Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Early voting is way up. That is fantastic! It’s due to our efforts, the efforts of our allies, as well as the sinking feeling experienced by the many who did not vote in 2016, and who realize that the deaths in Puerto Rico, the threats to health care, Social Security, the babies in cages, and so on — that’s all on them. Hillary Clinton reported that many people, after 2016, came up to her to apologize for not voting (she did not tell them, there, there, it’s all right — because it wasn't). That indifference, that apathy, that irresponsibility, seem to be over for now, hopefully for good.
➡️ This is a battle we have to win, but the Republicans will not go quietly into the night. And so I’m promoting several websites upfront (and if you have others, put it down below and I will update the list) to help with the special problems currently facing voters.
This is from a comment by RandomNonviolence the other day:
Election Protection:
Election Protection Hotline: (866) OUR-VOTE -- (866) 687-8683
They rely on a suite of voter helplines: 866-OUR-VOTE (administered by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law), 888-Ve-Y-Vota (administered by the NALEO Educational Fund), 844-Yalla-US (Arabic/English) – administered by the Arab American Institute, and 888-API-VOTE administered by APIAVote & Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC) and
Voter protection field programs across the country (both legal – managed by the Lawyers’ Committee, and grassroots – managed by Common Cause)
A thoughtful diary about what to do prevent tampering during the election.
On to Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including ourselves) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. Because sometimes the good news, which can be incremental, gets lost in the deluge of the click-bait bad (please save that click-bait bad for other diaries). Because we need to fortify ourselves before returning to the fight. Because we sometimes get ideas about how to fight while here. And also — because we’re a community 💙 ❤️ 💙 — we like to be here. And let me say that although I have not met any of you (to my knowledge) I feel really close to many of you.
There’s lots of bad news out there — the Republican party is so amazingly nasty, racist, misogynist, and corrupt — and Trump’s deeds will take a lot of work to undo. But little of it is surprising, at least not surprising on what the bad guys are doing or are trying to do (at least not to us). What has been surprising is the outpouring on our side. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. And you know what? Anger and fury are pretty good motivators, and are reasons that a blue wave is predicted for November.
💚 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 They want us to be demoralized. We have to keep demoralizing them. Name, blame and shame!
💙 The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
💙 Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters 👎
⚖Mueller’s got a group of cooperators meeting with him behind closed doors.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a list of figures cooperating with his Russia investigation that could provide him with substantial insight into the workings of the Trump campaign.
Mueller’s ability to turn associates of President Trump into cooperators has been a key facet of his investigation, lending strength to a probe that has pressed on for nearly a year and a half amid withering public scrutiny.
Just a reminder that Mueller, albeit a bit quiet, is still at it.
⚖Michael Cohen is still spilling the goods on the Trump family businesses
Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen met with Wednesday with federal and state law enforcement officials investigating Trump’s family business and charitable foundation, according to a new report.
The meeting, which took place at the Manhattan office of Cohen’s attorney, Guy Petrillo, could mark a significant development in the investigation into Trump’s financial and business dealings, which is separate from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
According to CNN, Cohen and his lawyer met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and officials from the New York Attorney General’s office. Both offices are involved in investigating the Trump Foundation and the Trump Organization.
🐻 Oligarch set up US company just before Trump tower meeting 💰
A Russian billionaire who orchestrated the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting formed a new American shell company a month beforehand with an accountant who has had clients accused of money laundering and embezzlement.
The billionaire, Aras Agalarov, created the US company anonymously while preparing to move almost $20m into the country during the time of the presidential election campaign, according to interviews and corporate filings.
What happened with that money? Was it used to fund Trump’s campaign?
💩 The New Yorker wants to know if fraud is part of the Trump organization’s business model. I ask, you need to ask? After reviewing the disparate businesses, many of which have little in common with each other, they write:
It is becoming increasingly clear that, in the language of business schools, the Trump Organization’s core competency is in profiting from misrepresentation and deceit and, potentially, fraud. ✂️
This month, two incredible investigative stories have given us an opportunity to lift the hood of the Trump Organization, look inside, and begin to understand what the business of this unusual company actually is. It is not a happy picture. The Times published a remarkable report, on October 2nd, that showed that much of the profit the Trump Organization made came not from successful real-estate investment but from defrauding state and federal governments through tax fraud. This week, ProPublica and WNYC co-published a stunning story and a “Trump, Inc.” podcast that can be seen as the international companion to the Times piece. They show that many of the Trump Organization’s international deals also bore the hallmarks of financial fraud, including money laundering, deceptive borrowing, outright lying to investors, and other potential crimes.
Well, you don't need to ask, because if you’re reading this you probably know. But it takes a lot of repetition to get other people to believe. After all, repetition seems to be the key to getting enough people to believe a falsehood; I think repetition is probably the key to getting them to believe a truth. And without all that uncomfortable illogic, although they might be unhappy to realize they were probably wrong before. Even though repeating the truth so often is boring too.
👎 Devin Nunes hid evidence from the Russia investigation
A top member of the House Intelligence Committee has revealed shocking details about how Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) abused his position as committee chairman to obstruct the Mueller investigation and shield Trump from accountability.
In a blistering op-ed for Nunes’ hometown Fresno Bee, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), said that Nunes blocked committee Democrats from following up on leads about “worrisome contacts between the Russians and candidate Trump, his family, his businesses, and his campaign.”
What’s more, Swalwell said, Nunes blocked special counsel Robert Mueller from seeing evidence that “many witnesses committed perjury or offered information relevant to the special counsel’s work” when they testified before the committee.
I can’t write more without violating Fair Use, so I advise you to read. Hope he’s no longer in Congress after the election. The Fresno Bee obviously hopes so as well.
🐊 Tales from the Swamp 🐊
🔎 Feinstein would re-open the Kavanaugh investigation if Dems win the Senate
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she “absolutely” favors reopening an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
As the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein would lead the committee and would have the authority to reopen the investigation if Democrats win the Senate in the November midterms.
I hated, hated the appointment of Kavanaugh. But then I took courage, because I think he’s the one guy with such serious baggage that if it came out, he would have to resign. And the R senators who supported him could be flogged as well.
Of course, for this to come true, we have to win the Senate (waiting for my next set of addresses to support Bredesen). But note: even if retaking the Senate takes a few more years, this information does not go away.
🚽 Too many Johns in the White House 🚽
But I guess you need those johns when your administration is full of poop. 💩
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
Lots of polls out there. Cannot follow them all, feel free to post in the comments. At this point the poll finishing on Nov 6 is the one that matters.
📈 Democrats crushed 3rd Q fundraising in both competitive and many Republican districts 😄
Earlier this week, we learned that Democratic candidates overall had outraised their GOP counterparts by about $80 million ($252 to $172 million), fueled in part by an insanely good third quarter. Now The Economist is giving us another layer of detail on where that third quarter money actually went in the House races and who it came from. Democratic donors didn't simply pour the most money into the House's most competitive districts in Q3, they also dwarfed Republican donations in GOP-held districts. ✂️
Even in “GOP-held districts” Democratic candidates took in over 60 percent of the third quarter donations. In addition, Democratic candidates received 78 percent of the Q3 donations in “competitive districts,” significantly outpacing the 38 percent share they received in those districts during the third quarter in 2014.
💣 Kris Kobach is worried about a depo video
Kansas Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial nominee Kris Kobach is desperately trying to publicly prevent the release of parts of a deposition tape — played at a trial over one of his voter restrictions — before Election Day.
Kobach is specifically concerned that the video will be used in “last-minute political commercials targeting the Defendant personally,” Kobach said in a court filing Wednesday evening.
In this day where everything could be recorded, if you don’t want to be known for doing/saying something, well, then, don't do or say it!
Gosh, it would be great if we could liberate Kansas. And even some Republicans think so, including another former KS governor. 💜
On Thursday, the state’s former GOP governor, Mike Hayden, publicly endorsed Kobach’s Democratic opponent, Laura Kelly.
“After eight years of crisis, we cannot elect someone who wants to repeat the disasters of the past,” Hayden said in a statement. “Kris Kobach has promised to do just that — risking the future of our great state.” ✂️
Hayden’s move comes after another former Republican governor of the state, Bill Graves, also threw his weight behind Kelly.
💛 Another race, another former Republican official endorsing the Democrat: 💜
Rep. Steve Chabot’s (R-OH) loyalty to Trump may have earned him a spot on Trump’s rally stage, but it has cost him the support of a prominent local Republican, who recently endorsed Democratic challenger Aftab Pureval.
Former Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich threw his support behind Pureval, and blasted Chabot for siding with Vladimir Putin and against the Mueller investigation.
“As a former prosecutor, this makes me sick,” Heimlich said, referring to Chabot’s criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller. “I want to be on the right side of history. We are living under the most dishonest president in history.
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
🐍 Republican resigns after posting that Dems want to promote pedophilia (!!!)
Cornelia Cree left the Haywood County Board of Elections after learning that she may have broken state law that prevents elected officials from making public statements in support or opposition of candidates.
Per the News & Observer, she wrote that Democrats wanted to sink Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation in order to “make child abuse legal” to win over Catholic votes by halting investigations into the sex abuse scandal currently plaguing the church.
Really, how convoluted can her mind be? Don't most Catholic voters (perhaps not the child-abusing priests) want the kiddies to be safe? And how stupid can she be to have posted this on Facebook? If you want your opinions to be private, don’t post them on Facebook! Anyway, she does not belong on the board of elections (in a North Carolina county) and so glad she is gone.
🍎 Protesters spell LIAR on a mountain in Montana before Trump’s arrival
📎📎📎 Odds and Ends 📎📎📎
⚡️ Rick Scott has relaxed rules for early voting and other stuff, because of Hurricane Michael.
✈️ 🐦 In collisions between birds and airplanes, the bird always loses (millions of birds die this way every year). Sometimes the plane loses too, ending with an emergency landing in the Hudson. But some researchers are coming up with a better way to protect the birds.
⚡️ Possibility of 3D printing of human tissue could speed up recovery from injuries
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
This is a marathon, not a sprint, but this is the time to ratchet up our efforts to finish this particular part of the race (and no matter what happens on November 6th, we will have to keep at it afterwards). If you have any ideas of what else can be done, please comment on it below. To the right you see my most recent effort at freeway blogging, albeit not in the best light, but that’s what light there was. McSally is currently serving as my rep but she is running for the senate (Flake’s seat) in a tight race against Kyrsten Sinema. My fellow re-sister and I put up another sign supporting, Sinema.
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Plus! Check out Yosef 52's diaries, posted daily, full of ideas and links! GOTV! GOTV!
🍀 “My experience has been that work is almost
always the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.” 🍀
Eleanor Roosevelt
🔥 If you’re going through hell, keep going! 🔥
Winston Churchill
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.