10/29/18 “Trump’s condoning of political violence is part of a sustained pattern of attack on a free press”
Voting news!
Early voter turnout levels have been gratifying—first-day voter turnout for early voting resulted in long lines all day across Texas—in Travis County it nearly tripled from 2014; in Dallas more than tripled from 2010 and 2014. Here are up-to-the-minute tallies of turnout county by county in Texas.
After Texas State students complained that Hays County was suppressing student voting by offering truncated polling-station hours on campus for early voting, the county agreed to extend it, as well as to open it for Election Day.
The Dallas News endorsed Beto O’Rourke, stating that his “inclusive and hopeful tone, along with O’Rourke’s approach of starting with shared principles and working toward solutions, offset any policy differences we have with him. Leadership is more than policy, and whether we are addressing the very real challenges before us now turns on our ability to find points of agreement.”
A fabulous new law in Oregon provides that all eligible voters in the state are automatically registered to vote unless they opt out. WHICH IS BRILLIANT. Come on, 49 others—step up.
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Fox and Friends invited four independent voters on, clearly seeking scare reactions regarding the caravan of refugees making its way through Central America, but the stunt backfired hilariously. BTW, if you’d like some excellent rebuttals for ignorant invective against the asylum seekers, you might remind people that seeking asylum is actually legal immigration, not illegal, and that in the last year 70 percent of asylum seekers were found by U.S. judges to have legitimate grounds for fleeing their homeland. Oh, and that in Germany, where Donny likes to tout the entirely fictional apocalyptic effects of refugee resettlement, crime has actually gone down 10 percent. And here’s a fact-checker article debunking Donald’s claims about the caravan.
Meanwhile, in the wake of ten unsuccessful bombing attempts against targets that Donald has expressly incited violence against, more than 200 journalists signed a letter openly accusing Donald of deliberately inciting violence against the press—despite his refusal to accept responsibility even in the face of his own words condoning, praising, and calling for violence against the press and even his attempts to deflect blame onto the media with no rationality or factual backing. “Trump’s condoning of political violence is part of a sustained pattern of attack on a free press – which includes labeling any reportage he doesn’t like as ‘fake news’ and barring reporters and news organizations whom he wishes to punish from press briefings and events.” The letter continues to gather signatures. (And the man apparently behind the bombing is like the poster child for Donald’s base.)
Ever insensitive to anything other than his own interests (and ever reluctant to call terrorism by its name when white people are involved), Donald tweeted that ”this ‘Bomb’ stuff” was hurting Republicans in the midterms because “the news [is] not talking [about] politics.”
Donny may have revoked John Brennan’s security clearance, but he can’t silence the outspoken former head of the CIA. “Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act. … try to act Presidential. The American people deserve much better. BTW, your critics will not be intimidated into silence,” he wrote on Twitter Weds., as Donald continued to shift blame away from himself for the recent bomb attacks on his political opponents.
A VA official in Donny’s administration hung a picture of the nation’s first KKK grand wizard in his office, despite staff complaints, till they circulated a petition that finally forced him to take it down.
Republicans Reconsidering
This is what happens when you are a transwoman who aligns yourself with the Republican party.
This is what happens when you’re Caitlyn Jenner, a prominent representative for the trans community, and you back Donald and then he tries to invalidate your civil rights not even two years later. “The leader of our nation has shown no regard for an already marginalized and struggling community. He has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity.” Uh, yeah. Did you not see that one coming?
This is what happens when a school in Colorado invites a drag queen to come speak at career day, and some parents freak out—and the school stands by having invited her.
In yet another example of a Republican candidate’s family publicly denouncing his fitness, twelve family members of Nevada GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt wrote an op-ed opposing his candidacy on the grounds of his misleading ads, phony claims, and incompetence in a short-lived career as a lawyer, and decrying his positions on immigration, health care, reproductive rights, and other concerns.
Republicans Against the Law
Remember Georgia senator David Perdue snatching a phone from a student’s hand last week when the student asked him a question about voter suppression? The Georgia Tech junior is suing Perdue for battery.
Georgia is having quite a time with its racist Republican self—a federal judge ordered officials in Gwinnett County (my hometown, sadly) to stop tossing absentee ballots on trumped-up charges of signature discrepancies made by non experts.
Yet another White House ethics violation is being cited by a watchdog group—this one against Kellyanne Conway for illegally using political messaging—including MAGA merchandise—in her tweets, and for expressing political views in an official capacity in an interview in her office.
A federal court ruled that part of Donald’s order denying federal funding to sanctuary cities is unconstitutional, upholding two lower-court rulings.
Anthony “not trying to suck my own cock” Scaramucci is spewing at the mouth again, this time calling his former boss Donald a liar.
Not for the first time, Donald lied about his supporters, touting the “50,000 people lined up outside whom we love,” seemingly supported by widely circulated picture on social media showing a huge crowd all clad in Republican red—except the picture is actually from Cleveland, not Houston, and isn’t Donald fans but Cleveland Cavaliers fans celebrating the team’s 2016 NBA championship win. In the words of former Donald campaign manager Corey Lewandowsky mocking a young immigrant girl separated from her mother, Womp, womp!
Senator Jeff Flake said on The View that despite not being sure he believed Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony in his Supreme Court nomination hearings, he voted for him anyway.
In response to a NYTimes article revealing that Donald regularly uses unsecured cell phones for communication that are vulnerable to security breaches, Donald stated that he rarely used a cell phone in a fact-free denial of the well-supported article that he tweeted—from his iPhone.
Megyn Kelly’s show was canceled at NBC after she made racially insensitive comments (again).
Your Feel-good Stories of the Week
Along the route of the caravan of asylum seekers coming from Central America, small-town residents throughout Mexico are offering them food, shelter, and kindness. “We know that we are all brothers. What God gives us, we should share,” said one resident. “We do it with a lot of love.”
After the #MeToo movement brought down 201 men credibly accused of sexual abuse and harassment, nearly half their positions have been filled by women.
In the face of the preseident of the United States full-throatedly identifying as a nationalist (like Hitler and Stalin did), you might enjoy this thoughtful TED talk about how nationalism and globalism can coexist.
Early voting goes on through November 2, and the midterm vote is November 6. Find your local polling place here or here. Anyone who needs to get a ride to the polls can call the Travis County Democratic Party at (512) 472-VOTE. (You can sign up for a shift to help drive people to the polls here.) Find out what’s on the ballot here or here. Sign up to help make phone calls to encourage people to the polls here or here or here.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.