Good Day, Gnusies! Lots and lots of good news today! CG and I were super busy yesterday so no time to spare — let’s get to the news!!
💪💙 Democrats are Great 💙💪
Dems Hammer Out Voting Rights Bill
A Hinge Point for Voting Rights, Norm Ornstein and Dennis Aftergut, the Atlantic, September 14, 2021.
Amy Klobuchar, Joe Manchin, and several of their Democratic colleagues in the Senate have produced the Freedom to Vote Act, a stellar election-protection compromise bill that safeguards both the right to vote and the integrity of future federal elections. Before skeptics start questioning whether the bill will attract the 10 Republican votes necessary to overcome a filibuster, let’s acknowledge key aspects of this achievement.
First, the bill combines important protections from the House-passed For the People Act and Senator Raphael Warnock’s Preventing Election Subversion Act. It is designed to counter the pernicious provisions in laws in states such as Georgia and Texas aimed at allowing partisans to overturn lawful elections. It puts in place procedural safeguards against local election officials being removed for partisan purposes and makes intimidating election workers a felony.
The compromise supplements those bills with sensible and accessible validation requirements in states that currently require voter identification, usually by documents that are not handy to voters. ✂️
Large majorities of Americans approve of the Lewis act and the voting-rights bills that Manchin and Klobuchar’s proposal combines. Democracy is protected from the bottom up. Every citizen who cares about the future of our republic should write, email, or phone their representatives and senators to ask them to vote for both bills. John Lewis, our country’s great champion of voting rights, wrote in his memoir, Across That Bridge, that freedom requires continuous action “to create an even more fair, more just society.” This bill would be a big step in that direction.
January 6 Select Committee
The January 6 committee is investigating all the avenues that we hope they are investigating and are not at all naive about the dangers Republicans pose to democracy in future elections:
Opinion: Awful new revelations about Trump and Jan. 6 show Mike Pence is no hero, Greg Sargent, Washington Post, September 14, 2021.
Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Jan. 6 select committee, says the new details suggest its investigation will have to fully flesh out Pence’s role.
“We need to look and see how far things went in 2020 in order to determine what correctives we need to make for 2024,” Raskin told me. ✂️
The point about 2024 is key: This isn’t merely about reconstructing past events, but also about safeguarding our system against a future stolen election.
“Trump wanted to exploit every vulnerability and booby trap in the electoral college,” Raskin said. As Raskin pointed out, in 2024 Republicans might try to steal an election again, only this time, they might control one or both chambers of Congress. ✂️
“So the question is whether we can put the genie of coup and insurrection back in the bottle,” Raskin continued, “or whether we need fundamental and sweeping reform of the electoral college system in order to guarantee that we have a dependable democratic election.”
EMILY’s List names first Black president as states pass new abortion restrictions, Errin Haines, the 19th, September 13, 2021.
EMILY’s List, the powerhouse political pipeline for Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights, has tapped Laphonza Butler as its first Black president in a move that reflects the growing influence of Black women in politics.
Butler, a veteran organizer, union leader and Democratic strategist, is also the first mother to lead the group in its 36 years of existence, during which it has helped the number of women in political office grow. She was previously a senior adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2020 presidential campaign. ✂️
The organization faces a challenge in the 2022 midterms, a time when the president’s party tends to lose seats, as Democrats go into the election with fragile majorities in Congress. It also plans to work to get local leaders elected amid major battles over issues including abortion access and voting rights that are dominating Republican-led state legislatures. ✂️
“We have to maintain and grow Democratic majorities in Congress, in the House and in the Senate, and we have to win governor’s mansions and the state capitols, because that’s where some of the most harmful legislation to rollback the rights of everyday people in this country are taking place,” Butler said.
🎶 Democratic Leadership Music! 🎶
😵💫😩 TFG’s Kooky Clique is Collapsing 😩😵💫
It seems like the forthcoming book, Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, may be a bit of a dam breaker. Excerpts from the book, which is scheduled for release on September 21, have sent shockwaves through the political and media circles and one by one people connected with TFG are speaking up to say, “Yeah, he was nuts and everybody knew it.”
Trump was an 'unstable person' and many Republicans secretly admitted it: former GOP lawmaker, Brad Reed, Raw Story, September 14, 2021.
Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) on Tuesday said that she understood why Gen. Mark Milley tried to prevent former President Donald Trump from launching last-minute military strikes in a desperate bid to stay in power.
While speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Comstock explained that she agreed with Milley's assessment that Trump was in a dangerous mental state following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
"What he was doing was saying this is an unstable person we're dealing with," Comstock said. "I can assure you that was said by lots of Republican members of Congress, and we need to make sure that all of the processes that are in place are taken if he tries to do something, anything untoward because this was an unstable person."
PRO-INSURRECTIONIST REPUBLICANS ARE SKIPPING WASHINGTON RALLY FOR RIOTERS, Caleb Ecarma, Vanity Fair, September 14, 2021.
On Saturday, Republican lawmakers will once again have to confront the role they played in the Capitol riot, as pro-Trump protesters are descending on Washington, D.C., in support of those being prosecuted for alleged January 6 crimes. Many Republicans would rather forget the insurrection, having voted against a bipartisan panel to investigate it, while some have tried whitewashing the events of that day, even suggesting the deadly attack was like a “normal tourist visit.” But a number of Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters in Congress have grabbed the microphone in recent months to defend the Capitol rioters as “political prisoners” and accuse the Justice Department of unfairly prosecuting them. And while the “Justice for J6” rally, which is being organized by a former Trump campaign aide, has adopted this “political prisoners” line of argument, the Republican lawmakers who ramped up that rhetoric seem unwilling to join the crowd.
More on The Woodward/Costa Book, “Peril”
This new book is making big waves and still manages to shock, even though we feel like we’ve seen it all. More on the book down in the Lightning Roundup:
Trump's top general feared all-out nuclear war with China in final days, new Woodward book alleges, Jon Skolnik, Salon, September 14, 2021.
During Trump's final days in office, the book describes, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, grew increasingly "certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election." The president was reportedly "all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies."
At one point, Milley thought the president might "go rogue" and engage in drastic military action, telling his staff: "You never know what a president's trigger point is." ✂️
In one encounter just a day before the riot, Trump apparently berated Pence over his unwillingness to block then-President-elect Joe Biden's election certification – a maneuver that is legally impossible.
When Pence rejected Trump's proposal, the president reportedly exploded.
"No, no, no! You don't understand, Mike. You can do this. I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this."
🎶 Music for TFG 🎶
🇺🇸 Good News From States 🇺🇸
Let’s do another state roundup! Starting with my awesome state! 😁
Illinois Passes Ground-Breaking Clean Energy Bill
Gov. Pritzker is expected to sign it today!
Illinois takes a national lead in promoting green energy — now it’s time to deliver, CST Editorial Board, Chicago Sun✶Times, September 14, 2021.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign a ground-breaking clean energy bill on Wednesday that will put Illinois in the forefront of fighting climate change to save the planet. But as huge a step forward as this comprehensive law will be, it is only a start. ✂️
Moreover, there is not another model of a climate bill in the country that not only makes investments in communities suffering from disinvestment in coal, but also helps communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the effects of climate change. The new law will not only provide equitable jobs for residents of those communities as laborers but will also provide them with opportunities to be owners of new clean energy businesses.
Among other measures in the bipartisan bill:
- It will move the state to all clean energy by 2050, the first Midwest state to do so.
- It will close the downstate Prairie State coal-burning power plant, the seventh biggest source of pollution in the country, unless new technology can be found to operate the plant carbon-free. In the interim, the law will impose reduced emission standards on all fossil fuel-burning plants. The timeline is spelled out in the law, not just stated as goals, as in other states.
- It rescues and more than doubles funding for the solar installation industry, which had been booming until subsidies from an earlier law ran out.
- It invests in weatherization and other energy conservation measures.
California Recall Election
I plan to stay up late to hopefully have a result to report here when the GNR goes live at 7 a.m. ET — but for now, here’s the latest update on how the same day voting/early vote count is going:
Millions of Californians have voted early; high turnout signals good news for Newsom, Lenny Bronner, Washington Post, September 14, 2021.
With mail-in ballots having been sent out since Aug. 16, more than 9 million people have already returned their completed ballots. That’s comparatively two-thirds of the 13.5 million votes Californians cast early in the 2020 presidential election in November. Turnout this year has already eclipsed the 2014 gubernatorial election, in which only 4.3 million people voted.
With Election Day votes still to come and many more ballots expected to be accepted in the seven days after the election, turnout this year will easily exceed the 9.4 million people who voted in the 2003 California governor recall. However, it is unlikely that the total turnout will exceed that of the 2018 gubernatorial election, in which 12.7 million Californians went to the polls. ✂️
So far, just over half of the returned ballots are from registered Democrats, around one quarter from registered Republicans and the rest from independents and voters registered with third parties. On the day of the presidential election, 53 percent of early votes had come from registered Democrats and 23 percent from registered Republicans.
Exit polling looks promising for Newsom
California voters say Covid-19 biggest issue for state, CNN exit poll shows, Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN, September 14, 2021.
(Nifty note: If 45% of the electorate think Newsom’s policies have been just right (and 22% think they could be even stricter) while only a third (@33%) think they’re too strict — well, that’s a huge majority of 67% who will not want Larry Elders’ anti-vaccine, pandemic denial policies. I like Newsom’s chances. It’s still only 9:42 CT though, and polls don’t close for another 18 minutes-— I am still hoping for a winner tonight — but remember, California keeps counting absentee votes for 7 days following an election...remain calm!)
Voters have mixed outlooks on the pandemic's course in California, with about 4 in 10 saying the situation is getting better, 3 in 10 that it remains about the same, and just under one-quarter that it's worsening.
Under half of the electorate, about 45%, say Newsom's policies on the pandemic have been about right, with about one-third calling his policies too strict and the remainder saying they're not strict enough.
There's broad support for Covid-19 mitigation measures, with more than 6 in 10 saying that getting vaccinated is more of a public health responsibility than it is a personal choice. Most California Republicans see vaccination as a personal choice, while most Democrats see it as a public health responsibility.
😁🤞
The California recall may backfire on its supporters, Ronald Brownstein, CNN, September 14, 2021.
Recall proponents had hoped to demonstrate the political potency of the backlash against tough Covid regulations and discourage other states from implementing them; instead, the race now seems more likely to embolden Democrats in California and beyond by documenting the existence of a new "silent majority" of vaccinated Americans ready for tougher measures against the minority of adults who have resisted the shot.
"What we were able to do is take the governor's clear national leadership on vaccine mandates and drive it as the core contrast in the election," says Sean Clegg, a strategist for the Newsom campaign. "I hope what we've shown Democrats ... is to embrace [mandates] as a partisan question, put up our dukes and get Republicans on the wrong side of the fence on this thing."
Solidly blue California may be uniquely favorable terrain for Democrats to contest this argument. But Newsom's success in gaining the upper hand over the recall by leaning into his support for vaccine mandates may be seen in retrospect as a turning point in the Democratic approach to the pandemic.
UPDATE!! NO ✔️ Projected WINNER!! Newsom Remains Governor!
🎶 Music for 3 Sweet words 🎶
One more thing:
😂😂😅🤣😅😂🤣
Moving on...
Iowa
Federal Judge Puts Iowa’s School Mask Mandate Ban On Hold, Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio, September 14, 2021.
Enforcement of Iowa’s ban on mask mandates in schools is on hold after a federal judge in Des Moines ruled that it creates an unfair risk for students with serious health conditions to attend class in-person.
The decision means school districts across the state can now issue universal mask requirements, as the CDC recommends, as long as the temporary order is in place
At least one district acted immediately on Monday. Hours after the ruling was made public, Des Moines Public Schools announced all students, staff and visitors must wear masks starting Wednesday. Thomas Ahart, the superintendent of the state’s largest school district, said in a statement that the court’s decision “to set aside Iowa’s ban on school districts being able to protect children in our care is welcome news.”
MAssachusetts — Boston Mayoral Primary
‘We’re on the brink of something unbelievable’: Boston voters poised to make history in mayoral race, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, September 14, 2021.
Across Boston on Tuesday, voters were excited for the chance to send two mayoral candidates of color to the general election in November for the first time in the city’s history.
At a polling station in Roxbury, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Boston, voters said they wanted a mayor who cared about low-income housing and who they felt they could trust. For many, that was acting mayor Kim Janey, who took over for Marty Walsh in March when he became labor secretary in the Biden administration. ✂️
But others added that they’d be happy with any of the leading candidates, including poll-leader Councilor Michelle Wu, as long as they addressed the leading issues. ✂️
“We’re on the brink of something unbelievable,” said Douglas Bennett, 45, a former Massachusetts elected official who lives in Dorchester. “Boston will have transformed from what happens today.”
Boston Votes In Historic Preliminary Races For Mayor And City Council, WBUR, September 14, 2021.
Recent polls showed City Councilor Michelle Wu was leading the field with a tight race for the second spot between acting Mayor Kim Janey and City Councilors Andrea Campbell and Annissa Essaibi George. John Barros, the city's former economic development director, came in at a distant fifth, behind the four women in the race.
Janey has already made history by becoming the first woman and first person of color to lead the city as acting mayor. Now polls show the next elected mayor of Boston will almost certainly be a person of color, another first. ✂️
Janey, 56, who was elected Boston city council president last year, became acting mayor in March after Walsh resigned to become U.S. labor secretary. She was first elected to City Council in 2017. And before becoming a politician, she worked at nonprofits, including Parents United for Child Care and Massachusetts Advocates for Children.
"There's a lot of work that remains," the acting mayor said Tuesday. "I'm really proud of what we have done in five months but there is so much more work and I certainly hope to do that work over the next four years."
Arizona Fraudit Fizzling
Not only is the fraudit fizzling, but now the crooked Rs must turn over records which may reveal outside “funders” and other questionable aspects of the shambolic “audit”.
Arizona Republicans' attempt to hide 'audit' documents from the public goes down in flames, Bob Brigham, Raw Story, September 14, 2021.
Republicans in Arizona were blocked by the state's supreme court from concealing documents about the controversial audit.
"The AZ Supreme Court won't hear [Arizona Senate President Karen Fann's] appeal of the Court of Appeals' ruling that audit documents possessed by Senate subcontractors are public records. The Senate will have to turn over communications, invoices and other audit-related records," Jeremy Duda of the Arizona Mirror reported Tuesday.
Duda noted the records would include who is getting paid, "contracts or agreements the audit team has with outside funders" and communication among subcontractors.
New Hampshire!
New Jersey Tires of TFG
Trump's Bedminster neighbors don't want to be associated with him any more: report, Tom Boggioni, Raw Story, September 14, 2021.
According to a deep dive into what life is like in Bedminster, New Jersey, now that Donald Trump has been evicted from the White House and taken up residence at his golf resort, Business Insider is reporting the former president has become less popular in the local community in the wake of the January 6th insurrection.
One local Democrat who would talk about the former president -- but didn't want his name used due to fear of the "Trump crazies" -- told the Insider's Warren Rojas that many of Trump's biggest boosters in the community have gone silent when his name comes up.
"They started out by saying, 'Well, we're proud to have the president come to our town,'" he explained. "They don't say that anymore."
"They don't want to align themselves with Trump at all," he added.
🎶 Music for GQP 🎶
Several Firsts for Virginia
The focus of this article is on the importance of electing a pro-choice Lt Governor in Virginia and how that race is shaping up, so go read the article. Here I will highlight the historic firsts in this election:
These two women have potential to play outsized role in Virginia abortion rights, Barbara Rodriguez, the 19th, September 14, 2021.
Democrat Hala Ayala, a lawmaker in the state’s House of Delegates, and Winsome Sears, a Republican who served in the chamber in the early 2000s, have been clear throughout their campaigns about their position on abortion: Ayala supports abortion access, Sears opposes it. But the topic is front and center after the Texas law, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect this month.
The race between Ayala and Sears was already slated to make history: Ayala is Afro-Latina and Sears is Black. Voters have never elected a woman as lieutenant governor of Virginia, nor a woman of color to statewide office. Their campaigns are among the 2021 races that may preview how abortion is framed in next year’s midterm election cycle.
Justice in Minnesota
Militia Leader Gets 53 Years In Minnesota Mosque Bombing, Mohamed Ibrahim and Amy Forliti, AP via HuffPost, September 14, 2021.
Emily Claire Hari faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years for the attack on Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Defense attorneys asked for the minimum, but prosecutors sought life, saying Hari hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack. ✂️
Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Hari’s manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook.
Texas
This is kind of a Democrats are Great story, too. It’s Merrick Garland’s DOJ here:
DOJ asks court to block enforcement of Texas’ six-week abortion ban, Kirk McDaniel, Courthouse News, September 15, 2021.
AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — The Justice Department filed an emergency motion late Tuesday, asking a court for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to block Texas’ new six-week ban on abortion.
The department, which sued the state last week in federal court over the law, say it is a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent and its clear purpose is "to deny women rights guaranteed to them." ✂️
The Justice Department says the federal government will be irreparably harmed absent an injunction, not only because of the state's attempt to thrwart judicial review, but also because the law hinders the operations of the federal government.
"The United States has a strong and legitimate interest in ensuring that states respect their obligations under the Constitution, and in fulfilling the United States’ responsibilities under Federal law. If Texas’s attempt to nullify the Constitution of the United States prevails, it may become a model for action in other areas, by other states, and with respect to other constitutional rights and judicial precedents," the motion states.
Florida Mayors Push Back Against DeathSantis
“This is idiotic”: Mayors defy Ron DeSantis’ threat to fine cities “millions” for vaccine mandates, Igor Derysh, Salon, September 14, 2021.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday threatened to punish cities and counties if they require vaccines for public employees. Some mayors are vowing to impose mandates anyway. ✂️
"He's spreading these conspiracies about vaccines and now stopping major employers from getting their employees, who deal with the public every day, vaccinated. This is really horrible," Miami Beach Mayor Don Gelber, a Democrat, said Monday. "You do not need a law degree to know this is idiotic and we're not going to let somebody, including unfortunately our own governor, put our residents in danger," he added.
"I'm not going to take actions that would adversely impact the safety of our community. Sometimes, quite frankly, I question whether or not the governor really sees it that way," said (Orange County Mayor Jerry) Demings, a Democrat. "He may say that he does, but I believe that many of the decisions he makes are purely politically motivated."
Gainesville, which required all public employees to be vaccinated by October or face termination, also plans to keep its vaccine mandate.
🎶 Music for Resourceful and Resilient Dems 🎶
(Our guitar-playing gnusies can explain how this wonderful guitarist illustrates the resourcefulness and resilience of Democratic lawmakers stuck with Republican political tools that are difficult or near-impossible for Dems and Dem voters to work with. Hint: Elizabeth Cotten is a leftie!).
🌎🌍 International News 🌏🌎
Speaking of lefties!
Norway’s center-left heads to victory in general elections, Jan M Olsen, AP, September 14, 2021.
With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 93% of the votes, the Labor Party and its two allies — the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party — would hold 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. One seat was still unsure. ✂️
Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.
In the 2013 election, Labor was ousted from power, enabling the Conservatives’ Erna Solberg to become prime minister and Norway’s longest-serving leader. Gahr Stoere said Monday that he also wanted to thank Solberg for having been “a good prime minister.”
“We knew we needed a miracle —-the Conservatives’ work session is over,” said Solberg. “I congratulate Jonas Gahr Stoere with what looks like a clear majority.”
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
⚡️ Essential Wonkette: Why's Everybody Pickin' On The Poor Right-Wing Hacks Of The Supreme Court? Evan Hurst, September 14, 2021.
⚡️ The Costa/Woodward Book: Top general was so fearful Trump might spark war that he made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart, new book says, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Washington Post, September 14, 2021.
⚡️ How Is The COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Going In Your State? NPR, (updated) September 14, 2021.
⚡️From booster shots to mixing and matching vaccines, 5 things to know for those who got Johnson & Johnson, Alison Bowen, Chicago Tribune, September 14, 2021.
⚡️ The Supreme Court's right-wing Catholics are destroying true religious freedom, Phil Zuckerman and Andrew L Seidel, Salon, September 14, 2021.
⚡️ Make cities walk, bike and public transit friendly: How to end the American obsession with driving, Gabby Birenbaum, Vox, September 12, 2021.
⚡️ This link updates and there’s a puzzle archive: Take a mental break with the newest Vox crossword, Vox staff, free online every day.
⚡️ Non-paywall summary of Frum article: When Never Trumpers become Never Republicans, Damon Linker, The Week, September 14, 2021.
⚡️ Here’s the Frum article: What the Never Trumpers Want Now, David Frum, the Atlantic, September 13, 2021.
⚡️ Filed under “least surprising news”: Mental Illness Runs Rampant in QAnon Crowd, Sophia Moskalenko, Daily Beast, September 14, 2021.
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it! 🥰
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links and I am going to borrow it because it’s great! 🎩
The only way they can win is by keeping people from voting. They are working like heck to make that happen and we need to do all we can to keep 2022 from being a year when they grab the Senate and House back from us.
How do we do that? Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic!
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
Finally, whenever you feel your hope fading, read this again:
The 3.5% rule: How a small minority can change the world — and recall that we are a majority.
Also check this out:
The Albert Einstein Institution’s 198 Methods of Non-Violent Action
There’s a multitude of people all over this country — in both so-called “red” states and “blue” — who feel just as strongly as you do about this world and its future. We can do this!
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and Curlygirly for another Wednesday!
Everyone, please take good care of yourself. The ups and downs in the news can take a toll, so be sure to eat nutritious food and get some rest. If you can spend some time outdoors each day, DO IT! It will refresh your body and your spirit.
CG didn’t have time to look for a story today — she was at doggy daycare hanging out with all her friends there today! She only gets to go there once in a blue moon when I am babysitting my grandchild, so this was a treat and she came home absolutely worn out.
So, next week I will ask her to find TWO CG’s Picks for you!
Happy Wednesday, Gnusies!