Want some good news in advance of Election Day? Steven Rosenfeld writes that "In Virginia, Organizers Are Turning Out Overlooked Voters of Color," namely, "in cities and rural areas where voters whom political insiders do not expect to turn out reside." How? By addressing a community's "pain points" (i.e., those issues where folks are really hurting, like hunger and homelessness), by doing a lot more listening than proselytizing, and by concentrating on issues relating to those pain points instead of candidates. Result: early voting among folks of color is presently much, much higher in rural areas than in urban or suburban ones. Of course, if Mr. McAuliffe wins this race, right-wingers will attack this very phenomenon when they claim the race was "stolen." But this is how we should win elections.
Sarah Mimms at BuzzFeed finds at least a dozen January 6 "protestors" are on the ballot tomorrow. If there are any non-partisan voters left, they should all reject these candidates' assertions that they were just at the Capitol but not part of the breach, or just at the rally but not at the Capitol, as if they just had no idea what was about to happen -- or what right-wing social media "influencers" wanted to happen. Certainly statements like "I don't know what constitutes the Capitol grounds" should set off their BS detectors.
When I hear that Amazon has told independent sellers who use the Amazon marketplace (and comprise most of its revenue!) that impending legislation could "force" Amazon to shut it all down, I ask myself how do our bold entrepreneurs ever do anything? Oh, right -- by necessity. If Amazon shuts down its marketplace, there'll still be an internet, and people will still find a way (or ten) to sell their stuff. I'm also reminded, of course, that big corporations always whine and take hostages at the prospect of government telling them to stop hurting people.
Uh oh: Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) called his brother-in-law the very same day he dumped $1.6 million in stock mere days before the COVID-related stock market crash of 2020 -- and his brother-in-law dumped between $97,000 and $280,000 worth of his own shares not even one minute after the call concluded. Mr. Burr also had, per our Securities and Exchange Commission, "material nonpublic information regarding the incoming economic impact of coronavirus," and how did he use this information? By reassuring the public at large, while warning social club attendees that the pandemic would actually be quite dire. Mr. Burr will not seek re-election in 2022, suggesting he might actually be capable of shame.
In case you were wondering, folks are going on strike a lot lately because of bad pay and working conditions, not because of vaccine mandates. That couldn't be because our "liberal" media (not just Fox News!) constantly yammers on about workers wanting to quit or saying they'll quit over vaccine mandates that hadn't even gone into force, could it? Why, yes, it could. It could also be because unions have been trying to negotiate issues caused by mandates, such as sick leave issues; our "liberal" media ain't exactly doing a bang-up job covering those, either. All that does is help Republicans win offices they don't deserve to win.
Finally, Kyrsten Sinema still has a few defenders, including the ones who tell us she's really committed to "bipartisanship" as the best way to ensure "sturdier, long-term legislative solutions for everyday people as opposed to short-term partisan victories that have a tendency to be wiped out in a new majority just a couple of years down the road," in her spokeshack's words. Three objections: one, how does that apply to working on a bill exclusively with your own party? Two, if you dedicate yourself to "bipartisanship," the other side can just say no to everything all the time, and pull you in their direction -- as they just did with the "bipartisan" "infrastructure" "deal" she supposedly "negotiated," where Republicans said no to every proposed corporate tax hike and tax hike on the rich. And three, making "negotiating with the other side" the center of your philosophy is offensive when the only folks you're supposed to "negotiate" with, as a Senator, are your constituents. We have power, after all, and disappearing us from the conversation disrespects us. After all, who saved the Affordable Care Act from being "wiped out"? We did -- not the politicians addicted to "bipartisanship."
Comments