was incredibly nice and helped me get everything labeled and washed and packed away for soup kitchen on Saturday. With his help, it didn’t take more than twenty minutes or so, and I didn’t have to sing the whole time, so extra bonus! But food is very important to us, we don’t want it to go to waste.

#charge conference #church council #chicken cassoulet #my main duty as the Vice President of the Board of Trustees was to clean the closet behind the sanctuary #holy cow that was a job and a half #the amount of ancient fake flower arrangements one church can accumulate is truly staggering

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patriotsnet · 4 years ago

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Can Republicans Vote In Iowa Caucus

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/can-republicans-vote-in-iowa-caucus/

Can Republicans Vote In Iowa Caucus

Former Massachusetts Governor Takes Narrow Victory In First Republican Party Vote To Determine Who Will Challenge Barack Obama In November

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney hugs his wife Ann at his Iowa Caucus night rally in Des Moines.

Omar karmi

Iowa vote

Obama campaign warns of ‘extremist’ Republicans. Read article

“In many ways, Iowa is about who has to quit,” Mr Muller said.

[email protected]

The Iowa Caucuses Are Separated Out For Democrats And Republicans And They Each Do Things Pretty Differently

The process of “caucusing” on both sides takes roughly an hour or so in the evening.

For the Democrats, it’s not that simple.

First of all, there are no secret ballots for the Democrats and those attending Iowa caucus gatherings will be asked to physically move to a section of the room devoted to their candidate.

The Iowa Caucuses Are On: Republicans Say Early Political Trips Reinforce Plans For 2024 Caucus

USA TODAY

Bloomberg

“We put America first, and we got it right,” he told the group of about 100 people who sipped coffee and finished plates of eggs and toast at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale Friday.

In the lead-up to the 2020 election, all eyes are on Iowa. Get updates of all things Iowa politics delivered to your inbox.

The subtext of his visit, however, is not 2022 but 2024.

Pompeo has hinted at a possible run for president, and his early forays into Iowa are yet another data point signaling the Republican presidential shadow primary has already begun.

“I see a lot of cameras in the back. I think there’s going to be some big announcement,” Pompeo joked, alluding to as much. “We’re in Iowa and all.”

Iowa Democrats Want To Be Fair To Candidates But Also Have A Clear Winner The Result Is A Mess

The funny or perhaps maddening aspect to all this is that the Iowa caucus results barely matter to the true way Democrats choose their nominee: national convention delegates.

You’ll notice that in our hypothetical precinct results, though, we got three different results for who “won”:

For the pre-realignment total, Sanders had the most votes.

For the final vote total, Biden had the most.

For state delegate equivalents, Sanders and Biden were tied.

Dc Dispatch: Biden Signs Rural Mental Health Bill Republicans Vote Against Jan 6 Commission