One possibility that haunts me is the possibility that Ghislaine Maxwell might try to save herself by slandering Joe Biden, even if he turns out to have no connection whatsoever with the Jeffrey Epstein pedophilia/sexual assaults scandal. We all know how desperate Donald Trump is. He might offer her executive clemency in exchange for slandering the Democratic nominee for president.
@5leafclover. That would be hard to prove. I'm sure T will say a lot of things, but it will be hard to prove. If I were T I would not want to mess with that woman's situation.
What do you guys think? I saw this VP story today and I'm hoping we hear something soon, I'm so anxious.
I also happened upon this Wikipedia page and there's a section about Opinion Polls that I found quite interesting, I think most people have seen Kamala as VP. I've been seeing Keisha Lance Bottoms name thrown around a lot more, so it makes me wonder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Democratic_Party_vice_presidential_candidate_selection
I've been seeing Biden ads here in NC a LOT more in the past week or two. I really love his message, "we're currently battling for the soul of this country." It really spoke to me, I feel like he's really trying to speak to the people and not just bashing the opponent. Not that he needs too, the Orange one does a pretty good job of making himself look like an idiot without others pointing it out. ?
That would be interesting, considering that there are multiple photos of Trump with Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein looking like they are the best of friends poising for the camera. How many photos of Biden with Maxwell and Epstein exist? None that I known of.
Also, Trump can go on and on about how the Democrats are the "Deep State" that killed Epstein. But he conveniently forgets that it was his justice department who had custody of Epstein when he died. Not Obama. Not Clinton. Not Biden.
So if Maxwell wants to lie her head off, she can go ahead. Because we already know that Trump and his allies will try to make up lies to bring Biden down. Don't believe them, and plan to vote them out.
I have been having a distinct vision of Joe and Kamala standing in their strength with clasped raised hands between them, triumphantly, radiantly smiling from ear to ear in a flurry of confetti amidst a cacophony of cheers and applause..... ?
350.0rg founder climate activist Bill McKibben put out this article today in the New Yorkerwith his stamp of approval on Joe Biden's climate plan. McKibben goes further with what needs to happen but sees Biden as a good step.
@unk-p. Thanks. Here it is. https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/what-joe-bidens-climate-plan-really-signals
Now Biden's plan, according to McKibben, is far from perfect. It's climate change lite. But he feels it gets things moving. McKibben clearly hopes Biden will get elected, considering the alternative, but he admits the plan is missing some important components, like limits on mining and drilling for fossil fuels. What McKibben really wants to see if that Trump is out next year and "that climate denial goes with him, that pressure will do what pressure does: finally start to make things pop."
In the spirit of anti-complacency (remember how many democrats didn't bother to vote in 2016?), I'm posting a link to Aaron Blake's WAPO article on how election could end out going in Trump's favor:
1. An imminent Supreme Court vacancy
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's recent hospitalization could inspire GOP voters to vote for T even though they don't like him, because they want to see a conservative bench.
2. Polls that favor Biden are of registered voters, not actual voters. Republican voters are more likely than dems to cast their votes.
3. Biden's flubs
Keeping fingers crossed that he doesn't commit any major gaffes, or too many of them, as he has been known to do.
4. Could Covid hurt turnout? Could mail-in ballots cause problems of ballots not being counted?
Many states are moving toward mail-in balloting, but the GOP is fighting that. In a couple of red state elections I was writing postcards for, the GOP election commissions had made it difficult and confusing to vote by changing locations for delivering votes and also by setting confusing deadlines. For example, will voters have to they have to be mailed by Election Day or be received by then? Will votes be required to be delivered by election day or just postmarked by election day?
5. The Veep factor
Given Biden's age, his veep pick could be a factor.
Moral of the story: Make sure everyone you know votes, applies for their mail-in ballots on time, and returns them on time.
One way to accomplish what Jeanne is saying:
Go to votesaveamerica.com
On their site, you can check voter reg status, register to vote, get needed links for changes of address or name, etc.
It's a great resource you can refer people to.
I'm actually fearful that Biden will lose, but grab onto any good news.
I think as he announces his leadership teams he will gain more momentum. I hope he floats cabinet picks soon. In a week he will announce his VP. That will add some heft to his campaign.
But as I recall, Jeanne, you have been hesitant about Biden’s chances for a while, and I respect your intuition greatly!
I’ve joined our local Democratic Women’s Club and will be getting to work with them shortly. I’m going to do my part for the cause in my community!
@lowtide I no longer feel so hesitant about Biden's chances. He's being very careful and seems to be listening to top people who are now advising him. I threw a spread yesterday which I published here which was about Trump, not Biden, but it looks bad for Trump; the card that turned up for Trump the first week of November is the Five of Swords “Defeat”. https://www.jeannemayell.com/community/postid/31570/
@jeanne-mayell I would just add that everyone check their registration status this summer. Last winter I wrote letters with a resistance group here in Albany (we have so many groups here working, it is wonderful) to Democrats in North Carolina because it was discovered that many had been scrubbed from the roles after skipping one or two elections. These are the law and order Republicans, yeah sure.....
This is my first post. I wasn't sure where to begin as I have had some sort of breach birth attempting to enter this lovely world of Jeanne Mayell. Apologies, if first posts were to go elsewhere.
Joe Biden was not my first choice, I was bouncing around in choices. My mother and I had a long conversation one night and we agreed no one over 72. So with that she voted for Pete and I waited until South Carolina. I did this because it was painful to know so many white women did not vote for Hillary yet Black women did. I had a silent agreement with myself, that if I wasn't sure, I would follow their lead. So I went with Joe for that reason and cleared many of my concerns, worry isn't going to help, but a phone bank might. I also spoke to a new neighbor fresh from Texas, a wise democrat who lived her life in the deep red. She told me, Texans she knew would not support a woman. Disappointing, but she felt it made a difference with some democratic men. I have lived in very progressive areas so this was hard to take, but I believed her.
We need a wave and I was going to ride it. Of course he is older yet we finally get to see some level of consensus with this party and I believed his broken heart was the bridge that will give this new party a chance. I got chills when he said he would be the bridge when he was in South Carolina. American needs a heart again.
My prediction is he will win. It will be ugly and hard fought, but disclosures will continue to come out on the current president. The other reason is, I was sick the entire last election season. Terrified anytime someone told me Hilary was a shoe in and it was a done deal. I don't have that ache as I did then and also had during Bush and Gore.
There is my two cents and I will share the registration status. Great link!
Also I live in California and before that 25 years Hawaii. Holding that state in wellbeing as a hurricane approaches. A Hui Hou!
I know that Kamala Harris has some issues as a prosecutor that concern voters, not claiming that she is his ideal choice ideologically. Biden isn't young or vital anymore, sometimes he seems downright delicate. From the first time that I saw and heard Kamala Harris, it struck me how much she presents as if she could be Athena the Warrior Goddess.
@jeanne-mayell I am a senior citizen and in Texas I could have signed up for mail-in ballots but decided to pass and vote early in person. The reason is because I distrusted Republican political leaders in Texas. I did in fact fear that a legitimate ballot might be disqualified by win-at-any-cost GOP zealots. I worried that my votes would not be private. Republican political leaders would see that I voted against Trump and his GOP supporters further down the ballot and would look for an excuse to invalidate my ballot.
One thing that really frightens me is the precedent that Trump has already established with his illegal deployment of federal troops to various cities. These hostile actions by Trump are essentially an act of war. I am very concerned that similar gestapo-like tactics will be used to prevent millions of people nationwide from casting votes.
@5leafclover it also worries me that T has put his guy in charge of the USPS, and that all of the GOP bitching about mail-in voting is just theater, knowing that the fix is in.
Suddenly, there is a sleeper candidate for Biden VP.
Karen Bass. She is a Congresswoman from California and is well respected, and considered likable from both sides of the aisle. Does she look like the person you saw Biden with @jeanne-mayell?
While the congresswoman from Los Angeles remains a long shot, her unassuming approach, muted ambitions and decades of advocating on health care and race issues while far outside the national spotlight have captured the interest of the Biden campaign.
A former physician assistant and nurse who now heads the Congressional Black Caucus, Bass has seen her profile rise of late amid the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and national reckoning with racism. Her standing in the VP search has improved based on private assessments shared with Biden’s team.
“The reason she’s gone from a name bandied about to a serious contender is because the more you look at her, the more you realize what a perfect choice for the time she is,” said former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He started working alongside Bass in the early 1970s to coalesce Black and Latino activists around curbing police abuse and expanding immigrant rights.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/24/karen-bass-biden-vp-380583
@5leafclover I didn’t mean to much to worry people as to activate people. When polls show a big advantage to a candidate as they now do for Biden, people get complacent and the losing side works harder.
The Republican leadership has big money and dark international money in the game and they will do anything to win. We have to play a strong end game to the finish.
One way we can help is to get involved in getting out the vote, hand-written postcards to people alerting those who have been thrown off the rolls and then another wave of postcards to get people to get their mail in ballots and then to mail them in.
You can join organizations who will get you involved in postcard writing. perhaps someone here has a link for that?