For Americans living abroad, please read this note from Laura Mosedale:
Dear Robert
A Time reporter came to the Democrats Abroad UK campaign office in London this week and covered what our committed group of volunteers is doing. Could you please publicize this in your newsletter and remind all of your readers who live outside the US or know people who do: our votes matter and our votes are counted! And itโs not too late for many of us to vote.
Key states (including AZ, NC) allow voters outside the country to request their ballots by email up until Election Day and thirty states allow for some form of electronic ballot return (fax, email, online upload). Many states that require ballots to be returned by postal mail have extended deadlines to receive them. Voters outside the country can also use an emergency backup ballot to vote if they requested but have not received their ballots. All information on ballot request, state deadlines and more on votefromabroad.org
We voted from Wales last week. Dual citizens both. I would encourage other Americans nearby but I am the only Yank that I know of in my rural costal town. I heard there is an elderly lady from Seattle in the next village. I will see if I can find herโฆ 2 days to vote and every one counts.
So many vintage hats to wear โ so little time to wear them. My mother inherited $2000 during the depression and bought a grand piano, stylish blouses and hats, lots of hatsโฆ itโs in the blood. .
My husband, a dual citizen living in Canada, voted yesterday. Blue all the way. So happy he could do his part! Every vote counts. Donโt waste this opportunity.
My daughter voted from Paris. Sheโs a Texas resident. I told a friend who has contacted her granddaughter, an NC resident, who is in school in Germany. Hopefully sheโll get her vote in on time. Wonderful organization!
Very efficient getting the ballot from Massachusetts. We live in Nova Scotia, Canada. My husband requested it by email late in the afternoon. Received it by email before noon the next day. Filled it in and emailed it back before 1:00pm that same day. The whole procedure took about 19 hours with an overnight included in that time! Of course he is a registered voter. This voting process is a thing of beauty!
Laura, thank you for bringing this important pool of voters to Robert's attention. More politicians at state and national level need to reach out to these voters.
I voted from Ecuador last month. The ballot was online. Checked straight Democratic, submitted and followed up the following week to make sure it was accepted. Easy-peasy!! Which state you ask? South Carolina.
Here is an interesting article about voting from abroad that came to my attention this morning.
My first thought usually is โdonโt โTHEYโ have Grandchildren????!!!โ (How could THEY not do everything in their power to combat Climate Catastrophe/prevent War ++++).
My first GranBaby arrives in March and my daughter shared today โItโs A Girlโ ๐ฅฐ
ROCK THE VOTE cuz our Kids/Grands futures depend on it ๐บ๐ธ
Congratulations! Iโm fighting for my 4yo grandson. His Vietnamese grandmother escaped the fall of Saigon, his mother was born in Ohio. Where will he escape to? I must stand between him and that possibility.
I have 2 sisters with kids/grandkids and am amazed that they don't fight tooth and nail to keep our democracy and planet safe and thriving for their offspring. Why do I with no kids care more than they do? Makes no sense to me. ๐ฅ
Robert, you (along with Dan, Heather, Jessica, and all those groups you all link us to) have built a MIGHTY force, and we will indeed "leave nothing on the field" on November 8. One important thing that the last five years have taught us is that Democracy requires constant work - - we have seen what happens if we don't stay vigilant. We'll remember that, no matter what happens next week.
I agree. I too thought I knew a lot about this era. The recent documentary by Ken Burns about the U.S. and the Holocaust really opened my eyes as well! For the life of me, I simply cannot understand the hatred of Jewish people. A friend of mine said itโs simply because Christians believe the Jews killed Jesus Christ. Is it really that simple? I admit my own naivety on the subject. Please enlighten me.
Lots of Jews are very successful, coming from an intellectual and social tradition that values achievement.
Lots of life's losers have trouble dealing with successful people. (That's something you don't have to be Jewish to have to deal with - the jealousy of morons - trust me on that)
Hi, Rita, Thank you for a question that needs to be asked over and over. Anti-Semitism, of course, isn't "simply" anything, but at its core are the Christian scriptures--a few specific passages and a nearly unlimited supply of misinterpretations. It is the foundational bigotry of Western culture and when there is an upsurge of any other, whether against immigrants or the LGBTQ community or any other group, it rears its hideous head. We have not been rid of it since Paul went on his self-appointed mission as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Sorry to be so long-winded but it's an important subject and I'm a cradle Episcopalian
I read a hopeful article on the possible undercount of Gen. Z (the under 25-year-olds). The group's registration for this election went up from a bare minimum some years ago to just over 30% in 2022. Not surprisingly, after the Dobbs decision, there was a surge of young women, who are frightened that a pregnancy with medical problems could cost them their health..
Pollsters, however, have been hesitant to include them because many are college kids who have address problems (dorms may not have a room number) or who may be registered at their home address and have to travel and miss classes on election day, which falls during the school term. Also, they are generally less reliable than their grandparents, who show up at the polls like Old Faithful.
Still, in a close election, they could make a big difference. Fingers crossed.
I am cautiously hopeful. As a practicing Jew, I light Shabbat candles every Friday night. My prayers have been my normal ones to โHashemโ, however I have added a prayer every week for DEMOCRACY to prevail in our great country. So much damage has been done by the GOP. They are unrecognizable. They have become a party of hate and violence and seem to revel in it!
G-D help us all if they gain control. We will need it!
Robert, thank you for mentioning Americans living abroad and how their votes can help. I belong to the Democrats Abroad Chapter here in Queensland, Australia, that has been working hard to get out the vote among US citizens working and living here.
There are Dems Abroad chapters in countries all over the world and many politicians in the US overlook this pool of potential voters. There are some 9 million Americans currently living abroad and many of us vote.
I so appreciate the wisdom and calm that you bring every morning. Democracy, Truth, Social Justice and Building Community is a daily task, built brick by brick, and you remind us of this.
Last night PBS broadcast a concert of the New York Philharmonic opening the new Geffen Concert Hall in Lincoln Center, featuring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. A friend had suggested I listen when we had lunch. Oh, my -- that chunk of inspiration is such a glorious reminder that art, hope, and aspiration are what we really crave. It was a fantastic performance by all -- including women instrumentalists allowed to wear any color, not just black, and a quartet of interracial singers who amplified by their presence the rainbow of performers in the orchestra and chorus -- Asian, African-American, blondes and brunettes, almost all ages, playing TOGETHER in this glorious cascade of sound. The libretto -- the Ode to Joy -- is rightly counted among the glories of the Enlightenment. I am certain it will be re-broadcast and find its way to You Tube -- do listen, wherever you live, let it fill your lungs and heart with hope. As I head off to Western Pennsylvania tomorrow to help staff the call in center for voter protection -- non-PA residents are not allowed to be in-person poll watchers -- I will keep some of the fragments of those sounds playing in my head: all men will be brothers. Exactly. My best to all of us, the expats abroad, the door bell pushers and phone callers and post card writers and check senders and poll workers. Whatever Tuesday (more likely Wednesday because of the mail ballots) brings, it is a way station on a long journey to perfect the ideals to which we are committed. God bless the United States of America.
Here's a very encouraging link to an interview on a Meidas Touch podcast of Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic policy strategist, with compelling evidence supporting my hunch for some time that there is going to be a surprising blue wave next Tuesday.
Rosenberg says there has been a very unusual proliferation of Republican-leaning polls in the last many weeks by new, inexperienced pollsters. He says that red narrative started last spring and has been perpetuated by the media to support pollsters' and pundits' early and incorrect predictions. His evidence of a consistent, sustaining uptick of Democratic support nationwide is based on analysis of early voting data. He claims Democratic turnout is ahead by several digits, compared to last time, even in battleground red states, and among young voters, who could make the difference. He claims exit polls by the New York Times and others in the last few days correlate with his data. His advice in the next few days is to be positive and actively get out the vote.
While I put little stock in exit polls, his early voting data sounds convincing. I fervently hope he is right!
Iโm a skeptical scientist. My skepticism includes โscientificโ polling, which I consider pseudo-scientific (however, theyโre just about all we have).
Consider pollsโ built-in defects. First, theyโre nor built on genuinely random samples, because they often are based on calls to cell phones, not all phones. Many people refuse to answer pollstersโ questions, among other reasons, because one doesnโt know whether the caller is truly who (s)he says (s)he is. Therefore margins of error, are flawed, since theyโre based on assumptions of randomness.
Non-randomness and other problems sometimes cause pollsters to make โstatisticalโ adjustments to the raw results. Whether those adjustments are well conceived and in good faith is open to question. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera (with apologies to the King in โThe King and Iโ).
We mustnโt dismiss poll results, but, in my opinion, must bear in mind that their results are not holy writ.
Thanks for the perspective on randomness. A sample based on people who still use their landlines and are willing to respond to a 20 minute phone interview is not a random sample.
Although the details of todayโs surveys and the infamous 1936 survey (which predicted that FDR would lose the election are different โ see Robertโs comment, immediately above โ one *might* think that pollsters and journalists would be chary of trumpeting the telephone-based surveys and giving them a pseudo-statistical gloss.
The 1936 survey, by the way, was conducted by telephone at a time when relatively few (primarily wealthy) American families had them.
I came here to say exactly this. Also follow Tom Bonier on Twitter who provides daily updates on early vote. It is very encouraging. Donโt expect a blue wave but not a red wave either. There will be many very close races and we wonโt know results for a few days
The Utube from Midas Touch clarifying. Iโve been following TargetEarly.TargetSmart. Seeing the all their graphs helpful. But I process it better by hearing Simon go through it. Grateful to you for providing link. Will be following Midas Touch podcasts too.
Overseas voter: If you emailed your Absentee Ballot request (FPCA) to your election clerk and still haven't received it, check your Inbox/Spam folders again. If it hasn't come, complete the Federal Write in Absentee Ballot (FWAB). Instructions/download here:
Print it out and sign it. Send it back with the signed oath and include signed FPCA. For voters who need 2 envelopes, read your state's instructions re the main envelope and the security envelope (at votefromabroad.org or fvap.org).
I took the liberty to send the information to Welsh friends here and will forward also to a French-American family here. Although, quite intelligent all, they likely already know.
I am an Evangelical Christian and a lifelong Republican. I never voted for a Democrat in my life until 2020 (Biden). I voted third party in 2016. I knew from the beginning that Trump would destroy the former Republican party and turn it into the Trumplican party. But my biggest concern is that the Trumplican party base is Evangelical Christians who will vote for Trump for one reason only - he has an R next to his name. They are reliably "red" and there is no way to convince them that their vote for Trump is a vote for an evil dictator. Their standard line is "the Democrat is so much worse." It is very frustrating to be an active member of a large church where most of the members think Trump walks on water.
I heard an interview where the interviewer asked if Jesus told you that Trump had done something, would you believe Jesus. The response was that he would have to check with Donald, as he was more trustworthy!
Similarly, a friend's daughter teaches in Pensacola, FL. A second grade girl came to school wearing a shirt with Trump's pictire and the caption "our Savior".
A good question, with an ancient pedigree. Fyodor Dostoyevsky inserted a short story in The Brothers Karamazov called The Grand Inquisitor. In the tale, Christ returns to Seville for the Second Coming. A priest who is running the inquisition visits Christ to tell him that the Church no longer needs Christ, so he will be put to death again.
I commented yesterday that, while I believe "we will win" in the end, I have increasing fears that it will be far more long term that I would hope. I also appreciate you citing Rachel Maddow's Ultra podcast. That combined with watching Ken Burns' "The U.S. and the Holocaust" 3-part documentary, are intensely eye-opening. I encourage all readers (actually EVERY AMERICAN) to listen and watch these two powerful programs. They provide important historical perspective and may also offer hope that we can, once again, come out from under dark threats to our democracy.
It would be nice to think that both the Maddow podcasts and the Ken Burns 3 part series were being watched by all Americans, but the reality is that it is โpreaching to the converted.โ My parents were refugees from Nazi Germany. I have spent much of my adult life working with this community. As we are now fighting to keep books in libraries, how do we make the Ken Burns series required watching in all high schools across America? If we manage to save the country this time around, we cannot stop working to educate that part of the population that would vote for Herschel Walker and other seriously unqualified candidates. We also have to work to re-introduce Civics to classrooms across the country.
There is so much work that needs to be done! I know this sounds cynical, but if it had not been for Pearl Harbor, this country might have been lost to Naziism/fascism. We should not have to wait for that type of catastrophe to rescue it now.
Joan, not only is Herschel Walker unqualified to be a senator, he is unfit. He is cognitively impaired, and the R's would jerk him around like a puppet. tRump is unfit for ANY office of any kind due to his mental instability and psychological problems. Not to mention he is downright evil.
At 89 years i can remember the Bund hall paraders marching in the Yorkville neighborhood in Manhattan. Proudly in brown shirts carrying the Nazi flag and Hitler's large picture. I asked my Irish grandmother where did all the Germans go in 1941 as my uncle enlisted in the army.
Having seen almost all of Ken Burnsโs work over the years, I thought that his series on the Holocaust was the best work heโs done to date, I am not uneducated, and I found them to be highly informative, there was so much that was going on here in the US and within our State Dept that I had no idea about, the parallels with todayโs anti immigration and antisemite policies is striking.
I just want to interject something here. I'm a left wing Democrat, from a family of left wing Democrats. My sister is a Democratic activist in northern Virginia. One of my maternal great uncles ran the Colorado Democratic Party for most of the first half of the last century.
I also think that our population badly needs to be stabilized, in order for our country to be environmentally sustainable. And in fact, our population is well beyond sustainability, according to people who study that.
Since 1990, immigration has contributed half of the 83 million the country had added by 2020--equivalent to four New York States. Going forward, the Census Bureau projects nearly one NY State equivalent over each of the next four decades, 90% of that growth due to immigration. I could go on about how this is going to greatly reduce ecosystem services, and how the US is one of the worst places on the planet to put more people...
But there's another reason to stanch immigration. It really does reduce the number of jobs available for American workers, and the wages those jobs pay. A recent book, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black wealth lays out the evidence in scholarly, yet highly readable manner, going through the relevant academic economic literature, as well as leaning on the author's journalistic skills, quoting from Black leaders beginning with Frederick Douglass, and Black periodicals.
Just two examples of many: In 1980, blacks predominated in meat packing, earning good middle class wages. But immigration surged during the 1980s, and by that decade's end, immigrants predominated in meat packing, earning barely over minimum wage, and toiling under atrocious conditions, where maiming is common.
The author spoke some years ago with numerous black poultry plant workers who'd then recently lost their jobs due to an influx of immigrants. The former workers explained to him that the wages were so low that to work there would mean living many to a house, or living in their cars.
There are no jobs Americans won't do. But there are wages that don't allow them to live decently, as Americans should.
And follow the money. The Koch organization, Mark Zuckerberg, the Chamber of Commerce, and big biz GOPers generally, have been supporters of mass immigration. Funding for an initiative on the ballot in Massachusetts, which would rescind a law passed earlier this year to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, has been swamped by proponents of drivers' licenses. (Vote NO on question 4 to rescind the law.)
I struggle with your response re immigration and your statement that โthere are no jobs Americans wonโt do?โโat least where I live (Monterey, CA). Some years back (and even more recently with Covid) a grower around here needed pickers for 1000 or so acres of strawberries. He put out an add and said heโd โhire anyone who would show upโ to appear at 5:00 am in his field. Three โAnglosโ came ready to work as theyโd been unemployed and layed off and needed to make pay and rent for the family. One was the son of a friendโgood kid! Guess what? By lunchtime, two left; the third the following day. Why? โThey just werenโt making enough money for the (hard) work that they were doing. Iโm not even sure higher wages would have helped him as picking in the fields is definitely not easy; although he did end up raising them to try and entice more? Who should we suggest we hire?
In reference to โฆโLicenses to illegal immigrantsโฆโ We have that law on the books here in CA. Iโd much rather *all* have licenses as one must have insurance to do so. Seems like we all should prefer folks drive with insurance than not! I sure do.
My last thought is that this country was built by immigrants, was it not? If I were to guess, Iโd suggest even your family immigrated here at some point!? I know at least one side of my family did.
Here's more. Within the next 2-3 decades, millions of Americans are going to become climate refugees. In light of that, encouraging millions to immigrate to our country is all the greater folly. Read this: it will scare you.
Did you read what I wrote about the black meat packers, how they predominated in their trade in 1980, making middle class wages, and by the end of that decade, due to an immigration surge, immigrnts predominated, making barely over minimum wage? And how the black poultry workers who'd been replaced by immigrant workers would have lived many to a house or in their cars on the wages that the immigrant workers were getting?
Immigration is big biz' way of keeping workers wages down, and it's been that way for 200 years. Get the book--Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth. It's $13 on Amazon. (I don't like Amazon either, but it's only available there.)
No, this country wasn't "built by immigrants"! Sure, they contributed, but John Murray Forbes, who laid down a substantial portion of the nation's early railroads, and did much else to build this nation (and preserve it in the wake of the Civil War), wasn't an immigrant. My great uncle, Phillip Hornbein, who was de facto head of the Colorado Democratic Party for most of the first half of the last century, and gave the speech advocating an end to prohibition at the '32 Democratic Convention, wasn't an immigrant, nor was his sister, my grandmother, Mildred Hornbein Wiesman, the first female Coloradan to earn a PhD (1915, 5 yrs before women got the vote). (Her husband was an immigrant.)
Crop picking IS hard work, but its wages have gone down steadily for well over half a century. If it paid what it's worth, they wouldn't have any trouble getting pickers. (And your produce would go up in price no more than a few cents on the dollar--most of produce's cost goes to the agricultural capitalists.)
Drivers licenses is just one more thing that states are doing--funded in large part by the capitalists who stand to gain from the reduction in wages--to enable illegal immigration. And illegal immigrants are extremely exploitable, enabling their employers to pay even less for hard work, taking jobs from American (and legal immigrant) workers. In parts of the Central Valley, immigrant workers get $2-$3 an hour for picking crops. (See: The American Way of Eating, by Tracie McMillan
Here is what I know. Open immigration is incompatible with a low growth economy. Historically, the evidence is overwhelming. Venice existed for nearly 700 years as the country with the highest standard of living in the world. We focus on the fall of Venice when the oligarchs of the Austro-Hungarian empire seized economic control. The same story plays out in societal upheaval around the world.
Unless you can deliver a real improvement to the median citizen reliably over time, governments fail. Dictatorships fail, democracies fail - the form of government does not matter.
What does matter is the for 47 years the median citizen of the United States has not seen a real increase in wage income. They have seen super inflationary (real) increases in healthcare costs, housing costs and educational costs.
We are on track to deliver a $230b increase to GDP this year. How much do you think reaches the median worker and below? Last year it was a negative figure.....
David. I'm not going to weigh in on the whole issue of immigration, but the men you name as "not immigrants" must have come here from somewhere. What is your definition of an immigrant?
Robert, I'm so grateful for all your efforts to connect people who truly understand the peril democracy is in and to link arms in the battle to save it. I'm especially happy to read the comment you pinned from Laura Rosedale with the link to votefromabroad.org. I convinced my brother, who had left the US in the Viet Nam era and now resides in Medellin, Colombia and never voted in all this time, that his vote was badly needed in 2020. This election I had no convincing to do. He made sure he had his ballot in plenty of time but since there is no mail system in Colombia had to pay $20 to DHL to deliver it to Florida. I'll be investigating for him how to circumvent that "poll tax" in the coming weeks! My daughter who lives and works in Nova Scotia has been assisting expats there in navigating their unique voting situations as every state has different rules. Thanks to you and your followers for everything you do!
Linda, I believe most counties in FL accept faxed ballots. If your brother has an internet connection and can scan or take a 'phone pic of his completed ballot, he should be able to use one of the free online fax services (e.g. freefaxonline.com, www.fax.plus/free-fax and/or various others) to send in his vote.
It would be quite a bit quicker (not to mention cheaper) than DHL. But he'd need to check first to confirm that the county where he votes accepts facsimile ballot submissions, and to ascertain the fax number to send to. All that should be on their web page...
Thank you, Ray. Our (his) county does accept faxed ballots and he'd planned to FAX it but the last international FAX service in Medellinโa bus ride across town from himโclosed! I will inform him of the free online fax services you suggest. Thank you!
One thing to take into consideration regarding polls. I heard last night on MSNBC that few people actually participate in polls-< 2%. IMHO, most likely people are screening/reading caller ID's and not picking up.
For Americans living abroad, please read this note from Laura Mosedale:
Dear Robert
A Time reporter came to the Democrats Abroad UK campaign office in London this week and covered what our committed group of volunteers is doing. Could you please publicize this in your newsletter and remind all of your readers who live outside the US or know people who do: our votes matter and our votes are counted! And itโs not too late for many of us to vote.
Key states (including AZ, NC) allow voters outside the country to request their ballots by email up until Election Day and thirty states allow for some form of electronic ballot return (fax, email, online upload). Many states that require ballots to be returned by postal mail have extended deadlines to receive them. Voters outside the country can also use an emergency backup ballot to vote if they requested but have not received their ballots. All information on ballot request, state deadlines and more on votefromabroad.org
Please help us spread the word!
Thanks
Laura Mosedale
We voted from Wales last week. Dual citizens both. I would encourage other Americans nearby but I am the only Yank that I know of in my rural costal town. I heard there is an elderly lady from Seattle in the next village. I will see if I can find herโฆ 2 days to vote and every one counts.
My daughter lives in Swansea, Wales. I sent her an email telling her that she could still vote here.
What a wonderful hat!
So many vintage hats to wear โ so little time to wear them. My mother inherited $2000 during the depression and bought a grand piano, stylish blouses and hats, lots of hatsโฆ itโs in the blood. .
My husband, a dual citizen living in Canada, voted yesterday. Blue all the way. So happy he could do his part! Every vote counts. Donโt waste this opportunity.
Thank you! I just sent this info to a US citizen in Kenya who previously told me she can only vote when there is a presidential election.
My daughter voted from Paris. Sheโs a Texas resident. I told a friend who has contacted her granddaughter, an NC resident, who is in school in Germany. Hopefully sheโll get her vote in on time. Wonderful organization!
Very efficient getting the ballot from Massachusetts. We live in Nova Scotia, Canada. My husband requested it by email late in the afternoon. Received it by email before noon the next day. Filled it in and emailed it back before 1:00pm that same day. The whole procedure took about 19 hours with an overnight included in that time! Of course he is a registered voter. This voting process is a thing of beauty!
Laura, thank you for bringing this important pool of voters to Robert's attention. More politicians at state and national level need to reach out to these voters.
My daughter mailed in her California ballot from Canada last week. Every vote counts!
I voted from Ecuador last month. The ballot was online. Checked straight Democratic, submitted and followed up the following week to make sure it was accepted. Easy-peasy!! Which state you ask? South Carolina.
Here is an interesting article about voting from abroad that came to my attention this morning.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/06/1132730832/american-citizens-voters-overseas-abroad
Thank you for the link. More notice needs to be taken of this pool of voters!
Thank you
Thank you Democracy Warrior Hubbells!!
My first thought usually is โdonโt โTHEYโ have Grandchildren????!!!โ (How could THEY not do everything in their power to combat Climate Catastrophe/prevent War ++++).
My first GranBaby arrives in March and my daughter shared today โItโs A Girlโ ๐ฅฐ
ROCK THE VOTE cuz our Kids/Grands futures depend on it ๐บ๐ธ
Congratulations! Iโm fighting for my 4yo grandson. His Vietnamese grandmother escaped the fall of Saigon, his mother was born in Ohio. Where will he escape to? I must stand between him and that possibility.
I have 2 sisters with kids/grandkids and am amazed that they don't fight tooth and nail to keep our democracy and planet safe and thriving for their offspring. Why do I with no kids care more than they do? Makes no sense to me. ๐ฅ
Some people with kids canโt bear to think of what the future is going to be like with them so they pretend that nothings happening in the climate
Parents are so stressed, it's understandable to me.
This struck a chord with me. Bonoโs recent comments on The Late Show:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F33zbJ7FOvY
Robert, you (along with Dan, Heather, Jessica, and all those groups you all link us to) have built a MIGHTY force, and we will indeed "leave nothing on the field" on November 8. One important thing that the last five years have taught us is that Democracy requires constant work - - we have seen what happens if we don't stay vigilant. We'll remember that, no matter what happens next week.
Another vote for Ultra. I thought I was really knowledgeable on this period, but there turns out to be a lot I didn't know.
Rachel and her team are so sharp and do a great job of storytelling.
I agree. I too thought I knew a lot about this era. The recent documentary by Ken Burns about the U.S. and the Holocaust really opened my eyes as well! For the life of me, I simply cannot understand the hatred of Jewish people. A friend of mine said itโs simply because Christians believe the Jews killed Jesus Christ. Is it really that simple? I admit my own naivety on the subject. Please enlighten me.
Lots of Jews are very successful, coming from an intellectual and social tradition that values achievement.
Lots of life's losers have trouble dealing with successful people. (That's something you don't have to be Jewish to have to deal with - the jealousy of morons - trust me on that)
Hi, Rita, Thank you for a question that needs to be asked over and over. Anti-Semitism, of course, isn't "simply" anything, but at its core are the Christian scriptures--a few specific passages and a nearly unlimited supply of misinterpretations. It is the foundational bigotry of Western culture and when there is an upsurge of any other, whether against immigrants or the LGBTQ community or any other group, it rears its hideous head. We have not been rid of it since Paul went on his self-appointed mission as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Sorry to be so long-winded but it's an important subject and I'm a cradle Episcopalian
There are lots of great resources out there. Do some research, thx.
Me as well.
Sara Sheldon
I read a hopeful article on the possible undercount of Gen. Z (the under 25-year-olds). The group's registration for this election went up from a bare minimum some years ago to just over 30% in 2022. Not surprisingly, after the Dobbs decision, there was a surge of young women, who are frightened that a pregnancy with medical problems could cost them their health..
Pollsters, however, have been hesitant to include them because many are college kids who have address problems (dorms may not have a room number) or who may be registered at their home address and have to travel and miss classes on election day, which falls during the school term. Also, they are generally less reliable than their grandparents, who show up at the polls like Old Faithful.
Still, in a close election, they could make a big difference. Fingers crossed.
I am cautiously hopeful. As a practicing Jew, I light Shabbat candles every Friday night. My prayers have been my normal ones to โHashemโ, however I have added a prayer every week for DEMOCRACY to prevail in our great country. So much damage has been done by the GOP. They are unrecognizable. They have become a party of hate and violence and seem to revel in it!
G-D help us all if they gain control. We will need it!
Peace to you, Eileen. Your prayers are valuable.
Your prayers for DEMOCRACY each Shabbat are beautiful, Eileen.
I asked a fellow GOTV letter writer friend at Texas what she is doing to help after mailing nearly 400 GOTV letters.
Devoutly religious, every day she is saying two Christian Affirmative Prayers where a person, state or country can be substituted.
The friend sent the prayers to me, Iโll adapt for DEMOCRACY.
Prayers can only help.
Love this Eileen, thanks for the idea!
Robert, thank you for mentioning Americans living abroad and how their votes can help. I belong to the Democrats Abroad Chapter here in Queensland, Australia, that has been working hard to get out the vote among US citizens working and living here.
There are Dems Abroad chapters in countries all over the world and many politicians in the US overlook this pool of potential voters. There are some 9 million Americans currently living abroad and many of us vote.
My daughter voted in Paris with the help of Dems Abroad
I so appreciate the wisdom and calm that you bring every morning. Democracy, Truth, Social Justice and Building Community is a daily task, built brick by brick, and you remind us of this.
I read Heather first, then come to Robert for calm comfort.
Thatโs precisely my morning routine with the same effect.
I do absolutely the same thing! I try to keep the fear and stress to a minimum.
I do the same
I do, too.
Last night PBS broadcast a concert of the New York Philharmonic opening the new Geffen Concert Hall in Lincoln Center, featuring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. A friend had suggested I listen when we had lunch. Oh, my -- that chunk of inspiration is such a glorious reminder that art, hope, and aspiration are what we really crave. It was a fantastic performance by all -- including women instrumentalists allowed to wear any color, not just black, and a quartet of interracial singers who amplified by their presence the rainbow of performers in the orchestra and chorus -- Asian, African-American, blondes and brunettes, almost all ages, playing TOGETHER in this glorious cascade of sound. The libretto -- the Ode to Joy -- is rightly counted among the glories of the Enlightenment. I am certain it will be re-broadcast and find its way to You Tube -- do listen, wherever you live, let it fill your lungs and heart with hope. As I head off to Western Pennsylvania tomorrow to help staff the call in center for voter protection -- non-PA residents are not allowed to be in-person poll watchers -- I will keep some of the fragments of those sounds playing in my head: all men will be brothers. Exactly. My best to all of us, the expats abroad, the door bell pushers and phone callers and post card writers and check senders and poll workers. Whatever Tuesday (more likely Wednesday because of the mail ballots) brings, it is a way station on a long journey to perfect the ideals to which we are committed. God bless the United States of America.
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Thank you!
Here's a very encouraging link to an interview on a Meidas Touch podcast of Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic policy strategist, with compelling evidence supporting my hunch for some time that there is going to be a surprising blue wave next Tuesday.
Rosenberg says there has been a very unusual proliferation of Republican-leaning polls in the last many weeks by new, inexperienced pollsters. He says that red narrative started last spring and has been perpetuated by the media to support pollsters' and pundits' early and incorrect predictions. His evidence of a consistent, sustaining uptick of Democratic support nationwide is based on analysis of early voting data. He claims Democratic turnout is ahead by several digits, compared to last time, even in battleground red states, and among young voters, who could make the difference. He claims exit polls by the New York Times and others in the last few days correlate with his data. His advice in the next few days is to be positive and actively get out the vote.
While I put little stock in exit polls, his early voting data sounds convincing. I fervently hope he is right!
David Estey
https://youtu.be/G42hiYbwJUs
Iโm a skeptical scientist. My skepticism includes โscientificโ polling, which I consider pseudo-scientific (however, theyโre just about all we have).
Consider pollsโ built-in defects. First, theyโre nor built on genuinely random samples, because they often are based on calls to cell phones, not all phones. Many people refuse to answer pollstersโ questions, among other reasons, because one doesnโt know whether the caller is truly who (s)he says (s)he is. Therefore margins of error, are flawed, since theyโre based on assumptions of randomness.
Non-randomness and other problems sometimes cause pollsters to make โstatisticalโ adjustments to the raw results. Whether those adjustments are well conceived and in good faith is open to question. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera (with apologies to the King in โThe King and Iโ).
We mustnโt dismiss poll results, but, in my opinion, must bear in mind that their results are not holy writ.
Thanks for the perspective on randomness. A sample based on people who still use their landlines and are willing to respond to a 20 minute phone interview is not a random sample.
Although the details of todayโs surveys and the infamous 1936 survey (which predicted that FDR would lose the election are different โ see Robertโs comment, immediately above โ one *might* think that pollsters and journalists would be chary of trumpeting the telephone-based surveys and giving them a pseudo-statistical gloss.
The 1936 survey, by the way, was conducted by telephone at a time when relatively few (primarily wealthy) American families had them.
I came here to say exactly this. Also follow Tom Bonier on Twitter who provides daily updates on early vote. It is very encouraging. Donโt expect a blue wave but not a red wave either. There will be many very close races and we wonโt know results for a few days
David Esty,
Thanks so much for posting the link to Simon Rosenberg -- another encouraging, inspirational, wonderful Democratic leader.
Thank you so much, David Esty, for the link to Simon Rosenberg.
He is another encouraging, hallowed, inspirational Democrat.
The Utube from Midas Touch clarifying. Iโve been following TargetEarly.TargetSmart. Seeing the all their graphs helpful. But I process it better by hearing Simon go through it. Grateful to you for providing link. Will be following Midas Touch podcasts too.
Overseas voter: If you emailed your Absentee Ballot request (FPCA) to your election clerk and still haven't received it, check your Inbox/Spam folders again. If it hasn't come, complete the Federal Write in Absentee Ballot (FWAB). Instructions/download here:
https://www.fvap.gov/vote?gclid=Cj0KCQjwteOaBhDuARIsADBqRei7EzWufQGdVCTWTS4yzU23JeWfShhbj9n-2WRjjyEtCdRt45i1zfIaAmquEALw_wcB
Print it out and sign it. Send it back with the signed oath and include signed FPCA. For voters who need 2 envelopes, read your state's instructions re the main envelope and the security envelope (at votefromabroad.org or fvap.org).
Thank you! I just forwarded this to my friend in Kenya who thought she couldnโt vote.
Thank you, Rocky.
I took the liberty to send the information to Welsh friends here and will forward also to a French-American family here. Although, quite intelligent all, they likely already know.
The more the merrier.
I am an Evangelical Christian and a lifelong Republican. I never voted for a Democrat in my life until 2020 (Biden). I voted third party in 2016. I knew from the beginning that Trump would destroy the former Republican party and turn it into the Trumplican party. But my biggest concern is that the Trumplican party base is Evangelical Christians who will vote for Trump for one reason only - he has an R next to his name. They are reliably "red" and there is no way to convince them that their vote for Trump is a vote for an evil dictator. Their standard line is "the Democrat is so much worse." It is very frustrating to be an active member of a large church where most of the members think Trump walks on water.
Thanks for sharing, Ellen. Your voice is important. I hope you will continue to speak up!
I heard an interview where the interviewer asked if Jesus told you that Trump had done something, would you believe Jesus. The response was that he would have to check with Donald, as he was more trustworthy!
Similarly, a friend's daughter teaches in Pensacola, FL. A second grade girl came to school wearing a shirt with Trump's pictire and the caption "our Savior".
How do you fight this?
A good question, with an ancient pedigree. Fyodor Dostoyevsky inserted a short story in The Brothers Karamazov called The Grand Inquisitor. In the tale, Christ returns to Seville for the Second Coming. A priest who is running the inquisition visits Christ to tell him that the Church no longer needs Christ, so he will be put to death again.
I commented yesterday that, while I believe "we will win" in the end, I have increasing fears that it will be far more long term that I would hope. I also appreciate you citing Rachel Maddow's Ultra podcast. That combined with watching Ken Burns' "The U.S. and the Holocaust" 3-part documentary, are intensely eye-opening. I encourage all readers (actually EVERY AMERICAN) to listen and watch these two powerful programs. They provide important historical perspective and may also offer hope that we can, once again, come out from under dark threats to our democracy.
It would be nice to think that both the Maddow podcasts and the Ken Burns 3 part series were being watched by all Americans, but the reality is that it is โpreaching to the converted.โ My parents were refugees from Nazi Germany. I have spent much of my adult life working with this community. As we are now fighting to keep books in libraries, how do we make the Ken Burns series required watching in all high schools across America? If we manage to save the country this time around, we cannot stop working to educate that part of the population that would vote for Herschel Walker and other seriously unqualified candidates. We also have to work to re-introduce Civics to classrooms across the country.
There is so much work that needs to be done! I know this sounds cynical, but if it had not been for Pearl Harbor, this country might have been lost to Naziism/fascism. We should not have to wait for that type of catastrophe to rescue it now.
Joan, not only is Herschel Walker unqualified to be a senator, he is unfit. He is cognitively impaired, and the R's would jerk him around like a puppet. tRump is unfit for ANY office of any kind due to his mental instability and psychological problems. Not to mention he is downright evil.
At 89 years i can remember the Bund hall paraders marching in the Yorkville neighborhood in Manhattan. Proudly in brown shirts carrying the Nazi flag and Hitler's large picture. I asked my Irish grandmother where did all the Germans go in 1941 as my uncle enlisted in the army.
Having seen almost all of Ken Burnsโs work over the years, I thought that his series on the Holocaust was the best work heโs done to date, I am not uneducated, and I found them to be highly informative, there was so much that was going on here in the US and within our State Dept that I had no idea about, the parallels with todayโs anti immigration and antisemite policies is striking.
I just want to interject something here. I'm a left wing Democrat, from a family of left wing Democrats. My sister is a Democratic activist in northern Virginia. One of my maternal great uncles ran the Colorado Democratic Party for most of the first half of the last century.
I also think that our population badly needs to be stabilized, in order for our country to be environmentally sustainable. And in fact, our population is well beyond sustainability, according to people who study that.
Since 1990, immigration has contributed half of the 83 million the country had added by 2020--equivalent to four New York States. Going forward, the Census Bureau projects nearly one NY State equivalent over each of the next four decades, 90% of that growth due to immigration. I could go on about how this is going to greatly reduce ecosystem services, and how the US is one of the worst places on the planet to put more people...
But there's another reason to stanch immigration. It really does reduce the number of jobs available for American workers, and the wages those jobs pay. A recent book, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black wealth lays out the evidence in scholarly, yet highly readable manner, going through the relevant academic economic literature, as well as leaning on the author's journalistic skills, quoting from Black leaders beginning with Frederick Douglass, and Black periodicals.
Just two examples of many: In 1980, blacks predominated in meat packing, earning good middle class wages. But immigration surged during the 1980s, and by that decade's end, immigrants predominated in meat packing, earning barely over minimum wage, and toiling under atrocious conditions, where maiming is common.
The author spoke some years ago with numerous black poultry plant workers who'd then recently lost their jobs due to an influx of immigrants. The former workers explained to him that the wages were so low that to work there would mean living many to a house, or living in their cars.
There are no jobs Americans won't do. But there are wages that don't allow them to live decently, as Americans should.
And follow the money. The Koch organization, Mark Zuckerberg, the Chamber of Commerce, and big biz GOPers generally, have been supporters of mass immigration. Funding for an initiative on the ballot in Massachusetts, which would rescind a law passed earlier this year to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, has been swamped by proponents of drivers' licenses. (Vote NO on question 4 to rescind the law.)
I struggle with your response re immigration and your statement that โthere are no jobs Americans wonโt do?โโat least where I live (Monterey, CA). Some years back (and even more recently with Covid) a grower around here needed pickers for 1000 or so acres of strawberries. He put out an add and said heโd โhire anyone who would show upโ to appear at 5:00 am in his field. Three โAnglosโ came ready to work as theyโd been unemployed and layed off and needed to make pay and rent for the family. One was the son of a friendโgood kid! Guess what? By lunchtime, two left; the third the following day. Why? โThey just werenโt making enough money for the (hard) work that they were doing. Iโm not even sure higher wages would have helped him as picking in the fields is definitely not easy; although he did end up raising them to try and entice more? Who should we suggest we hire?
In reference to โฆโLicenses to illegal immigrantsโฆโ We have that law on the books here in CA. Iโd much rather *all* have licenses as one must have insurance to do so. Seems like we all should prefer folks drive with insurance than not! I sure do.
My last thought is that this country was built by immigrants, was it not? If I were to guess, Iโd suggest even your family immigrated here at some point!? I know at least one side of my family did.
Here's more. Within the next 2-3 decades, millions of Americans are going to become climate refugees. In light of that, encouraging millions to immigrate to our country is all the greater folly. Read this: it will scare you.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/15/magazine/climate-crisis-migration-america.html
Did you read what I wrote about the black meat packers, how they predominated in their trade in 1980, making middle class wages, and by the end of that decade, due to an immigration surge, immigrnts predominated, making barely over minimum wage? And how the black poultry workers who'd been replaced by immigrant workers would have lived many to a house or in their cars on the wages that the immigrant workers were getting?
Immigration is big biz' way of keeping workers wages down, and it's been that way for 200 years. Get the book--Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth. It's $13 on Amazon. (I don't like Amazon either, but it's only available there.)
No, this country wasn't "built by immigrants"! Sure, they contributed, but John Murray Forbes, who laid down a substantial portion of the nation's early railroads, and did much else to build this nation (and preserve it in the wake of the Civil War), wasn't an immigrant. My great uncle, Phillip Hornbein, who was de facto head of the Colorado Democratic Party for most of the first half of the last century, and gave the speech advocating an end to prohibition at the '32 Democratic Convention, wasn't an immigrant, nor was his sister, my grandmother, Mildred Hornbein Wiesman, the first female Coloradan to earn a PhD (1915, 5 yrs before women got the vote). (Her husband was an immigrant.)
Crop picking IS hard work, but its wages have gone down steadily for well over half a century. If it paid what it's worth, they wouldn't have any trouble getting pickers. (And your produce would go up in price no more than a few cents on the dollar--most of produce's cost goes to the agricultural capitalists.)
Drivers licenses is just one more thing that states are doing--funded in large part by the capitalists who stand to gain from the reduction in wages--to enable illegal immigration. And illegal immigrants are extremely exploitable, enabling their employers to pay even less for hard work, taking jobs from American (and legal immigrant) workers. In parts of the Central Valley, immigrant workers get $2-$3 an hour for picking crops. (See: The American Way of Eating, by Tracie McMillan
Here is what I know. Open immigration is incompatible with a low growth economy. Historically, the evidence is overwhelming. Venice existed for nearly 700 years as the country with the highest standard of living in the world. We focus on the fall of Venice when the oligarchs of the Austro-Hungarian empire seized economic control. The same story plays out in societal upheaval around the world.
Unless you can deliver a real improvement to the median citizen reliably over time, governments fail. Dictatorships fail, democracies fail - the form of government does not matter.
What does matter is the for 47 years the median citizen of the United States has not seen a real increase in wage income. They have seen super inflationary (real) increases in healthcare costs, housing costs and educational costs.
We are on track to deliver a $230b increase to GDP this year. How much do you think reaches the median worker and below? Last year it was a negative figure.....
David. I'm not going to weigh in on the whole issue of immigration, but the men you name as "not immigrants" must have come here from somewhere. What is your definition of an immigrant?
Not "might". Would.
Robert, I'm so grateful for all your efforts to connect people who truly understand the peril democracy is in and to link arms in the battle to save it. I'm especially happy to read the comment you pinned from Laura Rosedale with the link to votefromabroad.org. I convinced my brother, who had left the US in the Viet Nam era and now resides in Medellin, Colombia and never voted in all this time, that his vote was badly needed in 2020. This election I had no convincing to do. He made sure he had his ballot in plenty of time but since there is no mail system in Colombia had to pay $20 to DHL to deliver it to Florida. I'll be investigating for him how to circumvent that "poll tax" in the coming weeks! My daughter who lives and works in Nova Scotia has been assisting expats there in navigating their unique voting situations as every state has different rules. Thanks to you and your followers for everything you do!
Linda Eastman
Linda, I believe most counties in FL accept faxed ballots. If your brother has an internet connection and can scan or take a 'phone pic of his completed ballot, he should be able to use one of the free online fax services (e.g. freefaxonline.com, www.fax.plus/free-fax and/or various others) to send in his vote.
It would be quite a bit quicker (not to mention cheaper) than DHL. But he'd need to check first to confirm that the county where he votes accepts facsimile ballot submissions, and to ascertain the fax number to send to. All that should be on their web page...
Thank you, Ray. Our (his) county does accept faxed ballots and he'd planned to FAX it but the last international FAX service in Medellinโa bus ride across town from himโclosed! I will inform him of the free online fax services you suggest. Thank you!
One thing to take into consideration regarding polls. I heard last night on MSNBC that few people actually participate in polls-< 2%. IMHO, most likely people are screening/reading caller ID's and not picking up.