September 17, 2024

Tuesday, September 17, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.

National Voter Registration Day is Today.

In most states, you can’t just walk in and vote.

Here’s your chance to help Kamala and Tim and the nation.

Share this. By phone. By email and text. On social media.

---

Miscellaneous notes on Kamala Harris.

In case you didn’t know…

Long before gay marriage was popular, Kamala Harris was at the forefront of the equal rights movement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two decades ago, when a Democratic presidential nominee wouldn’t dream of endorsing gay marriage, a newly elected district attorney named Kamala Harris was performing one of the first same-sex unions in the United States.

It was the so-called Winter of Love in San Francisco. The mayor at the time, Gavin Newsom, had directed the county clerk to approve gay marriages even though there was no law on the books recognizing them. His act of rebellion prompted a bipartisan political backlash, but Harris had no hesitation.

“You could tell she was so overwhelmed and had so much joy about performing this ceremony,” said Brad Witherspoon, whose marriage to Raymond Cobane was officiated by Harris on Valentine’s Day 2004.

The moment represents a stark difference between Harris and all previous Democratic presidential nominees, who didn’t begin their political careers as gay marriage supporters. Four years after the Winter of Love, the issue was still off the table during the party’s primary. And it took another four years for Democratic President Barack Obama, running for reelection against Republican Mitt Romney, to back gay marriage. (Associated Press).

Kamala and the Economy.

Kamala Harris may be gaining ground on the economy, according to a new poll by The Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. About 44 percent of registered voters trusted the vice president to manage it, compared with 42 percent supporting Trump, within the poll’s margin of error. But of the respondents who watched last week’s debate, 48 percent favored Harris on the economy.

There are other signs that Americans may be changing their outlook. U.S. consumers increasingly feel better about prices and other economic matters, according to the latest sentiment survey conducted by the University of Michigan, published Friday. Meanwhile, Harris supporters have continued to describe her policies as good for business. (New York Times).

Did you know there is a mezuzah on the entry door to the Vice President’s House?

Former Reaganites for Kamala.

Scientific American.

The magazine made its first-ever endorsement of President Biden in 2020.

Seeking the Latino vote.

A reminder from the future President.

49 days as of today. Ask yourself what more you can do.

---

Miscellaneous notes on Donald Trump.

David Hogg suggests Drump has a new strategy to win Gen Z. 👺🤡

Laura Loomer, Trump’s classy companion.

Offensive language and thoughts alert! You may want to skip.👇

On the would-be assassination of Donald Trump.

JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, said at the Georgia Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner in Atlanta last night, “The big difference between conservatives and liberals is that we have — no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months.”

Sounds as if JD is complaining? Or urging? Does he know he wasn’t even first?

Trump, Vance, Haitian immigrants, and the communities where the Republican bigotry causes damage.

September 13, 2024. Letters from an American. Heather Cox Richardson.

After bomb threats today, officials had to evacuate two elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio, and move the students to a different location. They had to close a middle school altogether. This is the second day bomb threats have closed schools and public buildings after MAGA Republicans have spread the lie that Haitian immigrants there have been eating white people's pets. Haitian immigrants, who were welcomed to Springfield by officials eager to revitalize the city and who are there legally, say they are afraid. 

Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo today explained where the lie had come from and how it had spread. More than two months ago, they wrote, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is Trump’s vice presidential running mate, began to speak about Springfield at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, trying to tie rising housing prices to immigrants. The next day, at the National Conservatism conference, Vance accused “illegals” of overwhelming the city. 

On August 10, about a dozen neo-Nazis of the “Blood Tribe” organization showed up in Springfield, where one of their leaders said the city had been taken over by “degenerate third worlders” and blamed the Jews for the influx of migrants. The neo-Nazis stayed and, on August 27, showed up at a meeting of the city council, where their leader threatened council members. On September 1, another white supremacist group, Patriot Front, held its own “protest to the mass influx of unassimilable Haitian migrants” in the city. Right-wing social media posters pushed the story, usually with “witnesses” to events in the city coming from elsewhere.

In late August, posting in a private Facebook group, a resident said they had heard that Haitian immigrants had butchered a neighbor’s cat for food. Vance reposted that rumor to attack Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, on whom he is trying to hang undocumented immigration although it was Trump who convinced Republicans to kill a strong bipartisan border bill this spring. Springfield police and the city manager told news outlets there was no truth to the rumors.  

Nonetheless, on September 10, Vance told his people to “keep the cat memes flowing,” even though—or perhaps because—the rumors were putting people in his own state in danger.
Trump repeated the lie at the presidential debate that night, claiming, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” Today, President Joe Biden demanded Trump stop his attacks on Haitian-Americans, but Trump doubled down, promising to deport the Haitian immigrants in Springfield if he is elected, although they are here legally. 

The widespread ridicule of Trump’s statement has obscured that this attack on Ohio’s immigrants is part of an attempt to regain control of the Senate. Convincing Ohio voters that the immigrants in their midst are subhuman could help Republicans defeat popular Democratic incumbent senator Sherrod Brown, who has held his seat since 2007. Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, both Democrats in states that supported Trump in 2020, are key to controlling the Senate. 
Two Republican super PACs, one of which is linked to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have booked more than $82 million of ad space in Ohio between Labor Day and the election and are focusing on immigration.  (Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson).

---

One more thing. Or two.

Watch Karma in full action.

George Takai has an interesting theory.

---

Your daily reminder.

Trump is a convicted felon.

On May 30th, he was found guilty on 34 felony counts by the unanimous vote of 12 ordinary citizens.

The Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11th and September 18th. He will now be sentenced on November 26.

---

Hillary says what she thinks.

---