dailykos--2020-07-23--Mafia Bust Out on a National Scale

Mafia Bust Out on a National Scale

I ’ ve thought from the beginning that Trmp et alia are performing a Mafia bust-out on a national scale @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s all “ Fck you , pay me , ” as this @ @ @ @ @ points out .
Once you get into business with a mobster , they take over @ @ @ @ @ , run it into the ground , and then torch it for the insurance .
@ @ @ @ @ et alia are doing .
Everything is a profit center , an opportunity to grift @ @ @ @ @ the beak .
It is why I would not be at all surprised to find @ @ @ @ @ road , that Trmp et alia were getting kickbacks on PPE and anything else that @ @ @ @ @ their pockets .

I’ve thought from the beginning that Trmp et alia are performing a Mafia bust-out on a national scale. Nothing is beneath them. It’s all “Fck you, pay me,” as this clip from “Goodfellas” points out.
What’s a bust out?
Definition: A forced bankruptcy of a person or an organization, usually through theft, fraud or extortion. Source: http://mafiatrickster.tripod.com/kikai/mafiaslang.html
Once you get into business with a mobster, they take over. They exploit the business, run it into the ground, and then torch it for the insurance.
This is exactly what Trmp et alia are doing. Everything is a profit center, an opportunity to grift some graft, and wet the beak. It is why I would not be at all surprised to find out, someday down the road, that Trmp et alia were getting kickbacks on PPE and anything else that can put a buck in their pockets.


dailykos--2020-07-23--About the Lincoln Project . . .

About the Lincoln Project . . .

There has been a lot of chatter about the Lincoln Project ads .
Some are admiring of the impact of the ads and wish Democrats could do as well .
Some cheer them on in a spirit of schadenfreude .
Others look upon them and the whole group of Never Trumpers as temporary allies who will shift into opposition as soon as the present crisis is past .
All of these views are valid , and yet each could use a bit more nuance .
The easiest and most obvious is the power the ads have .
They are cleverly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important quality they have is that they pick up on some action Trump has taken , or some aspect of his character that have been in the news .
Their effectiveness lies almost wholly in the direct reflection of Trump ’ s behavior and action .
In a sense , Trump writes the ads himself .
Wanting the Democrats to do a better job of messaging , as it is supposed that the Lincoln Project ads do , elides the point that effectiveness depends on content .
One can not depend on an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in providing the fodder for the messaging mill .
Nor should an ad just make stuff up , but that ’ s an issue for another article .
I have very mixed emotions about the glee being expressed in response to the ads .
On the one hand , it is delightful to see those who have been in opposition to Democratic policy so successfully attacking their own party .
On the other hand , it is sobering to think that these folks are taking a stand on principle , and it will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will ever be accepted in any fashion by the Trump base .
Which leads me to my last point .
Most who decry the Never Trumpers as suspect temporary allies seem to expect they will become instant implacable enemies the instant Trump goes down in defeat ( one hopes and prays ! )
This strikes me as the mirror image of the right wing hate machine , and is equally detestable .
If you think about it , the work the Lincoln Project and other Never Trumper activities reveal an implicit recognition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This line crossing includes their indifference to his bad behavior and lying , their enabling of his breaking of norms , their winking at his corruption and , not least , their attitude that anything supported by the Democrats must have originated in the depths of hell .
Playing tit for tat with a group like that has no winners ; indeed the biggest losers are the American people .
So , while it is certainly clear the Never Trumpers will have policy views and goals that differ from , and probably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those of the Democrats , they will at least recognize the legitimacy of our existence .
From there it is only a short step to being able to debate issues on their merits and work toward acceptable compromises I , for one , will cheer them on and welcome them to the table ( as long as they mind their manners . )

There has been a lot of chatter about the Lincoln Project ads. Some are admiring of the impact of the ads and wish Democrats could do as well. Some cheer them on in a spirit of schadenfreude. Others look upon them and the whole group of Never Trumpers as temporary allies who will shift into opposition as soon as the present crisis is past. All of these views are valid, and yet each could use a bit more nuance.
The easiest and most obvious is the power the ads have. They are cleverly framed and presented, but the most important quality they have is that they pick up on some action Trump has taken, or some aspect of his character that have been in the news. Their effectiveness lies almost wholly in the direct reflection of Trump’s behavior and action. In a sense, Trump writes the ads himself. Wanting the Democrats to do a better job of messaging, as it is supposed that the Lincoln Project ads do, elides the point that effectiveness depends on content. One cannot depend on an opponent being so obliging as Trump is in providing the fodder for the messaging mill. Nor should an ad just make stuff up, but that’s an issue for another article.
I have very mixed emotions about the glee being expressed in response to the ads. On the one hand, it is delightful to see those who have been in opposition to Democratic policy so successfully attacking their own party. On the other hand, it is sobering to think that these folks are taking a stand on principle, and it will cost them. I cannot imagine they will ever be accepted in any fashion by the Trump base. Which leads me to my last point.
Most who decry the Never Trumpers as suspect temporary allies seem to expect they will become instant implacable enemies the instant Trump goes down in defeat (one hopes and prays!) This strikes me as the mirror image of the right wing hate machine, and is equally detestable. If you think about it, the work the Lincoln Project and other Never Trumper activities reveal an implicit recognition the Republican Party has crossed a line. This line crossing includes their indifference to his bad behavior and lying, their enabling of his breaking of norms, their winking at his corruption and, not least, their attitude that anything supported by the Democrats must have originated in the depths of hell. Playing tit for tat with a group like that has no winners; indeed the biggest losers are the American people. So, while it is certainly clear the Never Trumpers will have policy views and goals that differ from, and probably to a large extent are opposed to those of the Democrats, they will at least recognize the legitimacy of our existence. From there it is only a short step to being able to debate issues on their merits and work toward acceptable compromises
I,for one, will cheer them on and welcome them to the table (as long as they mind their manners.)


dailykos--2020-07-23--WHATEVER ELSE HAPPENS, THE TRUMP SEQUENCE ENDS WITH ONE  WORD: OBLIVION.

Republicans could and did game the system during Donald Trump ’ s impeachment trial , marginalizing and even neutralizing the Constitution 's impeachment clause .
They voted with one exception to let the 45th president skate on his quite evident abuse of presidential power to serve himself .
They could ignore his heavy-handed , obstructionist tactics .
But the GOP could not prevent him from treating his acquittal as a license to kill .
Nor could the GOP prevent Americans from noticing more and more that the wealthy , right-wing power structure has been propping up not a master deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and certainly not a self-described `` stable genius . ''
Thanks in part to the daily recounting of his misdeeds as in his final year illuminated by the arc light of impeachment , the Black Lives Matter protests , and the coronavirus epidemic , more and more voters are , as polling indicates , coming to see that the Republican Party is protecting a venal , misogynistic , bullying , ignorant , narcissistic , manipulative , lying son of a bastard whose faults add up to epic assholery .
As the Urban Dictionary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for an `` inconsiderate , arrogant , uncaring , selfish , borderline sadistic , apathetic , mean , spiteful , dishonorable , bastard of a man who could tempt the Pope into a fight . ''
And that 's how an embarrassed , angry and motivated public increasingly is seeing this hollow president .
We are of course stuck with perhaps 20 percent of voters who in various combinations are cynical , weary , apathetic schadenfreudians .
They enable faux-populist authoritarians like Trump , and GOP vote suppression tactics do the rest .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind people invested in fair play and a sense of justice .
These Americans still respect soft-spoken , humble demeanor fortified by genuine achievement -- without bombast , private intrigue , self-aggrandizement , or a winner-versus-losers mentality .
That 's why the weight of the voting majority is likely to feed the political black hole that is Trump , but only in the sense of trapping him under his own weight .
Trumpism is now absorbing the entire party he attracted to himself after his hostile takeover .
He 's the rotten core @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The rest of the GOP is quickly being pulled in , locked down forever by the near-irresistible gravity of his flaws .
Too late they seek to break their fall ; trump ’ s gaping maw now hungrily drags them down .
For three years , perhaps , Republicans still had a chance to reverse thrust and escape , and lately they have tried kicking in the warp engines , just like Trump .
But the party now has crossed the one-way event horizon of American politics .
Nothing can stop the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a singularity of doom and utter obscurity .
Wispy , disorganized remnants of Republicanism will of course persist as the violent death spiral throws off random bursts of incoherent energy and heated gases .
But for all practical purposes the party will be gone , sucked into a single infinitesimal point of super-dense political nothingness .
And so we will be rid of this voracious , unnatural and destructive force — at least until the arrival of the next crude , bloated , megastar politician , another Trump who is unable to perceive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personal horizon .
There will be peace for a time , but the cosmic battle between good and evil is never over .

Republicans could and did game the system during Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, marginalizing and even neutralizing the Constitution's impeachment clause. They voted with one exception to let the 45th president skate on his quite evident abuse of presidential power to serve himself. They could ignore his heavy-handed, obstructionist tactics. But the GOP could not prevent him from treating his acquittal as a license to kill. Nor could the GOP prevent Americans from noticing more and more that the wealthy, right-wing power structure has been propping up not a master deal maker, not a wise statesman, and certainly not a self-described "stable genius."
Thanks in part to the daily recounting of his misdeeds as in his final year illuminated by the arc light of impeachment, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the coronavirus epidemic, more and more voters are, as polling indicates, coming to see that the Republican Party is protecting a venal, misogynistic, bullying, ignorant, narcissistic, manipulative, lying son of a bastard whose faults add up to epic assholery.
As the Urban Dictionary explains, "asshole" is shorthand for an "inconsiderate, arrogant, uncaring, selfish, borderline sadistic, apathetic, mean, spiteful, dishonorable, bastard of a man who could tempt the Pope into a fight." And that's how an embarrassed, angry and motivated public increasingly is seeing this hollow president.
We are of course stuck with perhaps 20 percent of voters who in various combinations are cynical, weary, apathetic schadenfreudians. They enable faux-populist authoritarians like Trump, and GOP vote suppression tactics do the rest. Luckily, many Americans remain decent, kind people invested in fair play and a sense of justice. These Americans still respect soft-spoken, humble demeanor fortified by genuine achievement -- without bombast, private intrigue, self-aggrandizement, or a winner-versus-losers mentality.
That's why the weight of the voting majority is likely to feed the political black hole that is Trump, but only in the sense of trapping him under his own weight. Trumpism is now absorbing the entire party he attracted to himself after his hostile takeover. He's the rotten core from which enlightenment itself cannot escape. The rest of the GOP is quickly being pulled in, locked down forever by the near-irresistible gravity of his flaws. Too late they seek to break their fall; trump’s gaping maw now hungrily drags them down.
For three years, perhaps, Republicans still had a chance to reverse thrust and escape, and lately they have tried kicking in the warp engines, just like Trump. But the party now has crossed the one-way event horizon of American politics. Nothing can stop the Republican Party’s accelerating free-fall into a singularity of doom and utter obscurity.
Wispy, disorganized remnants of Republicanism will of course persist as the violent death spiral throws off random bursts of incoherent energy and heated gases. But for all practical purposes the party will be gone, sucked into a single infinitesimal point of super-dense political nothingness.
And so we will be rid of this voracious, unnatural and destructive force — at least until the arrival of the next crude, bloated, megastar politician, another Trump who is unable to perceive much less understand events beyond a purely personal horizon. There will be peace for a time, but the cosmic battle between good and evil is never over.


dailykos--2020-07-24--The Hidden Genius In The Democrats Unemployment "Bridge" Payments

The problem with any natural disaster , whether it be wildfire , tornado , hurricane , or global pandemic , is that the immediacy of dealing with the disaster obviously commands all attention .
And the longer the disaster persists , the longer attention is focused solely on the disaster .
And things that would have been obvious at the time , if only we had a moment to consider , go by under the radar .
As most of you know , my wife Teri was furloughed on St. Patrick 's Day .
As such , we were able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ payment of $ 600 a week to cover the difference between her unemployment check and her full check .
This really came in handy when meat prices started to go up due to the disruption in the supply chain .
With Teri scheduled to return to work Monday part time , we were discussing how she will still continue to receive unemployment to bridge the shortfall , and how we may still qualify for any extension of the bridge payments .
That being said , there has always been something that bothered me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As explained , it was meant to help families and workers cover the shortfall between what they would receive from unemployment , and what their full paycheck was before being laid off .
And if that was the purpose , then the program was far oversubscribed for what it set out to do .
Now my wife works in retail , so she 's not making Brad Pitt wages , and still , that $ 600 a week was multiples above what was needed to make her whole .
I know that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much aid to as many people as possible , but I would guess that in a majority of cases , people were actually profiting from the program .
The question that has bothered me every time I see that $ 600 in Teri 's account is Why $ 600 a week ?
The number ca n't possibly be arbitrary , there has to be some kind of sensible reason behind it .
It seems almost like the Democrats jammed it to the GOP because they had them over a barrel , which is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does n't make sense .
There has to be a reason why they settled specifically on $ 600 a week .
And last night , while just idly discussing the topic with Teri , it whupped me upside the head .
Let 's start with a little simple math .
It has to be simple if I 'm going to do it .
Start with $ 600 a week .
Now , divide that $ 600 by a 40 hour work week .
What do you end up with ?
$ 15.00 an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crystal clear sense .
The Democrats have been pushing for a national $ 15 an hour minimum wage for at least the last three years .
But there 's a problem with that , it 's purely conceptual .
The Democrats talk about how great it would be , and everybody agrees that it would be great , but talk is cheap , and nobody had any way to know what it would feel like to make $ 15 an hour .
So the Democrats took the bull by the horns and showed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 15 an hour .
Without saying a word to tip their mitts , the Democrats used the terrible unemployment shortfalls to show every American making less than $ 15 an hour what it feels like to make $ 15 an hour .
For 16 weeks they have handed the neediest Americans a weekly $ 15 an hour paycheck .
And now the GOP wants to take it away .
This is nothing short of political genius .
The only question I have left is exactly who will step out in front of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that yanks the drop cloth off of the masterpiece ?
Will it be Joe Biden , in his acceptance speech ?
Will it be Speaker Pelosi , taking a well earned victory lap ?
Who will be the one that says ; My fellow Americans .
For more than three years now , the Democrats have been pushing as hard as we can for a federal minimum wage of $ 15 an hour .
The Republicans have blocked us at every turn , and all you could do was to wonder what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money every week .
Well , you do n't have to wonder anymore .
All of those of you who were unfortunate enough to be laid off during the coronavirus lockdown now know what it feels like .
Because that $ 600 a week check you received is what a 40 hour week looks like at $ 15 an hour .
And we can make that a reality for every American , but only if you elect Democrats to the House , the Senate , and the White House .
The choice will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point , the GOP is boned .
Sideways .
It really does n't matter in a purely political sense if they agree to extend the $ 600 a week into the future .
When the time is right , the Democrats are going to publicly draw the comparison between a $ 15 an hour wage , and the $ 600 a week the unemployed received for the last 4 months .
And the GOP 's opposition to the $ 15 an hour wage that nobody would believe them if they changed their tune @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think it is , and I can not conceive that it is n't , simply because the math is so pure and obvious , then this is one of the finest acts of political genius I 've ever seen .
Talk about making lemonade out of lemons !
To know the future , look to the past.before the insanity of the 2020 election , relive the insanity of the 2016 GOP primary campaign , and the general election , to see how we got to where we are .
Copies of President Evil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ II , A Clodwork [ ppp_patron_only ] Orange are available as e-books on Amazon , at the links above .
Catch up before the upcoming release of the third book in the trilogy , President Evil III : All The Presidents Fen Follow me on Twitter at @ RealMurfster35

The problem with any natural disaster, whether it be wildfire, tornado, hurricane, or global pandemic, is that the immediacy of dealing with the disaster obviously commands all attention. And the longer the disaster persists, the longer attention is focused solely on the disaster. And things that would have been obvious at the time, if only we had a moment to consider, go by under the radar.
As most of you know, my wife Teri was furloughed on St. Patrick's Day. As such, we were able to benefit from the Democrat-forged unemployment bridge payment of $600 a week to cover the difference between her unemployment check and her full check. This really came in handy when meat prices started to go up due to the disruption in the supply chain. With Teri scheduled to return to work Monday part time, we were discussing how she will still continue to receive unemployment to bridge the shortfall, and how we may still qualify for any extension of the bridge payments.
That being said, there has always been something that bothered me about that $600 a week payment. As explained, it was meant to help families and workers cover the shortfall between what they would receive from unemployment, and what their full paycheck was before being laid off. And if that was the purpose, then the program was far oversubscribed for what it set out to do. Now my wife works in retail, so she's not making Brad Pitt wages, and still, that $600 a week was multiples above what was needed to make her whole. I know that the whole object was to render as much aid to as many people as possible, but I would guess that in a majority of cases, people were actually profiting from the program.
The question that has bothered me every time I see that $600 in Teri's account is Why $600 a week? The number can't possibly be arbitrary, there has to be some kind of sensible reason behind it. It seems almost like the Democrats jammed it to the GOP because they had them over a barrel, which is fine by me, but that still doesn't make sense. There has to be a reason why they settled specifically on $600 a week.
And last night, while just idly discussing the topic with Teri, it whupped me upside the head. Let's start with a little simple math. It has to be simple if I'm going to do it. Start with $600 a week. Now, divide that $600 by a 40 hour work week. What do you end up with? $15.00 an hour!
Now that makes perfect, crystal clear sense. The Democrats have been pushing for a national $15 an hour minimum wage for at least the last three years. But there's a problem with that, it's purely conceptual. The Democrats talk about how great it would be, and everybody agrees that it would be great, but talk is cheap, and nobody had any way to know what it would feel like to make $15 an hour.
So the Democrats took the bull by the horns and showed them what it feels like to make $15 an hour. Without saying a word to tip their mitts, the Democrats used the terrible unemployment shortfalls to show every American making less than $15 an hour what it feels like to make $15 an hour. For 16 weeks they have handed the neediest Americans a weekly $15 an hour paycheck. And now the GOP wants to take it away.
This is nothing short of political genius. The only question I have left is exactly who will step out in front of the microphone, and pull the cord that yanks the drop cloth off of the masterpiece? Will it be Joe Biden, in his acceptance speech? Will it be Speaker Pelosi, taking a well earned victory lap? Who will be the one that says;
My fellow Americans. For more than three years now, the Democrats have been pushing as hard as we can for a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour. The Republicans have blocked us at every turn, and all you could do was to wonder what it would feel like to make that much money every week. Well, you don't have to wonder anymore. All of those of you who were unfortunate enough to be laid off during the coronavirus lockdown now know what it feels like. Because that $600 a week check you received is what a 40 hour week looks like at $15 an hour. And we can make that a reality for every American, but only if you elect Democrats to the House, the Senate, and the White House. The choice will be yours this November.
At this point, the GOP is boned. Sideways. It really doesn't matter in a purely political sense if they agree to extend the $600 a week into the future. When the time is right, the Democrats are going to publicly draw the comparison between a $15 an hour wage, and the $600 a week the unemployed received for the last 4 months. And the GOP's opposition to the $15 an hour wage that nobody would believe them if they changed their tune now. If this is what I think it is, and I cannot conceive that it isn't, simply because the math is so pure and obvious, then this is one of the finest acts of political genius I've ever seen. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!
To know the future, look to the past.before the insanity of the 2020 election, relive the insanity of the 2016 GOP primary campaign, and the general election, to see how we got to where we are. Copies of President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork [ppp_patron_only]Orange are available as e-books on Amazon, at the links above. Catch up before the upcoming release of the third book in the trilogy, President Evil III: All The Presidents Fen
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Originally Posted On Politizoom.com


dailykos--2020-07-24--Voter Outreach 2020 - Postcards To Voters

Turning Out The Vote In Battleground States Will Decide This Election : Learn About Handwritten Postcards To Voters ( the first in a 3-part series on non in-person voter outreach ) Over the July 4th weekend , in two speeches , Trump laid bare the blatant racism and divisiveness that are the underpinnings of his personality , his presidency and the rationale for his reelection campaign .
No dog whistles , no code words , no nuance .
It was deeply disturbing .
He wants to bait us into a race war where , he believes , he will emerge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in uniting , no interest in soothing the frayed nerves of an anxious nation .
That was left to Vice President Biden in his comments on the meaning of Independence Day in 2020 .
The choice between the two men could not be starker .
The weekend heightened my own sense of urgency about the 2020 election .
And it reminded me of the message President Obama conveyed on the virtual fundraiser for Biden a few weeks ago : “ Whatever you have done so far is not enough.
” I have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ night , 2016 .
I didn ’ t do enough to help elect Hillary .
I should have done more to flip our district in 2018 .
And now , stuck at home , how the heck am I going to get-out-the-vote for Joe Biden this year ?
Trump and the GOP know there is only one formula that leads to him winning reelection .
He deployed it in 2016 .
Trumpism does not have the support of the majority of the country .
He can only win if he suppresses the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by smearing his opponent , and then he has to rile his base to such a fever pitch that nearly 100 % of his 40 % of the country cast their ballots .
That is how he eked out an Electoral College win in 2016 and that is his plan for 2020 .
In 2016 , he used immigration as red meat to inflame his base ; this time he is using fear of our fellow Americans .
It may be disgusting , but if Democrats don ’ t vote , then it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Resistance and Me : An Insider ’ s Account of the Two-Year Mission to Stop the Trump Agenda and Take Back the House , the reader learns , just as we learned , the incredible importance of speaking directly to voters .
Across the country , in-person canvassing helped to power the blue wave .
We can not meet voters face-to-face this year , making turning out the vote just a little bit harder , but that doesn ’ t mean we don ’ t have weapons in our arsenal , other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic turnout .
I implore each of you to learn about them and start using them because whatever you are already doing , it is not enough .
There are basically three forms of non in-person voter outreach : snail mail with letters or postcards , phone-banking and text-banking .
Over the next few weeks , I will focus on each of these .
Each method can be done from your own home , each is available to everyone .
You can try them all and choose the method that you are most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ combination of two or three .
Once you learn about these initiatives , my hope is you will be ready to get started .
None of us want to wake up on November 4th and have any regrets , or say to ourselves , as we did in 2016 , if only I had gotten more involved .
Because the truth about Trump , the truth that was there for us all to see in 2016 , is he is unfit for this job and the combination of incompetence and corruption that mark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We will not survive a second term .
To begin , this blog post will take a look at handwritten postcards to voters .
I first got involved in mailing postcards to voters for the midterm election with my Indivisible group , East End Action Network ( EEAN ) .
We hosted a lot of activities for the midterm election , including one-on-one interviews and debate forums with the primary candidates as well as get-out-the-vote door-knocking weekends .
But probably our most popular general election events were a series of postcard-writing parties , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic congressional nominee , Perry Gershon .
They provided the postcards and the mailing lists of Democratic voters ’ names and addresses and together with other grassroots groups who did the same , thousands of handwritten postcards were mailed out to voters in CD # 1 right before the election .
The idea is that when a voter receives a handwritten message about voting that it cuts through all the noise and clutter to make an impression .
The goal is to create a card so engaging , so colorful that it will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In my book are descriptions and photos of our 2018 postcard parties .
People who wanted to get involved but were not comfortable going door-to-door or even phone-banking , were thrilled to participate and really enjoyed the experience .
EEAN provided all the markers and stickers to make the cards creative and colorful , and everyone brought food and drinks to make it a party .
Our master at organizing these events is leadership member Sharon Adams , a retired elementary school teacher .
Already this year , Sharon has organized two postcard-writing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virtual .
The first was for Common Cause to alert New York voters about their options to vote in the primary and the second was our first event reaching outside of New York , to voters in a battleground state .
We have known that 2020 would be very different than 2018 because we would be adding involvement with the presidential election along with the congressional .
Unlike our congressional race , the presidential race will not be decided by who gets the most votes , but by who reaches 270 electoral votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but won the presidency by small margins across a few states .
Most states , including New York , are already in the red or blue column which means that voters in a handful of states , called swing states or battleground states will decide the outcome of this election .
Given that , it is crucial that we reach these voters and encourage them to vote for Biden .
In researching the different groups that are involved in sending postcards to battleground states , we chose Postcards To Voters ( PTV ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since Sharon was already very familiar with how PTV works because she has been involved with PTV from its inception .
Alongside all of the activities she is involved in for our district , she explained why being an active volunteer with PTV has been important to her .
“ Volunteers feel that the stakes are so high that they have to do something to assure that our democracy will survive , ” she said .
“ Volunteering to write friendly handwritten reminders to targeted voters has become a movement thanks to Tony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2017 .
I 'm proud to have been a part of this grassroots group of volunteers since its start.
” Founder Tony McMullin goes by the nickname Tony the Democrat .
The website has a photo of Tony , along with an explanation of how his background led him to create PTV : Since March 2017 , many people have called me .
I have a career in business process and technology project management for specialized insurance and financial services companies .
Since 2003 , I have had the privilege to work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ volunteers , field operations , and data-driven decisions .
While in Dallas , Texas , I was a founding member of a grassroots group that turned a red house district blue , and served as both a Precinct Chair and House District Coordinator responsible for recruiting , training , and mentoring Precinct Captains .
This experience with campaigns and volunteer coordination are the foundation for my new initiative .
I live in Metro Atlanta with two rescue Miniature Schnauzers , Lex and Pierce .
Tony was first bitten by the campaign bug when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Howard Dean ’ s campaign in the 2004 presidential election .
There is a great profile of Tony on the website New Faces of Democracy , a group that spotlights many of the grassroots activists who are part of the anti-Trump Resistance .
.
You can also read about Tony and PTV in a 2018 article in The New York Times entitled , “ ’ .
” According to the article , “ In the big data era of politics , where campaigns are betting millions on software that can harvest hundreds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voter , Tony McMullin is making a decidedly different wager .
He is trying to show that elections can be won through the persuasive power of a plaintive handwritten postcard .
It is a battle of quaint vs. quant.
” The home page on the PTV website is warm and welcoming and filled with photos of colorful and creative postcards .
Here is the description on the PTV site of how it works : Postcards to Voters are friendly , handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What started on March 11 , 2017 with sharing 5 addresses apiece to 5 volunteers on Facebook so that they could mail postcards to voters in Jon Ossoff ’ s race grew in one month to 1,200+ volunteers nationwide and over 51,000 postcards mailed .
Now , we consist of over 75,000+ volunteers in every state ( including Alaska and Hawaii ) who have written over 9 million postcards to voters in over 200 key , close elections .
We use an interactive texting service ( Abby The Address Bot ) to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ volunteers .
For new volunteers and those organizing postcard parties around the country , we use a commercial Help Desk system to streamline and automate email requests .
Another commercial business intelligence package crunches the numbers so we always know who our top volunteers are by campaign , a heat-map showing where the postcards are being written by zip code around the country , and other essential dashboards to manage an operation that now averages 15,000 voter addresses assigned daily .
o We ’ ll send you an email with instructions o Write @ @ @ @ @ @ @ photo following instructions in the email o Approved -We ’ ll send you addresses and information on how to obtain additional addresses o Not Approved – You will receive an email detailing why and how to fix it 5 .
Keep up with Current Campaigns We felt this group was perfect for our postcard action and we were eager to write to voters in a battleground state .
Because all our meetings and events have been virtual since March , we could not provide tables of volunteers with materials as we did in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dolber , explained in our weekly newsletter how a virtual postcard party would work .
Members were asked to RSVP with Sharon if they were interested .
Sharon then followed-up in an email to those members who signed up : Thank you for being the first group to volunteer this week to write Postcards To Voters .
( PTV ) I started writing with this awesome organization when it started in 2017 .
There are now over 75,000 volunteers in every state that have written close to 8 million postcards to voters .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be part of this movement ! )
.
Postcards To Voters are friendly , handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close , key races coast to coast .
After you become an approved writer you may be able to choose the target group you want to write to ( depends on the addresses available ) and you choose how many cards you want to write ( you are usually given 3 days to complete/send ) .
I like to do 5 or 10 at a time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given everything you need .
There are only 3 MUST HAVES for each card , tons of extra ideas , background information and of course the addresses .
I 'm going to give you the link to get SIGNED UP and then you 'll receive an email with exact instructions .
On the website , , go to JOIN in the menu .
After you 've sent the photo of your practice postcard and been approved , you 'll receive additional instructions on how to request addresses whenever you feel the urge to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with any questions .
The website is awesome !
It 's very complete , so take some time to explore the site .
Please let me know when you 've been approved and are ready to start writing .
Keep a tally of how many cards you write please .
Facebook and Twitter have PTV accounts that are fun to follow .
There is a whole community of writers across the country that share on social media .
( I even get excited when followers like my postcard designs ) # PostcardsToVoters So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stamps and art supplies .
As you will see on the website , it 's supposed to also be a fun activity .
We can share our creative designs , sources for preprinted cards and fun new stickers or markers .
I am fond of using colorful 81/2 '' x 11 '' card stock that is cut to 4 pieces .
This is the cheaper way to go , but I also have a variety of printed cards .
If you need ANYthing , please just ask me .
The PTV website has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for $ 15 .
Due to the pandemic , most of the writing groups that formed across the country are not meeting in person .
We would like to have a virtual writing party on June 25th if everyone is approved and ready .
We are flexible .
Again let me know when you 're approved and we 'll plan from there .
One last note ... a postcard writer from Colorado commented on a photo I recently posted on twitter of my completed cards .
He commented that his goal is `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be looked at . ''
Let 's get our cards on those refrigerators , my friends !
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If you go to the PTV website and click on the tab for “ results ” you will see the list of campaigns that PTV has been involved in .
The action that we participated in was postcards to registered Democrats in specific Florida counties with information on how to enroll in vote-by-mail .
Turns out , much to my surprise , that Florida has a wonderful vote-by-mail system that enables a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election cycles , they will automatically be sent a mail-in ballot for every election .
I wish New York had that .
Given the pandemic and the fear that people will not feel safe going to the polls for in-person voting or , like in several primaries around the country , many polling places were closed due to staff shortages , all of this confusion in November can be avoided if people have signed up for vote-by-mail .
Our cards gave Democratic voters all the information they needed to enroll in this program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ When FL Dems vote-by-mail , Dems win !
” And needless to say , few battleground states are as important as Florida .
We all ordered postcards and stamps , signed up on the PTV website , created our sample cards and got approved and started working on our address lists .
Our virtual Zoom Postcard-Writing Party on Thursday , June 25th would be a social gathering to schmooze together while we all worked on our cards .
Some folks had already finished several lists and others were just starting .
Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ postcards without joining the Zoom , which was fine , while others looked forward to the group interaction .
For those of us on the virtual party , the event was a lot of fun and it was wonderful to catch up and share the time together .
It was also gratifying to have younger women with kids at home join us .
It is one of the ironies of this pandemic that being forced to go virtual has opened up our meetings to more members , particularly younger members with children at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ affected my activism in mostly positive ways , ” said leadership member Lisa Marrin .
“ Stay-At-Home orders have given me much more time for postcard writing , Zooming and learning more about the history of party politics in the nation .
Since so many of my children 's activities were cancelled and I am working from home on my own schedule , I have been able to meet more often with the EEAN leadership committee and we have developed a great framework for our upcoming actions .
I have committed to three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ training on phone-banking .
I am excited to engage in this way .
The downside of political action during a pandemic is the lack of face-to-face contact with like-minded individuals and my reluctance to join in-person protests .
As I try to put the health of myself and my family first , I just have not been able to bring myself to attend .
Luckily , I can take satisfaction in my virtual activism and the fact that I am able to participate in those ways on a larger scale.
” Lisa ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new member who also has children at home and was able to join the postcard party Zoom .
It was so uplifting to watch them participate and to hear how Stacie turned it into a teachable moment for her son and daughter , who are 12-year-old fraternal twins .
“ I 'm so grateful to have this opportunity to help out and to use it as a way to teach my children about the importance of participation , ” said Stacie .
“ My children and I ended up having a really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and African Americans have had in getting the right to vote and how important it is not to squander that right .
COVID-19 has really driven home the fear I have that my children will be facing a very different world than we all have .
My husband usually expresses hesitancy about introducing them to the heaviness that comes with political topics but we both realize that this next generation will be facing challenges that will make it impossible for them not to be ‘ political.
’ Working on the postcards allowed them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small levels , can be fun and comforting .
The women at East End Action Network have a kindness of spirit that is very motivating and has encouraged me to take the edge off of my anger at where our country is and just get to work.
” At the end of the Zoom , everyone held up their cards so we could see all the amazing designs .
I was blown away by the creativity of some of the designs and there was no doubt in my mind that Florida voters receiving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Here are a few examples : It is our hope that members will continue on their own requesting lists and mailing more postcards to Florida voters since no group activity is necessary to get more address lists .
Once approved , when you finish a list , all you have to do is text the word “ hello ” to the mobile number and another address list with instructions for what to write on the card is emailed to you .
Even once we start writing postcards for our Democratic nominee in CD @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our work with PTV .
( Due to the large number of absentee ballots that needed counting , we have only just gotten the results that Stony Brook University Chemistry Chair Nancy Goroff has won the primary and will be the Democratic candidate to take on GOP Trump-clone Congressman Lee Zeldin in the fall ) .
The PTV system is user-friendly , interactive and fun .
I was so intrigued by PTV that I reached out to Mr. McMullin to learn more about him and about PTV .
He was open and friendly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ someone called “ Tony the Democrat.
” My first question was about the vote-by-mail action to Florida .
I had assumed it was because of COVID .
Turns out it wasn ’ t .
They started this action with Florida voters in 2018 .
“ I don ’ t remember how it came to my attention , ” he said , “ but in Florida , you can enroll in vote-by- mail simply by making a phone call , only one phone call needed , and you are locked into automatically receiving a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is a powerful incentive for a volunteer trying to figure out how to spend their time and postage , because with an enrollment process as easy as a phone call , the likelihood of a positive outcome is much higher than with a different state where you have to request a ballot application , fill it out and mail it back , then fill out the ballot and mail that .
All those steps reduce the number of people who will complete that enrollment .
When I pitch to volunteers that I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I want to give them an action that has the biggest chance of success .
I hear from people why don ’ t we do this in Michigan or Arizona and the answer comes down to the ease of enrollment and the length of the term which can ’ t be matched by any other state .
I can ’ t in good conscience ask our volunteers to spend the same kind of postage when there is a much lower success rate of enrollment.
” Tony also explained that having worked on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helps the county supervisors process these vote-by-mail requests .
“ This way they are not inundated , not flooded with requests which would happen if we held onto the postcards and mailed them all at once , then they would get swamped with new enrollments and their office staff would be beleaguered .
That also would not serve the voter as well .
By our volunteers writing and mailing them along the way , we are good partners and give the county supervisors an easier time.
” It is serendipitous that Florida has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worthwhile for the time and expense of his volunteers and at the same time is arguably the most important of the battleground states .
“ We have known for a long time , ” said Tony , “ that Florida can be the firewall because there is no path for reelection for Trump without Florida .
If Florida turns blue , that is all we need to stop Trump.
” There is another added benefit of vote-by-mail that extends beyond the presidential race .
“ Once Democrats are enrolled , they then get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proves that if you are mailed a ballot automatically rather than relying just on voting in person , that this increases turnout throughout the state at every level of government.
” This connects so nicely to what Dr. Lara Putnam , historian at the University of Pittsburgh , talks about in my book , which is the need to create an ongoing progressive ecosystem that begins at the local level .
I mentioned Dr. Putnam ’ s analysis to Tony .
“ I have goose bumps listening to you describe focusing on local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our volunteers , that their efforts with the postcards will help change behavior and strengthen the voting habit .
It is hard to make voting a habit , we are talking about people with two jobs , single parents , people burdened with elder care issues and so they could be forgiven for missing a special election for county commissioner .
But now , if they can get the ballot in the mail , it is just inevitable that they will participate at a higher rate.
” As good as Florida ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me that it used to be even better .
No surprise , the change came once Republicans took over the state legislature .
“ Florida has a lot of pride in their vote-by-mail program , which used to be permanent .
You would always get a ballot as long as you lived at the same address .
Then when the GOP took over , they modified it to make it expire after two federal election cycles , generally four years .
But to show that they really have no fundamental problem with voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make it harder for everyone to vote , they grandfathered in those already enrolled so that they would still be permanent .
At that point , the GOP had an advantage in vote-by-mail enrollments .
It was an insidious way to game the system.
” But thanks to all the efforts to enroll Democrats in vote-by-mail , that GOP advantage is gone .
According to a recent article in Politico , entitled , “ , ” Democrats now hold a significant lead in vote-by-mail enrollments .
“ Democrats have opened up a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an edge that could pay big dividends in President Donald Trump ’ s newly adopted must-win state.
” Helping Florida turn blue is so crucial , that Tony told me PTV will continue to focus on vote-by-mail this summer .
“ We are going to continue for the next couple of months , hopefully with another 600,000 postcards , ” he said .
After that , they will point their army of volunteers towards helping candidate campaigns .
Right now , he can ’ t say which campaigns they will be helping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the beginning of July which campaigns we are going to be writing for .
I have some guesses based on conversations with people leading multiple candidate efforts in different states , such as Ohio and Texas , but it is a fluid situation and different campaigns sign up every week.
” There is a web form on the PTV site that campaigns can fill out .
“ But the more volunteers we have , the more campaigns we can help .
People are signing up and writing over 15,000 postcards a day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to forecast our writing capacity and I have a spreadsheet of different campaigns .
We have 76,000 volunteers ; think what we could do if we could double that size by November .
And we are ready for that .
We have the technology and the infrastructure to do that .
In 2018 , we did 1.9 million postcards in September and October .
I think we could do 4-5 million this year if we have enough people involved .
Really , I have to thank our volunteer writers , they are the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their friends and family .
We don ’ t have a marketing budget .
When we grow , it is because the volunteers are happy.
” I asked if the Republicans had a similar operation .
“ I have seen a handful of specific GOP campaign postcard activities , but nothing close to our volunteer base or to broad campaigns , that is one of the things that we have an advantage , ” he said .
“ Imagine what it would take for another group to start what we do and build @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is just starting up , they will have a long road to get to where we are.
” I thanked Tony for taking the time to speak with me and for all he is doing to reach voters .
I only had one last question .
I was curious to know if any of the sample postcards ever get turned down .
“ It doesn ’ t happen often , ” he said .
“ When it does , it might be because the writer didn ’ t pay close enough attention to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what they need to do to fix it which most people are happy to do .
Unfortunately , we do occasionally hear back from people that this is too picky for them and it ’ s not a volunteer activity that suits them .
But that is pretty rare.
” PTV was an activity that ideally suited our group .
Our virtual event was a success and our members had enjoyed participating .
And we were especially pleased that members were continuing to ask for more lists on their own and continued to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ planning more PTV parties this summer , virtual and possibly in-person with social distancing .
And just maybe PTV could help us in our fight to unseat Zeldin .
For Sharon , who started with PTV on her own in 2017 , she said it has been gratifying watching PTV grow .
She also said it has taken on an even more meaning for the volunteer writers after watching Trump double down on his divisive and racist messages .
“ I 'm very impressed by the incredible amount of volunteers , all across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invested in Postcards To Voters , ” she said .
“ On this fourth of July weekend , one volunteer shared on social media that they 're using their postcard writing as ‘ a distraction from the horrible speeches being made about America.
’ Another writer felt ‘ this is the most patriotic thing I could accomplish today.
’ Volunteers stated they will save their celebrations for November .
As the holiday weekend unwinds , I 've just completed another ten postcards which are headed to Broward County to encourage vote-by-mail .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ writing party or possibly an outdoor writing party with masks and social distancing guidelines a key factor .
“ Go to the PTV website and give it a try .
If you are part of a grassroots group or a book club , you can add a virtual event to your postcard-writing .
But it is also an easy action you can do by yourself .
I like writing and designing my cards at the end of the day while I sit and watch television , a good antidote to the news .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ day that works best for you .
And if you need a guidebook to show you how to integrate grassroots volunteerism into your daily life , read my book and meet the women who did exactly that .
The book is available on Amazon.com and at Canio 's Books ( 631 ) 725-4926 .
A book talk hosted by Canio ’ s Books can be found on the following link : Speaking of my book , I have set up a fundraiser with the book as a way to say thank you to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters .
PTV stays afloat from donations and to help them in that effort , I will be sending a signed copy of the book , free of charge , to the first 20 people who donate to PTV in response to this blog post .
To help PTV track those donations , please add $ .46 ( 46 cents ) - in honor of the 46th President we are all working hard to elect - to whatever amount you would like to donate .
Here is the link for the donate tab @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the instructions to donate either with Paypal or by mailing a check .
And don ’ t forget to add the 46 cents so that I know to mail you a copy of the book .
Let ’ s grow their army of volunteers and make 5 million postcards for November happen .
In my next blog post , I will focus on phone-banking .
There are many opportunities to phone-bank .
Every candidate and campaign has phone-banking for volunteers .
You can go right now to the Biden campaign ’ s website @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can also go to the campaign of any candidate in your district .
All campaigns will set you up to phone-bank .
But like PTV , there are also groups conducting phone-banking to battleground states for vote-by-mail .
The Florida Democratic advantage in vote-by-mail enrollments is being created not just by the postcards but by phone-banking as well .
There are some advantages and disadvantages of each .
With postcards , you have the advantage of working on them at any time of the day that is convenient for you .
Your whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coloring the postcards is fun .
By contrast , phone-banking is a solitary experience and setting it up is a little more complicated than mailing postcards .
But phone-banking offers one big advantage , the ability to directly interact with the voter , enabling us to answer their questions and help them get enrolled in vote-by-mail .
For this reason , at EEAN , we decided to do both .
To get us started , EEAN leadership member Alex Margolis who is a powerhouse when it comes to voter outreach , both with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give us a presentation about the phone-banking she has been doing .
She has been working with a Florida Democratic group , FL Dems , who have organized a phone-banking outreach to enroll registered Democratic voters in Palm Beach County ( PBC ) in vote-by-mail .
The action is called PBC VBM .
They have a Facebook group at Alex , who is a corporate attorney , told us about PBC VBM on the postcard party Zoom , explaining how this initiative works .
“ There 's really a unique opportunity in Palm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ though a Republican , seems to be pretty good and is working with the Democratic Party to facilitate enrolling voters in vote-by-mail .
These calling list are all Democrats and it 's a very easy phone call .
You 're not asking for money .
You 're not asking for support for a candidate .
You 're just asking if they 're enrolled in vote-by-mail and stating that we want to help them enroll if they are not signed up for it .
If they say ‘ yes ’ , you enter that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supervisor will follow up with this voter to get them enrolled in vote-by-mail .
I 'm doing postcards also but with the phone calls , you 're actually signing them up.
” We discussed that many of us are still a bit squeamish about talking to voters on the phone .
But , as Rebecca pointed out , the nature of these calls should make it easier .
“ What I find so alluring about this is that you 're not asking people for money .
You 're not asking them to give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to talk to you about .
You 're calling to provide a service for them , which in these times of everything being so confusing , I could see people really appreciating it , ” said Rebecca on our Zoom call .
“ I also keep saying to myself , if I 'm not going to do it now for this election , I 'm never going to do it .
This is the election to do it.
” We all agreed that if ever we were going to push ourselves out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phone-banking , this is the time to do it .
And Alex said it is true that , in her experience , many voters she spoke with were appreciative .
“ This one guy , after I asked him if we can count on him to vote for Democrats this year , he said , ‘ I 'd vote for a tuna fish sandwich before I 'd ever vote for Republican again.
’ This other call was with a veteran and he was great .
He said , ‘ All women should be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It would be so much better.
’ Then on another call I spoke with some younger voters who really want to volunteer to help out .
Some of these conversations have been really uplifting.
” Many of us signed up with PBC VBM as well as a training session with Alex who will take us through the process step-by-step .
In my next blog post , I will be able to bring you this hands-on information about how it works .
Hopefully that will help you get past your own reservations about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blog post on voter outreach methods , I will focus on text-banking .
In the meantime , sign up with PTV and get started on your postcards !
To read this blog post on theresistanceandme.com click here .

Turning Out The Vote In Battleground States Will Decide This Election: Learn About Handwritten Postcards To Voters (the first in a 3-part series on non in-person voter outreach)
Over the July 4th weekend, in two speeches, Trump laid bare the blatant racism and divisiveness that are the underpinnings of his personality, his presidency and the rationale for his reelection campaign. No dog whistles, no code words, no nuance. It was deeply disturbing. He wants to bait us into a race war where, he believes, he will emerge the winner. He has no interest in uniting, no interest in soothing the frayed nerves of an anxious nation. That was left to Vice President Biden in his comments on the meaning of Independence Day in 2020. The choice between the two men could not be starker.
The weekend heightened my own sense of urgency about the 2020 election. And it reminded me of the message President Obama conveyed on the virtual fundraiser for Biden a few weeks ago: “Whatever you have done so far is not enough.”
I have been muttering this sentiment to myself since election night, 2016. I didn’t do enough to help elect Hillary. I should have done more to flip our district in 2018. And now, stuck at home, how the heck am I going to get-out-the-vote for Joe Biden this year?
Trump and the GOP know there is only one formula that leads to him winning reelection. He deployed it in 2016. Trumpism does not have the support of the majority of the country. He can only win if he suppresses the Democratic vote, through outright voter suppression and by smearing his opponent, and then he has to rile his base to such a fever pitch that nearly 100% of his 40% of the country cast their ballots. That is how he eked out an Electoral College win in 2016 and that is his plan for 2020. In 2016, he used immigration as red meat to inflame his base; this time he is using fear of our fellow Americans. It may be disgusting, but if Democrats don’t vote, then it could succeed.
In my book, The Resistance and Me: An Insider’s Account of the Two-Year Mission to Stop the Trump Agenda and Take Back the House, the reader learns, just as we learned, the incredible importance of speaking directly to voters. Across the country, in-person canvassing helped to power the blue wave. We cannot meet voters face-to-face this year, making turning out the vote just a little bit harder, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have weapons in our arsenal, other ways of reaching voters that will boost Democratic turnout. I implore each of you to learn about them and start using them because whatever you are already doing, it is not enough.
There are basically three forms of non in-person voter outreach: snail mail with letters or postcards, phone-banking and text-banking. Over the next few weeks, I will focus on each of these. Each method can be done from your own home, each is available to everyone. You can try them all and choose the method that you are most comfortable with; you can do a combination of two or three. Once you learn about these initiatives, my hope is you will be ready to get started. None of us want to wake up on November 4th and have any regrets, or say to ourselves, as we did in 2016, if only I had gotten more involved. Because the truth about Trump, the truth that was there for us all to see in 2016, is he is unfit for this job and the combination of incompetence and corruption that mark his administration is literally killing us. We will not survive a second term.
To begin, this blog post will take a look at handwritten postcards to voters. I first got involved in mailing postcards to voters for the midterm election with my Indivisible group, East End Action Network (EEAN). We hosted a lot of activities for the midterm election, including one-on-one interviews and debate forums with the primary candidates as well as get-out-the-vote door-knocking weekends. But probably our most popular general election events were a series of postcard-writing parties, in conjunction with the campaign of our Democratic congressional nominee, Perry Gershon. They provided the postcards and the mailing lists of Democratic voters’ names and addresses and together with other grassroots groups who did the same, thousands of handwritten postcards were mailed out to voters in CD#1 right before the election. The idea is that when a voter receives a handwritten message about voting that it cuts through all the noise and clutter to make an impression. The goal is to create a card so engaging, so colorful that it will go up on a refrigerator door.
In my book are descriptions and photos of our 2018 postcard parties. People who wanted to get involved but were not comfortable going door-to-door or even phone-banking, were thrilled to participate and really enjoyed the experience. EEAN provided all the markers and stickers to make the cards creative and colorful, and everyone brought food and drinks to make it a party. Our master at organizing these events is leadership member Sharon Adams, a retired elementary school teacher.
Already this year, Sharon has organized two postcard-writing events for EEAN, both of them virtual. The first was for Common Cause to alert New York voters about their options to vote in the primary and the second was our first event reaching outside of New York, to voters in a battleground state. We have known that 2020 would be very different than 2018 because we would be adding involvement with the presidential election along with the congressional. Unlike our congressional race, the presidential race will not be decided by who gets the most votes, but by who reaches 270 electoral votes. Trump lost the popular vote, but won the presidency by small margins across a few states. Most states, including New York, are already in the red or blue column which means that voters in a handful of states, called swing states or battleground states will decide the outcome of this election. Given that, it is crucial that we reach these voters and encourage them to vote for Biden.
In researching the different groups that are involved in sending postcards to battleground states, we chose Postcards To Voters (PTV), https://postcardstovoters.org/ . This was an easy decision since Sharon was already very familiar with how PTV works because she has been involved with PTV from its inception. Alongside all of the activities she is involved in for our district, she explained why being an active volunteer with PTV has been important to her.
“Volunteers feel that the stakes are so high that they have to do something to assure that our democracy will survive,” she said. “Volunteering to write friendly handwritten reminders to targeted voters has become a movement thanks to Tony McMullin, who founded Postcards to Voters in 2017. I'm proud to have been a part of this grassroots group of volunteers since its start.”
Founder Tony McMullin goes by the nickname Tony the Democrat. The website has a photo of Tony, along with an explanation of how his background led him to create PTV:
Since March 2017, many people have called me Tony The Democrat .
I have a career in business process and technology project management for specialized insurance and financial services companies. Since 2003, I have had the privilege to work on numerous municipal and state campaigns coordinating volunteers, field operations, and data-driven decisions.
While in Dallas, Texas, I was a founding member of a grassroots group that turned a red house district blue, and served as both a Precinct Chair and House District Coordinator responsible for recruiting, training, and mentoring Precinct Captains. This experience with campaigns and volunteer coordination are the foundation for my new initiative.
I live in Metro Atlanta with two rescue Miniature Schnauzers, Lex and Pierce.
Tony was first bitten by the campaign bug when he quit his job to volunteer full-time for Howard Dean’s campaign in the 2004 presidential election. There is a great profile of Tony on the website New Faces of Democracy, a group that spotlights many of the grassroots activists who are part of the anti-Trump Resistance. https://newfacesofdemocracy.org/spotlight-tony-the-democrat/ .
You can also read about Tony and PTV in a 2018 article in The New York Times entitled, “ Writing Postcards Brings Voters Back From the Edge: ‘It’s Sharpie Therapy ’.” According to the article, “In the big data era of politics, where campaigns are betting millions on software that can harvest hundreds of pieces of information about a single voter, Tony McMullin is making a decidedly different wager. He is trying to show that elections can be won through the persuasive power of a plaintive handwritten postcard. It is a battle of quaint vs. quant.”
The home page on the PTV website is warm and welcoming and filled with photos of colorful and creative postcards. Here is the description on the PTV site of how it works:
Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.
What started on March 11, 2017 with sharing 5 addresses apiece to 5 volunteers on Facebook so that they could mail postcards to voters in Jon Ossoff’s race grew in one month to 1,200+ volunteers nationwide and over 51,000 postcards mailed.
Now, we consist of over 75,000+ volunteers in every state (including Alaska and Hawaii) who have written over 9 million postcards to voters in over 200 key, close elections.
We use an interactive texting service (Abby The Address Bot) to assign addresses to our trusted, returning volunteers. For new volunteers and those organizing postcard parties around the country, we use a commercial Help Desk system to streamline and automate email requests.
Another commercial business intelligence package crunches the numbers so we always know who our top volunteers are by campaign, a heat-map showing where the postcards are being written by zip code around the country, and other essential dashboards to manage an operation that now averages 15,000 voter addresses assigned daily.
How It Works
1. Sign Up
o We’ll send you an email with instructions
2. Become an Approved Writer
o Write a practice postcard and email us a photo following instructions in the email
3. Approval
o Approved -We’ll send you addresses and information on how to obtain additional addresses
o Not Approved – You will receive an email detailing why and how to fix it
4. Request Addresses
5. Keep up with Current Campaigns
o Facebook
o Twitter
We felt this group was perfect for our postcard action and we were eager to write to voters in a battleground state. Because all our meetings and events have been virtual since March, we could not provide tables of volunteers with materials as we did in 2018, but our founder, Rebecca Dolber, explained in our weekly newsletter how a virtual postcard party would work. Members were asked to RSVP with Sharon if they were interested. Sharon then followed-up in an email to those members who signed up:
Thank you for being the first group to volunteer this week to write Postcards To Voters. (PTV)
I started writing with this awesome organization when it started in 2017. There are now over 75,000 volunteers in every state that have written close to 8 million postcards to voters. (Now you're really excited to be part of this movement!).
Postcards To Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast. After you become an approved writer you may be able to choose the target group you want to write to (depends on the addresses available) and you choose how many cards you want to write (you are usually given 3 days to complete/send). I like to do 5 or 10 at a time. Aside from that, you are given everything you need. There are only 3 MUST HAVES for each card, tons of extra ideas, background information and of course the addresses.
I'm going to give you the link to get SIGNED UP and then you'll receive an email with exact instructions. On the website, https://postcardstovoters.org/ , go to JOIN in the menu. After you've sent the photo of your practice postcard and been approved, you'll receive additional instructions on how to request addresses whenever you feel the urge to write. I am here to help with any questions. The website is awesome! It's very complete, so take some time to explore the site.
Please let me know when you've been approved and are ready to start writing. Keep a tally of how many cards you write please.
Facebook and Twitter have PTV accounts that are fun to follow. There is a whole community of writers across the country that share on social media. (I even get excited when followers like my postcard designs) #PostcardsToVoters
So...you will need postcards, postcard stamps and art supplies. As you will see on the website, it's supposed to also be a fun activity. We can share our creative designs, sources for preprinted cards and fun new stickers or markers. I am fond of using colorful 81/2" x 11" card stock that is cut to 4 pieces. This is the cheaper way to go, but I also have a variety of printed cards. If you need ANYthing, please just ask me. The PTV website has great options for buying postcards, 100 for $15.
Due to the pandemic, most of the writing groups that formed across the country are not meeting in person. We would like to have a virtual writing party on June 25th if everyone is approved and ready. We are flexible. Again let me know when you're approved and we'll plan from there.
One last note...a postcard writer from Colorado commented on a photo I recently posted on twitter of my completed cards. He commented that his goal is "to ensure that the cards he sends will be looked at." Let's get our cards on those refrigerators, my friends!!!!
If you go to the PTV website and click on the tab for “results” you will see the list of campaigns that PTV has been involved in. The action that we participated in was postcards to registered Democrats in specific Florida counties with information on how to enroll in vote-by-mail. Turns out, much to my surprise, that Florida has a wonderful vote-by-mail system that enables a voter to enroll and for two federal election cycles, they will automatically be sent a mail-in ballot for every election. I wish New York had that. Given the pandemic and the fear that people will not feel safe going to the polls for in-person voting or, like in several primaries around the country, many polling places were closed due to staff shortages, all of this confusion in November can be avoided if people have signed up for vote-by-mail. Our cards gave Democratic voters all the information they needed to enroll in this program and ended with the tag line, “When FL Dems vote-by-mail, Dems win!” And needless to say, few battleground states are as important as Florida.
We all ordered postcards and stamps, signed up on the PTV website, created our sample cards and got approved and started working on our address lists. Our virtual Zoom Postcard-Writing Party on Thursday, June 25th would be a social gathering to schmooze together while we all worked on our cards. Some folks had already finished several lists and others were just starting. Some members preferred to finish and mail their postcards without joining the Zoom, which was fine, while others looked forward to the group interaction.
For those of us on the virtual party, the event was a lot of fun and it was wonderful to catch up and share the time together. It was also gratifying to have younger women with kids at home join us. It is one of the ironies of this pandemic that being forced to go virtual has opened up our meetings to more members, particularly younger members with children at home.
“The pandemic has actually affected my activism in mostly positive ways,” said leadership member Lisa Marrin. “Stay-At-Home orders have given me much more time for postcard writing, Zooming and learning more about the history of party politics in the nation. Since so many of my children's activities were cancelled and I am working from home on my own schedule, I have been able to meet more often with the EEAN leadership committee and we have developed a great framework for our upcoming actions. I have committed to three different postcard projects and have just finished training on phone-banking. I am excited to engage in this way. The downside of political action during a pandemic is the lack of face-to-face contact with like-minded individuals and my reluctance to join in-person protests. As I try to put the health of myself and my family first, I just have not been able to bring myself to attend. Luckily, I can take satisfaction in my virtual activism and the fact that I am able to participate in those ways on a larger scale.”
Lisa’s friend, Stacie Coppola, is a new member who also has children at home and was able to join the postcard party Zoom. It was so uplifting to watch them participate and to hear how Stacie turned it into a teachable moment for her son and daughter, who are 12-year-old fraternal twins.
“I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to help out and to use it as a way to teach my children about the importance of participation,” said Stacie. “My children and I ended up having a really great discussion about the struggle that women and African Americans have had in getting the right to vote and how important it is not to squander that right. COVID-19 has really driven home the fear I have that my children will be facing a very different world than we all have. My husband usually expresses hesitancy about introducing them to the heaviness that comes with political topics but we both realize that this next generation will be facing challenges that will make it impossible for them not to be ‘political.’ Working on the postcards allowed them to see that participation, even on small levels, can be fun and comforting. The women at East End Action Network have a kindness of spirit that is very motivating and has encouraged me to take the edge off of my anger at where our country is and just get to work.”
At the end of the Zoom, everyone held up their cards so we could see all the amazing designs. I was blown away by the creativity of some of the designs and there was no doubt in my mind that Florida voters receiving these will take notice of them. Here are a few examples:
Sharon Adams’ postcards
Postcards by Stacie Coppola and her children
Patricia Callan’s postcards
It is our hope that members will continue on their own requesting lists and mailing more postcards to Florida voters since no group activity is necessary to get more address lists. Once approved, when you finish a list, all you have to do is text the word “hello” to the mobile number and another address list with instructions for what to write on the card is emailed to you. Even once we start writing postcards for our Democratic nominee in CD#1, we plan on continuing our work with PTV. (Due to the large number of absentee ballots that needed counting, we have only just gotten the results that Stony Brook University Chemistry Chair Nancy Goroff has won the primary and will be the Democratic candidate to take on GOP Trump-clone Congressman Lee Zeldin in the fall).
The PTV system is user-friendly, interactive and fun. I was so intrigued by PTV that I reached out to Mr. McMullin to learn more about him and about PTV. He was open and friendly, exactly what one would expect from someone called “Tony the Democrat.” My first question was about the vote-by-mail action to Florida. I had assumed it was because of COVID. Turns out it wasn’t. They started this action with Florida voters in 2018.
“I don’t remember how it came to my attention,” he said, “but in Florida, you can enroll in vote-by- mail simply by making a phone call, only one phone call needed, and you are locked into automatically receiving a ballot by mail for every election. This is a powerful incentive for a volunteer trying to figure out how to spend their time and postage, because with an enrollment process as easy as a phone call, the likelihood of a positive outcome is much higher than with a different state where you have to request a ballot application, fill it out and mail it back, then fill out the ballot and mail that. All those steps reduce the number of people who will complete that enrollment. When I pitch to volunteers that I need their help to do this action, I want to give them an action that has the biggest chance of success. I hear from people why don’t we do this in Michigan or Arizona and the answer comes down to the ease of enrollment and the length of the term which can’t be matched by any other state. I can’t in good conscience ask our volunteers to spend the same kind of postage when there is a much lower success rate of enrollment.”
Tony also explained that having worked on this initiative over several years, it helps the county supervisors process these vote-by-mail requests. “This way they are not inundated, not flooded with requests which would happen if we held onto the postcards and mailed them all at once, then they would get swamped with new enrollments and their office staff would be beleaguered. That also would not serve the voter as well. By our volunteers writing and mailing them along the way, we are good partners and give the county supervisors an easier time.”
It is serendipitous that Florida has an excellent vote-by-mail system that makes it worthwhile for the time and expense of his volunteers and at the same time is arguably the most important of the battleground states. “We have known for a long time,” said Tony, “that Florida can be the firewall because there is no path for reelection for Trump without Florida. If Florida turns blue, that is all we need to stop Trump.”
There is another added benefit of vote-by-mail that extends beyond the presidential race. “Once Democrats are enrolled, they then get ballots for every election. Every study proves that if you are mailed a ballot automatically rather than relying just on voting in person, that this increases turnout throughout the state at every level of government.”
This connects so nicely to what Dr. Lara Putnam, historian at the University of Pittsburgh, talks about in my book, which is the need to create an ongoing progressive ecosystem that begins at the local level. I mentioned Dr. Putnam’s analysis to Tony. “I have goose bumps listening to you describe focusing on local elections. This is what I tell our volunteers, that their efforts with the postcards will help change behavior and strengthen the voting habit. It is hard to make voting a habit, we are talking about people with two jobs, single parents, people burdened with elder care issues and so they could be forgiven for missing a special election for county commissioner. But now, if they can get the ballot in the mail, it is just inevitable that they will participate at a higher rate.”
As good as Florida’s vote-by-mail system is, Tony explained to me that it used to be even better. No surprise, the change came once Republicans took over the state legislature. “Florida has a lot of pride in their vote-by-mail program, which used to be permanent. You would always get a ballot as long as you lived at the same address. Then when the GOP took over, they modified it to make it expire after two federal election cycles, generally four years. But to show that they really have no fundamental problem with voting by mail, they really just want to make it harder for everyone to vote, they grandfathered in those already enrolled so that they would still be permanent. At that point, the GOP had an advantage in vote-by-mail enrollments. It was an insidious way to game the system.”
But thanks to all the efforts to enroll Democrats in vote-by-mail, that GOP advantage is gone. According to a recent article in Politico, entitled, “ Florida Democrats Gain Vote By Mail Advantage ,” Democrats now hold a significant lead in vote-by-mail enrollments. “Democrats have opened up a 302,000-voter advantage over Republicans in vote-by-mail enrollment, an edge that could pay big dividends in President Donald Trump’s newly adopted must-win state.”
Helping Florida turn blue is so crucial, that Tony told me PTV will continue to focus on vote-by-mail this summer. “We are going to continue for the next couple of months, hopefully with another 600,000 postcards,” he said. After that, they will point their army of volunteers towards helping candidate campaigns. Right now, he can’t say which campaigns they will be helping. “I can’t know in the beginning of July which campaigns we are going to be writing for. I have some guesses based on conversations with people leading multiple candidate efforts in different states, such as Ohio and Texas, but it is a fluid situation and different campaigns sign up every week.” There is a web form on the PTV site that campaigns can fill out. “But the more volunteers we have, the more campaigns we can help. People are signing up and writing over 15,000 postcards a day, which is terrific. We try to forecast our writing capacity and I have a spreadsheet of different campaigns. We have 76,000 volunteers; think what we could do if we could double that size by November. And we are ready for that. We have the technology and the infrastructure to do that. In 2018, we did 1.9 million postcards in September and October. I think we could do 4-5 million this year if we have enough people involved. Really, I have to thank our volunteer writers, they are the backbone of this work and they recruit their friends and family. We don’t have a marketing budget. When we grow, it is because the volunteers are happy.”
I asked if the Republicans had a similar operation. “I have seen a handful of specific GOP campaign postcard activities, but nothing close to our volunteer base or to broad campaigns, that is one of the things that we have an advantage,” he said. “Imagine what it would take for another group to start what we do and build that volunteer base. If another group is just starting up, they will have a long road to get to where we are.”
I thanked Tony for taking the time to speak with me and for all he is doing to reach voters. I only had one last question. I was curious to know if any of the sample postcards ever get turned down. “It doesn’t happen often,” he said. “When it does, it might be because the writer didn’t pay close enough attention to the rules and then we tell them what they need to do to fix it which most people are happy to do. Unfortunately, we do occasionally hear back from people that this is too picky for them and it’s not a volunteer activity that suits them. But that is pretty rare.”
PTV was an activity that ideally suited our group. Our virtual event was a success and our members had enjoyed participating. And we were especially pleased that members were continuing to ask for more lists on their own and continued to mail more postcards. We will be planning more PTV parties this summer, virtual and possibly in-person with social distancing. And just maybe PTV could help us in our fight to unseat Zeldin.
For Sharon, who started with PTV on her own in 2017, she said it has been gratifying watching PTV grow. She also said it has taken on an even more meaning for the volunteer writers after watching Trump double down on his divisive and racist messages.
“I'm very impressed by the incredible amount of volunteers, all across the country, who are so seriously invested in Postcards To Voters,” she said. “On this fourth of July weekend, one volunteer shared on social media that they're using their postcard writing as ‘a distraction from the horrible speeches being made about America.’ Another writer felt ‘this is the most patriotic thing I could accomplish today.’ Volunteers stated they will save their celebrations for November. As the holiday weekend unwinds, I've just completed another ten postcards which are headed to Broward County to encourage vote-by-mail. I'm looking forward to our next virtual writing party or possibly an outdoor writing party with masks and social distancing guidelines a key factor. “
Go to the PTV website and give it a try. If you are part of a grassroots group or a book club, you can add a virtual event to your postcard-writing. But it is also an easy action you can do by yourself. I like writing and designing my cards at the end of the day while I sit and watch television, a good antidote to the news. You will find the time of the day that works best for you. And if you need a guidebook to show you how to integrate grassroots volunteerism into your daily life, read my book and meet the women who did exactly that. The book is available on Amazon.com and at Canio's Books (631) 725-4926. A book talk hosted by Canio’s Books can be found on the following link: https://www.facebook.com/caniosbooks/videos/983767798721737/
Speaking of my book, I have set up a fundraiser with the book as a way to say thank you to Tony for all he is doing for voters. PTV stays afloat from donations and to help them in that effort, I will be sending a signed copy of the book, free of charge, to the first 20 people who donate to PTV in response to this blog post. To help PTV track those donations, please add $.46 (46 cents) - in honor of the 46th President we are all working hard to elect - to whatever amount you would like to donate. Here is the link for the donate tab on the PTV website: https://postcardstovoters.org/donate/ . Follow the instructions to donate either with Paypal or by mailing a check. And don’t forget to add the 46 cents so that I know to mail you a copy of the book. Let’s grow their army of volunteers and make 5 million postcards for November happen.
In my next blog post, I will focus on phone-banking. There are many opportunities to phone-bank. Every candidate and campaign has phone-banking for volunteers. You can go right now to the Biden campaign’s website at https://joebiden.com/take-action/ and become a volunteer. You can also go to the campaign of any candidate in your district. All campaigns will set you up to phone-bank.
But like PTV, there are also groups conducting phone-banking to battleground states for vote-by-mail. The Florida Democratic advantage in vote-by-mail enrollments is being created not just by the postcards but by phone-banking as well. There are some advantages and disadvantages of each. With postcards, you have the advantage of working on them at any time of the day that is convenient for you. Your whole family can get involved and designing and coloring the postcards is fun. By contrast, phone-banking is a solitary experience and setting it up is a little more complicated than mailing postcards. But phone-banking offers one big advantage, the ability to directly interact with the voter, enabling us to answer their questions and help them get enrolled in vote-by-mail. For this reason, at EEAN, we decided to do both.
To get us started, EEAN leadership member Alex Margolis who is a powerhouse when it comes to voter outreach, both with postcards and with phone-banking, offered to give us a presentation about the phone-banking she has been doing. She has been working with a Florida Democratic group, FL Dems, who have organized a phone-banking outreach to enroll registered Democratic voters in Palm Beach County (PBC) in vote-by-mail. The action is called PBC VBM. They have a Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrassrootsPalmBeach/
Alex, who is a corporate attorney, told us about PBC VBM on the postcard party Zoom, explaining how this initiative works.
“There's really a unique opportunity in Palm Beach County, because the election supervisor though a Republican, seems to be pretty good and is working with the Democratic Party to facilitate enrolling voters in vote-by-mail. These calling list are all Democrats and it's a very easy phone call. You're not asking for money. You're not asking for support for a candidate. You're just asking if they're enrolled in vote-by-mail and stating that we want to help them enroll if they are not signed up for it. If they say ‘yes’, you enter that and it is automatically communicated and the supervisor will follow up with this voter to get them enrolled in vote-by-mail. I'm doing postcards also but with the phone calls, you're actually signing them up.”
We discussed that many of us are still a bit squeamish about talking to voters on the phone. But, as Rebecca pointed out, the nature of these calls should make it easier.
“What I find so alluring about this is that you're not asking people for money. You're not asking them to give you information that maybe they don't want to talk to you about. You're calling to provide a service for them, which in these times of everything being so confusing, I could see people really appreciating it,” said Rebecca on our Zoom call. “I also keep saying to myself, if I'm not going to do it now for this election, I'm never going to do it. This is the election to do it.”
We all agreed that if ever we were going to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and commit to phone-banking, this is the time to do it. And Alex said it is true that, in her experience, many voters she spoke with were appreciative. “This one guy, after I asked him if we can count on him to vote for Democrats this year, he said, ‘I'd vote for a tuna fish sandwich before I'd ever vote for Republican again.’ This other call was with a veteran and he was great. He said, ‘All women should be elected. Women should run the world. It would be so much better.’ Then on another call I spoke with some younger voters who really want to volunteer to help out. Some of these conversations have been really uplifting.”
Many of us signed up with PBC VBM as well as a training session with Alex who will take us through the process step-by-step. In my next blog post, I will be able to bring you this hands-on information about how it works. Hopefully that will help you get past your own reservations about phone-banking. Then, for the last blog post on voter outreach methods, I will focus on text-banking. In the meantime, sign up with PTV and get started on your postcards!
To read this blog post on theresistanceandme.com click here.


dailykos--2020-07-27--To Honor John Lewis Make Some “Good Trouble”...If Not You, Then Who?

As the great John Lewis lay in state in the capital , we remember along with the man , the @ @ @ @ @ in 1964 to make America a better place for all of us , not just @ @ @ @ @ this day Black LIves Matter protesters are being shot by weapons that are deemed illegal @ @ @ @ @ threatening circumstances .
Unidentifiable federal agents are indiscriminately firing on a group of # wallofmoms @ @ @ @ @ Oregon .
These pictured are a couple of the casualties .
Shot in the face @ @ @ @ @ bullets and tear gas are being unleashed on American citizens exercising their right to protest @ @ @ @ @ ” as John Lewis did in 1964 and continued until he took his last breath @ @ @ @ @ speaking truth to power , making good trouble since 1776 .

As the great John Lewis lay in state in the capital, we remember along with the man, the beatings he endured in Selma in 1964 to make America a better place for all of us, not just those born white.
On this day Black LIves Matter protesters are being shot by weapons that are deemed illegal to use except in life threatening circumstances. Unidentifiable federal agents are indiscriminately firing on a group of #wallofmoms and #wallofvets protestors in Oregon. These pictured are a couple of the casualties. Shot in the face. Think about it, bullets and tear gas are being unleashed on American citizens exercising their right to protest. Making “good trouble” as John Lewis did in 1964 and continued until he took his last breath. America was founded on speaking truth to power, making good trouble since 1776.


dailykos--2020-07-27--"The Oath I Swore . . . " Military Officer Exposes Trump's Lies Behind Violent Bible Photo-Op.

Around 6:30 in the evening on June 1st confused media reporting from the area on Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. , began reporting about an inexplicable escalation of violence by Federal law enforcement against seemingly peaceful protesters .
The purpose later became clear .
It was so President Trump could claim to have bravely come out of his White House basement bunker to get a photo-op with a Bible in front of a Church .
Now one of the officers in charge of National Guard soldiers that were standing by is speaking up in sworn testimony .
Major Adam DeMarco @ @ @ @ @ @ @ graduate , will testify tomorrow to Congress about the matter but his written pre-statement has already been released .
The stunning sworn testimony reveals the depths of depraved lies by this Administration to justify the violence .
According to Major DeMarco : • The protesters were peaceful .
At no time did he feel threatened by them .
• He expected to clear the square at 7:00 , when a curfew went into effect .
He was surprised to get orders to do so over half an hour earlier .
• The supposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were from too far away , with insufficient amplification , and could not have been heard by the protesters .
• He was told the operation would not use tear gas .
He was lied to .
He smelled its use during the operation .
• After it was over he was told no tear gas had been used .
He was lied to .
He smelled it and he found spent tear gas canisters at the location later that evening .
• The operation was conducted by Park Police , Civil Disturbance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other law enforcement agencies ” that Major DeMarco was unable to identify .
No National Guard forces were used .
His concluding words are compelling and I will not do Major DeMarco the injustice of summarizing them .
I beg you to read them in full .
Here they are : Members of the Committee , the events I witnessed at Lafayette Square on the evening of June 1 were deeply disturbing to me , and to fellow National Guardsmen .
Having served in a combat zone , and understanding how to assess @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent .
In addition , considering the principles of proportionality of force and the fundamental strategy of graduated responses specific to civil disturbance operations , it was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force .
From my observation , those demonstrators – our fellow American citizens -- were engaged in the peaceful expression of their First Amendment rights .
Yet they were subjected to an unprovoked escalation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the late Representative John Lewis said , `` When you see something that is not right , not just , not fair , you have a moral obligation to say something , to do something.
” The oath I swore as a military officer , to support and defend the Constitution of the United States , is a bedrock guiding principle and , for me , constitutes an individual moral commitment and ethical instruction .
It is the foundation of the trust safely placed in the Armed Forces by the American people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ – and do something – about what I witnessed on June 1 at Lafayette Square

Around 6:30 in the evening on June 1st confused media reporting from the area on Lafayette Square in Washington D.C., began reporting about an inexplicable escalation of violence by Federal law enforcement against seemingly peaceful protesters. The purpose later became clear. It was so President Trump could claim to have bravely come out of his White House basement bunker to get a photo-op with a Bible in front of a Church. Now one of the officers in charge of National Guard soldiers that were standing by is speaking up in sworn testimony.
Major Adam DeMarco, a war veteran and West Point graduate, will testify tomorrow to Congress about the matter but his written pre-statement has already been released. The stunning sworn testimony reveals the depths of depraved lies by this Administration to justify the violence. According to Major DeMarco:
The protesters were peaceful. At no time did he feel threatened by them.
He expected to clear the square at 7:00, when a curfew went into effect. He was surprised to get orders to do so over half an hour earlier.
The supposed warnings to disperse given the peaceful protesters were from too far away, with insufficient amplification, and could not have been heard by the protesters.
He was told the operation would not use tear gas. He was lied to. He smelled its use during the operation.
After it was over he was told no tear gas had been used. He was lied to. He smelled it and he found spent tear gas canisters at the location later that evening.
The operation was conducted by Park Police, Civil Disturbance Units, the Secret Service and “other law enforcement agencies” that Major DeMarco was unable to identify. No National Guard forces were used.
His concluding words are compelling and I will not do Major DeMarco the injustice of summarizing them. I beg you to read them in full. Here they are: