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As was pointed out on Chris Hayes' show tonight, Biden would have a much better chance of actually seeing his proposed court reforms happen if the number of justices on the court was expanded first. Not doing so means that the inevitable challenges to those items, were they passed, would go to the Supreme Court where three members of the conservative majority are the people the reforms are aimed at - if anyone thinks they would say "yeah, that's all constitutional" please tell me how it is you still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Biden is too much of an institutionalist to ever admit that a radical situation with a radical problem requires a radical solution. (That's not a diss of Joe, it's a recognition of how the man proceeds)

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President Biden's omission of the fourth alternative (expansion) doesn't preclude it after we win the presidency, both houses of Congress, and many governorships and state legislatures. The three he listed are perhaps the least controversial (to most), and the most energizing to Democrats.

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If term limits were enacted, would any justice who has served longer than 18 years come off the court?

By the way, a number of states have supreme courts that are elected, Wisconsin and NC come to mind. I see no difference in how the elected courts operate and how the current radical court that has shredded the rule of law for their own religious views operates.

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I hope they would come off the court. 18 years is 18 years.

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Yes but I have wondered if it would be retroactive. If you have done something that breaks a law that was not on the books when you did it, that isn't retroactively enforced, so I hope any term limits do specify they are retroactive. That would be fought tooth and nail by the current court, which would only be countered by an expanded court.

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I think the idea is to ignore the current SCOTUS and insist that Congress do their job. Let us look at one of my elected representatives Dick Durban. He is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have written him numerous times asking him to start impeachment hearings on Alito and Thomas. He just is tone deaf. He is going to sit on that powerful chair and get nothing done. I view him as an obstruction. He has not even published the Code of Conduct yet. If he cannot get this done, he should pass it on to someone who can. At least AOC is trying to get it started, which puts it in the spotlight. The media has lazily just focused on Biden's age for the past year, and now they are being forced to cover something else. With Biden putting a spotlight on it, he is helping this along. The media has to cover him talking about this, and talking about his age will be irrelevant. They also have to talk about Harris because she is saying things, and they certainly don't want to cover Trump because they are apparently all afraid to. Or, they are forever Trumpers. Either one makes them useless. So, Biden takes this on and it has to be discussed so lets hope that they also discuss that the court is fascist and is not following the constitution.

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AOC is fabulous, in my mind! The future looks bright! Too bad we are living in the present!

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Yehawes: Yes … it might be opposed as an ex post facto law.

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I doubt that, but it would be awesome. I think it would apply to those justices that are added.

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I wonder if this is a strategy of Biden’s. Start the conversation of reform with the least radical to get the people onboard and in support. Then, when the Republicans in the House kill it on arrival, Kamala can start pushing for expansion after she is elected and the Dems control both chambers of Congress.

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Oh, I am probably overly sensitive to Joe diss, but even I always said one of the three things I was / am most unhappy with him over is the way he lets tradition and a strange aversion to large changes drag his policies down when they need to sprint or nimbly leap. Yes, enlarge that court! If anyone anywhere thinks any real change can come with a new president, house and senate DEM majority without an enlarged court then they have not been paying attention. We already have a dictatorship by panel of six which rules over all.

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Yehawes, we have moved on from those attitudes by his giving way to Kamala Harris. There are positive signs of her having different, more modern ideas than Joe Biden. As others have said in these comments today, we don't know what she will do when she is President.

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What? I'm just saying I too hope they enlarge the court, feel like it's vital, and although I know that with this House and SCOTUS it's unlikely to happen, it's nevertheless vital. I am agreeing it isn't dissing Biden but that I've been disappointed in slow movement that should have happened when it could (his first two years) - no two people align perfectly on everything so there are a few places I have had disappointments. I'm sharing my belief it's not dissing Biden as our current and most recent past president to say so, and I hold his person and accomplishments dear. None of that takes anything away from Kamala Harris if that's what you mean.

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In my opinion, go slow on reforming SCOTUS. Focus on winning the election!

Okay, revamping SCOTUS might be brought up (warning: many voters may be put off), but any more than that will sap energy from soundly defeating DFT.

Focus focus focus!

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I agree. One giant leap at a time, Folks!

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:-)

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My concern is if TFG loses, he'll push it up to SCOTUS and the RW majority will say he won REGARDLESS of the actual numbers of Kamala's win. They're that corrupt.

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I think that’s been in the back of many of our minds.

People’s mistrust of this SCOTUS is that deep.

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He's always been pretty vocal about not believing in expanding the court.

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IMO for the average person, Joe the Plumber, Project 2025 is an abstraction ( as is democracy, fascism, authoritarianism, etc. ) just more talking about stuff to scare people and they don’t get scared cause it doesn’t hit them in a scary way.

I suggest saying the scary stuff it in a very simple way.

THE GOP HAS PLANS TO RUN YOUR LIFE. ASK ABOUT IT.

THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THEM IS TO VOTE BLUE.

and while your talking to people remind them that when Melania had a baby Donald had sex with Stormy D and then paid $130,000 and committed 34 felonies to hide it from the voters because he knew women voters won’t stand for that. That hasn’t changed. It’s important to remind voters of this.

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According to WSJ editorial ,”Trump buries Project 2025” and “policy-focused work will come to an end”. NO, AND P2025 is happening NOW !

I’ve been sharing this letter widely and it was also published as a Letter To Ed. Others can use as a template. If you live in a “test case” state, customize and fill in how P2025 is happening NOW !!! I could have gone on and on about Florida….sigh, but people have short attention spans.🛑 PROJECT 2025🛑

A recent article spoke of our state as being a test case for Project 2025.

Florida has a draconian six-week abortion ban and a governor fighting the citizen-led ballot initiative ,Amendment 4 ,for reproductive rights.

Florida has school vouchers, with the majority (81%) used for those attending private, religious schools that have no requirements for teacher certification and school accreditation.

Florida has legislation that deletes most reference to climate change from state law.

Florida has “anti-woke” legislation championed by those such as the Spring Hill Florida Representative who declared on the House floor ,“Our terrorist enemies hate homosexuals more than we do.”

Project 2025 is not an “idea”. It is 920-page blueprint for a radical reshaping of our country.

Your vote is your voice. It’s Democracy versus Autocracy and White “Christian” Nationalism on the ballot.

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Florida, under DeSantis, has been front running Project 2025. Take, for example, the Chris Ruffo driven conversion of New College. It's their Petrie Dish.

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Project 2025 is not buried; it's not dead; it's not even on life support. It's just behind a curtain getting a costume change. Paul Dans is a scapegoat for Republican Project 2025. He was fired, but guaranteed, he will make an appearance somewhere else in MAGA world.

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founding

Agree!

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Here is how Andra Watkins has said it in her Substack titled How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life. https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/

It explains the difference between the End of World beliefs of the Christian Nationalists vs. The New Apostolic Republic (Alito, Mike Johnson) sees it. Given that we have members of the NAR in Congress and SCOTUS, we have to be concerned that they are charged with forcing their religious beliefs on all of us because that is the only way that they get the earth ready for God! They are supposed to do this with everyone on the planet. An impossible task I might add, unless all of the other despotic leaders want to give up porno too. I also appreciate her clarifying how churches that get tax exemption are teaching racist ideas like this on called Christian Nationalists and The Curse of Ham. And no, it is not about eating too much pork. https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/christian-nationalists-and-the-curse

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Why is it still even close? look at their candidates, their records their proposals. Why is it even close?

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founding
Jul 31·edited Jul 31

The polls tell us it's close because it serves the media's need for an equal-weight "polarized" horse race. I don't believe we are that divided as a nation, actually. MAGA's are louder and more obnoxious than normal voters, so their outrageousness draws "ink." They have outsized play. It's "man bites dog," writ large and to our general detriment.

Robert is right; we show our might by showing up in November. It is up to each one of us, however we engage, to continue this democratic experiment. Volunteer, donate and vote - the winning trifecta 🩵

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Agree, Sheila !!! If you look at my neighborhood of almost 800, you would think Trump was leading by a landslide with all the Trump 🪧🪧🪧🪧and 🚩🚩🚩🚩. I like to take it as a sign of desperation as more go up this week.

I know I sound like a broken record, but come on people !! We are still the ONLY blue house.I know some in my Today’s Edition community and beyond are showing support.💙

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Thanks for your unwavering example for the rest of us. On Saturday I went to the local grower’s market. Still unsure of the “temperature” of the folks there, I wore a fairly benign t-shirt recognizing the 100+ years of women’s voting rights. I had someone come up to me to talk about democrats here and she also alerted me to a local race that needs support. Next week I’ll wear my cat lady for Harris” shirt. 😻

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founding

You go, Annette!!

🩵🩵🩵

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💙 it, Annette !!!

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Because there are too many people who are not hearing the facts about this election. They are being lied to by their news sources and by their networks. In that regard, the documentary Bad Faith (on amazon prime), really helped me understand how much power is behind this MAGA movement. The conservative christian churches in this country are pushing this christian nationalist philosophy from the top down, and have been doing so for years. I have a good friend that dropped me a few years ago (she was my bridesmaid) and I now realize it was because she has been infused with the "mega-church'" BS and I am the satanic enemy. It's very strange but there it is...she used to be a liberal but married an evangelical and her roots were evangelical...so she was piulled into it s she raised her daughters. It's sad and scary. We must win big this year.

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Among other things, it's the structure of the Electoral College. Remember, Hillary won the popular vote in 2016. We're not worried about California. We're very worried about NC, MI, WI, IA, PA, NV, and FL.

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Take your pick:

Polls do not take into account the newly registered when looking for "voters" to survey.

Older, more conservative voters are more likely to pick up the phone and take a poll.

Some polls are still "land-line" only which is biased towards older and/or more rural voters.

Right-wing news organizations are flooding the zone with biased polls which impacts the average.

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Right. And who answers these phone calls? The over 70 crowd most likely.

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Because this country is polarized.

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You spelled stupid wrong.

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Lauren, why close?, because “opinion reporters at the major news sources”

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To think that Trump is even so close to a possible second term after January 6th is mind boggling. The problem is not him , it’s “We the People”. How have we become such an ignorant and hateful nation? It defies any sense of principle, ethics and citizenship. Thanks Robert and Jill for your essential advocacy!

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BANNON: Flood the zone with sh!t.

D VOTERS: Flood the zone with Kamala.

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Regarding turnout, I’d like to suggest making a donation to the Blue Surge turnout fund @ Force Multiplier. (see ‘Empower Voters’ at forcemultiplierus.org). Or one can register & attend the August 7th event - Heather Cox Richardson will be speaking. Donations support the Blue Surge turnout fund. It seems like the right way to turnout voters.

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Contributed and signed up for Heather Cox Richardson zoom call too ❤️👍😍

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founding

It struck me when I read this line “a conservative think-tank in D.C” that another way to shape the narrative is to stop calling HF “conservative.” Nothing conservative about them. They are Radical Right Wingers advertising their intent to utterly demolish America’s Democratic political/social traditions. Wrecking things is the exact opposite of “conserving” things.

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I highly recommend Heather Cox Richardson’s books “How the South Won the Civil War” and “To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party” for a deeper dive into these issues. Also, Kevin Kruse’s book “One Nation Under God” delves into how an alliance of business leaders, in opposition to FDR, created the myth that the founders wanted a Christian nation. The short answer: they did not. All three of these books offer profound insight into how we got here.

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Also: Prof. Nancy MacLean's "Democracy in Chains" (2017)

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Another good book (audio version excellent) for a summer read: American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy by David Corn.

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I concur. If folks recall they wrote this new election law for the GA state legislature.

In this 'secret' meeting, the speaker acknowledges that Biden won, but they would ensure this would never happen again.

GA was a test case which they had been planning on repeating in a series of other (primarily Southern I believe) states.

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I disagree - since Reagan (and even Nixon) came to power, conservatism has meant the same thing. Reagan said "I believe in states rights" before that was even a widely used term at the time. The only difference is that the country was very different politically, but in 40 years, the conservatives gained much more power, allowing them to continue, but they've always been radicals, and yes, political conservatives.

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Reagan's "states rights" endorsement was a dog whistle to the former Confederate states where folks felt the states should decide on slavery.

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“States’ rights” goes back to 1860: the states who seceded from the Union viewed themselves as independent actors. Southerners called the resulting war “The War Between the *States*” (not the Civil War).

Southern racist, segregationist opponents to school integration alleged that “states’ rights” overrode national priorities.

So when Ronald Reagan (and Nixon, in an attenuated way) argued for ”states’ rights” it rightfully disturbed people because it threatened to bring the US far back, toward bad old days.

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Project 2025 Director Steps Down: Who are the dozens of Trump associates still working on Project 2025? Check this interactive relationship map.

https://thedemlabs.org/2024/07/30/paul-dans-project-2025-director-steps-down-who-are-the-dozens-of-trump-associates-still-working-on-it/

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founding

And where does Paul Gans land next? Hmmmm 🧐

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I think his stepping down is meaningless. His role was to coordinate the policy roadmap which is Project 2025. That part is now done. Now they’re moving into the next 2 phases of implementation : hiring people to fill all the loyalist positions they’re creating, and training. It hasn’t gone anywhere. They published the policy part, but the rest they’re keeping secret.

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founding

Last night I was on a phone bank for the DNC. Shortly before it started, I got an email that it was over-subscribed, and not everyone would get in. During the event, the organizers said that 10 times as many people had signed up as were expected. For comparison, at the phone bank I was on last week, there were about 125 callers. Last night, I saw there were more than 700 when I looked at one point. We must have been calling registered Democrats, because everyone i spoke to was a certain vote for Kamala, and a fair number were interested in volunteering. The enthusiasm—and the hope—were enormous.

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Jon, thanks for sharing. We need to multiply this force. See Force Multiplier. And there are so many other groups doing great work. The key is that now we are moving in upthe same direction. Elect Kamala Harris and Democrats down ballot. Engergize Democrats in the state raises to upballot for VP Harris. Hit 'em high, hit 'em low.

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Re polls: So we had a headline yesterday citing a Reuters Ipsos poll that Harris and Trump are tied, but when you read just one paragraph into the article, there’s this:

Reuters and Ipsos’s latest poll was conducted among 1,025 adults, including 876 registered voters

So the whole poll is based on just 1000 adults and not all of them are even registered. How could anybody take that seriously?

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There is a tremendous body of mathematical studies that demonstrates that polling a *random sample* of ~1000 people produces a result that is 3-4 percent accurate (details depend on the specifics of the sample). I realize that it may seem counterintuitive, but in fact it’s been thoroughly accepted by mathematicians for decades.

Now, the question turns to whether polls we read about in media conform to the requirements of the random sampling that I tried to describe. In my opinion, almost all – perhaps *all* — don’t meet the requirements.

I’ll leave it there because I and others discussed the issue several times in individual Hubbell posts, and because I think this isn’t the time and place to recapitulate those discussions.

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Michael - it’s beyond counterintuitive to poll people who aren’t even registered. That doesn’t make any sense.

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I have an interview today with Progressive Turnout Project and Revolution Field Strategies to spend a week in Pennsylvania as a door-knocker. It's the closest swing state to my home in Massachusetts. Bring it on!

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The big news in Pennsy;tucky is that Rep Mike Kelly was caught on tape: Former Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro and a Trump campaign staffer, G. Michael Brown, were caught on camera handing fake elector documents from Washington and Michigan to aides of Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania on January 5. The big issue is whether Kelly lied to the FBI. He has at least two open ethics charges against him on other matters. https://newrepublic.com/post/184350/new-january-6-tapes-mike-kelly

You would think this would be headlines, but is buried in the Pgh and Erie papers.

FT6 spent the last several days sending texts into Pa for Casey. According to the Susquehanna poll, Harris and Casey are way up but Pa was lost in 2016 and needs attention, especially in WPa. Please partner with FT 6.

https://www.fieldteam6.org/

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I was there sending texts to PA and OH! It’s a pretty easy task and they have good training. They answer your questions very quickly. And there are many more sessions a planned throughout the summer. I’ll be there as often as I can!

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I’m sorry if you texted me inPA. I’m getting a gazillion texts every day so have reluctantly gone from just deleting them to sending “ stop” messages back. Maybe it stops those numbers from texting, but I feel like the sorcerer’s apprentice - each one stopped multiplies into 20 new ones!

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Robbie, hurray for you. Doing the work. How can we support the h

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(cut off) hiring of more workers and supporting volunteers -- I assume donations to Progressive Turn Out and Fieldteam6. Are there other ways?

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I'm not certain, Patrick, but I assume donations is correct. Door-knockers are paid positions; I'll use the money to fund a hotel for the week.

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Thanks for the response. I am an aging person with questionable hearing so I judge that I wouldn't be an effective door knocker, but I can send money, write cards and letters -- which I am doing -- and cheer on you and the hundreds of others who are doing the good work on he ground. I am mightily impressed.

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It's takes a village. ❤️

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So I saw the following on Occupy Democrats. It struck a cord w me. Especially after hearing all the blather from Vance and how he now thinks Trump is a good family man. "One thing about my marriage is it's never involved paying hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse. So if they wanna debate family values? Let's debate family values. I'm ready. -Pete Buttigieg"

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About the polls: my quick research says the poll numbers are selected randomly with an equal # of cell and landlines. My question is: who answers these calls? Most people I know don't even have landlines anymore, but like cell phones, the caller's # is identified and who picks up unknown numbers as they are most likely scam calls? Only lonely people who don't get many calls and are happy to talk with anyone? Seriously, no one discusses who is actually being polled and how.

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They also use "opt-in sampling", where respondents are recruited from social media or banner ads(!). Needless to say, this method comes with many downsides: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/03/05/online-opt-in-polls-can-produce-misleading-results-especially-for-young-people-and-hispanic-adults/

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Jul 31Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

I've begun phone banking with the DNC. I can't believe how fired up the Dems I am calling are! Many of the calls are answered by folks saying "I already donated" and then we continue to talk about how they can join in further by door knocking, calling, postcarding etc.

It's so easy to phone or text bank, and the one glitch I had was pleasantly and quickly resolved by another volunteer.

Kamala talked about 'community' in Atlanta. I feel it. Energized and IN for the long haul.

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Jul 31Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Regarding media reports on Harris, I sent the following email to the WPost reporters who covered the Harris rally in Atlanta:

"This story seems tilted toward Trump. Why only interview people at a Trump rally for a story on a Harris rally? Particularly since the Harris rally was much bigger and featured the actual candidate. Also, why no mention of the many policy points she made in the speech, including on immigration and presidential immunity? Why no mention of the hundreds of thousands of people watching the Twitter livestream? Enthusiasm for Harris is a huge story, and you guys are missing it."

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Jul 31Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Yesterday a family member sent me a clip of Rachael Maddow where trump has been telling his supporters that "you don't need to vote", "I don't need your vote". Then she says he thinks he doesn't have to have to win the election to take power.

Then she sites a Rolling Stone article that outlines 70 election officials in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania who are committed election denialists. They have been put in position to make sure the election results, no matter what they are, do not get certified in those states.

I don't understand how this can be a viable plan for them. If they don't certify what the voters have elected, where do we stand? If this drags on, does Joe Biden remain President until it gets sorted out? How do we keep this from happening? Will great numbers going to the polls to vote have a chance at blowing past this as a possibility for creating post election chaos?

Looking for someone to talk me off the ledge here.....

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-swing-state-officials-election-deniers-1235069692/

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author

The Electoral Count Reform Act permits candidates to file suits in federal court over anyone who refuses to certify the vote. A three judge panel with one district judge and two appellate judges, with immediate review by the Supreme Court. The ECRA provides that all of this must be done on an expedited basis to all for the January 6 count of electoral ballots in Congress. So election deniers can try to refuse to certify the vote, but the courts will order them to certify.

While it is appropriate to raise the alarm, it is irresponsible to fail to discuss the remedy that Congress just passed in 2022 to prevent precisely this type of tactic.

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“Will great numbers going to the polls to vote have a chance at blowing past this as a possibility for creating post election chaos?”

Lynn, my simple answer is YES !! GOTV so Harris has a blowout. This is not going to be Bush V. Gore. They want us to be paralyzed with fear so we won’t take action.

Watch this great new Harris “ad”, an updated version of the well-known Avengers movie clip to be inspired : https://x.com/yourlittldogtwo/status/1816219541313077596

💙

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SCOTUS said the President can do illegal things without being held accountable. So yes, Biden can rightly stay in power after Jan 6 until all the election issues are resolved. And that Maddow episode also said "they" are working on foiling MAGAs plans behind the scenes right now. Don't worry about that, help turn out the vote!

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HCR commented on this in her weekly "talk" on Facebook Tuesday. It seems to be a looming possibility.

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OK, I should have listened to Resistance Live last night before fretting about this. Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin explains here (at 9:50) how this is corporate journalism being driven by clicks for profit. There are legal remedies available to certify election results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVW2PXbcdA0

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Did not Congress pass a law against this

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author

Yes! Exactly! The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022! Provides for expedited review in federal court of people who refuse to certify, with immediate review by the Supreme Court on an expedited basis so that the electoral count can take place on January 6.

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