General News You Want to Talk About

Poppy · **241** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:28 am

Poppy

Administrator

If you are angry about how the Republican-controlled Senate is voting in a man, who in my opinion and in the opinion of many, appears to be a sexual predator to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, then channel your anger! I spoke to a young relative of mine, and he told me many of the millenials who are his friends feel like giving up, just not voting. That is the worst thing you can do for human rights, for our planet. If you want to fight for our planet, and fight for human rights (fight for health care, women's rights, for workers' rights, for racial and religious equality, for LGBTQ right to equality, to fight for those who are need assistance because they are poor and sick, for children's rights, for immigrants' rights including those children who now seem to be permanently parentless thanks to Trumps inhumane family separation policy). . . then FIGHT BACK! It's during times of apathy among the masses of people that tyrants rise unchecked in the world.

Here is what you can do:

1. Register to vote and VOTE on Tuesday, November 6 for Democratic candidates for your District for U.S. House of Representatives, for U.S. Senators if there is a race in your state, and for important State seats (Governor, State Attorney General, State house of representatives and State senate--all these state races for state seats are important in the long run in terms of redistricting which determines how fair races are for U.S. House of Representatives)!

2. Volunteer to GET OUT THE VOTE! Different progressive organizations all over the country are doing grass root campaigns to get Democratic voters, Independent voters and moderate Republicans off their asses at home and either out to the voting booths on November 6 or to mail in their Absentee ballots in time for the November 6 election! You can write postcards at home, write postcards with other concerned volunteers at their homes, text voters to please vote, phone voters to please vote. Here is an article that discusses various different organizations you can volunteer with: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-transformed-left-221454985.html

3. Donate to Democrats running for various seats, especially Federal seats (for U.S. House of Representatives and for U.S. Senate if there is a race for U.S. Senate in your state). ALL the U.S. House of Representative seats are up for a vote on the ballot this November 6 election and some U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs this November 6 election.

You can donate based on how important a race seems to you, even if the odds are against the Democratic candidate. For example, I am donating to Andrew Janz, the Democratic candidate running against Devin Nunes in the 22 U.S. Congressional District (parts of Fresno and Visalia in California).

Or you can donate based on the close races, where Democrats have a real chance of winning.

Here are some articles about U.S. House of Representative races.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/us/elections/house-race-ratings.html

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/election/local-election/article219558000.html

Scroll down to the middle of the page for the Ballotpedia article until you see "United States House Battleground Race" and if the incumbent is Republican, then google who is the Democratic candidate against that Republican incumbent.
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Congress_elections,_2018

If you are not certain, what is your district for U.S House of Representative races, you can go here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

You can also google to see who are the Democratic candidates for your U.S. Congressional District and see if there is a race for U.S. Senate in your state (as well as see who are the candidates for State races, such as governor, State Attorney General, State house of representatives and State senate).

For information of how to REGISTER TO VOTE IN YOUR STATE, go here:

https://marchforourlives.com/vote-for-our-lives/

You may also go here:
https://www.rockthevote.org/register-to-vote/

If you are already registered to vote and wish to vote by ABSENTEE BALLOT/VOTE BY MAIL, go here:

https://www.rockthevote.org/voting-information/

(Select "Get Ready to Vote in:" and select your state. Then select "Vote by Mail/Absentee." If you wish to vote while overseas/because you are in the military, select "Overseas and Military Voting."

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Jeremy · **242** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Oct 07, 2018 11:41 am

Jeremy

Advanced II

Maybe I said it before but, in the country where I live, voting is compulsory and almost everybody votes...

Poppy · **243** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Mon Oct 08, 2018 12:26 am

Poppy

Administrator

If only in the U.S. that was true. Then, we wouldn't be having a minority of people ruining the lives of so many people . . .

Poppy · **244** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Wed Oct 10, 2018 12:53 am

Register to vote ONLINE NOW!

Poppy · **245** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Wed Oct 17, 2018 1:16 am

Register to vote ONLINE NOW!

Poppy · **246** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:54 am

Poppy

Administrator

Sadly, the issue of the Trump administration's cruel, inhumane treatment of immigrant children continues (of course it would, since the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate are not putting pressure on Trump and his peons to rein in their abuse of power).

Despite their reversal of the Trump administration's earlier separation of thousands of immigrant children from their parents, guess what? Trump once again is persisting on separating immigrant children from their parents. i guess he wasn't happy with the hundreds of children who he has so far made parentless. May as well punish more children and their parents and families. Just so maddeningly and tragically cruel.

Washington Post wrote:
Trump administration weighs new family-separation effort at border

October 12, 2018

The White House is actively considering plans that could again separate parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to reverse soaring numbers of families attempting to cross illegally into the United States, according to several administration officials with direct knowledge of the effort.

One option under consideration is for the government to detain asylum-seeking families together for up to 20 days, then give parents a choice — stay in family detention with their child for months or years as their immigration case proceeds, or allow children to be taken to a government shelter so other relatives or guardians can seek custody.

That option — called “binary choice” — is one of several under consideration amid the president’s frustration over border security. . . The number of migrant family members arrested and charged with illegally crossing the border jumped 38 percent in August and is now at a record level, according to Department of Homeland Security officials.

[ . . .]

But they [the Trump administration] feel compelled to do something, and officials say senior White House adviser Stephen Miller is advocating for tougher measures because he believes the springtime separations worked as an effective deterrent to illegal crossings.

At least 2,500 children were taken from their parents over a period of six weeks. Crossings by families declined slightly in May, June and July before surging again in August. September numbers are expected to be even higher.

[ . . . ]

Advocates for immigrants counter that asylum seekers are fleeing violence and acute poverty, mainly in Central America, and deserve to have a full hearing before an immigration judge.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/trump-administration-weighs-new-family-separation-effort-at-border/2018/10/12/45895cce-cd7b-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.220ac95e68e8

The separation of these children from their families is abhorrent. On top of that inhumanity, the Trump administration stomps on the legal rights of these children, with many of these young children having no legal advocates-- not to mention not even having any guardians or adult family members present at these hearings which will affect the lives of these children-- to represent these kids at these complex immigration hearings which could result in deportation of these children.

New York Times wrote:
Migrant Children in Search of Justice: A 2-Year-Old’s Day in Immigration Court

Fernanda Jacqueline Davila, in Tegucigalapa, Honduras, earlier this year, has been in government custody since she was taken from her grandmother at the border in late July.
-

Oct 8, 2018

The youngest child to come before the bench in federal immigration courtroom No. 14 was so small she had to be lifted into the chair. Even the judge in her black robes breathed a soft “aww” as her latest case perched on the brown leather.

Her feet stuck out from the seat in small gray sneakers, her legs too short to dangle. Her fists were stuffed under her knees. As soon as the caseworker who had sat her there turned to go, she let out a whimper that rose to a thin howl, her crumpled face a bursting dam.

The girl, Fernanda Jacqueline Davila, was 2 years old: brief life, long journey. The caseworker, a big-boned man from the shelter that had been contracted to raise her since she was taken from her grandmother at the border in late July, was the only person in the room she had met before that day.

“How old are you?” the judge asked, after she had motioned for the caseworker to return to Fernanda’s side and the tears had stopped. “Do you speak Spanish?”

An interpreter bent toward the child and caught her eye, repeating the questions in Spanish. Fernanda’s mouse-brown pigtails brushed the back of the chair, but she stayed silent, eyes big. “She’s … she’s nodding her head,” the judge said, peering down from the bench through black-rim glasses. This afternoon in New York immigration court, Judge Randa Zagzoug had nearly 30 children to hear from, ages 2 through 17. Fernanda was No. 26.

. . . Now that immigration controls have stiffened in response, more children than ever are in government custody, for far longer than they ever have been — weeks turning to months in shelters that were never meant to become homes.

. . . Lawyers who work with immigrants said the large number of migrant children now being held in detention has given rise to a highly unusual situation: more and more young children coming to court.

Migrant children sheltered in Cayuga Centers in New York City are being represented in immigration court by lawyers from Catholic Charities. Credit Dave Sanders for The New York Times
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“We rarely had children under the age of 6 until the last year or so,” said Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. “We started seeing them as a regular presence in our docket.”

These young immigrants are stranded at the junction of several forces: the Trump administration’s determination to discourage immigrants from trying to cross the border; the continuing flow of children journeying by themselves from Central America; the lingering effects of last summer’s family-separation crisis at the border; and a new government policy that has made it much more difficult for relatives to claim children from federal custody.

. . . About 13,000 children who came to the United States on their own were being held in federally contracted shelters this month, more than five times the number in May 2017.

All of which means there are more children showing up more often to federal immigration courtrooms like Judge Zagzoug’s, at hearings that could determine whether they will be deported, reunited with their parents, or granted the asylum that their parents desperately want for them. They often sit at counsel tables alone, unaccompanied by any family and sometimes without even a lawyer.

[ . . . ]

. . . The judge tried to explain the proceedings to each child who sat before her, facing the gold-fringed American flag.

[ . . . ]

When Ms. [Jodi] Ziesemer [an immigration lawyer representing the children] started at Catholic Charities a decade ago, the program for child immigrants appearing in court on their own was so small that it was run by a part-time coordinator, and all their clients could fit in a roughly 10-bed shelter, a small house in Queens. Now there are staff members conducting screenings of seven or eight children a day, trying to coax basic facts out of children who might be too young or too frightened to articulate what had happened to them. There are so many that they sometimes do not meet their clients until the day of their hearings.

Until a couple of months ago, most of the children never would have stayed in a shelter long enough to end up alone before a judge. But the bottleneck in the background-check process means longer stays in custody, and the possibility that some children might have to see a judge multiple times before being delivered to their mother or uncle or cousin. The shelters are now almost full — not because more children are entering the country, immigration advocates say, but because the government has tossed up another obstacle to leaving.

Once released, the children must face a different and more difficult courtroom test: In another immigration courthouse, somewhere in America, they will have to make a case that they meet the standard for asylum, or they will be deported. In some cases, they will have to testify about the trauma they experienced or the danger from which they fled.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/migrant-children-family-separation-court.html?login=email&auth=login-email

If an image could capture the cruelty and the indecent violation of the rights of Helen, visit the article site by clicking on the link below, and scroll down to the end of the article, where you will see the legal document where little 5-year old Helen signs in her little handwriting the document where she waives a right to an immigration hearing (remember, she not only did not have any legal representation at the time a U.S. immigration agent gave her this document and when she signed this document, she also did not even have a guardian or adult family member with her when she signed away her rights).

The New Yorker wrote:
The Five-Year-Old Who Was Detained at the Border and Persuaded to Sign Away Her Rights

October 11, 2018

Helen, a five-year-old from Honduras, was detained after the Trump Administration announced that it would halt the separation of immigrant families. Photograph Courtesy of LUPE
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Helen—a smart, cheerful five-year-old girl—is an asylum seeker from Honduras. This summer, when a social worker asked her to identify her strengths, Helen shared her pride in “her ability to learn fast and express her feelings and concerns.” She also recounted her favorite activities (“playing with her dolls”), her usual bedtime (“8 P.M.”), and her professional aspirations (“to be a veterinarian”).

In July, Helen fled Honduras with her grandmother, Noehmi, and several other relatives; gangs had threatened Noehmi’s teen-age son, Christian, and the family no longer felt safe. Helen’s mother, Jeny, had migrated to Texas four years earlier, and Noehmi planned to seek legal refuge there. . . When the family reached the scrubland of southern Texas, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended them and moved them through a series of detention centers. A month earlier, the Trump Administration had announced, amid public outcry over its systemic separation of migrant families at the border, that it would halt the practice. But, at a packed processing hub, Christian was taken from Noehmi and placed in a cage with toddlers. Noehmi remained in a cold holding cell, clutching Helen. Soon, she recalled, a plainclothes official arrived and informed her that she and Helen would be separated. “No!” Noehmi cried. “The girl is under my care! Please!”

Noehmi said that the official told her, “Don’t make things too difficult,” and pulled Helen from her arms. “The girl will stay here,” he said, “and you’ll be deported.”

[ . . . ]

Unable to breathe amid her distress, Noehmi checked herself into a local hospital, where doctors gave her medication to calm her down. “I thought we would never see her again,” Noehmi said. She couldn’t square her family’s fate with the TV news, which insisted that the government had stopped separating migrant families.

A photo taken of Helen during her time in custody. Photograph Courtesy of Eugene Delgado
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[ . . . ]

According to a long-standing legal precedent known as the Flores settlement, which established guidelines for keeping children in immigration detention, Helen had a right to a bond hearing before a judge; that hearing would have likely hastened her release from government custody and her return to her family. At the time of her apprehension, in fact, Helen checked a box on a line that read, “I do request an immigration judge,” asserting her legal right to have her custody reviewed. But, in early August, an unknown official handed Helen a legal document, a “Request for a Flores Bond Hearing,” which described a set of legal proceedings and rights that would have been difficult for Helen to comprehend. (“In a Flores bond hearing, an immigration judge reviews your case to determine whether you pose a danger to the community,” the document began.) On Helen’s form, which was filled out with assistance from officials, there is a checked box next to a line that says, “I withdraw my previous request for a Flores bond hearing.” Beneath that line, the five-year-old signed her name in wobbly letters.

. . . The girl’s seizure by the government showed that the family-separation crisis hadn’t been resolved, as many Americans believed—it had simply evolved.

[The article discusses two previous stages of the Trump administration's family separation policy, the first stage consisting of family separations done by the Trump administration in secret and the second stage being done in public.] Stage two of the crisis unfolded in the national spotlight. As the number of separations soared past two thousand, and their wrenching details surfaced, hundreds of thousands of Americans protested in the streets. Laura Bush said that the practice broke her heart. The American Academy of Pediatrics denounced it as “abhorrent,” noting that the approach could inflict long-term, irrevocable trauma on children. On June 20th, the President issued an executive order purporting to end the practice.

Now stage three has commenced—one in which separations are done quietly, LUPE’s Tania Chavez asserts, and in which reunifications can be mysteriously stymied. According to recent Department of Justice numbers—released because of an ongoing A.C.L.U. lawsuit challenging family separations—a hundred and thirty-six children who fall within the lawsuit’s scope are still in government custody. An uncounted number of separated children in shelters and foster care fall outside the lawsuit’s current purview—including many like Helen, who arrived with a grandparent or other guardian, rather than with a parent. Many such children have been misclassified, in government paperwork, as “unaccompanied minors,” due to a sloppy process that the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General recently critiqued. Chavez believes that, through misclassification, many kids have largely disappeared from public view, and from official statistics, with the federal government showing little urgency to hasten reunifications. (O.R.R. and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests for comment.)

[ . . . ]

By the end of August, [Helen's grandmother] Noehmi felt desperate. She ate only a few spoonfuls of beef stew each day. Again, she sought hospitalization, for anxiety. [The article discusses how advocates for the immigrant community put public pressure on U.S. immigration authorities, working with other advocacy groups to do a social media campaign publicizing how this little girl was lost in the records of the U.S. government and how U.S. immigration authorities purposely were delaying little Helen's release to her family. This team of advocates for Helen and her family gathered ten thousand signatures and the public support of actress Alyssa Milano.]

[ . . . ]

Jess Morales Rocketto, of Families Belong Together, told me that Helen’s reunion—the result of the first known public mobilization to free a specific kid from O.R.R. custody—holds lessons for a broader organizing effort. “One of the things Helen’s story really showed us is that the Trump Administration never stopped separating children from their families,” Morales Rocketto said. “In fact, they’ve doubled down, but it’s even more insidious now, because they are doing it in the cover of night.” She added, “We believe that there are more kids like Helen. We have learned we cannot take this Administration at their word.”

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-five-year-old-who-was-detained-at-the-border-and-convinced-to-sign-away-her-rights

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Poppy · **247** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 20, 2018 12:55 am

Poppy

Administrator

ATTENTION:

Please, please, please sign this ACLU petition to oppose the Trump Administration's proposal to take away valuable legal rights granted to immigrant children under a court settlement. The court-approved settlement is known as the Flores Settlement and the Trump administration is proposing a federal rule that would eliminate the legal protections given to immigrant children under the Flores Settlement.

If it bothers you-- if it saddens and/or enrages you--what the Trump administration had done so far to sweet, innocent children (including babies and toddlers): How the Trump administration had separated over 2,000 immigrant children from their families who were seeking political asylum (a legal process!); how the Trump administration had deported hundreds of parents seeking political asylum while imprisoning their children in the U.S.; how the Trump administration has made minimum effort to reunite parents with their children and have in fact purposely made it difficult to reunite families; how to this day, 245 children remain in U.S. custody and that some of these children may become parentless because the parents of these children cannot be located; that doctors and psychologists have advocated against the separation of children from their families due to the physical and psychological trauma inflicted on young children (and on their families); how some of these children have suffered from abuse while detained by the Trump administration, including sexual abuse, . . . then please, please, do something . . .because the Trump administration is proposing a rule that will make the lives of these children and their suffering even worse!

Sign this ACLU petition. If you can afford it, donate to the ACLU for their admirable and committed efforts to advocate for these children by fighting the inhumane and cruel policies of the Trump administration.

ACLU wrote:The Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services are considering regulations that could terminate a decades-old and court-approved settlement, known as the Flores Settlement Agreement. Flores protects immigrant children in government custody by regulating the length and conditions of detention. We could be at the brink of losing a critical check against the needless jailing and abuse of immigrant children.

If this new rule is approved and Flores is terminated, the government could expand its jailing of families and promote the prolonged detention of thousands of children.

Detention centers are no place for children – particularly the toddlers and other young children who come to the United States with their families, often fleeing persecution, assault, or torture in their home countries. Medical experts – including whistleblowers working for DHS – have criticized the government’s proposed expansion of family detention, highlighting the inadequate access to medical and mental health care and lack of legal assistance and basic childcare. Evidence also shows that detention can have severe negative effects on children’s development.

Jailing children can cause severe, irreparable, and lifelong psychological harm. Scientific and medical experts, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, have issued numerous warnings about the harmful impact of jailing families and have emphatically stated that children should never be detained.

[ . . .]

It’s clear that Trump is trying to strip away every last protection for immigrants – including these protections that are critical to safeguarding vulnerable children. There are reports of rampant physical, verbal, and sexual abuses of children in custody, as well as medical neglect, unlawful restraint, forcible injection of psychiatric medication, and cruel, needless rules that can cause significant long-term harm. Pediatricians warn that even short-term jailing can cause children permanent psychological damage.

Revoking Flores would only exacerbate abuses. If the proposed regulations go into effect, Homeland Security would self-inspect detention facilities. This is especially problematic given that department’s horrific track record of failing to inspect or monitor jails with repeated allegations of sexual and physical abuse and even deaths. The proposed regulations also threaten to leave kids in HHS facilities for longer periods of time, when the law requires that they be released to appropriate homes in the community "promptly."

The Trump administration is trying to find any possible way to harm immigrant children. International condemnation, public outrage, and a rebuke from a federal judge have forced the administration into a corner on its horrific family separation policy. Now Trump is making his next move, so we can’t let up the pressure for even a moment. We have until November 6 to submit our comments to Homeland Security and HHS. Speak up now: The government must not undermine Flores’ protections for immigrant children and families.

NOTE: When you submit a public comment, your comment and the information you submit may be visible as part of the public record.

[Go here for the link to sign an online ACLU petiton: https://action.aclu.org/petition/flores-comments?ms_aff=NAT&initms_aff=NAT&ms=181019_immigrantrights_familyseparation_flores_VAR-hero&initms=181019_immigrantrights_familyseparation_flores_VAR-hero&ms_chan=eml&initms_chan=eml&af=j8yn%2Byxx4g1c7HHldK65L%2FohZof%2BGgWKNrwDI0ZyNThmll47hhdMhmg%2Bd0Ej%2F6vyaPnGp5NyTNIDCh55iBwuMbJfTHQqyZxf08C%2FBzNPrWwSAaIllBaFpGKK91OFN%2BSN85Kv4vrEHZoybQhgBhQ1acSrjVY4rlJw0x7PPSpdk9A%3D ]

Source: https://action.aclu.org/petition/flores-comments?ms_aff=NAT&initms_aff=NAT&ms=181019_immigrantrights_familyseparation_flores_VAR-hero&initms=181019_immigrantrights_familyseparation_flores_VAR-hero&ms_chan=eml&initms_chan=eml&af=j8yn%2Byxx4g1c7HHldK65L%2FohZof%2BGgWKNrwDI0ZyNThmll47hhdMhmg%2Bd0Ej%2F6vyaPnGp5NyTNIDCh55iBwuMbJfTHQqyZxf08C%2FBzNPrWwSAaIllBaFpGKK91OFN%2BSN85Kv4vrEHZoybQhgBhQ1acSrjVY4rlJw0x7PPSpdk9A%3D

Note: The link above also will give you an opportunity to donate to the ACLU online (when you select "Act Now").

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Poppy · **248** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Mon Oct 22, 2018 12:01 am

Register to vote ONLINE NOW!

Poppy · **249** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Wed Oct 24, 2018 10:36 pm

Register to vote ONLINE NOW!

Poppy · **250** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:03 am

Poppy

Administrator

Ok, here's one more despicable instance of the Republican Party suppressing the right to vote of people of color.

In Kansas, the town of Dodge City, whose population of Hispanic immigrants has grown significantly over the years, has only one polling place for its 27,000 residents. The majority of Dodge City's population is non-white. This year, residents of Dodge City are being forced to travel outside Dodge City since the local election officials moved the polling place--the new polling place is located more than a mile away from the nearest bus stop outside Dodge City! And guess who is Secretary of State in Kansas (note: secretaries of state preside over elections)? It's Kris Kobach, who Trump had appointed on the now defunct election fraud panel whose goal was to suppress the right to vote of people of color by claiming voter fraud is rampant (but statistics disprove that voter fraud is a significant problem). And guess who is running for Kansas governor while he, himself (as current Kansas Secretary of State) is presiding over the election process (for Kansas governor) against his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly? Yup , you guessed it: It's Kris Kobach.

Think Progress wrote:
In Kansas’ Dodge City, immigrants are being forced to travel out of town to vote

October 20, 2018

If the residents of Dodge City, Kansas want to vote on election day, they’ll have to travel outside city limits to a polling place that’s located more than a mile away from the nearest bus stop, the Associated Press reported.

[ . . . ]

Now, however, it’s [Dodge City is] home to many immigrants, who moved to the town after two large meatpacking plants opened there in recent years.

Dodge City, according to Johnny Dunlap, the chairman of the Ford County Democratic Party, who spoke to the AP, is one of the only majority minority cities in Kansas. Since 2002, it reportedly has had just a single polling place, which was located in the wealthiest, whitest part of the town.

[ . . . ]

The low turnout and likely further vote suppression could have a major effect on the closely watched gubernatorial election in the state, where Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is notorious for hating immigrants and limiting voting rights, is locked in a tight race with Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly.

. . . Kobach’s office claims there’s nothing unusual or discriminatory about the moving of the polling location.

Source: https://thinkprogress.org/dodge-city-polling-place-moved-0c08d3a62023/

To make matters worse, guess what? County election officials are sending people who just registered to vote to the wrong polling place!!

AP News wrote:
New voters get notices listing wrong Dodge City polling site

October 25, 2018

After moving Dodge City’s sole polling site outside city limits, county election officials sent newly registered voters an official certificate of registration that listed the wrong place to cast a ballot in the midterm election — the latest election snafu to surface in the iconic Wild West town where Hispanics now make up the majority of the population.

[ . . . ]

At the same time, voting rights activists are marshalling their resources to get Dodge City voters to the new polling place — an effort boosted by an outpouring of money and volunteers after widespread national coverage.

Kansas Director of Elections Bryan Caskey admitted that the notices were “confusing,” and said he told Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox that she needed to “inform the voters.” He added that the county is sending another notice to affected registrants.

Cox did not respond to repeated phone and email messages.

[. . . ]

Nearly 600 people have volunteered to come to Dodge City to give people rides to their polling place on election day, Dunlap said. The advocacy group Voto Latino is trying to provide Lyft rides to voters who need transportation. The party is also leasing vans for election day voting, canvassing in neighborhoods and advertising to inform voters of available rides.

Source: https://www.apnews.com/e1b4e441d4a448b98f129fcde0556a98

In current public opinion polling, the issue that is the most important issue to voters is healthcare, especially healthcare protection for people with pre-existing conditions. Republicans are realizing that a clear majority of Americans value affordable healthcare and that Americans worry about losing healthcare coverage because health insurance companies may deny coverage to persons with pre-existing conditions.

Well, if you live in the U.S. and you also are concerned about affordable healthcare that contains protections for people with pre-existing conditions, you should know that Republican politicians have historically opposed Obamacare, and you also should know that Obamacare (also known as the Affordable Care Act), contains unprecedented protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Well, guess what? Republican politicians who are running for national or state offices for this November 6, 2018, midterm elections are now claiming for the first time, that they support Obamacare and now they support protections for people with pre-existing conditions! The hypocrisy of these recent claims of Republican politicians is astounding--I guess they assume voters will just believe their new claims, and they assume that voters are not aware of widespread news reports in the past of how the Republican Party was dedicated to defeating and ending Obamacare.

This hypocrisy is even more evident given that the Trump administration is now trying to erode Obamacare by encouraging states to allow insurance companies to offer "skinny health insurance plans" that are cheaper but that may deny any coverage for treatment of pre-existing conditions.

Los Angeles Time wrote:
Trump administration takes another step to allow health plans that don't cover preexisting conditions

October 22, 2018

The Trump administration Monday took new steps to broaden the availability of health plans that don’t have to cover patients’ preexisting medical conditions, signaling that the federal government would support state proposals to promote more sales of these skimpier plans.

[ . . . ]

But the latest administration proposal to weaken insurance standards comes as President Trump and Republican congressional candidates are intensifying their bid to convince voters that the GOP backs patient protections in the 2010 law, often called Obamacare.

Just last week, Trump claimed on Twitter that “all Republicans support people with preexisting conditions.”

And with just two weeks until the midterm election, GOP lawmakers who voted repeatedly last year to roll back the healthcare law and its protections are [now] insisting they will preserve preexisting-conditions rules.

[ . . .]

“The door is now wide open for states to do an end run around the ACA by creating a parallel market with lower premiums but fewer protections for people with preexisting conditions” [according to Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies health insurance markets].

[. . . ]

The new plan [allowed and encouraged by the Trump administration] would change this guardrail by supporting state proposals that could shift people out of comprehensive health plans into skimpier plans that don’t cover benefits such as prescription drugs, mental health services and maternity care, and that can deny coverage for preexisting medical conditions as long as a state’s residents still have access to a more comprehensive plan.

[ . . . ]

These [federal] regulations [passed by the Trump administration that encourage the "skinny" health care plans] have been almost universally panned by patient advocates, physician groups, hospital associations and others who work in healthcare. They caution that less comprehensive health plans, while potentially cheaper, may leave people with inadequate coverage while pushing up costs for sicker Americans who need plans that cover a full set of benefits.

A Los Angeles Times analysis of official comments filed with federal agencies before the final regulations were issued found more than 98% — or 335 of 340 — of the healthcare groups that commented on the short-term health proposal criticized it, in many cases warning that the rule could gravely hurt sick patients.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-health-plans-20181022-story.html

And for those voters who value Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare, guess what? The Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell actually is open about his goal of reducing these popular social benefits.

Los Angeles Times wrote:
Mitch McConnell says it out loud: Republicans are gunning for Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare next

Oct 19, 2018

At the root of the debate are interviews the Senate majority leader gave to Bloomberg and Reuters on Tuesday and Wednesday. McConnell identified “entitlements” — that’s Washington code for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — as “the real drivers of the debt” and called for them to be adjusted “to the demographics of the future.”

Translation: He wants to cut benefits.

In terms of Republican orthodoxy, McConnell’s remarks are nothing new. Sen. Marco Rubio (Republican-Fla.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (Republican-Wis.) each made exactly the same point last November and December. McConnell himself has made the point before, including during a speech in his home state in 2013.

McConnell’s position on the social insurance programs fits in with Republican policy on the Affordable Care Act; as it happens, the majority leader also telegraphed a plan to try again to repeal the ACA after the midterm elections. That’s despite indications that the ACA is becoming more popular with the public, not less, and voters’ concerns about preserving its protections for those with preexisting conditions may be driving them to the polls — and not to vote Republican.

[ . . . ]

. . . The U.S. Treasury calculated the federal deficit in the 2017-18 fiscal year ended Sept. 30 at $779 billion, close to the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] calculation of $793 billion. That’s the largest federal deficit since 2012, when the government was still spending to assist recovery from the 2008 recession.

. . . The CBO attributed much of the deficit to “recently enacted legislative changes. … In particular, provisions of the 2017 tax act.”

[. . . .]

Keeping in mind that much of the spending on Social Security and Medicare is covered by payroll taxes or premiums, it’s clear that the real driver of the deficit is Republican fiscal policy and its relentless payouts to the wealthy [due to the new tax law which benefited the very wealthy and corporations].

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-mcconnell-social-security-20181019-story.html

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Poppy · **251** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 27, 2018 1:00 am

Poppy

Administrator

It looks like a suspect for the bomb deliveries has been arrested. I hope that they caught the guy who is responsible. There was a total of 14 bombs sent to various individuals, to one media outlet (CNN) and to many critics of Trump, including two former Democratic U.S. Presidents (President Obama and President Bill Clinton) and one Democratic opponent to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton. Most of the individuals who were targets belong to the minority political party, the Democratic Party, and all of the targeted individuals were vocal critics of Trump.

Media is speculating that this one man may have partners or assistance from someone or some organization, but hopefully, we'll find out more soon. Up to now, none of the bombs have exploded and no one was physically injured. The major concern right now is that this guy may have sent more packages that are in transit right now to their targeted victims, so that people may still get hurt.

And guess what, the guy they arrested is a Trump supporter who was seen at a Trump rally. And guess what happens at rallies that Trump speaks at? He calls the free press "the enemy of the people" because at times the press has the nerve to justifiably criticize Trump's acts and his words; Trump insults Democratic leaders and his critics; and he praises a Republican U.S. Congressman of Montana (Greg Gianforte) who body-slammed/assaulted a reporter. And yet, Trump has refused to accept any responsibility for the role that his his inflammatory rhetoric has played in this situation of one of his own followers committing domestic terrorism with the goal of harming multiple people, who include leaders of the minority opposition party, the free press, and other critics of Trump.

It looks like Trump sees himself as the victim in this situation, not the 12 individuals who could have been killed or injured by these bombs, and not the employees of the U.S. mail service who also were at risk. Trump is giving himself credit for not using more inflammatory words that he usually uses???

The Daily Beast wrote:
Trump: Media Trying to Score ‘Political Points’ Against Me With Cesar Sayoc's ‘Sinister Actions’

October 26, 2018

President Trump reportedly claimed the media was attempting to “score political points” by using the “sinister actions” of accused mail-bomber Cesar Sayoc “against” him. “The media’s constant unfair coverage, deep hostility and negative attacks only serve to drive people apart and to undermine healthy debate,” Trump reportedly said during a Friday evening rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. He said the media had “a major role to play” in the tone of political dialogue “whether [the media] want[ed] to or not.” The crowd then erupted into “boos” and “CNN Sucks” chants. . . .When asked earlier Friday if he would “tone down” his anti-media rhetoric in light of Sayoc allegedly sending explosive devices to Trump critics and CNN's New York offices, the president said he could “really tone it up.”

Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-media-trying-to-score-political-points-against-me-with-cesar-sayocs-sinister-actions

New York Times wrote:
Outspoken Trump Supporter in Florida Charged in Attempted Bombing Spree

Oct 26, 2018

An outspoken supporter of President Trump from South Florida was charged on Friday with sending explosive packages to at least a dozen of the president’s critics, apparently bringing to a close an attempted bombing spree that has gripped the country just ahead of the midterm elections.

The suspect, Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr., 56, was arrested . . .

[ . . . ]

A federal criminal complaint spells out his contempt for this week’s many bomb targets, noting that Mr. Sayoc’s van was slathered with images and slogans often found on fringe right-wing social media accounts.

[ . . .]

Mr. Sayoc also posted frequently on right-wing social media groups, the authorities said. On Facebook, Mr. Sayoc published photos of a Trump rally he attended during the 2016 presidential campaign. He was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.

[ . . . ]

In all, Mr. Sayoc is believed to have sent at least 14 bombs to 12 targets, all of whom are regularly disparaged by the right.

[ . . . ]

Some residents of Aventura reported seeing a similar white van, the windows of which were plastered with a thick collage of pro-Trump stickers . . .

Photos of the van showed that one of the stickers depicted a heroic Mr. Trump standing in front of flames and the American flag. Another was of Mrs. Clinton’s face in the cross hairs of a rifle scope. A third said: “CNN Sucks.”

[ . . . ]

For months now, Mr. Trump has been attacking the F.B.I., ridiculing its officials and damaging morale at the bureau.

The swift arrest on Friday was a public win for Mr. Wray, the F.B.I. director, and a reminder of his agency’s effectiveness.

[ . . .]

Of the packages discovered on Friday, the one addressed to Mr. [James] Clapper, the former senior intelligence official, was meant for the New York offices of CNN, where he works as an analyst, but was intercepted at a mail facility in Midtown Manhattan, police officials in New York City said.

The package addressed to [Democratic U.S. Senator, Cory] Mr. Booker was found in Florida.

The device sent to [Democratic U.S. Senator] Ms. [Kamala] Harris’s district office in Sacramento, Calif., was discovered at a mail facility there, she said in a statement on Friday. Mr. [Tom] Steyer [a prominent Democratic donor] said the device addressed to him had been intercepted at a mail facility in Burlingame, Calif.

Speaking on CNN on Friday, Mr. Clapper said he was not surprised that a device had been sent to him.

[A look at the contentious words between the president and some of his most outspoken critics]

“This is definitely domestic terrorism,” Mr. Clapper said. “Anyone who has in any way been a critic, publicly been a critic of President Trump, needs to be on an extra alert.”

Other packages have been addressed to former President Barack Obama [who is a Democrat]; former Secretary of State Clinton [who is a Democrat]; former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. [who is a Democrat]; Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat; former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. [who served under President Obama and who is a Democrat]; John O. Brennan, a former C.I.A. director, the actor Robert De Niro; and George Soros, the billionaire Democratic donor.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/nyregion/cnn-cory-booker-pipe-bombs-sent.html?login=email&auth=login-email

In other tragic news, the Trump administration is once again targeting transgender individuals and working toward rolling back the civil rights of those in the transgender community.

The Washington Post wrote:
Trump Administration considering 'different concepts' regarding transgender rights, with some pushing back internally

October 24, 2018

President Trump said Monday that his administration is “seriously” considering changing the way it treats transgender people under the law, confirming what administration officials describe as a debate about whether to define a person’s sex as a biological fact determined at birth.

The Health and Human Services Department has been pushing for the change, a . . . direct aim at transgender rights, hoping other departments embrace that approach for sweeping impact. But it is unclear whether there is support for the broader effort or whether the regulation would be issued at all, as some in the administration are pushing back.

Such a change seeks to negate claims that gender identity — rather than biological gender — can be used for protection under federal civil rights laws such as Title IX, which bans sex discrimination. If such regulations were adopted, the federal government would consider a transgender person’s sex to be what is determined at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.

[ . . . ]

At stake now is the legal status of some 1.4 million American adults who define their gender as different from their biological sex at birth. . .

The Obama administration acted in myriad ways to enshrine legal rights for transgender people into federal regulations and policy, and the Trump administration has acted to systematically roll back those efforts.

[ . . .]

At HHS, the issue is being driven by Roger Severino, the agency’s director of civil rights, who has long been critical of the Obama administration’s expansion of transgender rights.

[ . . . ]

Reaction to the debate within the administration was swift, with transgender activists hosting a White House rally on Monday and a sharp increase in calls to a transgender crisis hotline.

[ . . . ]

“These are the children they would be hurting,” [Nicola] Van Kuilenburg [whose 18-year-old transgender son is away at college] said. “This particular memo is especially cruel because it is an attempt to erase my son’s identity — to erase all these kids’ identities. My son is who he is.”

Hundreds of marchers chanted “Trans rights are human rights” and “We will not be erased.” Ian S. Thompson, from the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Trump administration has been unleashing an “unending series of attacks on the most vulnerable among us.”

Calls to the Trans Lifeline crisis hotline, based in Oakland, Calif., more than doubled in the 24 hours following the news — with 434 calls by midafternoon Monday, up from 212 on an average Monday.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trump-administration-considering-different-concepts-regarding-transgender-rights-with-some-pushing-back-internally/2018/10/22/0668f4da-d624-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a158f49b5cd3

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Jeremy · **252** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 27, 2018 10:29 am

Jeremy

Advanced II

Poppy wrote:Ok, here's one more despicable instance of the Republican Party suppressing the right to vote of people of color.

In Kansas, the town of Dodge City, whose population of Hispanic immigrants has grown significantly over the years, has only one polling place for its 27,000 residents. The majority of Dodge City's population is non-white. This year, residents of Dodge City are being forced to travel outside Dodge City since the local election officials moved the polling place--the new polling place is located more than a mile away from the nearest bus stop outside Dodge City! And guess who is Secretary of State in Kansas (note: secretaries of state preside over elections)? It's Kris Kobach, who Trump had appointed on the now defunct election fraud panel whose goal was to suppress the right to vote of people of color by claiming voter fraud is rampant (but statistics disprove that voter fraud is a significant problem). And guess who is running for Kansas governor while he, himself (as current Kansas Secretary of State) is presiding over the election process (for Kansas governor) against his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly? Yup , you guessed it: It's Kris Kobach.

In my town of 10000 residents, I think there are at least 6 polling places. Going from my house to the closest polling place takes 5 minutes by car !

Poppy · **253** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:32 am

Poppy

Administrator

Wow, your country seems so advanced. It's maddening and enraging that this kind of interference and obstruction is happening in my country, and that Republican government officials are targeting those citizens who are least able to overcome these man-made obstacles (for example, those voters who do not own their own vehicles must rely on public transportation to get to their polling place, but in this situation, for this November election, the new polling place that local election officials relocated to outside Dodge City is more than 1 mile from the nearest bus stop).

Poppy · **254** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Oct 28, 2018 1:07 pm

Poppy

Administrator

My condolences to the victims and their families, and to the the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, PA, for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue. 11 people died. The gunman made anti-Semitic comments during and before the assault, making it clear he targeted people of the Jewish faith. According to the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights group, this mass shooting is the "deadliest attack against the Jewish community in U.S. history."

The murderer, Robert Bowers, was injured by the police who arrived at the scene and was arrested and charged with counts that included hate crime.

Trump denied that gun laws were in any way related to the mass shooting or that this mass shooting was made that more deadly because of the rapid-fire assault weapon used by the murderer.

Trump did acknowledge that the shooter targeted people of the Jewish faith and he condemned antisemitism. (But note that Trump also has defended neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, VA--that march resulted in the death of a young woman who was protesting against the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who organized the march.)

Like the delivery of bombs to a media outlet (CNN), to many leaders of the Democratic Party, and to critics of Trump that occurred within this same week, this mass shooting was no doubt another case of domestic terrorism. I do not believe that Trump has acknowledged that this mass shooting (or the bomb deliveries this same week) were domestic terrorism. (It seems to me, in my opinion and in the opinion of many media, that Trump only acknowledges terrorism when it is committed by a terrorist who is Muslim and/or from the Middle East, versus his silence when terrorism is committed by people who are not Muslim and/or who are American and white.)

Poppy · **255** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:30 am

Register to vote ONLINE NOW!

Poppy · **256** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Fri Nov 02, 2018 1:02 am

What is Early Voting?

Poppy · **257** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:38 am

Poppy

Administrator

Polls have indicated that healthcare (including protection for people with Pre-existing Conditions) is one of the most important issues to the American people, both Democrats and Republicans alike.

Trump just recently has allowed "skinny" health insurance plans (that are not under Obamacare) to be offered, even if these "skinny" health insurance plans do not provide coverage for Pre-existing conditions. Also note that both Trump and Republican candidates for various offices in this November midterm elections are claiming they will protect people with Pre-existing conditions, even as Trump has tried to undermine Obamacare (which contains unprecedented and vital protections for persons with Pre-Existing conditions): By the Trump administration allowing states to offer alternative "skinny" healthcare plans that are not required to cover Pre-Existing Conditions, by Trump cutting subsidies to insurance companies that would make Obamacare coverage cheaper to consumers, and by Trump cutting outreach/ads that publicize to consumers the availability of Obamacare during an enrollment period. In addition, the same Republican candidates who claim they will support protections for people with Pre-Existing Conditions have joined a Republican-led lawsuit where their goal is to end Obamacare. Trump's Justice Department also is asking the judge in this lawsuit to strike down the provision in the Obamacare law that protects persons with Pre-Existing Conditions. This is an example of sheer hypocrisy of Trump and Republican candidates, with Republican legislators having voted over 70 times to try to repeal Obamacare, but who now claim they support protections for Pre-Existing Conditions. Outright lies! See" Republicans' claim of health-care protection flies in the face of reality "(Washington Post link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-claim-of-health-care-protection-flies-in-the-face-of-reality/2018/11/02/76c292d8-dd39-11e8-b732-3c72cbf131f2_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ac3c5bb934fa )

The Wall Street Journal wrote:
Health Law Faces Its Toughest Stress Test Yet

Nov 1, 2018

Recent and pending GOP efforts to chip away at Affordable Care Act cause new uncertainty as open enrollment begins

The Affordable Care Act’s sixth open-enrollment season begins Thursday, marking a test of the health law’s stability following a series of Republican efforts to roll it back.

The sign-up runs through Dec. 15 for coverage beginning on Jan. 1, 2019, . . .

This is also the first open-enrollment period under a Trump-administration change expanding access to cheaper plans that don’t cover the panoply of benefits mandated by the ACA [the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare]. Those less-expensive plans can also deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

[. . . ]

Analysts had warned 2019 could usher in higher premiums on the individual market—both off and on the exchanges—because of the repeal of the penalty for lacking insurance and because of Mr. Trump’s decision to end billions of dollars in payments to insurers that covered certain cost-sharing subsidies.

[ . . . ]

Uncertainty still looms. Twenty Republican-led states are asking a U.S. district judge in Texas for a preliminary injunction to invalidate the entire ACA, arguing that the repeal of the penalty invalidates the health law overall. [Trump's] The Justice Department has also weighed in, asking the judge to strike down key parts of the ACA, including its protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. Mr. Trump, however, has said Republicans will protect pre-existing conditions.

A hearing on the case was held in September and a decision could come any time, although legal experts expect it to land after next Tuesday’s election.

While the Trump administration has significantly cut outreach funds, states that run their own exchanges are working to get the word out about the sign-up period.

[ . . . ]

Consumers have been able to go online at the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, to preview plans and prices before open enrollment begins. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the ACA, is staffing a call center as usual.

CMS is also encouraging consumers who are currently enrolled to update their information, shop, and pick a plan that suits their needs before the December 15 deadline. As in previous years, CMS will automatically sign up consumers who don’t re-enroll in the same plan or a similar one.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/health-law-faces-its-toughest-stress-test-yet-1541064600

Poppy · **258** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Nov 04, 2018 1:23 am

Poppy

Administrator

-->2018 Election --Help with Transportation to VOTE

If you need help to get to your voting location to vote, try this resource:

Either by *landline or mobile phone, call: 804-424-5335*

An IVR Free Ride Phonebot transcribes the voice recording and sends an email to CarpoolVote.com voter outreach organizers.

Make sure to go this website to fill out the online form with your information that will help them match you with a driver: https://carpoolvote.com/

It is now Sunday morning, November 4.

In two days-- on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6-- we will have important Midterm Elections in states all over the U.S.

This November 6 election will determine whether or not the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate-- our two houses of the U.S. legislature-- will turn from Republican-controlled majority to Democratic-controlled majority. We have an opportunity to have one or two powerful government branches that will act as a check, as a balance, to the Trump administration, so that we can combat or minimize the destruction that this administration does to our planet and to human lives.

This midterm election all over the country will also determine critical state races for state governors, state legislatures, and state attorneys general which will affect millions of lives in their states.

But we can only make a difference if YOU VOTE!

The young generation are the most influential voting group/block in our country, because of their large numbers.

The young people have the most power of all the generations of voters, at this moment, but only if young people exercise their right to Vote!

Saying that you will not vote because the system is rigged or because your vote will not do anything is simply false, because you belong to the largest group--the largest community--of voters in our nation!

And IF those large numbers of young voters actually Vote on Tuesday, November 6, then this generation of young voters will DECIDE the results of this election!

You have the power to change millions of lives for the better. That is an immense power. And failing to vote, likewise, means millions of lives, millions of people, may suffer from your inaction. We already have seen how the failure to vote in 2016 for the U.S. Presidential election has caused such suffering and chaos. Voting matters. Voting makes a difference to so many lives.

Who will be affected by your vote?
--Women, who are seeking to protect their reproductive rights (the right to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives) and their right to be free from sexual harassment and sexual assault
--every person and species on our planet that is affected by global warming which results in drought and destructive storms (and extinction for some species of animals)
--students who face violence in their own elementary schools, high schools and colleges, at concerts and in their own communities, who also struggle with paying off student loans for a large part of their adult lives
--your friends and family who are part of the LGBTQ community who face hate crimes, employment discrimination and general discrimination
--people struggling to afford healthcare and people who have Pre-Existing medical conditions, including your family and friends, who may be denied coverage to treat these conditions
--Immigrant families who are treated with deplorable cruelty, suffering from their babies and children being seized away from their parents, with the U.S. government making no attempts to reunite these families, and with children suffering from emotional/psychological trauma and physical abuse and sometimes sexual abuse in immigration detention centers
--for workers who struggle to make fair wages and who must fight for safety at the workplace in many states
--for people of color, religious minorities, people with disabilities who face discrimination in many segments of their lives, including having their voting rights suppressed, facing employment and housing discrimination and discrimination in schools, and being the targets of bigoted hate violence
--for those who are indigent, homeless, elderly and/or with disabilities who need assistance to eat, to have shelter, and have basic healthcare insurance
--for the free press/the media, who try to report facts and truth and by doing so, are verbally attacked, physically harassed and attacked, and in even murdered with little action taken by our U.S. government (and in some cases, violence and harassment is even encouraged by our U.S. President)
--and many more people who I may have not mentioned

Many media and politicians say this may be the most important election of your life--because of what is at stake.

Show Up
NextGen America

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsWKxUScG-w

Why The Youth Vote Might Change Our Country Forever/ Op-Ed/ NowThis

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS3XHYbmy_0

'We'll Be There, I Bet You Won't.' Elderly Voters Taunt Young Americans in New Get-Out-the-Vote Ad

Link: http://time.com/5414551/senior-citizen-voter-registration-ad/

When We Win / The Last Weekend

Swing Left

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TDJejTVvA

Levi's "Use Your Vote"

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzuJWALzLvU

Also if you have time, please try to watch the Hollywood Election Telethon on Monday, November 5 (the day before the Tuesday, November 6 election).

Reuters wrote:
'Cool to vote': Hollywood election telethon aims to get youth to polls

November 2, 2018

Hollywood celebrities will make a push next week to urge young people to the polls in Tuesday’s U.S. elections, when control of Congress and many state governorships are at stake.

In a first-of-its-kind event, more than 50 actors, comedians and YouTube stars will join a two-hour, live-streamed telethon on Monday night aimed at firing up younger voters, the age group least likely to cast a ballot.

Stars will not ask for money during the “Telethon for America.” Instead, they will urge viewers to call in to a celebrity phone bank and pledge to vote the next day.

Turnout in midterm elections is traditionally lower than in presidential elections. Reuters/Ipsos polling bit.ly/2yNqop7 found that in October [2018] only 25 percent of people aged 18-29 said they were certain to vote in the election, the lowest percentage of any age bracket.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt on Friday added their voices to the campaign to get out the vote.

“This election might be the most consequential of our lifetime,” DiCaprio said in a video message with Pitt released on social media, mentioning issues like gun control, the environment and immigration, without referencing any political party.

[ . . . ]

Jane Fonda, Charlize Theron, Judd Apatow and others will participate in the telethon. Created by comedian Ben Gleib, the telethon will be streamed live from a YouTube production space outside Los Angeles on YouTube(GOOGL.O), Facebook Live (FB.O) and Comedy Central’s(VIAB.O) website.

[ . . .]

Viewers will be directed to information about how and where to vote in the elections.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-hollywood/cool-to-vote-hollywood-election-telethon-aims-to-get-youth-to-polls-idUSKCN1N7273

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Jeremy · **259** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:52 am

Jeremy

Advanced II

Hope the stress and the eventually unsatisfying results won't spoil too much your week :hug

Poppy · **260** Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:24 pm

Poppy

Administrator

Hi Jeremy! I appreciate your support. But I'm not anticipating unsatisfying results--in fact the opposite--I am hopeful!

But we will make a difference to our planet and to many lives, only if people actually Vote!

Like I said, if the young generation, the millennials, actually get out and vote--all the elections that will be held on Tuesday, November 6 all over the country of the U.S. will be decided by the young voters! That means satisfying results, good results! So I'm keeping positive and optimistic--and asking everyone who is registered to vote, to please VOTE!

Hugs back to you Jeremy! :hug

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241 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:28 am

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242 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Oct 07, 2018 11:41 am

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251 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 27, 2018 1:00 am

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252 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sat Oct 27, 2018 10:29 am

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253 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:32 am

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255 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:30 am

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256 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Fri Nov 02, 2018 1:02 am

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258 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Nov 04, 2018 1:23 am

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259 Re: General News You Want to Talk About Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:52 am

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