The ground is shifting. The change in the zeitgeist is palpable. It presages the blue tsunami that is coming, like the smell of water and earth in the air before a huge thunderstorm. Sorry for the mixed metaphors, but just one natural image doesn’t seem like enough for this moment in time. Everything is about to change. It’s going to be a scary, wild ride and we will need all of our courage and strength and determination and persistence. But this is it, Gnusies — possibly the best opportunity for real reform, real justice, real progress in our entire history is almost within our reach and we can grasp it as long as we do not lose our nerve.
The Republicans are corrupt to the core, and they are afraid of us — afraid of the American people they pretend to “serve”. The impulse to “dominate” with brutal force is an impulse borne out of fear and in a way it was a gift for us that Tom Cotton exposed the truth so baldly for everyone to see. They won’t give up power without a vicious fight — because it is more than mere elections to them. Their very lives and freedom are on the line, because many of them will go to prison. Ironic, isn’t it? The Republican obsession with “freedom” maybe has a double meaning.
So, be prepared. Do not live in fear. Whatever else we have to face this year, we will face it — together. We are the majority and we will win back the country. Just stay focused, keep working hard at GOTV and speak encouragingly to others. We need to keep each other’s spirits up as the intensity builds, and we will see each other through it to the other side.
Be assured that millions of people began to realize what is possible in the last week.
That’s the change you sense in the zeitgeist. It’s the power of the people.
There’s a ton of good news; I could not even get it all gathered up because I am literally running out of time (it’s 2:40 AM right now as I am typing these words and everything below is all I am going to be able to put in today’s GNR). But there’s more good news out there, so please add anything you find in the comments. And I especially want to read your local good news!
🎶 Some Music to Start Us Off 🎶
The Ground is Shifting Under Bunker Boy
Gen. Wesley Clark on Trump and the protests: "We are seeing the turning of the tide", Chauncey Devega, Salon, June 8, 2020.
What's at stake in the 2020 election is America's future in the world and the United States Constitution.
America's future in the world depends on alliances. It depends on the economy. It's dependent on our educational system, our health care system, and other social institutions. And President Trump has taken all those institutions in the wrong direction. But worse than that, he's worked to undermine the professionalism of the American civil service. Donald Trump has politicized the courts. ✄
What I hope we will see on Election Day is that the American people will be able to turn the ship of state around a little bit, a few degrees. Let's bring the country back to where there is more emphasis on community and less emphasis on selfish individualism. We're in this together. Ordinary people should have more access to the fruits of American society.
If the United States is going to be a great country in the 21st century — and remain as a great country — we've got to live up to our values. It's about "We the people." It's about equal rights. It's about treating people fairly and uniformly without regard to the color of their skin.
What we are seeing emerging now in the United States is the turning of the tide. And I think we are moving into an era in the United States when we can go forward with greater respect for each other and greater appreciation for the value of diversity, the value of community and the importance of the public welfare as opposed to just the private welfare.
Governors are not playing
The Trump Regime Is Beginning to Topple, Franklin Foer, the Atlantic, June 6, 2020.
Sharp posited that revolutionaries should focus first on the regime’s softest underbelly: the media, the business elites, and the police. The allegiance of individuals in the outer circle of power is thin and rooted in fear. By standing strong in the face of armed suppression, protesters can supply examples of courage that inspire functionaries to stop carrying out orders, or as Sharp put it, to “withhold cooperation.” Each instance of resistance provides the model for further resistance. As the isolation of the dictators grows—as the inner circles of power join the outer circle in withholding cooperation—the regime crumbles.
This is essentially what transpired in Ukraine in 2014. When the country’s president backed away from plans to join the European Union, a crowd amassed in Kyiv’s central square, the Maidan. The throngs initially had no avowed intention or realistic hope of overthrowing the kleptocratic president, Viktor Yanukovych. But instead of letting the demonstrators shout themselves hoarse in the thick of subfreezing winter, Yanukovych set about violently confronting them. This tactic backfired horribly. A movement with limited aims became a full-blown revolution. Oligarchs quietly slunk away from a leader they had long subsidized. Lackeys who had faithfully served the regime resigned, for fear of attracting the public’s ire. In the bitter end, Yanukovych found himself isolated, alone with his own family and his Russian advisers, destined for exile.
It is astonishing how events in the U.S., despite all the obvious imperfections of the analogy, have traced the early phases of this history. This is observable in the images of the crowds on successive nights, as Trump’s violent suppression of the protests in Lafayette Square has only caused their ranks to swell. And it’s possible to see how elites, in the course of just a few days, have begun to withhold cooperation, starting with the outer circles of power and quickly turning inward.
Speaking of circles of power...
We are witnessing the birth of a movement — and the downfall of a president, Lucian K. Truscott lll, Salon, June 6, 2020.
But sometimes they are large enough and powerful enough and righteous enough to bend the arc of history. We are in such a moment. There has been a turning. A protest against the murder of a black man by police in Minneapolis has become a movement. Demonstrations, which began almost two weeks ago, are ongoing. They are huge. They are nationwide. They are peaceful. They show no signs of stopping.
Among the extraordinary things about this moment is the fact that every single person who has taken to the streets to demonstrate is risking his or her life. People who only days ago were huddled inside their homes, afraid of a virus that has taken in excess of 110,000 lives in this country, are putting on their face masks and gathering by the tens or even hundreds of thousands, unafraid of the virus or the forces arrayed on the streets against them. They are protesting the death of a man who should not have had to die, and they are protesting the man who seemingly gave permission for him to be murdered by the intolerance and racism he has openly promoted for more than four years.
If we had any doubts that our fellow citizens would turn out to vote in November because they would be afraid of the virus or intimidated by attempts to block their votes, we have our answer. More people will turn out to vote, not less, and this has Trump very, very worried.
🎶 Speaking of the Resident 🎶
Lots of Signs of Positive Change
Check out this thread of “massive gains” we’ve made:
There’s Still a Pandemic and Economic Crisis. Trump Is Making Both Worse., David Atkins, Washington Monthly, June 7, 2020. (bolding mine):
The president’s sole concern is for his electoral and personal fortune. The coronavirus was an inconvenience to be wished away and obscured rather than confronted. The economic fallout from his mishandling of the pandemic was to be blamed on governors, and hand-waived with a one-time stimulus so long as the stock market held value and the economy reopened regardless of safety or good scientific advice. When the protests over police violence and murder of George Floyd arrived, Trump saw only the potential to shore up his poll numbers by rehashing the Nixon playbook. He was already bored with the pandemic and ready to move on, anyway. ✄
There is a unifying social justice aspect to all of this, too. Trump’s misreading of the national mood regarding white supremacy, the value of black lives and disenchantment with police brutality has been well-documented in the last few days–even as he has become singularly obsessed with those issues. But the pandemic’s particular lethality to communities of color–and disproportionate economic impact on them–is the result of the same structural racism that led to the necessity of the Black Lives Matter movement. The decent majority of Americans have taken notice and lost patience, and Trump’s approval rating has fallen accordingly.
Joe Biden may not the most charismatic or transformative nominee in American history. But a country dealing with multiple simultaneous historic events deserves a president at least minimally committed to doing the job. We don’t have one right now, and the unwillingness of Republicans in Congress to remove their categorically unfit, corrupted and disinterested president means that we won’t have one until the voters finally get a chance to weigh in this November.
And speaking of the pandemic…
...A little piece of really good news. We still need to practice pandemic precautions (masks, handwashing, avoiding crowds, etc), but the spectre of large numbers of asymptomatic superspreaders has been largely exorcised:
WHO: Data suggests it's "very rare" for coronavirus to spread through asymptomatics, Marisa Fernandez, Axios, June 8, 2020.
Contact tracing data from around the globe suggests that while there are instances of asymptomatic coronavirus patients transmitting the virus to others, they are not "a main driver" of new infections, World Health Organization officials said at a press conference Monday.
Why it matters: Evidence early on suggested that person-to-person transmission among people who didn't experience symptoms could lead to outbreaks that would be difficult to control. Young people and healthy people who did not experience symptoms were also suspected to be potential carriers to more vulnerable populations. ✄
Between the lines: Don't treat these statements as a permission to treat a lack of symptoms as a "get out of social distancing" free card.
- Infected people can be contagious well before experiencing symptoms.
Yes, Things Have Changed
Some people say that things haven’t changed one bit since the 1960’s (or even earlier) and although systemic racism is indeed still going strong (and has been resurgent in the decades since the Republican “southern strategy” was put into effect after the passage of the Civil Rights Act), the truth is that some things have changed. And are continuing to change at an accelerated rate. One change is that progressives — especially young progressives — are standing side by side with people of color to protest racism in this country in ever-growing numbers. That’s significant change and the reality it brings to politics and law enforcement is that protests cannot be put down with the level of violence that we saw in the 1950’s and 60’s. The people won’t stand for that anymore. That’s the truth. Progressive people are the majority and if you ever needed proof of that, recognise that no matter how politicians talk about a mythical conservative “silent majority” or “real America”, their behavior shows that they know that “REAL” America is progressive and will not stand for overt racism anymore — nor , increasingly (thankfully!) will it continue to tolerate covert, systemic racism either.
‘Marchers are full of hope’: Civil rights leaders see progress in today’s movement, Steve Innskeep/NPR, witf.org, June 8, 2020.
To some who remember the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, the moment feels familiar. They’ve compared the demonstrations that have spread since video emerged of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes to the nationwide riots of 1968, which followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Yet having seen too much, both found hopeful signs in recent days: the number of white people who marched with people of color; the political power that people of color wield today; and even the conduct of police. While the recent demonstrations have featured numerous conflicts with police, Jackson noted that their tactics would have been far more deadly in 1968.
The marches today “are hopeful signs,” says Jackson. “The marchers are full of hope. They believe something can happen. On the move, we’re not going backwards.”
Army reverses course, will consider renaming bases named for Confederate leaders, Lara Seligman, Politico, June 8, 2020.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy is now "open" to renaming the service's 10 bases and facilities that are named after Confederate leaders, an Army official told POLITICO, in a reversal of his previous position.
"The Secretary of the Army is open to a bipartisan discussion on the topic," said Army spokesperson Col. Sunset Belinsky Monday. ✄
the service has faced renewed pressure in recent weeks to rename some of its best-known installations, including Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Benning, Ga., after a New York Times editorial accused the military of "celebrating White supremacists."
And if you didn’t click through to this article on Saturday when Goody quoted from it, give it a look now. There’s been a real shift in the atmosphere and even our most serious cultural critics are sensing that this light wind of progressive change is picking up speed:
Why Ta-Nehisi Coates is hopeful, Ezra Klein, Vox, June 5, 2020.
I really don’t know how this plays out, but I think we are very much in an unprecedented moment with direct analogs to other periods. The Democratic Party is so different demographically. It’s completely different than it was even 25 years ago.
I was one of these people who felt that what would happen is the Republican Party would almost cynically make room for other people under the umbrella of whiteness, as this country has done at other moments in history. And that’s not what has happened. On the contrary, under Trump, they’ve just doubled down on the race and made it more clear that it is a white party.
What that means is that a Democrat Party is very different. I don’t think Stacey Abrams, getting as close as she did, is really imaginable 25 years ago. You just see what the Democratic Party is today. I mean, you have an old white guy who was basically dependent on the black vote. That’s a very different thing, even within a Democratic primary, than it would have been 25 years ago.
🎶 Musical Inspiration 🎶
⚖ Justice ⚖
I apologise if this was already covered (I just can’t remember) and it bears repeating as it is a big deal:
The tweet is kind of confusing with that subordinate clause awkwardly in there splitting up the important part. The gist is that the Republicans attempted to repeal the Racial Justice Act in NC and the NC supreme court ruled that unconstitutional. The Racial Justice Act stands! Talk about good news for justice!
Epstein is gone but not forgotten
If you were concerned that with Jeffrey Epstein’s death last year the trail of crimes has been raked over, well it appears that in fact the investigation has continued!
Prosecutors formally request to talk with Prince Andrew in Epstein investigation, Tom Winter, NBC News, June 7, 2020.
Andrew continues to try to weasel out of this, but it looks like New York is staying on this case. ( 👀 Acting U.S. Attorney Berman, by the way, was appointed by Jeff Sessions in 2018, and this is not the first time he has taken action that does not seem to be helpful to the resident. Maybe he’s another reason why trump hates Sessions 👀) :
Federal prosecutors in New York have formally requested through the British government to speak with Prince Andrew as part of their ongoing criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's history of sexual abuse, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The request made by Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty is similar to a subpoena in this case for Prince Andrew's testimony. ✄
Following Epstein's death, prosecutors vowed to continue the investigation of his alleged sex trafficking ring. The case brought renewed attention to several high-profile people in Epstein's orbit, including Andrew.
Update: Yep, sure enough, late Monday, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman publicly chastised the Duke:
Prosecutor shoots down Prince Andrew's claim he offered assistance in Epstein probe, The Week, June 8, 2020.
No Holds Barr’d
And in continuing chaos moves in Barr’s DOJ, the government is proceeding with prosecution of Michael Flynn’s co-conspirator, even though they are trying to get the case against Flynn dismissed! This is like if two men committed an armed robbery — and plenty of evidence of both of them holding the guns, taking the money, etc. — but then the DA files to have the case of the one who aditted to the crime and already pleaded guilty dismissed, while continuing to prosecute his partner! It’s ridiculous. It makes no sense in one way, but in another way it could suggest that patriots in the DOJ continue to work for justice and are somehow able to continue with this prosecution as a way to pressure Barr and the DOJ in the Flynn case. Certainly, Flynn’s new lawyer, Sidney Powell, is not happy. As Rachel would say, watch this space:
Feds press criminal case against Flynn partner, Josh Gerstein, Politico, June 7, 2020.
Prosecutors seeking to revive the convictions of Flynn’s former colleague, Bijan Rafiekian, filed a brief with a federal appeals court Sunday.
The filing makes several mentions of Flynn’s integral role in the work that led to the two foreign-agent-related felony charges against Rafiekian and maintains the government’s position that Flynn was a co-conspirator in his business partner’s crimes — a curious stance as the government seeks to drop the criminal case it brought against Flynn more than two years ago. ✄
When the Justice Department submitted its unusual request last month to dismiss the case against Flynn, it was entirely silent on his Turkey-related admissions. Another federal appeals court, the D.C. Circuit, is set to hear arguments Friday on whether Flynn is entitled to have the case dismissed immediately or a judge can entertain arguments that Flynn’s guilty plea in the case should not be disturbed.
Flynn’s lead attorney, Sidney Powell, blasted the government’s decision to keep prosecuting Rafiekian, a former Trump transition team adviser. Asked by POLITICO about the move, she replied by email: “Wrongful and wasteful use of scarce taxpayer resources.”
And the Judicial Branch continues to be the firewall against the neo-fscism:
Republicans in DIsarray
“HE’S GOING TO BROOM KUSHNER AND PARSCALE”: “MALIGNANTLY CRAZY” ABOUT BAD POLL NUMBERS, TRUMP IS THINKING OF REPLACING HIS SON-IN-LAW, Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair, June 8, 2020.
In Donald Trump’s West Wing, being a member of the Trump family has historically been the ultimate job security. But that truism is being stress-tested after a run of polls consistently show Trump losing to Joe Biden at this stage of the race—a CNN poll this morning has him down 14 points. According to a source close to the White House, Trump has mulled taking oversight of the campaign away from his son-in-law Jared Kushner. “Trump is malignantly crazy about the bad poll numbers,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s going to broom Kushner and [Brad] Parscale—the numbers are not getting better,” a Republican close to the campaign said. ✄
Over the weekend, Trump called around to New York friends and outside advisers in hopes they would validate Trump’s belief that the polls are wrong. “He’s asking people to agree with him that the polls are biased. But no one is telling him what he wants to hear,” said a Republican briefed on the calls. Republicans know how bad things are, but the party still believes sticking with Trump is the best bet for holding the Senate. Last week, Mitch McConnell told Republican senators that they couldn’t abandon Trump, according to a source. McConnell reminded Republicans that former New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte lost her 2016 reelection bid after breaking with Trump over the Access Hollywood video.
(Through a spokesperson, McConnell denied making the comment.) ← lol 😆
“You are losing. bigly”
Democrats, stop worrying about losing. Focus on how you’re likely to win. Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, June 8, 2020.
If you’re a president running for reelection, and 8 out of 10 voters believe “things in the country are out of control,” you are losing. Bigly.
The question now is how much uglier and more divisive President Trump’s campaign will become as his desperation mounts — and how many of Trump’s Republican enablers choose to go down with what is beginning to look like the Titanic. The band that gets hired for the GOP convention, wherever it eventually takes place, might want to start practicing “Nearer My God to Thee.” ✄
Some of the protests against police violence have been turned into voter-registration drives; all of them should be. If young people can be motivated to turn out to vote the way they have come out to march, Trump and the Republicans — who can’t bring themselves to utter the phrase “social justice,” much less act on it — will be toast.
Even more important, perhaps, is ensuring the right to vote. This is a battle that Democrats must fight at every level — defending the right to cast mail-in ballots, ensuring there are enough safe polling places for same-day voting, using the federal courts to ensure that state-level and local efforts to suppress voters fail.
So long, southern strategy symbols
Republicans’ “southern strategy” — or at least its props — seems to be finally going down down down and it’s about damn time:
Protests Are Bringing Down Confederate Monuments Around The South, Debbie Elliott, NPR News, June 8, 2020.
Earlier, two of Alabama's largest cities – Birmingham and Mobile – took down Confederate monuments that were focal points for civil unrest. Violating a state law intended to protect such memorials, Birmingham dismantled a massive obelisk dedicated to Confederate soldiers and sailors in a downtown park. Mobile took down a statue of a Confederate naval officer that had been vandalized. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said on Twitter the move was not an attempt to rewrite history but intended to remove "a potential distraction" to focus on the future of the Gulf coast city.
In Virginia, the state has started work to remove a huge statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, the state capital. And city leaders say they want to take down another four Confederate memorials along Monument Ave. A slave auction block was removed from downtown Fredericksburg, Va.
Pressure is also mounting in Mississippi over the state flag. Adopted in 1894, the design incorporates the Confederate battle flag – a red background with a blue X lined with white stars. In 2001, Mississippi voted to keep it. Now Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says it's not up to elected leaders to change it.
"It should be the people who make that decision not some backroom deal by a bunch of politicians in Jackson," Reeves said Monday when pressed by reporters whether he thought the flag was an accurate representation of modern-day Mississippi, a state with a 38% African-American population.
(nifty: why isn’t MS a blue state again? oh yeah. And this is why we fight)
And → Protesters Topple British Slave Trader Statue During Anti-Racism Demonstration.
omg, he’s just pathetic
Trump Camp Runs Ads on D.C. Cable to Ease the Boss’ Anxieties and Buck Up Congressional GOPers, Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng, the Daily Beast, June 8, 2020.
In recent weeks, Trump has grown visibly distraught at his prospects for re-election, with recent polling showing his standing in the race declining dramatically in the wake of a sustained coronavirus outbreak and resulting recession, and as demonstrators flood major cities to protest the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis last month. Things have gotten so bad that after CNN came out with a survey on Monday showing Trump trailing Biden by 14 points, Trump’s campaign’s pollster crafted a memo—subsequently posted to the president’s Twitter account—accusing presidential pollsters of a deliberate effort to “counter the enthusiasm of Trump voters.”
With Trump stuck in that milieu of anxiety, his re-election team is hoping that the ads may put him at ease that his formidable political machine is hard at work defending him and attacking his enemies. Trump is a voracious consumer of cable news, and—the thinking goes—is likely to see the spots pop up between segments of his favorite shows.
These sources also said the campaign is hoping to counter-program recent ads by critics that have driven the president to public outbursts. The ads in question were the work of the Lincoln Project, a super PAC run by a group of dissident conservatives, and elicited furious reactions from the president’s Twitter feed. The Lincoln Project aired a recent, hard-hitting ad called “Mourning in America” on Fox News in the D.C. media market with the explicit goal of getting the president’s attention.
Steve Schmidt pulling no punches
‘The SS Trump is foundering’ — and Republicans may ‘jump off the ship like fleeing rats’: Steve Schmidt, Bob Brigham, Raw Story, June 8, 2020
“Well, the way that the campaigns are looking at this now is they’re looking at the average of all of the polls. So you’re looking at an 8%, 9% lead for [Joe] Biden by the average, but you’re looking at decimation inside Trump’s internal numbers on all of the questions of leadership, on decency, on being up to and fit for the job of being president,” he replied. ✄
“Now, when you look at the state polls and you look at the trajectory of some of the Senate races, if you’re a Republican, you’re starting to tremble. These numbers are very, very ominous at this hour,” he noted.
“And so you could see in the coming months more and more of these Republicans starting to jump off the ship like fleeing rats. But, you know, at the end they’ve lashed their masts to the S.S. Tump, and the S.S. Trump is foundering in heavy seas — that’s what the poll number says,” he concluded.
(Watch the whole thing!)
🎶 Musical Dedication to Republicans 🎶
We Have Great Democratic Leadership
I have got to start this section with Washington DC’s amazing kickass mayor, Muriel E. Bowser. This is non-negotiable because this woman rocks. READ THIS! 😃:
From bland bureaucrat to anti-Trump fame: Mayor Bowser’s transformation, Paul Schwartzman and Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post, June 8, 2020.
In a city famous for political bombast, Bowser is known as a cautious leader who expresses herself in the forgettable words of a government bureaucrat. Now, in the span of a week, she has turned into a fresh voice of the resistance, buffeted by Trump’s threat of a federal takeover and his use of racist language to criticize street protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody.
The mayor’s most dramatic stroke — deploying city workers to paint “Black Lives Matter” in huge yellow letters along two blocks leading to the White House — drew widespread acclaim, including from (LeBron) James, who wrote, “BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!! TOGETHER we shall prevail!!” to his 46 million Twitter followers. ✄
But none of Bowser’s predecessors have pushed back as forcefully as she did by renaming 16th Street “Black Lives Matter Plaza” after Trump referred to demonstrators as thugs, threatened to have them shot and unleash dogs on them, and called for a military-style crackdown on city streets. In interviews and on social media, the mayor has called the president’s rhetoric “gross” and tweeted that he “hides behind his fence afraid/alone.”
Our speaker leads
Democrats unveil police reform overhaul, kneel at Capitol, Lisa Mascaro, AP News, June 8, 2020.
The Justice in Policing Act would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police choke holds, among other changes, according to an early draft. It is the most ambitious change to law enforcement sought by Congress in years. ✄
The legislation would seek to provide greater oversight and transparency of police behavior in several ways. For one, it would grant subpoena power to the Justice Department to conduct “pattern and practice” investigations of potential misconduct and help states conduct independent investigations. It would ban racial profiling and boost requirements for police body cameras.
And it would create a “National Police Misconduct Registry,” a database to try to prevent officers from transferring from one department to another with past misconduct undetected, the draft said.
A long-sought federal anti-lynching bill stalled in Congress is included in the package.
Elections
Joe Biden has a really big lead in the polls, Matthew Yglesias, Vox, June8, 2020.
A Monday morning CNN poll showed Joe Biden with a staggering 14-point lead over President Trump as the electorate’s stated level of concern with “race relations” soars and the former vice president is seen as much better equipped to handle the issue.
Winning the popular vote by such a large margin would likely mean Democrats overperformed in battleground states and in places like Georgia, Iowa, and Texas that would put the Senate clearly in play.
And while the CNN poll is just one poll, and something of an outlier at that, there is now a very clear trend in national polling — Biden was winning before the outbreak of massive national protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and that lead has gotten bigger.
Georgia Sees At Least 2,500% Increase In Absentee Voting, Tierney Sneed, TPM, June 8, 2020.
Georgia is the latest state to see a major surge in absentee voting in the midst of the pandemic.
Ahead of its primary Tuesday, elections officials by Sunday had received 943,000 ballots — a 2,500 percent increase from the 2016 presidential primary, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Of the 1.2 million who have already voted (a number that includes in-person early voting, which ended Friday), there was close to an even split between Democrats and Republicans, according to the AJC report.
Primary
Today is Georgia’s primary election day. Here is what you need to know to vote in Georgia today: Georgia's Primary Election Guide for June 9, 2020, 11Alive.com
Lines are expected, even with record early and absentee voting. But, since people waited up to 6 hours to vote early already — like their fellow citizens in Wisconsin and other states did before them — I’m pretty sure Georgians are going to stick it out and cast their ballots.
And if you want to give yourself a lift now and then, here is a particularly optimistic election forecast site, with updates and analysis every day!: ElectoralVote Check out the page: “Tipping Point State”
🎶 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 🎶
👀Trouble in the Social Spiderweb 👀
The winds of change are blowing through everything, everywhere. People are sensing it, waking up and speaking out:
Zuckerburg Backlash over Trump Post Continues as Facebook Moderators Say 'Our Screens Are Being Flooded with Hate Speech', Jason Murdock, Newsweek, June 8, 2020.
A group of current and former Facebook content moderators has criticized CEO Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to remove a controversial post by President Donald Trump, as pressure mounts on the founder to review the platform's policies.
An open letter from the group, uploaded online today, expresses solidarity with protesters taking to the streets following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Former police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Floyd's death sparked global Black Lives Matter protests and civil unrest.
On May 29, after overnight protests in Minneapolis, Trump put out a message on social media that appeared to incite violence with the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Criticism over the decision not to remove or place a warning on Trump's Facebook post grew after Twitter flagged the same words for "glorifying violence," hiding it from public view. Many Facebook employees tweeted complaints. Some resigned from their positions.
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️Yer Wonkette: Trump Healing America With Race Speech Best Trump Idea Since 'Bleach', Evan Hurst, Wonkette, June 8, 2020.
⚡️ This stuff isn’t going uninvestigated: The crackdown before Trump’s photo op, Dalton Bennett, Sarah Cahlan, Aaron C. Davis and Joyce Lee, Washington Post, June 8, 2020.
⚡️Hennepin County (where George was murdered), of course: Where the George Floyd case must be tried, Elie Honig, CNN, June 8, 2020.
⚡️ Despite the bs “noob” dig, it’s a decent article: How and why Black Lives Matter harnessed a nation's anger toward Donald Trump, Amanda Marcotte, Salon, June 8, 2020.
⚡️Military needs to be reworked, too: The Disturbing Appeal of Boogaloo Violence to Military Men, Kelly Weill, the Daily Beast, June 8, 2020.
⚡️Hopeful signs, it’s possible: This could be a turning point in the fight against racism — in America and abroad, Frida Ghitis, Washington Post, June 8, 2020.
⚡️Ya think? Pretty Much No One Thinks It’s A Good Idea For Trump To Give A Speech On Racism And Unity, Zoe Richards, June 8, 2020.
⚡️Forewarned is forearmed: Trump’s emerging turnaround strategy: Focus on voters’ fears about crime, immigration and China, Nancy Cook, Politico, June 8, 2020.
⚡️AP PHOTOS: Huge crowds worldwide in name of racial justice, AP, June 8, 2020.
⚡️ The Weakest Strongman: As America Rages, Donald Trump Goes Dark, Jared Yates Sexton, The Muckraker, June1, 2020.
🔗 Helpful Links 🔗
Good News: You can still help save the world in self-isolation!
Here’s a bunch of links to help you stay involved at home:
Joe Biden’s Action Website
Act Blue — fundraising for Democratic candidates in one easy site.
Vote Forward — whether organizing an effort to encourage voter registration, including providing addressees with voter registration forms — or working toward the BIG SEND (millions of letters to voters arriving in mailboxes in late October),this is one of several “do it at home” projects through which many of us can really make a difference. Voter to voter initiatives have a track record of increasing voter turnout. The Vote Forward letter system is ideal for those who want to contribute but can’t write too much. The letter templates are provided and all you do is put in a line or two of your own and make sure the letters get to the voters on your list!
Postcards to Voters — Our own gnusie, Progressive Muse posts most days with information about PtV and updates on current campaigns and progress. This is the ideal “do it at home” contribution especially suited to those who enjoy getting a little creative and connecting with fellow voters around the country.
Fair Fight — Stacey Abrams’ initiative which has already made a difference in several elections! Find out how you can help out at this link.
Spread the Vote — wonderful organization which works hard to help eligible voters obtain valid ID so they can register and vote.
From Kat at Spread the Vote:
There are a few ways you can help from home (please stay home!!!!!):
- Buy an item or two from our AMAZON WISH LIST. These items are going to our partners on the ground (shelters, food banks, etc.) who are still serving our clients and communities.
- Donate to Spread The Vote so that we can keep working today and, most importantly, have the funds we need to hit the ground running when this crisis is over.
- If you live in one of our 12 states, sign up to volunteer! We’ll be hosting regular training sessions and we’re moving up our bi-annual Volunteer Virtual Summit so that everyone is ready to go on day one.
- If you don’t live in one of our states, follow us at @spreadthevoteus on all of the social media channels and help spread the word about how this pandemic is affecting the most vulnerable people in the country.
I can’t thank you enough for always standing by us and I really really beg you to please stay home, #flattenthecurve, and watch as much Netflix as humanly possible. We will get through this together.
And finally, for one-stop all-purpose voter information (check your registration!):
Everything you need to know to vote — This site covers everything any eligible voter needs to know, from how to register, how to check that you are still registered, how to obtain an absentee ballot and what to do if your right to vote is challenged or you are stopped from voting.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
Well, my friends, the Curlygirly is flopped out by my chair probably wondering why I am keeping her from her cozy bed. Time to call it a night.
Remember to look after yourself and those you love. Get enough rest, eat nutritious food and try to get outdoors every day if you can. The end of this nightmare is in sight, and we need to pace ourselves for the months between now and November, as they are likely to be full of ups and downs. We can handle anything that they throw at us, though, because we have each other. We are the majority and we are on the right side of history. We will work with persistence and courage and we will win in November.
I am so thankful for all of you!
Happy Tuesday, Newsies!