Daily Kos Liberation League

Daily Kos Liberation League https://www.dailykos.com/user/Daily Kos Liberation League/rss/index.xml This group publishes stories that highlight intersections across identities, drive a progressive racial justice narrative and uplift marginalized voices. We aim to build consciousness, challenge the status quo and develop informed racial justice leaders and co-conspirators within the DK community. Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Sun, 11 Nov 2018 00:00:22 +0000 Sun, 11 Nov 2018 00:00:22 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) From Texas to New York, Latinas made electoral history all across the U.S. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/8/1811239/-From-Texas-to-New-York-Latinas-made-electoral-history-all-across-the-U-S Texas candidates Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia were among the 33 of the 41 Latinx Democratic candidates who won their bids for Congress this week, making history as the first Latinas to, finally, represent the state in the United States House of Representatives. As Daily Kos’s Laura Clawson <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/7/1810782/-2018-elections-bring-historic-firsts-and-a-Congress-that-s-starting-to-look-a-little-like-America" target="_blank">noted earlier this week,</a> the efforts of Latinas in the midterms were particularly noteworthy. New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to the House, at just 29. In New Mexico, it seemed Xochitl Torres Small had failed in her big run to flip a Republican seat, until absentee ballots buoyed her to victory <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/xochitl-torres-small-wins-congressional-district-2-race-election-result/1926664002/" target="_blank">the day after Election Day.</a> “Torres Small becomes the first woman to win the seat, and only the second Democrat,” <a href="https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/xochitl-torres-small-wins-congressional-district-2-race-election-result/1925988002/" target="_blank">the Las Cruces Sun Times reports.</a> In total, the New York Times continues, “the number of Latinos serving in Congress will rise to at least 41 in the new year, and that figure most likely will increase when two undecided races are called … Francisco Pedraza, a political scientist at University of California, Riverside, thinks a small increase in the number of Latinos in Congress is very important because it happened despite redistricting that followed Republican victories in the 2010 election.” In New Mexico, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and a champion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, became the nation’s first Latina Democratic governor. <a href="http://www.startribune.com/richfield-elects-the-first-latina-mayor-in-the-state/499864022/" target="_blank">In Minnesota,</a> Maria Regan Gonzalez was elected Richfield mayor, becoming the first Latina to lead a city in the state. “I feel very honored,” she said. “It’s just another opportunity for more people to see themselves as a leader.” While Latinx representation in Congress continues to remain too low, Tuesday’s wins can serve as a guideline for increasing those gains the next time around. Enthusiasm was high this election, with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-minority-voters-helped-drive-democrats-gains-u-s-house-n933706" target="_blank">leading pollster Matt Baretto</a> saying that “the net wave of the Democratic pickup is due entirely to strong support from minority communities who voted Democrat.” <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/18/1805432/-Young-Latino-voters-in-Texas-name-healthcare-for-all-as-top-issue-in-groundbreaking-survey" target="_blank">A groundbreaking survey of young voters in Texas</a> found that Latinas took “the lead on crucial efforts to turn out the Latino vote.” So much of it was personal, as well. “I knocked on the door of an older woman who cried at the doorstep because she never thought she'd see this day,” <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/06/texas-elections-2018-veronica-escobar-sylvia-garcia-first-latinas-texas-congress/1858055002/" target="_blank">Escobar said,</a> “and that makes me emotional because I know she came from a generation that had it more difficult than I will ever experience." rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez Election2018 Latinas Latinos Latinx MichelleLujanGrisham NewMexico NewYork SylviaGarcia Texas VeronicaEscobar XochitlTorresSmall _1811239 Thu, 08 Nov 2018 17:45:27 +0000 Indians 101: The Grand Ronde Reservation https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/8/1811027/-Indians-101-The-Grand-Ronde-Reservation The Grand Ronde Reservation was established in the Willamette Valley in Oregon by executive order in 1857. The year before, in 1856, the final battle of the Rogue River Wars in southern Oregon had been fought and the newly created reservation was to be used for the Indian peoples who were to be removed from southern Oregon as well as those in the Willamette Valley. rss@dailykos.com (Ojibwa) AmericanIndians GrandRondeReservation History Indians101 NativeAmericanNetroots Oregon _1811027 Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:30:29 +0000 Criminal justice reform just swept America https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810926/-Criminal-justice-reform-just-swept-America November 6, 2018, brought major criminal justice reform victories across the country, from what’s criminalized to what sentences can be applied. Perhaps the two biggest wins were in Louisiana and Florida: Tuesday marked <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/22/1806263/-Louisiana-voters-may-finally-end-Jim-Crow-Era-discrimination-on-juries-this-November" target="_blank" title="">the demise of Louisiana’s non-unanimous juries</a>, which made wrongful convictions far too easy, and the <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810640/-The-best-kind-of-news-a-major-victory-for-voting-rights-in-Florida" target="_blank" title="">re-enfranchisement of 1.5 million Floridians</a>. <div> As of January 1, thanks to Amendment 2, all 12 members of 12-member juries in Louisiana will have to believe in a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. It should always have been that way, of course, but for the moment it’s still true that it only takes 10 jurors to convict, even in serious felony trials—even in murder cases. This non-unanimous jury rule was implemented out of concern that black jurors would make it more difficult for otherwise white juries to convict black defendants. In 1898, lawmakers argued exactly that and characterized this as a solution “to establish the supremacy of the white race … to the extent to which it could be legally and constitutionally done.” In addition to being racist, the non-unanimous jury rule’s also just a bad rule. <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/09/25/a-vestige-of-bigotry?ref=collections" target="_blank" title="">Studies prove</a> unanimity is critical to justice. Louisiana could use more of that—currently the state boasts the second-highest rate of exoneration in the country. What makes it all the more troubling is that though the public, both state parties, and organizations from all over the political spectrum supported Amendment 2, it passed the house by just <a href="https://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/05/bid_to_strike_jim_crow-era_jur.html" target="_blank" title="">one vote over the two-thirds requirement</a>. </div> rss@dailykos.com (Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter Poza) 2018 Courts Crime CriminalJusticeReform _1810926 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 22:29:53 +0000 Motel 6 agrees to settle for millions after turning over Latino guest information to ICE https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810976/-Motel-6-agrees-to-settle-for-millions-after-turning-over-Latino-guest-information-to-ICE Remember back when Motel 6 decided to leave a light on for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and turn over guests <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/11/1731874/-Washington-state-attorney-general-sues-Motel-6-for-reporting-Latino-sounding-names-to-ICE" target="_blank">“with Latino-sounding names”</a> for deportation? The motel chain’s decision to moonlight as mass deportation agents is set to cost the company millions, following legal action from a group of Latino guests racially profiled by the motel chain in Arizona and Washington state. “Motel 6 will pay up to $7.6 million to Hispanic guests to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming that it violated their privacy by regularly providing guest lists” to ICE, <a href="https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1NB23Q" target="_blank">Reuters reports</a>. “Motel 6 also agreed to a two-year consent decree barring it from sharing guest data with immigration authorities absent warrants, subpoenas, or threats of serious crime or harm.” That probably should have been the policy all along, except it wasn’t, and it’s going to be an expensive mistake: “up to $5.6 million will go to Motel 6 guests who faced immigration removal proceedings after their personal information was shared,” Reuters continues. Last fall, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/14/1698559/-Motel-6-basically-admits-employees-were-reporting-undocumented-immigrant-guests-to-ICE" target="_blank">Motel 6 admitted</a> that motel employees regularly shared guest information with ICE. In two Arizona locations, agents conducted at least 20 arrests between February 2017 and August 2017 without any arrests at surrounding motels during that same period. <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/11/1731874/-Washington-state-attorney-general-sues-Motel-6-for-reporting-Latino-sounding-names-to-ICE" target="_blank">In Washington state, </a>Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued due to the same practice, alleging that "Motel 6 staff observed ICE identify guests of interest to ICE, including by circling guests with Latino-sounding names,” resulting in numerous arrests. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/us/motel-6-lawsuit-ice-settlement.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a> that “one of the plaintiffs, who is identified with a pseudonym, was held in detention for over a month after ICE officials arrested him in Phoenix outside the Motel 6 where he was staying. The lawsuit said a Motel 6 employee had photocopied his driver’s license from Mexico.” “Motel 6 corporate leaders promised to put a stop to such practices throughout their chain of 1,400 hotels,” <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-motel6-ice-raids-20170915-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">the Los Angeles Times reported last year,</a> but that won’t do much to assuage the fears of Latinos who called for a <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/09/15/online-petition-calls-for-boycotting-motel-6-due.html" target="_blank">boycott of the chain.</a> "Motel 6 fully recognizes the seriousness of the situation and accepts full responsibility,” said the chain and MALDEF, which filed the lawsuit, “for both compensating those who were harmed and taking the necessary steps to ensure that we protect the privacy of our guests.” rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Arizona BobFerguson Deportation Deportations ICE ImmigrationandCustomsEnforcement MALDEF MassDeportation Motel6 Washington _1810976 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 21:48:05 +0000 Surge of young women into the House lays the groundwork for decades of building power https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810854/-Surge-of-young-women-into-the-House-lays-the-groundwork-for-decades-of-building-power Democrats didn’t just elect a wave of women to Congress on Tuesday. They elected a number of young women—and that’s important. Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/11/14/1161570/-Nancy-Pelosi-swats-down-Luke-Russert-s-offensive-question-with-a-lesson-on-earning-your-job" target="_blank">laid it out</a> back in 2012, schooling Luke Russert on why it is that she didn’t become a House leader until a relatively advanced age, and why that experience pointed to the need to elect more young women: <blockquote> I came to Congress when my youngest child Alexandra was a senior in high school and practically on her way to college. I knew that my male colleagues had come when they were 30. They had a jump on me because they didn't have to, children to stay home. Now, I did what I wanted to do, I was blessed to have that opportunity to sequentially raise my family and then come to Congress. But I wanted women to be here in greater numbers at an earlier age so that their seniority would start to account much sooner. </blockquote> Pelosi was in her late 40s when she was first elected to Congress. This week, New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, at 29—and she will have peers. Abby Finkenauer, elected in Iowa, is less than a year older—she’ll turn 30 between the election and being sworn in. Lauren Underwood, elected in Illinois, <a href="https://twitter.com/lunderwood630/status/1047893109458292737" target="_blank">turned 32 last month</a>. Sharice Davids, Ilhan Omar, and Abigail Spanberger are under 40. Several other Democratic women in their early 40s were also elected to the House. This means a generation of women are getting that early start that Pelosi’s male peers had, and will have time to climb up the House leadership or move to higher office—maybe the highest. And it means that Congress will feel a little less distant to a generation of young women voters. rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) 2018 AbbyFinkenauer AbigailSpanberger AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez Congress Elections House ilhanomar LaurenUnderwood NancyPelosi ShariceDavids Women _1810854 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 17:21:43 +0000 Affordable Care Act enrollments sluggish in first week, let's help pick up the pace https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/8/1811319/-Affordable-Care-Act-enrollments-sluggish-in-first-week-let-s-help-pick-up-the-pace Enrollments in the Affordable Care Act are <a href="https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-vitals-f035d9fd-1d86-41e3-8c19-925c8bf683af.html?chunk=0#story0" target="_blank" title="">lagging substantially behind</a> last year’s sign-up period. <blockquote> By the numbers: A little over <a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/weekly-enrollment-snapshot-week-1" title="">370,000</a> people selected plans through HealthCare.gov in the first 3 days of open enrollment, according to figures the Health and Human Services Department released yesterday. <ul> <li>By contrast, more than <a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/weekly-enrollment-snapshot-week-one" title="">600,000</a> people selected plans in the first 4 days of the last enrollment period.</li> <li>Roughly 1 million fewer people have visited HealthCare.gov.</li> </ul> </blockquote> That’s not good, but there’s certainly time for it to turn around. Now that Democrats will be in control of the House, people who might have been waiting to make sure it was still going to be around can sign up. "Overall, it’s just too soon to draw any meaningful conclusions from this data aside from the fact that demand remains strong," said Get America Covered, the grassroots organization that’s stepped in to do the job of recruitment, public education, and assistance that the Trump administration has refused to do. The grassroots is going to have to step up to make this year a success. You have until December 15 (in a <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810495/-Wondering-what-to-do-when-GOTV-is-over-Get-out-the-Obamacare-enrollments" target="_blank" title="">handful of states</a> that deadline is extended into January) to sign up or help get your friends, family, coworkers, tradespeople, whoever enrolled. There are some <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809438/-While-you-re-out-there-Getting-Out-the-Vote-remind-voters-it-s-Obamacare-open-enrollment-time" target="_blank" title="">great tools to help</a> you or people you are helping figure out what options are available all across the country. Now that all the voting is done, get out there and get people signed up for Obamacare. It’s your second chance to give Trump and the Republicans the finger. You know where to go, right? <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/" target="_blank">Healthcare.gov</a>, because even Trump hasn’t been able to blow it up. rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2019 AffordableCareAct Obamacare OpenEnrollment _1811319 Thu, 08 Nov 2018 21:09:42 +0000 In Georgia, Kemp declares victory while ignoring thousands of ballots that have not been counted https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/8/1811253/-In-Georgia-Kemp-declares-victory-while-ignoring-thousands-of-ballots-that-have-not-been-counted On Wednesday, Republican Brian Kemp officially <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-rep-karen-handel-concedes-to-anti-gun-violence-advocate-lucy-mcbath-in-closely-watched-georgia-race/2018/11/08/7d82eb7e-e359-11e8-b759-3d88a5ce9e19_story.html?utm_term=.f913e32bce17" target="_blank" title="">declared himself the winner in Georgia’s gubernatorial race</a>—despite the fact that there are tens of thousands of provisional and absentee ballots all across the state which have yet to be counted. Kemp is so confident of his victory that he <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/brian-kemp-resigns-as-georgia-secretary-of-state-as-he-faces-stacey-abrams.html" target="_blank" title="">resigned his position as secretary of state</a>, which means that he will not certify the election results, provide any guidance to counties in the state which are still counting their ballots nor oversee the recount process should there be one. In other words, Kemp is supremely confident in the results of his nearly decade-long effort to steal this election and is already preparing to take his place in the governor’s mansion. How convenient. But, Kemp should be worried. The campaign team of his opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams, believes they have numbers to force a runoff and they are now taking legal action. Georgia requires a runoff if a candidate does earn enough votes—in this case being 50 percent plus one. Currently, Kemp has 50.3 percent to Abrams’s 48.7. And, in addition to Kemp’s blatant suppression efforts prior to the election, Tuesday was marked by widespread reports of long lines at polling locations, broken voting machines, not enough voting machines, and not enough provisional ballots. In fact, one report claims that 700 brand-new, <a href="https://hotspotatl.com/3737012/700-wrapped-voting-machines-found-in-a-georgia-warehouse/" target="_blank" title="">still wrapped voting machines were found in a warehouse </a>in Fulton County. In other words, Brian Kemp cheated. And the Abrams team remains steadfast that she will not concede until every vote is counted. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;NEW: &amp;quot;We are are going to keep fighting for every voter.&amp;quot;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Stacey Abrams&amp;#39; legal team announces they are filing litigation over absentee ballots as Brian Kemp declares victory in the governor&amp;#39;s race. &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ABC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@ABC&lt;/a&gt; has not yet projected a winner in the race &lt;a href="https://t.co/XNIWYv1jLy"&gt;https://t.co/XNIWYv1jLy&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/XQPN1EGVtG"&gt;pic.twitter.com/XQPN1EGVtG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1060585735433011200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 8, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW: "We are are going to keep fighting for every voter." Stacey Abrams' legal team announces they are filing litigation over absentee ballots as Brian Kemp declares victory in the governor's race. <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABC</a> has not yet projected a winner in the race <a href="https://t.co/XNIWYv1jLy">https://t.co/XNIWYv1jLy</a> <a href="https://t.co/XQPN1EGVtG">pic.twitter.com/XQPN1EGVtG</a>— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1060585735433011200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> If you are a Georgia voter and voted absentee, please make sure your vote was counted. You can do so by checking the secretary of state’s website at: www.mvp.sos.ga.gov. You can also call the Voter Protection Hotline at 1-888-730-5816. rss@dailykos.com (Kelly Macias) BrianKemp GA-Gov Georgia StaceyAbrams VotingRights _1811253 Thu, 08 Nov 2018 18:30:09 +0000 106 days past federal judge's deadline, migrant kids are still separated from parents https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/9/1811516/-106-days-past-federal-judge-s-deadline-migrant-kids-are-still-separated-from-parents <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way-52887" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way">Campaign Action</a> Friday, November 9, marks 106 days since a federal judge’s reunification deadline, yet migrant children kidnapped from the arms of parents at the southern border continue to remain separated from their families, according to the most recently available numbers from the Trump administration. Of 47 children eligible for reunification, <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1055704122320515072" target="_blank">tweeted MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff,</a> the parents of 33 have already been deported. But the administration still has a much larger number of children under custody, including a group of 118 kids according to the latest American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) status report, “with parents presently departed from the United States whose intent not to reunify has been confirmed by the ACLU.” Perhaps some parents felt their child deserved a chance here. Perhaps others were coerced into being deported, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/30/1784568/-Judge-orders-Trump-admin-to-hand-over-information-on-deported-migrant-parents-for-reunification" target="_blank" title="">as reports have indicated. </a> There is still a crisis, but it’s all the kids who continue to remain separated, not vulnerable asylum seekers still hundreds of miles away from the southern border. It’s the 1,500 unaccompanied migrant children <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/inside-tornillo-expanded-tent-city-migrant-children-n919431" target="_blank">being held in a Texas prison camp</a> that could hold as many as 4,000 kids by the end of the year. It’s the government-contracted child detention facilities that have <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809411/-Two-Arizona-migrant-kid-facilities-forced-to-give-up-licenses-pay-73-000-fine-after-investigation" target="_blank">failed to properly vet</a> the employees charged with caring for migrant kids. <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/7/1810815/-With-Democrats-in-charge-House-set-to-finally-investigate-Trump-admin-s-family-separation-policy" target="_blank">This week’s </a>Democratic sweep of the House of Representatives could finally mean answers, because Democratic legislators will have newfound power to subpoena and begin legitimate investigations. But any progress on this front won’t happen for months, when the new Congress is sworn in. This week we showed up to the polls say that we do care. Now in the meantime, we have to keep talking about the children. We’ve won this victory for them. Now we keep pushing on for them. rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Asylum AsylumSeekers Border Detention familyseparation StopSeparatingFamilies usmexicoborder _1811516 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 16:30:32 +0000 Forced-birther laws pass in West Virginia and Alabama, while voters knock one down in Oregon https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810715/-Forced-birther-laws-pass-in-West-Virginia-and-Alabama-while-voters-shoot-one-down-in-Oregon Two of the three anti-abortion initiatives on state ballots this year succeeded Tuesday. Neither of them would prohibit abortion outright because Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey prohibit states from doing so before fetuses become viable. But both set the stage for criminalizing abortion if the 45-year-old Roe ruling is overturned by the Supreme Court, where extremist Brett Kavanaugh now fills the seat of retired moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy. But let’s take the good news first. By a <a href="https://gov.oregonlive.com/election/" target="_blank">3-2 margin</a>, Oregonians crushed Measure 106. Had it passed, it would have prevented state money being spent on abortions in Oregon except in instances of rape, incest, a threat to the woman’s health, or ectopic pregnancies. In other words, it would have ended abortion benefits for public employees and Medicaid recipients and overridden the state’s 2017 <a href="https://rewire.news/article/2017/07/06/reproductive-rights-oregon-now-safe-trump/">Reproductive Health Equity Act</a> that guarantees everyone in the state access to abortion and other reproductive health services at no cost. Lauren Holter at Rewire.News <a href="https://rewire.news/article/2018/11/01/abortion-is-on-the-ballot-in-these-states-next-week/" target="_blank">reports</a> that supporters spent more than $444,000 campaigning for Measure 106 while foes led by the <a href="https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/sooDetail.do?sooRsn=85382" target="_blank">No Cuts to Care PAC</a> and <a href="https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/sooDetail.do?sooRsn=85308" target="_blank">Defend Oregon</a> spent $9.9 million opposing 106 and other ballot measures. Polls indicated before the election that 53 percent of Oregonians opposed the initiative, but with three-fourths of the ballots counted, 65 percent of those who turned out had voted against it. In West Virginia and Alabama, it was a different story. Both successful ballot proposals are among the numerous “trigger laws” that four other states have already passed. Like the others, these two can’t prohibit abortion now, but they are designed to intentionally run afoul of federal rulings, generating what supporters hope are lawsuits that ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court and topple Roe. The West Virginia proposal—Amendment 1, the No Constitutional Right to Abortion Amendment—passed with about 53 percent of the vote. It changes the state constitution by adding one sentence: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.” That removes a state Supreme Court ruling 25 years ago that guaranteed a right to abortion care and Medicaid funding for low-income women. Previously, the state had banned such funding. Some <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-by-medicaid-enrollment.html" target="_blank">28 percent</a> of West Virginia’s residents are on Medicaid, and Amendment 1 will mean that for many of them abortion will be unaffordable. rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) Abortion _1810715 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 18:21:50 +0000 Colorado just became the first state to completely abolish slavery https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810894/-Colorado-just-became-the-first-state-to-completely-abolish-slavery Two years after a similar effort failed, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/11/07/665295736/colorado-votes-to-abolish-slavery-2-years-after-similar-amendment-failed" target="_blank" title="">Coloradans voted Tuesday, 65 percent to 35 percent, to become the first state in the U.S. to ban slavery</a> and its more politely described friend, “involuntary servitude.” <blockquote> <a href="http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_hcr1002_rn2.pdf" title="">Amendment A</a> answered the question: "Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution that prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime and thereby prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude in all circumstances?" The amendment was put on the ballot with overwhelming bipartisan support from Colorado's lawmakers. It will change Article II, Section 26 of the state's constitution, which has stated for more than 100 years: "Slavery prohibited. There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." The new version will shorten that second sentence to say, "There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude." </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Jessica Sutherland) 13thamendment Amendment Ban bipartisan CivilWar Colorado Constitution Crime HistoricFirsts involuntaryservitude JimCrow MassIncarceration Prison PRISONINDUSTRIALCOMPLEX PrisonLabor Punishment Slave Slavery _1810894 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 21:53:56 +0000 Stacey Abrams not giving up til all the votes are in: Here's how to make sure every vote is counted https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/8/1811332/-Stacey-Abrams-not-giving-up-til-all-the-votes-are-in-Here-s-how-to-make-sure-every-vote-is-counted Stacey Abrams is taking a powerful stand! The Georgia gubernatorial (Daily Kos-endorsed) candidate is refusing to concede the race to Republican and noted vote suppressor, Brian Kemp. She firmly believes that if every vote is counted—every provisional, early, and absentee ballot—she will have enough votes to trigger a run-off election against Kemp. There she will win and take back Georgia. As a member of the Daily Kos activism team, I sign my emails to you "Keep fighting." I am deeply inspired by the fight that the Abrams team is putting up. This is the fight we've been demanding from Democrats and our progressive leaders. As Republicans try to cheat and steal their way to power, Stacey Abrams is relying on the people power she built during this historic campaign to bring home the win. She's not giving up, so we better not give up on her. So here's how you can help: <ul> <li> If you or anyone you know cast a provisional ballot in Georgia, you need to head to your <a href="http://elections.sos.ga.gov/Elections/countyregistrars.do" target="_blank">county election office</a> ASAP. Bring your ID and your ballot receipt and validate your vote. </li> <li>If you or anyone you know cast an early or absentee ballot in Georgia, go to <a href="https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov" target="_blank">www.mvp.sos.ga.gov</a>, enter your information, then click "Click here for Absentee Ballot status" link in the lower left box.</li> </ul> <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="Screen_Shot_2018-11-08_at_4.14.10_PM.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/609435/large/Screen_Shot_2018-11-08_at_4.14.10_PM.png?1541715356" title="Screen_Shot_2018-11-08_at_4.14.10_PM.png"> <figcaption>If your status isn’t “Accepted” please contact the voter protection hotline or visit www.GoVoteGA.org.</figcaption> </figure> <ul> <li> If you have questions, need help, or run into any problems call the voter protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE or go to <a href="http://www.govotega.org">www.GoVoteGA.org</a> anytime. </li> <li> <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/forms/make-every-vote-count-in-georgia/" target="_blank">Click here to volunteer WHEREVER YOU LIVE! H</a><a href="https://actionnetwork.org/forms/make-every-vote-count-in-georgia/" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://actionnetwork.org/forms/make-every-vote-count-in-georgia/" target="_blank" title="">elp reach out to Georgia voters and let them know how to make sure every provisional, early, and absentee ballot is counted.</a><a title=""> </a> </li> </ul> rss@dailykos.com (Irna L Landrum) Georgia GeorgiaElection Georgiaelections StaceyAbrams VoterSuppression _1811332 Thu, 08 Nov 2018 22:27:04 +0000 GA voters sue to stop GOP gubernatorial nominee Kemp from abusing his office as secretary of state https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810601/-GA-voters-sue-to-stop-GOP-gubernatorial-nominee-Kemp-from-abusing-his-office-as-secretary-of-state Five voters <a href="https://protectdemocracy.org/brown-et-al-v-brian-p-kemp-complaint/" target="_blank">are asking</a> a federal district court in Atlanta to cut Georgia secretary of state—and Republican gubernatorial nominee—Brian Kemp out of the picture when it comes to all subsequent election-related proceedings. This is a last-minute filing, but don’t write them off: They’re being represented by some big guns. The voters can count on attorneys from Protect Democracy, former United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Michael J. Moore, and former Department of Justice voting rights attorney Bryan L. Sells. <a href="https://protectdemocracy.org/brown-et-al-v-brian-p-kemp-complaint/" target="_blank">Their complaint</a> points to Kemp’s actions while occupying the dual roles of secretary of state and candidate. He’s committed nothing short of an abuse of office. <blockquote> Acting as chief election administration official in an election in which one is running for office poses a risk of bias under the best of circumstances. But Defendant Kemp’s efforts to use the authority of his office to advance his campaign have been extreme. </blockquote> It’s that conduct, the narrowness of the race between Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams, and, presumably, the extreme problems Kemp is responsible for allowing to warp Election Day that sparked this suit. Reminder: They filed this on Election Day. <blockquote> In light of Defendant Kemp’s recent conduct, Plaintiffs have a strong, well-founded, and reasonable belief that Kemp will not be a fair judge of the outcome of the elections and will exercise his official duties in a biased manner that denies them the right to cast an effective vote. </blockquote> The complaint’s factual section contains some devastating characterizations as well as inarguable facts that are no better for Kemp. <blockquote> Defendant Kemp has not only failed to follow the model of his predecessors who have recused themselves; instead he has sought to exercise the official powers and duties of his office in a biased manner to achieve maximum personal and partisan advantage, while neglecting his core responsibility to ensure a secure election. </blockquote> The plaintiffs aren’t just voicing their own opinions here: a former two-term Georgia secretary of state, Cathy Cox, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/probe-georgia-democratic-party-prompts-fresh-scrutiny-brian-kemp/AElKvktttgsz5UgJbiXgyO/" target="_blank">supports their points</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter Poza) 2018 BrianKemp Georgia StaceyAbrams VoterSuppression _1810601 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:41:30 +0000 Success for North Dakota Native Americans, even though Heidi Heitkamp Lost https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810744/-Success-for-North-Dakota-Native-Americans-even-though-Heidi-Heitkamp-Lost Let me tell you what happened at the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in North Dakota, where my wife (partly Native American from New Mexico) and stepson were helping out as Democratic poll watchers. The Democratic vote was approximately 4,000 out of a turnout of 5,000 in Rolette County, where the reservation is located. By comparison Hillary Clinton got 2,100 votes out of 3,200. This is an increase of 90% in the Democratic vote and 56% in turnout. This never happens in a midterm election! There was a smaller but still very significant increase in the vote in Sioux County (Standing Rock reservation) - 70% increase in the Democratic vote and 56% in turnout. <div style="text-align:left"> When the Republicans tried to suppress the vote with their ID requirements put in place 22 days before this election, they failed! Native Americans got their new IDs and were hopping mad and showed up in amazing numbers to vote. Let me congratulate the North Dakota Democratic Party, the volunteers from out of state, and most of all the tribal leadership and the members of the tribe for standing up to power and making democracy work rather than letting the Republicans get what they wanted. Their work was a massive success, even though Heidi Heitkamp lost the Sen ate race. </div> rss@dailykos.com (jbsbill) FightVoterID HeidiHeitkamp NativeAmericanVotes NorthDakota Recommended TurtleMountainChippewa _1810744 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 08:45:49 +0000 Michigan voters approve sweeping voting rights amendment, including automatic registration and more https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810586/-Michigan-voters-approve-sweeping-voting-rights-amendment-including-automatic-registration-and-more In a hugely positive development for voting rights in Michigan, voters <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-michigan-elections.html" target="_blank" title="">approved Proposal 2</a>, which includes several critical measures to make voting easier and elections more secure. The amendment includes automatic voter registration and same-day voter registration, removes the requirement of an excuse to vote absentee, protects the state’s straight-ticket voting option, and allows for elections to be routinely audited to ensure accuracy. Michigan <a href="https://twitter.com/PoliticsWolf/status/1053302672000876544" target="_blank" title="">is currently one of the worst states</a> when it comes to making voting as accessible as possible. In particular, it's <a href="http://ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx" title="">one of just 13 states</a> that has no early voting at all and also requires an excuse to vote absentee. But Republican lawmakers fought to preserve the status quo, which exempts anyone age 60 or older from the excuse requirement—a transparent way to make it easier for that particular GOP-leaning demographic to cast a ballot. Similarly, the GOP has tried multiple times to do away with straight-ticket voting because black voters use it more than whites. Eliminating it could exacerbate longer voting lines on Election Day (it’s much quicker to vote a straight ticket than to fill out every race on a ballot) in disproportionately Democratic-leaning precincts—and thus dissuade people from voting. A federal court <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/7/1794042/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-N-Carolina-Supreme-Court-won-t-block-GOP-s-deceptive-amendments-from-ballot#3" target="_blank" title="">let the GOP's repeal go into effect</a> for 2018, but this amendment's approval will insulate the option from federal review. Any eligible voter who does business with the secretary of state's office concerning their driver's license or state ID <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/07/09/signatures-michigan-voting-measure/769754002/" target="_blank" title="">will now be automatically registered to vote</a> unless they opt out, likely bringing hundreds of thousands of new voters into the electorate. Consequently, Michigan is poised to go from one of the worst states for voting access to one of the best. rss@dailykos.com (Stephen Wolf) automaticvoterregistration DKE Elections MIAutomaticVoterRegistration Michigan MISame-DayVoterRegistration MIVotingRights VotingRights _1810586 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 04:27:07 +0000 With Democrats in charge, House set to finally investigate Trump admin's family separation policy https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810815/-With-Democrats-in-charge-House-set-to-finally-investigate-Trump-admin-s-family-separation-policy <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way-485015" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-to-us-house-democrats-investigate-trump-in-every-possible-way">Campaign Action</a> The Republican-led Congress has failed to hold any Trump officials’ feet to the fire <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/5/1810064/-Over-100-days-past-deadline-migrant-kids-are-still-separated-from-parents-Remember-them-Tuesday" target="_blank">over the ongoing family separation crisis,</a> but expect this to change within the coming months. “House Democrats are ready to unleash the full force of their oversight powers on the Trump administration,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/politics/investigations-house-democrats/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reports,</a> with soon-to-be Democratic-led committees “prepared to force Cabinet secretaries to testify, request President Donald Trump's tax returns and scrutinize some of the Trump's most controversial policy decisions.” That includes a probe of the barbaric “zero tolerance” policy that led to the state-sanctioned kidnapping of 2,500 children from the arms of parents at the southern border. For months, Democrats, including Congressman Jerry Nadler of the House Judiciary Committee, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/16/1804806/-Leading-Democrats-want-DHS-to-hand-over-the-unredacted-family-separation-memo" target="_blank">have demanded</a> that officials hand over crucial documents regarding this crisis, including an unredacted copy of the internal memo Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen most assuredly signed authorizing this policy. ”On June 17th, you tweeted, ‘We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period,’” Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Nadler <a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=41F52A39-A6F2-49A6-B8AC-E6230E0A921F" target="_blank">wrote in their Oct. 11 letter to Nielsen.</a> “However, it has come to our attention that there was an internal memo on April 23rd recommending the implementation of a family separation policy that went to your office.” So far, DHS has refused to hand over the unredacted memo, making Tuesday night’s electoral victory “the moment Democrats have been waiting for,” according to CNN. rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election Border Democrats DepartmentofHomelandSecurity Detention Election2018 familyseparation HouseJudiciaryCommittee Immigration JerryNadler KirstjenNielsen StopSeparatingFamilies usmexicoborder _1810815 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 16:16:01 +0000 Voter suppression round-up: Where are things going wrong? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810496/-Voter-suppression-round-up-Where-are-things-going-wrong Halfway through Election Day, voting technology has already emerged as the most <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/11/06/voting-problems-issues-midterm-election-day/1901491002/" target="_blank">problematic</a> link in the voting process in 2018. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Savannah, GA, and Mebane, NC, are among the other places with technology issues, per Common Cause. And there are also reports of vote scanners jamming in Florida.&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Eric Geller (@ericgeller) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ericgeller/status/1059888500806422529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 6, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Savannah, GA, and Mebane, NC, are among the other places with technology issues, per Common Cause. And there are also reports of vote scanners jamming in Florida.— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) <a href="https://twitter.com/ericgeller/status/1059888500806422529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> That’s not to say other failures, including system failures, weren’t prominent, of course. Remember that abortive plan to <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/06/border-patrol-election-day-midterms-demonstration-el-paso-texas/" target="_blank" title="">scare voters with Border Patrol units</a>? That didn’t come to fruition, but voters in one Michigan community had to vote <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AthertonCommunitySchools/photos/a.296250873760465/2128430343875833/?type=3&theater" target="_blank" title="">amidst the sound of gunfire from an “armed intruder training.”</a> Some polling places in Maricopa County, Arizona, <a href="http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/chandler-polling-location-experiencing-problems-as-polls-open-in-arizona" target="_blank">simply didn’t open</a>. That’s unsurprising as the local Fox affiliate—not to be confused with its national parent—reported at 5:45 pm on Monday that <a href="http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/maricopa-county-election-officials-72-polling-places-not-ready-for-election-day" target="_blank">72 of the county’s 503 polling places</a> were not ready. One Broward County, Florida, polling place was also relocated to a gated community. Security demanded voters’ IDs as a condition of entering the community to vote. Voters don’t need an ID to cast a provisional ballot. Moreover, they certainly shouldn’t have to provide ID to a private entity as a condition of exercising their right to vote. One Kentucky polling place ran out of ballots despite advance warning of high turnout. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;A polling place in Kentucky reportedly ran out of ballots. Election officials should have known turnout would be high! The pundits who pooh-poohed the high early vote as just "cannibalization" should be ashamed of enabling a narrative turnout would be low &lt;a href="https://t.co/BhKpkbxGuh"&gt;https://t.co/BhKpkbxGuh&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1059877090412150784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 6, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;'><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A polling place in Kentucky reportedly ran out of ballots. Election officials should have known turnout would be high! The pundits who pooh-poohed the high early vote as just "cannibalization" should be ashamed of enabling a narrative turnout would be low <a href="https://t.co/BhKpkbxGuh">https://t.co/BhKpkbxGuh</a>Ã¢Â€Â” Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) <a href="https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1059877090412150784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2018</a></blockquote></div> No one is sure what’s going down in Dodge City, Kansas, which is predominantly Latinx. Officials <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/5/1810088/-The-GOP-is-persecuting-voters-instead-of-protecting-them" target="_blank">threw up obstacles</a> well before the election. Dodge City’s 13,000 registered voters share one polling site—recently moved a mile from any public transport. Then, when Election Day came, they barred media. The county’s other 1,300 registered voters are split among three polling sites, by the way. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;County clerk in Dodge City KS not allowing media in polling site. They have 1 polling site for 13,000 in city 61% Hispanics &amp;amp; moved it outside of town, 1 mile from bus stop &lt;a href="https://t.co/0ac2wD21oY"&gt;https://t.co/0ac2wD21oY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Ari Berman (@AriBerman) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1059890523610193921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 6, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">County clerk in Dodge City KS not allowing media in polling site. They have 1 polling site for 13,000 in city 61% Hispanics & moved it outside of town, 1 mile from bus stop <a href="https://t.co/0ac2wD21oY">https://t.co/0ac2wD21oY</a>— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1059890523610193921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter Poza) 2018 electionday VoterSuppression VotingRights _1810496 Tue, 06 Nov 2018 21:00:01 +0000 Stacey Abrams won't concede, saying final votes counted may trigger runoff for Georgia governor https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810826/-Stacey-Abrams-won-t-concede-saying-final-votes-counted-may-trigger-runoff-for-Georgia-governor <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-its-time-for-the-us-to-adopt-national-vote-by-mail" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-its-time-for-the-us-to-adopt-national-vote-by-mail" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-its-time-for-the-us-to-adopt-national-vote-by-mail?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-its-time-for-the-us-to-adopt-national-vote-by-mail-273613" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-its-time-for-the-us-to-adopt-national-vote-by-mail">Campaign Action</a> Stacey Abrams is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/politics/georgia-governors-race-stacey-abrams/index.html" target="_blank" title="">not conceding</a> in a Georgia governor’s race that was rife with voter suppression overseen by her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp. With 99 percent of votes counted, Kemp is only narrowly above the 50 percent of the total vote that would trigger a runoff under Georgia law. “I'm here tonight to tell you votes remain to be counted. There's voices that are waiting to be heard,” Abrams said in a stirring speech at the close of the night, one that showed why she is, at a minimum, the Democrat to come closest to winning this seat than any since Georgia’s last Democratic governor was elected in 1998. Though Kemp leads by 75,000 votes: <blockquote> The [Abrams] campaign cited several specific places in the state that could play a role in a scenario to force the runoff, including three of the state's largest counties that "have reported only a portion of the votes that were submitted by early mail" and four other large counties that "have reported exactly 0 votes by mail," according to the campaign. Together, it said, the seven counties "are expected to return a minimum of 77,000 ballots." </blockquote> Kemp is Georgia’s current secretary of state and used that position as the state’s top elections official to suppress tens of thousands of votes and baselessly claim that Democrats had attempted to hack voting systems (they had exchanged concerned emails about vulnerabilities). On Election Day, reports abounded about voting machine problems and hours-long lines in Democratic precincts. Several precincts stayed open late, but that’s not helpful for people who abandoned long lines earlier in the day. Now Kemp will remain in charge as the final votes are counted and a decision is made about whether his own race is going to a runoff. His record of integrity is not inspiring. rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) 2018 BrianKemp Elections GA-Gov StaceyAbrams VoterSuppression _1810826 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 16:12:03 +0000 We never had a Native American woman in Congress, but with Deb Haaland's win, we now have TWO https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810516/-We-never-had-a-Native-American-woman-in-Congress-but-with-Deb-Haaland-s-win-we-now-have-TWO <a href="https://twitter.com/Deb4CongressNM/status/1060011181971144705" target="_blank">Deb Haaland was just elected to Congress</a>, representing the great state of New Mexico! In this beautiful year of women storming into office, the lawyer and single mom shares the historic milestone—of being the first two Native American women elected to the House—with <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810649/-Sharice-Davids-is-officially-the-first-Native-American-woman-elected-to-Congress" target="_blank" title="">Sharice Davids, who was also victorious in Kansas tonight</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Jessica Sutherland) Albuquerque BlueWave Congress DebHaaland Election2018 electionday ElectWomen Haaland House Indigenous midterms2018 Native NativeAmerican NativeVote NewMexico PuebloLaguna ShariceDavids Victory _1810516 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 04:25:40 +0000 ACLU demands Justice Department investigate Border Patrol for potential voter intimidation in Texas https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/7/1810555/-ACLU-demands-Justice-Department-investigate-Border-Patrol-for-potential-voter-intimidation-in-Texas Customs and Border Protection canceled its very terrible idea to hold a “crowd control exercise” on Election Day in El Paso, Texas,<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/06/border-patrol-election-day-midterms-demonstration-el-paso-texas/" target="_blank" title=""> without offering any sort of official explanation so far.</a> But it’s fair to say that local and national blowback to the agency parading their agents in a heavily-Latino area had something to do with it. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/415376-aclu-calls-on-doj-to-investigate-border-patrol-for-voter" target="_blank">wants answers</a> from the Department of Justice (DOJ). “The Trump Administration must answer for its decision to plan a military-style exercise—coupled with armored vehicles and Border Patrol agents within a short walking distance from the nearest polling location,” Andre Segura, legal director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a letter demanding the DOJ investigate potential Voting Rights Act violation by Border Patrol. “The right to vote is fundamental and must be protected. The first step in doing so is through transparency as to why these intimidating actions were planned on Election Day and their ultimate impact on voters.” State and elected leaders, along with groups like the ACLU, <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/border-patrol-conduct-crowd-control-exercise-election-day/" target="_blank">slammed the planned exercise</a>, which was, again, announced the day before the election without any explanation as to why it was being held on the day of the election. “At best, it’s a bad decision to have this at that particular area on Election Day,” said Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar. “Couldn’t they wait until the day after the election? I’m not going to question the motives, but I am going to question the timing.” Oh, it’s absolutely valid to question the motives. <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/4/1792425/-Three-months-later-the-killing-of-Claudia-G-mez-by-Border-Patrol-remains-shrouded-in-secrecy" target="_blank">Border Patrol lies and distorts, and about very serious matters.</a> Border Patrol <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/21/1700331/-Border-Patrol-arrests-of-undocumented-parents-rushing-baby-to-surgery-violates-human-decency" target="_blank">arrests people in distress, </a>Border Patrol <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/5/1721357/-Border-Patrol-truck-stalks-immigrants-peacefully-demonstrating-at-Marco-Rubio-s-office" target="_blank">stalks people,</a> and Border Patrol has <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/3/1712519/-10-year-old-Rosamaria-detained-for-over-a-week-has-been-released" target="_blank">gone out of its way</a> to arrest people. So when this same agency announced the planned exercise during an election where Latino voters <a href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/latino-heavy-districts-break-big-for-beto-but-cruz-keeps-senate-seat/" target="_blank">were highly enthused</a>, it’s absolutely valid to question the motives—and with Democrats soon to take the reins of power in the House, it’s an opportunity to begin holding immigration agencies accountable for abuses. rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election AmericanCivilLibertiesUnion borderpatrol CBP CustomsandBorderProtection DepartmentofJustice DOJ Election2018 Immigration JusticeDepartment Texas _1810555 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 16:49:07 +0000 Florida voters smash a legacy of Jim Crow and restore voting rights to more than 1 million citizens https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810578/-Florida-voters-smash-a-legacy-of-Jim-Crow-and-restore-voting-rights-to-more-than-1-million-citizens Ushering in one of the largest expansions of suffrage in the United States since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Florida voters <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2018/results/florida/ballot-measures/1" target="_blank" title="">overwhelmingly passed Amendment 4</a>, with the amendment prevailing 64-36 with 92 percent of votes counted, striking a massive blow against a Jim Crow-era policy that disenfranchises 1.5 million fellow citizens due to felony convictions. As many states did in the wake of the Civil War, Florida banned those with felony convictions from voting <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/24/the-race-infused-history-of-why-felons-arent-allowed-to-vote-in-a-dozen-states/" target="_blank">as an explicitly racist measure</a> to prevent black citizens from voting, with one leading proponent boasting in 1868 that the policy <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article95105602.html" target="_blank">had “kept Florida from becoming [n-word]ized.’”</a> despite <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/perspective/floridas-history-of-suppressing-blacks-votes/2146546" target="_blank">nearly half of its population being African-American</a> at the time. According to the Sentencing Project, this lifetime ban <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/6-Million-Lost-Voters.pdf#page=17" target="_blank">has disenfranchised one in 10 Floridians</a>, the highest proportion of any state in the country. And because of the measure’s discriminatory impact, Florida <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/6-Million-Lost-Voters.pdf#page=18" target="_blank">bars one in five black adults from voting</a>, which is five times the rate of the rest of the population. Republicans have vigorously fought efforts to loosen this restriction, and GOP Gov. Rick Scott even <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/26/1807518/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Infamous-GOP-vote-suppressor-concerned-if-everyone-votes-in-his-election#9" target="_blank">made felony disenfranchisement far more draconian</a> when he took office in 2011 by almost entirely ending the practice of granting clemency to restore voting rights to specific individuals. This ballot measure will sidestep the opposition of GOP elected officials, who have tried to preserve it because they <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/upshot/a-blue-florida-there-are-no-quick-demographic-fixes-for-democrats.html" target="_blank">think it will turn Florida into a blue state</a>, although the impact <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2018/11/2/18049510/felon-voting-rights-amendment-4-florida" target="_blank">is not as clear as it would seem</a>. Regardless of any partisan considerations, ending this voting restriction is long overdue, and no democracy should deny the right to vote to a tenth of its citizens. There are certain categories of citizens whose voting rights <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-felony-disenfranchisement_us_5a62060fe4b074ce7a07ab01" target="_blank">would not be restored</a> by the amendment, including those in prison or on parole or probation, and those who have committed murder or sexual offenses. But it will massively curtail a Jim Crow policy that has prevented 1.5 million Americans from exercising one of their most sacred constitutional rights. rss@dailykos.com (Stephen Wolf) DKE Elections felonydisenfranchisement FLFelonyDisenfranchisement Florida VotingRights _1810578 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:05:23 +0000 Ayanna Pressley is now the first-ever black woman to represent Massachusetts in the House https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810616/-Ayanna-Pressley-is-now-the-first-ever-black-woman-to-represent-Massachusetts-in-the-House At the <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/4/1793310/-Watch-the-moment-that-Massachusetts-Ayanna-Pressley-found-out-she-was-making-history" target="_blank" title="">moment when Ayanna Pressley found out that she beat Michael Capuano,</a> a ten-term Democrat in Massachusetts’ Seventh District, in September’s congressional primary, the emotions—particularly the shock—were palpable. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;The moment when &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/AyannaPressley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@AyannaPressley&lt;/a&gt; learned she won. No commentary needed. 💜 &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChangeCantWait?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#ChangeCantWait&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mapoli?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#mapoli&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ma7?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#ma7&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/electwomen?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#electwomen&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/electionday?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#electionday&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/SLLlQTI1Sj"&gt;pic.twitter.com/SLLlQTI1Sj&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Jesse Mermell (@jessemermell) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/jessemermell/status/1037159771416276992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 5, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The moment when <a href="https://twitter.com/AyannaPressley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AyannaPressley</a> learned she won. No commentary needed. Ã°ÂŸÂ’Âœ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChangeCantWait?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChangeCantWait</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mapoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mapoli</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ma7?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ma7</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/electwomen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#electwomen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/electionday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#electionday</a> <a href="https://t.co/SLLlQTI1Sj">pic.twitter.com/SLLlQTI1Sj</a>— Jesse Mermell (@jessemermell) <a href="https://twitter.com/jessemermell/status/1037159771416276992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Jessica Sutherland) AyannaPressley BlueWave Boston Congress ElectBlackWomen Election2018 First Firstever HistoricFirsts HouseOfRepresentatives MA07 Massachusetts midterms2018 Pioneers Pressley Progressive Recommended Victory _1810616 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:47:12 +0000 Indians 101: Fishing on the Columbia River (Old Photos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810262/-Indians-101-Fishing-on-the-Columbia-River-Old-Photos The Fort Dalles Museum in the Dalles, Oregon, has a number of old photographs documenting Indian fishing on the Columbia River prior to the completion of the Dalles Dam which inundated the traditional fishing areas. rss@dailykos.com (Ojibwa) AmericanIndians ColumbiaRiver FortDallesMuseum History Indians101 Museums NativeAmericanNetroots Oregon Photography _1810262 Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:30:11 +0000 Sharice Davids is officially the first Native American woman elected to Congress https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810649/-Sharice-Davids-is-officially-the-first-Native-American-woman-elected-to-Congress Sharice Davids has <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article221156115.html" target="_blank">officially ousted</a><a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article221156115.html" target="_blank" title=""> Republican Representative Kevin Yoder</a>, the four-term incumbent for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District. Davids is inspiring in a few ways. First, she is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. She is the first Native American woman elected to Congress. She is also an openly gay woman, meaning that on the federal level, she is also the first openly LGBT person to represent Kansas. Davids had a considerable lead and a lot of enthusiasm behind her leading up to her win. After all, she has an amazing background. She was raised by a single mother, who is a veteran of the U.S. Army, and is a graduate of Cornell law school. She’s also a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. During the Obama-Trump transition, she was a Fellow in the White House. As of now, her win is major for Democrats. She is passionate about affordable health care and improving public education. More than anything, she has been sincere in her desire to make every voice heard, and to represent people, not corporations. And as the election results rolled in, a second <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810516/-We-never-had-a-Native-American-woman-in-Congress-but-with-Deb-Haaland-s-win-we-now-have-TWO?detail=facebook" target="_blank" title="">Native American woman</a> joined Davids in Congress! Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, has just been confirmed to represent New Mexico. rss@dailykos.com (Marissa Higgins) Congress Kansas LGBT NativeAmerican Recommended ShariceDavids _1810649 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 03:12:09 +0000 Sikh asylum seekers sue, alleging their religious beliefs were violated while in detention https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/5/1810138/-Sikh-asylum-seekers-sue-alleging-their-religious-beliefs-were-violated-while-in-detention Two asylum seekers have filed a federal lawsuit “contending the Trump administration violated religious protections,” alleging that while they were being detained at the Federal Correctional Institution in Oregon, the Sikh men “were denied a vegetarian diet” and “told to pray in their cells,” despite their religious beliefs forbidding them to pray in a room with a toilet. “The lawsuit said those are violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/03/us/ap-us-religious-protections-lawsuit.html" target="_blank" title="">the New York Times reports</a>. Asylum seekers Pachattar Singh and Gurpreet Singh, among the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees held at federal prisons <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/8/1770380/-1-600-immigrants-are-getting-shipped-to-federal-prisons-because-agents-are-detaining-so-many-people" target="_blank">due to overcrowding at ICE facilities</a> following implementation of the barbaric “zero tolerance” policy, also alleged in the suit that Sikh detainees “were forced to eat meat to avoid malnutrition and starvation.” Detainees held at other federal prisons due to ICE overcrowding also alleged abusive conditions that violated their religious beliefs. In California’s Victorville prison, an asylum seeker identified as Sukhwinder <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-indian-immigrants-20180813-story.html" target="_blank">said</a> “he was not allowed to wear the turban and bracelet many Sikhs wear as part of their faith. Hindus housed in the same facility were forced to eat meat for more than two weeks, despite their religious beliefs, he said.” Victorville was stretched to capacity even before the influx of immigrant detainees were transferred there, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/2/1785336/-Immigrant-detainee-fearing-deportation-attempts-suicide-at-crowded-Victorville-prison" target="_blank">Huffington Post reported in August,</a> with the facility reportedly putting “medical staff, teachers, food service workers, and other prison employees ... on guard duty to cover the prison’s basic functions.” That same month, a delegation of House Democrats <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/17/1788784/-House-Democrats-visit-California-immigration-detention-facilities-accused-of-poor-conditions" target="_blank">toured the facility</a>, saying migrant detainees shouldn’t even have been transferred there in the first place. “The Federal Bureau of Prisons made some improvements in the housing and food for detainees at Sheridan, the lawsuit said, but restrictions remained. The last Sikh detainee at Sheridan was released in late September,” the New York Times continued. “’Plaintiffs' inability to freely exercise these religious beliefs was a cause of immeasurable distress for them,’ the lawsuit said.” <a href="https://votewithme.us/?pid=dailykos&c=midterms" target="_blank" title="">Asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants need our help. Get out the vote: Download the VoteWithMe app to see which friends live in swing districts and need your reminder to vote.</a> <a href="https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/" target="_blank" title="">Not sure where to vote? Find your polling place on Vote.org.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Asylum AsylumSeekers California Detention ICE Immigration ImmigrationandCustomsEnforcement Oregon Religion Sikhism Sikhs Victorville _1810138 Mon, 05 Nov 2018 20:22:18 +0000 I’m undocumented and can’t vote—but my sister did https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810567/-I-m-undocumented-and-can-t-vote-but-my-sister-can This post was written and reported by freelance contributor Jose Alonso Muñoz through our <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/freelance" target="_blank">Daily Kos freelance program</a>. As a recipient of protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, I’m not eligible to vote in the midterm elections. Even though I’ve been in the U.S. since I was 3 months old and consider myself politically engaged and informed, my voice doesn’t matter at the ballot box. But all across the country, young voters—like my younger sister, Zaira, a 19-year-old college student from Minnesota—have the power to change that, and use their vote to show solidarity with undocumented immigrants. President Trump has made it clear he’s leading from a place of xenophobia and fear-mongering around immigrants, undocumented or otherwise. He continues to criminalize the migrant caravan seeking refuge in the United States, both with his decision to send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and with his recent<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/us/politics/nbc-caravan-advertisement.html" title=""> racist political ad</a>. Earlier this year, he ripped children from their parents with his zero-tolerance separation policy at the border. Last week, the president falsely claimed he’d be able to eradicate the 14th Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship, through executive action. The 14th Amendment granted Zaira her citizenship, which allows her to cast her ballot for the first time, so she is directly in the crosshairs of Trump’s racist aim to rewrite the Constitution. Now he’s taken his mass deportation agenda a step further. Trump’s Justice Department asked the<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisgeidner/trump-administration-supreme-court-daca-again" title=""> Supreme Court to rule on DACA</a>, putting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants like me at risk for deportation. Through all of this, the onus of responsibility seems to elude him. Accountability never seems to fall on this man or his administration, no matter the lengths they go to evade the truth and use immigrants like me as scapegoats. rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos Correspondent) DACA Immigration Vote Voting Youth _1810567 Tue, 06 Nov 2018 23:08:07 +0000 Michigan's Rashida Tlaib becomes the first-ever Muslim woman in Congress—but she's not alone https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810460/-Michigan-s-Rashida-Tlaib-becomes-the-first-ever-Muslim-woman-in-Congress-but-she-s-not-alone Though she’s always been careful not to make public assumptions, it’s been clear since August that Detroit native Rashida Tlaib was destined to make history as the first-ever Muslim congresswoman after these November 6 elections. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/rashida-tlaib-wins-john-conyers-seat-likely-to-become-first-muslim-woman-to-join-congress" target="_blank">After all, Tlaib ran unopposed in her Michigan district.</a> And tonight, she didn’t disappoint—<a href="https://twitter.com/Rewire_News/status/1059981951208165376" target="_blank">she won.</a> The real question, which Tlaib, 42, was always quick to assert, is whether or not she was going to get the unadulterated joy of sharing that massive milestone with Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810493/-Meet-Minnesota-s-newest-history-maker-U-S-House-Rep-Ilhan-Omar?" target="_blank">(Spoiler alert: she is)</a>. After winning her primary in early August, Tlaib was quick to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/politics/rashida-tlaib-muslim-congress.html" target="_blank">share her resources with Omar.</a> <blockquote> Ms. Tlaib sent a dozen of her campaign workers to Minnesota to do a last minute canvas push for Ms. Omar, a state legislator. “We both care deeply about where we come from, about how strongly we defend who we are,” Ms. Tlaib said. “Leaning on each other gives us courage.” </blockquote> Omar’s win tonight means that the two women now share the “first-ever Muslim woman elected to Congress” title, but in a nation that’s been led so long by white men, there’s still room for each rookie congresswoman-elect to carve out a singular personal milestone. Tlaib just became <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/in-first-palestinian-american-woman-set-to-hold-seat-in-u-s-congress-1.6360911" target="_blank">the first Palestinian-American woman elected to national office,</a> while Omar is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/politics/ilhan-omar-wins-minnesota-congress-democratic-primary/index.html" target="_blank">the first Somali American elected to Congress.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Jessica Sutherland) BlueWave Congress Democrat DemocraticSocialist Detroit electionday First historic HistoricFirsts HouseOfRepresentatives ilhanomar IsIt2019Yet Michigan midterms2018 Midwest Midwestern Minnesota Muslim Omar PalestinianAmerican Progressive RashidaTlaib Tlaib yearofthewoman _1810460 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:09:40 +0000 As Trump triples down on DACA attacks, here's some ways we can help immigrant youth right now https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810478/-As-Trump-triples-down-on-DACA-attacks-here-s-some-ways-we-can-help-immigrant-youth-right-now The Trump administration’s <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810380/-Trump-administration-makes-another-move-against-Dreamers-just-in-time-for-Election-Day" target="_blank" title="">election eve move</a> trying to hasten the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program isn’t just a cynical ploy to rile up his racist base, it’s the latest display of genuine contempt this administration has for immigrants, despite an overwhelming majority of American voters who want undocumented immigrant youth on a path to citizenship. While we have a chance today, on Election Day, to fight back at the ballot box and say that Dreamers are here to stay, immigrant youth organization United We Dream shares some important information about the administration’s move means and the status of DACA right at this moment. Most importantly, the group wants to make sure immigrant youth know that DACA remains open. “Number one, DACA renewals are still open,” UWD’s Justin Nguyen says in the group’s video. “You should apply to renew your DACA now if it expires before 2020.” Nguyen encourages eligible DACA recipients to check out the group’s hub, <a href="https://unitedwedream.org/renew-my-daca/" target="_blank">RenewMyDACA.com,</a> for more information. While previous court decisions have allowed current and former DACA recipients to renew their protections, UWD notes that new applicants are unfortunately still barred. The administration is now trying to stop the lower court victories won by immigrant youth, hoping the conservative Supreme Court will put a stop to applications as soon as possible. As Nguyen notes, this is why it’s so important for eligible youth to renew now—and for allies to do what they can to help, including financial support. ”Donate to help pay for DACA renewal fees,” he continues, “and help immigrant youth stay protected.” The Daily Kos community <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/15/1698879/-As-urgent-deadline-approaches-here-s-how-you-can-help-immigrant-youth-with-their-DACA-renewal-fees" target="_blank" title="">has stepped up to help with fees</a> since DACA’s rescission last year, and that work must continue as Trump triples-down on his racist attacks, so please continue to donate any amount you can to <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/renewalfund" target="_blank">UWD’s DACA Renewal Fund.</a> “We can’t let the ability to pay determine where someone is protected,” he adds. ”Vote, organize, win,” the video continues. Watch below, and then vote to protect immigrant youth. rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election DACA DefendDACA DeferredActionforChildhoodArrivals DonaldTrump DREAMAct DREAMActNOW Dreamers Election2018 ImmigrantYouth Immigration ProtectDreamers SaveDACA SCOTUS SupremeCourt _1810478 Tue, 06 Nov 2018 19:20:10 +0000 The best kind of news: a major victory for voting rights in Florida https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810640/-The-best-kind-of-news-a-major-victory-for-voting-rights-in-Florida We’ve got to take joy where we can, and Election Day’s given us one very remarkable cause for joy in Florida: Amendment 4 has restored voting rights to 1.5 million people by ending a policy that permanently deprived people convicted of felonies of their right to vote—a policy you’ll find in just three other states. Until now, Floridians have had to wait at least five years after release or the end of parole or probation, whichever comes latest, to even apply for re-enfranchisement. Now, it’s <a href="https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2018/11/06/florida-amendments-midterm-election-results-2018-passed-failed/1897043002/" target="_blank" title="">only Floridians</a> whose felonies involve murder or sex crimes who’ll still be subject to this restrictive policy. Check out Stephen Wolf’s <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/6/1810578/-Florida-voters-smash-a-legacy-of-Jim-Crow-and-restore-voting-rights-to-more-than-1-million-citizens" target="_blank" title="">terrific explanation</a> of the horrifying roots of this form of disenfranchisement. Again, that’s 1.5 million people in Florida who just won recognition of their personhood and the prerogative to exercise their right to vote. It’s a huge victory for those Floridians but also a significant achievement for those fighting for voting rights nationwide. Florida Rights Restoration Commission gathered more than 1 million signatures just to get it on the ballot. The effort <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/26/1798842/-When-will-Florida-stop-banning-people-convicted-of-felonies-from-voting-November-just-maybe" target="_blank" title="">behind Amendment 4</a> was Herculean. But it was also bipartisan: Both Ben & Jerry’s and the Koch Brothers were also supporters. Criminal justice reform has emerged as a common ground between the parties, and here’s the proof. To many more such victories. rss@dailykos.com (Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter Poza) CriminalJusticeReform Election Florida Voting _1810640 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:29:10 +0000 Black woman assaulted when trying to vote in north Houston by white woman poll worker https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810602/-Black-woman-assaulted-when-trying-to-vote-in-north-Houston-by-white-woman-poll-worker Juanita Barnes, a white woman working as an assistant election judge in north Houston was charged with criminal assault after she “bumped” into Rolanda Anthony, a black woman trying to vote and made a racist remark to her about “blackface”, the ProPublica and the <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/politics/election/article/Poll-worker-directs-racist-language-at-a-north-13367024.php" target="_blank">Houston Chronicle reports</a>. The Harris County Attorney's office is investigating the incident and, according to the sheriff’s office, Barnes was issued a “Class C misdemeanor citation”. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;A deputy investigating a disturbance this morning at the polling location located at 10399 Veterans Memorial issued a Class C misdemeanor citation for assault to a female assistant election judge who allegedly bumped a female voter during an argument. &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hounews?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#hounews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/HCSOTexas/status/1059892144192868352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 6, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A deputy investigating a disturbance this morning at the polling location located at 10399 Veterans Memorial issued a Class C misdemeanor citation for assault to a female assistant election judge who allegedly bumped a female voter during an argument. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hounews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#hounews</a>— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) <a href="https://twitter.com/HCSOTexas/status/1059892144192868352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Magnifico) Houston Racism Recommended Texas Voting _1810602 Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:17:46 +0000 Georgia Democrats remain enthusiastic about the future while its Republicans focus on hate and fear https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/6/1810410/-Georgia-Democrats-remain-enthusiastic-about-the-future-while-its-Republicans-focus-on-hate-and-fear Here in Georgia on Election Day, it almost feels like two different states. If nothing else, it is certainly a case of two extremes—one representing a vision filled with hate and division, and the other representing a vision of hope and a more inclusive future. For the last few months, Daily Kos has been following the blatant voter suppression attempts by Republican candidate for governor and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp. In his eight years serving as the state’s top election official, Kemp has overseen the purge of hundreds of thousands of voters off the rolls—more than 70 percent of whom have been people of color. This is no accident. Georgia is on track to become a <a href="https://www.facingsouth.org/2015/03/when-will-southern-states-become-majority-minority.html" target="_blank" title="">majority-minority state by 2025</a>, with at least <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/report-five-georgia-counties-have-become-majority-minority/Pgd4DGXnabfRPOxXVk2O6N/" target="_blank" title="">five counties</a> in the state having already passed that milestone. This, of course, makes it that much harder for Republicans to win, since so much of their political strategy relies on stoking fear, bigotry and xenophobia among their almost exclusively white base. So, they’ve resorted to an age-old strategy for winning—making sure that black and brown people don’t vote. And, in Kemp’s case, he’s really good at it. Investigative reporter Greg Palast has been on Kemp since 2014. He’s been doggedly in pursuit of the truth and specifically wants to know what happened to the more than 530,000 (534,510 to be exact) voters who vanished off the rolls under Kemp’s watch. Palast sued Kemp’s office to get a list of all the voters who’ve been cancelled due to having been listed as inactive voters and who were no longer at the place of residence listed on their voter registration records. He worked with experts who combed through the list and compared various records to determine if these voters were still eligible to vote. Out of 458,556 records (that’s the number once the list was cleaned up and removed those people who were deceased or legitimately ineligible to vote), Palast’s team found that 340,134 people on the cancel list had not actually moved from their original addresses and or had never left the state (which makes them still eligible to vote). Palast has attempted to contact Kemp numerous times to ask about this. Of course, Kemp refuses to answer. He’s done an excellent job avoiding any accountability on denying certain Georgians their voting rights, even though his job is to do the exact opposite. In fact, just this past weekend Kemp accused Georgia Democrats of attempting to <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/5/1810054/--Desperate-Georgia-Republican-falsely-accuses-Democrats-of-attempted-election-hacking" target="_blank" title="">hack the state’s voter registration system</a>. It makes absolutely no sense—except Brian Kemp is desperate and has no other strategy for winning except to make sure his opponent Democrat Stacey Abrams gets as little votes as possible. Join our Daily Kos team for live updates today in Atlanta at the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dailykos/?hl=en" target="_blank" title="">Daily Kos Instagram</a> page, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dailykos/" target="_blank" title="">Daily Kos Facebook page (where we will be LIVE!)</a>, and the <a href="https://twitter.com/dailykos?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank" title="">Daily Kos Twitter page.</a> <a href="https://votewithme.us/?pid=dailykos&c=midterms" target="_blank" title="">Download the VoteWithMe app to see which friends live in swing districts and need your reminder to vote.</a> <a href="https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/" target="_blank" title="">Not sure where to vote? Find your polling place on Vote.org.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Kelly Macias) BrianKemp GA-Gov Georgia midterms2018 NewGeorgiaProject StaceyAbrams _1810410 Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:39:13 +0000 Ancient Africa: Homo Naledi https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/4/1809695/-Ancient-Africa-Homo-Naledi About six million years ago, the lineage which would lead to the evolution of modern humans broke off from the lineage which would lead to the modern apes, such as the chimpanzee. The earliest ancestors to humans were distinguished by bipedalism—the ability to walk upright. rss@dailykos.com (Ojibwa) Africa AncientAfrica Homonaledi Paleoanthropology Recommended _1809695 Sun, 04 Nov 2018 16:30:18 +0000 Open thread for night owls. Michelle García: 'Beto at the Border' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/2/1809495/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Michelle-Garc-a-Beto-at-the-Border At The Baffler, Michelle García writes her third part of a three-part series about life along the U.S.-Mexican border—<a href="https://thebaffler.com/latest/beto-border-garcia" target="_blank">Beto at the Border</a>: <blockquote> THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER functions as a proxy for a thriving American dystopian worldview, one defined by violence and exclusion. Images of a “lawless” border, where immigrants are depicted as a looming brown menace, flash on television sets throughout the nation in the form of campaign ads for candidates who stoke political fealty through fear. And, with just a few days left before the midterm elections, the President of the United States his given this abstract fear a shot of credibility by ordering the deployment of military troops to the border, where they will await the arrival of an exodus of Central Americans fleeing violence and upheaval. The political and moral future of the nation, it has to be said, turns on the very idea of the U.S.-Mexico border. <figure class="image-captioned width-md align-right"><img alt="OrangeEyeOwl_badgeTEXT_%281%29.jpg" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/123228/large/OrangeEyeOwl_badgeTEXT_%281%29.jpg?1453423478" title="OrangeEyeOwl_badgeTEXT_%281%29.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Meanwhile, the actual border, where people work, live, and vote, will be pivotal to a midterm election outcome that may reshape the nation’s political possibilities. In the Texas Senate race, Rep. Beto O’Rourke has taken on incumbent Ted Cruz and his markedly divisive and violent politics; in doing so, he has set out to wrest one of the Republican’s most powerful political weapons and favored bones: the U.S.-Mexico border itself. Unlike the countless Democrats who have abetted the Republican demonization of the border and its insatiable demands for more border security, the El Paso representative has challenged the dominant vision of the border as a violent wasteland. At one event in the borderlands of the Rio Grande Valley O’Rourke told an enthusiastic crowd, “The U.S.-Mexico border, in so many ways for me, is the center of the universe.” O’Rourke’s campaign has anchored his message of inclusiveness and socioeconomic justice on a vision of the border as a site of unity. And O’Rourke has bolstered his hopes for victory by courting the long-neglected Latino voters of the South Texas borderlands. The region is of such importance that O’Rourke told a Texas Observer reporter, “It’s everything. It’s everything.” [...] In the absence of institutional barriers, voter neglect has been pervasive. In September, when O’Rourke was within striking distance of Cruz in the polls, Latino Decisions, a political opinion research group, confirmed that some 41 percent of Latinos in Texas reported no party or candidate had contacted them, a number that comes in under those states with smaller Latino populations, like Virginia. These outreach numbers are paltry for a region where past voter mobilization efforts have proven successful. In 2010, a special outreach project by the Democratic Party in Austin managed a 34 percent increase in Latino and black voter participation. Rather than merely arriving in time for the election, the mobilization effort was sustained over months, relying on media ads and door-to-door outreach—it cost only 78 cents per door knock. [...] </blockquote> <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809514/-Top-Comments-in-2018" target="_blank">TOP COMMENTS</a> • <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809369/-High-Impact-Stories-November-1-2018" target="_blank">HIGH IMPACT STORIES</a> QUOTATION “I’ll never retire as long as I live—that’s like retiring from life! I’ll never stop writing, teaching, lecturing. If you’re in good health, living is exciting on its own.” ~~Bel Kaufman, author of Up the Down Staircase. At age 99, she was hired by her alma mater, Hunter College, to teach a course on Jewish humor. She wrote the cited quotation at 101, and died in 2014 at 103. <a href="https://twitter.com/LouiseRawAuthor/status/1058436592996679691" target="_blank">TWEET OF THE DAY</a> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Anti-fascism lost a giant today: &lt;br&gt;Max Levitas, who has died at 103.&lt;br&gt;Max was fined £10 in 1934, aged 19, for painting anti-Blackshirt graffiti on Nelson’s column when Mosley’s thugs rallied.&lt;br&gt;In 1936, he was a message runner at the battle of Cable Street.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;(pic Charlotte Barnes) &lt;a href="https://t.co/KNHXC2EHDW"&gt;pic.twitter.com/KNHXC2EHDW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Dr Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/LouiseRawAuthor/status/1058436592996679691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 2, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Anti-fascism lost a giant today: Max Levitas, who has died at 103. Max was fined Ã‚Â£10 in 1934, aged 19, for painting anti-Blackshirt graffiti on NelsonÃ¢Â€Â™s column when MosleyÃ¢Â€Â™s thugs rallied. In 1936, he was a message runner at the battle of Cable Street. (pic Charlotte Barnes) <a href="https://t.co/KNHXC2EHDW">pic.twitter.com/KNHXC2EHDW</a>— Dr Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) <a href="https://twitter.com/LouiseRawAuthor/status/1058436592996679691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/01/649205/-Internet-surpasses-newspapers-as-source-for-campaign-news" target="_blank">BLAST FROM THE PAST</a> On this date at Daily Kos in 2008—Internet surpasses newspapers as source for campaign news: <blockquote> The internet is now second only to television as a primary campaign news source for Americans, according to a new survey released by <a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1017/internet-now-major-source-of-campaign-news">Pew Research</a>. <blockquote> Many more Americans are turning to the internet for campaign news this year as the web becomes a key source of election news. Television remains the dominant source, but the percent who say they get most of their campaign news from the internet has tripled since October 2004 (from 10% then to 33% now). While use of the web has seen considerable growth, the percentage of Americans relying on TV and newspapers for campaign news has remained relatively flat since 2004. The internet now rivals newspapers as a main source for campaign news. And with so much interest in the election next week, the public's use of the internet as a campaign news source is up even since the primaries earlier this year. In March, 26% cited the internet as a main source for election news, while the percentages citing television and newspapers remain largely unchanged. </blockquote> The editorial commentary here is being generous to newspapers; the internet doesn't simply rival newspapers in this study, it surpasses them by 4 percent, and demographics are most certainly breaking in the newer medium's favor. Nearly 50 percent of 18-29 year olds claim the internet as their first or second news source (behind television), and only 17 percent named newspapers. Even in the next oldest cohort, 30 to 49-year-olds, 37 percent named the internet compared to 23 percent for newspapers. It's not until the over-50s are broken out that newspapers overtake the internet as first or second-choice source for election news. </blockquote> <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="DailyKOS_FBasset.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/606577/large/DailyKOS_FBasset.png?1541111472" title="DailyKOS_FBasset.png"> <figcaption><a href="http://dailykos.merchtable.com/">LINK TO DAILY KOS STORE</a></figcaption> </figure> </div> On <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809371/-Daily-Kos-Radio-s-KITM-podcast-AUDIO-Kagro-in-the-Morning-Friday-November-2-2018" target="_blank">today’s Kagro in the Morning show</a>: A little news roundup heading into the weekend: the Trump lie count is spiking; the Fascist playbook is deployed, but the troops, not so much. Then, a very Friday thing: the fascinating "lost" (or erased, or murdered) history of the Jewish Labor Bund. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder dk-x-embed" href="#" data-frameborder="0" data-height="185" data-src="//embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=DailyKosRadio&ge=s1!8e333d8af6179daba7bfad96393f7c8375f3a0f2" data-width="100%">Embedded Content</a></div> <a href="https://play.radiopublic.com/daily-kos-radio-kagro-in-the-morning-8QNrQp" target="_blank">RadioPublic</a>|<a href="http://kagrox.libsyn.com/" target="_blank">LibSyn</a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCknlsM6zUMIdxtz1qEAbhuA" target="_blank">YouTube</a>|<a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank">Patreon</a>|<a href="https://cash.me/%24kagro" target="_blank">Square Cash</a> (<a href="https://cash.me/app/FLVKHBX" target="_blank">Share code</a>: Send $5, get $5!) rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) OpenThreadforNightOwls _1809495 Sat, 03 Nov 2018 03:30:25 +0000 Nazi white supremacists are infiltrating campuses across the U.S. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/4/1808174/-Nazi-white-supremacists-are-infiltrating-campuses-across-the-U-S While going through an incredibly stressful week of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-pipe-bombs-746945/" target="_blank" title="">Trump-enflamed assassination attempts against key Democrats</a>, the attempted murder of a black congregation and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/us/louisville-kroger-shooting.html" target="_blank" title="">subsequent murder of two black shoppers at Kroger</a> in Louisville, Kentucky, and the <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/28/1807866/-11-killed-in-Pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre-identified-including-97-year-old-woman" target="_blank" title="">massacre of members of the Tree of Life Congregation</a> in Pittsburgh, I received a distressed phone call from a student who is currently attending the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz, where I have been teaching for over a decade. The campus was recently plastered with posters from a white supremacist group who call themselves “<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/identity-evropa" target="_blank" title="">Identity Evropa</a>.” <blockquote> Identity Evropa is at the forefront of the racist "alt-right's" effort to recruit white, college-aged men and transform them into the fashionable new face of white nationalism. Rather than denigrating people of color, the campus-based organization focuses on raising white racial consciousness, building community based on shared racial identity and intellectualizing white supremacist ideology. </blockquote> The group posted a tweet proudly displaying their campus handiwork. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en"&gt;State University of New York - New Paltz&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;(New Paltz, NY) &lt;a href="https://t.co/OoMemG9uya"&gt;pic.twitter.com/OoMemG9uya&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— IDENTITY EVROPA (@IdentityEvropa) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/IdentityEvropa/status/1054792247475089409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 23, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;'><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">State University of New York - New Paltz (New Paltz, NY) <a href="https://t.co/OoMemG9uya">pic.twitter.com/OoMemG9uya</a>Ã¢Â€Â” IDENTITY EVROPA (@IdentityEvropa) <a href="https://twitter.com/IdentityEvropa/status/1054792247475089409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote></div> rss@dailykos.com (Denise Oliver Velez) CampusRacism College identityevropa University WhiteSupremacy _1808174 Sun, 04 Nov 2018 14:00:04 +0000 What does Secretary of State Pompeo mean by 'restore democracy' in Iran? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/5/1809961/-What-does-Secretary-of-State-Pompeo-mean-by-restore-democracy-in-Iran <div style="text-align:left"> As <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809362/-Trump-prepares-to-impose-second-set-of-sanctions-on-Iran-over-nuclear-agreement-it-has-complied-with" target="_blank" title="">expected,</a> as part of its <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2018/5/8/17328520/iran-nuclear-deal-trump-withdraw" target="_blank" title="">previously announced withdrawal</a> from the multilateral <a href="https://www.state.gov/e/eb/tfs/spi/iran/jcpoa/" target="_blank" title="">2015 nuclear agreement with Iran</a>, the Trump regime<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/04/middleeast/trump-iran-sanctions-intl/index.html" target="_blank" title=""> reimposed </a>economic <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/11/287090.htm" target="_blank" title="">sanctions</a> on the Islamic republic early Monday. The sanctions are directed at Iran’s shipping, banking, and energy sectors. The stated objective is to cut Iranian revenue from oil exports to zero, which means more damage to the already beleaguered Iranian economy and a severe financial pinching of average citizens there. Any nation that buys Iranian oil will itself be penalized—secondary sanctions—unless they are one of the few granted an exemption. White House officials say eight nations will get those, but only temporarily to give some of Iran’s biggest oil customers a little more time to arrange their purchases elsewhere. The eight include China, India, and Turkey. In anticipation of sanctions being opposed, importing nations have already reduced their buys of Iranian oil from 2.8 million barrels per day in April to 1.9 million bpd last month. While the stated rationale for the sanctions is that the nuclear agreement is a terrible deal that doesn’t do enough to keep Iran from building nuclear weapons if it wants to, does nothing to curb its development of ballistic missiles, and doesn’t force it to stop actions that destabilize the Middle East to advance its political interests. But neither ballistic missiles nor Iranian actions outside its borders were part of the agreement in the first place. And Donald Trump and his minions can only claim that Iran has violated the agreement if they outright lie. Not that they are above doing so. The agreement—formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—established that in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions Iran would curtail various aspects of its nuclear development program that could provide all that is needed for quickly manufacturing nuclear weapons if a green-light to do so were given. The International Atomic Energy Agency is charged with verifying compliance of all parties. In the past three years, it has concluded a dozen reports affirming that Iran is fully complying. This fact is no doubt one reason the White House didn’t go through the <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44761.pdf" target="_blank" title="">straightforward process </a>developed to deal with complaints about violations of the agreement under <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sc/2231/" target="_blank" title="">U.N. Security Council’s Resolution 2231.</a> That process would have found just about every nation that matters opposed to renewed sanctions because there are no legitimate grounds for reimposing them. Rather than accept that, better from Trump’s point of view just to ignore the resolution and plunge ahead regardless of what U.S. allies have to say about it. It’s clear that the underlying real goal the White House seeks is one that neoconservatives and their enablers have promoted for a long time—regime change in Iran. </div> rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) Iran MikePompeo NuclearAgreement OperationAjax Recommended _1809961 Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:29:49 +0000 Republicans whine and explode when they keep getting caught in their blatant Racism https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/2/1809453/-Republicans-whine-and-explode-when-they-keep-getting-caught-in-their-blatant-Racism Time and time again, Republicans are getting called out for their Racist B.S. and repeatedly they’ve responded with shock and dismay that someone would dare to say such a thing and besmirch their good name and sterling character. “How dare you, Sir! I am done with you, now. <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/cnns-jeffrey-toobin-just-called-kris-kobach-racist-face/" target="_blank"> Good Day Sir, I SAY GOOD DAY!</a>” This deflection is, of course, intended to distract from that fact that the accusation is absolutely true. The first example this week was when Jeffrey Toobin called out Kansas Gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach for his long history of voter suppression against people of color. <blockquote> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content"><a class="new_iframe_placeholder" href="#">x</a></div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=GeszF5FsZS8" data-src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GeszF5FsZS8" data-width="500" data-height="281" data-frameborder="0">YouTube Video</a></div> </div> “Kris has devoted his career to stopping black people and poor people from voting,” Toobin argued. “I mean, that’s been your goal for decades.” <div>“That’s an outrageous accusation,” Kobach argued.</div> <div>“It’s completely true,” Toobin replied.</div> <div>“It is a completely true accusation because, Kris, your whole career — that’s why you had this phony voter suppression commission that was such a preposterous joke, established by the president, that it disbanded because it couldn’t prove your claim that voter fraud is a problem in this country,” Toobin continued.</div> <div>“Your problem is that some people vote for Democrats and you want to stop that by establishing voter requirements,” he added.</div> </blockquote> And time and time again this week, the “explainer/complainer/excuser” for these Republican racists — is Rick Santorum. rss@dailykos.com (Frank Vyan Walton) DodgeCity JeffreyToobin KrisKobach MichaelCohen Racism Recommended RickSantorum VoterSuppression _1809453 Fri, 02 Nov 2018 21:36:04 +0000 49ers cheerleaders have been taking a knee since 2017, but the world just finally noticed https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/2/1809396/-49ers-cheerleaders-have-been-taking-a-knee-since-2017-but-the-world-just-finally-noticed An unidentified member of the San Francisco 49ers cheerleading squad, a 40-member team of athletes known as the Gold Rush, is thought by many to be the first NFL cheerleader to join the years-long protest originated by former 49er player Colin Kaepernick. But she isn’t. The still-unnamed (and underpaid) Gold Rush member was subtle in her protest, moving her pompoms in perfect sync with her teammates before dropping to her knee, hands at her hips, rather than assuming the hand-over-heart stance. Watch the video below—it’s cued up to the exact moment she #TookAKnee. rss@dailykos.com (Jessica Sutherland) 49ers BlackLivesMatter California CaughtOnCamera cheerleader ColiKaepernick ColinKaepernick Cops FirstAmendment Football FreedomofSpeech Kneel lawenforcement NationalAnthem NFL Police PoliceBrutality Protest Protestors Recommended SanFrancisco SocialMedia Sports TakeAKnee ViralPhoto _1809396 Fri, 02 Nov 2018 20:44:03 +0000 Immigrant son Rubio mocks defenders of birthright citizenship, gets reminded why he's a U.S. citizen https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/2/1809344/-Immigrant-son-Rubio-mocks-defenders-of-birthright-citizenship-gets-reminded-why-he-s-a-U-S-citizen Donald Trump lackey Marco Rubio decided it would be a good idea to mock criticism of the white supremacist in chief’s recent attack on birthright citizenship, tweeting Friday that “history will remember this as the week liberal politicians and legal ‘scholars’ transformed into constitution originalists”: <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;History will remember this as the week liberal politicians &amp;amp; legal “scholars” transformed into constitution originalists ...well at least as it relates to the 14th Amendment.&lt;/p&gt;— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1058303698831589376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 2, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;'><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">History will remember this as the week liberal politicians & legal Ã¢Â€ÂœscholarsÃ¢Â€Â transformed into constitution originalists ...well at least as it relates to the 14th Amendment.Ã¢Â€Â” Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1058303698831589376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2018</a></blockquote></div> Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship was part of his candidacy from the start, but he didn’t bring it up again in this manner until a week before the midterms. Aside from the basic fact that a president can’t overturn a constitutional right with an executive order those same Republicans oh-so-hated during the Obama era, Marco is also a, surprise, giant fucking hypocrite: <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;It would *really* be a show of solidarity with Trump&amp;#39;s efforts to end birthright citizenship if &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@marcorubio&lt;/a&gt; renounced his U.S. citizenship.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;He wouldn&amp;#39;t have it without the 14th Amendment.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;He was born in 1971.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Both of his parents did not become U.S. citizens until 1975. &lt;a href="https://t.co/CqdsOYVhxH"&gt;https://t.co/CqdsOYVhxH&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MattOrtega/status/1058362853311332352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;November 2, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;'><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">It would *really* be a show of solidarity with Trump's efforts to end birthright citizenship if <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marcorubio</a> renounced his U.S. citizenship. He wouldn't have it without the 14th Amendment. He was born in 1971. Both of his parents did not become U.S. citizens until 1975. <a href="https://t.co/CqdsOYVhxH">https://t.co/CqdsOYVhxH</a>Ã¢Â€Â” Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattOrtega/status/1058362853311332352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2018</a></blockquote></div> Once upon a time, Marco <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/20/rubio-birthright-citizenship-makes-us-exceptional.html" target="_blank" title="">did firmly stand by</a> birthright citizenship and coauthored the Senate’s 2013 bipartisan immigration reform bill. But now as a Trump loyalist he’s anchored himself to mass deportation, <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1057648564145479681" target="_blank" title="">and this week voted</a> for a congressional candidate who said birthright citizenship <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article220894620.html" target="_blank">“</a><a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article220894620.html" target="_blank" title="">needs to be reviewed.”</a> History will remember you, Marco, but as a spineless hack who called Trump a "con man" but then voted for him anyway. rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) DonaldTrump Immigration MarcoRubio Recommended _1809344 Fri, 02 Nov 2018 15:12:41 +0000 Los Angeles could create a city-owned bank if this ballot initiative passes in 2018 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1809039/-Los-Angeles-could-create-a-city-owned-bank-if-this-ballot-initiative-passes-in-2018 Many states are holding important ballot measures on popular topics like <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808472/-These-are-the-biggest-2018-ballot-measures-on-elections-voting-rights-gerrymandering-and-more" target="_blank">voting rights</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/10/31/1808574/-These-states-are-voting-on-2018-ballot-measures-to-fight-climate-change-and-protect-the-environment" target="_blank">the environment</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1808782/-Health-care-is-the-top-issue-in-the-2018-midterms-It-s-also-on-the-ballot-itself-in-these-states" target="_blank">health care</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808856/-Criminal-justice-marijuana-and-the-shape-of-the-judiciary-itself-are-on-the-ballot-in-these-states" target="_blank" title="">criminal justice</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808890/-Here-s-where-taxes-minimum-wage-increases-and-paid-sick-leave-are-on-the-ballot-in-November" target="_blank">taxes</a>, but some states and cities are voting on even more unusual policy proposals. One of the most notable comes from Los Angeles, California, where the country's second-largest city will decide on a measure backed by the City Council to amend the city's charter so that it can eventually <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/public-bank-los-angeles_us_5b6bef33e4b0ae32af954495" target="_blank" title="">establish a not-for-profit bank owned and run by the city itself</a>. This proposal comes in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis and would set up a municipal bank to finance investment in local infrastructure and community development, and to promote stability in the local banking sector. Such a bank would reflect policies closer to the quasi-democratic socialism practiced in parts of Europe rather than the welfare-state liberalism typical of the United States. Indeed, North Dakota actually has a state-owned bank created when the socialist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpartisan_League" target="_blank">Nonpartisan League</a> was ascendant in state politics a century ago. However, opponents of L.A.’s plan <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-endorsement-city-bank-20180920-story.html" target="_blank">have criticized</a> what they call a lack of planning and the potentially large startup cost. Meanwhile, the state of California is voting on another measure that could have major implications for municipal governance. Amid a severe housing shortage caused by high demand and restrictive zoning laws, voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow local governments to impose rent control on all types of housing. In Oregon, legislators <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Measure_105,_Repeal_Sanctuary_State_Law_Initiative_(2018)#cite_note-2" target="_blank">almost unanimously enacted</a> a "sanctuary state" law in 1987 that now limits state officials from working with Trump's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/08/07/trump-and-stephen-miller-are-now-targeting-legal-immigrants-and-it-will-get-uglier/?utm_term=.288e347a323f" target="_blank">authoritarian and xenophobic immigration enforcement agencies</a>. Immigration restrictionists have put a measure on the ballot to repeal that law, but limited polling <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Measure_105,_Repeal_Sanctuary_State_Law_Initiative_(2018)#Polls" target="_blank">shows it failing</a>. Finally, activists opposed to LGBTQ rights have placed a referendum on the ballot to veto Massachusetts lawmakers' ban on discrimination in public places based on gender identity. Given how socially progressive Massachusetts is, this veto effort is unlikely to pass, but defeating it will nonetheless strike a blow against transphobia. You can find a table summarizing these measures below, and you can view our full list of measures to watch on a variety of topics <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16PqFekByTrMLhXarLjlWbHpU0fCaQN553aTLO87u_2E/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">in this spreadsheet</a>. Our spreadsheet details whether each measure was placed on the ballot by elected representatives or whether it was directly initiated by voters, as well as whether it's a statute or amends a state constitution or local government charter. To read our first post <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/news/2018NovemberBallotMeasures" target="_blank" title="">in this series</a> on ballot measures affecting voting rights, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808472/-These-are-the-biggest-2018-ballot-measures-on-elections-voting-rights-gerrymandering-and-more" target="_blank" title="">please click here</a>. <div class="table-wrapper"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="dk5-table" width="496"> <thead> <tr> <th>Jurisdiction</th> <th>Name</th> <th>Proposal</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <th>California</th> <td><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_10,_Local_Rent_Control_Initiative_(2018)" target="_parent">Proposition 10</a></td> <td>Allows local governments to impose rent control on all types of housing</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Hawaii</th> <td><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Hawaii_Constitutional_Convention_Question_(2018)" target="_parent">Constitutional Convention</a></td> <td>Calls for a constitutional convention</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Massachusetts</th> <td><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Question_3,_Gender_Identity_Anti-Discrimination_Veto_Referendum_(2018)" target="_parent">Question 3</a></td> <td>Repeals ban on gender-identity discrimination in public places</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Oregon</th> <td><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Measure_105,_Repeal_Sanctuary_State_Law_Initiative_(2018)" target="_parent">Measure 105</a></td> <td>Repeals sanctuary state law</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Los Angeles, CA</th> <td><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Los_Angeles,_California,_Measure_B,_Public_Bank_Charter_Amendment_(November_2018)" target="_parent">Amendment B</a></td> <td>Creates a city-owned bank to strengthen local banks and provide investment funds</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Stephen Wolf) 2018NovemberBallotMeasures BallotMeasures California DKE Elections Hawaii LosAngeles losangelesca Massachusetts Oregon _1809039 Thu, 01 Nov 2018 18:00:35 +0000 I may be losing my ability to speak, but I will not stop fighting for life-saving health care. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/3/1809662/-I-may-be-losing-my-ability-to-speak-but-I-will-not-stop-fighting-for-life-saving-health-care Just two years ago, I was one class away from graduating with honors from the University of Southern California. I had the whole world in front of me. I was on my way to work as an environmental and human rights lawyer. Funny enough, now I’m stuck fighting for my own right to healthcare. At 22 years old, I am now bedridden and losing my ability to speak. As my health deteriorates, I’m emboldened to fight for the life-saving healthcare that I depend on, and supporting candidates that will save the Affordable Care Act. In 2015, when I was 19, I came down with a viral infection overnight. As weeks and months passed, my health worsened further and further. I tried to stay positive and keep up with school, work, and extracurriculars, but my health started to get in the way. After two years of this, I was completely unable to function; no medicine could keep me awake, and new symptoms kept popping up all the time. One day, my doctor sat me down and delivered a blunt message: if I stayed in school, I’d be putting myself at serious risk. With one class left before completing my degree, I had no choice but to take a leave of absence. I was diagnosed with a long list of chronic illnesses, the most severe being Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html"> </a><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html">ME/CFS</a> is a chronic disease with no cure or FDA approved treatment. My type of ME/CFS is progressive and degenerative. Recovery is near impossible; the longer I live with the disease, the less likely it is that I will recover. Every day, I experience debilitating fatigue, seizures, constant pain, numbness in my arms and legs, and significant cognitive issues—among other symptoms. While I battle chronic illnesses, I also have to fight back against one other thing: a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If the ACA is dismantled, insurance companies could discriminate against me for things that are beyond my control. It was not that long ago that insurance companies could charge astronomical <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article127783904.html">prices</a> to people with pre-existing conditions, and block coverage altogether for “high risk” patients. The ACA has allowed me to be covered under my mother’s insurance, but even with that help, my medical bills total over $2,000 a month. On top of all my medications, I also need Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy, a treatment that costs $10,000-$15,000 per infusion, with five infusions required per month. Without insurance, IVIg therapy could cost me more than $600,000 per year, for the rest of my life. Nobody outside of an oil tycoon can afford that sort of treatment without insurance coverage. In May of 2017, my congresswoman, Mimi Walters,<a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/29346/mimi-walters/38/health-and-health-care#.W6ueRBpKgdU"> </a><a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/29346/mimi-walters/38/health-and-health-care#.W6ueRBpKgdU">voted</a> to repeal the ACA. She now claims to<a href="https://twitter.com/repmimiwalters/status/1039980141621989376?lang=en"> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/repmimiwalters/status/1039980141621989376?lang=en">support</a> protections for people with pre-existing conditions, citing a bill that she co-sponsored that protects people with pre-existing conditions but would effectively allow insurance companies to charge massive premiums. This is exactly what insurance companies have done in the past and will do again if the ACA is repealed. What kind of cartoon villain do you have to be to actively try to take healthcare away from sick people? If her voting record didn’t make it clear, the hundreds of thousands of dollars that she’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/industries?cid=N00035391&cycle=2018&recs=0&type=C">accepted </a>from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries should eliminate any doubt of whose side Mimi Walters is standing on. I dream of going back to school and finally starting my career, but this will be far more difficult if Congress strips away my healthcare and that of 130 <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2017/04/05/430059/number-americans-pre-existing-conditions-congressional-district/">million</a> Americans with pre-existing conditions. But I can’t do this alone. I need everyone, especially my generation, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/politics/brownstein-millennials-largest-voter-group-baby-boomers/index.html" title="">largest </a>voter-eligible bloc to turn out and vote for candidates that will save the ACA, and people like me. Katarina Brandt is an ME/CFS patient advocate and was an honors student at the University of Southern California. She resides in Irvine with her family. rss@dailykos.com (katarinabrandt) AffordableCareAct CA-45 California CFS CFS-ME ChronicFatigueSyndrome collegestudent Elections2018 FindanAdvocate HealthCare Irvine ME ME-CFS mecfs Midterms Millennial millionsmissing MimiWalters MyalgicEncephalomyelitis OrangeCounty Pre-ExistingConditions pwME Recommended RuleOutHuntingtons USC _1809662 Sat, 03 Nov 2018 21:49:43 +0000 DACA recipients get out the vote: 'Everybody has the power to do something' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/5/1810089/-DACA-recipients-get-out-the-vote-Everybody-has-the-power-to-do-something Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient Julia Montejo says that the 2012 program changed her life by allowing her to pursue her higher educational goals. “I was so lucky that DACA came into place,” <a href="https://www.thelovevote.org/campaign/ana-julia/" target="_blank">she explains in a video from The Love Vote campaign.</a> “I got to apply for college knowing that I would have the safety of DACA. It really helped me be able to be the best I could be, education-wise.” Her plans were veered off course last September by the Trump administration, when Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced the end of the program. By then, hundreds of thousands of young immigrants had already been enrolled in the program, allowing them to work legally and live free from the fear of deportation. Montejo said the administration’s decision left her “in a really dark place. I was really scared and I felt like I had no agency in my future.” But Montejo and Ana Guevara, another DACA recipient, turned their fears into action. “By organizing and getting others to get their voices heard and to get out the vote, I feel like I have finally felt a sense of hope that I haven’t had since 2016,” Montejo said. In The Love Vote video, both young women are shown rallying supporters. “I am still working with my community and making sure that they are getting out to vote,” Guevara said. “Everybody has the power to do something.” The two don’t have the ability to make their own voices heard at the ballot box, but they know that by sharing their stories, they can change the hearts and minds of others who can. And this is something they must do. “When you don’t have the right to vote,” Montejo added, “you’re often the people who are most marginalized, who bear the brunt of changing policies. You really feel it.” <a href="https://votewithme.us/?pid=dailykos&c=midterms" target="_blank">Get out the vote for young immigrants like Ana and Julia: Download the VoteWithMe app to see which friends live in swing districts and need your reminder to vote.</a> <a href="https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/" target="_blank">Not sure where to vote? Find your polling place on Vote.org.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election DACA DeferredActionforChildhoodArrivals DREAMAct DREAMActNOW Dreamers Election2018 ImmigrantYouth Immigration ProtectDreamers _1810089 Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:46:30 +0000 Indians 101: Ktunaxa Beadwork (Photo Diary) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1808882/-Indians-101-Ktunaxa-Beadwork-Photo-Diary The traditional territories of the Ktunaxa people—also known as the Kootenai—was in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and British Columbia. Their hunting and gathering economy was focused on fishing, hunting (including buffalo hunts on the Great Plains to the east of the mountains), and gathering of plants for both food and fiber. rss@dailykos.com (Ojibwa) AmericanIndians Art beadwork BritishColumbia FortSteeleHeritageVillage History Indians101 KootenaiIndians Museums NativeAmericanNetroots Photography _1808882 Thu, 01 Nov 2018 15:30:04 +0000 From health care to voting rights, these are the biggest ballot measures to watch on Election Day https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/5/1809458/-From-health-care-to-voting-rights-these-are-the-biggest-ballot-measures-to-watch-on-Election-Day Elected offices aren't the only things Americans will be voting for on Election Day. Many states and localities are voting on critical ballot measures on key topics, including <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808472/-These-are-the-biggest-2018-ballot-measures-on-elections-voting-rights-gerrymandering-and-more" target="_blank" title="">voting rights and redistricting</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808574/-These-states-are-voting-on-2018-ballot-measures-to-fight-climate-change-and-protect-the-environment" target="_blank" title="">energy and the environment</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808782/-Health-care-is-the-top-issue-in-the-2018-midterms-It-s-also-on-the-ballot-itself-in-these-states" target="_blank" title="">health care</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808856/-Criminal-justice-marijuana-and-the-shape-of-the-judiciary-itself-are-on-the-ballot-in-these-states" target="_blank" title="">criminal justice</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808890/-Here-s-where-taxes-minimum-wage-increases-and-paid-sick-leave-are-on-the-ballot-in-November" target="_blank" title="">taxes and labor</a>, and even unusual proposals like <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1809039/-Los-Angeles-could-create-a-city-owned-bank-if-this-ballot-initiative-passes-in-2018" target="_blank" title="">one to create a city-run bank</a>. At each of the preceding links, you can find a close look at the key measures going before voters in each broad subject area, while below, we’ll summarize the complete picture. You <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16PqFekByTrMLhXarLjlWbHpU0fCaQN553aTLO87u_2E/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" title="">can also find our complete spreadsheet here</a>, where we've cataloged 80 ballot measures across 29 states and 12 cities and counties that we’re following. With Republicans doing everything they can to undermine democracy, measures to protect voting rights, curtail gerrymandering, level the campaign finance playing field, and reform the electoral system itself <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/2/1809385/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Redistricting-voting-rights-and-election-reform-are-on-the-ballot-in-2018" target="_blank" title="">are key</a> for fair elections. Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah are all voting on redistricting reforms that aim to make districts fairer, and Florida could restore voting rights to more than 1 million people disenfranchised for past felony convictions. Meanwhile, Maryland, Michigan, and Nevada could pass measures making it easier to vote, including automatic and same-day voter registration. However, not all measures are positive: GOP-run states including Arkansas, Montana, and North Carolina could pass provisions restricting voting rights. Likewise, with the Republicans who run the federal government failing to take action on climate change, states <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808574/-These-states-are-voting-on-2018-ballot-measures-to-fight-climate-change-and-protect-the-environment" target="_blank">are stepping up with ballot measures of their own</a>. Most important of these is one in Washington that would impose a fee on carbon pollution and use it to fund investments in clean air, clean water, and clean energy, especially in low-income areas and communities of color. Other states will decide whether to impose renewable energy mandates and restrictions on environmentally risky oil and gas projects. If you've paid attention to any political ads this year, you've probably noticed that health care is the most talked about issue, and healthcare-related measures <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808782/-Health-care-is-the-top-issue-in-the-2018-midterms-It-s-also-on-the-ballot-itself-in-these-states" target="_blank">are on the ballot in several states</a>. Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and Utah will vote on Medicaid expansion that could give hundreds of thousands of Americans affordable health care. On the other hand, Alabama, Oregon, and West Virginia will decide on restrictions on abortion rights now that the Supreme Court is poised to gut Roe v. Wade. Criminal justice, marijuana reform, and changes to state judiciaries <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/1/1808856/-Criminal-justice-marijuana-and-the-shape-of-the-judiciary-itself-are-on-the-ballot-in-these-states" target="_blank" title="">are also on the ballot in several states and cities</a>. These measures would allow for reductions in sentences for nonviolent crimes like drug use or possession, impose stricter standards and training for police conduct, and eliminate vestiges of Jim Crow that allow non-unanimous juries to convict people of felonies. Michigan and North Dakota could legalize recreational marijuana, and Missouri and Utah could legalize medicinal marijuana. However, six states are voting on largely GOP-backed measures called "Marsy's Law” that conservatives contend strengthen victims’ rights but could end up undermining due process and exacerbating recidivism. rss@dailykos.com (Stephen Wolf) 2018NovemberBallotMeasures AbortionRights BallotMeasures ClimateChange DKE Elections Energy Environment HealthCare Labor MedicaidExpansion Redistricting Taxes VotingRights _1809458 Mon, 05 Nov 2018 15:09:05 +0000 Protect Trans Rights and Vote Yes on 3 in Massachusetts https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/2/1809296/-In-Massachusetts-Protecting-Against-Discrimination-Should-Be-a-No-Brainer-Yes-on-3 Ending discrimination when we have the opportunity should be a foundational principle for our lives. People who refuse to treat their transgender neighbors with respect and dignity have forced a ballot question in Massachusetts that could result in a rollback of anti-discrimination protections for transgender people. We cannot let hate win. We should all vote ‘yes on 3.’ For the past two years, anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity have been on the books in Massachusetts. In the two years since its passage, at least <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-transgender-community-in-2018">forty-six transgender individuals have been murdered in the U.S.</a> Transgender residents in my home state of Massachusetts continue to face high rates of discrimination, and now the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html" title="">President is attempting to erase their legal existence.</a> In August, <a href="https://blavity.com/two-young-transgender-women-were-killed-within-hours-of-one-another">three transgender women were murdered</a>, two within hours of each other. Vontashia Bell, Dejanay Stanton, and Shantee Tucker should still be here. The lives of trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people are already at risk, and the people who want to repeal basic protections for transgender people want to make their lives even more dangerous. Massachusetts residents need to do more as a state to help each other, not less. Yet the "No on 3" campaign is seeking to repeal trans protections based on misguided claims about safety. The ‘No on 3’ effort reflects the politics of fear that have taken over so much of our country. In a funhouse mirror version of reality, it aims to make the people least at risk feel unsafe in order to take equal protections further away from those who are already living with the least amount of safety. This is wrong. As the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, headquartered in Massachusetts, I must say clearly that anything but a yes vote on question 3 would be a violation of basic human compassion and human decency. Allowing discrimination against transgender people means people can lose their job, their homes, and their access to public accommodations. It leads to homelessness and vulnerability. Such policy violence doesn’t end there. It encourages physical violence because it frames some people as disposable and not deserving of the same rights. Yes on 3 is about saying yes to everybody’s humanity and fighting the idea that anyone is ‘less than.’ It’s about a society invested in social uplift and resisting the demonization of our neighbors. Scripture tells me we are called to love our neighbors. To love one another is the greatest commandment. To allow conditions that promote or foster discrimination is not a reflection of that teaching. I firmly believe we need to reach for that which brings us closer and to be steadfast against anything that would divide us further. I’m voting yes on 3 because my faith compels me, because I believe in the dignity of every human being, and because anything else puts us all in jeopardy. rss@dailykos.com (sfrederickgray) MApoli uua Yeson3 _1809296 Fri, 02 Nov 2018 13:26:48 +0000 HIAS, targeted by anti-Semitic shooter, has helped millions of refugees and vulnerable people https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1809139/-HIAS-targeted-by-anti-Semitic-shooter-has-helped-millions-of-refugees-and-vulnerable-people Over its 130 years of existence, <a href="https://www.hias.org/" target="_blank">Jewish agency HIAS</a> has helped millions of refugees and vulnerable people displaced by war and persecution, including Mazen Hasan. With HIAS’s help, the engineer arrived to the U.S. in 2014, after fleeing his native Iraq when “his work for the American military had drawn threats on his life,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/us/hias-pittsburgh-robert-bowers.html" target="_blank" title="">the New York Times reports.</a> “They did everything they can to help us and make it easy to adjust to a new life here,” he said. HIAS was also a target of Robert Bowers, the white supremacist responsible for the single deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, which took the lives of 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pennsylvania. “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” Bowers <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/30/1808512/-Synagogue-shooter-echoed-a-Fox-News-refrain-about-immigrant-invaders-as-he-prepared-to-kill" target="_blank">falsely claimed</a> in a Gab post before the massacre, fueled by the right-wing conspiracy theory about immigrant “invaders that kill our people.” Back here in reality, HIAS has changed—and saved—lives. “Its clients have often been Jews—its first mission was to aid those fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe—but the agency has also helped resettle many other kinds of refugees, including thousands of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians after Communist victories in Southeast Asia in the 1970s. ‘We used to welcome refugees because they were Jewish, [HIAS president Mark] Hetfield said. ‘Today HIAS welcomes refugees because we are Jewish.’” But it’s the good work of agencies like HIAS that continues to be under attack. The administration, guided by white supremacist and senior advisor Stephen Miller, has taken a sledgehammer to the refugee resettlement program, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/18/1796620/-Trump-administration-slashes-refugee-admissions-yet-again-to-record-low" target="_blank">slashing admissions to a record low.</a> Sec. of State Mike Pompeo announced last month that officials have slashed admissions for fiscal year 2019 to 30,000, “the lowest ceiling a president has placed on the refugee program since its creation in 1980.” Who does this hurt? People in peril. Immigration attorney Rita Sostrin remembers. “She and her parents, fleeing anti-Semitism, emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1987. They were met in Vienna by HIAS representatives who helped them travel on to Rome, where United States officials processed them for resettlement. The family arrived in Minneapolis in 1988. The local HIAS affiliate helped them get on their feet.” She told the New York Times that “coming to the U.S. is the biggest miracle of my life, and it’s thanks to HIAS.” <div> <a href="https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/dailykos/">COMMIT TO VOTING for the most vulnerable among us. Just click here, enter your zip code, choose the event that works best for you, and RSVP to attend.</a> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election Asylum AsylumSeekers Election2018 HIAS Immigration Refugees _1809139 Thu, 01 Nov 2018 19:47:41 +0000 While you're out there Getting Out the Vote, remind voters it's Obamacare open enrollment time https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/2/1809438/-While-you-re-out-there-Getting-Out-the-Vote-remind-voters-it-s-Obamacare-open-enrollment-time Job number 1 this weekend: <a href="https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/dailykos/" target="_blank" title="">Getting Out the Vote</a>. But while you’re out there knocking on doors, or making phone calls, or sending texts or just talking to your family and friends, and if you have the opportunity, have the health insurance conversation. Are you insured? Do you need insurance? Have you checked out the health insurance exchange in your state? Open enrollment started yesterday, and in most state runs until December 15 (<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1809136/-It-s-here-Open-enrollment-under-the-Affordable-Care-Act-starts-today" target="_blank" title="">exceptions are here</a>). The Kaiser Family Foundation has <a href="https://www.kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/?utm_campaign=ACA%20Open%20Enrollment&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67191712&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-98LsnEYz_YNYmNeOsMcnIql94fL-yZsb4XPfEfMA_8J-iZvQxf_hCUltU0mz9YFU3Ub51q-5BUTQU0-CIVqmqz_n5YPw&_hsmi=67191712" target="_blank" title="">updated its subsidy calculator</a> to help you or people you’re helping figure out how much they could be paying for premiums as well as what financial assistance is available based on household income, family size, ages of family members, and zip code. The calculator also helps consumers determine whether they could be eligible for Medicaid. The tool is embedded here below the fold for you to play around with. A <a href="https://connect.kff.org/e2t/c/*W4SLLFQ2ctmNbW112rVm7YKmkj0/*W3LbqTV3mbtblW3cWjQ21N7sp50/5/f18dQhb0Sq5v8YHtvCW8d8gSm2qwv1SW4cqSjh4cqNPfMf5s32XD6prW7cmS1s8pCQ6vW7Y-rll95S7FPW5CR0N32yc2qDW5CGWVM7mFYhrW62058J95R_bvW1xc2fr626T3hW1x4vb1999f65W6PVKcr6N3nBLW8xGZMP7yyY2PVfQ03V4rf42kW6pCmD_1rnhsmW2vgRTn23-nGKW265VBJ22-vhJW1Q468p7G0n7yW1YTF-H7TVphbW1pqxYR3gk-wmW8cG-xp3X0g0yN6bp1cMbq5fxW4TKc2l5v7ctcW4s4NfZ8RFdfZW6N_PTv7d922fW5PNNL01pPztxW5sDrNV1p5SkrW6n748K8QH_4zN5CwtnyPfzz_W7yJG7r5VKN9cW5w4v2y7fXjzbW4XqT-q2V7HDGW5VKNjb5PvXkhW4V4rvX64G2z1W1bBvW33_5Xh9W6LMv7K1NFfl4N8P4D7llyM3fW8qfGd-3qb5ywW3vNLNF5R34klW1nCrbg8Sn6Q_W7870mX6TL-CYW2cBvC_8t3_8ZW6qJTsP3-zhG4N7cpyXmcYJKQW7dJ18n5B8h5Nf3Gk2R804" target="_blank" title="">Spanish-language version of the calculator</a> is also available. Of course KFF has more for you, including a searchable collection of <a href="https://connect.kff.org/e2t/c/*W4SLLFQ2ctmNbW112rVm7YKmkj0/*W4gtk-k9jrBCcW5Yv1Fn63_Qvs0/5/f18dQhb0Sq5D8XZ7WSV_P1vF1m66PBW2sNYfp2stfhWW5-FxTJ1mhDJwW39Dr-N8pCDM_W3S_gvy2yZ4h7N6bws6tYN9-_W3V568N984wNmW98KYW74MWdz6W2N2Tpf5lKwc5VKzxbr2M3kw-W4Mm1dW2w7BH6W5mNLNv7bqTzMW7vp5Qy2CVNW9W1h4PtH7MMT4_W5FxBTV5p9MrsW3bW-f434Y-JRW5rcZX12-294gW5J0bHm1y7ldZW5F_2Jd3Yk27jW1v3hGt39Hw8xW1CgtZf5jPVDHW47P0wC403tVSW3vbpkw6nBZD5W489Hjx36Hk43W3HGckC4GZdLjW5Pyl_C626PhfW41RgLh5lFg7zW5FHXWc3FPyQ1W41RJbt3wZk1bW4XhfbK2JkXdvW5sNKnm68l_p0W6bb-jT6b52DYW3xKBsl6y-QM_W41PCXK5Pzb9FW260G-s2PGKtHMBrp3zwKJnCV3qXTz3nxwXrW51fdFJ2lZk5dW8r-8T18tzmRxW2GD9PD47Xs4rW7LHXzl9jwp6RV5yDtR85-GmcN81XSFHHKF2wW3pnKgQ4L1MmrN4JXQH_11ZPYf21mR_b03" target="_blank" title="">more than 300 Frequently Asked Questions</a> about open enrollment, the marketplaces and the ACA; everything from eligibility for subsidies to requirements for health coverage and information about health plans offered through state ACA marketplaces. This year’s FAQ includes information on the 2019 repeal of the individual mandate tax penalty and has a new section on short-term health insurance policies. More than 150 of the FAQs in the collection are also <a href="https://connect.kff.org/e2t/c/*W4SLLFQ2ctmNbW112rVm7YKmkj0/*N7_ZdfKRT2V6W1qdj3Q6KkrhJ0/5/f18dQhb0S65M6_cXMJV1y5RM1gccPwW4_mNZP4__ZYcW3TJB3-8znkTYW5LcVZD8tHvf8W48Qw-V933qnfW4--r2356_mtTW7bdS3w51_kBQW2_SBVp1QG1-wW92yS-Z4xnhYYW5fDY8L4tK-vFW51TJB02fylsRW3RnP0g2Cq0zPW8xHlBB2GWqSdN8m6g-cWjcKXV4546x2TFR-3V5CH_s5SLbsjMMc_cF82xtzN3XlrPjKbHq5W6YgxcT4PrbRWW68zxp75Wn0jKW5WlD_P61dV4MW1fpKY_2fsZLrW2tH8lS2tbBv9W2FgKr64tJM3sW5F3wDt17qjwwW1QsTQn3ljRXWW1kRs9v1VGpTCW5F5KK75kq-rcW40nWBL1SnHMwW4-J2h-4DR2DlW4QPHZR89jRClW3fZKbf3L0yQ1N7T7Z41M35CyW1xBt2G8XdLWSW5MmScl29chjsW5H7Vyv7-dgFRW6BSLK21XB85FN3XptcyqlX6-W6HpvVW6f2Zz9W13l1kY1GdXJgN7rj-MD-ZVYcW27VD8l17P2HgW5QBXWl3GbM8GW67bHsG8M-_QYW7CksWc8pn5YhW1_Vmll6-PbMBf1zp1CR11" target="_blank" title="">available in Spanish</a>. That’s the starting point for getting covered in 2019. But first, we have to make sure that everyone can still get covered in 2020. That means flipping Congress and that means GOTV now. <a href="https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/dailykos/" title="">Want to help Democrats vote but unsure how? Try this: click here, enter your zip code, and RSVP for a volunteer shift.</a> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018congress?=20181102JM2" title="">There's still time for your contribution to make a difference. Please give $1 to our Senate and House candidates and make Republicans pay for being lying liars.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) AffordableCareAct DonaldTrump HealthCare Obamacare OpenEnrollment Resistance Sabotage _1809438 Fri, 02 Nov 2018 19:54:45 +0000 Because of the ACA, I can walk. My Rep. Erik Paulsen knew that, and voted to repeal it anyway. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/5/1810065/-Because-of-the-ACA-I-can-walk-My-Rep-Erik-Paulsen-knew-that-and-voted-to-repeal-it-anyway <div class="dk-editor-embed facebook-embed-responsive center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder facebook dk-embed" href="//www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/AmericanProgressAction/videos/292185304724788/&show_text=0&width=560" data-frameborder="0" data-height="315" data-src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAmericanProgressAction%2Fvideos%2F292185304724788%2F&show_text=0&width=560" data-width="560">Facebook Content</a></div> When I was 25, my brain was falling out of my skull and my head was dislocating from my spine. I didn’t even know that could happen to a human body, and I certainly never thought it could happen to me. I’ve had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome my whole life, but when I started working for Minnesota’s Math Corps in 2011, I had no idea how severe my health had become. One day at work, my ankle suddenly gave out from underneath me and dislocated. All of the connective tissues in my body and autonomic nervous system were under attack and something was making it more severe. I was unable to walk and no one knew why. Soon, I was unable to work and had to leave my job, but I was determined to figure out what was happening to my body. Without the capability to work and afford health care, I applied for disability and promptly received a rejection letter saying that I was too young and too well-educated to truly be disabled. Luckily, that same year, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in Minnesota, which meant that people under 26 could be covered under their parents’ health insurance. Because I was 25, I was able to go back on my mother’s insurance. Now, I could afford a new and better doctor, who finally figured out what was going on with me. He diagnosed me with a rare condition called <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chiari-malformation/symptoms-causes/syc-20354010">Chiari Malformation</a>. The ligaments in my spine could not fully support my spine and parts of my brain were literally falling through a hole in my skull. Neurosurgeons were terrified to perform surgery on me. Stitching up my body was like stitching up butter. There was only one neurosurgeon who was willing to take this on, and he was on the other side of the country. Flights and lodging were hundreds of dollars, and my surgery cost tens of thousands. There was no way I could afford that out of pocket. But because of my mother’s health insurance, I could. When I arrived to meet with my neurosurgeon, he said, “I don’t know how you’re alive right now. We need to do surgery immediately.”. After the surgery , I was able to walk again. Without the ACA, I would not be walking today, and I would likely not be alive. In the spring of 2017, the Congressional Republicans began ramping up their efforts to <a href="http://www.healthreformtracker.org/ahca-timeline/">repeal the ACA</a>. I went to visit the office of representative Erik Paulsen to express my concern. Characteristic of Paulsen, he was not available to meet with a constituent, so I met with his staffer instead and shared my story. I asked how the GOP’s replacement of the ACA was going to protect me. His staffer exclaimed that Erik Paulsen is a Republican and Republicans voted for him, so he’s going to represent the red and not the blue. Myself and everyone else in the room gasped. I fired back with a truth that still stands today: “We live in a purple district.” Just a few months later on May 4, 2017, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/ahca-house-vote/?utm_term=.86accdd08b0d">Erik Paulsen voted to repeal the ACA</a>. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p0816-disability.html">1 in 4 Americans lives with disabilities and chronic health conditions</a>, and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2017/05/25/433017/cbo-derived-coverage-losses-state-congressional-district/">over 250,000 Minnesotans</a> in this district live with pre-existing conditions. So even though my condition may be rare, people having their lives turned upside-down by health problems is not. A Congressional representative is elected to represent an entire district, and health care impacts all of us in this district. I am a Minnesota native. I am a wife. I am a mother to a 10-month-old beautiful baby girl who, no matter what condition arises, deserves a bright future in this state we all call home. I am a constituent of representative Erik Paulsen, and I can confidently say that he prioritizes political power over people, and that will remain true so long as he remains in office. rss@dailykos.com (amandamagsam) 2018 Bloomington BlueWave Community Dayton Election Election2018 Elections GOTV Midterms Minnesota MN-03 Recommended Rescued RescuedtoRecommended _1810065 Mon, 05 Nov 2018 17:28:35 +0000 Criminal justice, marijuana, and the shape of the judiciary itself are on the ballot in these states https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1808856/-Criminal-justice-marijuana-and-the-shape-of-the-judiciary-itself-are-on-the-ballot-in-these-states The debate over criminal justice reform has been gaining steam across the country over the past decade. Against this backdrop, several states are voting on important ballot initiatives in November to either loosen or further restrict laws regarding sentencing, to curtail the war on drugs, and even to reshape the structure and composition of their own judicial systems. Two of the most important measures for reducing mass incarceration come in Florida and Louisiana, two states with high incarceration rates that disproportionately affect African Americans. Louisiana is one of just two states (along with Oregon) that still <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/article_159e7f5a-3459-11e8-b935-e7a91fc85713.html" target="_blank" title="">allows non-unanimous juries to convict people accused of felonies</a>, but Amendment 2 would end that practice and require jury unanimity. Florida’s Amendment 11 contains three unrelated provisions, but the most pertinent one would enable retroactive re-sentencing when criminal statutes are revised to lessen penalties, such as those making drug-related punishments less draconian. Relatedly, Ohio's Issue 1 would make all crimes related to simply using or possessing illegal drugs no more than misdemeanors, and it would bar courts from sending people on felony parole back to prison for non-criminal probation violations. Furthermore, it would incentivize inmates to partake in rehabilitative, work, or educational programs by rewarding them with the possibility of a reduced sentence, and all the savings from the measure would go toward drug-abuse treatment, rehab programs, and crime victims. In Colorado, voters could amend their constitution to close a loophole created by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While this amendment banned slavery, it still permits it when it’s a punishment for a criminal conviction, and Colorado’s constitution contains a similar provision. That exception has resulted in countless prisoners being <a href="https://www.appealpolitics.org/2018/amendment-a-co/" target="_blank" title="">forced to work for minimal pay</a>, and eliminating this loophole could aid lawsuits challenging such practices in the Centennial State. Four states are also deciding whether to loosen restrictions on marijuana usage, with Michigan and North Dakota voting on whether to fully legalize the drug, including for recreational usage. Polling <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Proposal_1,_Marijuana_Legalization_Initiative_(2018)#Polls" target="_blank" title="">has consistently shown Michigan's Proposal 1 passing</a>, but it's unclear if North Dakota’s far more conservative electorate is on board with full legalization yet. Meanwhile, Missouri and Utah will vote on legalizing medical marijuana. Missouri voters have to choose between <a href="https://info.umkc.edu/unews/three-missouri-ballot-initiatives-aim-to-legalize-medical-marijuana/" target="_blank" title="">three competing measures</a>: The two that are constitutional amendments would take precedence over the one that’s only a statute, but if both amendments pass, the one with more votes wins out. rss@dailykos.com (Stephen Wolf) 2018NovemberBallotMeasures BallotMeasures DKE Elections Florida Georgia Kentucky MARSYSLAW Nevada NorthCarolina Oklahoma _1808856 Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:00:31 +0000 There is a migrant crisis, and it's the children who continue to remain separated from parents https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1809057/-There-is-a-migrant-crisis-and-it-s-the-children-who-continue-to-remain-separated-from-parents There is an immigration crisis happening, but it’s the dozens of kidnapped migrant children who continue to remain under U.S. custody, in blatant violation of a federal judge’s reunification order. Thursday, November 1, marks 98 days since Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the Trump administration to reunite thousands of families torn apart at the southern border, yet 44 children continue to remain under U.S. custody, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808735/-Nearly-100-days-after-deadline-Trump-admin-discovers-another-14-separated-migrant-kids" target="_blank" title="">according to the most recent numbers</a> from the Trump administration. Of the kids eligible for reunification, <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1055704122320515072" target="_blank" title="">tweeted MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff,</a> the parents of 33 have already been deported. But even kids who are being moved for reunification continue to be traumatized. Earlier this month, officials <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ice-separated-children-central-america_us_5bc0b8bae4b0bd9ed559a75c?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004" target="_blank">returned</a> a 4 year old to her home country without first informing her parents. This is criminal, yet not one single high-level Trump official has been forced to resign or been punished for violating a federal judge’s court order. Unchecked by a Republican Congress, Donald Trump has only felt more emboldened, openly floating the possibility of instituting family separation 2.0, in response to his fake crisis and other anti-immigrant fearmongering. But the real crisis here are the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-tentcity/hundreds-of-migrant-children-held-in-u-s-tent-city-for-months-filings-idUSKCN1MX02F" target="_blank" title="">1,500 kids</a> languishing in a prison camp in the Texas desert, the overall record number of migrant kids the Trump administration has in detention, and the forgotten children who continue to remain separated from parents. Remember them, and vote. ”It's more important than ever this week to remember the children who have still not been reunited with their families after this administration separated them at the border months ago,” <a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1057997506326552578" target="_blank" title="">tweeted</a> former Secretary of State and 2016 popular vote winner Hillary Clinton. “Vote to repudiate this horrendous policy. Vote to reject the bigotry that led to it.” <a href="https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/dailykos/" title="">GET OUT THE VOTE to rebuke hate. GET OUT THE VOTE for migrant kids who need a voice. Just click here, enter your zip code, choose the event that works best for you, and RSVP to attend.</a> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018congress?refcode=20181017LC1" target="_blank" title="">Don't let up the pressure. Can you give $1 to Beto O’Rourke and other Daily Kos-endorsed candidates for the Senate and House</a>? rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Asylum AsylumSeekers Border Detention familyseparation Immigration Recommended StopSeparatingFamilies usmexicoborder _1809057 Thu, 01 Nov 2018 15:44:38 +0000 Here's where taxes, minimum wage increases, and paid sick leave are on the ballot in November https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/11/1/1808890/-Here-s-where-taxes-minimum-wage-increases-and-paid-sick-leave-are-on-the-ballot-in-November Several states and major cities are voting on important measures regarding taxes and labor next week, providing voters with opportunities to circumvent legislators who are hostile to making the rich pay their fair share or ensuring businesses properly compensate workers. On the minimum wage front, Arkansas Issue 5 would raise the wage to $11 per-hour by 2022, Missouri's Proposition B would increase it to $12 an hour by 2023, and populous Cook County, Illinois, which is home to Chicago, would establish a $13 minimum wage for adults. Those last two measures would even lock in future increases by indexing them for inflation. Cook County will also vote on whether to let municipalities require that companies offer five days of paid sick leave per year. Meanwhile, Maine voters could raise taxes to <a href="http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-maine-ballot-universal-home-health-care.html" target="_blank">pay for the country's first universal home-care program for the elderly and disabled</a>, which could serve as an example for other states to follow as the nation's population ages. Colorado, where it takes 55 percent to pass a measure, could finally replace its regressive flat income tax with a progressive structure to provide greater funding for education—an important development in a state where, since 1992, a "Taxpayers Bill of Rights" has limited the state government's ability to increase revenues. However, Republican activists and lawmakers have put measures on the ballot elsewhere that could have catastrophic consequences for progressives to be able to adequately fund services like education. Worst among these is Florida's Amendment 5, which would emulate California by requiring a two-thirds supermajority for the legislature to raise taxes and fees instead of a simple majority. Fortunately, this measure itself would need a 60 percent supermajority to pass. Relatedly, an Oregon initiative would extend the existing three-fifths supermajority requirement to raise taxes to any measures that increase revenue, and an Arizona measure would ban new or increased taxes on all services whatsoever. At the local level, dark-blue San Francisco, California <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Prop-C-would-raise-SF-s-gross-receipts-tax-13340814.php" target="_blank" title="">could impose a tax on corporations and big businesses</a> to fund services for the homeless amid the city's housing crisis. However, this measure <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Three-SF-elected-leaders-announce-opposition-to-13285614.php" target="_blank" title="">has divided Democrats</a>, some of whom argue it will hurt the city’s economy and make homelessness worse. Finally, one of the six deceptive amendments North Carolina Republicans have placed on the ballot related to taxes as well. This measure aims to <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article214823780.html" target="_blank" title="">lock in tax cuts the GOP passed for the rich</a>, which would badly undermine Democrats' ability to increase <a href="https://www.wral.com/nc-ranks-37th-in-nation-for-teacher-pay-39th-in-per-pupil-spending/17504331/" target="_blank">direly needed education funding and teacher pay</a> if they ever take control of state government. This amendment lowers the constitutional cap on the maximum income tax rate from 10 percent to 7 percent, but despite GOP arguments, it doesn't actually lower taxes, which the GOP already cut to 5.5 percent when they eliminated progressive tax brackets and instead <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article194532254.html" target="_blank" title="">raised regressive sales taxes and fees</a> several years ago. rss@dailykos.com (Stephen Wolf) 2018NovemberBallotMeasures Arizona Arkansas BallotMeasures California Colorado CookCountyIL DKE Elections Florida Labor Maine MinimumWage Missouri NorthCarolina Oregon PaidLeave SanFrancisco SanFranciscoCA Taxes _1808890 Thu, 01 Nov 2018 17:00:07 +0000 King compared immigrants to dogs, and Cruz still made him his 2016 presidential campaign co-chair https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/10/31/1808827/-King-compared-immigrants-to-dogs-and-Cruz-still-made-him-his-2016-presidential-campaign-co-chair Ted Cruz “stopped short of repudiating” close ally Steve King for <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/17/1805075/-White-supremacist-Steve-King-endorses-Canadian-mayoral-candidate-who-once-appeared-on-neo-Nazi-show" target="_blank">his recent endorsement</a> of a neo-Nazi sympathizer <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iowa-rep-steve-king-austria-white-nationalist_us_5bca4851e4b0a8f17eec6001" target="_blank">and a white supremacist interview </a>this past summer, instead spouting off a half-assed tsk-tsk, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/10/31/ted-cruz-stops-short-condemning-steve-king-racist-retweeting-neo-nazi-endorsing-white-supremacist" target="_blank">Dallas News reports.</a> "It's disappointing,” Cruz said. “He's saying and doing things that are dividing us, that are pulling us apart. We need to be finding ways to come together. This is a very polarized time and I do think tone and rhetoric matter. The way you address issues matter.” No, getting to a movie 10 minutes late is disappointing. Getting to your favorite restaurant only to see it’ll be an hour wait is disappointing. Endorsing a neo-Nazi sympathizer who “explicitly recited white supremacist slogan The 14 Words (‘We must secure the existence of our people and a future for WHITE children’)” on an extremist radio show should earn you a permanent shunning from society and expulsion from your caucus, but Cruz has shown he’ll tolerate just about anything from his old buddy. In fact, Ted tolerated quite a bit from King already, because by the time Cruz had made King the national co-chair of his ill-fated 2016 presidential campaign, King had already <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/21/steve-king-immigrants-dogs_n_1998007.html" target="_blank">compared</a> immigrants to dogs and then claimed he meant it as a compliment (2012), claimed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients have “calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert” (2013), and <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/steve-king-racist-obama-cartoon-crusades" target="_blank">tweeted</a> a racist cartoon featuring Barack Obama in a turban (2015). This is who Steve King has always been, and Ted Cruz knew that before he made him his campaign co-chair, and he knew that today, when he failed to fully repudiate a known racist for advocating for white supremacy. Shit, butter has been more forceful than Ted Cruz, after Land O’Lakes <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/30/1808455/-Yet-another-big-company-drops-financial-support-for-racist-Iowa-Republican-congressman" target="_blank">announced</a> it was ending financial support for King. While King could still return to the House next year, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808595/-Morning-Digest-Steve-King-may-finally-pay-the-price-for-ignoring-his-district-for-white-nationalism" target="_blank">a new poll</a> has him ahead of his <a href="https://twitter.com/Scholten4Iowa/status/1057501749181865984" target="_blank">Democratic opponent, J.D. Scholten,</a> by just one point, leading Daily Kos Elections to move the race from Safe Republican to <a href="https://elections.dailykos.com/app/elections/2018/office/house/state/IA/district/04">Likely Republican</a>. <a href="https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/dailykos/" title="">Let’s dethrone King and Ted Cruz once and for all by volunteering to get out the vote for Democrats. Click here, enter your zip code, choose the event that works best for you, and RSVP to attend.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) 2018Election badhombres Election2018 SteveKing TedCruz _1808827 Wed, 31 Oct 2018 19:29:00 +0000