feeling the bern

9.13.21. New York City

NYPD arrest non-violent protestors outside the Met Gala, including BLM protestors. NYPD used the notoriously brutal SRG to arrest non-violent protestors. This occurred outside the ultra-wealthy fundraising event whose theme this year was "In America".

if no doesn't get over 50% the governorship goes to the person with the next highest percent of the vote and that guy fucking sucks

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas

Planned Parenthood of South Texas

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast

Fund Texas Choice

Jane’s Due Process

National Network of Abortion Funds

An election? In September? Yes. A stupid one.

You see, some Republicans got Big Mad at Governor Gavin Newsom when he made the decision to lockdown the state last year at the beginning of the pandemic. They decided to start a petition to remove (recall) him from office. California's state constitution allows voters to remove the governor via recall election if they get enough signatures.

How many signatures, you ask? 12% of the total votes cast in the previous election for the office of the person being recalled, or in this case, 1.5 million.

Yeah. That's all. Out of a state of nearly 40 million people. A state that is the 5th largest economy in the world.

Just 1.5 million people need to sign an official recall petition for a statewide vote to remove the governor from office.

(If you didn't know, a recall election is how California got Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor in 2003.)

If a simple majority (50% + 1 vote) of voters choose YES on their ballots, Gavin Newsom will be removed from office and whomever of the 46 candidates on the ballot gets more votes than anyone else (not even a majority vote, just more than the other candidates) will become California's new governor.

The current (as of today, August 20th) frontrunners are a very right-wing talk radio host named Larry Elder, and a real estate broker/YouTube personality named Kevin Paffrath. Neither have what you would call "political experience."

(Caitlin Jenner is also running. Just in case you were wondering.)

How do you get on a recall ballot in California? To replace the governor, the highest office in the state? Well, you need to complete the arduous task of forking over about $4000 and getting 7500 signatures of real Californians saying they back you as a candidate.

Yeah. That's all.

Oh, and just having this election is costing CA taxpayers over $250 million dollars.

So what's at stake if Newsom gets recalled?

Majority control of the US Senate.

You see, Senator Dianne Feinstein is 88 years old this year. She's been Senator since 1992. If she falls too ill to continue her duties, if she resigns, if she dies while in office, California does not hold a Senatorial election.

The governor appoints a replacement.

This is how we got our current junior Senator, Alex Padilla, after Kamala Harris was inaugurated as Vice President.

Let me say that again.

The governor appoints a replacement Senator if Dianne Feinstein cannot complete her term.

If enough people vote to recall Gavin Newsom, and a Republican, or Libertarian, or, let's be honest, any inexperienced wet sack that can be bought off by the highest bidder, takes his place, they will very possibly appoint a Republican Senator to replace Dianne Feinstein and put that fuckface Mitch McConnell back in control of the US Senate.

So please, please, if you're a Californian, make sure you're registered to vote, get your ballot, and vote NO on this stupid waste of money recall election.

More info:

www.sfgate.com/gavin-newsom-recall/amp/Gavin-Newsom-recall-poll-support-Elder-Paffrath-16390077.php

Voter guide:

An election? In September? Yes. A stupid one.

You see, some Republicans got Big Mad at Governor Gavin Newsom when he made the decision to lockdown the state last year at the beginning of the pandemic. They decided to start a petition to remove (recall) him from office. California's state constitution allows voters to remove the governor via recall election if they get enough signatures.

How many signatures, you ask? 12% of the total votes cast in the previous election for the office of the person being recalled, or in this case, 1.5 million.

Yeah. That's all. Out of a state of nearly 40 million people. A state that is the 5th largest economy in the world.

Just 1.5 million people need to sign an official recall petition for a statewide vote to remove the governor from office.

(If you didn't know, a recall election is how California got Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor in 2003.)

If a simple majority (50% + 1 vote) of voters choose YES on their ballots, Gavin Newsom will be removed from office and whomever of the 46 candidates on the ballot gets more votes than anyone else (not even a majority vote, just more than the other candidates) will become California's new governor.

The current (as of today, August 20th) frontrunners are a very right-wing talk radio host named Larry Elder, and a real estate broker/YouTube personality named Kevin Paffrath. Neither have what you would call "political experience."

(Caitlin Jenner is also running. Just in case you were wondering.)

How do you get on a recall ballot in California? To replace the governor, the highest office in the state? Well, you need to complete the arduous task of forking over about $4000 and getting 7500 signatures of real Californians saying they back you as a candidate.

Yeah. That's all.

Oh, and just having this election is costing CA taxpayers over $250 million dollars.

So what's at stake if Newsom gets recalled?

Majority control of the US Senate.

You see, Senator Dianne Feinstein is 88 years old this year. She's been Senator since 1992. If she falls too ill to continue her duties, if she resigns, if she dies while in office, California does not hold a Senatorial election.

The governor appoints a replacement.

This is how we got our current junior Senator, Alex Padilla, after Kamala Harris was inaugurated as Vice President.

Let me say that again.

The governor appoints a replacement Senator if Dianne Feinstein cannot complete her term.

If enough people vote to recall Gavin Newsom, and a Republican, or Libertarian, or, let's be honest, any inexperienced wet sack that can be bought off by the highest bidder, takes his place, they will very possibly appoint a Republican Senator to replace Dianne Feinstein and put that fuckface Mitch McConnell back in control of the US Senate.

So please, please, if you're a Californian, make sure you're registered to vote, get your ballot, and vote NO on this stupid waste of money recall election.

More info:

www.sfgate.com/gavin-newsom-recall/amp/Gavin-Newsom-recall-poll-support-Elder-Paffrath-16390077.php

Voter guide:

The OG post was made by a t/e/r/f, so I’m making my own because I’m uncomfortable spreading their handle around. I’m not retyping the whole of it because most of it can be found below anyway, but here’s the rundown in a more concise manner than the first post:

1. The vaccine was not rushed like you think it was. It came through so quickly because of high funding, high availability of infected subjects, high number of willing participants, and high prioritization set by the government and the companies themselves. Lacking these things obviously makes things far slower going– this was the speed of a vaccine given all of the resources it needed up front to be born.

2. mRNA replication and the “virus” in the vaccine - these is no live OR dead virus in the vaccine. A piece of the mRNA is in it, allowing your body to build a tiny model of the shell of it, but NOT THE VIRUS ITSELF. It *cannot* do this indefinitely, unlike some rumors would suggest. Basically, it’s the blueprints to a *model* of the virus so your body will know what it looks like if the real virus eventually comes along from elsewhere.

3. Extra extra, read all about it! The vaccine has received extensive outside review, so here are some places to read about it…

if these two seats are won by democrats they will flip the senate to a MAJORITY for democrats. we will have the presidency, the house AND the senate if the democratic candidates in georgia win. the policies biden promised could have a better chance at being passed!

if you live in georgia PLEASE vote for the democratic senate candidates on january 5th

if you do not, i recommend donating to the candidates election fund! :) 

https://electjon.com/

[Image description: tweet by Robert Reich @RBReich: “Georgians: If you turn 18 by January 5, 2021, you are eligible to vote in the run-off elections that will determine whether we take control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell. You have until December 7 to register to vote. Please tell your friends.”]

DIRECT LINK TO OFFICIAL GEORGIA GOV. REGISTRATION WEBSITE: https://registertovote.sos.ga.gov/GAOLVR/welcome.do#no-back-button

DIRECT LINK TO OFFICIAL GEORGIA GOV. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS AND INFORMATION: https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/Elections/register_to_vote

the trump administrations failures and deliberate efforts of harm have caused a disproportionate amount of harm to Indian Country/Natives living on tribal lands. the losses we’ve seen are incomparable, and the devastation beyond repair. every Elder death due to the failures of trump and co. is another bit of culture, history, and language lost.

you won’t hear much about it because our numbers are small. because of the ongoing genocide of Natives on our own lands. the numbers are small, but the percentages by which we are being harmed are astronomical.

but so is our determination.

Menominee County is home to the Menominee Indian Reservation. Most of the people who live in the county are members of the Menominee Nation. Wisconsin had an extremely small margin this election and I, a non-Native person living in Wisconsin, am so grateful to the people of the Menominee Nation for showing up and going SO HARD, this year and every year, in the face of toxic opposition. 

Also, I hope this is okay to add on: for years, the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin has been fighting against the “Back Forty Mine Project,“ a proposed open-pit metallic sulfide mine on the shores of the Menominee River.

They have put together a website, noback40.org, with information about the project (including a handout and a basic fact sheet with lots of great information all in one place) as well as information about how we can help. There is also a long-running, still-open GoFundMe (open since 2017).

In January of this year, the Menominee Tribe lost their appeal demanding the permits for the mine’s construction be reviewed by federal authorities, not the state of Michigan. Per the WPR article: “If permitting for the project rested with federal agencies, they would be required to conduct official consultation with the tribe on the project.” 

Despite what Aquila Resources, the owner of the project, have claimed, as of July of this year they do not yet have all required permits to move forward, and have been further set back by Covd-19.

Metal containers marked “Official ballot drop-off box” have been popping up in gyms, gun stores, campaign headquarters, and even churches across California in recent weeks, with Republicans urging voters to drop their ballots inside.

But these boxes are not official ballot drop boxes, and the Republicans who have been actively promoting them in recent weeks could face criminal charges.

“Doing my part and voting early,” Jordan Tygh, a GOP regional field director, said in a now-deleted tweet posted last Friday. “DM me for convenient locations to drop your ballot off at!”

The tweet was accompanied by a picture of Tygh kneeling in front of one of the unofficial boxes, holding a ballot, and wearing a mask with Orange County congressional candidate Michelle Steel’s name on it.

But this box is not an isolated incident.

The California Secretary of State confirmed Sunday that his office has received reports in recent days about possible unauthorized ballot drop boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles, and Orange counties, the Orange County Register reported.

Another box was spotted outside the Freedom’s Way Baptist Church in Castaic in northern LA county, and its presence was promoted on Facebook by Pastor Jerry Cook. “Our church has a voting drop box in front of our complex — if you are voting early, drop your ballot on by,” Cook said in the now-deleted post.

A post from the church said that the box was “approved and brought by the GOP,” adding that church officials don’t have a key to the box and that GOP officials would collect the ballots.

Cook did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he told a local Fox station that he was confident the box was official.

Fresno County Republican Party also posted a list of “secure” ballot collection locations but none of the locations on the list, which include its own headquarters and multiple gun shops are official county drop box sites.

The California Republican Party has not responded officially to questions about the boxes, but it has been defending its position on Twitter.

...

But in California, ballot drop boxes can only be overseen by county elections officials who chose the number, location, hours of operation, and other details. Registrars have to make sure the boxes follow strict guidelines, ensuring their security and chain of custody for the ballots.

“Operating unofficial ballot drop boxes — especially those misrepresented as official drop boxes — is not just misleading to voters, it’s a violation of state law,” Alex Padilla, California’s Secretary of State, said in a statement issued on Sunday evening.

“My office is coordinating with local officials to address the multiple reports of unauthorized ballot drop boxes. Californians should only use official ballot drop boxes that have been deployed and secured by their county elections office.”"

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyza4k/california-republicans-have-installed-fake-ballot-boxes-at-churches-gyms-and-gun-stores

20 years on, Bush v Gore is back in our discourse - an election stolen by mobs at the polling places, a media blitz, and a Supreme Court at its most antidemocratic and antimajoritarian.

We remember this as an election that the plutes stole, but it’s also an election that the Dems gave to them. That’s why we’re talk about it now. There will be an attempt to steal next month’s election. Will we surrender again?

The last surrender led to a war being fought today by the children of the soldiers who were sent into battle on day one. It led to climate inaction, monopolistic concentration, erosions to our right to vote and to our right to protest.

Thanks to that surrender, voter suppression was expanded and reinforced, leading to the election of a fumbling liar who got to appoint more SCOTUS judges in 3.5 years than all Democratic presidents did in the previous quarter century.

https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1316024809717817345

You may be wondering how the Dems surrendered in 2020. For a detailed account of what surrender looks like, read Jane McAlevey’s Jacobin memoir of her time as an AFL-CIO organizer sent to Florida during the recount.

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/trump-coup-florida-2000-recount

Read how the cowardly, decorum-obsessed Dems ordered them to stand down, to hold disheartening, low-energy candlelight vigils instead of raucous street protests, how they abandoned Floridians whose votes had been stolen.

Read how the AFL-CIO leadership turned its back on Jesse Jackson and the racialized people of Florida who bore the brunt of consequences for disenfranchisement.

How they vetoed plans to have “literally millions of really angry people…chasing Katherine Harris, Florida’s secretary of state and the Bush campaign’s hatchet woman, all over the state.”

How they focused their ground game on collecting affidavits for the rotten, useless, cheating Supreme Court to wipe their asses with, while racist gangs intimidated recount watchers and election officials.

How, even as those recounts were generating clear wins for Gore, the Dems kept ordering their organizers to stand down, to avoid confrontation, and then, finally, when it was clear the election would be stolen, THEN they called for mass marches…too late.

Read McAlevey’s short memoir. Familiarize yourself with it. Learn its lessons. When the planet-destroying, looting, eminently guillotinable plutes and their brownshirts try to steal the election next month, REMEMBER those lessons.

Remember how a lot of that turned out to come from Russian psy-ops designed to discourage left-leaning people from voting?

You know how important registering to vote is and you know you should get it done at some point. But did you also know the deadline to register to vote is just around the corner? Let’s make sure you’re ready for it!

If you’ve moved or just haven’t registered yet at all - don’t sweat it. We teamed up with @whenweallvote​ to make sure everyone in the US eligible to vote is REGISTERED to vote.

If you’re on the web, simply fill out the form above. Mobile users, just tap on the link above, and you’ll be directed to the form on When We All Vote’s website. And make sure to check your state for any upcoming election deadlines. See, that didn’t take too long.