SharonClark
SharonClark's JournalArizona Student Republican Group Raising Money For Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse
College Republicans United wrote: "Kyle Rittenhouse does not deserve to have his entire life destroyed because of the actions of violent anarchists during a lawless riot."
"College Republicans United appears to be the even more wacked out version of Republicans on the ASU campus, or so I've gathered. A splinter group too radical for the more mainstream ASU College Republicans. The photo above might be their entire membership for all I know, but even a small group of nutjobs can cause real damage. To their seriousness of purpose, beyond the shameful act of trying to raise money for a 17-year-old alleged murderer, the CRU told the Arizona Republic, "they do not speak to journalists with pronouns on their Twitter page" and to "get a real job" when contacted for comment on the fundraiser. Make of that what you will. Presumably, they want attention. This action will get it for them...."
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/08/arizona-student-conservative-group-raising
Iowa Gov Reynolds closes bars in 6 counties
until September 20 due to new cases in the college age group. 69% of cases in Johnson County (Iowa) and 74% in Story County (ISU) are attributed to college age people.
MAGA Madness at a campus near you?
'Make Campus Great Again': Trump campaign comes to Iowa City, launching an effort draw support from younger voters
by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa City Press-Citizen
As part of a young campaigner competition launched by the Trump campaign in Iowa City and other scattered locales Tuesday night, a dozen people, mostly UI students, gathered at Sports Column on Dubuque Street to munch on free chicken wings and pizza hoping to "Make Campus Great Again."
Called MAGA Madness, the competition pits young voters in each state against one another in a bracket for signed MAGA hats and a visit from an unnamed guest. . .
. . . For the youth vote, Iowa City is a sure bet. In 2019, there were over 32,000 students enrolled at the University of Iowa. On Monday, classes began for the fall semester, bringing an injection of younger faces into town, coinciding neatly with the campaign's launch. . . While Trump carried the state in 2016, he only got 27% of the vote in Johnson County.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/26/iowa-city-election-2020-trump-campaign-eric-branstad/3439947001/
Iowa's republican SOS says NO to ballot drop boxes
Counties are looking for ways to challenge SOS's interpretation... https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/26/iowa-secretary-of-state-paul-pate-says-counties-cant-use-absentee-ballot-drop-boxes/5621892002/
Since a voter can give their ballot to someone else for delivery, I wonder if the Dems could expand their voter registration sites to ballot drop off sites. I'm sure the party is looking into that.
Group With GOP Links Submits Kanye West Petitions For Iowa Ballot
from Iowa Starting Line
A very well-organized political operation finished up their work in Iowa today to put Kanye West’s name on the ballot for the general election here. Around 3,800 signatures of a necessary 1,500 were delivered to the Secretary of State at about 3:40 p.m.
A Republican attorney dropped off the forms. Todd Henderson signed the West forms — he’s a Republican operative who worked on Secretary of State Paul Pate’s campaign.
Canvassers and organizers declined to say who they were working for.
Starting Line was made aware of the operation’s staging location at a Fairfield Inn and Suites in West Des Moines and observed their work for over an hour. Throughout the afternoon, many canvassers pulled up to the hotel, dropped off petition sheets and took new ones back out to locations throughout the Des Moines metro.
Canvassers were spotted today outside the Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines and the Ankeny Target. They appear to have been in the state since early this week.
There were at least 15 separate people involved from what was seen at the hotel, with two individuals sorting and checking the sheets as they came in. Most seemed to also be staying at the hotel. Some canvassers discussed getting paid for the work tomorrow. Earlier in the week, Iowans reported that one canvasser said they were from the Green Party of Florida as they were collecting signatures for that party as well (Green Party petitions were not dropped off with West’s).
“It’s not for Trump,” one canvasser said to another in the lobby of the hotel before heading back out.
“No, I know it’s not for him, but…” another replies.
“I mean, we know,” the first responded. “But we gotta tell the right people what it is. We tell them… the benefits.”
“It depends on who I’m talking to. It’s either for Republicans to vote for him … or vice versa, to get Trump in office,” he continued. “…Yeah, those two Mexicans, they were ready to sign. Hey, ‘sign for a better president.'”
One Democratic activist who was approached by canvassers outside Merle Hay Mall today reported them saying that signing the form would make it harder for Trump to get elected.
Some of the canvassers were wearing black t-shirts that read “Let The Voters Decide” on the front and “Sign Here” on the back.
The attorney who delivered the forms was Brian Rickert, a West Des Moines lawyer who works at Brown Winick, is a registered Republican and has endorsed Republican presidential candidates in the Iowa Caucus. He stressed that he was just dropping off the forms.
Each potential candidate must submit a list of possible presidential electors from the state if they’re able to carry it for the electoral college. These are the names submitted for West:
William Dalziel, Marion
Tracy Barkalow, Iowa City
Joel Smits, Ankeny
Dennis Henderson, Holstein
Clifford Fairchild, Ankeny
David Roszak, Clive
All six of West’s electors are registered Republicans.
In many other states, Republicans and the Trump campaign itself have been behind similar efforts to put West’s name on the general election ballot.
For presidential candidates to get on the ballot here, they must collect 1,500 signatures from eligible Iowans (anyone who can vote, whether they’re registered or not) from ten separate counties. The requirement is relatively easy to achieve, but it still requires a concerted effort to accomplish.
Simply submitting the forms does not put a candidate on the ballot. An objection period runs through August 27 where individuals can challenge various aspects of the petitions or signatures.
https://iowastartingline.com/2020/08/14/group-with-gop-links-submits-kanye-west-petitions-for-iowa-ballot/?fbclid=IwAR2NiNH22UoR8yLvFSFStDIUnScJJFpypIcjOXAvV2xgR4i0_d0QeixDPYA
The Last Word with Ali Velshi has trump voting
teacher on who regrets voting for trump. She admits her mistake and wants to do right by her fellow teachers and students.
I’m glad she’s speaking out but I’m sick of teachers who vote against their union and vote for repugs in the first place.
Same with firefighters.
No Justice No Peace PAC: Elections, actions, and activism
Rob Johnson, Al Womble, and Eddie Mauro of the New Frontier Fund jointly authored this commentary. The No Justice No Peace PAC is online at www.njnppac.com.History is a curious thing. Our understanding of our past changes with time – moving through phases where our perception shifts, evolves and deepens. This examination of our history is constant, and it happens in the public sphere through discussions via social media, the news, commentary, and politics.
We are in the midst of a significant reorganization and shift in how we see, hear, and experience the history of race in America. It’s colliding with a time when Americans fundamentally re-evaluate how we relate to our institutions of government, our neighbors, and our local communities.
This confrontation is messy. It’s fraught with conflict. And it’s necessary.
Intersectionality, Liberation, and Justice
The intersection of movements for Black liberation and justice, calls for recognition of the essential humanity of our LGBTQ brothers/sisters/siblings, and our approach to the COVID-19 pandemic have created both a challenge to the primary institutions of our democratic system and an opportunity for real structural and transformational change. Change that can make our country healthier, our communities safer, and our institutions more just. If we rise to the challenge, recognize the need for change is real, and act boldly, we can emerge from this moment stronger.
If we fail to rise to this challenge and merely go back to business as usual – we will have failed and will be committing generations to come to a future of continued division and injustice.
Our Call to Action
With this in mind, we are launching a new organization to help lay the foundation for a more progressive, just, and equitable future. We call it the New Frontier Fund, and our first project is a new political committee – No Justice No Peace.
No Justice No Peace will initially focus on a #BlackNewDeal. A plan that aims to fundamentally change our criminal justice system, guarantee the right to vote, pursue economic justice and equity, and end the over-incarceration of people due to the criminalization of marijuana.
To us, this is a matter of life or death.
The criminal justice system incarcerates millions of black men. That is effectively sentencing them to death in jails and prisons that are hotbeds for COVID-19. If you are a young black man in America, you are far more likely to be incarcerated for a non-violent drug offense than a young white man. Once confined, you are far more likely to be exposed to COVID-19, HIV, and other infectious diseases and far more likely to die while incarcerated than similarly situated white inmates.
Immediate Attention in Our Own Backyard
We call for three actions that Governor Kim Reynolds, the Iowa legislature, and Congress can and should take immediately in response.
First, we need an Executive Order from Governor Reynolds restoring voting rights – automatically – to all people who have served their prison sentences. Bringing these voters back into the electoral process will help reduce recidivism (and our prison population in the future) and create a more equitable election process. You can take action here.
Second, there needs to be an immediate moratorium on all sentencing involving jail time for all non-violent drug offenses – then permanent legalization of marijuana at the federal, state, and local levels. According to John Hudak at the Center for Effective Public Management, “Despite cannabis usage rates between whites and non-whites being similar, Black Americans are arrested for cannabis offenses at a rate of nearly 4:1, compared to whites.
Incarceration during these trying times dramatically increases your chance of contracting COVID-19, impacts the ability to obtain a job, and our prison population is already overburdened. If Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen can get a reprieve from their prison sentences, we need to extend this to people who have committed non-violent drug offenses.
And third, we are calling on President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately reinstate the federal moratorium on the execution of federal inmates. The state inequitably applies the death penalty to persons of color, and the state shouldn’t be in the business of taking a person’s life.
If Not Now, When? If Not Us, Then Who?
Over the last year, there has been an awakening of millions recognizing the violence perpetrated against communities of color. This awakening is occurring all over our country, and right here in our backyard in Iowa.
One hundred and fifty-two years ago, in the aftermath of the Civil War, Iowa became the first state to desegregate our public schools. We were among the first states in the nation to recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry legally. Our legislature and Governor Reynolds were among the first states to pass policing reforms in response to the George Floyd murder.
Now, we have an opportunity to build on that foundation. To make our way into a new frontier where we pursue justice for all and peace for future generations.
Editor’s note: Rob Johnson is a community and business leader, faith leader, and mental health policy advocate in Des Moines.
Al Womble chairs the Iowa Democratic Party’s Black Caucus and was previously state director for Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign in Iowa and Eddie Mauro’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Eddie Mauro is former teacher and longtime business owner who has been involved in community service, activism, and organizing for many years. He is the President of UIG in Des Moines and a co-founding member of AMOS in Central Iowa.
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2020/07/30/no-justice-no-peace-elections-actions-and-activism/
Progressive Senators Ready To Help Confirm 2 Anti-Choice Trump Judges
Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are backing nominees who questioned Roe v. Wade and worked with groups trying to end abortion rights. Why?
By Jennifer Bendery, Huffpost
WASHINGTON ― Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are progressive Illinois senators who support abortion rights. They both scored the full 100 points on NARAL Pro-Choice America’s 2019 congressional scorecard. And in the coming weeks, they are ready to help confirm two of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees who have records of hostility to women’s reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade.
The Democratic senators praised Stephen McGlynn and David Dugan when Trump nominated them to lifetime federal court seats last December and February, respectively. Both have been picked for seats on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
“We are pleased that the President has nominated Judge Stephen McGlynn,” Durbin and Duckworth said in a joint statement last December. “He has the qualifications, integrity, and judgment to serve with distinction as a district court judge in the Southern District of Illinois. We appreciate the Administration’s willingness to work with us and with our nonpartisan screening committee to reach consensus on nominees who will serve the people of Illinois well. We look forward to guiding his nomination through the Senate.”
They issued a similar joint statement for Dugan in February.
. . .
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dick-durbin-tammy-duckworth-abortion-rights-trump-judges_n_5f203293c5b6945e6e403115
Chuck Todd's opening segment is about Barr's
testimony and how it proves Barr believes he is a partisan warrior for trump. It’s a good segment.
The historic Methodist church on the next block
just played “Morning Has Broken” by Cat Stevens to chime the noon hour. It was lovely.
The church, Grace United Methodist, serenades the neighborhood at noon and 6 pm daily and chimes the hours. It was the home church of vice-president and ag pioneer Henry Wallace. There is a peace memorial honoring Wallace and George Washington Carver on the grounds. As churches go, this is one of the good ones.
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