Could this be the year of voter revolt?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Head-spinner

Colorado Springs voters have elected Yemi Mobolade, a 44-year-old Nigerian immigrant who moved to the city in 2010 and emerged as a business and church leader, to serve as the city’s 42nd mayor by a 57% to 43% margin in a runoff election. Mobolade is the first Black person to be elected mayor.

  Denver Post

The first black and they went for the Nigerian immigrant. Knock me over with a feather. Please, no Nigerian prince jokes.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE :

Lauren Boebert must be shitting herself.  

Oh, my.... 

Boebert’s statement on the matter offers little insight into why the couple is splitting, beyond alluding to “irreconcilable differences” and denying infidelity on her part. But The Colorado Sun reports that when Jayson was served divorce papers on April 25, he “was extremely angry,” according to court documents obtained by the newspaper. “I tried to hand him the documents but [he] did not take them. He started yelling and using profanities, and told me that I was trespassing, and that he was calling the Sheriff’s Office,” the process server who served Jayson said. [...] “I told him I was leaving the documents on the chair outside of the door, he closed the door then let the dogs out.” The process server claimed Jayson was drinking beer and cleaning his gun when being served.

[...]

Jayson denied threatening the process server and said he “did not know what I was being served for or if it was some crazy left wing person coming to my house again.” He also denied the process server’s claims that he was drinking while cleaning his gun.

“The divorce is sad, I did not expect this, I love her with every bit of my heart, she has been my soul mate and she is the mother of my Children,” Jayson said. “We have been through a lot together and I just want her to be happy.” He concluded: “So it’s what ever she wants.”

  Yahoo

Obviously she wants to leave your ass behind.

Boebert filed for divorce in county court on April 25 and requested parental support and decision-making power over her and Jayson’s four sons. She’s discussed her marriage at length in her memoir published last year, including addressing the incident in 2004 when Jayson was arrested for and pleaded guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure after allegedly exposing himself to two girls at a bowling alley. Boebert expressed that she was proud of Jayson, because he “needed the alcohol and anger management classes that came with the plea deal.”

[...]

The same year as the bowling alley incident which had prompted Boebert to suggest in her memoir that Jayson needed the “anger management classes,” she and Jayson were arrested for separate incidents of alleged abuse toward each other. Jayson was arrested for a domestic violence charge a month after the bowling alley incident, and Boebert faced third-degree assault, criminal mischief, and underage drinking charges a few months later.More recently, last summer, Jayson had the cops called on him by the couple’s neighbors, who accused him of threatening them and running over their mailbox while drunk.

They were just a wild couple, weren't they? These are the kind of people who really shouldn't have guns. Her antics in Congress seem to indicate she hasn't changed a whole lot.

The eldest of their four sons, 18, is expecting a child with his girlfriend, Boebert announced in March.

Kind of a Sarah Palin redux story.

Boebert, mind you, is a Bible-thumping Congresswoman who insists that everyone who can’t live up to the right-wing family values that she can’t seem to uphold, herself, should be punished.

Not surprising or unique though, is it?

Speaking of Mississippi

Because they can't win if they don't cheat.

Missourians (and Floridians) are mentally fractured

In Florida, citizens voted overwhelmingly to restore voting rights to over a million people, mostly non-whites and poor,, and yet they elected a Republican governor who opposed that measure.

In Missouri, we voted to severely curb moneyed interests in districting & voting, approved medical marijuana, raising the gasoline tax and increasing the minimum wage, and yet we replaced a Democrat with a Republican in the US Senate and voted only 2 Democrats out of 27 State Senators. 

Actually, even nationwide, it appears that Americans increasingly want more progressive domestic polices, but we're still being ruled by a corporate-funded class of people who continue to block the way.

We're a poorly-sighted people seemingly incapable of connecting the dots.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

USA! USA! USA!

Hey, it hasn't been that long ago that people got beaten and sometimes killed for even having the temerity to try to register to vote.

Click here and check out this Twitter thread:










Also:

The cast of Hamilton wants you to vote

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Make America Vote Again

A record number of people registered to vote in the midterm elections on National Voter Registration Day last week, surpassing the previous record set during the 2016 presidential campaign.

More than 800,000 people registered to vote this year as part of National Voter Registration Day, which fell on Sept. 25. The corresponding campaign had aimed to register 300,000 people.

[...]

Miller says he does not have a demographic breakdown of the 800,000 voter registrations.

  Time

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Demorcats' day of reckoning may be here

SHOULD be. Without question, Roy Moore would have won the Senate seat in Alabama if black people hadn't turned out in record numbers to support Jones. It's no secret that Democratic politicians have relied on the black vote for decades. And it's also no secret that after LYndon Johnson's election, they've paid those voters back with pretty much nothing.

The United States does not have a single black governor of the 50 states; not one of the 50 states currently has an African-American attorney general; just two African-American Democrats serve in the United States Senate — two!

[...]

[T]hese imbalances are built into the power structures politicians have built around themselves, too. Every United States senator has a chief of staff. Guess how many of those are black? Two! And both of them are Republicans! Each U.S. senator has a communications director; only one is black, and he also works for a Republican.

  Intercept

These are astounding statistics.

It is abusive for the Democratic Party to require a level of support from African-Americans normally only seen in dictatorships, then proceed to put black folk at the back of every line in terms of leadership and policy.

[...]

The disparity between the loyalty of black voters and Democrats’ efforts to bring them into the circles of political and financial power extends to the way the party spends its money. Of the $759 million the Democratic Party spent on contractors back in 2010, a dismal 1.5 percent was spent on African-American groups.

[...]

The Democratic Party is clearly expecting a wave of support to carry them into power in 2018. There are already rumors that the political classes want to call it a “blue wave.” But there’s a better name: the black wave. The reason is simple: The wave won’t come at all without black votes. [...] The days of black votes without black power need to come to an end.

I don't think they will.  Not if black people turn out to put Democrats in office in 2018.  They don't talk like they've learned anything from Hillary Clinton's loss.  They're not the party of the poor.  Black people need to vote for independents or start their own party.  Revive the Panthers, or something.  Stop voting for Democrats now.  They didn't vote for Doug Jones.  They voted against Roy Moore.  I hope Jones recognizes that.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

There's still a lot of Bubbas in Alabama

In one of the most remarkable upsets since, well, the presidential race last year, Democrat Doug Jones narrowly defeated Republican Roy Moore, who had been dogged by credible allegations of child sexual predation and openly declared his nostalgia for slavery, his bigotry toward Muslims and his wish to see homosexuality criminalized. Despite Moore’s obvious, flagrant flaws, Jones’s win stands as an impressive — even miraculous — victory in a state Donald Trump won by 28 points last year. Defying both right-wing pleas to preserve a Senate seat and the president’s personal endorsement of Moore (capped off by a rally Friday just over the border in Florida), Alabama voters decided they’d prefer not to perpetuate the stereotype of reactionary, racist Southerners.

  WaPo

Well, a little over half of them did. 

Moore himself said God was going to decide this election.  Do you think he's going to accept God's judgment that he shouldn't be in Congress?

Credit should also go to Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), whose last-minute declaration he had not voted for Moore may have swung some voters. In addition, an exceptionally high African American turnout (30 percent of the electorate in early exit polls), as well as overwhelming support among younger voters and a 17-point gender gap — very similar to the coalition that delivered big wins for Democrats in Virginia — made the difference.

And maybe that will encourage eligible voters in that state who haven't been voting because they didn't believe it would make a difference.

Yes, the old ways need to be pushed aside. Good start, Alabama.

Not to mention, it's something of a repudiation of Trump himself, who went down to Pensacola, Florida, for some reason, to rile up the Bubbas and stump for Moore.

We hope Democrats take this as a sign that solid candidates voicing mainstream views can rally their base and also attract disgusted Republicans. Plainly, there are a lot of voters up for grabs, no longer tied to the GOP.

That might be giving Democrats a little too much credit.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Louisiana is there

Other 49 states are jealous. It's so much easier to govern without voters.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Why Am I Skeptical of This Headline?

In 2016, the U.S. House had a 97 percent re-election rate, despite the latest Gallup poll placing the House’s approval rating at 21 percent.

A big part of the reason why is the way we elect our representatives. The U.S. uses a winner-take-all, single-member district system. Those districts are often drawn in a way to privilege one party over another — which is called gerrymandering. So if you’re a Democrat living in a district drawn to include a huge number of Republican voters, your vote is purposely drowned out (and vice versa).

And [if] a candidate wins 40 percent of the vote, while her two opponents get 30 percent each, the first one wins, even though 60 percent of the district voted against her. That dynamic effectively forces political actors to sort themselves into two parties, or risk being boxed out of power entirely.

[...]

A group of representatives in the House want to change this system, and are introducing legislation to [...] make America’s federal elections more representative and competitive.

Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer authored and introduced the Fair Representation Act. [...] Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland have co-sponsored the legislation.

  The Intercept

I think I see a flaw in this.

Because of gerrymandering, Republicans hold the reins of power, and this is a Democrat sponsored bill.

The bill would do three things: require all congressional districts to be drawn by independent redistricting commissions, establish multi-member districts, and have all districts use what’s known as ranked-choice voting (RCV).

All things that we've needed for decades but which the Democrats were happy enough to reject until now that the gerrymandered Republican congress is in power and looks to stay that way.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Voter Suppression Moving Into High Gear

 Four things happened yesterday that pose a grave danger to voting rights.

[...]

 All four of these actions would be disturbing on their own, but taken together they represent an unprecedented attack on voting rights by the Trump administration and Republican Congress.

[...]

 1. The House Appropriations Committee voted to defund the Election Assistance Commission, the only federal agency that helps states make sure their voting machines aren’t hacked.

[...]

 2. The Department of Justice sent a letter to all 50 states informing them that “we are reviewing voter registration list maintenance procedures in each state covered by the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act]” and asking how they plan to remove voters from the rolls. While this might sound banal, it’s a clear instruction to states from the federal government to start purging the voting rolls.

[...]

 3. The White House commission on election integrity, led by vice chair Kris Kobach, also sent a letter to 50 states asking them to provide sweeping voter data including “the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available, addresses, dates of birth, political party (if recorded in your state), last four digits of social security number if available, voter history (elections voted in) from 2006 onward, active/inactive status, cancelled status, information regarding any felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information.”

[...]

4. The Trump administration named Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation as a member of the commission, who’s done more than anyone other than Kobach to spread the myth of voter fraud and enact suppressive policies.

[...]

Let’s be clear what’s happening: Republicans have no desire to prevent another hack from Moscow, but they are dead set on limiting voting rights at home.

  The Nation

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

THIS Wasn't the Russians

In what is the largest known data exposure of its kind, UpGuard’s Cyber Risk Team can now confirm that a misconfigured database containing the sensitive personal details of over 198 million American voters [over sixty-one percent of the entire US population] was left exposed to the internet by a firm working on behalf of the Republican National Committee (RNC) in their efforts to elect Donald Trump. The data, which was stored in a publicly accessible cloud server owned by Republican data firm Deep Root Analytics, included 1.1 terabytes of entirely unsecured personal information compiled by DRA and at least two other Republican contractors, TargetPoint Consulting, Inc. and Data Trust. In total, the personal information of potentially near all of America’s 200 million registered voters was exposed, including names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers, and voter registration details, as well as data described as “modeled” voter ethnicities and religions.

[...]

Spreadsheets containing this accumulated data—last updated around the January 2017 presidential inauguration—constitute a treasure trove of political data and modeled preferences used by the Trump campaign. This data was also exposed in the misconfigured database and had been for an unknown period of time.

  UpGuard

Collusion or incompetence?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

WTF Happened?

Since the 1980s the elites in rich countries have overplayed their hand, taking all the gains for themselves and just covering their ears when anyone else talks, and now they are watching in horror as voters revolt. It seems in both cases (Trumpism and Brexit), many voters are motivated not so much by whether they think the projects will actually work, but more by their desire to say FUCK YOU to people like me.

The leaders of these movements (Trumpstick, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage) have acted cynically for their own benefit. They've been willing to stir division and nationalism. And some of their supporters are real racists. The only solution for that small minority is to be crushed and thrown into the dustbin of history. But I refuse to believe this is the case for the larger group of supporters, that is, half of the UK or almost half of the US. They have some legitimate concerns, and the only outlet to vent they were offered was a terrible one. If we want to move forward productively from these historical shocks (and please, let's try to do that), rich world urban dickheads [...] need to recognize that they are not the only people on the planet with views worth listening to.
  Vincent Blevins

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Republicans May Be in Trouble

Coming soon to a polling station near you.

The GOP apparently doesn't seem so grand to millenials.

In other good news...

The International Energy Agency said today that it was significantly increasing its five-year growth forecast for renewables thanks to strong policy support in key countries and sharp cost reductions. Renewables have surpassed coal last year to become the largest source of installed power capacity in the world.

[...]

[In] the European Union, Japan and the United States [...] additional renewable generation will outpace electricity demand growth between 2015 and 2021.

  International Energy Agency

Assuming Donald or Hillary hasn't triggered a world-wide nuclear holocaust by 2020.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Millions of illegal aliens vote? Jesus.  Do you think this man really believes that?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Democrat Timely Reminder

And how many Democrats have told Nader voters that they lost that election?

Not to mention media headlines.

No, it was the Supreme Court and Florida Democrats (and perhaps Gore).  Never miss an opportunity to arm yourself with facts.

Besides, when they start squawking at you for voting other than Hillary, remind them that, in not trivial ways, Obama has been worse for the country and the world than even Dubya was.  (You can start with drones, kill lists, domestic surveillance, deportations, whistleblower prosecutions, and no prosecutions for torture or banksters and go from there.)

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Not All Young People Give Me Hope for the Future

And those girls are probably old enough to vote.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

True, But...

That gets under HIS skin, but the Dems know that the American people respond best to fear of something.

THEY get THAT.  It's not the authoritarian's followers they're after.  They know they'll never get them. It's the independents and moderates they need.

No, it's not.  Hillary's as big a liar as Trump.  After Sanders drops out, it will be all lies all the time on both sides of the ticket.  If Senator Warren doesn't like Trump, she should have run for the office herself or strongly backed Sanders.  She did - and still does - neither.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And This Is What Concerns Me

It's great that young people are coming around to pro-public, socialistic stance.  What is not so great is that (presumably because Brnie Sanders is running as a Democrat) they are moving into the Democratic Party.

For the first time in the past five years of Harvard’s polls, significantly more young people called themselves Democrats than said they were independent.

[...]

Forty percent were Democrats, 22 percent were Republicans and 36 percent were independent.

[...]

[T]he Harvard Institute of Politics has released a new poll of young voters that hints at the impact Sanders might be having on our politics — and could continue to have in the future.

[...]

A narrow majority of respondents in Harvard’s poll said they did not support capitalism. While just 1 in 3 said they supported socialism, the figures are still an indicator of millennials’ frustration with the U.S. economic system

One key finding in the poll, which surveyed over 3,000 people from ages 18-29, is that these young people see a robust role for government  [...].

[...]

A plurality of these young voters agree by 48-21 that “basic health insurance is a right for all people, and if someone has no means of paying for it, the government should provide it.”

[...]

A plurality of them agree by 47-20 that “basic necessities, such as food and shelter, are a right that the government should provide to those unable to afford them.”

[...]

A majority of them, 70 percent, say the federal government should play a large (35) or moderate (35) role in “providing access to higher education,” while only 27 percent say it should play little to no role.

A majority of them, 64 percent, say the federal government should play a large (30) or moderate (34) role in “reducing income inequality,” while only 32 percent of them say it should play little to no role.

[...]

A majority of them, 67 percent say the federal government should play a “large” (30) or “moderate” (37) role in the “regulation of Wall Street,” while only 28 percent say it should play little to no role.

  WaPo

I think it wold be safe to say the lion's share of those polled who think the government should play no role in these things (percentages in the upper 20s) is made up mostly of the 22 percent who said they are Republican.

At any rate, the danger here is that the Democratic Party will co-opt these young voters for Hillary - likely in part thanks to Bernie, assuming he loses the Dem nomination to her - and use and abuse them just like they do Blacks.  The hope, I suppose, is that they will become the Tea Part of the left instead. Because the Democratic Party isn't going where these people are going. Especially regarding Wall Street.

And, let's not forget...the Democratic Party is a loser.  Who else would back the least likely to win candidate?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.