BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG
We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
THE FLY! Not the movie fly, the debate fly that so much has been made of. When I saw it I automatically thought 'well, flies are attracted to shitso.... Here are some other takes on the fly.....
Last night’s vice presidential debate left viewers with many questions: Would Mike Pence aid in a peaceful transfer of power should Donald Trump lose the election? Why do Kamala Harris and Joe Biden like fracking so much? Why was Susan Page denied a mute button? And why was that fly so drawn to Pence, plexiglass be damned? Perhaps it was the vice president’s hairspray, or his chilling stillness, or his pinkish eye. We may never know for sure. But in my search for answers, I turned to the Bible:
Exodus 8:21-23
For if you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies; so also the land where they live. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I the Lord am in this land. Thus I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall appear tomorrow.
Psalm 105:30-31
Their land teemed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.
Ecclesiastes 10:1
As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.
Matthew 23:23-24
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”
Exodus 8:18
The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals.
Steve Schmidt, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, declared that a fly that landed on Vice President Pence during Wednesday night's debate "is always seen as a mark of the devil," drawing mockery on social media.
"I don't think it's ever a good sign when a fly lands on your head for two minutes," the MSNBC contributor, who managed the late Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential run, said during post-debate coverage on the network early Thursday.
"That's a sign all through history of sin, and historically, biblically, maybe you wouldn't normally say this — it’s only safe to say this after midnight ... but a fly, he who commands the fly is always seen historically as a mark of the devil," Schmidt added.
Host Ari Melber chuckled at the comment before asking Schmidt to confirm that he was joking and noting that the fly could have landed on anyone.
"But it didn’t. It landed on Mike Pence. And it says something, maybe something karmic about the status of the campaign as it implodes," Schmidt said, appearing to be serious.
"On the fact check, what Steve Schmidt has said about the [polling] numbers is true. What he said about the ultimate moral reckoning of whether the fly connotes evil or devil or Nosferatu is above my pay grade. But I can’t confirm it," Melber said in response.
Schmidt's perspective quickly sparked reaction on social media.
The Biden campaign seized on the viral moment, raising funds by selling fly swatters.
The cost of the swatters, which the campaign said swat away "flies and lies," was $10. They were listed as sold out on the campaign's website as of Thursday morning.
THE repression, suppression and denial of voting rights in the U.S. has become so widespread and extreme for the first time the Carter Center will be deploying election monitors across the country to monitor the 2020 elections. I am terrified these tactics will result in too many voters to just give up and not vote. We, the people, can not let that happen. We need to vote early or vote by mail or vote on TUESDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2020. The bottom line is we need to show the drumpf / trump-pence administration and the gop / greed over people-republican party we are what democracy looks like! BE SURE to read the piece from the ACLU for guidance on making a voting plan and to know your voting rights. From Mother Jones and the ACLU.....
President Trump’s loud refusals to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the November election have sparked major fears about the continued survival of American democracy. But much more quietly, Trump and his GOP allies have already taken numerous steps to undermine fair elections in an attempt to stay in power. The Trump campaign is furiously litigating in nearly every major swing state (17 states in total) to block expanded access to the ballot during a pandemic, while GOP state lawmakers fight to maintain existing restrictions on voting that have given their party a major advantage in past elections and push new ones. Together, these efforts could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters, mostly in Democratic-leaning demographic groups, and tilt the election toward Trump. Here is a comprehensive list of the ways Trump and his party are making it harder to vote.
Voting by mail:
Blocking mail-in ballot requests: The Trump campaign has filed numerous lawsuits attempting to block states from sending mail-in ballot request forms to voters. In Iowa, a judge found in favor of the campaign and voided more than 150,000 forms sent to voters in two of the state’s most Democratic counties and a Republican-leaning one, forcing them to request a new ballot in order for it to count.
Blocking universal mail voting: Though states have conducted elections by mailing all registered voters a ballot since the 1990s with few problems, the Trump campaign has sued New Jersey, Nevada, and Montana to block them from doing the same. Trump has denounced the mailing of “unsolicited” ballots to voters on a near-daily basis.
Requiring an excuse to vote by mail: While 44 states will allow all voters to obtain mail ballots during the pandemic, six GOP-controlled states are still requiring a reason other than COVID-19 to vote-by-mail. In Texas, voters under 65 cannot cite fear of contracting COVID as a reason to vote by mail; those that are older can.
Preventing drop boxes: States with a long history of mail voting like Oregon and Colorado, along with relative newcomers like Maryland and New Jersey, allow voters to return their ballots at drop boxes across the state, but the Trump campaign has sued to block them from being set up in swing states such as Pennsylvania. In Ohio, the Republican secretary of state issued a directive limiting drop boxes to one per county (in defiance of a court order), ensuring unequal access for voters living in more-populated counties and forcing some to travel up to 90 minutes to drop off their ballot. In Texas, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott issued a similar directive just weeks before early voting ordering counties to remove already established additional drop boxes, forcing Harris County, which has 5 million people and is larger than Rhode Island, to go from 12 locations to just one.
Throwing out ballots with mismatched signatures: In 2018, more than 100,000 mail ballots were rejected because of a mismatched or missing signatures on return envelopes; in Florida, young voters and voters of color were far more likely to have their ballots thrown out for a mismatched signature than elderly and white voters. Republicans have gone to court in states including Arizona, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to preserve this requirement.
Requiring a witness signature: In eight states, including the swing states of Wisconsin and North Carolina, voters must find a witness to sign their mail ballot, which can be difficult at a time of social distancing; Alabama’s GOP secretary of state went to the Supreme Court to keep a law requiring two witnesses or a notarized affidavit for a mail ballot to count.
Throwing out “naked ballots”: In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign recently won a court order requiring the state to throw out ballots that are not enclosed in a special secrecy envelope, a move election officials warn could disenfranchise more than 100,000 voters in the state.
Prohibiting the collection of ballots: The Trump campaign has sued states including Maine, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, trying to force a on ban third- party voter engagement groups collecting and returning mail ballots.
Sabotaging the Postal Service: This year, Democrats are more likely to cast mail ballots, and the USPS’s well-publicized major mail delays have led to widespread concern that votes will be rejected because they arrived too late. The delays stem from changes made under Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor who was made Postmaster General earlier this year, and soon reduced overtime, cut post office hours, and forced trucks to leave before they can be filled with mail.
Voting in person:
Strict voter ID laws: Over the last decade, roughly a dozen Republican state legislatures passed laws requiring voters to present certain forms of government-issued photo, which contributed to a drop in Democratic turnout in 2016; According to a study by Wisconsin academics, the state’s voter ID law prevented up to 23,000 voters from casting a ballot in just two mostly Democratic counties—equivalent to Trump’s margin of victory.
Cuts to early voting: In June, a panel of GOP-appointed judges approved cuts to early voting passed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin legislature, limiting early voting to just two weeks. Previously, some heavily Democratic cities, like Madison and Milwaukee, allowed a month or more of early voting.
Disenfranchising people with felony convictions: In early September, a federal appeals court upheld a law passed by Florida’s GOP-controlled legislature requiring people with past felony convictions to pay off all fines, fees, and restitutions before voting, a move that could disenfranchise 775,000 eligible voters in this key battleground state.
Closing polling places: States with a long history of voting discrimination closed more than 1,600 polling places after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. This has led to longer lines at the polls, especially in Black and Brown communities. In Georgia’s June primary, voters in predominantly white neighborhoods waited an average of six minutes to vote, while voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods waited an average of 51 minutes.
Recruiting poll watchers: The GOP is seeking to recruit 50,000 poll watchers to intimidate and potentially challenge the eligibility of Democratic voters, after the party was freed from a court order that had banned such activity since the 1980s. Trump has threatened to illegally send law enforcement to monitor the polls.
Blocking online registration: Voter registration plunged after in-person registration drives were suspended across the country due to the pandemic. Even so, ten states (nine of them with Republican state legislatures) still do not allow online registration, and Republicans have sued to prevent it from being offered in states including Maine and Texas.
Purging the voter rolls: In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld efforts by Ohio’s Republican secretary of state to remove voters who had not voted in a few previous elections, essentially turning voting into a “use it or lose it” right; Georgia’s Republican secretary of state deactivated more than 120,000 registrations earlier this year for the same reason.
Election security:
Fighting efforts reduce reliance on dodgy technology: Republican election officials in Georgia are appealing a judge’s ruling requiring paper backups of voter registration data, even after the breakdown of electronic poll books caused hours-long waits during the June primary.
Keeping threats to election security under wraps: Trump’s director of National Intelligence announced in August that his office would no longer conduct in-person election security briefings to Congress. Later, after congressional Democrats said the Trump administration was trying to downplay foreign interference in elections, he partially backed down, agreeing to brief only members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Blocking election integrity legislation: For nearly a year, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have blocked legislation to protect Americans’ right to vote and prevent foreign election interference. They’ve also blocked legislation passed by the House to give $3.6 billion in election aid to states.
Disinformation:
Encouraging people to vote twice: As part of his continued assault on mail voting, Trump urged his supporters to submit their completed mail ballots and then show up at the polls and test the system by trying to vote again. State officials from around the country had to remind voters that voting twice in the same election is illegal, as others warned that people following the president’s suggestion could create delays that deter legitimate voters.
Lying about voter fraud: The president, with the help of Attorney General Bill Barr, has repeatedly lied about the prevalence of widespread voter fraud, creating an atmosphere that has made it easier to infringe on voting rights. Of course, the facts are different: The conservative Heritage Foundation lists just 143 criminal convictions for mail ballot fraud over the last 20 years, out of roughly 250 million votes cast by mail. A recent Washington Post analysis of elections in three primarily vote-by-mail states in 2016 and 2018 found 372 possible cases of double voting or voting on behalf of dead people, out of about 14.6 million ballots cast—a rate of roughly 0.0025 percent.
Setting harmful expectations of a quick result: While election officials around the country have warned that a clear vote tallies could take days to emerge, the president has signaled that he may declare victory on election night as part of a strategy to delegitimize millions of legal ballots that will be processed after Election Day.
Dismissing Russian intervention: Trump continues to downplay and publicly dismiss his own intelligence officials’ warnings of ongoing Russian interference in US elections, making it easier for Russia to act as it wishes. Most recently, he incorrectly admonished FBI Director Chris Wray for not telling the public that China is the “far greater” threat. A Department of Homeland Security whistleblower also claimed recently that the Trump administration sought to downplay and manipulate intelligence on Russian election interference.
Doing Russia’s work: Trump’s vocal attacks on the credibility of mail voting and the ability of the US Postal Service to deliver mail ballots have been amplified by the Russian government, Trump’s intelligence analysts said in early September. Even the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee warned that Russian attacks on the election are “ongoing” and said continued public undermining of election administration in the United States was making their work easier.
Targeting Black voters with illegal robocalls: In late August, right-wing provocateurs Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl allegedly targeted voters in urban areas in five states with a robocall informing them that voting by mail would invite increased scrutiny from law enforcement and debt collectors. Each man was charged with four felonies by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on October 1.
Vote counting:
Weaponizing “delays”: In the key battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Republican legislatures have hampered proposals that would help local officials more quickly process unprecedented numbers of mail ballots. Meanwhile, Trump is pointing to these anticipated delays to spread baseless claims of fraud.
Blocking late-arriving ballots: Even against the backdrop of historic levels of voting by mail and the US Postal Service’s well-documented delivery issues, Republicans are waging legal battles in several states to keep ballots that arrive after Election Day from being counted.
Preparing to to nullify the results: Down in the polls, Trump and Republican allies are allegedly preparing to “circumvent the results of the vote count,” according to Barton Gellman’s recent reporting in the Atlantic, using litigation and the pretext of problems with mail ballots as a pretext for Republican-led state legislatures to possibly appoint their own electors and nullify the will of the voters.
First thing's first: Check your registration status if you haven't done so already. If you discover you need to register to vote or update your registration, go to vote.gov to start the process. (Please note: Both links take you to third-party websites, nass.org and vote.gov, respectively.)
Before you fill out your ballot, knowing your voting rights is crucial. Learn more here about how to exercise your voting rights, resist voter intimidation efforts, and access disability-related accommodations and language assistance at the polls.
Craig, we are in the courts and in Congress doing everything in our power right now to ensure no one has to choose between their health and the right to vote during a global pandemic. And it's in your power to help in this fightby making a voting plan at aclu.org/voter today. Then, come November 3rd, we'll all have done our part to ensure we can vote like our rights depend on it. Because they do.
Thanks for taking action,
The ACLU Team
P.S. Already made your voting plan? Help your friends and family be just as prepared by forwarding this email or texting five contacts in your phone this link: aclu.org/voter
