It was a right wing plot, and of course Gillibrand and others took the bait. The great SHAME of 2017 is the witch hunt against Al Franken. It will go down in infamy. The "victims" were mostly right wing Trump supporters whose "complaints" were a bunch of SHIT. And one so called Democratic complainer, wanting her 10 minutes of fame, actually had the temerity of claiming that Franken squeezed her waist during a photograph at an event crawling with people, and that was sexual harassment. My god. What a load of SHIT!!

And now that Franken is leaving, guess what, NO MORE COMPLAINTS. It was a bunch of shit, way too many Dems took the bait, and lookey lookey now. Suddenly no more "victims." Why? Because there never were any. Even the first complaint, though not appropriate, was a gag during a comedy tour gone wrong. And that person is a right wing Trump adorer.

SHAME SHAME SHAME! Let's learn the right lesson and NEVER let such an injustice happen EVER again!

Protests generally don't work. It is a lot of wasted energy. Trump and Republicans don't give a shit about protests. Put the energy into winning elections, wielding power, and holding power. That is what matters. The Dem Party became a useless ineffective messageless MESS. It lost every branch and level of government. Thankfully, it did much better this past election cycle and in many special elections around the country at other times, most recently in Alabama.

But just being against Trump is nowhere near enough. That is important, but not enough. The party needs a strong, clear, Middle Class American Dream jobs message that resonates with voters. Healthcare is the other big issue of the day. And of course the right kind of tax reform, one that helps the middle and working classes, not just the rich.

So, work to organize for the next elections and echo a strong clear compelling economic message. Pressure the party structure at all levels to have a MESSAGE that actually works. And help to defeat the GOP in 2018.

Protests are mostly a waste of time and energy. Just saw that yet again with the tax bill. Winning elections is what matters. THAT is the best way to "protest." Want to stage a march? March to the ballot box and bring ten people with you.

Don't keep wondering why some people (though a minority) still support Trump and even strongly. If he took a shit in their mouths, they would call it ice cream.

(Remember, there were war criminals in WW2 who screamed "Heil Hitler!" just before the trap door opened as they were hung for their crimes.) They just think what they think. Don't waste time or energy on that.

The best use of time and energy is organizing for 2018 and continuing to fix the Dem party so that it runs good campaigns with good candidates and with a strong economic MESSAGE that people are interested in voting for. And take the R's to the electoral woodshed!

So many people are willing to sign the petitions for this ranked choice voting People's Veto. I have been working on it in my area. (The Bangor Area) Had another very good weekend working on it.

Over and over again we hear how upset people are with the legislature blocking so many of our recent referendums in mostly very narrow partisan votes and with the help of the current governor. In fact, LePage and the R's in the legislature are now saying they will do all they can to block the Medicaid Expansion referendum just passed in November with a whopping 59% of the vote.
This is our chance to make a loud and clear statement by stopping THEM by UNBLOCKING Ranked Choice Voting.

We just need the help to gather the rest of the signatures and get this over the finish line.

If you can help, please sign up at this link:

http://www.rcvmaine.com/dayofaction?utm_campaign=171208_weekend&
utm_medium=email&utm_source=mainercv

Thanks so much!

Massive corruption in the executive cabinet and the Congress. Endless attacks on the Affordable Care Act. Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. A massive trickle down tax scheme giveaway to the rich and super rich that will result in an all out assault on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Net neutrality killed. A certifiable national embarrassment freak in the White House.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DEMS DON'T VOTE, VOTE THIRD PARTY, AND THE PARTY RUNS A BAD ORGANIZATION AND BAD CAMPAIGNS WITHOUT A MESSAGE.

We had a good election day this year and many good special elections which is great. But we can't only be the anti-Trump party. We need to be the PRO-MIDDLE CLASS PARTY! We need an AMERICAN DREAM JOBS MESSAGE that will resonate with working and middle class people EVERYWHERE, not just in the cities and big suburbs.

We must fix OURSELVES first, ORGANIZE well, get out and VOTE, and WIN ELECTIONS! If we do the right things, 2018 will be a big year for us. But it is not a given. But we must DO THE RIGHT THINGS. And that means continue to the fix the party, run strong candidates, have a clear strong positive economic message, AND attack the living hell out of Trump and the FAILED Republicans.

BOTTOM LINE: ELECTIONS HAVE HUGE CONSEQUENCES. SO WIN MORE ELECTIONS!

HUGE credit to Jones and his and his team's GOTV effort, AA turnout, Dem turnout, Indies who voted for Jones, young voters, and even some R crossovers. But we must also recognize that this was mainly about Moore and his scandal. Many people who voted for Jones were voting AGAINST Moore, and if it had been a more normal Republican candidate, the R's would have won hands down in this very red state. Alabamans have pride, and Moore was just too toxic. Too much of an embarrassment even for them. Pretty SAD he still nearly won. And a major reason Jones won was that people left Moore (but didn't go to Jones either). So they did a write-in.

So one big takeaway for Alabama is they have said (though barely) that candidates with this kind of sexual perversion scandal can not be in office. And that is a good thing.

I bet he tweets: "Fake voters! Fake voters! Fake voters! ..."

3) Getting out and VOTING works! Always do it!

4) Have good candidates and strong campaigns with strong compelling MESSAGING.

5) Get on OFFENSE and STAY THERE!

6) BIG BLUE TIDAL WAVE COMING IN 2018 IF DEMS DO WHAT THEY NEED TO DO. RUN STRONG COMPELLING CANDIDATES WITH STRONG COMPELLING CAMPAIGNS THAT PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN VOTING FOR.

Thanks so much for Dems, Indies, and crossover R's. Thanks especially to women and African Americans who came out HEAVY for Jones. Decency prevailed tonight. And getting out and voting prevailed. That is what people need to do all the time.

And to those Republicans who stuck with Moore even with all his rottenness, evil, perversion, and insanity, for SHAME. It is time to get into sanity and into the 21st century.

And this is a YUGE loss for Herr Trumpenstein, aka that THING polluting the people's White House. In your face ASSHOLE!

PS: And I was happy to send Doug Jones a donation. Thanks to everyone in AL and around the country who pitched in.

What a DUMB call Gillibrand and others made with their DUMB rush to judgement and lynch mobbing of Franken! Here is the great lesson: TAKE EACH SITUATION SEPARATELY AND STOP RUSHING TO JUDGEMENT!! Because here is what she and they have done:

1) Abandoned the great democratic principle of due process.

2) Allowed shady and WEAK allegations to pass for strong and credible allegations.

3) Allowed the EVIL of FALSE EQUIVALENCY to win the day. (Franken is NOT Trump and sure as hell is NOT Moore.)

4) Disregarded the STRONG EVIDENCE of some 20 women who worked with Franken for years and said he was NOT a sexual harasser and allowed that to get trumped (pun intended) by a some very weak allegations by confirmed right wingers.

5) Diminished REAL and CREDIBLE sexual harassment allegations.

6) Allowed a noble goal to degenerate into mob mentality.

7) Set up ANYONE who has ever done anything with a hint of off-coloredness many years ago to be labeled a sexual harasser who must be fired. Who the hell has ever led a perfect life? Who can pass this test?

8) Has now made it MANDATORY that they stand in front the cameras VERY SOON and strongly call for the resignation of Donald Trump, Roy Moore if he is elected, Clarence Thomas, and ANYONE on that side who now or in the past has been accused of sexual harassment or impropriety. And if they don't, then they become mega-hypocrites and weaklings. So we shall see on this one.

Bad call! What they could have done instead was stand in front of the cameras, said they don't tolerate sexual abuse or harassment, and said they would have a full ethics committee investigation which Franken has agreed to and if he is found in serious violation there would be consequences. Also say everyone gets due process and every situation is different. That is what they could have done. Instead, they went the lynchmob route and pissed off much their base in a big way causing needless gender divisions and other divisions in the party when we otherwise all agree that sexual abuse and harassment is very wrong and needs to be confronted. Fine. But then again, each situation is to be taken fairly and separately and not allowed to be swept down the rabbit hole of media frenzy and mob mentality. STUPID!