I hope women heed President Biden's call to action, to vote to codify Roe as federal law. Marching is good; it isn't enough. Petitions are good; they aren't enough. We all—and especially women—must VOTE.
I hope women heed President Biden's call to action, to vote to codify Roe as federal law. Marching is good; it isn't enough. Petitions are good; they aren't enough. We all—and especially women—must VOTE.
Women make up more than half of the U.S. population, yet the majority of elected and appointed positions in government are held by men. Yes, women need to vote, but they must also run, win, serve, and lead. RepresentWomen works to advance women's representation and leadership in the United States. And remember this is not a “women’s” issue - all people benefit with balanced representation.
Also, RunForSomething.net helps people become effective first-time candidates. If you are old enough to vote, and have the energy, run for something. We need you.
Good for you! I'm 74 now, and I don't have the energy I used to have, so my political activity is a mix of conversations and postcards. Of course, I live in eastern MA, where we have plenty of great public officials of all ages so there is not the same need for candidates as in most of the country.
More power to you! Every bit helps! If nothing else, it will remind the saner R's nhat Democrats are humans, and make their candidates do some work. And you never know, run on local issues, you might win.
In this election, in my opinion, my ending line is “We all, and especially MEN, must vote for the common cause of different gender, both EQUAL with EQUITY determined freely to support the common good and goals of a democratic nation.
After all, why IS it that women have been decided, once again, to a status of being owned and not equal in the eyes of the laws of men?
Well, impregnating - unless it's rape or other forced sexual act - is a two-way street. BUT I do agree that men create a LOT OF SHIT in women's lives. The workplace, home, the street, everywhere we go. So there is that. I didn't much appreciate that Biden pointed to women to VOTE. I know an awful lot of very lazy-ass men.
If I get started on the politics of heterosexual behavior and the notion of "consent," this would be a very, very long post. But while, perhaps biologically, you are correct, women's ovulation is automatic and involuntary--women cannot, as the bloviating arsehhole Todd Akin once claimed, "shut that whole thing down" at will. Men, however, can control ejaculation and can also take very easy steps not to impregnate women. Women's ability to control being impregnated is far more complicated. So no: the onus really. is. on. men. So when told to "keep her legs closed" my response is, "Keep your penis in your pants, you [expletive deleted]."
Linda Mitchell, thank you for using one of my favorite words "of the moment" - bloviating. And it goes quite well with arsehole. Perfect with Akin's "shut that whole thing down" - which asshole men can do - their hard dick is not such a "precious" thing - happens ALL the time.
Yes,Florida’s Vasectomy King, “…evangelizing the procedure...”
I wonder if next the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops will pressure DeSantis to VV ( Veto Vasctectomies). Just as FCCB convinced him to VW ( Veto Women’s ) $ for long-term contraceptives.
My expletive has four syllables. And I have learned that I have to tone down my language both here and on FB because the boyz get upset. Not that you'd notice any toning down in these posts because I have a hard time keeping my temper about this issue.
I agree and I understand your point but he was trying to narrow the focus: women must unite and be active because so many white men support Trump and he wants to peel away white women as much as possible from the Trumplican party - remember a slight majority of white women voted for Trump - think suburban women and rural women. Hence the female focus for action. Now is a time for unity. Evil exists in this world and evil requires unity and action to be defeated - the Trumplican Party - now including Scotus (their judicial political arm) is national fifth column.
You're probably right, Steve, that Biden was focusing on conservative women urging to vote for their own rights. He should have been more explicit and direct.
It would be a sad day for women if the single issue that resulted in a record number being elected to Congress was abortion. Just think about that. Why can't women be equally outraged about inadequate maternity leave, childcare, education, healthcare?
Was on a thread recently where the anti-abortion person was telling women that they shouldn't spread their legs. I told him he was (once again) putting the burden on women and what about men. He agreed and wondered what men should do. i answered that he could start by examining his own post and what it implied. We got in an argument about rape and incest which remains unfinished because he said being PG hardly ever happened with rape and incest and cited something like .05 percent. I haven't had time to read more deeply, but I did read something that suggested that it was about the same for where there was consent....a little over 5%...which is quite different from .05. I asked for a cite and he gave me an anti-abortion site which I pointed out. Then he mentioned more reliable sites, but once again included one that was anti abortion. When I finally get around to answering him, I will also have looked into chapter and verse what the Bible says about abortion or doesn't as in the NT.
Michele you are far kinder than I. When I am confronted with people like that my response is "As a man, you cannot get pregnant. So you should just shut the f**k up."
No, I can't remember his first name, but he is certainly a "Christian" and misogynist. He did respect my request for time to research more deeply. The guy's page he was on puts out lots of short bad poetry among other things.
Of course men must vote (blue), Christine, but I wrote "especially women" because we are the ones most particularly harmed by Dobbs, which indeed decided that we "are not equal in the eyes of the laws of men."
The male ego has screwed up American governance for several hundred years.
Now it is more than overdue for men to step aside making way for the women who wish to reinvent America.
America needs a change away from white old male bigoted blustering.
America needs the contemporary control of governance currently being successfully implemented by women's fair & compassionate, (healthcare, environment, redistribution of wealth) management and reconfiguring SCOTUS and eliminating corruption in Wall Street & corruption in military contract award criteria and eliminating filibustering & gerrymandering & lobbying. Plus eliminate unlimited Congressional term limits.
Initiate mandatory gun/rifle annual training & licensing just like car & license plate licensing.
Put love of Country & due process of law, above all else
Read something yesterday that NY (?) will require potential gun buyers (can't remember if there was an age span) to be required to include their social media.
Christine, you are so right. When my 95 year old black husband and I look at photograph-filled books of the civil rights movement he always points at the pictures and says note how many white people are in these pictures. Remember that it took white folks to win civil rights. We blacks couldn’t have done it alone.
And here we are. We need women AND MEN who think as we do to carry these elections. Not just women.
No question that we need men and women coming out and voting to get the offices in Congress filled with people who will say yes to protections of this right (not a state approved benefit for some). IMHO, the reproductive rights fight could be THE win or loose your rights battle. Make this a state decision and all the other rights we think universal (rights to health, clean air, equal employment, voting, protections under just laws, safe food supplies, sharing in the prosperity of a growing economy, loving who you choose, public standing, opportunity whether as a musician or a scientist, the list goes on) and we start to inch toward local conventions and Sunday School teachings in some parish or some tribal theocrat determining how rights can be expressed and by whom. I'm also as old as Mr Biden and aware of how hard it is to get the Bubbas to rotate on their intellectual barstool and join the cause Christine FL is trying to keep us straight about. The needed numbers of voters are going to come from women, pissed-off women, who come out and fight with their votes. We guys with standing will be there and we will drag our sons, nephews, their guy friends, etc., but we will be the margin-added onto the wellspring of voting by women Mr Biden was calling for. In 2022 and 2024. In 2023 and 2025, we all need to be grooming the team that comes to the court to take back every one of our rights, together. Women voting Blue in 2022 (and 2024) will carry, I believe, the cause in this tournament. Gotta get more guys to step up and practice their game if we expect to gain back OUR rights. Lastly, no, we guys don't get to dump the mess our gender mostly created. We don't have the right to choose to walk away or sit on the sidelines barking into our beer. Our fight is our fight.
Glad to see Martin Niemoller referenced. Eight years in concentration camps during WWII brought his awareness to a fine focus. His whole poem bears repeating.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
So, it quickly sums up to me that the rulers of the U.S. understand that it's important to eliminate or weaken minorities one at a time. The rulers understand that keeping the assorted tribes fighting amongst themselves is the way for the status quo to maintain control. All tribes--assorted by colors, religions, genders, et al--will have to bond together to save communities, the country, and the world. Tribal thinking is too limited, and it thrives on promoting one's own tribal needs.
I believe the old adage is quite true: "United we stand, divided we fall."
Yo Christine (FL) Quit blaming the jerks amonst us "men". A lot of men have been carrying women's concerns, often to the detriment of their careers. Women's privacy has been the direct target of women as well, particularly by those religious nuts. Today, the President made his position clear. Let's not criticize what he's done. Plenty of "men" are on board with you, but right now, the "ball" is clearly in your court.
Could you explain your statement: "common cause of separate, but EQUAL with EQUITY determined freely". Thanks.
No. It's your gottdammed court. We are all trying to improve voter turnout.., yes, of course.
But, you are the ones being cut up and skewered..., not me. I just get criticized for taking a position on it. You guys/girls/women need to educate your team (which can include us). The camera is on you. It aint no puss-game...play it up. The repubs have religious clout which happens to include lots of women. Shake it up :))
This is hope! We have work to do. Pick up voter registration forms and carry them with you to the grocery store, restaurant, wherever you go, and offer them to folks, help them fill them out.
Or get certified to register voters. Also, especially in Texas, check your registration! Voters have been purged without their knowledge so when they go to vote they can’t.
30 million!!! The entire population of Australia as at the June 2022 census is 26,068,792. Is there time for work to be done to improve this statistic in time for the mid-terms?
I've been working through Third Act to encourage high school seniors to register to vote online, making it easy through a QR code. In addition, checking the box on their first driving license application automatically registers them on their 18th birthday. Studies show that young people who are encouraged to register, do so, and they vote. This November, they have ever more urgent reasons to vote!
Yes, please join us in doing it. Personally, I write postcards through fieldteam6.org, which also conducts texting, phone, and door knocking voter registration campaigns. There are many other good groups as well.
Yes, I've also written hundreds of letters through VoteForward.org. Some people say that they would not have bothered to vote without the partially hand-written letter to nudge them!
Even if only 2% were effective, the 15 million letters sent through voteForward in 2020 were enough to affect results. My mother and I sent 700 of them.
Reminder - cost of stamps are going up on Monday, July 10. Postcards stamps are increasing from 40 to 44 cents and first-class (forever stamps) are increasing from 58 to 60 cents. Stock up over the weekend!
Ordered online last night. Postcard stamps can be very difficult to obtain in person at the post office. Anyone reading this, you can order online it is quite easy.
Yes, but not much time … the election is four months away and many states unfortunately have long registration deadlines - in Texas you must be registered at least 30 days in advance, so we barely have three months to get unregistered Texans registered! All states should have SAME DAY voter registration!
Go where they are: TikTok, concerts, set up voter registration booths, write letters to local paper, call into radio stations. Talk to your children/grandchildren. Ask them to become advocates for democracy. Ask ESPN/CBS etc to do a voter registration public service AD on programs which get their attention.
Contrast this with the voting laws in Australia: It is compulsory for Australian citizens 18 years and over to enrol to vote. It is also compulsory to attend a voting place on election day or to vote by mail. At federal elections, Australians choose members of parliament to represent their views and interests in the Senate and the House of Representatives. What is the penalty for not voting in Australia? The penalty for first time offenders is $20, and this increases to $50 if you have previously paid a penalty or been convicted of this offence. If you do not have a valid and sufficient reason for not voting, you can pay the penalty and that will end the matter.
An Election Day holiday would work for many, but not for so many who have to work on holidays - police, fire, EMTs, doctors, nurses, retail workers, etc. Instead, require states to provide adequate early voting options. New Mexico provides early voting sites Monday-Saturday for two weeks prior to Election Day. Also, instead of the traditional vote at your own precinct, we now have “convenience centers” scattered throughout each county. It started as a way to conserve paper, with the difficulty of predicting voter turnout for each precinct and how many ballots to preprint. Now, you can show up at any center in your county and the appropriate ballot is printed while you wait. During the presidential election, our county had a running link on the website, providing an estimated wait time at each center. This is a better “no excuse” option.
That is a simple key to the mid-terms and general elections, the message has to be “ vote for the world you want to live in, or live in the world that you didn’t vote for”. Choice matters, that has become apparent to anyone that has ever jumped off a bridge.
In Texas all public high schools are required by law to make voting registration available on campus during each election season that school is in session. After I sent a public records request for the data for all high schools, you would be amazed at how many kids registered to vote. This might be the most powerful thing we can do.
"This might be the most powerful thing we can do."
It is not my intention to offend.
I must, however contend something does not smell right.
Who financed this legislative initiative, who initiated the "Law"? e.g. republicans or democrats?
Let me guess.
Please.
It was the anti-voting rights, state monopolizing cult worshiping trump enslaved republicans, Eh!?
Texas being primarily anti Democratic therefore anti-feminine rights,
please note the following:
These days, especially after being daily bombarded by republican lie, after republican lie, after republican lie from every republican who ever uttered a sound, it just could be possible that this seemly wonderful "gift" of community spirited benevolence is actually another cleverly deceptive republican clandestine contrivance!
Kinda like republicans' jerrymandering bastardization or the illegal stuffing of the supreme court into ineffectuality, etc. etc., etc.
republicans desperately need to indoctrinate gullible thirsty immature minds into republican's dying cult.
republicans are fully aware of the need to keep their political greedy obese heads above the "stormy-waters" they have chosen to dive into feet first.
Because republicans are now, finally, beginning to truly regret the direction chosen...now that the "Evidence" (that they desperately chose to conceal by EVERY means possible, including Treason!), has become publicly available, even--Oh lordy lordy will miracles never cease!-- televised by fox news!!!
All this would make most objective voters doubt such a law is not anything more than just another texas republican scam!
I’m an old white guy, but I have learned that women are smarter than men in many ways. We must vote in the mid terms this year to elect those women [and men] who will protect our country from AUTHORITARIAN types that, if elected will destroy our country.
Let’s get rid of elected officials who showboat and their testosterone thought processes making ill thought out decisions based on what’s good for them instead of what’s best for America 🇺🇸
Yes, voting is very important BUT add to that WRITING letters to the editor, speaking to your friends, neighbors and groups you belong to.
Volunteer to work the polls during the 2022 mid term elections.
Many former poll workers were threatened in our 2020 elections, simply because they were CORRECTLY doing their job. Can’t blame them since many were older & retired and didn’t want the hassle in their golden years.
EVERY voting precinct in America needs poll workers - those in their 29’s, 30’s, etc. without honest dedicated poll workers in our mid terms, those authoritarian types will do what they can to take away America as we’ve known it.
When I was teaching government many years ago, my favorite class did not have any college prep types in it. When we talked about voting, it was clear to me that many of them were not going to vote. I felt very sad. I have no idea if that held, but it wouldn't surprise me if many of them have never voted.
Texas law requires every high school to provide opportunities for students to register to vote. Extended throughout the US, this could be the most powerful way to get students to vote. An open records request to the school district asking for voter registration activities in each school, together with the name of the individual responsible at that site and the number of students enrolled, could go far.
fortunately most are trump followers, e.g. watching fox news then gossiping all day long...procrastinating about anything else that requires effort or education...
Perhaps, but I don't know if you can generalize like that. There are many men who are active in espousing progressive causes. Not the Trumpers, of course.
I show my students the film “Iron Jawed Angels” (about Alice Paul) and the documentary “Not for Ourselves Alone” (about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony), then tell them to go out and vote. We owe it to these women upon whose shoulders we stand!
One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement:
Marjorie J. Spruill, editor.
One Woman, One Vote was first published by NewSage Press in 1975 and is the companion book to the PBS American Experience documentary by the same name. The 23 essays in the Second Edition focus on aspects of the suffrage movement in greater depth with an extensive opening chapter on the overall suffrage movement, "How Woman Won." The authors of the essays are scholars in the fields of History, American Studies, Political Science, and Sociology.
Maureen R. Michelson: publishing as an act of resistance | Oregon ArtsWatch
Please keep on urging your friends and family members of all genders to vote and remind everyone that women’s issues are universal issues — every human being is endowed with dignity and rights.
And May your vote count. That the criminal enterprise called the Republican Party is still on the ballot anywhere is testament that nazi propaganda and strategies are alive and well in America.
One more reason to elect a working majority of responsible Democrats. Congress has the power to restrict the Stench Court’s jurisdiction. It has the power to expand the court, to rebalance it after McConnell packed it with unprincipled reactionaries. We need Congressional majorities who will use those powers, along with a public campaign on behalf of doing so.
The deck is stacked, against women, and against blue voters. I doubt that republican legislatures will overturn any election in which their cronies win. The upending of our lives is done in plain sight with arrogant purpose, power.
The difficulties - and the negativity of the press - can be discouraging. Our job is to fight back by doing whatever we can. That includes running for office, protests in the streets, voter registration, voting, public and private conversation, encouraging each other. It also includes whatever joy we can find each day.
The Negative Press. Their survival depends on ad dollars. Ad dollars are spent by deep pocket Super PACs and direct campaign funds. The Press business model suffers when social harmony exists. Attack ads are money in the bank
The “Press” needs the country riled up. Republicans know this and feed the pig
Just a happy tidbit: your inclusion of "private conversation" and "encouraging each other" bore fruit for me yesterday. I have been enjoying a weekly art lesson from a dear friend who is a wonderful artist. This has been therapeutic for both of us during the pandemic; we are both vaxxed and boosted but due to my health issues and her husband's even more serious health issues, our lessons have become a time to share and vent and talk about all manner of things. We sort of danced our way around politics until recently. The spate of mass shootings, in particular the Uvalde tragedy, opened up politics as a necessary topic to discuss. My friend attended her very first Democratic Party meeting last week, plunked down her $ membership, and signed up to register voters! I felt like turning cartwheels! It was those "private conversations" and "encouraging each other" that motivated her to DO SOMETHING BESIDES WHINE! Way back when, there was a little saying that went something like "each one teach one." I think of it now as "each one reach one." Baby steps eventually lead to long, purposeful strides. Together, we can do this!
I love this forum, fab Linda. Last night after having an opportunity to express some very intense viewpoints of mine, I slept in this morning to an astonishing 11:00 am. I had to laugh as I looked at the time.
Besides, tinfoil hattie’s fear, far from being unfounded, is a likely outcome. This Supreme Court has made many decisions with far less Constitutional justification than allowing state legislatures to overrule popular-vote majorities in state elections.
Your contention is a truly sad comment about the desperation some people choose to subject themselves to experience...
Why on earth such a void could even exist as a free will choice when there is such an abundance of truly gifted people readily available specifically trained and educated and devoted to helping such a lost soul as you have described. Many of such services are free!
Does not it seem completely natural to resolve such an untenable sad situation the moment it occurs?
Is it not completely normal to satisfy an urge to do something to absolve oneself from such dire straights?
Is this news letter not envisioned as a very cogent guide to historical perspectives about America's governance issues with editorials injected as juxtapositions for our considerations and educations?
Are not the truly brilliant comments offered by so very many very well read and educated enthusiasts of HCR sufficient a community of sage expositors more than sufficient to relieve any sort of related anxieties...Most believe so as evidenced by HCR's burgeoning captivated audience!
I do not know how much despair is a “choice” that a person makes; there are times and circumstances where a person cannot believe/wish/create a positive outlook from where they find themselves in the situations we find ourselves in today.
I do not know “tinfoil Hattie” personally, nor do I know their circumstances. Despair in the darkness of our vanishing freedoms is not unreasonable.
This forum is an amazing place with some wonderful people. Not everyone’s glass is half full.
It's not a "rumor," sir. Moore v. Harper. The Atlantic has an excellent article explaining just what is at stake. Perhaps these 6 will not decide to undermine our democracy forever, but I have no reason to believe that.
It is my understanding, (primarily because of the existence of the enormously self0inflated ego known as Moscow mitch---and for good reason, Eh!?), that those wannabes warming the "Bench" are all enslaved into Deception's evilness and forever lost into darkness unable ever again to see justice, if ever they could before...Who requires any more justification then the nose on your face to smell the putrefying rot oozing from the cracks of freedoms bell!?
I'm a hardliner on this: any man who doesn't actively support women's equality should be judged unworthy of friendship or any other relationship. (Yes, doing this in the workplace would be challenging.) But the issue is the same as associating with racists. They are worthy only of contempt.
This is also true of men who don't take responsibility for birth control.
Thank you! It helps being 71 and having learned a lot, including from working with many exceptional women and from my very strong and impressive wife. We gave our son her last name, Tong, because there were no men on her side of the family to carry the name forward after her brother dies.
Thanks, Cate. You know, in all these years I don't remember reading how utterly gruesome was the killing of young Emmett Till. Maybe I knew it, but suppressed it.
As for the statistics, we seem to keep overlooking that fact. Progressives must perforce double their efforts to get out the progressive white women's vote. (I will never understand why anybody votes for people whose policies go directly against their own interests. I first realized that when people re-elected George W. Bush.)
"Voting against interests." Please check out https://www.sfgate.com/thingstodo/article/George-Lakoff-s-The-Political-Mind-3280894.php Per Prof. Lakoff, people vote by VALUES not "interests." So, if your values are: men over women, white over black, christian over other, etc., then you will vote for the people who express those values. Facts, statistics, and evidence do not really communicate values, especially if presented without a story about how they support *our* values. That's why I think all this swooning over these J6 and past hearings is wishful thinking if the testimony and facts and transcripts are not also used to hammer home the VALUES of how this admin and party are ruining care for others, freedom of thought and body, fairness, compassion, equality, etc. Read the expert. He's been trying to get Dems to communicate effectively for decades.
The ancestors of most Hispanic people in Florida left Cuba when Castro’s forces defeated Batista. They were from the wealthy class, which benefited from Batista’s brutal oppression of the rest of the population. Most wealthy Cubans at the time were from families of purely European (primarily Spanish) descent or at least identified as people of purely European descent. That is, they are white people and not just white but the worst of that ilk, having enjoyed the privilege of abusing Cubans with darker skin when they lived in Cuba. It is no surprise that most of them are Republican scum (a redundant phrase, yes, but maybe doubles the impact).
I think much of this due to the dramatic shift of the working class from reliable Democratic voters to Republicans. And this shift is tied up in the decline of labor unions, long a major goal of Republicans.
It’s Democrats not putting enough attention into the ground game and retail politics. Knocking on doors and lawn signs actually still work better than phone banks and reading poll numbers
Latinos in Florida are a different breed of cat than Latinos in Texas. There is some hope for Texas. There is no hope for Florida. Latinos in Florida are mostly white people (Spanish ancestors) and vote accordingly.
Yes, I've read this. Cubans in South Florida (mainly) and Puerto Ricans in Central Florida. When I moved to Oregon from the Orlando area in late 1999, Puerto Ricans were streaming in — mostly from the New York area.
Not just Latinos, although that’s badly needed in Arizona, Nevada, and SoCal. Asians in Orange County, CA—and I assume elsewhere. Blacks all across the country.
Yes, the ground game is of utmost importance, but the reason it is needed so desperately is because after 1964, the white working class left the Democratic Party because they did not want to allow black people in their unions. They knew Republicans would help them retain their systemic advantages and Democrats wouldn’t. As a result, they lost their unions (busted by their own man, Reagan). You’d think that would turn them around, but instead, they doubled down. They found systemic white advantages more important than unions.
It used to be “0” percent, Cate, for or against. With vote granted, it takes much to change mindset that has been set on survival mode for so long. So important to increase the vote of young women and men who have been raised with more equity from many of their villages.
Some kind of powerful deceptive misunderstanding that the republicans actually care while at the same moment those same republicans twist the knife even deeper into the backs of the same women who voted for them....
How did the material status of women’s lives improve under 8 years of Obama- Biden? Who went to jail for conning millions of crappy mortgages and lost their homes? Who benefited from and was most protected by the bailouts? Not women. “President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he favored abortion rights for women but that passing a law guaranteeing those rights was not his top priority, trying to avoid inflaming …”(Reuters) Why vote for Democrats when they do not deliver? Like any low performing employee, Can them.
I'll never forgive Obama for not punishing those bankers, thereby setting for others a horrible example of malfeasance. We vote for Democrats because at least their platforms are humane. If you would can the Democrats, Selina, for whom would you vote?
I stand with you re Obama. That is a conundrum (sp?). Work for the Justice Democrats? Keep my eye on the Sunrise Movement to see who they're backing. David Sirota's The Lever.com had a good panel of highly experienced activists about a month ago about the feasibility of building a 3rd party. Ploughing thro the rules to do so is an elephantine task requiring determination and persistence. The discussion came to a bit of a draw - between doing the 3rd party groundwork - and - working like the dickens to get decent progressives into the Democratic Party.
It *is* a conundrum. As much as it would be good to add more progressives into the Democratic Party, many voters or potential voters are so turned off by what they see as Democratic inaction that they may just decide not to vote for anyone with a D next to his or her name. On the other hand, third parties do not have a good history of success in getting air time in order to rally support for their causes.
When I canvassed for George McGovern in 1972 in a trailer park in rural Iowa, one woman, when we asked who she was planning to vote for, told us, "Just a minute. I have to go ask my husband." And she did. And it wasn't for our guy.
50 years later, that hasn't changed much in many areas of the country. Hard to believe given how much the world, and this society, has changed since then, isn't it?
Not only must women vote because of Roe /Wade being over turned but every other right that includes women’s right to vote. Or states that want to limit voting rights. That stops much choice of individuals if they cannot even vote. The very reason we must take action and vite democratic (including independents & republicans that understand the importance of citizens rights to vote)
Pat, I couldn’t agree more. I am a leftist from forever, but I always vote Democratic. We must beat these backward thinking Christian fundamentalists. That’s the root of our problem. Read about Barr and his patriarchal, fundamentalist Catholicism OMG.
I dislike labels. My party affiliation is Independent but I vote the candidate and the issue and this issue is individual freedoms including the most important - the right to vote and right to privacy of choices concerning one’s health decisions with the physician of their choosing.
Thank you, George, for the link. I suspect many of us already do support national candidates, as well as local ones, but the list in the article is helpful.
I’m wondering what the best way is to do this. I’m getting so many emails now my head spins. I don’t have a lot to contribute yet I believe every dollar counts. Any suggestions to streamline it?
Handed out 200 voter registration packets (targeted to left leaning democrats if lists are to be believed) between yesterday and today, will continue daily, to hopefully blanket this hateful oathkeeper county. The silent majority HAS to speak up with at least their votes.
I hope women heed President Biden's call to action, to vote to codify Roe as federal law. Marching is good; it isn't enough. Petitions are good; they aren't enough. We all—and especially women—must VOTE.
Women make up more than half of the U.S. population, yet the majority of elected and appointed positions in government are held by men. Yes, women need to vote, but they must also run, win, serve, and lead. RepresentWomen works to advance women's representation and leadership in the United States. And remember this is not a “women’s” issue - all people benefit with balanced representation.
https://www.representwomen.org/
Also, RunForSomething.net helps people become effective first-time candidates. If you are old enough to vote, and have the energy, run for something. We need you.
But you can't be too old like me. However, I am running!
Good for you! I'm 74 now, and I don't have the energy I used to have, so my political activity is a mix of conversations and postcards. Of course, I live in eastern MA, where we have plenty of great public officials of all ages so there is not the same need for candidates as in most of the country.
Joan, I am soon to be 79! No other Democrat would run in our area....it is almost all Republican...Trump Republicans~
More power to you! Every bit helps! If nothing else, it will remind the saner R's nhat Democrats are humans, and make their candidates do some work. And you never know, run on local issues, you might win.
Thanks Debbie for the alert. I had written dot-org when it’s actually dot-net. It’s edited and fixed now.
Why “especially women”?
In this election, in my opinion, my ending line is “We all, and especially MEN, must vote for the common cause of different gender, both EQUAL with EQUITY determined freely to support the common good and goals of a democratic nation.
After all, why IS it that women have been decided, once again, to a status of being owned and not equal in the eyes of the laws of men?
Salud, Mim! 🗽
Yep. As always, women are gaslit so that we are supposed to feel responsible for the s**t that men do. Including impregnating us.
Well, impregnating - unless it's rape or other forced sexual act - is a two-way street. BUT I do agree that men create a LOT OF SHIT in women's lives. The workplace, home, the street, everywhere we go. So there is that. I didn't much appreciate that Biden pointed to women to VOTE. I know an awful lot of very lazy-ass men.
If I get started on the politics of heterosexual behavior and the notion of "consent," this would be a very, very long post. But while, perhaps biologically, you are correct, women's ovulation is automatic and involuntary--women cannot, as the bloviating arsehhole Todd Akin once claimed, "shut that whole thing down" at will. Men, however, can control ejaculation and can also take very easy steps not to impregnate women. Women's ability to control being impregnated is far more complicated. So no: the onus really. is. on. men. So when told to "keep her legs closed" my response is, "Keep your penis in your pants, you [expletive deleted]."
Linda Mitchell, thank you for using one of my favorite words "of the moment" - bloviating. And it goes quite well with arsehole. Perfect with Akin's "shut that whole thing down" - which asshole men can do - their hard dick is not such a "precious" thing - happens ALL the time.
Many many should be looking into vasectomies — and doctors are seeing a big uptick in interest.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/dobbs-roe-overturned-vasectomy-movement/661518/
Yes,Florida’s Vasectomy King, “…evangelizing the procedure...”
I wonder if next the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops will pressure DeSantis to VV ( Veto Vasctectomies). Just as FCCB convinced him to VW ( Veto Women’s ) $ for long-term contraceptives.
I know EXACTLY the four syllable expletive you have deleted. I concur, Linda.
One of my TOP FIVE words useful in ALL languages!
If anti-abortion advocates were truly serious about ending abortion, they would have been fighting for reversible vasectomies all these years.
Yup. I actually had a male make that statement as to his solution to abortion! With no reciprocal responsibility mentioned for the male.
But of course. I got taken to task recently for stating that men caused 100% of pregnancies.
You can say, "dick"
My expletive has four syllables. And I have learned that I have to tone down my language both here and on FB because the boyz get upset. Not that you'd notice any toning down in these posts because I have a hard time keeping my temper about this issue.
I agree and I understand your point but he was trying to narrow the focus: women must unite and be active because so many white men support Trump and he wants to peel away white women as much as possible from the Trumplican party - remember a slight majority of white women voted for Trump - think suburban women and rural women. Hence the female focus for action. Now is a time for unity. Evil exists in this world and evil requires unity and action to be defeated - the Trumplican Party - now including Scotus (their judicial political arm) is national fifth column.
You're probably right, Steve, that Biden was focusing on conservative women urging to vote for their own rights. He should have been more explicit and direct.
I believe his point was that women alone can turn the tide. It was clear that men can add their voices too.
My hope is that the abortion issue will lead to a record number of women elected to Congress and other positions.
It would be a sad day for women if the single issue that resulted in a record number being elected to Congress was abortion. Just think about that. Why can't women be equally outraged about inadequate maternity leave, childcare, education, healthcare?
Agreed, Dana!
Was on a thread recently where the anti-abortion person was telling women that they shouldn't spread their legs. I told him he was (once again) putting the burden on women and what about men. He agreed and wondered what men should do. i answered that he could start by examining his own post and what it implied. We got in an argument about rape and incest which remains unfinished because he said being PG hardly ever happened with rape and incest and cited something like .05 percent. I haven't had time to read more deeply, but I did read something that suggested that it was about the same for where there was consent....a little over 5%...which is quite different from .05. I asked for a cite and he gave me an anti-abortion site which I pointed out. Then he mentioned more reliable sites, but once again included one that was anti abortion. When I finally get around to answering him, I will also have looked into chapter and verse what the Bible says about abortion or doesn't as in the NT.
Michele you are far kinder than I. When I am confronted with people like that my response is "As a man, you cannot get pregnant. So you should just shut the f**k up."
I was on someone else's page and this person nixes certain words. I want to address his assertions first; then I will remind him about his gender.
I suggest a kinder (if desired) response when talking to those sorts -- "you can take a back seat, thank you. This is a woman's issue."
AMEN, Linda Mitchell!!!
The pregnant 10 year was a rather strong argument that rape and incest result in pregnancy
Yes, but he was talking percentages. I wanted to talk raw numbers.
My answer to any comment/question about incidence of something happing about pregnancy is: if it happens to the woman, it’s 100%
Michelle, check out www.my Jewishlearning.com/article/the-fetus-in-Jewish-law
Thanks for the tip. I will check this out.
Attempted like
Are you sure you weren’t talking to my friend Mike?? That is exactly the kind of condescending tripe he puts out.
No, I can't remember his first name, but he is certainly a "Christian" and misogynist. He did respect my request for time to research more deeply. The guy's page he was on puts out lots of short bad poetry among other things.
That’s Michael. Mike, as I know him.
The number of women who don’t vote is much larger than the number of men who don’t vote. We will need them against a motivated right
Of course men must vote (blue), Christine, but I wrote "especially women" because we are the ones most particularly harmed by Dobbs, which indeed decided that we "are not equal in the eyes of the laws of men."
The male ego has screwed up American governance for several hundred years.
Now it is more than overdue for men to step aside making way for the women who wish to reinvent America.
America needs a change away from white old male bigoted blustering.
America needs the contemporary control of governance currently being successfully implemented by women's fair & compassionate, (healthcare, environment, redistribution of wealth) management and reconfiguring SCOTUS and eliminating corruption in Wall Street & corruption in military contract award criteria and eliminating filibustering & gerrymandering & lobbying. Plus eliminate unlimited Congressional term limits.
Initiate mandatory gun/rifle annual training & licensing just like car & license plate licensing.
Put love of Country & due process of law, above all else
Not all men, George, just those standing in the way of progress or promoting return to the long ago.
Mim Eisenberg...
Well then,
How about an astonishingly all encompassing plethora of political particiPANTS during the last two hundred years who are not female.
Eh!?
I think we agree, George, so I confess I don't understand your question.
Wait....it will come to you soon Mim......
Read something yesterday that NY (?) will require potential gun buyers (can't remember if there was an age span) to be required to include their social media.
how will that be verified ?
I don't know....just read the article yesterday.
Ok
It is real simple
A mandatory annual arms operating test plus a stiff fee for each gun/rifle
Then on every driver's license of a gun/rifle owner will also be a certification of the gun test results and annual fee payment
Wow! That's putting it pretty bluntly, George, and I've thought that all along. The male ego has really screwed things up. (Pun intended.)
Is there any other way!?
Christine, you are so right. When my 95 year old black husband and I look at photograph-filled books of the civil rights movement he always points at the pictures and says note how many white people are in these pictures. Remember that it took white folks to win civil rights. We blacks couldn’t have done it alone.
And here we are. We need women AND MEN who think as we do to carry these elections. Not just women.
No question that we need men and women coming out and voting to get the offices in Congress filled with people who will say yes to protections of this right (not a state approved benefit for some). IMHO, the reproductive rights fight could be THE win or loose your rights battle. Make this a state decision and all the other rights we think universal (rights to health, clean air, equal employment, voting, protections under just laws, safe food supplies, sharing in the prosperity of a growing economy, loving who you choose, public standing, opportunity whether as a musician or a scientist, the list goes on) and we start to inch toward local conventions and Sunday School teachings in some parish or some tribal theocrat determining how rights can be expressed and by whom. I'm also as old as Mr Biden and aware of how hard it is to get the Bubbas to rotate on their intellectual barstool and join the cause Christine FL is trying to keep us straight about. The needed numbers of voters are going to come from women, pissed-off women, who come out and fight with their votes. We guys with standing will be there and we will drag our sons, nephews, their guy friends, etc., but we will be the margin-added onto the wellspring of voting by women Mr Biden was calling for. In 2022 and 2024. In 2023 and 2025, we all need to be grooming the team that comes to the court to take back every one of our rights, together. Women voting Blue in 2022 (and 2024) will carry, I believe, the cause in this tournament. Gotta get more guys to step up and practice their game if we expect to gain back OUR rights. Lastly, no, we guys don't get to dump the mess our gender mostly created. We don't have the right to choose to walk away or sit on the sidelines barking into our beer. Our fight is our fight.
Yes. 👩🏽❤️💋👨🏼
My sentiments exactly.
Exactly! Women’s rights are human rights. Think back to Martin Niemoller who, too late, reflected, “First they came for the Communists…”
Yes--Women's rights are human rights.
Glad to see Martin Niemoller referenced. Eight years in concentration camps during WWII brought his awareness to a fine focus. His whole poem bears repeating.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
So, it quickly sums up to me that the rulers of the U.S. understand that it's important to eliminate or weaken minorities one at a time. The rulers understand that keeping the assorted tribes fighting amongst themselves is the way for the status quo to maintain control. All tribes--assorted by colors, religions, genders, et al--will have to bond together to save communities, the country, and the world. Tribal thinking is too limited, and it thrives on promoting one's own tribal needs.
I believe the old adage is quite true: "United we stand, divided we fall."
Yo Christine (FL) Quit blaming the jerks amonst us "men". A lot of men have been carrying women's concerns, often to the detriment of their careers. Women's privacy has been the direct target of women as well, particularly by those religious nuts. Today, the President made his position clear. Let's not criticize what he's done. Plenty of "men" are on board with you, but right now, the "ball" is clearly in your court.
Could you explain your statement: "common cause of separate, but EQUAL with EQUITY determined freely". Thanks.
I just do not agree with “your court”. It’s our court or none at all.
I meant separate in regards to gender.
Salud! 🗽
No. It's your gottdammed court. We are all trying to improve voter turnout.., yes, of course.
But, you are the ones being cut up and skewered..., not me. I just get criticized for taking a position on it. You guys/girls/women need to educate your team (which can include us). The camera is on you. It aint no puss-game...play it up. The repubs have religious clout which happens to include lots of women. Shake it up :))
Would have been a “a moment” for Pres Biden and VP Harris to have been standing side by side at the podium… each with a microphone.
Oh, it’s a “puss-game” all right. As usual.
C'mon Christine, let's make it "UN" Usual...., for once.
I'm coming down to Titusville end of Aug, you live near a bar or seafood joint?
YES!!! Thanks, Christine!!
30 million 18-30 year old Americans are not registered to vote. That is tragic.
This is hope! We have work to do. Pick up voter registration forms and carry them with you to the grocery store, restaurant, wherever you go, and offer them to folks, help them fill them out.
That’s a great idea—our town clerk might give me a pile and we can spread them around the younger people.
and older infirm citizens, please!
Or get certified to register voters. Also, especially in Texas, check your registration! Voters have been purged without their knowledge so when they go to vote they can’t.
Probably a good idea in a number of other states as well.
30 million!!! The entire population of Australia as at the June 2022 census is 26,068,792. Is there time for work to be done to improve this statistic in time for the mid-terms?
I've been working through Third Act to encourage high school seniors to register to vote online, making it easy through a QR code. In addition, checking the box on their first driving license application automatically registers them on their 18th birthday. Studies show that young people who are encouraged to register, do so, and they vote. This November, they have ever more urgent reasons to vote!
Yes, please join us in doing it. Personally, I write postcards through fieldteam6.org, which also conducts texting, phone, and door knocking voter registration campaigns. There are many other good groups as well.
Yes, I've also written hundreds of letters through VoteForward.org. Some people say that they would not have bothered to vote without the partially hand-written letter to nudge them!
Even if only 2% were effective, the 15 million letters sent through voteForward in 2020 were enough to affect results. My mother and I sent 700 of them.
I’m working on my first 200! I really like the way they are set up.
We make a difference! Every vote matters.
Will find that. Must do something more than postcards
Reminder - cost of stamps are going up on Monday, July 10. Postcards stamps are increasing from 40 to 44 cents and first-class (forever stamps) are increasing from 58 to 60 cents. Stock up over the weekend!
My added stamps arrived today. I am taking the steep increase in postcard postage as Louis Dejoy’s belief that our postcarding works.
😁
Ordered online last night. Postcard stamps can be very difficult to obtain in person at the post office. Anyone reading this, you can order online it is quite easy.
Readers: make sure you order from the real post office webpage. There’s a site with a similar name and “50% off” that has terrible reviews.
Today is last day to purchase postcard stamps at 40 cents. They go up to 44 cents tomorrow. They are “forever” stamps, so purchase what you can now.
Yes, but not much time … the election is four months away and many states unfortunately have long registration deadlines - in Texas you must be registered at least 30 days in advance, so we barely have three months to get unregistered Texans registered! All states should have SAME DAY voter registration!
https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
Of course they should. Government of the people by the people? Which 'people' does it mean?
Go where they are: TikTok, concerts, set up voter registration booths, write letters to local paper, call into radio stations. Talk to your children/grandchildren. Ask them to become advocates for democracy. Ask ESPN/CBS etc to do a voter registration public service AD on programs which get their attention.
Contrast this with the voting laws in Australia: It is compulsory for Australian citizens 18 years and over to enrol to vote. It is also compulsory to attend a voting place on election day or to vote by mail. At federal elections, Australians choose members of parliament to represent their views and interests in the Senate and the House of Representatives. What is the penalty for not voting in Australia? The penalty for first time offenders is $20, and this increases to $50 if you have previously paid a penalty or been convicted of this offence. If you do not have a valid and sufficient reason for not voting, you can pay the penalty and that will end the matter.
Also, Election Day should be a national holiday. This eliminates the excuse of not voting because of work.
An Election Day holiday would work for many, but not for so many who have to work on holidays - police, fire, EMTs, doctors, nurses, retail workers, etc. Instead, require states to provide adequate early voting options. New Mexico provides early voting sites Monday-Saturday for two weeks prior to Election Day. Also, instead of the traditional vote at your own precinct, we now have “convenience centers” scattered throughout each county. It started as a way to conserve paper, with the difficulty of predicting voter turnout for each precinct and how many ballots to preprint. Now, you can show up at any center in your county and the appropriate ballot is printed while you wait. During the presidential election, our county had a running link on the website, providing an estimated wait time at each center. This is a better “no excuse” option.
Oregon's vote-by-mail-only seems to work very well. It's convenient as can be and not easily hacked. Also can deposit ballots in drop boxes.
New Mexico also has drop boxes for absentee ballots at each center.
Make it Veterans Day—it’s what they fought and died for
Agreed
That is a simple key to the mid-terms and general elections, the message has to be “ vote for the world you want to live in, or live in the world that you didn’t vote for”. Choice matters, that has become apparent to anyone that has ever jumped off a bridge.
NICE!
In Texas all public high schools are required by law to make voting registration available on campus during each election season that school is in session. After I sent a public records request for the data for all high schools, you would be amazed at how many kids registered to vote. This might be the most powerful thing we can do.
Ann Sutherland:
Reading your last line:
"This might be the most powerful thing we can do."
It is not my intention to offend.
I must, however contend something does not smell right.
Who financed this legislative initiative, who initiated the "Law"? e.g. republicans or democrats?
Let me guess.
Please.
It was the anti-voting rights, state monopolizing cult worshiping trump enslaved republicans, Eh!?
Texas being primarily anti Democratic therefore anti-feminine rights,
please note the following:
These days, especially after being daily bombarded by republican lie, after republican lie, after republican lie from every republican who ever uttered a sound, it just could be possible that this seemly wonderful "gift" of community spirited benevolence is actually another cleverly deceptive republican clandestine contrivance!
Kinda like republicans' jerrymandering bastardization or the illegal stuffing of the supreme court into ineffectuality, etc. etc., etc.
republicans desperately need to indoctrinate gullible thirsty immature minds into republican's dying cult.
republicans are fully aware of the need to keep their political greedy obese heads above the "stormy-waters" they have chosen to dive into feet first.
Because republicans are now, finally, beginning to truly regret the direction chosen...now that the "Evidence" (that they desperately chose to conceal by EVERY means possible, including Treason!), has become publicly available, even--Oh lordy lordy will miracles never cease!-- televised by fox news!!!
All this would make most objective voters doubt such a law is not anything more than just another texas republican scam!
I’m an old white guy, but I have learned that women are smarter than men in many ways. We must vote in the mid terms this year to elect those women [and men] who will protect our country from AUTHORITARIAN types that, if elected will destroy our country.
Let’s get rid of elected officials who showboat and their testosterone thought processes making ill thought out decisions based on what’s good for them instead of what’s best for America 🇺🇸
Yes, voting is very important BUT add to that WRITING letters to the editor, speaking to your friends, neighbors and groups you belong to.
Volunteer to work the polls during the 2022 mid term elections.
Many former poll workers were threatened in our 2020 elections, simply because they were CORRECTLY doing their job. Can’t blame them since many were older & retired and didn’t want the hassle in their golden years.
EVERY voting precinct in America needs poll workers - those in their 29’s, 30’s, etc. without honest dedicated poll workers in our mid terms, those authoritarian types will do what they can to take away America as we’ve known it.
🇺🇸 VOTE - SPEAK UP - SPEAK OUT - WRITE - SERVE 🇺🇸
Now we're cookin, Eh!? Bob!
BRAVO!
When I was teaching government many years ago, my favorite class did not have any college prep types in it. When we talked about voting, it was clear to me that many of them were not going to vote. I felt very sad. I have no idea if that held, but it wouldn't surprise me if many of them have never voted.
That is sad indeed.
Another great avenue to register young voters!
https://thecivicscenter.org/
Texas law requires every high school to provide opportunities for students to register to vote. Extended throughout the US, this could be the most powerful way to get students to vote. An open records request to the school district asking for voter registration activities in each school, together with the name of the individual responsible at that site and the number of students enrolled, could go far.
fortunately most are trump followers, e.g. watching fox news then gossiping all day long...procrastinating about anything else that requires effort or education...
Perhaps, but I don't know if you can generalize like that. There are many men who are active in espousing progressive causes. Not the Trumpers, of course.
Yes, it is. I hope that can be at least somewhat rectified before November.
Go an gettem! Don't try to fed them mealy baloney. Get them PROPERLY registered.
I show my students the film “Iron Jawed Angels” (about Alice Paul) and the documentary “Not for Ourselves Alone” (about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony), then tell them to go out and vote. We owe it to these women upon whose shoulders we stand!
This is a highly recommended book!
One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement:
Marjorie J. Spruill, editor.
One Woman, One Vote was first published by NewSage Press in 1975 and is the companion book to the PBS American Experience documentary by the same name. The 23 essays in the Second Edition focus on aspects of the suffrage movement in greater depth with an extensive opening chapter on the overall suffrage movement, "How Woman Won." The authors of the essays are scholars in the fields of History, American Studies, Political Science, and Sociology.
Maureen R. Michelson: publishing as an act of resistance | Oregon ArtsWatch
https://www.orartswatch.org/maureen-r-michelson-publishing-as-an-act-of-resistance/
Excellent choices, Rowshan. Funny how perfected women’s balancing act has become. Acrobatic almost.
Salud, Sister! 🗽
Salud, my sister!
Great idea! Any strategies for a retired professor? 😊
Please keep on urging your friends and family members of all genders to vote and remind everyone that women’s issues are universal issues — every human being is endowed with dignity and rights.
Right on, Mim! And VOTE BLUE!
And May your vote count. That the criminal enterprise called the Republican Party is still on the ballot anywhere is testament that nazi propaganda and strategies are alive and well in America.
Won't matter once the Supreme Court rules to let states change the outcome of elections.
One more reason to elect a working majority of responsible Democrats. Congress has the power to restrict the Stench Court’s jurisdiction. It has the power to expand the court, to rebalance it after McConnell packed it with unprincipled reactionaries. We need Congressional majorities who will use those powers, along with a public campaign on behalf of doing so.
The deck is stacked, against women, and against blue voters. I doubt that republican legislatures will overturn any election in which their cronies win. The upending of our lives is done in plain sight with arrogant purpose, power.
The difficulties - and the negativity of the press - can be discouraging. Our job is to fight back by doing whatever we can. That includes running for office, protests in the streets, voter registration, voting, public and private conversation, encouraging each other. It also includes whatever joy we can find each day.
The Negative Press. Their survival depends on ad dollars. Ad dollars are spent by deep pocket Super PACs and direct campaign funds. The Press business model suffers when social harmony exists. Attack ads are money in the bank
The “Press” needs the country riled up. Republicans know this and feed the pig
❤️
Just a happy tidbit: your inclusion of "private conversation" and "encouraging each other" bore fruit for me yesterday. I have been enjoying a weekly art lesson from a dear friend who is a wonderful artist. This has been therapeutic for both of us during the pandemic; we are both vaxxed and boosted but due to my health issues and her husband's even more serious health issues, our lessons have become a time to share and vent and talk about all manner of things. We sort of danced our way around politics until recently. The spate of mass shootings, in particular the Uvalde tragedy, opened up politics as a necessary topic to discuss. My friend attended her very first Democratic Party meeting last week, plunked down her $ membership, and signed up to register voters! I felt like turning cartwheels! It was those "private conversations" and "encouraging each other" that motivated her to DO SOMETHING BESIDES WHINE! Way back when, there was a little saying that went something like "each one teach one." I think of it now as "each one reach one." Baby steps eventually lead to long, purposeful strides. Together, we can do this!
Yes! Yes!!!
"unprincipled reactionaries" ! Thank you! This was the phrase I've been looking for.
This reality is what keeps me up at night.
I love this forum, fab Linda. Last night after having an opportunity to express some very intense viewpoints of mine, I slept in this morning to an astonishing 11:00 am. I had to laugh as I looked at the time.
Let’s create our reality.
Unita! 🗽
Me too Christine. It's a good bunch of people. Most are respectful. I do feel "our" team is very much so.
It's good for the soul to express your viewpoint. My Mom always said that.
We need to stay focused as hard as it is sometimes.
Enjoy your day, my friend.
PS I was in a forum the other evening and Daria was there as well. So good to chat with her. I miss her spot on commentary.
Daria has taken a break from forum commentary? I miss her.
tinfoil hattie
please refrain from promoting that disheartening rumor.
It not true...there exist today effective counterbalancing alternatives...
thank you
Please remember that this may be the only place that some people have to vent their fears and feelings.
I much prefer the encouraging posts, and I want folks to be able to share what they need to share.
Besides, tinfoil hattie’s fear, far from being unfounded, is a likely outcome. This Supreme Court has made many decisions with far less Constitutional justification than allowing state legislatures to overrule popular-vote majorities in state elections.
Ally House....
We seem to embody a variance of perspective.
Your contention is a truly sad comment about the desperation some people choose to subject themselves to experience...
Why on earth such a void could even exist as a free will choice when there is such an abundance of truly gifted people readily available specifically trained and educated and devoted to helping such a lost soul as you have described. Many of such services are free!
Does not it seem completely natural to resolve such an untenable sad situation the moment it occurs?
Is it not completely normal to satisfy an urge to do something to absolve oneself from such dire straights?
Is this news letter not envisioned as a very cogent guide to historical perspectives about America's governance issues with editorials injected as juxtapositions for our considerations and educations?
Are not the truly brilliant comments offered by so very many very well read and educated enthusiasts of HCR sufficient a community of sage expositors more than sufficient to relieve any sort of related anxieties...Most believe so as evidenced by HCR's burgeoning captivated audience!
I do not know how much despair is a “choice” that a person makes; there are times and circumstances where a person cannot believe/wish/create a positive outlook from where they find themselves in the situations we find ourselves in today.
I do not know “tinfoil Hattie” personally, nor do I know their circumstances. Despair in the darkness of our vanishing freedoms is not unreasonable.
This forum is an amazing place with some wonderful people. Not everyone’s glass is half full.
Ally House
I hear you Ally.
The choice I speak of is not without complete trust in the only trust that can be trusted...
I pray you realize who is charge, who loves you more than anybody, who wants for you joy, happiness, comfort, and all the success possible.
I pray you trust in your faith which is exceedingly more powerful than that of which deceives you from the truth.
It's not a "rumor," sir. Moore v. Harper. The Atlantic has an excellent article explaining just what is at stake. Perhaps these 6 will not decide to undermine our democracy forever, but I have no reason to believe that.
It is my understanding, (primarily because of the existence of the enormously self0inflated ego known as Moscow mitch---and for good reason, Eh!?), that those wannabes warming the "Bench" are all enslaved into Deception's evilness and forever lost into darkness unable ever again to see justice, if ever they could before...Who requires any more justification then the nose on your face to smell the putrefying rot oozing from the cracks of freedoms bell!?
And then they all move into the White House, together.
I hope men continue to visually, and vociferously come in alongside women to codify Roe.
All men who care about women's equality must now, actively support it. Women cannot do this without men, nor should they be expected to.
I'm a hardliner on this: any man who doesn't actively support women's equality should be judged unworthy of friendship or any other relationship. (Yes, doing this in the workplace would be challenging.) But the issue is the same as associating with racists. They are worthy only of contempt.
This is also true of men who don't take responsibility for birth control.
That is a brave hardline, Michael. Trust me on this one, it cherishes the heart of women.
I respect your thoughts in return, my brother.
Unidad! 👩🏼❤️💋👨🏾🗽
Thank you! It helps being 71 and having learned a lot, including from working with many exceptional women and from my very strong and impressive wife. We gave our son her last name, Tong, because there were no men on her side of the family to carry the name forward after her brother dies.
For the past several decades' worth of presidential elections, *white* women have voted for Republicans. In 2016 (53%) and 2020 (55%), white women preferred Trump. Why is that? Racism? Ignorance? Fear? Greed? I don't know, but THAT has got to change! https://truthout.org/articles/yes-55-percent-of-white-women-voted-for-trump-no-im-not-surprised/
Thanks, Cate. You know, in all these years I don't remember reading how utterly gruesome was the killing of young Emmett Till. Maybe I knew it, but suppressed it.
As for the statistics, we seem to keep overlooking that fact. Progressives must perforce double their efforts to get out the progressive white women's vote. (I will never understand why anybody votes for people whose policies go directly against their own interests. I first realized that when people re-elected George W. Bush.)
"Voting against interests." Please check out https://www.sfgate.com/thingstodo/article/George-Lakoff-s-The-Political-Mind-3280894.php Per Prof. Lakoff, people vote by VALUES not "interests." So, if your values are: men over women, white over black, christian over other, etc., then you will vote for the people who express those values. Facts, statistics, and evidence do not really communicate values, especially if presented without a story about how they support *our* values. That's why I think all this swooning over these J6 and past hearings is wishful thinking if the testimony and facts and transcripts are not also used to hammer home the VALUES of how this admin and party are ruining care for others, freedom of thought and body, fairness, compassion, equality, etc. Read the expert. He's been trying to get Dems to communicate effectively for decades.
The ancestors of most Hispanic people in Florida left Cuba when Castro’s forces defeated Batista. They were from the wealthy class, which benefited from Batista’s brutal oppression of the rest of the population. Most wealthy Cubans at the time were from families of purely European (primarily Spanish) descent or at least identified as people of purely European descent. That is, they are white people and not just white but the worst of that ilk, having enjoyed the privilege of abusing Cubans with darker skin when they lived in Cuba. It is no surprise that most of them are Republican scum (a redundant phrase, yes, but maybe doubles the impact).
I've read that the swing is being driven, in part, by a very strong and long effective social media lie campaign ( https://apnews.com/article/latinos-misinformation-election-334d779a4ec41aa0eef9ea80636f9595 ) and https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-latinx-community-and-covid-disinformation-campaigns and https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/disinformation-aimed-spanish-speakers. I'm sure that's not the only thing, but it's another part of the communication toolkit that Dems seem to be ignoring or not taking seriously enough. Bernie was very popular among Hispanic voters, for example ( https://theintercept.com/2019/04/06/bernie-sanders-latino-hispanic-voters/ ) maybe because of a strong person-to-person ground game in 2020 (lessons learned from 2016). I don't know. Advertisers know you can manipulate people with false info and no rebuttal, as all of us who buy yet another plastic piece of junk we don't need at all prove every day.
I think much of this due to the dramatic shift of the working class from reliable Democratic voters to Republicans. And this shift is tied up in the decline of labor unions, long a major goal of Republicans.
It’s Democrats not putting enough attention into the ground game and retail politics. Knocking on doors and lawn signs actually still work better than phone banks and reading poll numbers
You're right on. Lack of adequate outreach to Latinos may very well have lost Florida in 2020. Hurt in Texas, too.
Latinos in Florida are a different breed of cat than Latinos in Texas. There is some hope for Texas. There is no hope for Florida. Latinos in Florida are mostly white people (Spanish ancestors) and vote accordingly.
Yes, I've read this. Cubans in South Florida (mainly) and Puerto Ricans in Central Florida. When I moved to Oregon from the Orlando area in late 1999, Puerto Ricans were streaming in — mostly from the New York area.
Not just Latinos, although that’s badly needed in Arizona, Nevada, and SoCal. Asians in Orange County, CA—and I assume elsewhere. Blacks all across the country.
Yes, the ground game is of utmost importance, but the reason it is needed so desperately is because after 1964, the white working class left the Democratic Party because they did not want to allow black people in their unions. They knew Republicans would help them retain their systemic advantages and Democrats wouldn’t. As a result, they lost their unions (busted by their own man, Reagan). You’d think that would turn them around, but instead, they doubled down. They found systemic white advantages more important than unions.
It used to be “0” percent, Cate, for or against. With vote granted, it takes much to change mindset that has been set on survival mode for so long. So important to increase the vote of young women and men who have been raised with more equity from many of their villages.
Unita, Cate. 🗽
Some kind of powerful deceptive misunderstanding that the republicans actually care while at the same moment those same republicans twist the knife even deeper into the backs of the same women who voted for them....
INDEED...YEA!
How did the material status of women’s lives improve under 8 years of Obama- Biden? Who went to jail for conning millions of crappy mortgages and lost their homes? Who benefited from and was most protected by the bailouts? Not women. “President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he favored abortion rights for women but that passing a law guaranteeing those rights was not his top priority, trying to avoid inflaming …”(Reuters) Why vote for Democrats when they do not deliver? Like any low performing employee, Can them.
I'll never forgive Obama for not punishing those bankers, thereby setting for others a horrible example of malfeasance. We vote for Democrats because at least their platforms are humane. If you would can the Democrats, Selina, for whom would you vote?
I stand with you re Obama. That is a conundrum (sp?). Work for the Justice Democrats? Keep my eye on the Sunrise Movement to see who they're backing. David Sirota's The Lever.com had a good panel of highly experienced activists about a month ago about the feasibility of building a 3rd party. Ploughing thro the rules to do so is an elephantine task requiring determination and persistence. The discussion came to a bit of a draw - between doing the 3rd party groundwork - and - working like the dickens to get decent progressives into the Democratic Party.
It *is* a conundrum. As much as it would be good to add more progressives into the Democratic Party, many voters or potential voters are so turned off by what they see as Democratic inaction that they may just decide not to vote for anyone with a D next to his or her name. On the other hand, third parties do not have a good history of success in getting air time in order to rally support for their causes.
Many women “who attend church regularly “ (Pew’s category) will answer they vote like their husbands and/or minister wants them too
When I canvassed for George McGovern in 1972 in a trailer park in rural Iowa, one woman, when we asked who she was planning to vote for, told us, "Just a minute. I have to go ask my husband." And she did. And it wasn't for our guy.
50 years later, that hasn't changed much in many areas of the country. Hard to believe given how much the world, and this society, has changed since then, isn't it?
And register others to vote.
Not only must women vote because of Roe /Wade being over turned but every other right that includes women’s right to vote. Or states that want to limit voting rights. That stops much choice of individuals if they cannot even vote. The very reason we must take action and vite democratic (including independents & republicans that understand the importance of citizens rights to vote)
Pat, I couldn’t agree more. I am a leftist from forever, but I always vote Democratic. We must beat these backward thinking Christian fundamentalists. That’s the root of our problem. Read about Barr and his patriarchal, fundamentalist Catholicism OMG.
I dislike labels. My party affiliation is Independent but I vote the candidate and the issue and this issue is individual freedoms including the most important - the right to vote and right to privacy of choices concerning one’s health decisions with the physician of their choosing.
In America we vote two distinct ways:
(1). We register in the state we live in and then vote: by mail or in person
AND
(2). We vote for national candidates/incumbents/legislation with our wallet or other efforts
Democrats have a reasonable opportunity to win over the Senate majority. Here is who to support with your generous Monthly contributions.
See Link:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3527999-the-seven-senate-seats-most-likely-to-flip-in-2022/
Thank you, George, for the link. I suspect many of us already do support national candidates, as well as local ones, but the list in the article is helpful.
Send money directly to the candidates rather than DNC, or DCCcand DDem Senate Org. Less constraints on spending, and less “wasted” on bad strategies
I’m wondering what the best way is to do this. I’m getting so many emails now my head spins. I don’t have a lot to contribute yet I believe every dollar counts. Any suggestions to streamline it?
Donna Lindner
Consider this:
Just $10.00 per month for each Democrat you choose X one million similar donors =
bye-bye republicans, hello Democrats, America is saved!
See link
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3527999-the-seven-senate-seats-most-likely-to-flip-in-2022/
One option is Emily's List. https://www.emilyslist.org/
Go straight to the candidates—eliminate the middle
Handed out 200 voter registration packets (targeted to left leaning democrats if lists are to be believed) between yesterday and today, will continue daily, to hopefully blanket this hateful oathkeeper county. The silent majority HAS to speak up with at least their votes.
Lynn Duffy
Thank GOD for your love of America!
May GOD's Blessings continue to be showered upon you and all of your loved ones now and forevermore...and even longer!
Brava!
There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.
Madeleine Albright
Sorry. I would say there's a special place in hell for Madeline Albright.
We need to register people to vote, especially those who just finished high school.
The comments on Twitter (Fox!!!) are very encouraging.
Could you give more detail?