It seems to be impossible to get off these horrible hysterical political contribution mailing lists. I even wonder if some are russian spam operations. Ngpvan is the worst. They will not remove you from their list, presumably because their profit is in selling your name. You can only unsubscribe individually (that works, but it IS work). They resell to every (democratic?) candidate in the country. In the last election cycle i made the mistake of contributing to several candidates in different states, and this is the punishment. As a result i have contributed nothing so far. I am investigating a Swing Left initiative called Blueprint, that will advise and consolidate your contributions into an anonymous fund. Any other suggestions welcome!
I also get a steady drumbeat of hysterical political emails. Every single one reads as though imminent catastrophe will happen tomorrow! In addition to candidates in my own state, there are other races I wish to contribute to. I will follow the suggestions I read here.
Check out the podcast for information about giving to grassroots groups in battleground states. It’s a significantly more effective use of political giving and your name won’t be sold to any other group. www.airlift.fund
If the Republicans wish to return to yesteryear, how about remembering those days when few were allowed to own or carry guns. Let’s erase the damage the NRA has done in the past 30 years.
Exactly! Some Republican legislators want to make carrying a concealed weapon a right for all Americans and they would not have to have a permit. Just think of the crazies who could end up out there with concealed weapons that no one would know anything about because they won’ t be required to have permits! How many more shootings do we have to have before something is done?
Yes, I too received that "Pelosi email" on 4/12/22 and am quite unhappy with that email and others that are sent from the DCCC. All the DCCC emails make me feel like they are hysterically screaming at me. "Donate! Or we're doomed!" I unsubscribed from the list, which did direct me to DCCC.org and I was also asked why I am unsubscribing. I left my comment with my sentiments on this situation similar to what you have mentioned Robert. Perhaps if half a gazillion others would do the same, the DCCC might get the message? Now I am on to Tweet to @DCCC with the same complaint. This is ongoing proof that Democrats are not getting their messaging right. They need to quickly get that turned around, if we are to maintain the House and Senate.
I have been getting those horrible emails as well. I send them to spam as well. Last night I got one from Women Of Color promoting Florida Democrats. I noted at the bottom that the organization is in California. I responded that I can’t donate to candidates in all 50 states. I live in Virginia, so why were they sending me requests for donations. I have been inundated by these hysterical requests for money since 2020. They are a turnoff. It is all about instilling fear. I did send a small contribution to Senator Warnock.
I trash those from Pelosi and everyone else. They simply are not getting the true message out. Whom can we contact about this?
They seek donations from everywhere and anywhere because they get a percentage of the take. That's also why every candidate's effectiveness is judged by how much money they've raised instead of how their announced policy positions resonate with voters. As long as electioneering is a gold mine for consultants, pundits, and the media, the most marketable (read "outrageous") candidates are what we'll get. Your response, which is the same as mine, is the only way to change it and the change will take a long time.
I appreciate your comments about how much money to candidates goes to political consultants. I invite you to listen to the today’s podcast recording where Robert interviews me about Airlift. Airlift funds grassroots groups engaging non-voters and low-propensity voters year round becoming trusted messengers about voting. I think that supporting these groups is a better use of our political giving.
I did listen and it was well worth it. I don't normally spend much time with podcasts but this one hit home and I'd recommend it to anyone else interested in campaign funding and the excesses of 'begging' emails. Airlift gets added to the short list of donation recipients; via check or, if I can figure out how, bank bill pay.
I won’t give anything to any of those. I will only give to my Senators and to whatever Democratic candidate is running against my District’s Republican incumbent. Thank you for the information.
My giving pattern exactly. In the long run, we'll win; we just have to keep running. Check out Winston Churchill's possibly apocryphal comment on going through hell.
Sarah Isgur at The Dispatch has a running commentary on the diminishing returns of fundraising in political campaigns. It doesn't stop because the returns to the fundraisers and consultants don't diminish just because their clients lose. There are a lot of good reasons to be careful about donating and at least as many to limit the duration of and spending involved in every political campaign.
Robert Hubbell does not pose a rhetorical question. The upcoming election will present a definitive and dramatic choice between a strengthened democracy vs. a dangerous slide to autocracy. The Republican Party has made this an existential choice, and everyone must heed Robert's imprecations to find an active, local role to play in defeating those who wish to reduce and ultimately eliminate our freedoms.
Agree but at the end of the day if 30% of the eligible voters vote it will be a great turnout. There is today no momentum or outrage fueling people to take back their government.
Hi Stephen and Roger. I continually hear the comment about lack of momentum and enthusiasm. Do you have a source / link you can forward? I would like to understand where it is coming from and what it is based on. Thanks!
This is my intuition which I hope, really hope, is wrong. There will be a mighty fight in November. Many of us will hustle up voters, make our contributions, scream on every forum we have time for.
But while I am surrounded by like minded people, when we spend time together, the conversations are almost never about politics. Even the war crimes of Russia are breezed over. People have become numb - that "fire hose" has drowned them. I might bring up the Kushner corruption issue and get complete agreement. And then it's back to talk of incredible grandchildren or how to pay for the child care when school gets out or how to find a car to buy because there are none available that aren't way over priced or Wordle...
I fear that it is human nature to ignore the peril. Talk of the Supreme Court and their anti Federal Government decisions - without hearing arguments or facts! - just causes people to snooze. Not because they don't care. But because they can't handle it. Steve Bannons tactic of "flooding the zone with shit" is working.
I fear that the only way America can find it's way back to the dreams of the founders is the path of it getting worse and worse. There is a new "silent majority" that is overwhelmed with daily life and just surviving child rearing and working around the clock. "Wait a second, this is my boss..it will only take a minute." It may take personal impacts or an outrage that breaks through the numbness. I don't know what that will be.
I fear that we don't have enough angry, motivated voters who will show up. I fear that "we" are not frightened enough. I hope I am wrong. I want to be wrong. It happens all the time. But this time, I want to be supremely wrong. Maybe I will be pleasantly shocked when a sleeping silent majority rejects the madness of Abbott, DeSantis, et al.
And now, I must pen another vehement note to our Senators about expanding the Supreme Court.
Keep up the fight, Bill! And don't despair. I think things will get worse . . . Up to a point. When people realize we are back in 1920s America--still in Jim Crow, with religious intolerance governing our lives--expect to see a major backlash that should finally put an end to the death grip of a dying religious minority on American democracy.
A small point to consider for those unacquainted with how managers of “investment funds” such as this one of Jerod Kushner are compensated. We already know, according to the N.Y. Times reporting that this deal provides for a 1.25% asset management fee. For reference that compares with a more typical 1.0 % asset management fee such as Menuchin is receiving on the similar Saudi investment in his new fund. We can expect that the deal also provides for what is referred to as a carry on top of that on returns in excess of some agreed target return. We have no details on that but can assume it provides for significant additional upside for Kushner. Now let's see 1.25% times $2 billion is... Oh my! ... $25 million and that is an annual fee. Though Kushner may have to share that with whoever ultimately “helps” him manage these investments one can assume he will get a healthy chunk of that. Not bad for someone with zero experience managing an investment fund and no demonstrated talent for doing that or frankly much else.
I am going to open an investment fund, too. I wonder if MBS will give me any money? I will take a measly $1 billion. Oh, wait! The Sovereign Wealth Fund managers would say I have no experience and they stand to lose all of their money - - -just like with Jared. This deal stinks and is an insult to the American people. I don't get why people are not running around with their hair on fire!
Robert, you have noted a number of times that there is a pro-Putin (or is it Putemkin?) wing of the Republican Party. But the whole party is following Putin’s lead, and will reap the same “reward.” Why are the Russians performing so abysmally in Ukraine? Largely, because corruption and cronyism have undermined the Russian military and intelligence services, and Putin is living in a hermetically-sealed bubble as part and parcel of that. And Republicans are doing the same. They are sealing themselves off from the reality that most Americans believe that a woman should have control of her own body, that we need fewer guns out there—and need to keep themselves out of the hands of the crazies—, that climate change is real and threatening, and that the Supreme Court must not be captive to one party. Right now it may look like they are riding high, but that was true of Russia on February 24th. So we need to expose Republicans as the corrupt, authoritarian and all too often bigoted charlatans they are. We need to be like the Ukrainians, and to fight just as hard for our nation as they are for theirs.
Excellent point about the panicky money requests from Democratic fundraisers! They are an insult to our intelligence and terribly counterproductive in that they actually reinforce the Republican narrative about the likely results of the 2022 midterm elections.
Last night I heard on CNN that two Russian owned radio stations are located in the United States, one in Washington D C. They are broadcasting Russian propaganda. Americans are spreading Russian propaganda. A representative from the FCC said that they can’t do anything about it because of the right of free speech. But we can do something! These two Sputnik radio stations are owned by Russians. Our government can seize them because they are Russian owned like the mansions and yachts. To me having Russian owned radio stations spewing Russian propaganda in the US by American broadcasters is treason. They should be seized and shut down!
And more unfortunately, we have the far right cable channel OANN which is known for its pro-Trump content, promotion of conspiracy theories such as election tampering in November 2020, criticisms of mainstream media, as well as Russian propaganda. And then of course, there is Tucker Carlson, who has been promoting support of Putin even long before he pointed his murderous aggressions onto Ukraine. Thankfully, DirecTV, OANN's largest distributer, dropped the channel when its contract expired on April 5, 2022. It is regrettably still available on Verizon Fios Cable, and my 87 year old mother uses it as her news source. There seems to be no evidence of an effort to get Tucker Carlson to stop with his pro-Putin propaganda. (Which my mother also watches. Ugh)
I did not know that Directv had dropped OAN. Great! I checked my tv and sure enough it is gone. Can you persuade you mother to watch CNN along with FOX? Maybe seeing what is happening in Ukraine would make her understand what is really going on in the world. Good luck! My middle daughter watches FOX and she is a Trumper. We have gotten into arguments while talking on the phone and one or the other of us ends up hanging up on the other she lives ion Alabama and I live in Virginia. My other two daughters live here in Virginia. They feel the same way I do. My daughters are 46, 50, and 53. I am 72!
I wish I could Virginia. My mom really drank the kool-aid. She thinks OANN is telling the truth and all the others are broadcasting lies. She is a full fledged tRumper. I see on her coffee table that she just bought Jim Jordan's book. She is giving money to the DeSantis campaign. I gave up on her and to maintain a good and loving relationship, she is just not allowed to mention politics around me. She's 87 and needs my help, so we work at keeping the peace by avoiding any discussion.
Robert I agree Dems need to make more noise about Supreme Ct, Kishner, etc etc but how? We read, @listen to podcasts. write postcards, talk, register voters thru the.LWV. But these tactics aren’t loud enough. I feel like I am living in an echo chamber which is getting smaller and smaller. Any suggestions?
Hi, Mary Jo. Individual citizens like you and me need to keep the issue alive. Write, post, tweet, share, call. Rachel Maddow single-handedly kept the "false electors" scandal alive. We should do the same with Jared Kushner.
I Tweeted that NYT article to many news outlets 2 days ago and felt quite alone in broadcasting this information. I'm not giving up though. I'll press on with contacting members of Congress and the DCCC that they need to spend some of their efforts in exposing "Jared's 2 billion dollar payoff scandal".
Then “they” say it’s the NYT! And even the NYT isn’t doing these stories justice. Just saw guy on Twitter, a Texan, complain the news isn’t broadcasting what De S is doing at Texan border.
You are so right, Robert. We do have to decide what America we want to live in. I want to live in an America where these far right politicians are thrown out of office for good!
I agree that we must expand the Supreme Court to rectify the mistakes of allowing the confirmations of zJustice Kavannaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The Republicans had no right to appoint either one of them. Those should have been Democrat appointments. Also, Justice Thomas should be impeached.
Morning! I copied the first story of your newsletter and sent it to both of my Senators. Good advice for them! Thank you for the information and encouragement!
More on the Supreme Court from Heather Cox Richardson's substack today: "On April 6, five Supreme Court justices agreed to reinstate a Trump-era rule that limits the ability of states to block projects that pollute their rivers and streams. The court did so under the so-called “shadow docket,” a form of decision previously used to address emergencies, in which the court makes a decision without arguments or written explanations. Last week, Chief Justice John Roberts indicated just how far off the rails the current Supreme Court has slid when he joined the dissent against the majority’s decision out of concern for the use of this shadow docket as a way to hand down unbriefed and unexplained decisions."
Thank you to fellow readers who have called out those "panic-inducing Democratic fundraising emails." In addition to the e-mails, I receive nearly daily texts purporting to be from "Joe," "Kamala," "Jill," or "Doug" and asking me to "chip in $10" to meet the next purported (and always imminent) fundraising deadline. I wonder if people on the DNC (which I believe is the source of these texts) have ever considered how it demeans politics, politicians, and voters to engage in this nonstop begging under the absurd pretext that "Joe" and "Kamala" are our pals, not our elected leaders.
I ignore them. For those candidates I deliberately support (Warnock and O'Rourke to name a couple) I use ActBlue. But I agree with you - I am inundated with text messages, all supposedly from my "besties" asking for money to douse the latest catastrophic fire!
Last night I found the first indication of the ridiculously gerrymandered map that DeSantis proposed. My hair caught on fire. Not only does it now have 20-8 Republican seats, it slices Charlie Crist's current district and moves the bulk of it southward, going from +1 Republican (which is competitive and voted solidly blue, electing Crist) to Republican +14. Here is a useful interactive map. You can choose between "old map" and "proposed map" then hover over each district to see how it changes. It is unbelievable and Marc Elias has already said he is going to challenge it in court. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/florida/P000C0094/
After I finished reading todays Edition I thought about the various Republican initiated activities in Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Wisconsin to name a few states that were designed to engage a Trump fueled base and to gather media attention. Add to that the way the Supreme Court is making decisions that vastly impact our lives and it feels like nothing meaningful is being done about it. There is no Democratic answer back to any of these activities or a counterpoint activity to contrast and compare what is happening. I never read about voters in Florida or Texas pushing back and calling out their Governors behaviors as well as the Republican state legislators who support these laws. When does the Democratic Party across the board both nationally and locally stand up to be heard. Patriots in Ukraine are standing up and being heard and we need to do the same.
Hi, Stephen. I hear from many readers in Florida and Texas who are fighting the good fight in those states despite incredible corruption and unfairness. But news media does not report on their efforts.
It seems to be impossible to get off these horrible hysterical political contribution mailing lists. I even wonder if some are russian spam operations. Ngpvan is the worst. They will not remove you from their list, presumably because their profit is in selling your name. You can only unsubscribe individually (that works, but it IS work). They resell to every (democratic?) candidate in the country. In the last election cycle i made the mistake of contributing to several candidates in different states, and this is the punishment. As a result i have contributed nothing so far. I am investigating a Swing Left initiative called Blueprint, that will advise and consolidate your contributions into an anonymous fund. Any other suggestions welcome!
I think individual unsubscribes are the most effective way to stop the deluge of fundraising emails. It is work, but it works.
I also get a steady drumbeat of hysterical political emails. Every single one reads as though imminent catastrophe will happen tomorrow! In addition to candidates in my own state, there are other races I wish to contribute to. I will follow the suggestions I read here.
Check out the podcast for information about giving to grassroots groups in battleground states. It’s a significantly more effective use of political giving and your name won’t be sold to any other group. www.airlift.fund
The link to the podcast with Airlift Fund is in today's newsletter, above Concluding Thoughts.
I suggest taking a look at https://www.forcemultiplierus.org, which lays out a very sensible way to decide where your donations will do the most good.
❤
If the Republicans wish to return to yesteryear, how about remembering those days when few were allowed to own or carry guns. Let’s erase the damage the NRA has done in the past 30 years.
Exactly! Some Republican legislators want to make carrying a concealed weapon a right for all Americans and they would not have to have a permit. Just think of the crazies who could end up out there with concealed weapons that no one would know anything about because they won’ t be required to have permits! How many more shootings do we have to have before something is done?
Yes, I too received that "Pelosi email" on 4/12/22 and am quite unhappy with that email and others that are sent from the DCCC. All the DCCC emails make me feel like they are hysterically screaming at me. "Donate! Or we're doomed!" I unsubscribed from the list, which did direct me to DCCC.org and I was also asked why I am unsubscribing. I left my comment with my sentiments on this situation similar to what you have mentioned Robert. Perhaps if half a gazillion others would do the same, the DCCC might get the message? Now I am on to Tweet to @DCCC with the same complaint. This is ongoing proof that Democrats are not getting their messaging right. They need to quickly get that turned around, if we are to maintain the House and Senate.
I have been getting those horrible emails as well. I send them to spam as well. Last night I got one from Women Of Color promoting Florida Democrats. I noted at the bottom that the organization is in California. I responded that I can’t donate to candidates in all 50 states. I live in Virginia, so why were they sending me requests for donations. I have been inundated by these hysterical requests for money since 2020. They are a turnoff. It is all about instilling fear. I did send a small contribution to Senator Warnock.
I trash those from Pelosi and everyone else. They simply are not getting the true message out. Whom can we contact about this?
They seek donations from everywhere and anywhere because they get a percentage of the take. That's also why every candidate's effectiveness is judged by how much money they've raised instead of how their announced policy positions resonate with voters. As long as electioneering is a gold mine for consultants, pundits, and the media, the most marketable (read "outrageous") candidates are what we'll get. Your response, which is the same as mine, is the only way to change it and the change will take a long time.
I appreciate your comments about how much money to candidates goes to political consultants. I invite you to listen to the today’s podcast recording where Robert interviews me about Airlift. Airlift funds grassroots groups engaging non-voters and low-propensity voters year round becoming trusted messengers about voting. I think that supporting these groups is a better use of our political giving.
A much better use and I'll try to check out the podcast, either live or, if it's available, recorded. Thanks Ruth.
Thanks for listening. The podcast was recorded yesterday and is linked close to the end of today’s newsletter
I did listen and it was well worth it. I don't normally spend much time with podcasts but this one hit home and I'd recommend it to anyone else interested in campaign funding and the excesses of 'begging' emails. Airlift gets added to the short list of donation recipients; via check or, if I can figure out how, bank bill pay.
I won’t give anything to any of those. I will only give to my Senators and to whatever Democratic candidate is running against my District’s Republican incumbent. Thank you for the information.
My giving pattern exactly. In the long run, we'll win; we just have to keep running. Check out Winston Churchill's possibly apocryphal comment on going through hell.
In 2020 there were candidates who raised lots of money through the fundraising consultants and still lost.
When Sarah Gideon in Maine lost, she had millions of dollars that she hadn’t even been able to spend
Sarah Isgur at The Dispatch has a running commentary on the diminishing returns of fundraising in political campaigns. It doesn't stop because the returns to the fundraisers and consultants don't diminish just because their clients lose. There are a lot of good reasons to be careful about donating and at least as many to limit the duration of and spending involved in every political campaign.
Robert Hubbell does not pose a rhetorical question. The upcoming election will present a definitive and dramatic choice between a strengthened democracy vs. a dangerous slide to autocracy. The Republican Party has made this an existential choice, and everyone must heed Robert's imprecations to find an active, local role to play in defeating those who wish to reduce and ultimately eliminate our freedoms.
Agree but at the end of the day if 30% of the eligible voters vote it will be a great turnout. There is today no momentum or outrage fueling people to take back their government.
Hi Stephen and Roger. I continually hear the comment about lack of momentum and enthusiasm. Do you have a source / link you can forward? I would like to understand where it is coming from and what it is based on. Thanks!
This is my intuition which I hope, really hope, is wrong. There will be a mighty fight in November. Many of us will hustle up voters, make our contributions, scream on every forum we have time for.
But while I am surrounded by like minded people, when we spend time together, the conversations are almost never about politics. Even the war crimes of Russia are breezed over. People have become numb - that "fire hose" has drowned them. I might bring up the Kushner corruption issue and get complete agreement. And then it's back to talk of incredible grandchildren or how to pay for the child care when school gets out or how to find a car to buy because there are none available that aren't way over priced or Wordle...
I fear that it is human nature to ignore the peril. Talk of the Supreme Court and their anti Federal Government decisions - without hearing arguments or facts! - just causes people to snooze. Not because they don't care. But because they can't handle it. Steve Bannons tactic of "flooding the zone with shit" is working.
I fear that the only way America can find it's way back to the dreams of the founders is the path of it getting worse and worse. There is a new "silent majority" that is overwhelmed with daily life and just surviving child rearing and working around the clock. "Wait a second, this is my boss..it will only take a minute." It may take personal impacts or an outrage that breaks through the numbness. I don't know what that will be.
I fear that we don't have enough angry, motivated voters who will show up. I fear that "we" are not frightened enough. I hope I am wrong. I want to be wrong. It happens all the time. But this time, I want to be supremely wrong. Maybe I will be pleasantly shocked when a sleeping silent majority rejects the madness of Abbott, DeSantis, et al.
And now, I must pen another vehement note to our Senators about expanding the Supreme Court.
Keep up the fight, Bill! And don't despair. I think things will get worse . . . Up to a point. When people realize we are back in 1920s America--still in Jim Crow, with religious intolerance governing our lives--expect to see a major backlash that should finally put an end to the death grip of a dying religious minority on American democracy.
A small point to consider for those unacquainted with how managers of “investment funds” such as this one of Jerod Kushner are compensated. We already know, according to the N.Y. Times reporting that this deal provides for a 1.25% asset management fee. For reference that compares with a more typical 1.0 % asset management fee such as Menuchin is receiving on the similar Saudi investment in his new fund. We can expect that the deal also provides for what is referred to as a carry on top of that on returns in excess of some agreed target return. We have no details on that but can assume it provides for significant additional upside for Kushner. Now let's see 1.25% times $2 billion is... Oh my! ... $25 million and that is an annual fee. Though Kushner may have to share that with whoever ultimately “helps” him manage these investments one can assume he will get a healthy chunk of that. Not bad for someone with zero experience managing an investment fund and no demonstrated talent for doing that or frankly much else.
Nice work if you can find it.
I am going to open an investment fund, too. I wonder if MBS will give me any money? I will take a measly $1 billion. Oh, wait! The Sovereign Wealth Fund managers would say I have no experience and they stand to lose all of their money - - -just like with Jared. This deal stinks and is an insult to the American people. I don't get why people are not running around with their hair on fire!
Because we have none left after pulling it all out!!!
Quick, please help put me out, my hair is on fire!
Want to bet he names Ivanka as chief "manager"?
Robert, you have noted a number of times that there is a pro-Putin (or is it Putemkin?) wing of the Republican Party. But the whole party is following Putin’s lead, and will reap the same “reward.” Why are the Russians performing so abysmally in Ukraine? Largely, because corruption and cronyism have undermined the Russian military and intelligence services, and Putin is living in a hermetically-sealed bubble as part and parcel of that. And Republicans are doing the same. They are sealing themselves off from the reality that most Americans believe that a woman should have control of her own body, that we need fewer guns out there—and need to keep themselves out of the hands of the crazies—, that climate change is real and threatening, and that the Supreme Court must not be captive to one party. Right now it may look like they are riding high, but that was true of Russia on February 24th. So we need to expose Republicans as the corrupt, authoritarian and all too often bigoted charlatans they are. We need to be like the Ukrainians, and to fight just as hard for our nation as they are for theirs.
Oh, and What about Jared?
Copyright that! You could make a fortune!
Excellent point about the panicky money requests from Democratic fundraisers! They are an insult to our intelligence and terribly counterproductive in that they actually reinforce the Republican narrative about the likely results of the 2022 midterm elections.
Last night I heard on CNN that two Russian owned radio stations are located in the United States, one in Washington D C. They are broadcasting Russian propaganda. Americans are spreading Russian propaganda. A representative from the FCC said that they can’t do anything about it because of the right of free speech. But we can do something! These two Sputnik radio stations are owned by Russians. Our government can seize them because they are Russian owned like the mansions and yachts. To me having Russian owned radio stations spewing Russian propaganda in the US by American broadcasters is treason. They should be seized and shut down!
And more unfortunately, we have the far right cable channel OANN which is known for its pro-Trump content, promotion of conspiracy theories such as election tampering in November 2020, criticisms of mainstream media, as well as Russian propaganda. And then of course, there is Tucker Carlson, who has been promoting support of Putin even long before he pointed his murderous aggressions onto Ukraine. Thankfully, DirecTV, OANN's largest distributer, dropped the channel when its contract expired on April 5, 2022. It is regrettably still available on Verizon Fios Cable, and my 87 year old mother uses it as her news source. There seems to be no evidence of an effort to get Tucker Carlson to stop with his pro-Putin propaganda. (Which my mother also watches. Ugh)
I did not know that Directv had dropped OAN. Great! I checked my tv and sure enough it is gone. Can you persuade you mother to watch CNN along with FOX? Maybe seeing what is happening in Ukraine would make her understand what is really going on in the world. Good luck! My middle daughter watches FOX and she is a Trumper. We have gotten into arguments while talking on the phone and one or the other of us ends up hanging up on the other she lives ion Alabama and I live in Virginia. My other two daughters live here in Virginia. They feel the same way I do. My daughters are 46, 50, and 53. I am 72!
I wish I could Virginia. My mom really drank the kool-aid. She thinks OANN is telling the truth and all the others are broadcasting lies. She is a full fledged tRumper. I see on her coffee table that she just bought Jim Jordan's book. She is giving money to the DeSantis campaign. I gave up on her and to maintain a good and loving relationship, she is just not allowed to mention politics around me. She's 87 and needs my help, so we work at keeping the peace by avoiding any discussion.
My daughter is exactly like your mother. We have all told her no politics when we are together and on the phone.
Robert I agree Dems need to make more noise about Supreme Ct, Kishner, etc etc but how? We read, @listen to podcasts. write postcards, talk, register voters thru the.LWV. But these tactics aren’t loud enough. I feel like I am living in an echo chamber which is getting smaller and smaller. Any suggestions?
Hi, Mary Jo. Individual citizens like you and me need to keep the issue alive. Write, post, tweet, share, call. Rachel Maddow single-handedly kept the "false electors" scandal alive. We should do the same with Jared Kushner.
I Tweeted that NYT article to many news outlets 2 days ago and felt quite alone in broadcasting this information. I'm not giving up though. I'll press on with contacting members of Congress and the DCCC that they need to spend some of their efforts in exposing "Jared's 2 billion dollar payoff scandal".
Then “they” say it’s the NYT! And even the NYT isn’t doing these stories justice. Just saw guy on Twitter, a Texan, complain the news isn’t broadcasting what De S is doing at Texan border.
I thought about posting that link here, but the guy’s profanity would have definitely offended many here. 😂
You are so right, Robert. We do have to decide what America we want to live in. I want to live in an America where these far right politicians are thrown out of office for good!
I agree that we must expand the Supreme Court to rectify the mistakes of allowing the confirmations of zJustice Kavannaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The Republicans had no right to appoint either one of them. Those should have been Democrat appointments. Also, Justice Thomas should be impeached.
Morning! I copied the first story of your newsletter and sent it to both of my Senators. Good advice for them! Thank you for the information and encouragement!
Thanks, Donna! Spread the word!
I finished the newsletter after I got home from running. Thanks for the link to the news literacy group! Their app is informative and fun!
Lucky you! My two senators not only cannot read (above a K level), but they are part and parcel of the Sedition Conspiracy: Cruz and Cornyn.
More on the Supreme Court from Heather Cox Richardson's substack today: "On April 6, five Supreme Court justices agreed to reinstate a Trump-era rule that limits the ability of states to block projects that pollute their rivers and streams. The court did so under the so-called “shadow docket,” a form of decision previously used to address emergencies, in which the court makes a decision without arguments or written explanations. Last week, Chief Justice John Roberts indicated just how far off the rails the current Supreme Court has slid when he joined the dissent against the majority’s decision out of concern for the use of this shadow docket as a way to hand down unbriefed and unexplained decisions."
Thank you to fellow readers who have called out those "panic-inducing Democratic fundraising emails." In addition to the e-mails, I receive nearly daily texts purporting to be from "Joe," "Kamala," "Jill," or "Doug" and asking me to "chip in $10" to meet the next purported (and always imminent) fundraising deadline. I wonder if people on the DNC (which I believe is the source of these texts) have ever considered how it demeans politics, politicians, and voters to engage in this nonstop begging under the absurd pretext that "Joe" and "Kamala" are our pals, not our elected leaders.
My favorites are the texts “Hi Ruth, this is Nancy Pelosi…… I can just imagine her texting away
I ignore them. For those candidates I deliberately support (Warnock and O'Rourke to name a couple) I use ActBlue. But I agree with you - I am inundated with text messages, all supposedly from my "besties" asking for money to douse the latest catastrophic fire!
Last night I found the first indication of the ridiculously gerrymandered map that DeSantis proposed. My hair caught on fire. Not only does it now have 20-8 Republican seats, it slices Charlie Crist's current district and moves the bulk of it southward, going from +1 Republican (which is competitive and voted solidly blue, electing Crist) to Republican +14. Here is a useful interactive map. You can choose between "old map" and "proposed map" then hover over each district to see how it changes. It is unbelievable and Marc Elias has already said he is going to challenge it in court. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/florida/P000C0094/
Yes. It is so bad it violates Florida law. It will be teh subject of litigation for a very long time.
After I finished reading todays Edition I thought about the various Republican initiated activities in Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Wisconsin to name a few states that were designed to engage a Trump fueled base and to gather media attention. Add to that the way the Supreme Court is making decisions that vastly impact our lives and it feels like nothing meaningful is being done about it. There is no Democratic answer back to any of these activities or a counterpoint activity to contrast and compare what is happening. I never read about voters in Florida or Texas pushing back and calling out their Governors behaviors as well as the Republican state legislators who support these laws. When does the Democratic Party across the board both nationally and locally stand up to be heard. Patriots in Ukraine are standing up and being heard and we need to do the same.
Hi, Stephen. I hear from many readers in Florida and Texas who are fighting the good fight in those states despite incredible corruption and unfairness. But news media does not report on their efforts.
Thanks maybe you could highlight a few each week.