alternet--2020-11-06--However the election ends, white supremacy has already won

As of the time of this writing , the outcome of the 2020 presidential election remains undecided .
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump 253–213 , per the Associated Press reports , in the Electoral College .
The key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia will not finish counting all of the ballots until perhaps as late as Friday of this week .
Pennsylvania make take even longer .
The Biden campaign remains optimistic that these outstanding ballots will be sufficient to secure victory .
Because he is a neo fascist American authoritarian , Donald Trump preemptively and falsely announced on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any ballots not yet counted in states where he is currently losing should be disqualified .
Trump also said that he would go to the United States Supreme Court to stop votes from being counted past Election Day .
Republican attorneys and other right-wing experts on committing vote-rigging , voter suppression and electoral fraud will now take the next step in their plot to keep Donald Trump in power .
The 2020 presidential election will possibly be decided by the Supreme Court where Donald Trump 's handpicked justices will follow through on their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the presidency , contrary to the will of the American people .
What is actually known with great certainty about the 2020 presidential election is that white supremacy and racism have been reaffirmed and not repudiated .
Despite hundreds of thousands of people dead in the United States from the coronavirus and Trump 's sabotage of the relief efforts , along with his cruelty , violence , tens of thousands of lies , treasonous behavior and destruction of the country 's economy ; despite the many thousands of brown and Black migrants and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other detention centers ; despite his vast corruption , lawbreaking , racism , white supremacy , and nativism ; despite his destruction of America 's and the world 's environment , thereby imperiling the survival of the human race ; despite being credibly accused of rape and sexual assault by dozens of women ; and despite his ignorance , stupidity and overall evil , Donald Trump remains remarkably popular in the United States .
Moreover , Donald Trump has the highest base level of support in the history of modern polling in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other followers love Donald Trump precisely because of how horrible he is and not despite it .
It is a form of political sadism .
Trumpism and America 's current version of right-wing politics is a form of political religion binds its followers to the Great Leader and the movement in a deeply existential way .
More people have voted for Donald Trump so far than did in 2016 .
What is also known about Donald Trump , the 2020 presidential campaign , and the results so far is that Trump 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can largely be explained as a function of white racism and white supremacy ; `` racial resentment '' ; `` ethnic antagonism '' ; social dominance behavior ; malignant reality ; pathocracy ; collective narcissism , existential white racial `` anxiety '' ; the dark triad of sociopathic and psychopathic behavior ; white identity politics ; and racial authoritarianism , more generally .
How are the pundits and other members of the chattering class and mainstream American news media responding to Donald Trump being so close to victory over Joe Biden in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a crushing defeat for Trump ?
There is shock and awe that the voting and prediction models , were again , as in 2016 , so inaccurate .
There is also visible upset and pain that the consensus and traditional wisdom among the so-called `` professional '' politics watchers is shown again to be inadequate for deciphering events in the Age of Trump .
In essence , the mainstream commentariat and political class are experiencing ( or should ) a legitimacy crisis .
But the most common thread in the reactions online and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump being so close to securing a second presidential term is `` shock '' and `` surprise '' at the power of racism , cruelty and intolerance in America .
In that chorus of voices , there are even the `` hope peddlers '' who are so bold as to actually be praising America 's `` democratic spirit '' because of record turn out as opposed to condemning how so many tens of millions of white Americans so enthusiastically voted for more white supremacy , social inequality and injustice .
So many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have a deep and fundamental ( and naïve ) belief in the inherent goodness of America ( White Americans in particular ) , that to admit such assumptions are incorrect is almost impossible for them .
Why ?
It would cause too much emotional , psychological , intellectual and financial pain .
Most among them are also at a profound disadvantage in their analysis of Trumpism because most of them have refused to accurately describe Donald Trump as being a `` fascist '' and an `` authoritarian '' or to summon the moral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such , those voices now have little if any credibility when or if they try to do so now .
Historian Timothy Snyder , author of the bestselling book `` On Tyranny , '' recently explained to Salon : In all , to clearly state that Donald Trump , his Republican Party and movement are committed to keeping America a type of `` white space '' is verboten for most members of the Fourth Estate .
Contrary to what many liberals and progressives would like to assert , Trump 's white `` working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead , Trump 's `` white working class '' voters have made a different calculation about what is most important to them .
Here , Whiteness and the psychological wages which come from it ( especially the entitlement and privilege to cause nonwhite people pain and suffering without consequences ) are more important for Trump 's white voters than their health , income or even lives .
As the United States and the world await the final results of the 2020 presidential election , what are some key lessons that the American news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of millions of White Americans have pledged again , as they did in 2016 , their loyalty to Whiteness and white supremacy in the form of Trumpism ?
Race and the color line are central to American society and life , not peripheral to it .
To ignore the color line is to ignore reality .
In the end , reality almost always wins .
Any discussion of politics in America which does not seriously consider the context of race and the color line is a priori inadequate and imprecise , if not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's news organizations should include more nonwhite people , especially those who are trained in the social sciences and humanities .
By doing so , America 's news organizations will be better equipped to understand the realities and implications of race and the color line in this society and around the world .
At present , the white racial frame and how it blinds too many members of the Fourth Estate and political class more broadly to the truth is an extreme liability , one that undermines the overall credibility of the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media should also include more true expert voices on questions of American politics , society , race and related topics , instead of the generalists who dominate the 24/7 cable news .
As the United States moves forward from Election Day 2020 to whatever may happen next , those members of the commentariat who are in shock , awe , denial , confusion pain , and experiencing other such emotions about Donald Trump 's electoral success — whether or not he succeeds in his legal maneuvers — should accept the realities of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and then do better in their work as supposed `` guardians of democracy . ''

As of the time of this writing, the outcome of the 2020 presidential election remains undecided. Joe Biden leads Donald Trump 253–213, per the Associated Press reports, in the Electoral College. The key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia will not finish counting all of the ballots until perhaps as late as Friday of this week. Pennsylvania make take even longer. The Biden campaign remains optimistic that these outstanding ballots will be sufficient to secure victory.
Because he is a neo fascist American authoritarian, Donald Trump preemptively and falsely announced on Tuesday night that he won, and any ballots not yet counted in states where he is currently losing should be disqualified. Trump also said that he would go to the United States Supreme Court to stop votes from being counted past Election Day.
Republican attorneys and other right-wing experts on committing vote-rigging, voter suppression and electoral fraud will now take the next step in their plot to keep Donald Trump in power.
The 2020 presidential election will possibly be decided by the Supreme Court where Donald Trump's handpicked justices will follow through on their quid pro quo bargain and give him the presidency, contrary to the will of the American people.
What is actually known with great certainty about the 2020 presidential election is that white supremacy and racism have been reaffirmed and not repudiated.
Despite hundreds of thousands of people dead in the United States from the coronavirus and Trump's sabotage of the relief efforts, along with his cruelty, violence, tens of thousands of lies, treasonous behavior and destruction of the country's economy; despite the many thousands of brown and Black migrants and refugees held in his concentration camps and other detention centers; despite his vast corruption, lawbreaking, racism, white supremacy, and nativism; despite his destruction of America's and the world's environment, thereby imperiling the survival of the human race; despite being credibly accused of rape and sexual assault by dozens of women; and despite his ignorance, stupidity and overall evil, Donald Trump remains remarkably popular in the United States.
Moreover, Donald Trump has the highest base level of support in the history of modern polling in the United States. His political cult members and other followers love Donald Trump precisely because of how horrible he is and not despite it. It is a form of political sadism. Trumpism and America's current version of right-wing politics is a form of political religion binds its followers to the Great Leader and the movement in a deeply existential way.
More people have voted for Donald Trump so far than did in 2016.
What is also known about Donald Trump, the 2020 presidential campaign, and the results so far is that Trump's enduring popularity and love from his followers can largely be explained as a function of white racism and white supremacy; "racial resentment"; "ethnic antagonism"; social dominance behavior; malignant reality; pathocracy; collective narcissism, existential white racial "anxiety"; the dark triad of sociopathic and psychopathic behavior; white identity politics; and racial authoritarianism, more generally.
How are the pundits and other members of the chattering class and mainstream American news media responding to Donald Trump being so close to victory over Joe Biden in a presidential race where the conventional wisdom predicted a crushing defeat for Trump?
There is shock and awe that the voting and prediction models, were again, as in 2016, so inaccurate.
There is also visible upset and pain that the consensus and traditional wisdom among the so-called "professional" politics watchers is shown again to be inadequate for deciphering events in the Age of Trump. In essence, the mainstream commentariat and political class are experiencing (or should) a legitimacy crisis.
But the most common thread in the reactions online and elsewhere by the mainstream news media to Donald Trump being so close to securing a second presidential term is "shock" and "surprise" at the power of racism, cruelty and intolerance in America.
In that chorus of voices, there are even the "hope peddlers" who are so bold as to actually be praising America's "democratic spirit" because of record turn out as opposed to condemning how so many tens of millions of white Americans so enthusiastically voted for more white supremacy, social inequality and injustice.
So many members of the chattering class and commentariat have a deep and fundamental (and naïve) belief in the inherent goodness of America (White Americans in particular), that to admit such assumptions are incorrect is almost impossible for them. Why? It would cause too much emotional, psychological, intellectual and financial pain.
Most among them are also at a profound disadvantage in their analysis of Trumpism because most of them have refused to accurately describe Donald Trump as being a "fascist" and an "authoritarian" or to summon the moral language of "evil."
As such, those voices now have little if any credibility when or if they try to do so now.
Historian Timothy Snyder, author of the bestselling book "On Tyranny," recently explained to Salon:
Evil is a helpful word to use here. I have been using that language in my new book "Our Malady." There is an almost taboo-like hesitation to move into truly ethical judgments in our discussions of Trump and his movement. As long as we are avoiding discussions of good and evil then his behavior is normalized. Avoiding that language of good and evil also leaves the public with a hope that this crisis will somehow turn back to normal.
There is a psychological dynamic at work here too. If a person did not name Trumpism as evil before, then it is hard to name it as such later on. If a political commentator or other observer did not see the danger of Trump and his movement back in 2016 then they are probably not getting it correct now even at this late point.
In all, to clearly state that Donald Trump, his Republican Party and movement are committed to keeping America a type of "white space" is verboten for most members of the Fourth Estate.
Contrary to what many liberals and progressives would like to assert, Trump's white "working class" voters are not irrational. Instead, Trump's "white working class" voters have made a different calculation about what is most important to them. Here, Whiteness and the psychological wages which come from it (especially the entitlement and privilege to cause nonwhite people pain and suffering without consequences) are more important for Trump's white voters than their health, income or even lives.
As the United States and the world await the final results of the 2020 presidential election, what are some key lessons that the American news media should learn from how many tens of millions of White Americans have pledged again, as they did in 2016, their loyalty to Whiteness and white supremacy in the form of Trumpism?
Race and the color line are central to American society and life, not peripheral to it. To ignore the color line is to ignore reality. In the end, reality almost always wins.
Any discussion of politics in America which does not seriously consider the context of race and the color line is a priori inadequate and imprecise, if not irresponsible and a public disservice.
America's news organizations should include more nonwhite people, especially those who are trained in the social sciences and humanities. By doing so, America's news organizations will be better equipped to understand the realities and implications of race and the color line in this society and around the world.
At present, the white racial frame and how it blinds too many members of the Fourth Estate and political class more broadly to the truth is an extreme liability, one that undermines the overall credibility of the country's news media.
The American news media should also include more true expert voices on questions of American politics, society, race and related topics, instead of the generalists who dominate the 24/7 cable news.
As the United States moves forward from Election Day 2020 to whatever may happen next, those members of the commentariat who are in shock, awe, denial, confusion pain, and experiencing other such emotions about Donald Trump's electoral success — whether or not he succeeds in his legal maneuvers — should accept the realities of the color line and race in America, and then do better in their work as supposed "guardians of democracy."


alternet--2020-11-06--Arizona’s blue shift rooted in years of grassroots Latinx organizing against GOP’s xenophobia

One of the crucial states that could decide the presidential election is Arizona , where Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump with thousands of ballots left to count .
Trump won Arizona in 2016 , and if Biden 's lead holds , he will be just the second Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1948 .
`` The lion 's share of the credit belongs to sustained community organizing in the state , '' says Marisa Franco , director and co-founder of Mijente , a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities .
She says the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and immigrant rights groups , and a second term would be even worse .
`` A shift in administration would give us a fighting chance , '' she says .
This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I 'm Amy Goodman , with Nermeen Shaikh , as we turn to the presidential race in Arizona , where Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump by more than 68,000 votes , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Fox News have called the state for Biden — and they did that over a day ago — but other outlets , including CNN , have yet to declare a winner .
Biden 's lead narrowed early Thursday morning when Arizona announced results of a batch of mail-in ballot , mainly from Maricopa County , which includes Phoenix .
Counting the remaining votes could take several days .
Several hundred Trump supporters gathered outside the Maricopa County election center last night , chanting `` Count the vote . ''
Many of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other guns .
Donald Trump won Arizona in 2016 .
So , they were [ chanting ] `` Count the vote , '' and that 's opposed to the group , what Donald Trump Jr. has referred to as the army of supporters , that were outside a Detroit counting center , where Trump was ahead in Michigan , and they were saying `` Stop the vote '' as they stormed into a counting center .
But in Arizona , where they were behind , Trump insisted they count every vote .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Arizona , he 'll be just the second Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1948 .
Arizona 's blue shift is in large part due to a decade of grassroots organizing , particularly in Latinx communities against Arizona 's anti-immigration policies and Maricopa County 's infamous former Sheriff Joe Arpaio .
Meanwhile , in a closely watched Senate race , Democrat Mark Kelly , the astronaut and the husband of Gabby Giffords , the congressmember from Tucson who was shot in the head — yes , Mark Kelly has unseated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go now to Phoenix , where we 're joined by Marisa Franco .
She 's co-director and co-founder of Mijente , which means `` my people , '' a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities , which this year has led a national campaign to mobilize Latinx voters .
Welcome back to Democracy Now !
, Marisa .
Talk about the significance of what 's happening right now in Arizona , the explosion of the Latinx vote .
MARISA FRANCO : The lion 's share — I think the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's share of the credit belongs to sustained community organizing in the state .
The other night , you know , all of us were watching .
It was — I think , probably like many of you all , we were having this feeling of doom , of 2016 .
And 2016 , we had this moment of like — it was bittersweet , right ?
We finally took Sheriff Arpaio out of office , but , really , you know , as soon as that was announced , it was very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the election .
And so , as we waited for the results this year and we heard about Florida , we heard about — you know , we started seeing the numbers coming out of Ohio and coming out of the Midwest , it felt really good this year to have our state be a shot in the arm .
We were very excited about the results .
At this point , we are still awaiting what the results are at the top of the ticket , but we have won seats at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Red for Ed ballot initiative won .
We 've elected , it looks like , a progressive county attorney in Julie Gunnigle , and just continue to see a shift in the state .
And I think it 's important to name that it 's a shift that comes at the efforts of many , many people .
It is sustained community organizing .
And it 's an embracing of a multiplicity of strategies .
This is just as much owed to the people that took to the streets in protest , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much as it is the people who knocked hundreds of thousands of doors to register and mobilize voters .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Marisa , what do you think accounts for the difference in Arizona compared to other states when it comes to Latinx voters ?
Is it this organizing that you 're speaking of ?
MARISA FRANCO : Absolutely .
And , you know , Juan was after my own heart in your last segment , because he 's naming numbers that are astounding .
Our community , the main story @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Latino voters , is that we came out .
We showed up , and we showed out , the vast majority rebuking and rejecting the Trump agenda .
Arizona is one example of how that 's done .
I think it 's an example that can be replicated .
I think we should not take for granted that this means that Arizona will always be blue or Latinos will always come out .
And frankly , that 's something the Democratic Party does pretty often .
Our community is an afterthought , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think of how — what are the kind of issues that matter to us , how can we be engaged in a meaningful way , how are we involved in decision-making and leadership of political campaigns , and often are getting the very short end of the stick on resources , as well .
And so , frankly , you know , you could probably look at a lot of different examples .
Arizona is one of them .
And the Arizona example , I think it really demonstrates that consistent , sustained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to actually feel that something is changing and that they have a role in it .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Marisa , can you talk about the significance — and we do n't know the results yet of the election , but what 's at stake on immigration issues , in particular , now ?
MARISA FRANCO : It 's big .
You know , we were really clear in our organization when we engaged in the endorsement process and we decided to participate in this election in a more active way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were not picking our savior ; we were picking our target .
For immigrants and the immigrant rights movement across the country , these have been very difficult times .
We 've seen our advances dismantled or attempted to be dismantled , and there 's been very little opportunity to have anything positive or progressive .
Immigrants are largely under attack .
You know , the numbers , but the conditions , it 's just , I think — it 's been one of the things that the Trump administration is most focused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can only expect in this first term they were understanding that they would have to face reelection .
I think we do n't want to imagine what they 're going to do in the second term .
A shift in administration would give us a fighting chance .
It would give us a fighting chance to advance the campaigns and causes that we need in terms of immigration and addressing deportations .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you talk about some of the sheriff 's races , Marisa , that you 've been following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arizona , you work everywhere , from Arizona to Georgia .
MARISA FRANCO : Yeah .
Georgia , in particular , folks in Georgia organized , mobilized , so we 're still waiting for the results of the presidential election .
But immigrants in the state of Georgia have faced — it 's almost a tradition in the Georgia state Legislature , similar to what 's happened here in Arizona — it 's almost tradition to pass anti-immigrant laws every year , year after year , year after year ; politicians who think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us .
And now this is the second cycle where people have come together to mobilize voters .
Two sheriffs have been knocked out , in Gwinnett and Cobb County .
These are sheriffs that have promoted the 287 ( g ) program , which has long been a program that fuses local police with immigration enforcement and has been a catalyst to deportations .
It 's a huge victory .
We 're really proud .
AMY GOODMAN : Final words , 30 seconds , Marisa , on this cusp of the announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later today ?
MARISA FRANCO : Yes .
I want — like , as we await these results , Trump and his supporters are showing who they are .
In one place , they say to count the votes ; in one place , they say to stop it .
We must not give them a lifeline to relevance .
We must not try to think that we 're going to be able to just come and counter them .
They can not play the same plays .
They can not sue their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement needs to hold steady that we need to count the votes .
We are confident that we voted him out .
And if we need to walk him out of that White House , we will .
Let 's hold down .
Let 's hold steady .
Let 's not give Trump supporters a pathway to any form of moral high ground .
They are showing us who they are .
They 're showing everyone who they are .
And let the world see it .
AMY GOODMAN : Marisa Franco , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , director and co-founder of Mijente , a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities , which this year has led the national campaign called Fuera Trump to mobilize Latinx voters .

One of the crucial states that could decide the presidential election is Arizona, where Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump with thousands of ballots left to count. Trump won Arizona in 2016, and if Biden's lead holds, he will be just the second Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1948. "The lion's share of the credit belongs to sustained community organizing in the state," says Marisa Franco, director and co-founder of Mijente, a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities. She says the Trump administration has been disastrous for immigrants and immigrant rights groups, and a second term would be even worse. "A shift in administration would give us a fighting chance," she says.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I'm Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, as we turn to the presidential race in Arizona, where Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump by more than 68,000 votes, with 86% reporting. The Associated Press and Fox News have called the state for Biden — and they did that over a day ago — but other outlets, including CNN, have yet to declare a winner. Biden's lead narrowed early Thursday morning when Arizona announced results of a batch of mail-in ballot, mainly from Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. Counting the remaining votes could take several days.
Several hundred Trump supporters gathered outside the Maricopa County election center last night, chanting "Count the vote." Many of the protesters were openly carrying AR-15 assault rifles and other guns. Donald Trump won Arizona in 2016. So, they were [chanting] "Count the vote," and that's opposed to the group, what Donald Trump Jr. has referred to as the army of supporters, that were outside a Detroit counting center, where Trump was ahead in Michigan, and they were saying "Stop the vote" as they stormed into a counting center. But in Arizona, where they were behind, Trump insisted they count every vote.
Now, if Biden's lead holds in Arizona, he'll be just the second Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1948. Arizona's blue shift is in large part due to a decade of grassroots organizing, particularly in Latinx communities against Arizona's anti-immigration policies and Maricopa County's infamous former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Meanwhile, in a closely watched Senate race, Democrat Mark Kelly, the astronaut and the husband of Gabby Giffords, the congressmember from Tucson who was shot in the head — yes, Mark Kelly has unseated Arizona Republican Senator Martha McSally.
We go now to Phoenix, where we're joined by Marisa Franco. She's co-director and co-founder of Mijente, which means "my people," a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities, which this year has led a national campaign to mobilize Latinx voters.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Marisa. Talk about the significance of what's happening right now in Arizona, the explosion of the Latinx vote.
MARISA FRANCO: The lion's share — I think the first thing to say is that the lion's share of the credit belongs to sustained community organizing in the state. The other night, you know, all of us were watching. It was — I think, probably like many of you all, we were having this feeling of doom, of 2016. And 2016, we had this moment of like — it was bittersweet, right? We finally took Sheriff Arpaio out of office, but, really, you know, as soon as that was announced, it was very clear that Trump was going to win the election. And so, as we waited for the results this year and we heard about Florida, we heard about — you know, we started seeing the numbers coming out of Ohio and coming out of the Midwest, it felt really good this year to have our state be a shot in the arm. We were very excited about the results.
At this point, we are still awaiting what the results are at the top of the ticket, but we have won seats at the county Board of Supervisors. The Red for Ed ballot initiative won. We've elected, it looks like, a progressive county attorney in Julie Gunnigle, and just continue to see a shift in the state. And I think it's important to name that it's a shift that comes at the efforts of many, many people. It is sustained community organizing. And it's an embracing of a multiplicity of strategies. This is just as much owed to the people that took to the streets in protest, the people that called for boycotts, as much as it is the people who knocked hundreds of thousands of doors to register and mobilize voters.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Marisa, what do you think accounts for the difference in Arizona compared to other states when it comes to Latinx voters? Is it this organizing that you're speaking of?
MARISA FRANCO: Absolutely. And, you know, Juan was after my own heart in your last segment, because he's naming numbers that are astounding. Our community, the main story of this election, in reference to Latino voters, is that we came out. We showed up, and we showed out, the vast majority rebuking and rejecting the Trump agenda. Arizona is one example of how that's done. I think it's an example that can be replicated.
I think we should not take for granted that this means that Arizona will always be blue or Latinos will always come out. And frankly, that's something the Democratic Party does pretty often. Our community is an afterthought, and there isn't a substantive effort to think of how — what are the kind of issues that matter to us, how can we be engaged in a meaningful way, how are we involved in decision-making and leadership of political campaigns, and often are getting the very short end of the stick on resources, as well.
And so, frankly, you know, you could probably look at a lot of different examples. Arizona is one of them. And the Arizona example, I think it really demonstrates that consistent, sustained organizing is really critical for the community to actually feel that something is changing and that they have a role in it.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Marisa, can you talk about the significance — and we don't know the results yet of the election, but what's at stake on immigration issues, in particular, now?
MARISA FRANCO: It's big. You know, we were really clear in our organization when we engaged in the endorsement process and we decided to participate in this election in a more active way. We made it very clear we were not picking our savior; we were picking our target.
For immigrants and the immigrant rights movement across the country, these have been very difficult times. We've seen our advances dismantled or attempted to be dismantled, and there's been very little opportunity to have anything positive or progressive. Immigrants are largely under attack. You know, the numbers, but the conditions, it's just, I think — it's been one of the things that the Trump administration is most focused on in this first term. We can only expect in this first term they were understanding that they would have to face reelection. I think we don't want to imagine what they're going to do in the second term. A shift in administration would give us a fighting chance. It would give us a fighting chance to advance the campaigns and causes that we need in terms of immigration and addressing deportations.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about some of the sheriff's races, Marisa, that you've been following? And though you're based in Arizona, you work everywhere, from Arizona to Georgia.
MARISA FRANCO: Yeah. Georgia, in particular, folks in Georgia organized, mobilized, so we're still waiting for the results of the presidential election. But immigrants in the state of Georgia have faced — it's almost a tradition in the Georgia state Legislature, similar to what's happened here in Arizona — it's almost tradition to pass anti-immigrant laws every year, year after year, year after year; politicians who think they can make a name by disparaging us. And now this is the second cycle where people have come together to mobilize voters. Two sheriffs have been knocked out, in Gwinnett and Cobb County. These are sheriffs that have promoted the 287(g) program, which has long been a program that fuses local police with immigration enforcement and has been a catalyst to deportations. It's a huge victory. We're really proud.
AMY GOODMAN: Final words, 30 seconds, Marisa, on this cusp of the announcement of the president, which may come later today?
MARISA FRANCO: Yes. I want — like, as we await these results, Trump and his supporters are showing who they are. In one place, they say to count the votes; in one place, they say to stop it. We must not give them a lifeline to relevance. We must not try to think that we're going to be able to just come and counter them. They cannot play the same plays. They cannot sue their way into the White House. Our movement needs to hold steady that we need to count the votes. We are confident that we voted him out. And if we need to walk him out of that White House, we will. Let's hold down. Let's hold steady. Let's not give Trump supporters a pathway to any form of moral high ground. They are showing us who they are. They're showing everyone who they are. And let the world see it.
AMY GOODMAN: Marisa Franco, thanks so much for being with us, director and co-founder of Mijente, a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities, which this year has led the national campaign called Fuera Trump to mobilize Latinx voters.


alternet--2020-11-06--Sean Hannity suggests we may have to have a 'do-over' election

On Thursday evening , as ballot returns continued to paint a bleak picture for President Donald Trump , Fox News @ @ @ @ @ speculation about `` fraud '' in the election counts — and suggested America might need @ @ @ @ @ '' election in Pennsylvania , something for which there is no legal basis .
`` @ @ @ @ @ , considering they 're violating the law ? ''
said Hannity .
`` And what @ @ @ @ @ only remedy I would see , at that point , is , they did it @ @ @ @ @ law , nobody can testify to the legitimacy of what their counting was — a @ @ @ @ @ By the way , something that has never been done in a presidential election .
@

On Thursday evening, as ballot returns continued to paint a bleak picture for President Donald Trump, Fox News' Sean Hannity spread baseless speculation about "fraud" in the election counts — and suggested America might need to have a "do-over" election in Pennsylvania, something for which there is no legal basis.
"Does that invalidate the process, considering they're violating the law?" said Hannity. "And what is the remedy? The only remedy I would see, at that point, is, they did it, and the violated the law, nobody can testify to the legitimacy of what their counting was — a do-over in that state? By the way, something that has never been done in a presidential election."
Watch below:
Here's Hannity arguing that Pennsylvania should do a "do over" election pic.twitter.com/eZcaD3svee
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 6, 2020
The mantra on Hannity's show tonight, outside of whinging about Fox's Arizona call, is to call for a "do-over" in the Pennsylvania election.
Here he is asking Ted Cruz if they can "have a revote" in the state. pic.twitter.com/80i8KKJYkn
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 6, 2020


alternet--2020-11-06--Trump calls for Supreme Court to throw out 648,301 votes in Philadelphia during early morning tweets

Trump calls for Supreme Court to throw out 648,301 votes in Philadelphia during early morning tweetstorm

The leader of the free world took to Twitter after 2 a.m. on Friday to call for the United States @ @ @ @ @ 648,301 votes in Philadelphia .
Alleging that his poll watchers could not monitor the counting @ @ @ @ @ votes counted to be thrown out .

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alternet--2020-11-06--'Grasping at straws': Why Trump’s lawsuits are having little impact on the vote counts

The flurry of lawsuits hastily filed by President Trump 's campaign and its Republican allies to stop counting votes and to disqualify absentee ballots has so far failed to make much headway—in contrast to disinformation that they are spreading to discredit the 2020 election .
Trump 's propaganda , predictably , has drawn wide attention .
Whether tweets falsely claiming he won and Democrats are stealing the election ( which Twitter labeled with content warning notices ) , or his son Eric 's fabricated video of ballots being burned ( they were sample ballots , not real ones ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , these antics have been noted and debunked .
In contrast to this bombast , Trump 's lawsuits filed since Election Day in states where the presidential results are not yet known have had limited success , but , more importantly , they do not appear to be game changers .
The lawsuits are targeting small facets of the absentee ballots process .
While court rulings may delay announcing the results and certifying winners , the suits are not poised to disqualify enough ballots to alter the race 's outcome—not where he lags @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead , many of Trump 's suits have been filed late , and some are error-ridden .
`` None of Trump 's small bore lawsuits have been able to stop the count , and of course there is no basis to do so , '' wrote ElectionLawBlog 's Rick Hasen on Thursday .
`` He and his supporters have been promoting baseless and dangerous conspiracy theories that Democratic elected officials are somehow 'stealing ' the vote when all they are doing is counting the ballots . ''
Consider two of Trump 's lawsuits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson , was filed late Wednesday afternoon and sought to stop the statewide counting of votes—just hours before the counting was done .
The campaign 's brief was filed by Mark `` Thor '' Hearne—a Missouri-based attorney who , in 2005 , was one of the first Republicans to promote the false claim of widespread voter fraud .
The suit claimed that Republicans did not have an observer `` present at the absent voter counting place '' in every jurisdiction , and these observers were not being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ballot boxes into which these [ absentee ] ballots are placed . ''
On this basis , Trump wanted to stop Michigan 's vote count .
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed the lawsuit on Thursday , saying that it was filed as the last ballots were counted—too late—which made the procedural claims moot .
The defendant , Benson , was the wrong person to sue , the judge said , because Benson does n't directly supervise how the state 's local election officials process absentee ballots .
This was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an election attorney specializing in recounts who has worked for Democratic candidates for decades , said that a serious suit should have been filed on Tuesday , when the absentee ballot processing began .
If there were issues with campaign representatives getting access to observe the process , the remedy was granting access , not stopping the count statewide , he said .
And while the lawsuit said that Benson had a duty to instruct local officials , it never detailed that she had failed to do so , he noted .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too general , too late , and had targeted the wrong defendant .
The Trump campaign filed a similar suit late Wednesday in Detroit seeking to stop the city 's processing of a subset of absentee ballots—those that had to be duplicated because they were torn or stained—and seeking to halt certifying the city 's presidential election results .
Like the suit against Benson , this action came as the counting was ending and also named the wrong defendant .
On Thursday morning , Trump 's campaign filed papers to add Wayne County @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the county—not the city of Detroit—that certifies election results .
On the specifics , the suit said that some absentee ballots were being duplicated by election officials without a Republican observer present .
The duplication should stop , and all duplicated ballots should be `` segregated '' or set aside , it said , where presumably those ballots could be further examined and possibly challenged .
Such a delay would slow down certifying Detroit 's results .
What Trump 's Detroit-centered lawsuit did not say was that the Michigan Republican Party had observers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was processing and counting ballots .
It did not say that the Republicans had raised issues surrounding the ballot processing that were being ignored .
And it was filed after the counting was over , but still sought a restraining order to halt the process .
The Trump campaign 's litigation in response to not winning in a landslide Tuesday appears to be messy and late .
A similar lawsuit was filed in Nevada after Election Day seeking to stop that swing state 's counting .
The suit , too , claimed that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was unanimously rejected by the state 's supreme court .
It did n't look like the Trump campaign planned on suing in Michigan or Nevada , Sautter said , despite Trump 's threat to launch a wave of litigation .
But more importantly , the target of Trump 's lawsuits—to disqualify a subset of absentee ballots , stop the counting process and delay certifying the results—was not going to add up to the tens of thousands of votes that Trump needs to win in key states .
On Thursday , Trump trailed Joe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where his lawyers are seeking to challenge spoiled ballots that were duplicated .
That same assessment is likely in Pennsylvania , where Trump 's lawyers were positioning themselves to challenge the absentee ballots that had been postmarked by Election Day , but can still arrive by mail through Friday , November 6 .
The Trump campaign on Wednesday filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court to join a suit over these late-returning absentee ballots in Pennsylvania .
Late Thursday , the Washington Post reported that the Postal Service said that there were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Day to be delivered in Pennsylvania .
The big picture that emerges is that Trump 's post-Election Day litigation strategy has not stopped the vote-counting process nor was it poised to implicate enough votes to overturn the results in swing states .
Thus , if Trump can not win a second term in the courts of legal opinion , he is seeking to discredit the process in the court of public opinion—where propaganda and disinformation make quicker impressions than real-life points of law .
Trump 's rambling , grievance-filled statement late Thursday blaming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' the election appeared to be the latest affirmation of this strategy .
`` They are grasping at straws , '' Sautter said , speaking of Trump 's litigation strategy before his speech .
`` They are trying to discredit the process by trying to say that the outcome can not be trusted because there were too many flaws . ''
`` They waited too long to complain , '' he continued .
`` If they did n't have enough people observing [ in Detroit ] , they should have taken care of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuit was filed late yesterday [ Wednesday ] afternoon .
Now the counting is done .
There 's no evidence that any of this stuff adds up to anywhere near the margin . ''
There may be `` a little bit of truth '' in the Republicans ' contention that they lacked sufficient numbers of election observers , Sautter said .
But that lapse was their error , not the fault of the officials running the absentee ballot counting boards—a process that has been in place for years .
`` A lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' he said .
Steven Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth , a project of the Independent Media Institute .
He has reported for National Public Radio , Marketplace , and Christian Science Monitor Radio , as well as a wide range of progressive publications including Salon , AlterNet , the American Prospect , and many others .
This article was produced by Voting Booth , a project of the Independent Media Institute .

The flurry of lawsuits hastily filed by President Trump's campaign and its Republican allies to stop counting votes and to disqualify absentee ballots has so far failed to make much headway—in contrast to disinformation that they are spreading to discredit the 2020 election.
Trump's propaganda, predictably, has drawn wide attention. Whether tweets falsely claiming he won and Democrats are stealing the election (which Twitter labeled with content warning notices), or his son Eric's fabricated video of ballots being burned (they were sample ballots, not real ones), or false statements by White House officials, these antics have been noted and debunked.
In contrast to this bombast, Trump's lawsuits filed since Election Day in states where the presidential results are not yet known have had limited success, but, more importantly, they do not appear to be game changers. The lawsuits are targeting small facets of the absentee ballots process. While court rulings may delay announcing the results and certifying winners, the suits are not poised to disqualify enough ballots to alter the race's outcome—not where he lags by tens of thousands of votes. Instead, many of Trump's suits have been filed late, and some are error-ridden.
"None of Trump's small borelawsuits have been able to stop the count, and of course there is no basis to do so," wrote ElectionLawBlog's Rick Hasen on Thursday. "He and his supporters have been promoting baseless and dangerous conspiracy theories that Democratic elected officials are somehow 'stealing' the vote when all they are doing is counting the ballots."
Consider two of Trump's lawsuits from Michigan. The first lawsuit, against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, was filed late Wednesday afternoon and sought to stop the statewide counting of votes—just hours before the counting was done. The campaign's brief was filed by Mark "Thor" Hearne—a Missouri-based attorney who, in 2005, was one of the first Republicans to promote the false claim of widespread voter fraud. The suit claimed that Republicans did not have an observer "present at the absent voter counting place" in every jurisdiction, and these observers were not being allowed "to observe the video of the ballot boxes into which these [absentee] ballots are placed." On this basis, Trump wanted to stop Michigan's vote count.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed the lawsuit on Thursday, saying that it was filed as the last ballots were counted—too late—which made the procedural claims moot. The defendant, Benson, was the wrong person to sue, the judge said, because Benson doesn't directly supervise how the state's local election officials process absentee ballots.
This was a messy filing. Chris Sautter, an election attorney specializing in recounts who has worked for Democratic candidates for decades, said that a serious suit should have been filed on Tuesday, when the absentee ballot processing began. If there were issues with campaign representatives getting access to observe the process, the remedy was granting access, not stopping the count statewide, he said. And while the lawsuit said that Benson had a duty to instruct local officials, it never detailed that she had failed to do so, he noted. In other words, the Trump lawsuit was too general, too late, and had targeted the wrong defendant.
The Trump campaign filed a similar suit late Wednesday in Detroit seeking to stop the city's processing of a subset of absentee ballots—those that had to be duplicated because they were torn or stained—and seeking to halt certifying the city's presidential election results. Like the suit against Benson, this action came as the counting was ending and also named the wrong defendant. On Thursday morning, Trump's campaign filed papers to add Wayne County as a defendant, as it is the county—not the city of Detroit—that certifies election results.
On the specifics, the suit said that some absentee ballots were being duplicated by election officials without a Republican observer present. The duplication should stop, and all duplicated ballots should be "segregated" or set aside, it said, where presumably those ballots could be further examined and possibly challenged. Such a delay would slow down certifying Detroit's results.
What Trump's Detroit-centered lawsuit did not say was that the Michigan Republican Party had observers in the cavernous room where the city was processing and counting ballots. It did not say that the Republicans had raised issues surrounding the ballot processing that were being ignored. And it was filed after the counting was over, but still sought a restraining order to halt the process.
Takeaways
The Trump campaign's litigation in response to not winning in a landslide Tuesday appears to be messy and late. A similar lawsuit was filed in Nevada after Election Day seeking to stop that swing state's counting. The suit, too, claimed that Trump observers were being stymied. It was unanimously rejected by the state's supreme court. It didn't look like the Trump campaign planned on suing in Michigan or Nevada, Sautter said, despite Trump's threat to launch a wave of litigation.
But more importantly, the target of Trump's lawsuits—to disqualify a subset of absentee ballots, stop the counting process and delay certifying the results—was not going to add up to the tens of thousands of votes that Trump needs to win in key states. On Thursday, Trump trailed Joe Biden in Michigan by 147,000 votes, where his lawyers are seeking to challenge spoiled ballots that were duplicated.
That same assessment is likely in Pennsylvania, where Trump's lawyers were positioning themselves to challenge the absentee ballots that had been postmarked by Election Day, but can still arrive by mail through Friday, November 6. The Trump campaign on Wednesday filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court to join a suit over these late-returning absentee ballots in Pennsylvania. Late Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the Postal Service said that there were only 3,439 absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to be delivered in Pennsylvania.
The big picture that emerges is that Trump's post-Election Day litigation strategy has not stopped the vote-counting process nor was it poised to implicate enough votes to overturn the results in swing states. Thus, if Trump cannot win a second term in the courts of legal opinion, he is seeking to discredit the process in the court of public opinion—where propaganda and disinformation make quicker impressions than real-life points of law.
Trump's rambling, grievance-filled statement late Thursday blaming the Democrats for trying to "steal" the election appeared to be the latest affirmation of this strategy.
"They are grasping at straws," Sautter said, speaking of Trump's litigation strategy before his speech. "They are trying to discredit the process by trying to say that the outcome cannot be trusted because there were too many flaws."
"They waited too long to complain," he continued. "If they didn't have enough people observing [in Detroit], they should have taken care of that beginning with Election Day. This lawsuit was filed late yesterday [Wednesday] afternoon. Now the counting is done. There's no evidence that any of this stuff adds up to anywhere near the margin."
There may be "a little bit of truth" in the Republicans' contention that they lacked sufficient numbers of election observers, Sautter said. But that lapse was their error, not the fault of the officials running the absentee ballot counting boards—a process that has been in place for years.
"A lot of this is too little too late," he said.
Steven Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He has reported for National Public Radio, Marketplace, and Christian Science Monitor Radio, as well as a wide range of progressive publications including Salon, AlterNet, the American Prospect, and many others.
This article was produced by Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.


alternet--2020-11-06--How to fix our country's empathy problem

Bruce Goldstein , the president of the Washington , D.C.-based organization Farmworkers Justice , said that after the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic in March , he saw many people become worried about their access to food for the first time .
Not necessarily because of cost , but because the farmworkers who grow , harvest and manufacture it — the majority of whom are undocumented immigrants — may have been forced to stop working .
`` They became aware , or more aware than in the past , of who exactly is producing food for them , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across the country quickly began classifying those farmworkers as `` essential employees , '' people who — even if they did n't have legal protections against deportation or access to healthcare in the country — were needed to keep food on American tables .
The pandemic spotlighted exactly how integral the labor of undocumented and migrant workers is to our country 's food system .
However , as election results continue to trickle in , it 's clear that many Americans still voted for Trump , whose platform has consistently included vocal anti-immigrant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of that is due to America 's eroding sense of empathy , which only seems to have further disintegrated over the last four years .
Dr. Sarah Konrath is an associate professor of philanthropic studies at Indiana University and director of the Interdisciplinary Program on Empathy and Altruism Research .
She studies the decline of empathy and rise of narcissistic behavior , and published a study in 2011 about North American college students ' self-reported scores on a widely used empathy scale .
`` In that paper , we tracked those scores from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developed , to 2009 , which was the latest year , '' Konrath said .
`` We found out that the college students in the late 1970s and early '80s scored higher in empathy than college students over time , especially in the post-2000 period . ''
Empathy can be defined in several ways , but many researchers agree that it can be summarized as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others .
According to Konrath , who is in the middle of producing an update to the study , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ factors , including shifts in family , community and government structures .
One of the most perceptible is the relative isolation in which many Americans now live .
Dr. Jamil Zaki , a Stanford neuroscientist and author of `` The War for Kindness : Building empathy in a fractured world , '' said that people empathize most easily `` when they can see others ' suffering with their own eyes , or when their actions are visible to others . ''
`` But the modern world has stripped them away , '' Zaki @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` Humans increasingly live in cities and live alone .
We see more people than ever but know fewer of them .
Rituals that used to bring us into regular contact , ranging from bowling leagues to grocery shopping , have been replaced by more solitary pursuits , often carried out online .
The result is our interactions with each other are often thinned out , anonymous and tribal — barren soil for empathy . ''
In the age of Instacart orders and Whole Foods check-outs lined with Amazon Prime lockers , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have become increasingly disconnected from the reality of who harvests their food , and that kind of anonymity could certainly breed the idea that whomever is doing that work is n't a member of your community , but a faceless stranger .
Add in potential differences in racial background and immigration status , and — as Zaki asserts , our interactions have grown increasingly tribal — that only accentuates a certain sense of `` otherness . ''
It also contributes to ignorance about some of the main issues that impact migrant and undocumented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country benefit from the vulnerability that undocumented immigrants have , which causes them to be reluctant to ask for better wages and working conditions , '' Goldstein said .
`` They 're often ineligible for basic services and benefits , like federally funded legal aid programs , so if they are ripped off by their employer , they often ca n't afford a lawyer and are not eligible for free legal services .
Employers can also pay a poverty-level wage , but the workers ca n't get public benefits like food stamps .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ country bridge the empathy gap between many American consumers and the ( to them ) invisible masses who put food on their tables ?
Thankfully , empathy is a cultivatable skill .
But Mel Schwartz , a therapist and author of `` The Possibility Principle : How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think , Live , and Love , '' says creating a more empathetic country will require a seismic shift in how we think about otherness .
`` Our worldviews , the way we see reality , particularly in our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ self-interested , '' Schwartz said .
`` It 's oriented toward greed — and not just financial greed .
It 's narcissism , it 's 'all about me , ' social media , how many 'likes ' you have .
When we live in a culture that is too focused on individualism , we lose the capacity to think about and feel the realities of others . ''
To change that would require individuals to start valuing caring for other people and tending to their communities above the individual self .
In his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has `` actually told us that all reality is actually inseparable . ''
`` It 's all as one , '' he said .
`` Everything is connected to everything else .
And my point is that , from that vantage point , if everything 's connected to everything else , then we should be caring for each other , because in my caring for you , I recognize that you 're not separate from me .
We need to introduce this new paradigm of oneness . ''
While that concept may sound @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the subsequent disruptions of the food supply chain in the states — from COVID-19 outbreaks at meatpacking plants largely staffed by immigrant workers , to agricultural counties across the U.S. facing higher rates of infection — drive the point of oneness or connectedness home .
The issues impacting a farmworker thousands of miles away can determine what 's on your plate tomorrow night .
For some , that may still be too abstract a reason to care deeply about the working conditions with which vulnerable farmworkers are faced , and that makes sense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imagine how someone feels is often not enough to elicit true empathy — you need to actually ask them .
`` For me , the core of empathy is curiosity , '' Jodi Halpern , a psychiatrist and bioethics professor at the University of California , Berkeley , told the New York Times .
`` It 's what is another person 's life actually like in its particulars ? ''
Exchanging stories with other people , especially people whose realities look very different from your own , is a way to vicariously `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Organizations that work with undocumented individuals and workers know this , and many are poised to pair personal storytelling with political messaging as a way to better serve their organizations ' missions .
Greisa Martinez , the executive director of the immigrant youth-led network United We Dream which advocated for DACA , says that the organization 's `` secret sauce '' is in members having the capacity to share their own stories .
`` There are people out there that know what it 's like to have your electricity cut off , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there that know exactly what it feels like to not have access to food , '' Martinez said .
`` So there 's this feeling of moving people from isolation into community . ''
Once they 've found community with people like them , they feel more empowered to share their personal experiences on a wider stage .
`` We found one another and we shared our stories , we shared our pain , we celebrated the things about our culture that made us resilient , '' Martinez said .
`` We then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something together ? '
and we went after the DREAM Act in 2010 , and failed , but because we found community we did n't let go .
We came up with a strategy to win DACA and eventually persuaded the most powerful man in the world to use his executive power to grant protection for us and for our people . ''
Since then , United We Dream has launched a community-driven research initiative leading on topics of importance to the immigrant community .
These publications help tell the story of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and hope that it 's enough to spark some people to action , which is an important key to systemic change .
`` It is n't enough to just feel what other people are feeling , '' said therapist and writer Dr. Mary Lamia , `` Empathy can show up in a lot of different ways , it 's what you do with it that matters . ''
So , actively seek out the stories of farmworkers to listen to and read .
If you live in or nearby an agricultural community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to you and get involved .
Spend time elevating the voices of farmworkers sharing their concerns .
For advocates like Bruce Goldstein from Farmworkers Justice , they 're hoping to capitalize on how the pandemic highlighted the conditions of farmworkers because their stories were told more frequently in these ways .
`` We think that there 's a greater awareness of the difficulties that farmworkers are experiencing , and the need to take action , '' Goldstein said .
`` So , I 'm hopeful the empathy quotient went up .
Then over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocates can take advantage of that and motivate people to take action that results in the change in policy and in business practices . ''

Bruce Goldstein, the president of the Washington, D.C.-based organization Farmworkers Justice, said that after the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic in March, he saw many people become worried about their access to food for the first time. Not necessarily because of cost, but because the farmworkers who grow, harvest and manufacture it — the majority of whom are undocumented immigrants — may have been forced to stop working.
"They became aware, or more aware than in the past, of who exactly is producing food for them," Goldstein said.
But then states across the country quickly began classifying those farmworkers as "essential employees," people who — even if they didn't have legal protections against deportation or access to healthcare in the country — were needed to keep food on American tables.
The pandemic spotlighted exactly how integral the labor of undocumented and migrant workers is to our country's food system. However, as election results continue to trickle in, it's clear that many Americans still voted for Trump, whose platform has consistently included vocal anti-immigrant and anti-refugee rhetoric.
A large part of that is due to America's eroding sense of empathy, which only seems to have further disintegrated over the last four years.
Dr. Sarah Konrath is an associate professor of philanthropic studies at Indiana University and director of the Interdisciplinary Program on Empathy and Altruism Research. She studies the decline of empathy and rise of narcissistic behavior, and published a study in 2011 about North American college students' self-reported scores on a widely used empathy scale.
"In that paper, we tracked those scores from 1979, when the scale was first developed, to 2009, which was the latest year," Konrath said. "We found out that the college students in the late 1970s and early '80s scored higher in empathy than college students over time, especially in the post-2000 period."
Empathy can be defined in several ways, but many researchers agree that it can be summarized as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. According to Konrath, who is in the middle of producing an update to the study, there are a number of potential contributing factors, including shifts in family, community and government structures. One of the most perceptible is the relative isolation in which many Americans now live.
Dr. Jamil Zaki, a Stanford neuroscientist and author of "The War for Kindness: Building empathy in a fractured world," said that people empathize most easily "when they can see others' suffering with their own eyes, or when their actions are visible to others."
"But the modern world has stripped them away," Zaki told the Washington Post in 2019. "Humans increasingly live in cities and live alone. We see more people than ever but know fewer of them. Rituals that used to bring us into regular contact, ranging from bowling leagues to grocery shopping, have been replaced by more solitary pursuits, often carried out online. The result is our interactions with each other are often thinned out, anonymous and tribal — barren soil for empathy."
In the age of Instacart orders and Whole Foods check-outs lined with Amazon Prime lockers, it's easy to see how many Americans have become increasingly disconnected from the reality of who harvests their food, and that kind of anonymity could certainly breed the idea that whomever is doing that work isn't a member of your community, but a faceless stranger. Add in potential differences in racial background and immigration status, and — as Zaki asserts, our interactions have grown increasingly tribal — that only accentuates a certain sense of "otherness."
It also contributes to ignorance about some of the main issues that impact migrant and undocumented farmworkers.
"Many employers in this country benefit from the vulnerability that undocumented immigrants have, which causes them to be reluctant to ask for better wages and working conditions," Goldstein said. "They're often ineligible for basic services and benefits, like federally funded legal aid programs, so if they are ripped off by their employer, they often can't afford a lawyer and are not eligible for free legal services. Employers can also pay a poverty-level wage, but the workers can't get public benefits like food stamps."
So how do we as a country bridge the empathy gap between many American consumers and the (to them) invisible masses who put food on their tables? Thankfully, empathy is a cultivatable skill.
But Mel Schwartz, a therapist and author of "The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live, and Love," says creating a more empathetic country will require a seismic shift in how we think about otherness.
"Our worldviews, the way we see reality, particularly in our country, is so overly individualistic and self-interested," Schwartz said. "It's oriented toward greed — and not just financial greed. It's narcissism, it's 'all about me,' social media, how many 'likes' you have. When we live in a culture that is too focused on individualism, we lose the capacity to think about and feel the realities of others."
To change that would require individuals to start valuing caring for other people and tending to their communities above the individual self. In his book, Schwartz posits that quantum physics has "actually told us that all reality is actually inseparable."
"It's all as one," he said. "Everything is connected to everything else. And my point is that, from that vantage point, if everything's connected to everything else, then we should be caring for each other, because in my caring for you, I recognize that you're not separate from me. We need to introduce this new paradigm of oneness."
While that concept may sound spiritual or intangible, the pandemic and the subsequent disruptions of the food supply chain in the states — from COVID-19 outbreaks at meatpacking plants largely staffed by immigrant workers, to agricultural counties across the U.S. facing higher rates of infection — drive the point of oneness or connectedness home. The issues impacting a farmworker thousands of miles away can determine what's on your plate tomorrow night.
For some, that may still be too abstract a reason to care deeply about the working conditions with which vulnerable farmworkers are faced, and that makes sense. Researchers have found that trying to imagine how someone feels is often not enough to elicit true empathy — you need to actually ask them.
"For me, the core of empathy is curiosity," Jodi Halpern, a psychiatrist and bioethics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told the New York Times. "It's what is another person's life actually like in its particulars?" Exchanging stories with other people, especially people whose realities look very different from your own, is a way to vicariously "try on" someone else's life.
Organizations that work with undocumented individuals and workers know this, and many are poised to pair personal storytelling with political messaging as a way to better serve their organizations' missions.
Greisa Martinez, the executive director of the immigrant youth-led network United We Dream which advocated for DACA, says that the organization's "secret sauce" is in members having the capacity to share their own stories.
"There are people out there that know what it's like to have your electricity cut off, they're likely the same people out there that know exactly what it feels like to not have access to food," Martinez said. "So there's this feeling of moving people from isolation into community."
Once they've found community with people like them, they feel more empowered to share their personal experiences on a wider stage.
"We found one another and we shared our stories, we shared our pain, we celebrated the things about our culture that made us resilient," Martinez said. "We then said, 'Why don't we do something together?' and we went after the DREAM Act in 2010, and failed, but because we found community we didn't let go. We came up with a strategy to win DACA and eventually persuaded the most powerful man in the world to use his executive power to grant protection for us and for our people."
Since then, United We Dream has launched a community-driven research initiative leading on topics of importance to the immigrant community. These publications help tell the story of the communities they represent in their own words — and hope that it's enough to spark some people to action, which is an important key to systemic change.
"It isn't enough to just feel what other people are feeling," said therapist and writer Dr. Mary Lamia, "Empathy can show up in a lot of different ways, it's what you do with it that matters."
So, actively seek out the stories of farmworkers to listen to and read. If you live in or nearby an agricultural community, see what worker-led organizations exist close to you and get involved. Spend time elevating the voices of farmworkers sharing their concerns.
For advocates like Bruce Goldstein from Farmworkers Justice, they're hoping to capitalize on how the pandemic highlighted the conditions of farmworkers because their stories were told more frequently in these ways.
"We think that there's a greater awareness of the difficulties that farmworkers are experiencing, and the need to take action," Goldstein said. "So, I'm hopeful the empathy quotient went up. Then over the next couple of years, farmworker advocates can take advantage of that and motivate people to take action that results in the change in policy and in business practices."


alternet--2020-11-06--Trump team gets brutally mocked for increasingly ridiculous attempts to claim a win

Offering irresistibly low-hanging fruit for political rivals , pundits , and late-night comedians—who all devoured it with gusto—President Donald Trump was lambasted Wednesday and Thursday for simultaneously suing to stop the vote counting process in key battleground states where he clings to a precarious lead in the 2020 presidential contest , while urging election officials in states where he narrowly trails Democrat Joe Biden to keep counting .
The Trump campaign filed lawsuits in Georgia , Michigan , and Pennsylvania , calling for an end to vote tallying in the latter two states until it could obtain what it called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wishes to review .
The suits came as the president and some of his backers accused Pennsylvania election officials of `` fraud '' —without providing any evidence to support their allegations .
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro fired back that the president 's lawsuit was `` more a political document than a legal document . ''
In a bid to cast aspersions and doubt upon the vote-counting process in the days after Election Day , Trump tweeted numerous lies that were quickly slapped with warning labels or hidden by the site 's administrators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worlds of politics , media , and entertainment were quick to skewer Trump 's latest hypocrisy .
`` In 2016 , when Trump won PA , MI , and WI by a handful of votes , the election system worked just great , '' tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) .
`` Now that he 's losing , it 's a 'fraud ' and they 're 'stealing the election . '
'' `` This is how demagogues destroy faith in democracy and move us toward authoritarianism , '' the former 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every vote ! ''
Rep. Ilhan Omar noted that it is `` very curious how Trump is demanding the counting stop in Pennsylvania , but staying quiet about the counting in Arizona and Nevada even Alaska , '' asking rhetorically , `` I wonder what that 's about ? ''
Other observers also weighed in on the president 's lies and hypocrisy : It was n't long before numerous video mash-ups showed protesting Trump supporters alternately chanting `` count the votes '' and `` stop the vote '' —depending upon whether the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Trump Supporters Chant Both 'Count the Vote ' & 'Stop the Count ' | NowThis Others pointed out that a very similar scenario once played out on the popular HBO political satire Veep , right down to confused voters like the Phoenix-area Trump supporters who chanted `` stop the count '' even though the president trailed Biden in Arizona .
Late-night television hosts naturally had a good go at Trump too .
`` I thought if your election lasted more than 48 hours you 're supposed to seek medical attention , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eponymous `` Jimmy Kimmel Live ! ''
on ABC on Wednesday night .
Kimmel , who joked that the race was `` closer than Donald and Ivanka at a father-daughter dance , '' also took on the topic of Trump 's hypocrisy .
`` Right .
Stop counting the votes , '' Kimmel deadpanned .
`` Stop counting the votes in the states where I 'm ahead , in the states we 're not , keep tallying , OK ? ''
Beyond all the tweets and jokes was a president who appeared increasingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to near the point of being unwalkable .
As Biden was leading or closing in on Trump in Arizona , Georgia , Nevada , and Pennsylvania and holding a 253 to 214 Electoral College lead—with 270 electoral votes needed for victory—the president delivered a lie-laden Thursday evening White House address that Omar called `` pathetic '' and `` simply painful to watch . ''
The speech was widely derided by not only Democrats but also Republicans including Sen. Mitt Romney ( R-Utah ) and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan .

Offering irresistibly low-hanging fruit for political rivals, pundits, and late-night comedians—who all devoured it with gusto—President Donald Trump was lambasted Wednesday and Thursday for simultaneously suing to stop the vote counting process in key battleground states where he clings to a precarious lead in the 2020 presidential contest, while urging election officials in states where he narrowly trails Democrat Joe Biden to keep counting.
The Trump campaign filed lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, calling for an end to vote tallying in the latter two states until it could obtain what it called "meaninful access" to ballots it wishes to review. The suits came as the president and some of his backers accused Pennsylvania election officials of "fraud"—without providing any evidence to support their allegations. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro fired back that the president's lawsuit was "more a political document than a legal document."
In a bid to cast aspersions and doubt upon the vote-counting process in the days after Election Day, Trump tweeted numerous lies that were quickly slapped with warning labels or hidden by the site's administrators. One glaring example:
Critics in the worlds of politics, media, and entertainment were quick to skewer Trump's latest hypocrisy.
"In 2016, when Trump won PA, MI, and WI by a handful of votes, the election system worked just great," tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "Now that he's losing, it's a 'fraud' and they're 'stealing the election.'"
"This is how demagogues destroy faith in democracy and move us toward authoritarianism," the former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate added. "Count every vote!"
Rep. Ilhan Omar noted that it is "very curious how Trump is demanding the counting stop in Pennsylvania, but staying quiet about the counting in Arizona and Nevada even Alaska," asking rhetorically, "I wonder what that's about?"
Other observers also weighed in on the president's lies and hypocrisy:
It wasn't long before numerous video mash-ups showed protesting Trump supporters alternately chanting "count the votes" and "stop the vote"—depending upon whether the president was ahead or behind in their state.
Trump Supporters Chant Both 'Count the Vote' & 'Stop the Count' | NowThis www.youtube.com
Others pointed out that a very similar scenario once played out on the popular HBO political satire Veep, right down to confused voters like the Phoenix-area Trump supporters who chanted "stop the count" even though the president trailed Biden in Arizona.
Late-night television hosts naturally had a good go at Trump too.
"I thought if your election lasted more than 48 hours you're supposed to seek medical attention," quipped Jimmy Kimmel, host of the eponymous "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on ABC on Wednesday night. Kimmel, who joked that the race was "closer than Donald and Ivanka at a father-daughter dance," also took on the topic of Trump's hypocrisy.
"Right. Stop counting the votes," Kimmel deadpanned. "Stop counting the votes in the states where I'm ahead, in the states we're not, keep tallying, OK?"
Trump Falsely Claims Victory After Crazy Election Night www.youtube.com
Beyond all the tweets and jokes was a president who appeared increasingly desperate as his path to victory narrowed to near the point of being unwalkable. As Biden was leading or closing in on Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania and holding a 253 to 214 Electoral College lead—with 270 electoral votes needed for victory—the president delivered a lie-laden Thursday evening White House address that Omar called "pathetic" and "simply painful to watch." The speech was widely derided by not only Democrats but also Republicans including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.