My main focus has been writing letters to Virginia and Ohio voters. My wrist brace arrives from Amazon today. I'm not kidding. I hope our efforts pay off tomorrow.
I wrote postcards to Virginia voters as part of the Postcards to Swing States effort. I couldn't help but hope that many of the people I wrote to were not "accidentally" removed from the voter rolls.
Mine was through Voteforward.org. I organized a handful of people and we wrote and sent letters through the October 31 mailing deadline. It was an honor. Together, you and I, and thousands of others like us, are making a huge collective difference. I believe the Ohio special election this last August succeeded because people like us cared to go the extra mile. This is what democracy looks like. Thank you for your activism.
I've worn out my hands writing postcards on behalf of the League of Women Voters, my fingers from dialing my phone, and am ready to scream. Thank heavens and thank you to tireless folks like David Pepper, Jen Miller, and all those who have worked so hard to deflect the lies and misinformation. It hit home yesterday because a beloved neighbor sent an email to our small close-knit street (mostly conservative, but there are a few liberals) asking us to consider the unboarn child with our vote. The family are staunch Catholics; the new parish priest in this village has pulled out all the stops on his congregation. He must have. These neighbors are the least political people I ever knew until now.
I did not vote early or by mail. I prefer to go to my polling place in person to try to get a read on the crowd (if there is one). So I'll be there tomorrow morning @ 7am.
Good luck! I've watched Ohio go through some of the same misinformation that Michigan had to deal with, and I'm hoping that after the election is over it will have been just as much a waste of time as it was here.
I am quite sure that american citizens would not have voted for hitler. Why millions of them would still vote for trump? The serial rapist conman and liar made it clear that if elected in 2024, mayhem will soon follow. A fascist dictator will destroyed what remains of american democracy. Why?
In addition to what @Kevin posted, you would need to factor in the full timeline. When Hitler took power, he used a huge propaganda machine to convince people that he alone could make Germany great again (true story), that all of the problems faced by the country were due to immigration of the Jewish people, which he dehumanized at every opportunity, and said they didn't belong in their country. Over years, he moved from dehumanizing, taking their property and corralling them in "ghettos", to moving them to mass concentration camps, telling the people all along how he was saving the country, and harshly suppressing any contrary views or criticisms. When he began the mass exterminations, he called the reports of that "liberal propaganda from Britain and the Soviets" and stated that he was merely "deporting them to the east, back where they belong." All the while praising his acolytes as true patriots and telling them that they were the superior race.
Many goose stepped happily. Most allowed cognitive dissonance to protect their beliefs that he was a great man who was doing what others were too timid to do to protect their country from Jews and liberalism and communism.
I don't have perfect recall, so consult a historian or history books, but you'll be amazed at the similarities to the MAGA movement.
Also if the Germans weren't the targets of Hitler and his government they benefited from being able to take over vacated Jewish businesses, or buying their properties for dirt cheap when they were forced to sell.
If I recall correctly, the neighbors of Japanese-Americans deported to internment camps benefited similarly from their neighbors needing to sell and not being in a position to bargain. 😕
Yes! It is crucial to bear in mind that the popular perception of Hitler and the Third Reich reflects what they were at their worst, at the end. But they were not an overnight sensation. They did not burst onto the scene suddenly and begin building concentration camps and ovens immediately. They took years to constantly push the envelope, gradually nudging the country increasingly further into more extreme fascism. If we want to truly learn from the history of WWII and use it as a cautionary tale, we need to focus on the early days of the Nazi Party, and become familiar with the process that gradually morphed the democratic Weimar Republic into the violently fascististic, totalitarian Third Reich.
Good points. Tks. I know quite a bit of this sad nazi story. I would not be amazed, much more frightened / desperate. History must not repeat itself in America. That will be the start of a biiig war. The end of the “free” world. Follow the origin of the huge amounts of dollars pouring into this maga business, thanks to awful companies and private mega rich individuals. Von trump as a billionaire is not spending one cent from his own pocket. A true parasite. A sucker.
First of all, Hitler analogies are always fraught because with 20/20 hindsight he is seen as uniquely the worst person ever (although I think he should share that dishonor with people like Stalin, Pol Pot, and quite a few others).
Looking at the facts as they were back then, though, it's not as simple. First, the election in 1933 was really just between two kinds of dictatorships - either one based on Soviet-style communism, or the one Germans did chose (which turned out worse, but I'm not sure how much of that was clear back then). What would Americans choose in that situation, and without the 20/20 hindsight we have today?
The really scary part is another parallel: ten years before Hitler was elected, he was imprisoned for trying to start a coup.
I suppose we should be grateful that Trump is so old that he is not likely to come back from any convictions.
When Youngkin was elected in 2021 it was the the "bellweather" of doom for the democrats in 2022, a big red wave was going to wash over DC and sweep the republicans back into control of the house and senate. While they did take back the house, the "red wave" never materialized. On top of that, the congressional maps that help them win the house were determined to be illegal. While I do think the democrats with turn out in Virginia; taking back the house while keeping the senate, even with a loss we should all keep some things in mind. First and foremost, Youngkin's administration admitted to removing 3,700 voters from the rolls, even though they claim they reinstated all but 100 nobody in their right mind should believe them. Second, the 2022 election showed that the Virginia elections were not the harbinger of doom everyone thought it would be. We need to stay focused on November 2024, please don't get sidetracked.
If VA does not at least keep the Senate and if my county, Spotsylvania, does not change our school board, there may be a massive outmigration of anti-book ban, pro-choice, and fair election folks. If we can sell our homes and find a more liberal and reasonable place to live, we’ll be gone.
Well, good points, but it's still about the Dems winning big in almost every election after 2020, and VA will either continue the trend, or portend possible bad news ahead if both Houses finish R.
We have to remember that the republicans are cheating in every single election - cheating! they remove large numbers of people from the rolls and then go "Oops, sorry" and next week the story is gone. Georgia removes voters and doesn't even inform them, and, if someone else challenges a persons eligibility, they remove them from the rolls and then MAKE the person that was removed PROVE they are eligible.
Mississippi...hate to say it but the Dems best chance is that the candidate is white, and a relative of Elvis. Otherwise, Reeves takes it easily, come on...it's Mississippi after all. And they STILL like Brett Favre, fraudster or not.
Now, if Mississippi would get onboard with application of the 6th amendment right to legal counsel and start providing that for people who can’t afford a lawyer, there might be some hope for that benighted place. Pro Publica has had much to say on that lately.
Jay, I normally agree with you 110%, but I think that there’s many more states where races are really important. For example, there’s been efforts by the MAGApublicans to take charge in smaller elections. For example, in Education Boards all over, they are trying to take control of school curricula so they can push their own agendas. These elections are important because it is similar to what the Nazi party did in Germany in the 1920s-1930s. By taking control in these smaller areas, they were able to control the message that kids were getting in schools. The same goes for town governments. In Connecticut, all of our Congresspeople are Democrats, the state legislature is dominated by Democrats, as well as all of the elected positions in the executive branch. However, there are 169 town governments in the state, and, as of the 2021 municipal elections, Republicans control 102 of them (just over 60%). The last Republican Congressman from Connecticut lost in the 2008 election.
The problem in the US is the same as that of Germany in the 1920s. Most of the rural areas vote Republican, and it’s in the urban areas that the Democrats are concentrated. In 1860, it was the same problem, but opposite parties. In that election, the Democratic Party could not agree on a single candidate for president, and the Northern Democrats endorsed Stephen Douglas while the Southern Democrats endorsed John C. Breckinridge. That allowed for the new Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln to win the election.
What I see now is very similar. Unfortunately, the split in the Republican Party hasn’t filtered down to the local and state levels yet. This, they are staging a bottom up coup, which they hope will result in future dominance of the country.
I know that you have to focus on specific ones, and I agree that these are probably the most important ones at the federal level. I wanted to get out there and make sure that everyone knows that it’s important to vote every election, even if they don’t seem very important.
Thank you for keeping us aware of what’s going on in our country. I appreciate reading your posts every day, even if the possible consequences may scare us.
Bret Favre claims he didn't know his funding was provided out of welfare funds but in my opinion, in a state as poor as Mississippi, ALL funds are (or at least should be) welfare funds.
Maybe it's just me but it seems to me that the last thing Republican office holders of any kind would want is a lifetime voting ban for those convicted of felonies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Here in Ohio they are scrubbing the voter rolls down and not sending mail in ballots that have been requested. I got mine and mailed it a few weeks ago. They are cheating like crazy.
Just an interesting political factoid about Hitler. He was never elected to any office. On 1/30/1933 German President, Paul von Hindenburg, appointed him chancellor and head of a coalition government.
TBH, after Hindenburg died, he took the office of president through an “election.” At least that’s what it was called, kind of like calling a werewolf a loving puppy.
I voted in VA on the way to work today. It always feels good to fulfill my civic duty, but for the past few election cycles, it's felt so much more important.
Thank you. That was very instructive. I’ll be waiting with baited breath for the results on Tuesday night. I still find it beyond believe that any person of color would belong to the GOP. So the idea of an African American governor in a red state is mind boggling. But I live in Trumpville in Ca. Central Valley. I have Latin neighbors who are DT supporters. Go figure.😲🤔😪
My main focus has been writing letters to Virginia and Ohio voters. My wrist brace arrives from Amazon today. I'm not kidding. I hope our efforts pay off tomorrow.
Thank you for what you’re doing.
That means so much. Thank you for all you do Jay!
LA, as a terrified Virginian, you have my deepest thanks.
I’m in California, but as a terrified American, thank you!
I wrote postcards to Virginia voters as part of the Postcards to Swing States effort. I couldn't help but hope that many of the people I wrote to were not "accidentally" removed from the voter rolls.
Mine was through Voteforward.org. I organized a handful of people and we wrote and sent letters through the October 31 mailing deadline. It was an honor. Together, you and I, and thousands of others like us, are making a huge collective difference. I believe the Ohio special election this last August succeeded because people like us cared to go the extra mile. This is what democracy looks like. Thank you for your activism.
I live in Ohio. Thank you. You have my undying gratitude!
I wrote them too, and, yes, my wrist is screaming
Thank you LA! Another Virginian here.
Thank you from an Ohioan.💙🌹
From Ohio, here, and I have to say this has been quite the ride. Republicans in the state house and governor's mansion have pulled out all the stops, up to and including an offensive and misleading page on an official legislative website: https://apnews.com/article/election-2023-ohio-abortion-amendment-misinformation-6b870f06abe5d70e8aa0a535b2e9dd1a
I've worn out my hands writing postcards on behalf of the League of Women Voters, my fingers from dialing my phone, and am ready to scream. Thank heavens and thank you to tireless folks like David Pepper, Jen Miller, and all those who have worked so hard to deflect the lies and misinformation. It hit home yesterday because a beloved neighbor sent an email to our small close-knit street (mostly conservative, but there are a few liberals) asking us to consider the unboarn child with our vote. The family are staunch Catholics; the new parish priest in this village has pulled out all the stops on his congregation. He must have. These neighbors are the least political people I ever knew until now.
I did not vote early or by mail. I prefer to go to my polling place in person to try to get a read on the crowd (if there is one). So I'll be there tomorrow morning @ 7am.
VOTE OHIO!! Just DO it!!
Good luck! I've watched Ohio go through some of the same misinformation that Michigan had to deal with, and I'm hoping that after the election is over it will have been just as much a waste of time as it was here.
Standing with you in AZ
All of us here in Ohio thank you.
I am quite sure that american citizens would not have voted for hitler. Why millions of them would still vote for trump? The serial rapist conman and liar made it clear that if elected in 2024, mayhem will soon follow. A fascist dictator will destroyed what remains of american democracy. Why?
In addition to what @Kevin posted, you would need to factor in the full timeline. When Hitler took power, he used a huge propaganda machine to convince people that he alone could make Germany great again (true story), that all of the problems faced by the country were due to immigration of the Jewish people, which he dehumanized at every opportunity, and said they didn't belong in their country. Over years, he moved from dehumanizing, taking their property and corralling them in "ghettos", to moving them to mass concentration camps, telling the people all along how he was saving the country, and harshly suppressing any contrary views or criticisms. When he began the mass exterminations, he called the reports of that "liberal propaganda from Britain and the Soviets" and stated that he was merely "deporting them to the east, back where they belong." All the while praising his acolytes as true patriots and telling them that they were the superior race.
Many goose stepped happily. Most allowed cognitive dissonance to protect their beliefs that he was a great man who was doing what others were too timid to do to protect their country from Jews and liberalism and communism.
I don't have perfect recall, so consult a historian or history books, but you'll be amazed at the similarities to the MAGA movement.
Also if the Germans weren't the targets of Hitler and his government they benefited from being able to take over vacated Jewish businesses, or buying their properties for dirt cheap when they were forced to sell.
If I recall correctly, the neighbors of Japanese-Americans deported to internment camps benefited similarly from their neighbors needing to sell and not being in a position to bargain. 😕
You do recall correctly.
Yes! It is crucial to bear in mind that the popular perception of Hitler and the Third Reich reflects what they were at their worst, at the end. But they were not an overnight sensation. They did not burst onto the scene suddenly and begin building concentration camps and ovens immediately. They took years to constantly push the envelope, gradually nudging the country increasingly further into more extreme fascism. If we want to truly learn from the history of WWII and use it as a cautionary tale, we need to focus on the early days of the Nazi Party, and become familiar with the process that gradually morphed the democratic Weimar Republic into the violently fascististic, totalitarian Third Reich.
Good points. Tks. I know quite a bit of this sad nazi story. I would not be amazed, much more frightened / desperate. History must not repeat itself in America. That will be the start of a biiig war. The end of the “free” world. Follow the origin of the huge amounts of dollars pouring into this maga business, thanks to awful companies and private mega rich individuals. Von trump as a billionaire is not spending one cent from his own pocket. A true parasite. A sucker.
First of all, Hitler analogies are always fraught because with 20/20 hindsight he is seen as uniquely the worst person ever (although I think he should share that dishonor with people like Stalin, Pol Pot, and quite a few others).
Looking at the facts as they were back then, though, it's not as simple. First, the election in 1933 was really just between two kinds of dictatorships - either one based on Soviet-style communism, or the one Germans did chose (which turned out worse, but I'm not sure how much of that was clear back then). What would Americans choose in that situation, and without the 20/20 hindsight we have today?
The really scary part is another parallel: ten years before Hitler was elected, he was imprisoned for trying to start a coup.
I suppose we should be grateful that Trump is so old that he is not likely to come back from any convictions.
When Youngkin was elected in 2021 it was the the "bellweather" of doom for the democrats in 2022, a big red wave was going to wash over DC and sweep the republicans back into control of the house and senate. While they did take back the house, the "red wave" never materialized. On top of that, the congressional maps that help them win the house were determined to be illegal. While I do think the democrats with turn out in Virginia; taking back the house while keeping the senate, even with a loss we should all keep some things in mind. First and foremost, Youngkin's administration admitted to removing 3,700 voters from the rolls, even though they claim they reinstated all but 100 nobody in their right mind should believe them. Second, the 2022 election showed that the Virginia elections were not the harbinger of doom everyone thought it would be. We need to stay focused on November 2024, please don't get sidetracked.
If VA does not at least keep the Senate and if my county, Spotsylvania, does not change our school board, there may be a massive outmigration of anti-book ban, pro-choice, and fair election folks. If we can sell our homes and find a more liberal and reasonable place to live, we’ll be gone.
Well, good points, but it's still about the Dems winning big in almost every election after 2020, and VA will either continue the trend, or portend possible bad news ahead if both Houses finish R.
We have to remember that the republicans are cheating in every single election - cheating! they remove large numbers of people from the rolls and then go "Oops, sorry" and next week the story is gone. Georgia removes voters and doesn't even inform them, and, if someone else challenges a persons eligibility, they remove them from the rolls and then MAKE the person that was removed PROVE they are eligible.
Come on, Democrats! Show up in such numbers no amount of gerrymandering can do anything!
Mississippi...hate to say it but the Dems best chance is that the candidate is white, and a relative of Elvis. Otherwise, Reeves takes it easily, come on...it's Mississippi after all. And they STILL like Brett Favre, fraudster or not.
I don’t give it a high chance of flipping blue either.
Well, to be fair, they don't seem to believe either of them are fraudsters.
There are reasons why Mississippi is the poorest state in these United States. Not GOOD reasons, mind you...
Now, if Mississippi would get onboard with application of the 6th amendment right to legal counsel and start providing that for people who can’t afford a lawyer, there might be some hope for that benighted place. Pro Publica has had much to say on that lately.
Six is a very high number. They're still focused heavily on two
And they do not much care for #1.
Jay, I normally agree with you 110%, but I think that there’s many more states where races are really important. For example, there’s been efforts by the MAGApublicans to take charge in smaller elections. For example, in Education Boards all over, they are trying to take control of school curricula so they can push their own agendas. These elections are important because it is similar to what the Nazi party did in Germany in the 1920s-1930s. By taking control in these smaller areas, they were able to control the message that kids were getting in schools. The same goes for town governments. In Connecticut, all of our Congresspeople are Democrats, the state legislature is dominated by Democrats, as well as all of the elected positions in the executive branch. However, there are 169 town governments in the state, and, as of the 2021 municipal elections, Republicans control 102 of them (just over 60%). The last Republican Congressman from Connecticut lost in the 2008 election.
The problem in the US is the same as that of Germany in the 1920s. Most of the rural areas vote Republican, and it’s in the urban areas that the Democrats are concentrated. In 1860, it was the same problem, but opposite parties. In that election, the Democratic Party could not agree on a single candidate for president, and the Northern Democrats endorsed Stephen Douglas while the Southern Democrats endorsed John C. Breckinridge. That allowed for the new Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln to win the election.
What I see now is very similar. Unfortunately, the split in the Republican Party hasn’t filtered down to the local and state levels yet. This, they are staging a bottom up coup, which they hope will result in future dominance of the country.
I chose to focus on these four, but there are indeed many other important races.
I know that you have to focus on specific ones, and I agree that these are probably the most important ones at the federal level. I wanted to get out there and make sure that everyone knows that it’s important to vote every election, even if they don’t seem very important.
Thank you for keeping us aware of what’s going on in our country. I appreciate reading your posts every day, even if the possible consequences may scare us.
Bret Favre claims he didn't know his funding was provided out of welfare funds but in my opinion, in a state as poor as Mississippi, ALL funds are (or at least should be) welfare funds.
And Brett is full of merde
Maybe it's just me but it seems to me that the last thing Republican office holders of any kind would want is a lifetime voting ban for those convicted of felonies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
🤣🤣🤣
Here in Ohio they are scrubbing the voter rolls down and not sending mail in ballots that have been requested. I got mine and mailed it a few weeks ago. They are cheating like crazy.
Just an interesting political factoid about Hitler. He was never elected to any office. On 1/30/1933 German President, Paul von Hindenburg, appointed him chancellor and head of a coalition government.
TBH, after Hindenburg died, he took the office of president through an “election.” At least that’s what it was called, kind of like calling a werewolf a loving puppy.
Great recap
Another problem in MS is that the 'Dem' candidate is extremely anti-abortion!!!
It actually might play to his benefit there, which is sad in and of itself.
I voted in VA on the way to work today. It always feels good to fulfill my civic duty, but for the past few election cycles, it's felt so much more important.
Thank you. That was very instructive. I’ll be waiting with baited breath for the results on Tuesday night. I still find it beyond believe that any person of color would belong to the GOP. So the idea of an African American governor in a red state is mind boggling. But I live in Trumpville in Ca. Central Valley. I have Latin neighbors who are DT supporters. Go figure.😲🤔😪