Midterm Elections 2: Surfing the Wave?

[Destiny]

Continued from here:

 

[bertnee]

Just a friendly reminder to check your voter status, even if you're sure you're good and even if you voted in your last election. A friend of mine in TX is going to work the polls in Nov and was asked by the board of elections why they weren't registered to vote. Turns out their date of birth was changed without cause by the secretary of state's office, making them eligible to vote only provisionally which is as good as not voting at all in most elections.

[Cartmann99]

For the folks in Texas, here's where you can check your voter registration:

https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/voterDetails.do

I dig out my voter registration certificate for the VUID, as the name, DOB and county option always goes  whenever I try to check my registration that way. I've never tried the driver's license option.

[fraurosena]

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[VixenToast]

As midterms inch closer and closer, now less than a month away, I find myself terrified. I don't want hope, it hurt too much last time. I'm trying to get people registered, though. Nebraska has a shot with Kara Eastman. None of the others seem like much of a chance. So far I've gotten 2 people to agree to vote blue who's have never really been active voters. Yay! How are you all coping with your panic attacks? Hahaha, I know I'm not alone here.

[onekidanddone]

11 minutes ago, VixenToast said:

As midterms inch closer and closer, now less than a month away, I find myself terrified. I don't want hope, it hurt too much last time. I'm trying to get people registered, though. Nebraska has a shot with Kara Eastman. None of the others seem like much of a chance. So far I've gotten 2 people to agree to vote blue who's have never really been active voters. Yay! How are you all coping with your panic attacks? Hahaha, I know I'm not alone here.

I'm not coping well. Ativan takes the edge off some, but basically I'm a wreck.

[formergothardite]

17 minutes ago, VixenToast said:

How are you all coping with your panic attacks?

Not coping well at all. I feel terrified about the midterms and the possibility that in the next couple years one of the other people on the SC might die or get too sick to do the job. 

[fraurosena]

I can totally understand how many of you are not coping well. The shock and horror of the 2016 elections are still keenly felt. But it is precisely that shock and horror, amplified by the outrage and indignation at the injustice of how the repugliklans handled the whole Kavanaugh nomination that is going to make the difference between 2016 and 2018. The apathy has disappeared, and eyes of the American people have been opened. If what I'm seeing on social media is anything to go by, then passions are running high. The cry "November is coming" is reverberating through America. 

Mark my words, there will be a blue tsunami. 

[thoughtful]

I've checked my voter registration, and my Mom's, and downloaded an absentee ballot request for her, since going to the polls is too much for her physically. But she wants her vote for Democratic candidates to be counted.

I am dismayed, frightened and angry. But sometimes there is an advantage in being old.

I've had a very easy life, in many ways. But I was born less than a decade after WWII ended, and, being Jewish, grew up learning about the Holocaust. Many of my friends' parents had tattoos on their arms, and I don't think I ever had a music teacher without some sort of a foreign accent -- they'd all escaped from horrors in one country or another. My father came home from WWII with horrible memories and PTSD.

I experienced anti-Semitism and sexism, and saw my non-white and Catholic friends get picked on, as well. The crazy Red scare nonsense happened during my lifetime, as did the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, the Manson Murders, the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy, etc. And I knew I hadn't lived through nearly as much as my parents' generation.  

One of my grandparents came home from WWI with encephalitis lethargica (if you've ever read Oliver Sacks' Awakenings or seen the film, that is the illness portrayed). He'd been a healthy young man, now his life gradually ebbed into twilight, and my grandmother had to support the family. That illness was epidemic, disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived, and nobody knows if it will ever come back.

I've never felt "secure," whatever that means. I remember how many of my work colleagues reacted to 9/11 by saying they'd felt so safe, and no longer felt that way. I was a dismayed and frightened as they were, but not surprised, and certainly had felt that this could happen at any time.

I don't walk around in terror all the time, I just know that the world can go topsy-turvy sometimes. I also know that there are good people all around who can help us get through it.

This country has been through a lot of shit. We're in shit now, and there's probably more to come. But we don't have much choice -- we need to start shoveling it back at the bastards. Don't despair that your work, voice and vote are useless -- they are not.

Which reminds me to say two things to younger FJers:

 1. Don't despair about the older generations, regardless of race or gender. We are not all like the crazy shmucks who have taken over the Republican party.

2. This stuff is cyclical -- in some ways, that's bad news; you may have to fight variations on this battle again and again after I'm long gone - there will always be bigots and misogynists.

But I am glad to know there are people like you, and like my younger relatives and students, who will fight that fight. And, every cycle seems to leave us higher up on the rung of the ladder to human rights.

I know what we are going through is bizarre and unique in many ways, but it is not completely new, and we can fight to reverse it.

Reading The Soul of America and/or listening to James Loewen's course may help -- they both are reminders of how awful things have gotten in the past, and that it is not "the American way" or "an old-fashioned value" to be a racist douchebag who preys on the poor.

Whew -- I got off on a tangent there! Hope it doesn't sound to schoolmarmish -- I just know that there are generations younger than I am who will continue the fight, and I am so glad you are here.

 

[VixenToast]

I love the schoolmarm tangent! You have an excellent point. I'm also going out of my way to speak when I can (spoke in front of my states capitol building about my rape and how many people didn't believe me the day of Dr. Ford's senate hearing.) as well as taking my kiddo to rallies and generally just seeing the voting/democratic process. I usually take him when I go to vote. I'll be damned if he grows up apathetic, but my boy follows the beat of the blue drum! I saw no one as pissed at the '16 election results as him, and he was in kindergarten! That and if he sees someone that looks like Trump he will go up and question them why poorer people can't have better healthcare. Lmao, he's too cute, if albeit mortifyingly honest. 

 

I worry this Kavanaugh debacle has grown and energized the red base ? Aghhh, no worrying, that won't fix anything! Yet still I worry. I love you all, let's keep each other afloat. ❤️

[WiseGirl]

7 hours ago, VixenToast said:

How are you all coping with your panic attacks?

Not well at all.  Currently, mommy is having a vodka.  Then again it just took me 1/2 hour to talk my dad through how to print something on his computer  (thanks Alz), my mom is a Luddite with technology, and my brother couldn't go over because an epic autism meltdown/perseveration was happening in his house (5 minutes away, I'm 2 hours away).  Sorry, venting, but I'm pretty anxious about everything right now.  Tito's is calling my name...

But I'll be damned if I'm not going to keep resisting, going to marches, getting involved.  Granted, I live in a blue state, but we do have pockets of red as well.  I want to keep my state blue.  My avatar, like my anger, isn't changing any time soon.  At least this is one thing I can work on to change.  Tito's is still calling my name...but I feel better now.  Righteous anger helps.

[fraurosena]

Oh, but this is a good sign... 

White House begins prepping for Democratic legal storm

Quote

Top officials inside the White House have taken their first steps to prepare for an onslaught of investigations if Democrats win the House.

What we're hearing: 
According to a source with direct knowledge, Chief of Staff John Kelly recently formed a small working group to start preparing for the possibility that Democrats will soon sic Congress' top investigators on Trumpworld. Senior White House staff have an offsite weekend retreat scheduled for late October. The agenda is expected to include a discussion of investigations under a Democratic-controlled House, according to the source.

To be clear: 
Team Trump is still trying to prevent a House flip from happening. They're ramping up political activities leading into the midterm — including a blitz of rallies from the president — to give Republicans their best chance of saving the House.

Why this matters: 
Polls show Republicans will probably lose the House in November. And Trump's team, including the understaffed White House Counsel's Office, must batten down the hatches for an onslaught from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

• White House officials have been telling us for weeks they were worried that Kelly hadn't been taking the threat seriously enough. This is the first time I've learned new information to suggest that they're preparing.
• According to three sources who attend senior staff meetings, when Kelly gathers the full White House senior staff in the Roosevelt Room several times a week, they never discuss the prospect of investigations.
• "You'd think," one White House official told me, "we'd have a briefing or something to help us understand what's coming with subpoenas and investigations."

What they're saying: 
Over the past month, my colleague Evan Ryan and I have been interviewing lawyers who worked in the Obama and Clinton White Houses. We wanted to find out what it's like being inside a White House when the opposite party controls Congress and trains its investigative fire on the president.

• A couple lawyers spoke on the record; most didn't. But what we learned from these conversations provides a map for Trump's likely future.

"Subpoenas flowing into a White House create paralysis," said Neil Eggleston, who was Obama’s White House counsel and an associate counsel in the Clinton administration.

• "The whole system stops while everyone tries to comply with subpoenas and prepare to testify."
• "The White House doesn't operate optimally, and the policymaking process doesn't receive its due attention. Morale suffers, and energy is diverted to the crisis at hand."

The big picture: 
Lawyers from previous White Houses mostly agreed on one thing: The better analogy for what's coming for Trump is not the Obama White House, but Clinton's.

• Obama's administration faced scandals — from "Fast and Furious" to the IRS-Tea Party targeting to Benghazi. But his White House counsels managed to mostly keep the White House out of the picture; the agencies bore the brunt of the investigative onslaught.
• But Bill Clinton spent his entire presidency under a cloud of investigation, from Whitewater to Monica Lewinsky under the glare of Ken Starr. Staff who worked in the Clinton White House say it felt like there was a subpoena coming for them every day.

The bottom line: 
For the most part, the staff who work in the Trump West Wing — beyond the counsel's office — have no idea what may be coming for them. But senior staff are now finally preparing for a tough new normal under House Democrats.

 

[AmericanRose]

It kind of feels like we're already in a civil war... the battleground just happens to be the White House. 

[WiseGirl]

If I can link properly...Seth Abrahamson put it so eloquently. 

"My anger at how Republicans handled the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings is not going to abate by Election Day (November 6). Please retweet if yours won't, either."

 

[Cartmann99]

This is some very welcome news as her fans skew to the younger side:

For those not up on this story, Swift had avoided talking about politics until her post where she declared that she was a Democrat, and wants to see Marsha Blackburn defeated. Conservative fans of hers have completely lost their shit over this development.

[fraurosena]

I know this maybe should have gone in the cartoon thread, but I think it's a good way to remind everyone that in many states this is the last day you can register to vote. If you haven't done it yet, please do it in time!

[Cartmann99]

Commercial from the woman who is challenging my Republican congresscritter:

 

[Howl]

Racist voter suppression shit like this pisses me off not end: 

So, how does this work?  Native Americans hew strongly Democrat.  Heidi Heitkamp needs their votes. 

[candygirl200413]

My state registration ends in 30 minutes and I shared it on every social media site and even on my classroom board during class tonight.

 

I plan on doing the same for the state where my alma mater is on the 15th because I still have a lot of facebook friends from there.

[fraurosena]

So many signs that the Repugliklans know they don’t stand a chance of winning if they don’t cheat.

 

[fraurosena]

Whoo, this is super upbeat. 

If this doesn't get you enthused to get out and vote...

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

This is a failed democracy

[fraurosena]

Sometimes a rather vicious part of me has horrible thoughts. Like the one I had when I read this cretin's opinions: I wonder if he'd be advocating these things if he were the one that was raped? Would he be saying that he should have been educated more?

I don't want that to really happen of course. But damn, the misogynistic arrogance makes me mad.

GOP House nominee: We can stop rape by ‘educating females’

Quote

Denver Riggleman thinks it's up to women to stop men from raping them.

When Senate Republicans voted this weekend to confirm alleged sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, they proved once again that the GOP is the party of rape.

And just in case you thought that was a fluke, Republican congressional candidate Denver Riggleman stepped in on Monday to claim that rape and sexual assault can be prevented by “educating females.”

During the fifth debate in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District between Riggleman and his Democratic opponent, veteran journalist Leslie Cockburn, an audience member asked both candidates how they proposed to reduce incidences of rape and sexual assault.

Cockburn replied with a thoughtful answer about proposals to address sexual assault in the military.

Riggleman replied with … this.

“As far as what’s going on on campus … I think a lot of it comes to educating females, specifically in the fraternities and sororities that they’re a part of,” Riggleman said.

It’s cringeworthy enough that Riggleman used the word “females” as a noun to describe women and girls.

But far worse are the offensive, victim-blaming implications of his remarks — that the burden is on women to avoid getting raped, and not on men to avoid committing rape.

Lecturing women on how to avoid getting raped isn’t just insulting and frustrating; it also doesn’t stop rape from happening. Demanding that women dress more modestly or avoid parties with alcohol is a way to restrict their freedom, but it’s not a way to prevent them from being targeted by a predator. It also doesn’t prevent that predator from targeting some other woman.

It’s not entirely clear what sort of “education” Riggleman has in mind to help America’s young “females” avoid being raped. He makes references to fraternities and sororities, so he probably has drunken parties in mind.

But plenty of women get drunk at parties and meet men without getting raped. The difference isn’t what the women do — it’s whether the guys they meet decide to rape them.

Riggleman wasn’t done after his offensive “females” remark. He also went on a bizarre tangent that sounded like an endorsement of fathers exercising vigilante justice against rapists.

“Me, I’m a fan of law enforcement,” Riggleman said. “As a dad with three daughters, I’ll tell you this. I think rape, sexual assault, anybody who imposes their will on another in a way that’s that evil and dastardly, needs the maximum force of law thrown at them.

“And I think there’s a lot of dads who would say, if the maximum force of law is not thrown at them — I think there are some dads that would take care of it.”

Before that, he praised campus groups that he said are offering support to people who want to report their assaults “to proper authorities.”

It’s always good for women and men on college campuses to know what steps they need to take to report an assault, and to be supported when they do so. But that’s only useful after an assault has already occurred. It doesn’t help prevent it.

And for many victims, the process of reporting an assault to authorities can be even worse than the assault itself because victims are so often disbelieved by law enforcement and community leaders.

After rambling for more than a minute about educating females and raging dads,  Riggleman finally got around to tossing off this remark: “I also think that sons need to be educated.”

Oh.

Riggleman, by the way, is the same candidate who brought us the bizarre “Bigfoot erotica” mini-scandal this summer.

The race between Riggleman and Cockburn still leans Republican, according to the Cook Political Report.

But given the massive gender gap Republicans are facing in the November midterm elections, Riggleman probably isn’t doing himself any favors with remarks like these.

 

[fraurosena]

GOP male priviledge at work.