I’m going to try to do a Moral Mondays kind of thing here where every Monday I do a post about calling Congress or going to protests or giving money to a good cause or some other kind of IRL type of shit.
In at least five states, Republican lawmakers are attempting to criminalize peaceful protests. So why not give some money to the ACLU?
Barbara
Yes, thanks for doing that. I am compiling a list of House members to call on a regular basis about the ACA. These are people in districts where my kids, my siblings and I live (or contiguous districts). I am planning to call weekly. I would also like to say that while I do understand the need to raise money, I am getting somewhat tired of receiving 10 or more emails a day with subject headings like “We have to do something about this!” and the only “something” being proposed is to donate more money. I have not unsubscribed from anyone yet, but I did tell Emily’s List when they last reached me by telephone that my focus in 2017 is on the Virginia governor’s race.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
This idea sprung out of the Women’s March – progressives need to stop fetishizing the presidency and be more useful.
SwingLeft.org
acallidryas
And if you’re in those states, why not consider calling your state reps and senators, maybe?
rikyrah
Uh huh
Uh huh
zhena gogolia
@Barbara:
That is the tiring thing about getting involved. I’m just trying to stay plugged in and not let it bother me. The ACLU and SPLC at least do send some information along with the begging.
zhena gogolia
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
That’s neat. I signed up.
Villago Delenda Est
Then there’s the Rethug in ND who wants to make running over pedestrians more or less legal. Because of the pipeline protests.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
Following the Putin playbook.
Emerald
Doug, you made me click on The Intercept. Please give a warning next time.
I blame Greenwald for everything.
rikyrah
Sen. Tom Cotton’s Double Standards on Nominees
by Martin Longman
January 23, 2017 2:02 PM
On inauguration day, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas released an intemperate statement to the press:
I’d like to focus on that “no good reason” part of his complaint. As Charles Pierce pointed out last June and Frank Bruni reported in the New York Times, Senator Cotton once blocked President Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to the Bahamas for a very bad reason, which seems to me to be worse than no reason at all.
There’s a larger backstory to this that I could rehash but it’s not necessary here. This is the meat of it.
For Tom Cotton, who put a hold on her nomination and refused to lift it, his reasons were personal and he was apparently quite honest about them, including with Ms. Butts.
So, let’s weigh that performance against the performance of Democrats who refused to allow Pompeo to be confirmed without a thorough vetting by Trump’s inauguration day. Pompeo’s nomination was announced on November 18th, but the new Senate that needs to review his qualifications wasn’t seated until January 3rd. At the time that Cotton made his complaint it had been seventeen, not 820, days since Pompeo’s nomination had been received.
sharl
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
IMO this is sooo important. But I think it will also be easier said than done.
I remember my young self watching nature shows, including the mating and dominance rituals among our fellow mammals, and thinking ‘yep, our species are related all right.’ On the basis of this hypothesis* I think that this obsession with selecting and obsessing over our own dominant alphas – political and otherwise – will be a very hard habit to break. But break it we must, if we’re to make any kind of serious permanent progress.
*Note: I am not a behavioral scientist nor anthropologist. Would love to hear input from anyone who actually knows of research and studies in this area, especially if it runs contrary to my conjecture. I think there must be fascinating research in this aspect of group human nature, I’ve just never followed up with actually looking into it.
pamelabrown53
Sorry, Doug! I’ll admit to a bias against the “Intercept”. Is there a primary source in which you could link?
dnfree
I have set up monthly donations to the ACLU and Sierra Club this year, as I have done for the SPLC for years. I know what these groups do and that it is important. Not sure what some of the other groups currently requesting funding are doing with their money.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Emerald:
Second that request.
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: The GOP got where it is today by running for every fcking office in every jerkwater town and moving those people up and on afterward. So know they are in the position to do what they want to do. It can be done, but it has to start.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hear fucking hear
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Democrats have the receipts. I want them to show them. Constantly.
@sharl:
Interesting thing I remember learning in college: when chimpanzee researchers started watching the females instead of the males, they discovered that it was very common for the females to be sneaking off into the bushes with the “beta” males whenever two “alpha” males would start fighting each other. The “beta” males were passing along more of their genes simply by not being argumentative assholes.
I think the lesson to take from this is that a certain kind of human is impressed by “alpha male” antics, but most of us usually aren’t.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Because … why the hell not?
rikyrah
@Villago Delenda Est:
How dare those Native folks fight for themselves. They need to be shown their place.
Ohio Mom
I called my Representative’s DC office this morning, had a nice chat with Julia who answered the phone. Told her why my family needs Medicaid, the ACA, Social Security, and Medicare.
Explained how Medicaid is currently funded, what block granting is, and that if my disabled son needs to live in a group home, we’ll need Mecaid because we cannot afford the self-pay rate of $40,000 a year (yes, that is the going rate for a nonprofit group home around these parts).
I went into similar detail about the other three programs. I like to think that if nothing else, I am educating young people, one by one. And that I might as well enjoy myself in the process.
As I wrote on another thread, I am trying to make this part of my morning routine: start a load of laundry, give the kitchen a quick once-over, and make a call. I succeed about three out of five days, which you can tell by the piles of unwashed laundry. If I have a morning appointment, it all gets left undone.
I really wanted to talk to the White House this morning but when I called, I got a recording that they aren’t set up to take calls yet — why are we not surprised?
catclub
@Barbara: I would give to anti-gerrymandering and programs to provide voter ID to disenfranchised voters.
I would also like to know how much the efforts will cost and how close we are to fundraising goals. The ‘just send more money’ letters are too scam like to me , also.
sharl
@Mnemosyne: You jogged my memory on something I saw a long time ago about a tribe of baboons:
I’d like to think that offers some hope for humans, although our own (overrated?) self-awareness may get in the way.
schrodingers_cat
@Emerald: Before clicking on anything I hover my mouse over it. I ar not clicking Intercept link.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Ohio Mom: Thank you for doing that. I’m going to make the same effort. You’re an inspiration.
O. Felix Culpa
Nice idea, Doug. Thank you.
As for the criminalizing of peaceful protests, why do Republicans hate the Constitution? /s
SFAW
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
Someone — might have been here, might have been on a local blog-type thing I peruse, I don’t recall — said that it was “too early” to start working on that. [It was written in response to another poster suggesting that the March energy be turned into political action, start working on the 2018s, etc.]
The “too early” types are the ones who should be made to listen to every fucking insane rant from Deadbeat Shitgibbon, and every double-standard pronouncement from any Rethug, a la the Ludovico Technique, until they either wise up, or STF up.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@SFAW:
Hear, hear. There are probably local elections for some offices in 2017 that should be worked at in most of our communities. Letting it be got us where we are today. Which for some people is just this side of suicidal in the current situation.
Ohio Mom
@rikyrah: That bit about Cotton hoping there is no terrorist attack while the CIA nominee is vetted reminds me of one of the lines I use on my Representative’s interns. Congressman Wenstrup is always going on about making sure we are protected from terrorism, that is why it’s so great that he is a strong supportor of the military.
I tell them I don’t worry too much about being harmed by a terrorist. It could happen but it is probably as remote a chance as me getting hit by a meteorite. If he REALLY wants to protect me from harm, he’ll make sure I have health coverage. Because the most real danger I face these days is my body or my husband’s body going kablooey. Or more kablooey than they already have.
Sign me,
Mrs. Pre-existing Conditions
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Disinclined to support the ACLU – they’re too quick to support white supremacists and have been distressingly quiet on other fronts.
The Moar You Know
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I live in a district in SoCal that has a GOP state rep that has run unopposed, twice. That ends next cycle. I have no money and no name recognition and an AWFUL local Dem party that I fully expect will not help one bit, but I’m going to pull papers and run. The GOP should always be opposed.
Only way to get it done is start at the bottom. That’s how the GOP is sitting pretty right now. They spent 40 years getting here.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: @zhena gogolia: Thanks! I’ve signed up too. CO-6 is my swing district. Would love to get ride of Mike Coffman (spit).
aimai
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I already signed up for this. It looks great! Kind of concentrates the mind a bit. I hope to host some fund raisers/work things for my chosen “closest swing district.” And I also am contacting Warren’s office to make sure I am on the list of people working for her re-election. I think its going to be a hard battle.
Ohio Mom
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: is that you, BellaQ? Or another hip hop artist from Idaho? If it’s not you, who knew Idaho was such a hotbed of hip hop that there are two such artists on these threads?
I *do* mention what I’m doing in the hope that it inspires others, or at least others who can make calls during the day. I know lots of people have jobs that preclude making calls.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Lets talk about @FBIRecordsVault. It was silent from October of 2015, and pops back up with Clinton pardon stuff and some lionization of Fred Trump on October 30, 2016, then goes silent until after the election. Now, after the shitstorm, every few days, it pops up with some anodyne crap to justify its existence.
bemused
@Mnemosyne:
I always thought it was interesting that most males would be riveted and laughing their heads off at The Three Stooges walloping each other while women would be scornfully shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.
The Moar You Know
@Ohio Mom: Trump’s White House will not have a phone for you to call and make your insignificant, petty complaints to, he only wants yooge phone calls, the very best.
All snark aside, yeah, they shut it down and that looks permanent.
silvery
On 11/9/16 I became a first-time recurring contributor to the ACLU and plan to continue as long as I can. What I am also looking for is an organization that specializes in legal representation for people injured by purposeful corporate malfeasance, such as class-action liability lawsuits from the 75% reduction in regulations the idiot wants.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@The Moar You Know:
That’s awesome. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Not to relitigate the past, but I got in the most vitriolic online fights with Wilmer supporters who kept dismissing my argument that his revolution was bullshit because it was all about him, and not Congress. Did his “revolution” make any difference anywhere?
randy khan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
The Presidency is really important, so concentrating on it actually is not a bad idea when the time is right. As 2008 (and, to some extent, 2012) demonstrated, a Presidential win helps across the board because the Presidential election dominates all of the story lines.
But for the next two years, at least, it’s obviously more important to focus heavily on everything else. So, in 2017, Virginia (not just the statewide races, but also the House of Delegates), New Jersey (where there’s an opportunity to get unified Democratic control of the whole government), hopefully North Carolina, and maybe Alabama, if the recent decision on redistricting holds up. Then in 2018, there’s a whole lot more.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@aimai:
If you have a house party, let me know. I’ll come – I’m in Needham. We can’t be complacent about anything.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
I know I was pushing this on everyone right after the election, but here’s a repeat of Meteor Blades’s essay about precinct-based local organizing. Start going to local Democratic Party events now, identify the people who seem to have a clue and/or be frustrated, and start recruiting them to your campaign. No need to re-invent the wheel when you can steal the useful wheels from the apparatchiks in your area.
randy khan
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
Exactly.
Candidate recruitment for a lot of races starts a long time before the election. And there are local elections every single year, some of them with deadlines probably as soon as March or April.
elm
Called the offices of my Senators and Representative today (all R). Asked them to provide details of which ACA replacement plans they support, none had a concrete answer. Pivoted to asking why on earth they’re voting to repeal the current ACA if they don’t know what they’re going to replace it.
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I think that’s a fair point, the SPLC and Planned Parenthood are worth supporting.
randy khan
@The Moar You Know:
There was a report on an earlier thread that it was permanent.
I tried to call this morning, too, on the official “comment line” number, and got the same message.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@catclub: You probably know these already but check out Organizing For Action (gerrymandering) and VoteRiders (voter registration), and there may be some stuff you can do locally. Tougher though if you are in a solid blue state.
I contacted VoteRiders about what I can do from CA to help (aside from just donating) and they said:
Somebody here at BJ mentioned the idea of the need for allowing those of us in safe blue areas to help with administrative, document processing/requests, uber rides to polls etc. to help make sure people in Red/Purple areas are able to vote. I would be very interested in something like that if anyone finds someplace that sets up that sort of network.
The Moar You Know
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: It sure did. It put Trump into office. And I don’t think it’s any accident that Wilmer and Trump share campaign management with Russian ties and experience.
But yeah…guys. Forget the presidency. Fucking forget it. It’s not that important – if you have Congress. And we need to pack every legislative body in the United Sttes, no matter how small or unimportant, with Dems. HAVE to. The only problem with the 50-state strategy was that it wasn’t comprehensive enough.
And this has to be, must be, long term. I won’t live long enough to see the end. Most here will not. The GOP has been working on this, if you think about it, since FDR. 80 years. We have to do the same and keep that same time frame in mind. Because there’s not going to be another FDR.
sharl
@Mnemosyne: I forgot to address this part of your comment –
Outside of the alpha-male conjecture (or whatever it should be called), another component of our current misery is the interaction of our major media outlets and the so-called low information voters (e.g., much of my extended family).
The former pick the low-hanging fruit – these days more than ever – that will attract the most attention from other media and their own viewers. The NYT’s shitty and destructive steady regurgitation of HRC e-mail pieces was largely driven by this dynamic IMO. Maybe individual NYT staffers were sad about the election outcome, but collectively I guess it was just business-is-business. And an overall obsession on the Presidential races has been a longstanding problem; horse-race coverage is easier and cheaper than covering a bunch of local races, and unfortunately, local media outlets are under their own awful business pressures (and temptations such as political advertising dollars).
And low information voters just kinda hear a steady drumbeat of crap on the station or channel playing in the background. I’m guessing that shit penetrates the brain sooner-or-later. And I can’t even guess the dynamic in churches across the country.
So Doug, the Conster and others are right – a widespread and determined effort will be needed to break out of some very longstanding habits, a number of which I’m guessing are interlinked.
Cacti
Russia Today “reporter” arrested and booked for felony rioting during DC inaugural protests.
Looks like they’ve moved from propagandists to actual provocateurs at Kremlin state television.
Joyce H
On a previous thread, I suggested borrowing the ‘sidewalk counselors’ idea from the anti-abortion movement, having people outside Trump properties asking people going in if they represent a foreign government or work for a corporation with government business. Here’s another borrow – take photos of the license plates outside Trump properties. Not to do anything with them, just take the pictures.
No wait, a better idea would be to start an internet rumor that someone was seen taking the photos! Might want to save this until Trump is even more unpopular and his corruption even more apparent – I suspect that even tasteless rich people with a love for gaudy opulence wouldn’t necessarily want it to be known that they are contributing to the wealth of a president as unpopular as Trump is going to become.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@elm:
A thousand times this. ADL is good, too, as is NAACP.
No more free work for Nazis, which is my big “fuck you” to Glenn Greenwald.
Emerald
@The Moar You Know:
I too have wondered and wondered about Mr. Tad Devine and his Russia connections. Wilmer did everything he could to smear and slander Hillary, and it worked.
When the trashing comes from your own side, there is more of a tendency to believe it. (Which is why I blame Greenwald for everything–he was at it far longer than Wilmer.)
Mary G
@The Moar You Know: Let me know what district, I will volunteer if it’s close enough.
rikyrah
@The Moar You Know:
YEAH!
Elizabelle
@sharl: We need to get rid of Fox News and the rightwing wurlitzer. I don’t see how American politics improves with them on the scene, lying to, radicalizing, and scaring old folks and other uncritical thinkers. They are not good for the body politic.
Where, oh where can we find our bovine tuberculosis that will deliver us from this bellicosity?
elm
@Elizabelle:
We don’t and can’t control Fox News, what we can do is support partisan, but accurate, liberal news sources like TPM or Mother Jones (forgive me if either of these is actually shitty).
gbear
I gave to the ACLU just before the year ended. Also gave to the SPLC and the NAACP legal defense fund, Concerned Scientists and three environmental groups. Every day they send me messages about all of the horrible stuff that’s coming up and ask for more donations. I kind of gave until it hurts already so I’m feeling decidedly helpless about the onslaught of requests.
Elizabelle
@elm: I hear you, but it does not seem to work. Poison poured into a water supply is still poison.
gbear
I am going to stop at the post office after work tonight and pick up a bunch of ‘forever’ pre-paid postcards to send to the White House, Ryan and McConnell as suggested in one of the previous threads. I want to be part of that mountain of mail.
hovercraft
ETA this is reposted from downstairs.
Spicer: It’s ‘Demoralizing’ For Trump To See Media Narrative About Him
During his first daily briefing with reporters, White House press secretary Sean Spicer launched into a rant about the media’s treatment of Donald Trump when asked why the President discussed the crowd sizes at his inauguration during a speech at the CIA headquarters on Saturday.
“I’s not just about a crowd size. It’s about this constant, you know, ‘He’s not going to run. Then if he runs, he’s going to drop out…’” Spicer said. “There is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he has. I think it’s unbelievably frustrating when you’re continually told it’s not big enough, it’s not good enough, you can’t win.”
Spicer said that Trump kept defying the odds only to face a new narrative,
“He keeps getting told what he can’t do by this narrative that’s out there. And exceeds it every single time. And I think there’s an overall frustration when you turn on the television over and over again and get told that there’s this narrative that you didn’t win, you weren’t going to run, you can’t pick up this state,” he said. “Over and over again there’s this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and the movement that he represents. And it’s frustrating for not just him, but I think so many of us that are trying to work to get this message out.”
Spicer said that this is “demoralizing” for Trump.
The press secretary also argued that the media’s treatment of Trump was unprecedented.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” Spicer said.
ruemara
How about calling your state reps? No offense, but the ACLU will be irrelevant if they don’t have judges willing to consider their argument.
Mnemosyne
Just got an email from OFA saying that they’re accepting applications for community engagement fellowships for people who want to learn how to organize in their local communities.
Mnemosyne
@hovercraft:
Awww. Does widdle Donnie need a safe space? How about a participation trophy — will that make him feel better?
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne:
Highly recommended! It’s an excellent well-structured program. I interviewed last week for the role (volunteer) of Fellows Manager, so maybe I might end up working with you! If you’re in New Mexico, that is.
AMinNC
I am sending out a weekly email to all of my friends/contacts around the country with one or two action items (usually calls to congress) along with phone numbers and short suggested talking points. I also do a separate list of in-state people for North Carolina-related actions. If anyone here would like to be added to either (or both) of these lists, please email me. Cheers!
ETA – uh, I thought my Nym would take you to my email since I entered my email address in the comment form, but it seems not to be live. If anyone can let me know how to make that actually happen, I’d be grateful. Doh!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@hovercraft:
Fuck Trump. I have no pity.
Calouste
@efgoldman: I guess it starts with assholes interviewing assholes for jobs at the NYT, and its assholes all the way down from there.
EriktheRed
@hovercraft:
Bill Maher is soooo correct:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5twu9gfhws
Emerald
@elm:
Nobody thought Rush Limbaugh could be taken down either, but women’s groups united to boycott his sponsors, let the sponsors know, and Limbaugh’s show is now unprofitable.
The same thing could be done to Fox. It could be done all over the world.
Because yeah, one thing the Rethugs do that the Dems don’t is crank up the propaganda machine. If RWNJs live in a bubble world, it’s because Rush and Fox and their imitators built that world for them.
No, I don’t think we should do our own propaganda. But if we can get Rush, and we did, we can get Fox.
Vidya Pradhan
@The Moar You Know: let me know when and I’ll chip in a bit.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman: One family’s kids call Trump “the Stinker.”
That could work here.
Elizabelle
@Emerald: Thank you. I don’ t think for a moment building a parallel liberal/moderate structure is going to work. Because spewing rightwing lies is too profitable, and too comforting to those who want to believe them.
You have to disrupt the distribution network. They have got the radicalizing down to a science. It’s why it’s so hard to win elections (that and tons of money pouring into downticket races).
You cannot fight a firehose with a clean little teaspoon.
DesertFriar
We sure he’s talking about the Women March?
Miss Bianca
@Ohio Mom:
Have I said “I like your style!” yet?
Miss Bianca
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: CO-3, represent!
I think we should run Gail Schwartz again, personally. She’s dynamite.
Scamp Dog
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: I signed up Saturday, and CO-6 is also my nearest swing district. Yep, Mike Coffman, the rep who skipped out on meeting to discuss the ACA when he found out how many people were supporting it, only meeting with a few constituents at a time instead of the whole group, and then leaving out the back door. As you said, Mike Coffman (spit).
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@hovercraft:
WTF Spicer? The Duke says men don’t bleed in public.
Seriously, most of the “Alpha Male” behavior that goes on today would not pass muster with John Wayne. If one is going to be a sexists south end, at lest do it right.
Did the Duke grab a woman’s behind without an invitation? NO!
Did the Duke tell a woman “go make me a sandwich” when she’s upset? NO!
Did the Duke whine about unfair people were to him? NO!
Did the Duke mock the (fake) Native Americans after he shot them? NO!
Jesus on a pogo stick. If the Duke don’t do it’s man law you don’t do it. Trump and his nitwits belong in a grade school. They can’t even do alive with testicals right.
Villago Delenda Est
@hovercraft: Fuck Donald’s morale. Fuck Sphincter’s morale.
Another Scott
Done.
I don’t agree with everything they advocate, just like I don’t agree with the EFF and other groups on everything, but they do vitally important work – especially now.
Thanks for posting this, Doug!
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@The Moar You Know: Thank you!
Let us know where to donate when the time comes.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@randy khan: POTUS shapes SCOTUS, also too.
We’ve got 3 branches of government. They’re all very important, and it’s very hard to make progress when they’re not all pulling in a progressive direction.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Cacti: Interesting. Our old friend JJMacNab from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation is on the case.
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@AMinNC: You have to give an e-mail address to post.
If you want your ‘nym to show up as a blue link with your comment, you enter the URL in the “Website” field. I don’t know if putting “[email protected]” there will work similarly, or whether you need to use the mailto format.
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Maoserati
I want to plug our annual HKonJ Moral March in Raleigh North Carolina Feb 11th. We need folks to come from all over! Here’s a bit from Rev. Barber
here is more info
booda
May I also suggest – in light of the all-male ceremony gutting women’s healthcare access across the globe – a donation to Women on Waves. A European organization that offers healthcare and abortion access to women in countries with no access to either. womenonwaves.org