Spotlight on DK climate and eco-diaries (8/7-13/23)

Daily Kos Staff Emeritus (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday August 13, 2023 · 6:10 PM PDT

2023/08/13 · 18:10

'his creature was found 1600 feet deep in the ocean. It's an Anglerfish – distinguished by the rod protruding from its head that it uses to attract prey.

With flexible bones, and a stomach that can be expanded, it can swallow fish that are twice its size.

The pectoral and pelvic fins can perform as feet, allowing this fish to walk along the bottom of the sea.

This strange looking creature is an example of the bizarre life forms living deep below the surface.' NOAA Oceans — This nightmare creature was found 1,600 feet deep in the ocean. It's an Anglerfish – distinguished by the rod protruding from its head that it uses to attract prey. See Pakalolo's post on the prospect of industrial mining in the deep sea.

The Spotlight is a weekly compilation of links and excerpts from DK environmentally related posts. Any posts that are included in the collection do not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of them. Because of the interconnectedness of the subject matter, some of these posts could be placed in more than one category.

CLIMATE

Deniers Bug Out Over Biden Calling Climate Change An 'Existential Threat by ClimateDenierRoundup. The Weather Channel broadcast an interview with the President of The United States of America yesterday from the Grand Canyon, during which the Commander and Chief said he'd "practically" declared a National Climate Emergency, and called climate "the existential threat to humanity." Now obviously fossil-fuel funded, partisan media isn't going to just uncritically carry that message, and nor should they, because "practically" declaring and actually declaring a national emergency are two very different things! “Biden Brushes Bug Off Meteorologist's Chest,” blared the Daily Caller headline for Brianna Lyman's story, complete with a picture of the apparently newsworthy moment. They even added a red circle to the image, apparently worried their readers wouldn't otherwise know where to look.

Passive Aggression: Regulations Don't Find Enemies And Climate Didn't Politicize Itself by ClimateDenierRoundup. Ever since Radley Balko's 2014 column on "the curious grammar of police shootings," the phrase "officer-involved shooting" has become the most obvious example of why journalists are taught to avoid passive voice, particularly the "past exonerative" tense that excuses misdeeds without acknowledging responsibility. McSweeney's even did a satirical guide on "how to use the past exonerative tense to uphold white supremacy." By contrast, active voice ensures that the actors responsible are properly identified and described. We see examples of passive voice far too often in climate media, particularly in headlines. For example, last Friday a Guardian story explained "how electric cars became a battleground in the culture wars." They "became a battleground"? Are electric cars also Transformers, capable of changing into a culture wars battleground? Obviously not!

Meteor Blades

Daily Kos Staff Emeritus (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday August 12, 2023 · 6:08 PM PDT

2023/08/12 · 18:08

Al Gore’s recent TED Talk: What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know. I wish I could edit out the annoying ads, but they are brief.

YouTube Video

Too bad Gore isn’t the senior senator from West Virginia instead of the guy who is. As good and direct and urgent as his talk is, I wish its missing piece wasn’t how specifically to get the fossil fuel lobbyists out of the way of what must be done if we are going to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change. We need a new strategy and right now we seem to be stuck on tactics. The fact that the COP28 in November-December is being chaired by the Abu Dhabi oil executive ought to provide evidence enough that our current strategy is not up to the difficult task ahead.

Every Democratic candidate in the coming elections should be asked what policy that does not now exist would they initiate or support to address the situation Gore describes in order to deal with the climate crisis. Any candidate who doesn’t have a ready answer should sure as hell get one.

But I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think we can get on the right track to do that avoiding solely by voting.

You can read a transcript here.

My Top Ten Tips for Door Knocking Without Having a Panic Attack

shadowbot1

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 03, 2022 · 9:06 AM PDT

2022/11/03 · 09:06

Saleswoman knocking doors — This could be you!

Many people, my own kids included, would rather jump in a very cold lake than knock on the doors of strangers to Get Out The Vote. No amount of telling them they are talking to Democrats will persuade them. They have visions of angry people berating them for disturbing their weekends, and who needs the aggravation?

My experience is the opposite. … Most people aren’t home anyway, and the ones I talk to are mostly very polite. And often very grateful for what I are doing.

Even if no one is home, it matters. It REALLY matters. We learned in a recent volunteer briefing briefing that the campaign sees an immediate 30% increase in returned ballots when literature is left at doors and a 45% increase in voting among people we talked to. That is Huge.

If you want to give this a try but are freaked out by visions of people chasing you with pitchforks, here are my top ten tips for relieving anxiety and having a good time. I would love to hear other people’s experience too.

Remember: You have 1 focus: Get Democrats to VOTE. If someone just doesn’t want to vote, move on.

Tip #1: If you haven’t done this before or still have worries about doing it, do it with a partner. Two brains are definitely better than one until you start feeling like you can do it on your own. You can learn a lot from each other too.

Tip #2: Most people aren’t home. Knowing this helps calm your fight or flight fears and increases your numbers! Leaving campaign flyers at the door still helps. A LOT.

Tip # 3: Don’t worry so much. You are talking to Democrats. Occasionally someone has moved and you catch a MAGA, but even they tend to be polite, and I have been canvassing in some pretty red areas.

Tip #4: When people look harassed or pissed, I immediately thank them for coming to the door to talk to me, a practice I learned from my Very Smart daughter. It disarms their major objection — that they are super-busy, which we all are — and they tend to listen.

Tip #5: It’s just me, but if there is something that catches my eye, I tell them. I admired a beautiful spruce tree in someone’s yard. I told a guy with a guitar that musicians make the world go round. I admired the view from someone’s house. It makes me relax and have an actual conversation.

Tip #6: My schpiel is short. I NEVER ask people if they are voting for Dr. Kermit. Most people consider that very personal information and gets you off on the wrong foot. Instead, I tell them my name, that I am volunteering on my Saturday to knock on doors to encourage people to vote for Dr. Kermit. Many people already know about him and will give their opinion. If not, I give a very brief testimonial of why I think he’s great — a combat surgeon and lawyer who could make a million bucks in private practice but has chosen to serve his community. He knows the flaws of health care from the inside. An old fashioned doctor who is very practical, realistic, and compassionate.

Tip #7: I ask if they think they could support such a guy. A lot of people volunteer how they feel anyway. If they are iffy I ask if they would consider supporting him. I offer them a flyer which everyone takes. By then they either like him or are interested.

Tip #8: If they are reluctant to vote, which you can usually tell, I tell them that their vote is their voice. And I guarantee that if they don’t use their voice, someone else with a very loud voice is going to let them know what they think, and you may not like what you hear. People really get that.

Tip #9: Assuming they are good Dems, I tell them we need to carry the precinct by 10 points to have a shot, and we are short. This upsets them. I ask if they want to do what I do, which no one does, so I give them a job — get 1 other good Dem to vote. People like to have a job.

Tip #10: I ask if they need a list of nearby drop box locations, which I always carry. This opens up the conversation of how they plan to vote. Which is great, because then I ask them if X location is the closest, and that puts in their minds where they are going to vote.

Have fun! and be proud of yourself. You are doing the MOST important thing we can do right now. Call, text, knock on doors — our work will make the all the difference.

Why Ask, 'Are You Registered to Vote at Your Current Address?' Protecting the Right to Vote in GA

snowbored

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday July 14, 2021 · 10:27 AM PDT

2021/07/14 · 10:27

On Saturday, Hope Springs from Field PAC organized Voter Suppression mitigation canvasses in Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia. In Georgia, we have been knocking on doors for a month, and had initially been concerned about the hurricane. But our intrepid Albany State organizers were determined. For them (kids really), having just endured their first (afaik) real experience with the Ku Klux Klan and voter suppression, the need to pass the voting rights law and on-going voter protection is very real. “We don’t have a weekend to waste,” they decided.

About 10:15 am on Saturday, I get a call. “We have a volunteer (an older African-American woman they described as ‘experienced’) asking, Why are we asking people if they are registered to vote at their current address? She thinks it’s intrusive. How do we respond.”

Our Georgia canvasses -- our whole current strategy really -- are driven by these organizers who got engaged, experienced and motivated during the Georgia special Senate runoffs. More to the point, they are determined not to lose the gains we made because of the runoffs. And that means not only keeping Rev. Warnock’s seat, but the Democratic majority in the Senate. We are all in this together.

But it was a good question, notwithstanding the timing and the fact that I, too, was in the midst of training canvass volunteers. And the answer is, it’s the law. Since 2002 (HAVA), voters have been required to be registered at their current address. But the primary reason we are reminding people this, and re-registering them if they are not registered at their current address, is that Republican poll watchers are using the National Change of Address database to challenge voter’s right to cast a ballot if they believe the voter isn’t registered at their current address. So even if you are legally registered, but NCoA suggests you or a family member may have moved, you could be challenged, even made to cast a provisional ballot at the polls — and then forced to document you live at the registered address shortly afterward (ballot curing).

The Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights thinks millions of legally cast ballots were not counted because the last step is not completed. And they believe that this disproportionately effects People of Color. I would argue that this is so because Republican and conservative groups are challenging voters in predominately Democratic areas, whereas Democrats don’t. We believe U.S. citizens who are registered should have a right to vote.

As a result, Democratic campaigns can no longer functionally end on election day, but must anticipate continuation at least until the period for ballot curing is over. Activists must start to take that into account, as well. The election won’t be over until (Democratic) ballots are cured!

In the Georgia special runoff, we didn’t let up until Friday, the last day to cure ballots. And I reminded my Albany State organizers of this, because they had participated in tracking down voters whose ballots needed to be cured. But they had forgotten (it wasn’t an exciting memory) and it’s drudge work. Both the new and the old voter suppression laws are all about making voters jump through additional hoops, unnecessary hoops, and we just can’t expect them to do that without being reminded, assisted and even harassed until the final steps are complete.

Remember, Democrats are not sending poll watchers out with the intent to add steps to the process. For us, poll watching is more about protecting our voters, protecting the process from corruption; it is not an strategically offensive tactic. Conservatives, and especially Southern conservatives, have a long tradition of preventing people from voting, and challenging voters using the NCoA is just the most recent iteration. Since the country has become more ideologically sorted, we have actually made it easier for Republicans to do this. Our tactical response has to evolve to meet the challenge.

So asking people if they are registered at their current address is the beginning of that response. Asking as early as possible allows us to re-register more voters and get both volunteers and voters in the mind-set of super-compliance. Super-compliance is a big f*ck you to Republican legislators, who are counting on our inability to convince our voters to jump through the (unnecessary) hoops. And we can’t count on voters to keep up with the changes in the laws. We have to inform them, remind them and keep reminding them until the election is won.

Hope Springs from Field PAC is knocking on doors in a grassroots-led effort to increase awareness of the fact that Democrats care about our voters and are working to protect their rights. We are thinking about how to mitigate Voter Suppression efforts, get around them and make sure we have "super compliance," both informing and helping our voters meet the requirements and get out and vote. We are taking those efforts to the doors of the communities most effected (the intended targets or victims) of these new voter suppression laws.

Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/voter protection

Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Field Organizers because field was the cornerstone of our success. The approach we adopted was focused on listening, on connecting voters and their story to the candidate and our cause. Repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors. We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters). Reminding, reminding, reminding, and then chasing down those voters whose ballots need to be cured.

We did this for the senate runoffs, and we are now taking this approach to the field in Georgia (again), Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. We hope to be able to get into the field in Arizona, but require more funding to make that commitment.

On Saturday, we had 85 volunteers knocking on doors in 3 counties in Southwest Georgia, aka as the “Black Belt.” Our volunteers were drawn mainly from Albany State students, some local party activists (who several students contend they come “just to keep an eye on us), and other volunteers from the senate runoff. The vast, vast majority of these volunteers were PoC. They knocked on 6,460 doors and talked to 831 voters. 628 issues questionnaires were completed by voters, several of them at the same door. Residents filled 19 Constituent Service Request Forms, which have now been turned over to the appropriate Democratic public officials who can help them with their issues. 1 new voter registration form was completed and 3 voters updated their address, and all four were taken to their county’s registrar’s office on Monday. The newly registered voter was assigned a mentor from Albany State’s ‎Delta Sigma Theta. 2 voters completed Incident Reports of issues they observed in the last election (1 was the flyer from the KKK).

Volunteers also did wellness checks, although none of the 831 voters reported damage. This “ask” was derived from Team Beto’s efforts after the winter storms in Texas. People seemed to like that.

If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation, please do:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/voter protection

Thank you for your support.

Poll

31 votes Show Results

Which 2022 Senate Race Do You Consider Most Important

31 votes Vote Now!

Which 2022 Senate Race Do You Consider Most Important

Rev Warnock seat in Georgia

8 votes

Mark Kelly seat in Arizona

5 votes

Open Senate seat in Pennsylvania

1 vote

Open Senate seat in North Carolina

4 votes

Open Senate seat in Ohio

2 votes

Ron Johnson seat in Wisconsin

6 votes

Maggie Hassan seat in New Hampshire

1 vote

Rubio Marco seat in Florida

4 votes

Catherine Cortez Masto seat in Nevada

0 votes

Open Senate seat in Alabama

0 votes

A Simple Query About Donating to Democratic GOTV Efforts

CanAmLefty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday July 10, 2021 · 4:29 PM PDT

2021/07/10 · 16:29

GOTV will decide the 2022 and 2024 elections.

1. In light of the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County and Brnovich cases, GOP legislatures have the green light to suppress Democratic votes any way they can.

2. Although the DP should file court challenges to voter suppression measures, these will very likely fail.

3. This means that the 2022 and 2024 elections will be conducted under the most challenging conditions for our voters in many years.

4. Therefore on-the-ground GOTV and polling-place voter protection will be crucial to winning: we must not allow the voter suppression laws to succeed.

5. My question is this: What is the most effective way to donate money for GOTV? I don’t like donating to the DNC, the DSCC, or the DCCC because of their overt hostility to the progressive wing of the party, and all they have done over the years to keep the Party as far to the right as possible. OTOH, if those are the folks to donate to, so be it. The point is that I want my money to go to GOTV, not something else.

With a hat tip to Jim Crow, Republicans are pushing scores of state bills to suppress the vote

Meteor Blades

Daily Kos Staff Emeritus

Wednesday February 10, 2021 · 4:59 PM PST

2021/02/10 · 16:59

An electoral worker is seen during the vote-by-mail ballots scanning process at the Miami-Dade County Election Department in Miami, Florida on October 21, 2020. - Hundreds of attorneys and volunteers from the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Joe Biden have deployed to Florida polling stations to make sure votes for their candidates are respected, as record numbers of people cast ballots early..Tensions are especially high as fear about the coronavirus and violence at polling stations is compounded by Florida's history of contested elections that have ended in recounts or even court battles. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) — A worker is seen during the vote-by-mail ballots scanning process at the Miami-Dade County Election Department on Oct. 21, 2020.

Earlier this month, Ari Berman wrote about the tsunami of voter suppression bills that state legislators have introduced in the first weeks of 2021, tweeting: “This is huge scandal that should be getting as much attention as Trump’s plot to overturn election.” Indeed. As of Monday, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which has for years closely followed and analyzed voter laws across the nation, 33 states had filed, pre-filed, or carried over from last year 165 bills restricting the vote. These focus mainly on limiting mail voting access, imposing stricter voter ID requirements, slashing voter registration opportunities, and enabling more aggressive voter roll purges. All part of reinventing Jim Crow. Writes the Brennan team, “These bills are an unmistakable response to the unfounded and dangerous lies about fraud that followed the 2020 election.” The worst of the lot: Arizona with 19 bills, Pennsylvania with 14, Georgia with 11, and New Hampshire with 10.

However, there is a simultaneous countervailing effort, one that progressives should enhance. Legislators in 37 states have introduced 541 bills that would expand voter access. These focus mostly on boosting mail voting, early voting, and voter registration, as well as restoring voting rights. It should be noted that 125 of those bills were introduced in New York and New Jersey alone. But, still, if you do the addition, it’s obvious that expansion bills are being introduced in some of the same states where suppression bills are. And that, frankly, is what should be happening in all states with suppression bills in the hopper. Democrats should introduce an opposing bill for each of these, bills that accomplish what should be the goal of every democracy: getting as many citizens to cast ballots as possible by eliminating barriers and otherwise making the process more voter-friendly.

VirginiaWave

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 24, 2020 · 12:01 PM PDT

2020/09/24 · 12:01

Look, guys. We get it: you’re worried about the election. So is everyone else with a pulse.

During the last week, we have likely all heard far more than our fair share of fear and disappointment among our fellow liberals & progressives. A great deal of it is understandable. Our legendary and inspiring icon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has transitioned and now the worst president in American history, “Individual 1” Trump, has the opportunity — with the help of shameless Republican senators — to fill yet another Supreme Court vacancy. (Which would be three!)

To compound this issue, he’s publicly signaling that this opportunity has him bullish about his ability to make a campaign issue whether he will “accept” the results of the presidential election. As the Editor of the Daily Beast, Molly Jong Fast, said Thursday afternoon, “it’s not up to him.”

It’s not up to him https://t.co/GSDZFJ4Ky8
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) September 24, 2020

And it’s really not!

As usual, cynical Republicans are using this as a tool to depress Democratic enthusiasm. They win with electorates who are also cynical, downtrodden, and hopeless. They figure that if we allow this to dull our enthusiasm at all to do the things we should be doing right now, that it will give them just the slight edge they need to eek out an Electoral College victory and possibly even keep the U.S. Senate… And they are right!

It’s late September, folks. We are just over a month away from election day and people are voting right now.

It’s the first day of early voting in Virginia, and I think Virginians are excited to vote. There’s a two hour line in Fairfax County already.

cc: @vademocrats @JoeBiden #Vote pic.twitter.com/jRy3L0oT5F
— alexandra (@aliemalie) September 18, 2020

We can and must continue to pressure Senate Republicans to do the right thing and follow the standard they themselves set four years ago when conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died almost nine months before the presidential election.

This needs to go viral. pic.twitter.com/FbD4iQj2t8
— Matt Rogers 🗳 (@Politidope) September 21, 2020

Let’s be real, though. Trying to shame the shameless won’t be enough. We need to galvanize our own troops and do the blocking and tackling necessary to get this asshole out of the White House!

How? I’m glad you asked!

Sign up to volunteer for Joe Biden. Sign up with “Tony The Democrat” to write postcards to voters. Donate to U.S. Senate candidates. Donate to state legislative candidates in pivotal races, like Kathy Lewis. Show up to protests! If you want to volunteer with a familiar face, come to one of my team’s phone banks that we have every Wednesday and Friday. There are so many options. You should be doing at least one — if not all of these.

We don’t have time to sit around and feel pity for ourselves. We need to ‘leave it all out on the field’. Enough with the crybaby s***.

Let’s do this!

-------------------------

I’m Matt Rogers. I’m a candidate, too. However, my election isn’t until 2021.

VA HD 47 - Matt Rogers

WEBSITE FACEBOOK TWITTER

DONATE

Republicans are sure scared of Steve Bullock

ptressel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday June 12, 2020 · 5:45 PM PDT

2020/06/12 · 17:45

200309-steve_bullock-mc-1244_71cab7419b5e74a4b99dddf8fe66f77a.fit-760w.JPG — Steve Bullock, challenging Republican Steve Daines for US Senate from Montana

Follow the Money

Let me explain why it appears Republicans are worried, and why we should get behind Bullock and push. (And we’ll get to how to do that pushing soon...)

I get two main types of Republican advertising on YouTube: Short Trump “survey” or “birthday card” ads, and pitches for Steve Daines by assorted big-name Republicans. I’ve gotten Daines ads featuring:

Lindsey Graham
Mitch McConnell
Ted Cruz
Marco Rubio
Eric Trump
Nicky Haley
Rick Scott

In fact, as I was typing that list, I got the McConnell ad again. These ads are sponsored not by the Daines campaign, but by “winred.com”. (WinRed is a Republican online fundraising platform with the stated intent to compete with ActBlue. Actually producing and placing ads seems beyond that intent.)

First, I need to explain a little about how online advertising placement works. An advertiser can ask… (Hah, now I’m getting the Cruz ad.) ...to place ads based on the content being viewed, or the user’s profile. The more money they spend, the broader their coverage spreads out — with more money, they get viewers who are less precisely matched to their primary target groups. With enough spending, they can do saturation coverage. I am guessing that, for their Daines ads, they asked for the “politics” vertical, i.e. show the ads with political content. (I’m watching an interview with Keith Ellison on policing reform — I was shown the McConnell and Cruz ads with that.) And they likely asked for users who are inferred to lean Republican. But (here’s the point) they spent so much money on these ads that they’ve blown past all the “lean Republican” users, and are just going on the “politics” vertical selection.

Ok, so let’s take that as one indicator of Republican spending. Next stop is OpenSecrets. Daines has raised about $9.3M and has about $5.8M cash on hand. Bullock has raised some $5.8M of which $4.1 remains.

www.opensecrets.org/...

Daines has been fundraising for a long time, and has the incumbent advantage. Bullock did not get much notice nationally as a presidential candidate, and this delayed his entry into the Senate race. But as the governor of Montana, he is well known in Montana, which is where it counts. And there isn’t a huge cash disparity. (Ok, there is in absolute terms — $1.7M buys a lot of ads — but it’s not lopsided in relative terms.)

billingsgazette.com/…

(One curious side note: Both Republicans and Democrats tried a spot of election manipulation. They each had someone run for the Green Party nomination. The Republicans wanted their candidate to draw off support from Bullock. The Democrats wanted their fake Green candidate to win the nomination and then drop out of the general. The Greens were, obviously, not happy about being used, and disavowed both fake Green candidates. This sort of scheming is no better when we do it. Note also that ranked choice would prevent this type of scheme. www.opensecrets.org/...)

But we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet — the Republican Senate Leadership Committee PAC is buying $10M worth of ad space, to start in September. This is more than they are spending in other close Senate races.

Trump has started tweeting in favor of Daines, and has said he’ll travel to Montana to campaign for Daines. This may not be a plus for Daines...and Trump is likely to be campaigning for himself, or at least talking about himself, more than for Daines.

www.newsweek.com/…

Now, why are the Republicans in a lather? In one word…

Polling

Bullock is ahead in new polling. Back in March…

Public Policy Polling: Bullock 47, Daines 47, other / undecided 6. en.wikipedia.org/...

But in April...

Montana State University: Bullock 46, Daines 39, other 6, undecided 7. This same poll has Trump leading Biden by 6 points, so this is a large swing to the Democrats for Bullock. This is not a Democratic pollster, nor Democratic leaning. www.ktvh.com/…
Progress Campaign: Bullock 49, Daines 46, other / undecided 5. en.wikipedia.org/...

Don’t get cocky. Those are within the margin of error. All of ‘em. Polls tend to tighten as election day approaches, and the hesitant people may fall back to the “default” choice. And Republicans are making that $10M ad buy because they believe they can pull this out.

A cause for concern is that there were 151K total Democratic primary votes, vs. 219K total Republican primary votes, so their voters seem more motivated. Bullock’s win for governor was by a less than 4 point margin, and Trump won the state. All the main rating services score this as “lean Republican”.

ballotpedia.org/…

Another form of “polling” may be concerning the Republicans — actual voting, and fundraising. There is evidence from an actual election, namely, Jon Tester’s — he won by 3.5 points in 2018. And Bullock’s fundraising is outstripping Daines’s.

www.independent.co.uk/…

These things indicate that we’re within striking distance of taking this Senate seat...and that the Republicans believe so as well. So, how can we…

Bring It Home

First things first — here is Steve Bullock’s campaign site, where you can also find links to his social media accounts.

stevebullock.com

Bullock is running on “Make Washington more like Montana”. By that he means being collegial — working across the aisle, as he’s had to do in Montana — and cleaning up politics, especially dark money. He’s also running on his record as governor — affordable healthcare, improving schools, transparency in politics, protecting public lands, bringing good-paying jobs — and the promise to look out for Montana’s interests. But this is not primarily an issues-oriented campaign. The main messaging is: take the Senate away from Mitch McConnell. Bullock has support from People for the American Way, American Bridge, the Human Rights Campaign.

www.hrc.org/…

So it looks like the main effort will be to turn out any and all available Democrats, and to pull in undecided voters who will like the message of sanity and collegiality, among them the occasional Never Trump Republican.

If you are in Montana, especially, you can volunteer to do GOTV. Bullock’s campaign website does not have a volunteer link, so your first option is to get plugged in to the state Democratic party or to your local Democratic organization. The state party will likely be working with the DNC coordinated campaign. The state party’s website has links to get involved and to contribute:

montanademocrats.org

FInd your county party organization here:

montanademocrats.org/...

This has more suggestions for how to volunteer, including Indivisible, MobilizeAmerica:

5 Ways to Help Steve Bullock Flip Steve Daines’ Senate Seat in Montana

If you know of more ways to help out with Bullock’s campaign, please post in the comments!!

Other Montana Races

Turning out Democrats for Bullock will help other Democratic candidates in Montana. I should mention some other Montana statewide races, where you can also volunteer or donate.

First, Bullock won’t be governor any longer, and we really don’t want to lose that. The Democratic candidate is Mike Cooney, who is Bullock’s lt. governor.

www.cooneyformontana.com

Next is Raph Graybill, who is running for state Attorney General. Graybill is running on protecting healthcare — going after Big Pharma for price gouging, protecting women’s right to choose, keeping the Medicare gains made under Bullock. This would be a flip — the current AG is Republican. It would definitely be beneficial to give Cooney an AG of the same party, but protecting healthcare goes straight to quality of life in Montana.

www.raphgraybill.com

And Shane Morigeau, running for State Auditor. Want fair health insurance rates, and no sneaky tricks? Elect a Democrat as auditor! Also as auditor, Morigeau will protect against investment fraud, protect public lands, advocate for underserved communities, and bring American Indian representation into the auditor’s office for the first time.

shaneformontana.com

The Democratic candidate for Secretary of State is Bryce Bennett. I probably don’t need to explain why we need a Democrat in charge of elections.

www.bennettformontana.com

If you’re interested in other state executive offices, follow the links here to each office:

ballotpedia.org/...

Wait a minute, the State Auditor does what?!?!

ZenTrainer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 20, 2020 · 4:22 PM PDT

2020/04/20 · 16:22

Representative Shane Morigeau for Montana State Auditor

I admit, I thought that a State Auditor was a glorified sort of bookkeeper. Shane Morigeau served in the Montana State Legislature as the Minority Whip where he accomplished amazing things, why would he want to be a bookkeeper?

Turns out the Montana State Auditor is NOT a bookkeeper at all. For starters they regulate the insurance industry.

The Office of the Montana State Auditor, Commissioner of Securities and Insurance (CSI) is a criminal justice agency that protects Montana’s consumers by ensuring fairness, transparency and access for Montanans in two of Montana’s largest industries — securities and insurance.

Not something you want a rubberstamping Republican in charge of, as there currently is.

The Montana State Auditor is also a Land Board Commissioner,overseeing and helping to make decisions about the uses of the 5.2 million acres of state trust land.

Again, not something you want a rubberstamping Republican in charge of. The perfect person for this job is Representative Shane Morigeau.

I am excited to announce my campaign to be your next State Auditor! #morigeauformontana #mtpol pic.twitter.com/vHxZOk0B2x
Ã¢ÂÂ Shane Morigeau (@shanemorigeau) June 30, 2019

Montana

State Auditor - Shane A. Morigeau

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The Time Since Yasemin Took Her Life

MsSpentyouth

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Sunday April 12, 2020 · 6:34 PM PDT

2020/04/12 · 18:34

Yasemin Deborah Yaman, whose commander of the USS Pearl Harbor called “the toughest 5 feet of sailor the US Navy had to offer,” took her life to end her pain eight weeks ago. Time is no longer the same.

There was a time before my daughter Yasemin took her life, and a time after.

Today marks the start of Week Eight without her.

Yasemin Deborah “YaYa” Yaman died at her home in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday, February 16, 2020.

She’d been living there the past few years because she and her son could more easily get by in a foreign country on U.S. military disability funds from a 2005 wartime injury than they could here in the country she thought she’d fought for.

Twelve-year-old Hasan found his mother’s body Sunday morning, February 16. He picked up the phone from where his mother crouched on her bedroom floor amidst bits of drying vomit that contained some of the hundreds of ibuprofen pills she mixed with alcohol to escape her pain.

“Nana,” he said through the phone that showed me my daughter’s Caller ID. “It’s me, it’s Hasan. My mom died. She died of stress. She won’t wake up again, Nana.”

Since her discharge from the navy in 2005, Yasemin attempted suicide or made suicidal gestures many times, eight times in the first year after she came home to North Carolina. My younger daughter and I estimate that Yasemin was hospitalized for PTSD-triggered suicidal thoughts or actual attempts somewhere between 25 and 30 times since 2005.

This time, though, her body just said no, it couldn’t recover. Not this time. Not again.

Despite our having two daughters and two grandchildren together, my ex-husband ended all contact with me when he remarried in 2006. While in Jamaica with our younger daughter Sibel to oversee all the necessary processes, he unilaterally chose to have Yasemin buried in his homeland of Turkey, where all his military family members made their final rest. He did not want me there.

Over his objections, Yasemin’s 17-year-old daughter and I made plans to join Hasan and my younger daughter Sibel in Antalya, Turkey, for the funeral and burial. It was the first time my ex-husband and I were to be in the same place in 15 years. There was a lot of tension in this, perplexing and searing pain on top of soul-crushing grief.

At first he would not permit me to be at Yasemin’s gravesite at all. After Sibel pleaded my case, he stipulated through a family member that if I did attend, I should not speak to him or his wife, I was not to look at them, and I shouldn’t cry out loud, because that would cause him and his wife to explain who I was and why I was there.

Two dear friends visited me the day before I left for Turkey. I was distraught and didn’t know how I was going to get through all of melodrama that effectively de-parented me from my firstborn, my spicy child, my troubled but courageous daughter whom I shared life with for nearly 39 years. “Look for Yasemin in the breezes through the trees, in the sky, in birds who bring memories of her,” said one friend. “Don’t look for her in the place your ex tells you not to be; she won’t be there. She has gone beyond that place and will find you where you are.”

When our plane was about to land in Antalya, Yasemin’s presence came in a glorious sunset.

The day after the funeral (which was a cruel and traumatic affair that ripped at our hearts and causes regular nightmares), I was walking with Hasan through Old Town bazaar in Antalya to buy him a ring or other piece of jewelry that would remind him of his mom. We looked up and saw a directional sign at the road: “YAYA’ya Yol Ver.” YaYa was Yasemin’s nickname, for YAsemin YAman. The connotative meaning of “YAYA’ya yol ver” is “Pedestrian crossing,” but the literal meaning is “There’s a path to YaYa here.”

In the faraway city where my daughter Yasemin is buried, Yasemin left this sign for her grieving son and mom that “The path to YaYa is here.”

We stopped at the little vintage jewelry shop near the sign, and Hasan was immediately drawn to a silver dragon’s talon ring. That road sign led to finding a symbol of strength and protection for the little boy who found his mother’s body.

Yasemin found us, not at her gravesite that I was physically prevented from approaching but on a random road that led us to a promise of the strength, protection, and never-ending care of a mother toward her grieving son and a daughter to her grieving mother.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or are in pain because of the loss of someone you care about, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255. At the prompt, you can press “1” to talk with someone at The Veterans’ Crisis Line.

You matter. So much.

The pupdate you've been waiting for

tomwintermontana

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Saturday March 28, 2020 · 4:40 PM PDT

2020/03/28 · 16:40

Big thanks to thousands that took our poll where we asked what we should name this feller.

If you haven’t, there’s still time. Here is is: secure.ngpvan.com/...

But for those who’ve been following along, here’s a much needed pupdate:

Ok. @TarynChuter made one of the funniest things IÃ¢ÂÂve seen to find out that he is only 18% leg.

Ã¢ÂÂLeg unitÃ¢ÂÂ Ã°ÂÂÂÃ°ÂÂ¤Â£ pic.twitter.com/XI7eOA8W0Q
Ã¢ÂÂ Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) March 26, 2020

Thanks, @TarynChuter. That really made my day.

Personal statement: IÃ¢ÂÂm waiting in the vetÃ¢ÂÂs parking lot to see if this pupper has a chip. IÃ¢ÂÂm really nervous, though I want him to find his family if he wasnÃ¢ÂÂt abandoned. Ã°ÂÂÂ¬ pic.twitter.com/cGFF4LGtvu
Ã¢ÂÂ Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) March 28, 2020

The little guy doesn't have a chip! I'm glad he's brought as much joy to 182k people as he has to me. Our Governor has put in place a stay-at-home order until at least April 10, so looks like I'll have someone to hang with at home! And during zoom meetings! What a journey. pic.twitter.com/s1PVNT5bRD
Ã¢ÂÂ Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) March 28, 2020

So no chip! But that means the hunt for his humans continues. I have a feeling I’m going to be isolated with this guy for a while. Luckily Montana has some of the most AMAZING public lands (so a lot of area to go on long walks in the woods).

I know the news is bad, but I hope this makes you smile. Stay at home. Stay safe. And look out for your neighbors. We’ll get through this together.

Montana — U.S. Congress At Large - Tom Winter

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Something to make you smile...with poll

tomwintermontana

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Tuesday March 24, 2020 · 1:57 PM PDT

2020/03/24 · 13:57

When I woke up yesterday (in quarantine, of course), little did I know that my campaign was going to go viral. You see, I went on a hike near Flathead Lake and this little love nug ran right up to me. The rest is history. Hope this will make you smile in this weird time we’re in.

UPDATE:

He just ate a live ant.

And he may be part corgi w/ these little stumps for legs. pic.twitter.com/Iogr1ETcmU
Ã¢ÂÂ Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) March 23, 2020

Btw, if you haven’t been following along: I’m a state legislator running for Montana’s at-large congressional seat, the one currently held by body-slamming congressman Rep. Gianforte. Our campaign has turned into a way for us to disseminate info to the public about the crisis we’re in and we’re taking requests to run errands for those who can’t leave their houses.

Check out our website and maybe even throw us some bones.

Think we found our new campaign mascot. He’ll be along for the ride as we run errands for folks. Campaigning for Congress in Montana has certainly taken a weird and unexpected turn, but this dog might make the journey all that more enjoyable.

What should we name him??? The choice is yours. secure.ngpvan.com/…

You need this NOW. If dogs could talk. pic.twitter.com/7ptFwXSz8y
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) March 22, 2020

If you’re not already smiling…..

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Wait a minute, the State Auditor does what?!?!

The Time Since Yasemin Took Her Life

The pupdate you've been waiting for

Something to make you smile...with poll