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How the Dems Can Win

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(@lovendures)
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@deetoo

I believe she is the only female in that caucus.  I love Prescott,  it is a beautiful place to visit.  Went their for my birthday this year in fact.

 


   
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(@triciact)
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I thought this sounded encouraging, looks like even some of his "supporters" are turning on him because this link to a song parody of Bye Bye Miss American Pie to "The Day Democracy Died" was sent to my husband by a friend of his who is/was a T supporter! (looks like former!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ue5F57dZMU&feature=youtu.be


   
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(@herondreams)
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After reading the latest batch of predictions, it seems a good time to revive this thread. I know COVID has taken over and is the main focus in media and on a lot of people's minds for good reason, but as my 13 year old keeps saying, "whatever happened to the election?"

We know it is likely that voting access may be limited, and voting by mail is likely to be necessary, so we can focus attention on that. What else can we visualize and/or take action toward to help make voter turnout and a blue wave more likely? I believe, and there is evidence to support that the current GOP does not represent the will of the majority of Americans. So again the question: what can we do--what will you do--to help preserve our democracy? It may only be contemplative action--that's fine. But let's share ideas and inspire one another.

I had already pledged to myself that I would get out and do some work to help get more people to the polls, especially from marginalized populations. Right now I'm not sure what that will look like, but I am following local chapters of organizations like the League of Women Voters, Fair Fight (Stacey Abrams), and one called Common Cause NC to see what I can do when the time comes. I'll keep praying that more & more eyes are opened and that people turn toward hope rather than cynicism so they act and vote. I know Elizabeth Warren and others are working on legislative action to protect voting rights and ensure mail access. 

What else? 


   
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(@allyn)
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@herondreams

I don't know about you, but I am planning to vote no matter what.  The Republicans already tried to stop a fair election in Wisconsin.  They limited the time for people to get absentee ballots (and in some cases, refused to send and/or accept absentee ballots), refused to postpone the election, and cut the number of polling stations down to 5 just so they could help a conservative incumbent judge keep his seat.

Guess what?  IT DIDN'T WORK!!!!!!

Not only did the Democratic challenger win, but she won by double digits!  The harder Republicans tried to change the outcome, the worse the backlash.

Now, some people are saying this didn't matter, because the Democratic Presidential Primary was going on, so the Democrats were going to come out anyway.  However, I think it was understood by then that Biden would soon become the presumptive nominee anyway, so I cannot believe that interests in Biden was what drove voters to the booths.

What we are seeing (and what Republicans refuse to believe), is that Donald Trump has become a rallying cry for everyone with a sense of decency and a longing for a time when civility in politics was the norm.  People actually braved a pandemic, at the cost of their health and possibly lives, to send a message to Republicans that their days in power are numbered.  How can we shrink from our responsibilities after seeing their example?

As for me, I live in a red state that will probably make it more difficult to vote.  But I don't care.  When the time comes, I will grab my mask, my homemade hazmat suit, and head to the nearest poll place, be it rain, sun, or snow.  I will endure lines and jump through hoops to vote straight down the ticket and vote against every single Republican.  Even in races that only a Republican is running in, I will write in another name.  But I swear I will vote for anyone so long as it is not Trump or a Trump supporter.  And there is nothing they can do to stop me.

Republicans should be very, very afraid.  Democratic voters risked their lives to vote in the middle of a pandemic (they shouldn't have had to, but they did).  No matter what they pull, they can't stop us.  Because we will make them pay by taking away their power and putting them back where they belong. 

Oh, they will try other things.  They will try to say Biden is a rapist (which they are already doing, which I think is ironic since we have the Predator in Chief bragging on tape about sexual assault).  They will try to investigate Hunter Biden again.  They will try to use the coronavirus as a means to keep us from voting. 

In short, they will try everything they can to win, because they know their party is dying.  Come 2024, they will be overwhelmingly outnumbered, and they have already driven away a good portion of their own party.  Their only chance is to win 2020, so they can continue to gerrymander and redistrict in order to silence us as voters.

If Wisconsin is a sign of things to come, I think the Republicans better consider getting rid of Trump now instead of riding this out until the election.  Practically all of their up-and-coming stars have kissed King Trump's ring, so if they try to run for higher office in a national setting, they will be remembered as a "Trump supporter" and be equally despised by a large majority of the population.  Right now, a sizable majority of voters detest Trump with a passion and will endure anything to ensure that he is not granted another term.  If I were the Republicans, I would be wondering what else voters are willing to do if they try to silence us again.  Because if voters are willing to risk their lives just to vote, it should worry Republicans what would happen if they take more direct measures to try to stop us.

I think the best thing we can do is make sure they know now that they can't stop us no matter what measures they try to implement.  Hopefully, they will get the message and not try.  And if they don't, then we vote regardless.  I pledge that now, and I hope everyone on this site will do the same, regardless of who they are and which party they are.  Because if Trump and his supporters win, then more Americans will die.  It is as simple as that.


   
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(@stardancer)
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@allyn

Loved your post!!! 

I’m from Wisconsin and I would’ve crawled thru broken glass on my hands and knees to vote. And you are right...it had little to do with Biden. Defeat any Republican on the ballot regardless of the position, but in particular the Republican candidate for WI Supreme Court!

We have another big election coming up on May 12. It’s for Sean Duffy’s old seat. We need to get Tricia Zunker elected to Congress. She is running against a gun slinging, good old boy...Tom Tiffany. I hope Trump comes out to endorse Tiffany so we can all crawl thru glass together again!  And we will!

Much love to you my friend. ❤️


   
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(@allyn)
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@stardancer

You and your fellow Wisconsin voters are heroes and a true inspiration to the rest of us.  Keep up the good work, and may Tennessee one day join you guys in going in the right direction. (AKA-a peaceful direction).

I know that the Republicans in my area are getting nervous.  They remember an incident that occurred in East Tennessee in 1946 when one party tried to mess with the election (For more information, go to Wikipedia and type in "Battle of Athens."  During that election, where the incumbent sheriff actually took possession of some of the ballot boxes in order to count them without the other party present, the other party (mostly returning GIs from World War II) decided to hold an armed standoff.  There were riots in the streets, cars being turned over, businesses receiving damage, and the actual use of guns and dynamite on the sheriff's office). 

Long story short, the GIs ran the sheriff out of town.  Thankfully, no one was killed.

There is talk that the Democrats are getting fired up in certain areas of Tennessee so that, if anyone tries to tamper with the vote, they will respond in a similar fashion.  For that reason, many Republican leaders are being moderate in their approach and are not openly calling for voting restrictions.  Still, the area is rather tense right now.

To further compound the problem, it turns out that the Sheriff in the Battle of Athens was a Democrat, and the GIs (made of pretty much anyone who hated the Sheriff, including members of his own party), ran on the Republican ticket.  So the Republicans today are unable to condemn any Democrats who point to Athens as a rallying cry and a warning to Republicans should they try to stop the vote, least they be condemned as hypocrites because they touted the patriotism of the GIs for decades for using force to exercise their right to vote.

Thankfully, as I said, people are looking at the Battle of Athens as the cautionary tale it is meant to be.  So many Republicans here will certainly be unwilling to try to tamper with the vote in ways like they did in 1946.  While I don't doubt that Republicans will do something to curtail the Democratic surge here, it will likely not do much, as they are genuinely concerned of an uprising.  Please remember that the majority of voters here who are Republican are elderly, white, and tend to be male.  Democrats, on the other hand, are more racially inclusive, female, and tend to be younger (40 years or less).  And right now the small majority of Democrats in East Tennessee are fired up to the point that they will literally walk through fire to vote.

Republicans, as I said, have a right to worry.  While things may now change much locally where I live (mostly because the Republicans here tend to be more moderate and do not support Trump openly), the implications at the state and national level are high.  If the enthusiasm holds and fears of the coronavirus linger, many Republicans may stay home and not vote because (1) they are elderly and don't want to run the risk of voting during a pandemic, as they know that they are more likely to get very sick, and (2) in the event that the state does mail-in voting, then they will have difficulty because they are less familiar with technology and tend to live in more rural areas, so they will have little internet service.  While not true across the board, there is a sizable portion of Republicans who have these problems, so any attempts to keep Democrats from voting will likely also affect the Republicans too, and in disproportionate numbers.  So if the Democrats in Tennessee show the same resilience and courage that the Democrats in Wisconsin just demonstrated, then Trump may win the state by only a few points or possibly even lose Tennessee completely, as West Tennessee is democratic and will even out the Republican votes from East Tennessee.  Therefore, Middle Tennessee (Nashville) will be the true battleground for us.

There are still way too many months before November, and anything can happen.  But regardless, I plan to vote for every Democrat and Independent on the ballot to show Republicans that they can't steal my vote.  Even if (by some miracle or act from God) Trump is no longer President at that time, I still plan to show them the consequences of trying to take our rights away from us.  Hopefully, Tennessee will be like Wisconsin and do it peacefully.    God bless Wisconsin and all the light workers there!

And good luck voting Tiffany out!


   
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(@sistermoon)
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Justin Amash is "launching an exploratory committee" to run for president as a Libertarian candidate.

Reports are Trump is quite pleased by this, believing Amash will take votes away from Biden, while others argue Amash will only take votes away from Trump.

Any of you have any intuition about this?  


   
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(@pikake)
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@allyn Am catching up and just read your post. So encouraging to be informed about what’s really happening on the ground and to read about the blue upsurge in areas that seemed to be broadly brushed red. It would appear to me that similar sentiments are mushrooming in other parts of the country, even if we haven’t read too much about them?

 

 


   
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(@rowsella)
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If possible, I would really find it helpful/useful for a reading on Tara Reade, whether she is telling the truth (my intuition says no but I am afraid of my bias/emotions influencing my judgement). Also, I echo the request on Amash. I don't think we need more Republicanism in our lives so I don't support him and his Freedom Caucus ideals so again, I have concern that my feelings are coloring my intuition. (Despite Independent and neverTrump enthusiasm for him, I suspect even if he does decide to take the Libertarian ticket, he will not win but part of me feels he will not d/t pressure from Republican Party, polling, and/or funding issues or a combination thereof). Thirdly, VP picks-- for fun.


   
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(@turtle26)
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@rowsella I am also sensing a "no" on Tara Reade RE her telling the truth. As an aside, her twitter feed seems to be run by bots - she herself is an eloquent writer, but there are MANY errors related to omission of articles throughout her twitter feed. It doesn't add up at all.


   
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(@sistermoon)
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@turtle26

I was reading about this too, although I didn't mention it b/c I didn't have a link. But yes, a journalist (I think) provided a detailed analysis of Reade's twitter feed and the tweets posted over the last year or two do not match the style, grammar, or voice of Reade's previously published work. 

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.


   
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(@jeanne-mayell)
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wikipedia has a list of news sources about the issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_sexual_assault_allegation


   
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(@turtle26)
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@jeanne-mayell also - here is a link to some of the old tweets with sections highlighted that seem problematic/inconsistent:

https://twitter.com/angrierwhstaff/status/1255983802758897667?s=21


   
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(@jeanne-mayell)
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@turtle26 Not good for Tara credibility.  For what it is worth, I do not believe her testimony about penetration and find her earlier non sexual testimony also false.  I have watched many women testify about these things, some in person and some in the news, and I have felt most of them to be truthful. But I don't believe Tara.  She feels coached.  As if she was told, "you have to up the ante and make it more like a rape," so she did. E. Jean Carrol's detailed story of her rape by Donald Trump is filled with attempts to hold herself responsible for what happened.  She admits she flirted with him She admits she was a big girl, not a baby.  She wanted to maintain her own dignity throughout, but in the end he raped her, it traumatized her for life,  and I believe all of it.  Tara Read's initial testimony felt disingenuous, all of it, like she was coached and pushed to make this up.Then she upped the ante with the penetration story and it sounds like a stereotyped made up story. What she reports that he said to her doesn't sound like him. 

1588292927-Screen-Shot-2020-04-30-at-202441.png

   
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(@allyn)
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@jeanne-mayell

I have [excerpted] an article from "USA Today" on the Tara Reade allegations.  This is from the point of view of an attorney and prosecutor.  The author does a fantastic job of showing why we should be skeptical of Tara Reade. 

Again, we were not there.  But I will respectfully point out that, should Republicans and Trump supporters continue to try to make an issue of this, they also need to respond as to why Trump refuses to submit a DNA sample to prove he didn't rape Jean Carroll.  Considering Carroll's case could be proved/disproved by a DNA test, then there should be no reason why the Predator in Chief can't prove his innocence.

Unless, of course, Trump knows that the DNA on Carroll's dress will prove, at the very least, that his sperm was on her.  Considering he claimed he never met her and that neither he nor Carroll have ever suggested a relationship, then Trump's DNA on Carroll's dress will prove that Trump is a sexual predator.

If I was a Republican, I would be very, very careful before I open up that can of worms.  You can't claim that Biden and the Democrats are anti-women if you are unwilling to investigate an allegation against Trump where there is actual DNA.  If enough people begin to point this out, then I suspect that the Republicans will suddenly lose interest in Biden and go on another issue to attack.

In the meantime, please read the following article.  I find it to be very insightful.

 "If we must blindly accept every allegation of sexual assault, the #MeToo movement is just a hit squad. And it's too important to be no more than that.

"During 28 years as a state and federal prosecutor, I prosecuted a lot of sexual assault cases. The vast majority came early in my career, when I was a young attorney at a prosecutor’s office outside Detroit. 

"A year ago, Tara Reade accused former Vice President Joe Biden of touching her shoulder and neck in a way that made her uncomfortable, when she worked for him as a staff assistant in 1993. Then last month, Reade told an interviewer that Biden stuck his hand under her skirt and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers. Biden denies the allegation.

"When women make allegations of sexual assault, my default response is to believe them. But as the news media have investigated Reade’s allegations, I’ve become increasingly skeptical. Here are some of the reasons why:

"►Delayed reporting … twice. Reade waited 27 years to publicly report her allegation that Biden sexually assaulted her. I understand that victims of sexual assault often do not come forward immediately because recounting the most violent and degrading experience of their lives, to a bunch of strangers, is the proverbial insult to injury. That so many women were willing to wait in my dreary government office, as I ran to the restroom to pull myself together after listening to their stories, is a testament to their fortitude. ..

"As a lawyer and victims’ rights advocate, Reade was better equipped than most to appreciate that dramatic changes in sexual assault allegations severely undercut an accuser’s credibility — especially when the change is from an uncomfortable shoulder touch to vaginal penetration."

Other points made in the article. 

â–ºImplausible explanation for changing story...

►People who contradict Reade’s claim. ..

►Missing formal complaint. Reade told The Times she filed a written complaint against Biden with the Senate personnel office. But The Times could not find any complaint. When The Times asked Reade for a copy of the complaint, she said she did not have it. Yet she maintained and provided a copy of her 1993 Senate employment records..It is odd that Reade kept a copy of her employment records but did not keep a copy of a complaint 

►Memory lapse. Reade has said that she cannot remember the date, time or exact location of the alleged assault...making it impossible for Biden to go through records and prove he could not have committed the assault, because he was somewhere else at the time... 

►The lie about losing her job... 

►Compliments for Biden... 

►Rejecting Biden, embracing Sanders... By this January, Reade was all in for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders...

â–ºLove of Russia and Putin...expressed in her tweets...

Michael J. Stern, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, was a federal prosecutor for 25 years in Detroit and Los Angeles


   
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(@laura-f)
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I read the article this morning, and I agree with the author.

Justice Beer's accuser remembered every little detail, and never wavered from her story. This woman has not only changed her story multiple times, but she says she filed a formal complaint, which no one can find and she says she didn't feel a need to keep a copy. Really? No receipt? So I doubt she ever filed a complaint. It would be recorded somewhere, for sure. She appears to be on Putin's payroll, too.

Do I think Uncle Joe touched her inappropriately on the neck and shoulders at some point in the early 1990s? Absolutely. Do I think he did anything more than that? Nope.

So if she has evidence, she should file a case with the appropriate prosecutor and get on with it, if not she needs to shut up. And as for Biden, he needs to get out in front of this resolutely and honestly.


   
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(@rowsella)
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In the 1990s I worked in an office. A law office. I have to consider that working in a Senator's office was at least as conservative as far as dress code as a law office. In 1990-1995 women doing office work were expected to wear pantyhose with skirts or dresses. To come into an office with bare legs-- you would be asked to go home and change--return appropriately dressed. So it is kind of unbelievable to me that he would have been able to do what she claims in such a manner.

I also worked for a boss who was like Biden-physically affectionate with people. He did a lot of shoulder, back and head patting, arm squeezing. I became a little uncomfortable with it and just asked him not to do that anymore. I didn't think he was being sexually forward, just a toucher, my Dad is the same way. He was more than a little taken aback and feeling bad/embarrassed thinking he made me so uncomfortable and it was a little awkward but after that he was more conscious when he was a around me and didn't do that anymore. When I left his employ he asked permission to give me a hug and wished me luck. It would not occur to me to call him out publically about that situation, it was a matter about personal space that was handled between adults.

 


   
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(@triciact)
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@jeanne-mayell

I said the same exact thing to my husband early this week - so I ditto your thoughts on Tara Reade's story. Biden will have this and other things thrown at him by T and his minions, and some will run with this false story for a bit. She is definitely being coached and, in my opinion paid/and or intimidated to do so. I will even go so far as to say keep an eye on this story, at some point in the future I intuitively sense there may even be reporting on some money or evidence that will show that her story is false and she may face being in legal trouble.

 


   
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(@deetoo)
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Regarding the Reade story -- I'm not sure where the truth resides.   I like Biden, and really want to believe that he's innocent, but something is nagging at me -- not sure what that is, but it won't let go of me.  Perhaps what I'm feeling speaks more to what I spoke about months ago -- I wasn't seeing Biden (or, thankfully,  the Mad King) as President in 2021, and I still don't.  I'm wondering whether this Reade story is factoring into that vision that I have about Biden.  It's a huge ? mark for me.    

Has anyone heard any more about Lynda LaCasse, the neighbor of Reade, who went on record to say that Reade told her of the assault in the mid-90's?  I heard LaCasse briefly interviewed, and she seemed believable.  Hard to say.

@rowsella, in the 90's I also worked for a large law firm.  One of the female senior associates came to me and confided that a male legal assistant cornered her in a file room and forcefully attempted to kiss her.  Because she had to continue to work closely with him on a specific case, she was beside herself.  This case was being led by a group of male partners, so I encouraged her to talk to them about what happened.  When she told one of the partners what had occurred, his response was something like  Are you sure about this?  Because, you know, this is very serious.  You have to be sure.   Sure about WHAT?  That it happened?  To me there was almost a veiled threat in his response to her.  I thought I knew this partner, and was frankly surprised by his response.  Because of that, she didn't think it was worth pursuing.  This male legal assistant was part of this all-boys network of attorneys, and they frequently went out together to Happy Hour after work.  She was this incredibly smart attorney who just wanted to do her job.  She ended up leaving about 6 months later, to work as counsel for one of our clients.  

I do understand what you shared about your boss being a toucher.  I've encountered a few male co-workers who were like that.  It is often innocent -- sometimes just a part of their nature.  Even sometimes a cultural thing.  I really like the way you handled it -- personally and respectfully, both of yourself and him.


   
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(@jeanne-mayell)
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@triciact Funny you should mention money.  Money was the last thing on my mind when I threw cards on her a few days ago but the Wealth Card (Thoth Ten Disks) came up first.  The woman thinks she's going to be handsomely rewarded for her effort. And why not?  The wealthiest stand to lose the most financially, if Biden is elected. 


   
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