One thing reporters have missed about Ohio Issue 1 is that it wasn't only about stopping the abortion initiative scheduled for voting in November. That's where all the attention was given, and that's what proponents and opponents of Issue 1 alike focused on. The 60% super-majority voter threshold for passing it would have effectively killed the abortion rights initiative, of course. No voter initiative has ever achieved 60% of the vote in Ohio in the 111 years Ohio has had an initiative provision.
If state officials and the legislative majority only wanted to stop the abortion rights amendment in November, the 60% vote requirement would have been sufficient. But that's not all Issue 1 would have done.
Issue 1 had an even more onerous provision, intended to prevent voter initiatives from ever being placed on the ballot in the future. Officials didn't talk about it, probably for obvious reasons, and the national media largely missed it. Issue 1 would have raised the bar for collecting signatures to an insurmountable level. Currently a voter initiative can be placed on the ballot if at least a minimum number of valid signatures from half of Ohio's counties--44--are collected. (The number of signatures required from each county is based on a percentage of the number of votes in the last governor's election, I believe.) Issue 1 would have required minimum signatures from all 88 counties. In addition, current provision allows a ten day period for proponents to collect additional signatures if the secretary of state's office determines not enough valid signatures were collected. Issue 1 would have eliminated that grace period.
Our Republican-dominated state government wanted to insure that future voter initiatives could not succeed in even making it to the ballot. They wanted to make sure a future abortion rights petition drive would fail if the November referendum fails. They are also afraid that voters might initiate a petition drive to create an independent redistricting commission, given that they refused to abide by legislature- and voter-approved changes designed to eliminate partisan gerrymandering. Or maybe voters would like to rein in the legislature's gun insanity. And so forth.
Of course, effectively eliminating voter initiative would have taken rights away from all Ohioans of all ideologies, political views, and party affiliations. We are so grateful this power-grab attempt failed, but clearly we have much more work to do to rescue Ohio government from the grip of these anti-democracy ideologues.
Don, a number of hosts on MSNBC and their “legal eagles” explained the “hidden” provisions in the bill, explaining that they were designed to make the Ohio government even less responsive to the voters. Congratulations to your state for rallying to fight this attempt!
Mary, when you consider the Ohio voters, overall, we cannot estimate how many of them watch MSNBC. It may be that more of American people have gotten wise to losing their rights to the Republicans' self-interest. Now wouldn't that be a story; the American citizens are winning back their rights by voting against the Republicans? We the people are seeing the light!
We can hope that folks might be wanting a peek at the truth at long last?
“How did the big three cable newsers fare relative to the year-ago week (Aug. 1, 2022)? MSNBC saw huge gains (as expected), CNN saw slight gains, Fox News continues to see steep losses on an annual basis. MSNBC gained +59% in total primetime viewers, +65% in the primetime demo, +44% in total day viewers and +41% in the total day demo. Fox News shed -11% in total primetime viewers, -26% in the primetime demo, -18% in total day viewers and -30% in the total day demo. CNN improved by +8% in total primetime viewers, +2% in the primetime demo, +7% in total day viewers and +3% in the total day demo vs. the same week in 2022.”
Viewership numbers for cable news are checked after each rating period.
In the second quarter of 2023, ratings figures show the following:
'Fox came in first place in total day viewers, averaging 1.1 million, including 140,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research data.'
'MSNBC ranked second, netting a daily average of 796,000 total viewers and 95,000 in the 25-54 age demographic. CNN came in last place among the three leading cable news networks, earning an average of 463,000 total day viewers.'
'During the month of June in primetime, Fox narrowly beat out MSNBC, notching an average of 1.4 million viewers compared to 1.3 million. CNN averaged 635,000 viewers in primetime during the same month.'
'Fox on Monday announced a major overhaul of its primetime programming, moving host Jesse Watters into former pundit Tucker Carlson’s 8 p.m time slot, replacing him at 7 p.m. with longtime 10 p.m. host Laura Ingraham and tapping comedian Greg Gutfeld, a co-host of Watters’s on “The Five,” to host a show in Ingraham’s 10 p.m. hour.' (TheHill)
Good news. Not only is MSNBC gaining on Fox, but MSNBC and CNN combined have overtaken Fox. Without getting into the weeds, it sure looks like there must be new viewers who have realized the importance of paying attention to politics.
Who are these million+ Fox viewers? Housewives, seniors, the unemployed glued to the hate being spewed out? I think it's an addiction; they sure aren't interested in facts.
That Fox News is #1 is a fact we need to know. 'The whole truth, nothing but the truth'. I understand you going with the good news, we need to know that as well. Let's keep our eyes on the ball. Cheers!
Christy, unfortunately, I don't understand your reply. The headline adweek chose was to indicate the #1 rated cable news station,. which is the standard procedure. Adweek showed no favoritism. It was losing nothing, simply reporting the rating results. Fox lost viewership, which was reported.
There are millions of people like me who don't watch TV news. You're also going to see the numbers rise during a presidential election, and I'm also sure the numbers grow every time Trump gets indicted.
This is encouraging! But cable TV is dying. The "news" on TV is not a thing for two whole generations. For them, Watters or Melber and company are something their parents watch and are part of their consciousness only if they are viewed or quoted on a news aggregator on their phones.
While Fox should continue to enrage us, they are in a media spiral dive. And advertisers are shifting their money to streaming services. Cable news is losing its impact. And that is a good thing. Because it ceased being news years ago. It's "outrage entertainment" posing as information.
It may be dying Bill, but it still has plenty of life left in the over 50 crowd in rural areas, where it is sometimes on constantly. And those folks don’t need encouragement to vote. Checked stats and there remain 75 million subscribers to cable TV.
Quite true, of course. And we can't expect them to change.
What keeps me optimistic in the long run is the trend. Younger people are more tolerant, more realistic about science and they are increasingly diverse. I am working on my hope factor :)
Yes, I agree with you, Fern. The Ohio Republican super-majority was attempting to make Issue 1 a Trojan horse, of sorts by scheduling a special election in August when many people are on vacation and voter turn-out in August special elections of the past have yielded very low turn-ot(7%, I believe from last year's August special election). A massive grassroots effort throughout the country to "Vote No" was very effective in making Ohioans aware of what was going to take place if the bill was not defeated. As an Ohioan and also an election official, I am filled with gratitude from all of those who helped expose this Trojan horse for the deceptive fraud that it was. Thank-you all.
It does my heart good when all of us work together for a common goal and actually succeed.I look at this Ohio victory as a sort of bellwether for the upcoming presidential election in 2024. Imagine what we can accomplish if we keep working together. Like Joyce Vance says,"We are in this together".
It was widely reported on outlets other than MSNBC, and maybe more important, organizers, including those making phone calls and going door to door, brought it up often.
Susanna, with accurate reports from variously sources absorbed by some number of Ohio's voters this week and through their own observations, along with conversations with others -- a majority voted on behalf of the rights of American citizens. It was a victory for the journalists, truth tellers, pro-democracy organizations, the well informed and for democracy in America. It was a victory as a result of us working together.
Given the threading (and the lengths of the subthreads), you may not have realized that my comment was in response to those who were possibly overemphasizing the significance of MSNBC.
Thank you for recognizing why I responded to you as I did, Susanna. Your initial reply was to me, while Mary was the subscriber crediting MSNBC. Hosts on that outlet do an excellent job. I understand her gratitude to them but knew that there were many contributors to the victory, voters, in particular. Cheers!
When I was writing postcards I knew about the "all 88 counties" and gerrymandering issues Ohioans were facing. But being a believer in the "too long, didn't read" phenomenon, I kept the message short and simple by focusing on voting to keep their simple majority that's been in place for 100 years.
Good. I listened to MSNBC last night, and Monday night, and only heard the personalities talk about the 60% vote threshold and its connection to the proposed abortion amendment, not Issue 1's ramifications for future initiatives. I must not have been tuned in at the right time, or listened to the right people. I think if more Ohio voters had known the larger picture, that this was a frontal attack on EVERYONE's rights--as you might guess, a lot of disinformation was circulated--I think the 'no' vote majority would have been even more lopsided; even some anti-abortion Ohioans might have opposed Issue 1. Maybe some did.
Agree. and MSNBC is still, this morning, discussing this as only a win for abortion rights. It's much bigger than that. While it might have initially been about the November ballot initiative, it is an attack on every single voter's rights and a way to secure minority rule.
I can only tolerate the morning shows if I am specifically trying to catch up on some big news. End up muting much of it to get what I need to know. Too much blah blah blah by #45
NICOLE is 4 pm Eastern ARI MELBAR's program is after Nicole at six (6) pm Eastern competing well in a major commercial market. On Mondays RACHEL MADDOW is next but, Rachel is a Producer & has developed new msnbc content substantive Platforms.
Now that Rachel Maddow is only on Monday nights (and for special occasions), Ari is their top draw. Here in Houston, Katy Tur is at 2pm CST, Nicole from 3-5 and Ari at 5.
MSNBC folks, and all of their legal analysts/attorneys don’t miss much. It’s the only news program I watch anymore. And, I highly recommend everyone to tune into it to learn what’s really going on in the country.
Lawrence O'Donnell's frequent lineup of lawyers — especially Andrew Weissmann, Neil Katyal, and Bradley Moss — are can't miss for explaining the legal complexities of our politics today.
Nicolle Wallace is the best. I listen every day. She has a variety of guests the other hosts don't have. She asks great questions and does wonderful follow-up.
The list you have been given already, plus Joe Scarborough “Morning Joe” airs daily 6-10 s.m. I never miss any of them. I leave my tv on it all day and night so I can hear the news constantly. Being homebound and disabled allows me to do that.
I find that the morning show and the early afternoon shows have the same wonderful guests (looking at Joyce Vance, Andrew Weismann and Neal Katyal) as the evening shows, but it seems that they get more airtime. Ari Melber’s legal training is especially useful right now.
Aargh! In no way am I disparaging your news habits, Daniel, but I am not watching Joe much anymore. He's a bit too "loud" and "showy" for me. Now other reporters, as listed above, are quite good if less intense.
I respect that. I like him because he’s a ‘converted Republican’ as most of them on that network are. They’ll tell you quick the Republican Party they used to belong to is dead.
Yes, Joe gets rather boisterous at times, but his co-host just lets him blow, then she’ll interrupt and get him back on track. He does give a lot of good input to these topics since he served on Capitol Hill.
Daniel ? Question, ( You DONT, have to Answer it, IF, IM Being too Nosey ) Is the Disablment, from Service, in The Military ? IN All Cases, GOD BLESS , ! You !
My disability is in a combination of firefighting and law enforcement.
As a firefighter I had occasion to enter numerous rather dangerous fire situations where severe toxic fumes were present, but we didn’t know it at the time. Back in those days, with the fire departments I was associated with we didn’t have the fancy equipment that they now have. My lungs are at less than 40% now. They were above 50%, but I contracted COVID last year in March, and, since I hadn’t had any vaccination for it if any kind, it took a bad toll on my lungs.
My leg injuries are from my firefighting and law enforcement both. Plus, I now weigh over 500 pounds, which carrying that weight never helps. I have lost over 270 pounds in two plus years, so I’m progressing, but I have about another 125 to go.
My legs were injured on a gout chase over railroad tracks, tracking an escapee from the prison. He was armed to the teeth from a home he had broken into, and the prison ask for the sheriffs department assistance. We chased this character over three days ehen my partner and I spotted him on the tracks. I bailed snd my partner headed to the other end to block him off, snd make sure he didn’t get off the tracks to escape us again. We chased him into a local barn where he started shooting. Things didn’t end well for him.
Hi Daniel! I have antennae only -not putting money into their pockets too many B grade stations- however get to watch J.Capehart/ Jen once in awhile , they ARE good. PBS is an option and they’re pretty good. Everyone has preferences and capabilities diff from waaaay back in rural paradise 😉
I thought a few mins ago we don’t make too much noise we just get the job done , the trending is hopefully but yes A LOT to do yet.
Since you have antenna, I know you have internet, or phone. You might download the podcast app and check out all of these folks on the podcast. They also are there, and it’s FREE!!! I listen to all of them on their respective podcast.
I have that old fashion kind of antennae not Huges or Dish kind (too many trees ) my WiFi comes thru a DSL line with ( but separate from ) my phone . But I do have a Podcast app,along with Substack and several others. We consider it all a luxury , raise our own food , cut the trees, milled the lumber , built this and two other homes, It’s 26 miles to a mall/shopping center once every 6? Wks , but country store 8 miles is homey and handy.
The kids come in fairly often , all tech savvy, big jobs, doing well , we are so veryblessed. You all are a joy for me and the ol’ man ( who said it would only be a dead mouse he’d touch ) has finally found this ‘puter stuff not so bad after all😂.
Back-to-the-landers , old hippies perhaps , this world is so fascinating , diverse, and rather in a pickle but it seems a world away , we did our time avid protests and fighting for the little guys building this.
My morning coffee is with you, reading your stories, ideas, and I’m so very grateful for the young’uns coming along to pick up and carry it on. They’re …along with many of you still… our hope the g.children and great g. children get to better it more and keep truth in sight.
Dang, Patricia! I wish I had your lifestyle right now. I’d love it.
I was born, raised on a farm in western Palm Beach County, Florida, back in the early 50s. Life in Florida was a lot different then. If you didn’t raise your food out in the country, you starved. Now, the farms are disappearing faster than anything, because the government in Florida doesn’t want farms in Florida.
Now, after my career in law enforcement, and firefighting, I was forced to retire in 1995, at the age of 45. I did don’t j she much in my career, especially with a family, 4 children in school when I was forced to retire.
Now, I live alone, still disabled, homebound, unable to drive myself anywhere. I have a lady that helps me daily, and I give her $300 every two weeks. That takes all my state retirement check every month to pay her. But without her, I couldn’t survive alone, I don’t believe.
It’s really hard being on oxygen and breathing machines to live, taking 22 medications daily, 3 times a day, just to keep your lungs, and heart, functioning.
You have no idea how many times I wished I had my sidearm, still.
Do most Americans even consider that the most important votes that they cast are NOT for president, for senators or representatives, or governors, but for those running for State legislatures, those ‘down-ballot’ candidates whose names you don’t even recognize? While all elections are important, State legislatures are the front lines where the battle between those who support democracy and those who oppose it is being fought. Debates in Congress and what gets before the Supreme Court usually relate to State laws. All too often, State legislative positions are filled with political hacks who do not care about what is in the best interests of the people.
Do you know who your own State legislators are? Name them. Hmm. I thought so.
Since you asked, Jack: In VA, my Democratic Senator Bell is retiring; Democrat Russet Perry is running to take his place! Also, my Republican Delegate - LaRock - has been redistricted away from me (yay). Democrat Rob Banse is running to take his place! Can't wait to vote in November!
25 years ago a current events group speaker told us it was important to watch our state legislature. Opened my eyes. Living in a reliably blue state I am mostly satisfied with what happens in Springfield (except for the governors, of both parties, that keep going to prison.) Keeping up with 49 other states however is a more time-consuming task. A huge problem is the decline of journalism, especially covering local politics. All local government is underreported. State senator, Sara Feigenholtz, state representative, Margaret Croke.
Time was when all the newspapers around a state had statehouse news bureaus to keep residents who don't live in the capital city informed about what their legislators and state officials are doing. Not so much anymore. I would not be a bit surprised if only a minority of Ohioans who don't live in and near Columbus even know that last year the Republican dominated redistricting commission ignored the state constitution and refused to draw non-gerrymandered maps, even though the maps they drew were repeatedly ruled unconstitutional by the state supreme court. I even wonder how many Columbus residents followed the story closely.
Actually, the USA today Ohio news bureau has a stellar squad of female reporters who covered this like a blanket. And since most major Ohio papers are owned by Gannett (that's a story for another day), most Ohioans knew the sorry details of Issue 1. The Scripps TV Statehouse reporter did a great job, too.
At least you're in a blue State. Not the case in Fla, where our legislature is deeply red. My State legislators (Lori Berman in the Senate, Kelly Skidmore in the House) are reliably blue. Glad to see that you and others who've commented know who their State legislators are. I still maintain that most do not, but things may be changing soon, I hope.
Amen, GMB. I think the point is that we need to be aware of our own local and state elections and issues, and work on what needs to change. We don't need to try to follow 49 other states: as you pointed out it is an impossibility. But we CAN do the small things within our power that help boost the efforts of folks in some of them. I agree with you 100% about the underreporting of what's happening at the local level. So we need to find ways around that. Local chat boards? Attending local meetings and speaking to something of concern? Writing a substack aimed at your community. Or if someone lives near a statehouse that is not covered, and has the time, got to meetings and report on them. (I've actually done this by following issues on Zoomcasts of legislature committees and floor meetings.)
Americans are creative. We need to use that creativity to figure ways sideways around the lack of (or failure of ) media coverage. My town adopted our local newspaper, and turned it into a non-profit community owned entity. It's growing faster than its revenues to print, so we are working on finding more than subscriptions and ads to support it. Because we remember when the selectboard meetings were always covered and people showed up at the meetings to speak. And we like knowing what is happening in our communities. All of our reps now write regular columns. OUr vote rate has always been high, but the paper helps make sure we actually know what we are voting about.
I have suspected for some time that local news - via print, which is expensive but cheaper than traditional broadcast media, and via the internet, and via the blogs and vlogs of commentators who commit to both fair reporting and transparency about their own inevitable biases - is the future of news.
I always remind people that it all starts at the local level. Know who you are voting for! Look at how many whackados have been elected to school boards and what they are trying do. Basically it is about killing public education!
Your comment is on point, but you could have dropped the last paragraph and skipped the insult. Even if we weren't the choir, offending people with assumptions doesn't work. It backfires. Jack, you surely are aware of that. People here have been writing about this for a long time now, and sharing ways to get at those issues. We often hear from people who are taking action at the local and state legislature, Care to share some of your ideas for reaching out to people around us to do the same?
My personal experience is based on the fact that most people around here (retirement community in Fla.) don't know who their State reps are. I am sorry if that might have been offensive to some. The key words, wihich you just used, are 'reaching out.' Up to now, the State Dem. party has failed to do that. They must develop active groups to reach out among women, minorities, and young people. (There is such a group developing for Latino voters, but it is outside of the party's structure.) Many years ago, I belonged to a 'Young Democrats' group up north. Never heard of any such thing down here. There's nothing to compare with the conservative 'Turning Point USA' group. So what might provide strong support remains apolitical.
State legislators are the most important. And yes, they are the backbone to what runs the states, and country. The President not a state Governor can do much if anything if they can’t get it passed by Congress, or state legislatures, respectively.
Thus is why nothing’s been done sine the 2022 election in Washington. The House of Representatives is too busy trying to dig up dirt on Biden, Hunter’s laptop, and other bull 💩!
I wrote postcards to voters in your state and I contacted friends in Ohio so they could also pass the word...but it was Ohioans who made this happen! YAY! for Ohio!!!! Keep up the good fight!
Thanks, Don. This issue has been under reported, if reported at all. Legislators in Idaho have been trying to do the same thing. They really do not have any respect for the people they are elected to represent!
First time I've heard it said specifically that these Republican legislators have no respect for their constituents. I think that's a powerful statement that should be repeated over and over again. And they can't have respect because power and money are their driving motivations. How they have managed to persuade millions of moderate income folks that they are on their side blows my mind. Perhaps it's the power of arousing anger and fear, which they know how to do very well. I wonder what messaging that teases that out would look like.
You should live in Massachusetts: we say that all the time. Our legislature has a storied history of ignoring the will of the people... even when ballot initiatives pass, they just turn their heads and look away.
And in Ohio, term limits don't help, either. By the time the new legislator knows what's what, his or her term is up, so instead they are led around by lobbiests.
You guys in Ohio should take as your next assignment getting a voter-approved independent redistricting commission. When we got that in California, it effectively killed the GOP here outside of a few places nobody with a brain would choose to live in.
I second TC's suggestion & California has a very valuable Express right of Privacy in the State Constitution, Article 1, Section 7. Try it you'll like it.
Thank Willie Brown for that express Right of Privacy. He did the work to get it in the constitution with the 1974 election. When asked why he went to the trouble since the Supreme Court had recognized that, he said - presciently - the Supreme Court has been known to reverse itself. If it's in our constitution they can't touch it.
I think another good initiative would be to forbid the secretary of state from advocating for state issues, either way, in public. Also an incumbent sec. of state who wants to run for another public office (Ohio's Frank LaRose is running for US senate) should be required to either resign or take a leave of absence before beginning any campaign for another office.
Don Plummer, thank you for your additional enlightening insights into the rest of the story. As the news didn’t mention it, and I didn’t catch it anywhere, I didn’t know this.
Serious power grab by the minority ne’er-do-wells. I’m glad folks were paying more attention than I was. I’m currently a Marylander; if I’d been an Ohioan (which I once was), I’d have known. But you’ve let everyone, everywhere know too. Danger! ATTENTION!
I wonder if you made this same post on HCR’s FB page? If not, I’d like to put it there so all those folks can see too.
Nearly every day, to try to raise awareness among my interested FB friends, I share HCR’s FB post along with extracts from the letter itself, or from the comments section. I do my best to pick out the most interesting/inspired/and succinct words. If I share todays letter, I’d like to extract YOUR discussion of the rest of the story - quote you.
I did paste a version of this on Heather's Facebook page, but this one is revised and a bit more polished. I also wrote rather extensively about Issue 1 on my own page (don.plummer.73) over the weekend and up to yesterday, including an explanation of initiative and the history of voter initiatives in Ohio. Feel free to use any or all the information as you wish.
The ability of Michigan voters to approve establishment of an independent redistricting commission was a huge win for democracy here; voters also approved measures that increase early voting, expand the use of absentee ballots (with prepaid postage), and more. We now have three Democratic women holding the positions of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general, and a Democratic-controlled (narrow margin) legislature for the first time in....forever. I hope the GOP and the Supreme Court someday regret that they let the anti-abortion genie out of the bottle; it has energized voters across the country.
Don, Fantastic details for all to read and remember. This push to fascism hidden in “elections” will kill democracy faster than anything. Silence on these attempts is the way repugnants hope to “win” their agenda on the issues you mention. I am so happy your voters fought back at the ballot box!
NPR as usual was careful to include that component--the requirement of signatures from all 88 counties--in their coverage. Although perhaps fewer people watch MSNBC, Morning Edition is actually the top of the food chain in radio listening. And I suspect that their banging of the drum about the election helped a lot. Ohio is, despite the gerrymandering that created this rule by the minority situation in the state leg, a genuinely purple state. It's not just that there are large urban centers dealing with the Rethuglican post-industrial economy that tried to kill them off. Ohio has a ton of colleges and small universities and every college town breeds its own group of interesting voters. Tapping into that brain trust is going to be increasingly necessary, as those same college towns are the targets of gerrymandering as a rule.
I think in the decade since the 2010 census redistricting (not improved much after the 2020 census) resulted in extreme gerrymandering (e.g., Jim Jordan's duck-like district, which at least is no longer so badly configured), a lot of blue Ohioans checked out of the political process. They gave up voting and thus reinforced the grip of Republicans on state government. Hopefully, we are beginning to see a change here. But Ohio voted twice for Obama.
You are right, Don - a similar measure (not quite so onerous) passed in Colorado about eight years ago, when voters were mobilizing to put protections for democracy and nature into the state constitution. I believe ALEC generated model proposals circulated to state legislatures.
One of the other not-widely-reported facts is that Chicago billionaire Richard Uihlein, who is a major contributor to right-wing causes, significantly helped fund the Issue 1 effort. Meanwhile, Issue 1 proponents were claiming that passing Issue 1 would prevent out-of-state "special interests" from messing with Ohio's constitution.
Thank you! As a former Ohioan congratulating a friend who still lives there - we were lamenting this very issue. Most assume it’s about reproductive rights but she and I are convinced it’s part of a larger agenda to make republican-led governments more authoritarian.
Yes. The media really portrayed it as being about abortion rights, when they should have talked about it was about defeating minority rule, and defeat by a single objection.
Nobody is really making the connection between minority rule - a ruling party voted in by less than 50% support - and women’s and LGBTQIA rights. A minority rule government is going to be corrupt, because if they broke the ability of the people to vote them out, then they will take whatever they want. No corrupt party will stay in power if they don’t have an ideological theme that will bring out their voters, so they claim they rule by a religious mandate that gives them the right to set a moral code that suppresses women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA community. And all of their actions that oppress others reinforces that religious mandate. That is how abortion rights is specifically attached to democracy, and the loss of the former is a symptom of the loss of the latter.
Oh, I think it is simpler than that. I'm not disagreeing with your analysis, but the question was "Why aren't "they" reporting this?" And the answer is that today's main stream media isn't doing its job. It is understaffed, the reporters are often inexperienced, and are taking as their role models the least skilled of reporters. Then their is laziness, and the fact that the publishers have expectations often based on who owns the outlet.
But I also have to add that what we choose to read or watch has something to do with it too. There is reportage out there if we look for it. If we want to be informed voters, we need to stretch our willingness to read and listen to things outside what we know and are comfortable with. There ARE a bunch of young reporters, journalists, and editors who are committed to transparency. Propublica is working with a number of outlets in doing deep dives and investigative reporting. The Brennan Institute is dynamite in their focus on not only in helping and supporting good journalism, they sponsor events that the public is invited to. There are more, but there's a start. You'll discover some good stories and learn how to look for good journalism. Go for it.
Thanks for again mentioning this continued push by the R.’s addenda Don, excellent pointing out!
Thanks to the yous and so many others for all the effort , encouragement too,
nothing is too small an effort.
I heard early last night and was thrilled. This is the stuff of paying attention, good media coverage ( rare in todays world) , The Heather’s, The Don’s, The yous .
You nailed it, Don!!! I can only hope that the OH voters saw through the trickery to the greater, deeper issues and it was not just reproductive rights that got the vote out.
Somewhere you would think that in a democracy politicians of different stripes would work to gain the support of a majority. Not so with Republicans. Their agenda don't get support from the majority therefore they need to resort to, dare I say, cheating.
Every time an idea seems totally crazy, irresponsible and dangerous to environment, you can bet your *ss that there’s a lot of money behind it. Might be interesting to check where Gosar and his pals have stacked their dollars.
global heating will likely cause a lot of extinction. Now, in the long run--hundreds of thousands, or millions of years--there will probably be a new equilibrium, but the less sudden global warming the better.
Also, I don't see humans going extinct. But civilization as we know it may disappear, at least for a few hundreds of years, or more, depending on how bad things get. Or there may well be pockets of civilization in places like Iceland.
The planet will not be fine. It's already burning. And flooding. And we're seeing massive numbers of extinctions. If the heating of the planet continues, it will no longer be able to sustain life.
I'm guessing Karen Turley is thinking in a geological timeframe. No, the earth won't be fine in the short term. It wasn't fine during the K-T extinction event 250 or so million years ago (MYA) either, and it wasn't fine after the asteroid hit 65 MYA wiped out the dinosaurs. But the earth eventually healed after both events, and other extinction disasters as well, and it will eventually heal again from our human abuses. It just won't happen in a human timeframe.
I'm only pointing out that Karen's comment wasn't wrong in the long-term view. She also said WE won't be fine. She's not wrong there either. But also read David Holzman's comment (I see it under Karen's).
Yes, thanks, Don. You are correct, and that is indeed what I meant. That's why I said it's in our interest to knock off the BS, because we are definitely short-term creatures. ;)
In today's letter, you highlight the decency and democracy of the Biden administration's actions in stark contrast to the plotting Republicans, working overtime and manipulatively to hobble and erase our democracy.
Literally just came on line to make sure everything was ok when I didn't see an overnight email. I'm a Vote No Ohioan here so looking forward to reading your coverage of our vote here.
I did as well. Given my affinity for ignoring calls and texts from unknown sources, I feel postcards are a way to get around the population that does this as well. A card with a great message and attractive graphics with a little pizazz is something that can be easily revisited and perhaps the message may be read more than once. I hope so anyway!
I write frequently for Northeast AZ Native Democrats; for each email I receive with my addresses there is a picture of someone showing the card they have received and a comment about how appreciative they are for the handwritten message. When I sometimes tire of writing the same website address or phone # I remind myself of those people!
Thanks Heather, we are as addicted to your letters as we are our morning coffees. I am sure everyone was having withdrawal symptoms!
Regarding minority rule, that’s called Fascism. Regarding conservation of our heritage in the pursuit of social Justice, that’s called vision. I rest with the side of vision.
I too have written postcards in past elections. Addressed cards and hand writing a note adds a personal touch that we all hope is effective. I am thinking that in addition to that, the cards could have a scannable bar code and/or a url for background/fact checking the issues.
So do I and wondering if anyone knows how to change one’s credit card (for paying subscription) on Substack. Have given the “help” site all the attention I could with no result.
The Arkansas legislature passed a bill making it much harder to get citizen-initiated things on the ballot. This year, when an unpopular school voucher program passed in the legislature, the AG refused twice to certify language in a citizen-initiated proposal to put the issue to a statewide vote. The long delay made it nearly impossible to get enough signatures before the deadline. Nonetheless, the petition came VERY close to enough signatures through hard work by many volunteers. Another strike against Democracy.
So sorry that you weren’t able to get enough signatures. We have relatives in your state and watch how thoroughly your Governor has learned the lessons at her father’s knee—including doing all that she can to ensure a permanent underclass fueled by exhausted poor high school students who are unable to protest dangerous working conditions.
Heather -I'm so grateful for your letters, your research, citations, and insights. Democracy can only succeed when a society is informed, educated, and engaged. Your continuing efforts to educate and inform are no less than heroic.
'But the implications of making it harder for voters to change laws stretched beyond Ohio...' (Letter)
I think that this statement in today's Letter is a crucial one.
It just may be that the majority of voters in Ohio's election were voting not only to protect their right to abortion but their rights altogether - all together. Voters are getting wise to the Republican Party's moves, through state legislatures and by any means to rob American citizens of their rights for the Republican politicians' self-interest. We are seeing positive signs of Americans protecting the rights of all American citizens. We the people are seeing the light!
I hope you're right, but the percentage of votes to accept the 60% threshold worries me. There are still too many who do not understand the situation. And that is nationwide, not just in Ohio. My own town still has about a third of the voters supporting T****. That's stomach churning.
Hi James, I do think that slowly and, hopefully, not, too, slowly more Americans are seeing their rights being taken away from them by the Republicans. I think that the Democratic Party and its candidates have to expose the facts clearly, succinctly and over and over again. Trump was a 'reality star' and knew how to endlessly say the same thing, so he was amply prepared to effectively tell the same lies over and over again. The democrats have do that with the FACTS!
PS I understand it may seem hopeless but encourage you to talk to your neighbors. Listen to them, and share the facts with them, over and over again. Salud!
I did wonder what had happened. I thought maybe it was a power problem given the weather in the east. My am isn't right until I have had coffee and have read Heather's letter and some of the comments. I read with interest the long comment from Don Plummer (and thank you for informing us) what the Ohio Rs were really up to besides the abortion measure. I do wish the party of death would actually die because they are always up to no good. Think of what we could achieve if they weren't busy sucking energy out the room all the time. Interesting case in the Oregonian this week. A patient at OHSU complained about their trans flag. This person is an oncologist, btw, not some ignorant rube. So in the light of this, OHSU said they were not going to treat her and cited a policy they have about such things. Naturally, this person spread this online to the wing nuts and here we are. OHSU now has a huge target on its back and this will find its way to court. I am sure the usual chorus of death threats is already happening. A Portland hospital did have a shooting recently where a security guard died, so OHSU is probably upping their security as they should. I am equally sure this person knew what was likely to happen and did this deliberately instead of just going for her cancer treatments and being glad they were available.
I didn't know to look on Facebook. I thought maybe a power outage. The am isn't right without Heather and posters. And the secretary of state has ruled that those senators who were absent more than ten times with no excuse cannot run again next term. They will challenge it in court of course. Story about OHSU is in the Oregonian, but it may be behind a pay wall.
I don't why you are making this comment. I said that to demonstrate that the patient is a doctor and not some kind of person who would be ignorant of the rules that the hospital has. She probably knew full well what their policy was and did this deliberately. You can go to the Oregonian on line and read the article for yourself.
Ohioan dialing in. Not only did I vote early, I took a carload of legal voters with me and, as a state, we shut that shit down! Republicans are about to go through some things this November and the next.
Protecting our national monuments and associated lands from development and mining is in the interest of all Americans. Mining and drilling on these lands are shortsighted and will only scar and pollute the land and groundwater. Furthermore, Native Americans were promised representatives to our government and it is about time we give them the Representatives and Senators they need to represent them equally.
Is this Ohio vote another sign that voters are beginning to pay attention to how quickly their rights are being taken away. Ohio has been dragged down by a badly gerrymandered legislature that has abused its power in many ways. Yet, Ohio voted for J.D. Vance against a good centrist Democrat and it wasn’t even that close.
But maybe women are important in America. Maybe, as we saw in Michigan, enough is enough. The liberals got very organized for this. They cared and they voted. If it can happen in Ohio that would be huge. Still, the attention must be paid, money must be raised, and the struggle for freedom and democracy is an (almost) every day thing — we can’t go to the beach with storms like we had yesterday. I hope people are noticing that his summer had different and dangerous weather. Paul Gosar doesn’t believe that we should pay attention to that either.
The Republicans brought out their opposition to Biden's action by using their best and brightest (/s): Paul Gosar. Otherwise known far and wide as the dumbest man in the House.
Looks as if it’s going to be a question of money of which the nearly disappeared middle class has little and the billionaires have a lot. Hoping we don’t have to have another Great Depression to whittle the ultra rich down to size. Good luck to us all.
Rest assured, unlike Republican Teddy Roosevelt, a future Republican president will undo all this and open up the treasured lands for gas and oil exploration. The anti-Native, anti-environment folks on the "right" (too often wrong) will be happy to resurrect their racism and their earth-destruction goals.
One thing reporters have missed about Ohio Issue 1 is that it wasn't only about stopping the abortion initiative scheduled for voting in November. That's where all the attention was given, and that's what proponents and opponents of Issue 1 alike focused on. The 60% super-majority voter threshold for passing it would have effectively killed the abortion rights initiative, of course. No voter initiative has ever achieved 60% of the vote in Ohio in the 111 years Ohio has had an initiative provision.
If state officials and the legislative majority only wanted to stop the abortion rights amendment in November, the 60% vote requirement would have been sufficient. But that's not all Issue 1 would have done.
Issue 1 had an even more onerous provision, intended to prevent voter initiatives from ever being placed on the ballot in the future. Officials didn't talk about it, probably for obvious reasons, and the national media largely missed it. Issue 1 would have raised the bar for collecting signatures to an insurmountable level. Currently a voter initiative can be placed on the ballot if at least a minimum number of valid signatures from half of Ohio's counties--44--are collected. (The number of signatures required from each county is based on a percentage of the number of votes in the last governor's election, I believe.) Issue 1 would have required minimum signatures from all 88 counties. In addition, current provision allows a ten day period for proponents to collect additional signatures if the secretary of state's office determines not enough valid signatures were collected. Issue 1 would have eliminated that grace period.
Our Republican-dominated state government wanted to insure that future voter initiatives could not succeed in even making it to the ballot. They wanted to make sure a future abortion rights petition drive would fail if the November referendum fails. They are also afraid that voters might initiate a petition drive to create an independent redistricting commission, given that they refused to abide by legislature- and voter-approved changes designed to eliminate partisan gerrymandering. Or maybe voters would like to rein in the legislature's gun insanity. And so forth.
Of course, effectively eliminating voter initiative would have taken rights away from all Ohioans of all ideologies, political views, and party affiliations. We are so grateful this power-grab attempt failed, but clearly we have much more work to do to rescue Ohio government from the grip of these anti-democracy ideologues.
Don, a number of hosts on MSNBC and their “legal eagles” explained the “hidden” provisions in the bill, explaining that they were designed to make the Ohio government even less responsive to the voters. Congratulations to your state for rallying to fight this attempt!
Mary, when you consider the Ohio voters, overall, we cannot estimate how many of them watch MSNBC. It may be that more of American people have gotten wise to losing their rights to the Republicans' self-interest. Now wouldn't that be a story; the American citizens are winning back their rights by voting against the Republicans? We the people are seeing the light!
We can hope that folks might be wanting a peek at the truth at long last?
“How did the big three cable newsers fare relative to the year-ago week (Aug. 1, 2022)? MSNBC saw huge gains (as expected), CNN saw slight gains, Fox News continues to see steep losses on an annual basis. MSNBC gained +59% in total primetime viewers, +65% in the primetime demo, +44% in total day viewers and +41% in the total day demo. Fox News shed -11% in total primetime viewers, -26% in the primetime demo, -18% in total day viewers and -30% in the total day demo. CNN improved by +8% in total primetime viewers, +2% in the primetime demo, +7% in total day viewers and +3% in the total day demo vs. the same week in 2022.”
https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/week-of-july-31-basic-cable-ranker-fox-news-remains-no-1-on-cable-cnn-and-msnbc-post-gains-driven-by-trump-arraignment-coverage/535600/
Resistance is NOT futile.
You betcha JL! ❤️❤️ as long as we’re fighting for what’s BEST in us ☮️
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X_fO6A6GFAk
KEEP !, THE FAITH ! Go ! BLUE !!
Love those statistics...thanks!
thanks for posting this good news. Yes, Fern we need to know Fox is still #1, but less so!
Viewership numbers for cable news are checked after each rating period.
In the second quarter of 2023, ratings figures show the following:
'Fox came in first place in total day viewers, averaging 1.1 million, including 140,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research data.'
'MSNBC ranked second, netting a daily average of 796,000 total viewers and 95,000 in the 25-54 age demographic. CNN came in last place among the three leading cable news networks, earning an average of 463,000 total day viewers.'
'During the month of June in primetime, Fox narrowly beat out MSNBC, notching an average of 1.4 million viewers compared to 1.3 million. CNN averaged 635,000 viewers in primetime during the same month.'
'Fox on Monday announced a major overhaul of its primetime programming, moving host Jesse Watters into former pundit Tucker Carlson’s 8 p.m time slot, replacing him at 7 p.m. with longtime 10 p.m. host Laura Ingraham and tapping comedian Greg Gutfeld, a co-host of Watters’s on “The Five,” to host a show in Ingraham’s 10 p.m. hour.' (TheHill)
Good news. Not only is MSNBC gaining on Fox, but MSNBC and CNN combined have overtaken Fox. Without getting into the weeds, it sure looks like there must be new viewers who have realized the importance of paying attention to politics.
Who are these million+ Fox viewers? Housewives, seniors, the unemployed glued to the hate being spewed out? I think it's an addiction; they sure aren't interested in facts.
I love MSNBC
Christy, the headline in adweek, for which you posted a link, read: 'Fox News Remains No. 1 on Cable'. That is a fact not to be ignored.
And of course that is the headline they choose rather than the good news that they are losing numbers. I prefer the positive changes. Progress. 😁
That Fox News is #1 is a fact we need to know. 'The whole truth, nothing but the truth'. I understand you going with the good news, we need to know that as well. Let's keep our eyes on the ball. Cheers!
Christy, unfortunately, I don't understand your reply. The headline adweek chose was to indicate the #1 rated cable news station,. which is the standard procedure. Adweek showed no favoritism. It was losing nothing, simply reporting the rating results. Fox lost viewership, which was reported.
There are millions of people like me who don't watch TV news. You're also going to see the numbers rise during a presidential election, and I'm also sure the numbers grow every time Trump gets indicted.
This is encouraging! But cable TV is dying. The "news" on TV is not a thing for two whole generations. For them, Watters or Melber and company are something their parents watch and are part of their consciousness only if they are viewed or quoted on a news aggregator on their phones.
While Fox should continue to enrage us, they are in a media spiral dive. And advertisers are shifting their money to streaming services. Cable news is losing its impact. And that is a good thing. Because it ceased being news years ago. It's "outrage entertainment" posing as information.
It may be dying Bill, but it still has plenty of life left in the over 50 crowd in rural areas, where it is sometimes on constantly. And those folks don’t need encouragement to vote. Checked stats and there remain 75 million subscribers to cable TV.
Quite true, of course. And we can't expect them to change.
What keeps me optimistic in the long run is the trend. Younger people are more tolerant, more realistic about science and they are increasingly diverse. I am working on my hope factor :)
Wonderful!
Yes, I agree with you, Fern. The Ohio Republican super-majority was attempting to make Issue 1 a Trojan horse, of sorts by scheduling a special election in August when many people are on vacation and voter turn-out in August special elections of the past have yielded very low turn-ot(7%, I believe from last year's August special election). A massive grassroots effort throughout the country to "Vote No" was very effective in making Ohioans aware of what was going to take place if the bill was not defeated. As an Ohioan and also an election official, I am filled with gratitude from all of those who helped expose this Trojan horse for the deceptive fraud that it was. Thank-you all.
Victoria, I am grateful to you for being an election official in the state of Ohio or in any state in the USA! Thank you.
It does my heart good when all of us work together for a common goal and actually succeed.I look at this Ohio victory as a sort of bellwether for the upcoming presidential election in 2024. Imagine what we can accomplish if we keep working together. Like Joyce Vance says,"We are in this together".
Yes, grassroots CAN and in this case DID work, and who's to say what spillover into state and federal elections?
Hallelujah!
GLORY !,,, Unto OUR LORD/GOD ! Linda! ( HE IS ! ,,,,STILL !, In CONTROL !
Excellent point!
It was widely reported on outlets other than MSNBC, and maybe more important, organizers, including those making phone calls and going door to door, brought it up often.
Susanna, with accurate reports from variously sources absorbed by some number of Ohio's voters this week and through their own observations, along with conversations with others -- a majority voted on behalf of the rights of American citizens. It was a victory for the journalists, truth tellers, pro-democracy organizations, the well informed and for democracy in America. It was a victory as a result of us working together.
Given the threading (and the lengths of the subthreads), you may not have realized that my comment was in response to those who were possibly overemphasizing the significance of MSNBC.
Thank you for recognizing why I responded to you as I did, Susanna. Your initial reply was to me, while Mary was the subscriber crediting MSNBC. Hosts on that outlet do an excellent job. I understand her gratitude to them but knew that there were many contributors to the victory, voters, in particular. Cheers!
When I was writing postcards I knew about the "all 88 counties" and gerrymandering issues Ohioans were facing. But being a believer in the "too long, didn't read" phenomenon, I kept the message short and simple by focusing on voting to keep their simple majority that's been in place for 100 years.
Thank you!
Good. I listened to MSNBC last night, and Monday night, and only heard the personalities talk about the 60% vote threshold and its connection to the proposed abortion amendment, not Issue 1's ramifications for future initiatives. I must not have been tuned in at the right time, or listened to the right people. I think if more Ohio voters had known the larger picture, that this was a frontal attack on EVERYONE's rights--as you might guess, a lot of disinformation was circulated--I think the 'no' vote majority would have been even more lopsided; even some anti-abortion Ohioans might have opposed Issue 1. Maybe some did.
Agree. and MSNBC is still, this morning, discussing this as only a win for abortion rights. It's much bigger than that. While it might have initially been about the November ballot initiative, it is an attack on every single voter's rights and a way to secure minority rule.
I can only tolerate the morning shows if I am specifically trying to catch up on some big news. End up muting much of it to get what I need to know. Too much blah blah blah by #45
I AGREE, Christy! hIS FACE ! , and hIS GUMFLAPP !! , Needs To VAPOUR-IZE ! As Monty Python Describes ! " THIS!, is AN X PARROTT !!"
I think it was either Katy Tur, Nicole Wallace or Ari Melber.
NICOLE is 4 pm Eastern ARI MELBAR's program is after Nicole at six (6) pm Eastern competing well in a major commercial market. On Mondays RACHEL MADDOW is next but, Rachel is a Producer & has developed new msnbc content substantive Platforms.
Now that Rachel Maddow is only on Monday nights (and for special occasions), Ari is their top draw. Here in Houston, Katy Tur is at 2pm CST, Nicole from 3-5 and Ari at 5.
Love Katy Tur, a national voice for Children & many other topics. Katy paid tough & turbulent dues reporting at tfg rallies in 2025-16.
Don’t know about Mon night so much,, but it has definitely been the narrative in the evening programs on going
MSNBC folks, and all of their legal analysts/attorneys don’t miss much. It’s the only news program I watch anymore. And, I highly recommend everyone to tune into it to learn what’s really going on in the country.
Lawrence O'Donnell's frequent lineup of lawyers — especially Andrew Weissmann, Neil Katyal, and Bradley Moss — are can't miss for explaining the legal complexities of our politics today.
One I definitely don’t miss is Rachel Maddow on Monday nights. It’s a just see. That woman tells it like it is.
Another I don’t kiss that’s a ‘once a week’ program is Sunday at noon. Jen Psaki. She used to be the White House Press Secretary
Which host? I do Katy Tur and Ari Melber daily along with Rachel Maddow weekly.
Nicolle Wallace, Ali Velshi, Jonathan Capeheart, Mehdi Hasan, Chris Jansing, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, etc.
Exactly!
Lawrence O’Donnell, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes, etc.
Nicolle Wallace is the best. I listen every day. She has a variety of guests the other hosts don't have. She asks great questions and does wonderful follow-up.
I agree! Katy Tur has surprised me with how good she’s gotten.
The list you have been given already, plus Joe Scarborough “Morning Joe” airs daily 6-10 s.m. I never miss any of them. I leave my tv on it all day and night so I can hear the news constantly. Being homebound and disabled allows me to do that.
I find that the morning show and the early afternoon shows have the same wonderful guests (looking at Joyce Vance, Andrew Weismann and Neal Katyal) as the evening shows, but it seems that they get more airtime. Ari Melber’s legal training is especially useful right now.
Poor Andrew Weismann, seemingly is brought in day and night. He must be sleeping there LOL. I’m glad!! Those three plus Ari are my “go to” right now!!
Aargh! In no way am I disparaging your news habits, Daniel, but I am not watching Joe much anymore. He's a bit too "loud" and "showy" for me. Now other reporters, as listed above, are quite good if less intense.
I don’t watch Joe anymore much either.
I respect that. I like him because he’s a ‘converted Republican’ as most of them on that network are. They’ll tell you quick the Republican Party they used to belong to is dead.
Yes, Joe gets rather boisterous at times, but his co-host just lets him blow, then she’ll interrupt and get him back on track. He does give a lot of good input to these topics since he served on Capitol Hill.
Daniel ? Question, ( You DONT, have to Answer it, IF, IM Being too Nosey ) Is the Disablment, from Service, in The Military ? IN All Cases, GOD BLESS , ! You !
Mark, I have no issue answering anting ask.
My disability is in a combination of firefighting and law enforcement.
As a firefighter I had occasion to enter numerous rather dangerous fire situations where severe toxic fumes were present, but we didn’t know it at the time. Back in those days, with the fire departments I was associated with we didn’t have the fancy equipment that they now have. My lungs are at less than 40% now. They were above 50%, but I contracted COVID last year in March, and, since I hadn’t had any vaccination for it if any kind, it took a bad toll on my lungs.
My leg injuries are from my firefighting and law enforcement both. Plus, I now weigh over 500 pounds, which carrying that weight never helps. I have lost over 270 pounds in two plus years, so I’m progressing, but I have about another 125 to go.
My legs were injured on a gout chase over railroad tracks, tracking an escapee from the prison. He was armed to the teeth from a home he had broken into, and the prison ask for the sheriffs department assistance. We chased this character over three days ehen my partner and I spotted him on the tracks. I bailed snd my partner headed to the other end to block him off, snd make sure he didn’t get off the tracks to escape us again. We chased him into a local barn where he started shooting. Things didn’t end well for him.
Case closed. His prison sentence was served.
Nicolle wallace, Ari Melbourne, Joy Reid , Chris Hayes and Lawrence O’Donnell are my go - to on current events .
Hi Daniel! I have antennae only -not putting money into their pockets too many B grade stations- however get to watch J.Capehart/ Jen once in awhile , they ARE good. PBS is an option and they’re pretty good. Everyone has preferences and capabilities diff from waaaay back in rural paradise 😉
I thought a few mins ago we don’t make too much noise we just get the job done , the trending is hopefully but yes A LOT to do yet.
Love the posts folks.Thanks Daniel🫶
Since you have antenna, I know you have internet, or phone. You might download the podcast app and check out all of these folks on the podcast. They also are there, and it’s FREE!!! I listen to all of them on their respective podcast.
I have that old fashion kind of antennae not Huges or Dish kind (too many trees ) my WiFi comes thru a DSL line with ( but separate from ) my phone . But I do have a Podcast app,along with Substack and several others. We consider it all a luxury , raise our own food , cut the trees, milled the lumber , built this and two other homes, It’s 26 miles to a mall/shopping center once every 6? Wks , but country store 8 miles is homey and handy.
The kids come in fairly often , all tech savvy, big jobs, doing well , we are so veryblessed. You all are a joy for me and the ol’ man ( who said it would only be a dead mouse he’d touch ) has finally found this ‘puter stuff not so bad after all😂.
Back-to-the-landers , old hippies perhaps , this world is so fascinating , diverse, and rather in a pickle but it seems a world away , we did our time avid protests and fighting for the little guys building this.
My morning coffee is with you, reading your stories, ideas, and I’m so very grateful for the young’uns coming along to pick up and carry it on. They’re …along with many of you still… our hope the g.children and great g. children get to better it more and keep truth in sight.
Stay the course Daniel, Substack friends 🫶and
💙💙VOTE💙💙
Dang, Patricia! I wish I had your lifestyle right now. I’d love it.
I was born, raised on a farm in western Palm Beach County, Florida, back in the early 50s. Life in Florida was a lot different then. If you didn’t raise your food out in the country, you starved. Now, the farms are disappearing faster than anything, because the government in Florida doesn’t want farms in Florida.
Now, after my career in law enforcement, and firefighting, I was forced to retire in 1995, at the age of 45. I did don’t j she much in my career, especially with a family, 4 children in school when I was forced to retire.
Now, I live alone, still disabled, homebound, unable to drive myself anywhere. I have a lady that helps me daily, and I give her $300 every two weeks. That takes all my state retirement check every month to pay her. But without her, I couldn’t survive alone, I don’t believe.
It’s really hard being on oxygen and breathing machines to live, taking 22 medications daily, 3 times a day, just to keep your lungs, and heart, functioning.
You have no idea how many times I wished I had my sidearm, still.
Living like this is pure hell!
Do most Americans even consider that the most important votes that they cast are NOT for president, for senators or representatives, or governors, but for those running for State legislatures, those ‘down-ballot’ candidates whose names you don’t even recognize? While all elections are important, State legislatures are the front lines where the battle between those who support democracy and those who oppose it is being fought. Debates in Congress and what gets before the Supreme Court usually relate to State laws. All too often, State legislative positions are filled with political hacks who do not care about what is in the best interests of the people.
Do you know who your own State legislators are? Name them. Hmm. I thought so.
State and local offices are all important. School boards have become culture-war battlegrounds; people need to pay more attention to those races too.
Since you asked, Jack: In VA, my Democratic Senator Bell is retiring; Democrat Russet Perry is running to take his place! Also, my Republican Delegate - LaRock - has been redistricted away from me (yay). Democrat Rob Banse is running to take his place! Can't wait to vote in November!
25 years ago a current events group speaker told us it was important to watch our state legislature. Opened my eyes. Living in a reliably blue state I am mostly satisfied with what happens in Springfield (except for the governors, of both parties, that keep going to prison.) Keeping up with 49 other states however is a more time-consuming task. A huge problem is the decline of journalism, especially covering local politics. All local government is underreported. State senator, Sara Feigenholtz, state representative, Margaret Croke.
Time was when all the newspapers around a state had statehouse news bureaus to keep residents who don't live in the capital city informed about what their legislators and state officials are doing. Not so much anymore. I would not be a bit surprised if only a minority of Ohioans who don't live in and near Columbus even know that last year the Republican dominated redistricting commission ignored the state constitution and refused to draw non-gerrymandered maps, even though the maps they drew were repeatedly ruled unconstitutional by the state supreme court. I even wonder how many Columbus residents followed the story closely.
Actually, the USA today Ohio news bureau has a stellar squad of female reporters who covered this like a blanket. And since most major Ohio papers are owned by Gannett (that's a story for another day), most Ohioans knew the sorry details of Issue 1. The Scripps TV Statehouse reporter did a great job, too.
Good to know.
At least you're in a blue State. Not the case in Fla, where our legislature is deeply red. My State legislators (Lori Berman in the Senate, Kelly Skidmore in the House) are reliably blue. Glad to see that you and others who've commented know who their State legislators are. I still maintain that most do not, but things may be changing soon, I hope.
Amen, GMB. I think the point is that we need to be aware of our own local and state elections and issues, and work on what needs to change. We don't need to try to follow 49 other states: as you pointed out it is an impossibility. But we CAN do the small things within our power that help boost the efforts of folks in some of them. I agree with you 100% about the underreporting of what's happening at the local level. So we need to find ways around that. Local chat boards? Attending local meetings and speaking to something of concern? Writing a substack aimed at your community. Or if someone lives near a statehouse that is not covered, and has the time, got to meetings and report on them. (I've actually done this by following issues on Zoomcasts of legislature committees and floor meetings.)
Americans are creative. We need to use that creativity to figure ways sideways around the lack of (or failure of ) media coverage. My town adopted our local newspaper, and turned it into a non-profit community owned entity. It's growing faster than its revenues to print, so we are working on finding more than subscriptions and ads to support it. Because we remember when the selectboard meetings were always covered and people showed up at the meetings to speak. And we like knowing what is happening in our communities. All of our reps now write regular columns. OUr vote rate has always been high, but the paper helps make sure we actually know what we are voting about.
I have suspected for some time that local news - via print, which is expensive but cheaper than traditional broadcast media, and via the internet, and via the blogs and vlogs of commentators who commit to both fair reporting and transparency about their own inevitable biases - is the future of news.
I always remind people that it all starts at the local level. Know who you are voting for! Look at how many whackados have been elected to school boards and what they are trying do. Basically it is about killing public education!
Your comment is on point, but you could have dropped the last paragraph and skipped the insult. Even if we weren't the choir, offending people with assumptions doesn't work. It backfires. Jack, you surely are aware of that. People here have been writing about this for a long time now, and sharing ways to get at those issues. We often hear from people who are taking action at the local and state legislature, Care to share some of your ideas for reaching out to people around us to do the same?
My personal experience is based on the fact that most people around here (retirement community in Fla.) don't know who their State reps are. I am sorry if that might have been offensive to some. The key words, wihich you just used, are 'reaching out.' Up to now, the State Dem. party has failed to do that. They must develop active groups to reach out among women, minorities, and young people. (There is such a group developing for Latino voters, but it is outside of the party's structure.) Many years ago, I belonged to a 'Young Democrats' group up north. Never heard of any such thing down here. There's nothing to compare with the conservative 'Turning Point USA' group. So what might provide strong support remains apolitical.
State legislators are the most important. And yes, they are the backbone to what runs the states, and country. The President not a state Governor can do much if anything if they can’t get it passed by Congress, or state legislatures, respectively.
Thus is why nothing’s been done sine the 2022 election in Washington. The House of Representatives is too busy trying to dig up dirt on Biden, Hunter’s laptop, and other bull 💩!
I wrote postcards to voters in your state and I contacted friends in Ohio so they could also pass the word...but it was Ohioans who made this happen! YAY! for Ohio!!!! Keep up the good fight!
Thanks, Don. This issue has been under reported, if reported at all. Legislators in Idaho have been trying to do the same thing. They really do not have any respect for the people they are elected to represent!
First time I've heard it said specifically that these Republican legislators have no respect for their constituents. I think that's a powerful statement that should be repeated over and over again. And they can't have respect because power and money are their driving motivations. How they have managed to persuade millions of moderate income folks that they are on their side blows my mind. Perhaps it's the power of arousing anger and fear, which they know how to do very well. I wonder what messaging that teases that out would look like.
You should live in Massachusetts: we say that all the time. Our legislature has a storied history of ignoring the will of the people... even when ballot initiatives pass, they just turn their heads and look away.
And in Ohio, term limits don't help, either. By the time the new legislator knows what's what, his or her term is up, so instead they are led around by lobbiests.
I believe that is one of the basic tenets of Republicanism.
You guys in Ohio should take as your next assignment getting a voter-approved independent redistricting commission. When we got that in California, it effectively killed the GOP here outside of a few places nobody with a brain would choose to live in.
I second TC's suggestion & California has a very valuable Express right of Privacy in the State Constitution, Article 1, Section 7. Try it you'll like it.
Thank Willie Brown for that express Right of Privacy. He did the work to get it in the constitution with the 1974 election. When asked why he went to the trouble since the Supreme Court had recognized that, he said - presciently - the Supreme Court has been known to reverse itself. If it's in our constitution they can't touch it.
I think another good initiative would be to forbid the secretary of state from advocating for state issues, either way, in public. Also an incumbent sec. of state who wants to run for another public office (Ohio's Frank LaRose is running for US senate) should be required to either resign or take a leave of absence before beginning any campaign for another office.
Agreed!
Working on it!
TC, what worked in CA could backfire bigtime in some other states.
Don Plummer, thank you for your additional enlightening insights into the rest of the story. As the news didn’t mention it, and I didn’t catch it anywhere, I didn’t know this.
Serious power grab by the minority ne’er-do-wells. I’m glad folks were paying more attention than I was. I’m currently a Marylander; if I’d been an Ohioan (which I once was), I’d have known. But you’ve let everyone, everywhere know too. Danger! ATTENTION!
I wonder if you made this same post on HCR’s FB page? If not, I’d like to put it there so all those folks can see too.
Nearly every day, to try to raise awareness among my interested FB friends, I share HCR’s FB post along with extracts from the letter itself, or from the comments section. I do my best to pick out the most interesting/inspired/and succinct words. If I share todays letter, I’d like to extract YOUR discussion of the rest of the story - quote you.
Thanks again!
I did paste a version of this on Heather's Facebook page, but this one is revised and a bit more polished. I also wrote rather extensively about Issue 1 on my own page (don.plummer.73) over the weekend and up to yesterday, including an explanation of initiative and the history of voter initiatives in Ohio. Feel free to use any or all the information as you wish.
Don, thanks. I just followed you, here on Substack.
I haven't published anything here (yet)!
The ability of Michigan voters to approve establishment of an independent redistricting commission was a huge win for democracy here; voters also approved measures that increase early voting, expand the use of absentee ballots (with prepaid postage), and more. We now have three Democratic women holding the positions of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general, and a Democratic-controlled (narrow margin) legislature for the first time in....forever. I hope the GOP and the Supreme Court someday regret that they let the anti-abortion genie out of the bottle; it has energized voters across the country.
Don, Fantastic details for all to read and remember. This push to fascism hidden in “elections” will kill democracy faster than anything. Silence on these attempts is the way repugnants hope to “win” their agenda on the issues you mention. I am so happy your voters fought back at the ballot box!
A summary of the effects of a 60% requirement for amendments can be found here:
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/08/07/what-ohio-amendments-wouldnt-have-passed-with-a-60-threshold/
NPR as usual was careful to include that component--the requirement of signatures from all 88 counties--in their coverage. Although perhaps fewer people watch MSNBC, Morning Edition is actually the top of the food chain in radio listening. And I suspect that their banging of the drum about the election helped a lot. Ohio is, despite the gerrymandering that created this rule by the minority situation in the state leg, a genuinely purple state. It's not just that there are large urban centers dealing with the Rethuglican post-industrial economy that tried to kill them off. Ohio has a ton of colleges and small universities and every college town breeds its own group of interesting voters. Tapping into that brain trust is going to be increasingly necessary, as those same college towns are the targets of gerrymandering as a rule.
Spot on analysis Professor.
I think in the decade since the 2010 census redistricting (not improved much after the 2020 census) resulted in extreme gerrymandering (e.g., Jim Jordan's duck-like district, which at least is no longer so badly configured), a lot of blue Ohioans checked out of the political process. They gave up voting and thus reinforced the grip of Republicans on state government. Hopefully, we are beginning to see a change here. But Ohio voted twice for Obama.
You are right, Don - a similar measure (not quite so onerous) passed in Colorado about eight years ago, when voters were mobilizing to put protections for democracy and nature into the state constitution. I believe ALEC generated model proposals circulated to state legislatures.
One of the other not-widely-reported facts is that Chicago billionaire Richard Uihlein, who is a major contributor to right-wing causes, significantly helped fund the Issue 1 effort. Meanwhile, Issue 1 proponents were claiming that passing Issue 1 would prevent out-of-state "special interests" from messing with Ohio's constitution.
I stopped doing business with RU's company Uline.
Projection, anyone?
Love the irony. How these people lie and turn things around to engender mistrust. Looks like it turned against them.
ALEC’s evil paws are on any state activity. “Model proposals” can be found on any issue that repubs want to flip to their advantage
Thank you! As a former Ohioan congratulating a friend who still lives there - we were lamenting this very issue. Most assume it’s about reproductive rights but she and I are convinced it’s part of a larger agenda to make republican-led governments more authoritarian.
Yes. The media really portrayed it as being about abortion rights, when they should have talked about it was about defeating minority rule, and defeat by a single objection.
Why aren’t they reporting this?
Nobody is really making the connection between minority rule - a ruling party voted in by less than 50% support - and women’s and LGBTQIA rights. A minority rule government is going to be corrupt, because if they broke the ability of the people to vote them out, then they will take whatever they want. No corrupt party will stay in power if they don’t have an ideological theme that will bring out their voters, so they claim they rule by a religious mandate that gives them the right to set a moral code that suppresses women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA community. And all of their actions that oppress others reinforces that religious mandate. That is how abortion rights is specifically attached to democracy, and the loss of the former is a symptom of the loss of the latter.
Oh, I think it is simpler than that. I'm not disagreeing with your analysis, but the question was "Why aren't "they" reporting this?" And the answer is that today's main stream media isn't doing its job. It is understaffed, the reporters are often inexperienced, and are taking as their role models the least skilled of reporters. Then their is laziness, and the fact that the publishers have expectations often based on who owns the outlet.
But I also have to add that what we choose to read or watch has something to do with it too. There is reportage out there if we look for it. If we want to be informed voters, we need to stretch our willingness to read and listen to things outside what we know and are comfortable with. There ARE a bunch of young reporters, journalists, and editors who are committed to transparency. Propublica is working with a number of outlets in doing deep dives and investigative reporting. The Brennan Institute is dynamite in their focus on not only in helping and supporting good journalism, they sponsor events that the public is invited to. There are more, but there's a start. You'll discover some good stories and learn how to look for good journalism. Go for it.
Thanks for again mentioning this continued push by the R.’s addenda Don, excellent pointing out!
Thanks to the yous and so many others for all the effort , encouragement too,
nothing is too small an effort.
I heard early last night and was thrilled. This is the stuff of paying attention, good media coverage ( rare in todays world) , The Heather’s, The Don’s, The yous .
Bravo👏
Stay the course ,Folks🫶
And 💙💙VOTE💙💙
You nailed it, Don!!! I can only hope that the OH voters saw through the trickery to the greater, deeper issues and it was not just reproductive rights that got the vote out.
This is scary sh*t.
Somewhere you would think that in a democracy politicians of different stripes would work to gain the support of a majority. Not so with Republicans. Their agenda don't get support from the majority therefore they need to resort to, dare I say, cheating.
Crazy to want Uranium so you can build bombs to kill people even if the process kills the local children.
We already have enough bombs to destroy the world. It’s time to save the planet.
Every time an idea seems totally crazy, irresponsible and dangerous to environment, you can bet your *ss that there’s a lot of money behind it. Might be interesting to check where Gosar and his pals have stacked their dollars.
And for 1.3% of our country’s reserves? Crazy.
Just have to say that the planet will probably be fine regardless of what we do, but WE won't.
It's in our own interest to stop being so money-grubbingly short-sighted. ;)
global heating will likely cause a lot of extinction. Now, in the long run--hundreds of thousands, or millions of years--there will probably be a new equilibrium, but the less sudden global warming the better.
Also, I don't see humans going extinct. But civilization as we know it may disappear, at least for a few hundreds of years, or more, depending on how bad things get. Or there may well be pockets of civilization in places like Iceland.
Wildfires in Hawaii...
Iceland is in fact very civilized.
On the island of Maui. Many buildings burned in old Lahaina, fires pushed by heavy winds. 6 dead 🙏
Yes, that's what BBC News said this morning - I couldn't find anything else on the internet about how much of Hawaii was involved. Thanks.
And will probably maintain more suitable temps. And, yeah, wildfires in Hawaii is weird and doesn't bode well.
The planet will not be fine. It's already burning. And flooding. And we're seeing massive numbers of extinctions. If the heating of the planet continues, it will no longer be able to sustain life.
I'm guessing Karen Turley is thinking in a geological timeframe. No, the earth won't be fine in the short term. It wasn't fine during the K-T extinction event 250 or so million years ago (MYA) either, and it wasn't fine after the asteroid hit 65 MYA wiped out the dinosaurs. But the earth eventually healed after both events, and other extinction disasters as well, and it will eventually heal again from our human abuses. It just won't happen in a human timeframe.
Oh. Gee. Thanks. I guess I'll stop worrying...are you a scientist? How many planets destroyed by human stupidity are you familiar with?
I'm only pointing out that Karen's comment wasn't wrong in the long-term view. She also said WE won't be fine. She's not wrong there either. But also read David Holzman's comment (I see it under Karen's).
Yes, thanks, Don. You are correct, and that is indeed what I meant. That's why I said it's in our interest to knock off the BS, because we are definitely short-term creatures. ;)
So unless it's a million years, it's "short term"? Kindly explain.
Our planet will resemble Venus at the rate we’re going.
It's not about uranium. It's about power.
I checked Facebook, too, out of concern for you. Should this happen again, I vote for you going to bed!
Agreed.
In today's letter, you highlight the decency and democracy of the Biden administration's actions in stark contrast to the plotting Republicans, working overtime and manipulatively to hobble and erase our democracy.
The comments to yesterday’s letter contained this link naming the groups that trying to take us down:
https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/
I just looked at the link. It shows a long line of deceptively named organizations.
Holy 💩! I missed that! They made their own list of Fascist Organiztions!! 😳
Lots of dark money there, spread out and then pulled together in one place again. Makes me feel kind of sick.
Strange how all this happens when there is an election coming along..........why did Biden take so long?
Literally just came on line to make sure everything was ok when I didn't see an overnight email. I'm a Vote No Ohioan here so looking forward to reading your coverage of our vote here.
I wrote postcards for your state, so happy for the result!
I did as well. Given my affinity for ignoring calls and texts from unknown sources, I feel postcards are a way to get around the population that does this as well. A card with a great message and attractive graphics with a little pizazz is something that can be easily revisited and perhaps the message may be read more than once. I hope so anyway!
Not to mention stuck to the refrigerator as a constant reminder!
I write frequently for Northeast AZ Native Democrats; for each email I receive with my addresses there is a picture of someone showing the card they have received and a comment about how appreciative they are for the handwritten message. When I sometimes tire of writing the same website address or phone # I remind myself of those people!
Me, too! 💫🎉💫
I did also and am delighted the vote went the way it did.
Me, too
Me too. ✍
Congratulations! Thinking ahead to writing postcards ahead of the November vote!
Hartmann is smart and prescient
Thanks Heather, we are as addicted to your letters as we are our morning coffees. I am sure everyone was having withdrawal symptoms!
Regarding minority rule, that’s called Fascism. Regarding conservation of our heritage in the pursuit of social Justice, that’s called vision. I rest with the side of vision.
In Kentucky, where our Democratic Governor Andy Beshear is running for re-election this fall, he states it as a choice between vision and division.
I too have written postcards in past elections. Addressed cards and hand writing a note adds a personal touch that we all hope is effective. I am thinking that in addition to that, the cards could have a scannable bar code and/or a url for background/fact checking the issues.
So do I and wondering if anyone knows how to change one’s credit card (for paying subscription) on Substack. Have given the “help” site all the attention I could with no result.
Write directly to Substack for help. support@Substack.com
Thank you very much. I did it!
My morning was thrown off for sure! So sad I am such a creature of habit!
You aren’t the only one! I was concerned when I didn’t see a letter!
The Arkansas legislature passed a bill making it much harder to get citizen-initiated things on the ballot. This year, when an unpopular school voucher program passed in the legislature, the AG refused twice to certify language in a citizen-initiated proposal to put the issue to a statewide vote. The long delay made it nearly impossible to get enough signatures before the deadline. Nonetheless, the petition came VERY close to enough signatures through hard work by many volunteers. Another strike against Democracy.
Arkansas has really tipped to having a plantation mentality. They elected a governor whose only qualification is that she is a skilled liar.
Boy, is she ever!! She was groomed to be hateful and lying from a very early age.
Sad Sack Sanders and her Hayseed Homophobe father really embarrass Arkansas, don't they?!? Lil' Abner and his clan would have been better
Lil’ Abner, indeed! Just the other day I was thinking of Joe BFLSTK
Plantation mentality! Love it.
So sorry that you weren’t able to get enough signatures. We have relatives in your state and watch how thoroughly your Governor has learned the lessons at her father’s knee—including doing all that she can to ensure a permanent underclass fueled by exhausted poor high school students who are unable to protest dangerous working conditions.
Heather -I'm so grateful for your letters, your research, citations, and insights. Democracy can only succeed when a society is informed, educated, and engaged. Your continuing efforts to educate and inform are no less than heroic.
Thank you!
'But the implications of making it harder for voters to change laws stretched beyond Ohio...' (Letter)
I think that this statement in today's Letter is a crucial one.
It just may be that the majority of voters in Ohio's election were voting not only to protect their right to abortion but their rights altogether - all together. Voters are getting wise to the Republican Party's moves, through state legislatures and by any means to rob American citizens of their rights for the Republican politicians' self-interest. We are seeing positive signs of Americans protecting the rights of all American citizens. We the people are seeing the light!
I hope you're right, but the percentage of votes to accept the 60% threshold worries me. There are still too many who do not understand the situation. And that is nationwide, not just in Ohio. My own town still has about a third of the voters supporting T****. That's stomach churning.
Hi James, I do think that slowly and, hopefully, not, too, slowly more Americans are seeing their rights being taken away from them by the Republicans. I think that the Democratic Party and its candidates have to expose the facts clearly, succinctly and over and over again. Trump was a 'reality star' and knew how to endlessly say the same thing, so he was amply prepared to effectively tell the same lies over and over again. The democrats have do that with the FACTS!
PS I understand it may seem hopeless but encourage you to talk to your neighbors. Listen to them, and share the facts with them, over and over again. Salud!
I did check FB and was glad to see you were safe and sound. Thank you so much, Professor Richardson!
I did the same. I can’t start my morning without LFAA.
I did wonder what had happened. I thought maybe it was a power problem given the weather in the east. My am isn't right until I have had coffee and have read Heather's letter and some of the comments. I read with interest the long comment from Don Plummer (and thank you for informing us) what the Ohio Rs were really up to besides the abortion measure. I do wish the party of death would actually die because they are always up to no good. Think of what we could achieve if they weren't busy sucking energy out the room all the time. Interesting case in the Oregonian this week. A patient at OHSU complained about their trans flag. This person is an oncologist, btw, not some ignorant rube. So in the light of this, OHSU said they were not going to treat her and cited a policy they have about such things. Naturally, this person spread this online to the wing nuts and here we are. OHSU now has a huge target on its back and this will find its way to court. I am sure the usual chorus of death threats is already happening. A Portland hospital did have a shooting recently where a security guard died, so OHSU is probably upping their security as they should. I am equally sure this person knew what was likely to happen and did this deliberately instead of just going for her cancer treatments and being glad they were available.
I hadn't heard that. What drivel that will turn into disaster.
I am with you; my day cannot start without LFAA, and the Facebook comments do not rise to the level of community we have here.
I didn't know to look on Facebook. I thought maybe a power outage. The am isn't right without Heather and posters. And the secretary of state has ruled that those senators who were absent more than ten times with no excuse cannot run again next term. They will challenge it in court of course. Story about OHSU is in the Oregonian, but it may be behind a pay wall.
Thanks; I’ll check it out.
You wrote: This person is an oncologist, btw, not some ignorant rube.
I beg to differ. ; ()
I don't why you are making this comment. I said that to demonstrate that the patient is a doctor and not some kind of person who would be ignorant of the rules that the hospital has. She probably knew full well what their policy was and did this deliberately. You can go to the Oregonian on line and read the article for yourself.
Ohioan dialing in. Not only did I vote early, I took a carload of legal voters with me and, as a state, we shut that shit down! Republicans are about to go through some things this November and the next.
Ha!
Yes indeed, JB! Job well done!
Dare I ask where Trump lapdog and hedge funded hillbilly J.D. Vance was on this issue?!?
Vance was on the wrong side of the moral line as usual. He’s a hack and a fraud.
good for you & good for Ohio. Vote blue up & down the ticket, get those bastard, cheating republicans out of your legislatures!
💯🙏
Brava!
Protecting our national monuments and associated lands from development and mining is in the interest of all Americans. Mining and drilling on these lands are shortsighted and will only scar and pollute the land and groundwater. Furthermore, Native Americans were promised representatives to our government and it is about time we give them the Representatives and Senators they need to represent them equally.
It definetly shows folks care about you Heather! I actually got to thinking about who I can possibly read on a daily basis that meets your caliber.
So bottom line, take care of yourself and don’t lose sleep over the internet.
Is this Ohio vote another sign that voters are beginning to pay attention to how quickly their rights are being taken away. Ohio has been dragged down by a badly gerrymandered legislature that has abused its power in many ways. Yet, Ohio voted for J.D. Vance against a good centrist Democrat and it wasn’t even that close.
But maybe women are important in America. Maybe, as we saw in Michigan, enough is enough. The liberals got very organized for this. They cared and they voted. If it can happen in Ohio that would be huge. Still, the attention must be paid, money must be raised, and the struggle for freedom and democracy is an (almost) every day thing — we can’t go to the beach with storms like we had yesterday. I hope people are noticing that his summer had different and dangerous weather. Paul Gosar doesn’t believe that we should pay attention to that either.
The Republicans brought out their opposition to Biden's action by using their best and brightest (/s): Paul Gosar. Otherwise known far and wide as the dumbest man in the House.
Not so dumb, James, but very insane and evil. Just ask his many siblings.
Looks as if it’s going to be a question of money of which the nearly disappeared middle class has little and the billionaires have a lot. Hoping we don’t have to have another Great Depression to whittle the ultra rich down to size. Good luck to us all.
Way to go Ohio!
Rest assured, unlike Republican Teddy Roosevelt, a future Republican president will undo all this and open up the treasured lands for gas and oil exploration. The anti-Native, anti-environment folks on the "right" (too often wrong) will be happy to resurrect their racism and their earth-destruction goals.
Well said, Kinsman. The RepubliQan way is only that of greed, avarice, and exploitation of the land, the water, the air, and the peoples.
Thank you! I wonder if the Red State REDnecks have even the smallest clue as to what their Party is actually doing that will harm them?
Perhaps when they realize they don’t have any rights! It won’t just be Dems losing rights it will be everyone! And then it will be too late.
I know that my former cohort has no clue at all about the harm. All they care about are the “woke” “issues”. They think their guns will save them.
I think the current generation, coming up in the time of global heating, is not going to contribute more than a few of its members to the GOP.
sad but true, greed rules all!