Good Day, Newsies!
Last week I rambled a little about the Pretender in Chief’s malignant narcissism. The good news is that there is a way to deal with it. A tweet I saw today reminded me of this fact
As a country, we are being overloaded by this man, his enablers and sycophants. As individuals, we cannot control how other people or the media respond to the incessant provocations coming from the administration, but we can control how we respond. It takes practice and determination (he will push every button, manipulate every emotion, especially fear and outrage), and we can do it.
This situation would try the patience of a saint, and sap the emotional strength of just about anyone. Since the distractions and chaos are amplified by the media, it’s wise to limit our exposure whenever it starts getting to be too much. A little break can do wonders and restore perspective. Detachment does not mean ceasing to care about the people they are scapegoating (the cruelest weapon of the sadist), it means stepping back to observe and think, so that instead of letting out a howl of impotent outrage (which won’t help the scapegoats nor ourselves), we can instead focus on things we actually can do to bring an end to this nightmare.
Namely: voting, GOTMFV, canvassing, calling and all the other election activities necessary to help Democrats win as many seats as possible next week.
We’ve been counting down the months and weeks and days to this election. This is the final stretch, Newsies, and the signs are pointing to a good outcome if we get out the vote. Expect more terrible behavior from the pretender and his minions — they are panicked. Do not engage. Detach, observe and focus on what needs to be done.
One week to go. Let’s make it count.
“And then we will save our country.”
🚨 One More Thing: The Border Deployment is a distraction 🚨
Speaking of horrible distractions — terrible behavior so over the top that you feel like it is dangerous and/or a dereliction of civic duty to ignore them… let’s briefly touch upon that troop deployment to the southern border. It is another illusion. Another trumped up freakout generator that will quietly fizzle out (like the Voter Fraud Commission) when it fails to elicit the desired response. Yes, it is enormously expensive and terribly, callously unfair to the deployed troops. We know that this pretender doesn’t care about other people nor about wasting taxpayer money and that there is no boundary he won’t cross nor bottom to how low he will go in his desperation to save himself. Nevertheless, it is still a sham.
There is calculation behind this unbelievably rash, provocative and dangerous move. It is meant to horrify and frighten us. It is meant to make us behave rashly in response. The purpose of these destructive, vicious illusions is to distract and derail decent people. The aim of the malignant narcissist is to freak other people out so much that they eventually destroy themselves. We are on to this PrOTUS and will not freak out. This awful man will not succeed in frightening Americans into destroying our own institutions, our rule of law and our Republic.
I believe Gen McCaffrey is probably, like Robert Swan Mueller, very experienced in the strategems of opponents. The Joint Chiefs will not “push back” against a legal order from the PrCIC. We won’t go down the road of military coup in this democratic Republic. We don’t need to do anything so rash and self-destructive. The people will deal with this — and if. in the interim, the PrCIC should issue an illegal order, well the Joint Chiefs will be within their legal jurisdiction to disobey such an order. WHile preserving and maintaining our institutions and our rule of law, as intended.
McCaffrey’s perspective is like cool water contrasting and quenching the hot panic of his interlocutor. That perspective reminds us to detach. To see the troop deployment for what it is: a distraction meant to inflame, enrage and divert us from our goal. They are scared shitless.
We won’t be distracted. One week. GOTV.
Good People Standing Up Against Fascism
DK diarist Jen Hayden posted this remarkable story yesterday. AG Jeff Sessions (top XINO* at the DOJ) was speaking at an event for his so-called “religious freedom” task force when he was interrupted by a United Methodist minister who decided to exercise his religious freedom and freedom of speech in that moment, by confronting Sessions with the words of Jesus (Matthew). It was a beautiful moment, followed by Sessions whining that he had been “attacked” and then as the Methodist priest was being led out by police (!!), a Baptist minister also stood up to support him with Bible-based remarks of his own (Isaiah). He, too, was forced out of the event.
While the fact that these faith leaders were thrown out of a “religious freedom” event for speaking out in defense of Bible-based principles is not good news, it is the moral courage of the ministers — and the light of their leadership — which is good news indeed.
* XINO is an acronym I swiped from commenter TrueBlueMajority from the comments under Jen Hayden’s diary. It stands for “Christian In Name Only” (X is the ancient symbol for Christ) Thanks TrueBlueMajority! Very helpful!)
Muslim Americans raise more than $120,000 for those affected by Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Raynaldo Leanos, Jr and Rima Abdelkadur, NBC News, October 29, 2018.
A Muslim American group has raised more than $125,000 through an online crowdfunding campaign to help families affected by Saturday's mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, which killed at least 11.
CelebrateMercy, one of the organizers of the campaign, told NBC News that the money will assist families with medical bills, funeral expenses and other immediate and short-term needs.
Tarek El-Messidi, the group’s founding director, says his hope through the fundraiser is "to respond to evil with good.”
⚖ Justice ⚖
Pennsylvania’s Republican gerrymander is now so dead that not even Brett Kavanaugh can revive it, Ian Millhiser, Think Progress, October 29, 2018.
On Monday, the Supreme Court turned away an effort to reinstate Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered congressional maps. Although this is not the first time the Court refused to bail out the GOP’s partisan gerrymander in this state, it is the first time it turned away this case since Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation gave Republicans a solid majority on the Supreme Court.
Last January, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down that state’s congressional maps because they violated the state constitution. The unconstitutional maps were so aggressively gerrymandered that Republicans won 13 of the state’s 18 congressional districts in 2012 even though Democrats won a majority of the popular vote.
(note: the article goes on to point out that the PA SC decision should have been the end of the matter, but PA Republicans decided to try another kick at the can now that they have a “friendly SCOTUS”. Didn’t work, SCOTUS declined to hear their “outlandish” case.)
Another lawsuit filed against Trump Org. et al
This next item under ⚖ Justice ⚖ might eventually qualify for the Schadenfreude File, but at the moment, let’s not jump the gun. Suffice to say that this is bad news for the pretender and his offspring. RICO lawsuit filed in SDNY:
Trump Persuaded Struggling People to Invest in Scams, Lawsuit Says, Maggie Haberman and Benjamin Weisman, New York Times, October 29, 2018.
Trump defrauded investors in marketing scheme, lawsuit says, Jonathan O’Connell, Washington Post, October 29, 2018.
Four anonymous plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against President Trump, his business and his three eldest children in federal court Monday, alleging that the Trumps helped promote fraudulent investments that duped investors.
At issue are promotional spots and speeches that Trump made on behalf of marketing company ACN, also known as American Communications Network, which charged $499 for the chance to sell video phones licensed by the company, and sometimes extracted thousands of dollars later to have a chance of recouping the money. ✂️
Plaintiffs allege that the company did not intend for the investors to make money. They say the Trumps not only promoted a faulty opportunity and lied about why they supported it but that they knew it was fraudulent at the time, part of “a pattern of racketeering activity” and consumer fraud on the part of the president’s company.
This seems like a good place to insert a timely…
🎶 Musical Interlude 🎶
More Endorsements of Democrats in Red States
Remember how important attorneys general are… For Attorney General: Justin Nelson, Editorial Board, Houston Chronicle, October 15, 2018.
This is it. This is the race.
The election for attorney general offers the single best reason for a Texas Republican to cross over and vote for a Democratic candidate✂️
Why you’d vote for Nelson is similarly straightforward. He’s an astoundingly qualified attorney who has a nonpartisan focus on ethics, ending gerrymandering and fulfilling the basic duties of the office. Plus, Republican incumbent Ken Paxton is facing felony indictments for fraud, which should automatically disqualify him in the minds of voters.
(read the whole endorsement for a thorough rundown of Nelson’s strengths and Paxton’s egregious behavior and weaknesses)
The people of Texas already know their attorney general has admitted to being a lawbreaker. The question is whether to give him another term in office.
Nelson offers a refreshing vision of how the attorney general can truly be a lawyer for the people. He deserves your vote.
In Iowa, the Sioux City Journal, a conservative newspaper which has endorsed Steve King numerous times in his eight term tenure as representative for Iowa’s 4th district, has chosen to endorse J D Scholten, the impressive Democratic candidate.
OUR OPINION: Scholten represents best choice in 4th, Editorial Board, Sioux City Journal, October 26, 2018.
Today, The Journal editorial board endorses the candidacy of Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten over incumbent Republican Steve King in the race for the U.S. House seat in Iowa's 4th District. ✂️
Bright, articulate, personable, possessed of deep roots in this district, informed about issues important to the 4th like agriculture, and armed with a willingness to consider all sides of complex issues such as illegal immigration and work across the aisle to identify solutions to problems, Scholten offers appeal for not only Democrats, but independents and Republicans, as well, we believe. ✂️
With a candidate of Scholten's caliber on the ballot, we decided we wouldn't overlook, again, the concerns we have shared about King in the past in making an endorsement in this race this year.
Red State, White Evangelicals, and a Blue Wave?, Ken Esty, Working Class Perspectives, October 22, 2018.
✂️White evangelical women from Texas, Dias explains, are not poised en masse to bolt from the Republican Party. But Trump’s leadership has down-ticket implications even for Cruz, his bitter opponent in 2016. In this competitive U.S. Senate race, even a slightly depressed turnout among the Republican base combined with a healthy number of party-switching voters could make a decisive difference. The evangelical women whom Diaz interviewed see a “stark moral contrast” between Trump and O’Rourke. They view Trump’s policies and behavior, including banning Muslim refugees, separating children from their parents at the border, and Trump’s disrespect of women, as “fundamentally anti-Christian. ”. When an older white evangelical man said to one of Diaz’s interviewees, Tess Clarke, that she couldn’t be a Christian and vote for O’Rourke, Clarke responded: “I keep going back to who Jesus was when he walked on earth. This is about proximity to people in pain.” ✂️
Now, however, some evangelicals seem to be waking up to the nightmare of a deeply unevangelical sell-out of the Kingdom of God for a gaudy, earthly imitation. A closed-door consultation of around fifty evangelical leaders convened at Wheaton College (Billy Graham’s alma mater, and often called the evangelical’s Harvard) in April to deal with concerns about the future of evangelicalism and concerns that “their movement has become too closely associated with President Trump’s polarizing politics.” According to Katelyn Beaty, editor at large for Christianity Today, the meeting was an attempt to sort out their alliance with Trump and to be engaged in “self-reflection on the current condition of Evangelicalism.”
Now For A Word From A Candidate
🌊 Election News 🌊
If young people vote at the rate they have reported intending to in polls, then we could see the youth vote double this election. And, since young people report favoring Democrats over Republicans 66% to 32%, such a turnout could have a profound impact on the outcome November 6th. This surge in voting interest is really good news for Democrats and more importantly, it is great news for young people and for democracy.
Youth Voter Turnout in the Midterm Elections Could Be Historic, According to a New Poll, Katie Reilly, Time, October 29, 2018.
Young voters could turn out to vote at record-breaking levels in the midterm elections next month, according to a new poll.
The poll, released Monday by the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, found 40% of 18 to 29-year-olds say they will “definitely vote” in the midterm elections on Nov. 6.
Youth voter turnout has historically been dismal in midterm elections, which tend to draw fewer voters overall than presidential election years. The highest rate of youth voter turnout in past midterm elections was 21% in both 1986 and 1994, according to the Harvard report, which cited U.S. Census data.
🏃 Run Nunes Run! 🏃
Andrew Janz is giving Devin Nunes a run for his money in California’s Central Valley and that’s good news for the good guys. Nunes’s naked obstructionism in the laughably insincere House Intelligence Committee’s “investigation” of Russian interference in our 2016 election has caused concern even among some Republican groups in his district, and Nunes is running scared. He hasn’t held a town hall since before the 2016 election and his office in Fresno does not appear to be staffed to receive constituents. The article below asks if Nunes’s neglect of his own district will be mitigated by his national profile in the eyes of his supporters. With the Fresno Bee endorsing Andrew Janz (the Democrat) and even some of his supporters disliking his inaccessibility, that may be a gamble that Nunes will regret come November 6. It’s a reach, but that race will be an interesting one to watch next Tuesday night. The fact that Nunes — who won his last term by double digits — is in this predicament at all is good news.
Devin Nunes' Re-Election Tests Whether All Politics Are Now National, Tim Mak, NPR, October 29, 2018.
"He's made a decision he can pretty much do what he wants and ignore local concerns...if he just nationalizes this whole race," said Liz Mair, a Republican who runs the Swamp Accountability Project and is opposing Nunes as part of her organization's effort to protect Mueller's Russia investigation.
California grows half of the fruits, nuts and vegetables eaten in America, most of it grown in the state's Central Valley. In the district, constituents care deeply about agriculture, immigration and water — but Nunes has spent much of this past term in the House focused on criticizing Mueller and blocking additional investigations into President Trump's potential ties to Russia. ✂️
Neither Nunes' campaign nor his congressional office responded to an interview request. And when NPR tried to visit his taxpayer-funded office in the most populated region of Nunes' district, it was closed and unstaffed at 2 p.m. on a weekday. ✂️
But for the first time, Nunes faces a challenger who could make him sweat as the results come in on election night.
⁉️ WTF Texas GOP? ⁉️
A perplexing and intriguing story from Texas has me wondering what is up. Texas Republicans who have, until recently, cultivated relationships with a core of conservative minority supporters, have been MIA for community outreach and campaigning. On the one hand, it could be simple overconfidence (doubtful in this election) and on the other hand, it reminds me slightly of the stories of deserted streets in old western movies when the bad guys realize they are going to be whupped so they abandon the town and hightail it out of there. First Nunes’s deserted district office and now this; I’m starting to see a pattern here...hmmm.
Texas’ minority GOP voters: Republican allies have vanished, Andrea Drusch, McClatchy News, October 29, 2018.
Texas Republicans have long credited their focus on pocketbook issues for their unusually high political support among minority voters — particularly the Hispanic community that’s expected to overtake whites as the state’s largest population group in 2022.
Yet headed into an election where minority voters are increasingly at odds with the policies of President Donald Trump, Texas Republicans who’ve long maintained good relationships with those voters are often not showing up. ✂️
At the Christian Chapel Temple, leaders of the nonpartisan faith-based organization asked candidates for promises to find a solution for recipients of the DACA program Trump has repeatedly sought to end. ✂️
None of the five Republicans invited to the event attended, leaving Allred and four other Democrats seeking local offices to woo a crowd of roughly 2000 unopposed.
While this development is a little concerning (what makes the Republicans unconcerned about wooing these voters this year?), it is good news that these conservative minority voters have seen the true face of Texas Republicans. It also doesn’t hurt that Colin Allred, Martin Frost and others seized the opportunity to speak to these voters about Democratic proposals to address their community challenges. Go Democrats!
📞 Polling News 📞
I rely mainly on hpg and others in the comments for the most up to the minute updates on polling news (thanks!), although I will note that the Democrats are up an astounding 17 points over Republicans in the generic congressional ballot, according to a new USC Dornsife/LA Times poll.
Savor that news for a moment and enjoy it. Then, detach and refocus on GOTV. Even apparently good distractions are still distractions. Polls don’t vote. People do. We still need to GOTMFV.
🚗 Environmental Progress 🚗
Haha, it’s pretty amusing when corporate mucketymucks accidentally do stuff that is good for the environment because it turns out to be in their best interest financially. Saving the earth can be good for business — who knew? Check out this great article which I can only quote briefly here — but the whole article is really interesting and encouraging. Yes, venal self-interest CAN be used to promote progress!
Electric vehicles are going to render the fight over fuel economy standards moot, David Roberts, Vox, October 29, 2018.
Among other things, it reveals the automakers’ final fear about Trump’s plan. If it passes, they will have no short-term incentive to innovate or improve the environmental performance of gas cars. Instead, there will be intense pressure from shareholders to make more of the SUVs and trucks that represent the lion’s share of their profit. (Ford is ditching cars almost entirely.)
Which is fine, for a while. But automakers know that an EV revolution is coming. If they don’t get ahead of it — if they screw around with fancier pickup trucks for the next 5 to 10 years — they will be caught flat-footed, scooped by rivals like Tesla and their European counterparts. (Volvo is ditching gas engines almost entirely.)
They do not want to be caught flat-footed. They want to be forced to innovate; only performance standards can do that.
GM is effectively saying: Never mind fuel economy standards. Force us to make EVs.
Consequences have elections, my friend
And oh look! This guy has done a disappearing act, too! 👀
This Climate Skeptic Could Lose His House Race After His District Was Flooded by a Hurricane, Tonya Riley, Mother Jones, October 29, 2018.
When Donald Trump swung through Houston last week to stump for embattled Republicans, Rep. John Culberson, who is in one of the most competitive races in the state, was conspicuously absent. As Trump used the speech as an opportunity to retread past comments he has made about Hurricane Harvey—the president suggested that many of the 16,000 Texans rescued by the Coast Guard had willingly stayed behind to “show their wife how great they are” and because “they think they have this great boat”—it became increasingly clear why Culberson might want to avoid being seen with the leader of his party.
Culberson has represented Texas’ 7th Congressional District for nine terms, but his reelection this year is a toss-up, with his opponent, Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, centering her campaign on attacking Culberson over climate change and the flooding issues that Houston will increasingly face.
Fletcher, who won a runoff for the Democratic nomination by over 30 percent, has made Culberson’s track record on disaster management a key issue during the race. She has hammered Culberson for his support for controversial astronomical research in his role as chairman of a committee that funds science research, his skepticism over climate change science, and his reluctance to criticize Trump’s comments on Harvey following the president’s Houston rally last week. Other prominent Republicans in the region, including Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, denied or dismissed Trump’s initial claims to the Houston Chronicle.
Meanwhile, From The Schadenfreude File, This Assh*le
We’ve had Permit Patty and BBQ Becky...and last week it was South Park Susan. The viral video is infuriating — don’t even subject yourself to that poison. The important thing to know is that karma came calling for this racist. She has lost her $125k job and is facing charges — 2 counts of assault and 2 counts of uttering threats. It’s a Hallowe’en miracle. 👻
She was ‘white and hot’ in a racist video. Now she’s viral and unemployed. Cleve R. Wootson, Jr. Washington Post, October 29, 2018
No one was injured, but officers who arrived found Westwood’s actions merited criminal charges. Westwood could not immediately be reached for comment.
According to Officer Keith Trietley, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department spokesman, Westwood has been charged with two counts of communicating threats and two counts of simple assault.
The drunken outburst also cost Westwood her job at the local cable company that paid her $125,0000 and allowed her to live in the exclusive community.
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
⚡️ I’ve heard about “both siderism” but this is ridiculous! In a highly partisan era, those who dislike both sides could have the deciding votes, David Lauter, LA Times, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ A longer read and the conclusion is a bit premature, I think, but worth the read: Trump’s Culture Warriors Go Home, Ben Schreckinger, PoliticoMagazine, Nov/Dec 2018.
⚡️ South Carolina, you say? Republicans suddenly playing defense in usually safe SC GOP House district, Emma Dumain, McClatchy News, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Endorsement for wrong reasons (these are not good guys) but it made the WH angry: Trump officials irked that Border Patrol union endorsed 3 Senate Democrats, Daniel Lippman, Politico, October 26, 2018.
⚡️ Rosenstein does right again: Rosenstein announces new hate crimes reporting website, Matthew Choi, Politico, October29, 2018.
⚡️ Another ex-Republican weighs in on right wing terrorism: Fox News and the rest of the right-wing media can’t escape responsibility. Max Boot, Washington Post Opinion, October 28, 2018.
⚡️ It’s a cease and desist letter: Pharrell Williams Sends Trump Legal Threat Letter for Playing 'Happy' After Synagogue Shooting, Ashley Cullins, Hollywood Reporter, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Trump approval drops 4 points in last week. Good. Gallup
⚡️ Kemp is awful for many reasons, but Pres. Carter zeroes in on one: Jimmy Carter Calls For Georgia Secretary Of State's Resignation In Personal Plea, Colin Dwyer, NPR, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ There will be more of this. Decency is in the majority: U.S.-Funded Broadcaster to Suspend Employees Behind ‘Multimillionaire Jew’ Soros Report, Lachlan Markay, Daily Beast, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Hey, it’s that vanishing act again! Donald Trump Is Completely Absent in His Official Closing Ad for the Midterms, Russ Choma, Mother Jones, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Then again, it’s not like he actually works as POTUS: 9 hours of ‘Executive Time’: Trump’s unstructured days define his presidency, Eliana Johnson and Daniel Lippman, Politico, Ocotber 29, 2018.
⚡️ I guess disappearing stuff is a GOP thing: White House completely scrubbed official website of Executive Order creating Kris Kobach’s #StopVoterFraud commission, Bob Brigham, Raw Story, October 30, 2018.
⚡️ Oh. : VP Mike Pence forced to defend Kansas Republicans as latest poll shows Kris Kobach losing, Bob Brigham, Raw Story, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Spoilsport 🎃: Spooky food doesn’t taste good, Rachel Sugar, Vox, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Now, that’s the spirit! 👻: The 10 Commandments of Baby Halloween Costumes, Heather Schwedel, Slate, October 29, 2018.
⚡️ Shep Smith is Not Having It. 👇 (Look at those “I’ve had it up to here with this nonsense” 👀)
💪 Action Roundup 💪
This is it, Newsies. The home stretch. As Andrew Gillum says, it’s time to #Bring It Home! In this last week, the focus must be laser-sharp on GOTV.
Job 1: Check your voter registration and make your plan to vote!
Here are a few helpful sites:
League of Women Voters Excellent resource for voting registration, finding your polling place, ballot info, etc.
Rock the Vote Geared toward younger voters.
Register to Vote and Confirm or Change Registration This is the U.S. government site.
Job 2: Keep doing everything you have been doing to encourage people to get out and vote for Democrats.
‼️→ If you were writing letters to voters through Vote Forward, today is the day to mail the letters.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
You know the next part. 😊
Even in the home stretch, while we are all redoubling our efforts to encourage everyone we know — and many we don’t even know — to vote, it is important to take a little time each day to rest and recharge. Eat well, get enough rest and know that although this week will seem interminable, we will get through it together. And, with a ton of hard work and the power of the people, there will be a big blue wave on November 6. Stay strong. Stay focused. Ignore the gloom and doomers.
Thank you for staying in this fight, sharing the GNRs, working on GOTV and voting yourself. Together, we will save our country!
👻 Here’s a little treat (no tricks in the GNR! 🎃) to send you off on this Tuesday. J S Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Enjoy! 👻
🎃 Happy Tuesday, Newsies and Happy Hallowe’en! 🎃