Let’s talk about blame and takeaways from 2024….

Yes, Yes, Yes.   Belle is saying what I am hearing everywhere.   Information did not reach the voters it needed to.  Voters concerned and worried about costs to them voted for a man who promised tariffs, something that is designed to raise prices.  We need to find a way to get the information to the people who vote.   Take it from Belle.  Hugs

My thoughts after the election 11 7 2024

I talk about why I think Harris lost the election. What people heard and understood. Mistakes made from hiring people who keep running old playbooks to who was listened to on the ground. This is one of many videos I hope to make on this subject.

Peace & Justice History for 11/9

November 9-10, 1938
Nazis looted and burned synagogues and Jewish-owned stores and homes, and beat and murdered Jewish men, women, and children across Germany and Austria.

Known as Kristallnacht, it was a night of organized violence against Jews marking the beginning of the Holocaust with the killing of 91 and the deportation of 30,000 to concentration camps. The German word translates to “the Night of Broken Glass,” so called because of the vast number of broken windows in Jewish shops, 5 million marks worth ($1,250,000).
Read more 
November 9, 1965
At the first draft-card burning [see November 6, 1965], a heckler shouted that they should burn themselves, not their draft cards. Three days later Roger LaPorte, a student of religion and a Catholic Worker volunteer, poured gasoline on himself and struck a match to it in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York. Police managed to douse the flames.

Roger LaPorte
On his way to the hospital he said, “I’m a Catholic Worker. I’m against war, all wars. I did this as a religious action.” He died 33 hours later. Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement and a speaker on the 15th, wrote that she believed that LaPorte knew it was wrong to take his own life. But she explained his desire to end the Vietnam War; in the previous few days, six massive air strikes had made it the deadliest week since the war began.
Read more 
November 9, 1984
U.S. peace activists sailed a shrimp boat into the Port of Corinto to confront U.S. warships threatening Nicaragua. The U.S. had mined the harbor in violation of international law, and had invaded Nicaragua through this port in 1896 and 1910.
November 9, 1989
For the first time since World War II, free travel between East and West Germany was allowed. The Berlin Wall, built to stop the exodus from the Communist-controlled East in 1961, was opened in response to nonviolent popular action.
   
November 9, 2002
Somewhere between 450,000 and a million Europeans in Florence, Italy, peacefully protested the threatened U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Florence, Italy 11.9.2002
The inaugural meeting of the European Social Forum had just concluded there.It was a regional part of the framework established at the World Social Forum which had met in Porto Alegre, Brazil, first in 2001.

Read more about this protest 
The Forum is a citizens’ movement exploring alternatives to globalization and the inhumane consequences of the changing world order. They focus on sustainable development, social and economic justice. Those who were part of the Forum come from a broad range of civil society, including: pacifists; environmentalists; those in nonprofit, volunteer and non-governmental organizations; representatives of religious and lay groups; those in the anti-globalization and anti-capitalist movements; and, for the first time in Florence (Firenze), significant involvement of the labor movement, notably the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), and trade unions or national confederations from nine European countries, including Russia.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november9

(Oops. I’m sorry about the title. Fixed it, though.)

let’s celebrate acts of defiance

by Jeff Tiedrich

Governors are already saying no to Donald Read on Substack

Snippet (NSFW):

“do not obey in advance.”

that’s the sage advice from historian Timothy Snyder.

Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

obeying in advance is how fascism wins.

just last month, we saw Dick-Rocket Czar Jeff Bezos — owner of the Washington Post — preemptively kowtow to Donny Convict.

‘please sir, don’t hit me. look, look, I’ve told my editor at the Post not to endorse Kamala. they had one all written, and I told them to shitcan it. see, sir? can we be friends now?’

today, lets check in on some leaders who are already saying no to the coming reign of King Fuckface the First.

Donny Convict hates the shit out of California — and, by extension, he hates its Governor, Gavin Newsom. look at this handsome fucker, with his square jaw and his thick head of hair. he makes Donny seem like a misshapen garden gnome by comparison — and Donny knows it.

inside Donny’s childish, ignorant brain, California is entirely populated by chardonnay-sipping hippie elites who hate his guts — and so when disaster strikes, he’s inclined to deny them federal aid.

there’s also that bit about the big fucking Canadian water faucet.

Donny somehow believes that all of California’s water comes from a massive faucet in Canada. this faucet is so ungodly ginormous that it takes an entire day to turn it. I wish I were making this up — but no, our incoming 47th president actually imagines that the reason California experiences droughts is because Gavin Newsom keeps that big-ass faucet under lock and key and won’t let anyone open it.

oh god oh god oh god he’s so fucking stupid. it hurt my brain just to type that last paragraph.

can we just pause to reflect for a moment on just how insane it is for a country to have a chief executive who believes in such a fever-swamp hallucination? this is a man who will once again be in charge of a nuclear arsenal — and he’s wandering about, babbling incoherently about giant spigots. holy shit.

Donny’s already threatening to inflict preemptive retribution on California as part of his Day One Dictatoring — and Governor Newsom has a message for Donny:

just try it, fuck-o.

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump, on Thursday called for lawmakers to convene a special session ahead of another Trump presidency to safeguard the state’s progressive policies. Meanwhile, attorneys general in blue states across the country announced they were also gearing up for a legal fight.

Newsom’s office told The Associated Press that the governor and lawmakers are ready to “Trump-proof” California’s state laws.

no word from Newsom on if he’s ever going to open that big fucking faucet.

Gavin Newsom is not the only governor already taking steps to Trump-proof his state. in Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker is vowing not to put up with any of Donny’s fuckery.

In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said on Thursday he would ask his state’s legislators, possibly as soon as next week, to address potential threats from a second Trump term. “You come for my people,” Mr. Pritzker said at a news conference, “you come through me.”

here’s New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul:

The announcements echoed a vow on Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York to “honor” the election results and to try to work with Mr. Trump, but also to fight any efforts to curtail reproductive freedoms, expand gun rights or curb environmental regulations.

At a news conference, Ms. Hochul addressed Mr. Trump directly: “If you try to harm New Yorkers or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way.”

New York’s Attorney General Letitia James is also promising not to tolerate any of Donny’s shit.

“If possible, we will work with his administration, but we will not compromise our values or our integrity, our principles,” she said. “We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result, and my office has been preparing for several months, because we’ve been here before, we’ve faced this challenge before, and we use the rule of law to fight back.”

Donny’s plan to round up million of immigrants and disappear them into detention camps hinges on using each state’s local law enforcement to do the rounding-up. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy say that Donny can stick that plan where the sun don’t shine.

However, plans for using local law enforcement and the National Guard could face roadblocks in states led by Democrats.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey told MSNBC that she would “absolutely not” allow state police to assist in mass deportations if the Trump administration requested it.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has a message for Donny, who has threatened to fire him: go ahead, make my day. (Snip-go see it)

Canadian police brace for ‘worst-case scenario’ of asylum-seekers fleeing Trump

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-police-brace-worst-case-scenario-asylum-seekers-fleeing-trump-2024-11-08/

Ron started talking moving to Canada right after the election was called.  I explained to him all the reasons we couldn’t do it.  We are at the point now where unless we win the lottery we are going to die in Florida.  On the forums I read the feelings are the same, many want to leave but only those well off can afford to do so.  Those of us under $50,000 a year are stuck where ever we are.  Hugs

People wait for transport to cross into Canada at Roxham Road, in Plattsburgh
A young person waits with their families belongings after getting off a bus and waiting for a taxi to cross into Canada at Roxham Road, an unofficial crossing point from New York State to Quebec, in Plattsburgh, New York, U.S. March 25, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
 
 Canadian police and migrant aid groups are bracing for an influx of asylum-seekers fleeing President-elect Donald Trump’s United States at the same time Canada deals with record numbers of refugee claimants and is trying to bring in fewer immigrants.
The former and now future U.S. president swept to power this week in part on a promise to enact the largest deportation in American history.
Canadian police have been preparing for months, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Charles Poirier on Thursday.
 
“We knew a few months ago that we had to start prepping a contingency plan because if he comes into power, which now he will in a few months, it could drive illegal migration and irregular migration into (the province of) Quebec and into Canada,” he told Reuters.
“Worst-case scenario would be people crossing in large numbers everywhere on the territory. … Let’s say we had 100 people per day entering across the border, then it’s going to be hard because our officers will basically have to cover huge distances in order to arrest everyone.”
 
When Trump first came to power in 2017, thousands of asylum-seekers crossed into Canada between formal border crossings to file refugee claims – overwhelmingly at Roxham Road, near the Quebec-New York border.
Roxham Road is no longer an option: Canada and the U.S. expanded a bilateral agreement so that now asylum-seekers trying to cross anywhere along the 4,000-mile border, instead of only at formal crossings, are turned back unless they meet a narrow exemption.
 
This means people crossing from the U.S. to file claims must sneak across undetected and hide out for two weeks before seeking asylum – a potentially dangerous prospect, immigrant advocates say.
But they add people are already doing it.
“When you don’t create legitimate pathways, or when you only create pathways where people have to do the impossible to receive safety, you know, unfortunately, people are going to try to do the impossible,” said Abdulla Daoud, director of The Refugee Centre in Montreal, which provides services.
 
And those numbers are expected to increase.
Police are on “high alert,” Poirier said, prepared to deploy additional resources to patrol the border. Depending what happens that could mean hundreds more officers. It could also mean more cruisers, chartering buses, building trailers and renting land.
“All eyes are on the border right now. … We were on high alert, I can tell you, a few days before the election, and we’ll probably remain on alert for the next coming weeks.”
 

RECORD CLAIMS

Canada is already dealing with record numbers of refugee claimants: In July, almost 20,000 people filed refugee claims, according to Immigration and Refugee Board data – the highest monthly total on record and driven by global displacement, advocates and experts told Reuters.
The number has since dipped, to about 16,400 in September, but remains historically high. There are more than 250,000 claims pending, according to the board.
Canada’s government has slashed the number of permanent and temporary immigrants but has less control over how many people claim asylum.
Toronto’s FCJ Refugee Centre already serves dozens of new asylum-seekers a week, its founder Loly Rico told Reuters.
Trump’s election is “going to impact Canada,” she said. “We will start seeing more people crossing the border, appearing in cities and looking for support.”
She worries about what will happen in the winter. In 2022, a family of four froze to death trying to cross the border near Emerson, Manitoba.
“It’s going to be a challenge for any refugee in the United States to feel that they belong, and that’s why they will start looking what other countries can start giving them protection.”
Canada’s attempts to tighten its borders have been a boon to smugglers: People used to pay for help getting to the United States and make their way to Canada on their own, Rico said; now they pay extra to come to Canada overland or by air.
Daoud added that ahead of a likely influx, now is the time for Canada to invest in its asylum infrastructure to better support and process people who make refugee claims there.
“Unfortunately, until the government policy shifts in how they look at this particular issue, there’s going to be more of the same. We’re not going to be prepared, and it’s going to be politicized all over again.”
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said his government has a plan for an asylum-seeker influx but would not give details.
Canada’s immigration department “will continue to prepare and anticipate all possible scenarios, any approach taken will be first and foremost in the best interest of Canada and all those who live here,” Miller’s office wrote in a statement.
 
Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Aurora Ellis

Fears grow that woman arrested for undressing in Iran could be tortured in psychiatric unit

Protesters and political prisoners are being drugged, tortured and beaten in state-run institutions, say rights groups

Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities.

Amnesty International said it had found evidence that the Iranian regime used electric shocks, torture, beatings and chemical substances on protesters and political prisoners taken to state-run psychiatric institutions after being called mentally unstable. It said the situation facing the young woman was “alarming”.

Video of the young woman, who has not been formally identified, walking around a university campus in Tehran in her underwear was widely circulated on social media last week before she was seen being arrested by police officers. She is believed to have been protesting at being physically assaulted by campus security guards at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran for failing to comply with the strict dress code imposed on all Iranian women.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) called the student’s transfer to an undisclosed psychiatric facility a “kidnapping”, saying the use of forced transfer of anti-regime protesters to mental health facilities was being increasingly used to silence dissent.

A woman in her underwear sits on a wall while others, including veiled women, walk past
The woman is believed to have been protesting at being physically assaulted by campus security guards. Photograph: X/Amnesty

“Iranian authorities systematically use involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation as a tool to suppress dissent, branding protesters as mentally unstable to undermine their credibility,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI.

“Transferring individuals who participate in peaceful protests to psychiatric hospitals represents not only an act of arbitrary detention but also constitutes a form of kidnapping. This practice is a blatantly unlawful move to discredit activists by labelling them mentally unstable.”

There have been a number of other high-profile cases of protesters arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom demonstrations who were also committed to psychiatric hospitals after their arrest.

Saman Yasin, a well-known Kurdish rapper, was taken by the authorities to Tehran’s Aminabad psychiatric hospital after his arrest at a protest in 2022, where he was allegedly tortured and coerced into a confession. He spent two years in prison before being released on medical furlough last month.

A source close to Yasin told the Guardian: “Saman was tied to the bed in the psychiatric centre in a cruciform position for a long time. They administered high-dose sedatives and despite his unconscious state, the restraints on his hands and feet were not removed.”

In October 2023, Roya Zakeri, a young Iranian woman who was filmed chanting anti-regime slogans, was called mentally unwell by state media and taken to the women’s ward of Razi psychiatric hospital. The Guardian has been told by people close to her family that she was injected with sleeping agents, physically assaulted and had her arms and feet chained.

A woman with her head uncovered stands on a bin or postbox with passersby at her feet, holdinga hijab inthe air.
Rights activist Azam Jangravi protesting in Tehran in 2018. Photograph: supplied

Azam Jangravi, a human rights activist, said she was pressed by Iranian authorities to sign a statement saying she had mental health issues after photographs of her waving her hijab over her head on a Tehran street were widely circulated in 2018.

“When they interrogated me, they accused me of being a spy,” she said. “They wanted me to write a confession stating that I regretted my protest and that I did it because I was mentally unwell. I didn’t sign it … They keep taunting us during interrogations by citing the examples of former political prisoners who were sent to these psychiatric hospitals, [telling us] ‘If you don’t regret your act of protest, you’ll face the same fate.’ I fear the university student is under horrific conditions right now and we must demand her release,” she said.

The Guardian spoke to young women in Iran who said they been inspired by the video of the university student, who was rapidly hailed as a new icon of Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom movement after the video was posted online.

“Nobody I know who protested and has called for freedom from the Islamic Republic does not support her act of protest,” said Farah*, a university student in Tehran. “This is what we are fighting for, to have the freedom to choose. We are in awe of her bravery. If it were up to the regime, all of us who protested would be branded as mentally unwell.”

Images of the young woman have also been posted by pro-regime social media accounts, which have circulated messages about her mental health and personal life.

*Name has been changed

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/08/woman-arrested-iran-undressing-protesters-psychiatric-institutions-rights-groups

Peace & Justice History for 11/8

Short one today, very bad one tomorrow but also some light.

November 8, 1892
Thirty thousand Black and White factory and dock workers staged a general strike in New Orleans, demanding union recognition, closed shops (where all co-workers join the union), and hour and wage gains. They were joined by non-industrial laborers, such as musicians, clothing workers, clerks, utility workers, streetcar drivers, and printers.
November 8, 1935
United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). They had split with the existing labor union umbrella organization, the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which was not interested in organizing unskilled workers, such as those in the steel, rubber, textile and auto industries.

John L. Lewis
CIO history 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november8

Republicans being republicans.

Republicans love third party candidates and ghost candidates when it helps them.  They get Jill Stein to run in every swing state every presidential election.  And only during the presidential election.    But like all republicans they end up whining when things don’t go their way.  Democrats stood up and admitted their loss and conceded with grace.  I know people will suffer, but I hope the republicans so over play their hand that even their base turn against them … but it could be like the 1930s Germany all over again.   I have a doctor’s appointment today so will not be on the computer until later in the morning.   Hugs

Republicans would never use a fraudulent candidate for the purpose of siphoning votes.

Thumbnail

Is this the country the maga cult wants?  Yes?  but what about all the rest who wouldn’t vote for a black woman?  Those who claimed that they wouldn’t vote for Harris because she did not say the right words on Gaza?  Well Israel now has no restraints, good choice you made for them, right?  The brownshirts, the people who want to act like kids in gangs, want to have rule by thugs, that believe might makes right are going to find out it take far more than pretend bravado to keep a country this size running.   The movie Idiocracy was not a how to do it show, but a warning.  Right now we have moved a lot closer to the movie.  Hugs

They always claim to be joking but their intention is to “move the Overton Window” so that when executions do happen, the public is well used to the prospect.

The six degrees of the Overton Window:

-Unthinkable
-Radical
-Acceptable
-Sensible
-Popular
-Policy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

 Wallnau cures Rush Limbaugh’s terminal cancer in the name of Jesus. Wallnau claims there are “high levels of angelic activity” at Trump’s DC hotel. Wallnau claims the MAGAbomber was possessed by Satan to make Trump look bad. Wallnau claims the Charlottesville Nazis were “paid actors” because right wing white supremacists do not exist. Wallnau declares that God killed Antonin Scalia to “wake up America” on how much they needed Trump. Wallnau “takes authority” over Hurricane Maria in the name of Jesus, orders it not to hit Puerto Rico. Wallnau claims Hurricane Irma bypassed Mar-A-Lago because Trump is under God’s protection. Wallnau releases the “Jezebel spirit” on Robert Mueller. Wallnau prays to protect Trump from “witches, jinxes, and demons that jump into dogs.” Wallnau prays for God to “unleash his holy sword” and smite Trump’s enemies. Wallnau claims angels literally dusted his face with gold flakes as a reward for loving Trump. Wallnau prays away obstruction of justice charges against Trump in the name of Jesus. Wallnau claims a gay bar owner was “cured of homosexuality” after eating a slice of anointed cake.

 

DeSantis is the first Florida governor to threaten TV broadcasters with criminal charges unless they stopped running ads he didn’t like. He’s the first governor to send his election police to knock on the doors of Amendment 4 supporters and the first to employ a last-ditch “investigation” of signatures gathered to get that amendment on the ballot. And credit, too, DeSantis for hiring just the right kind of election police.

Read the full editorial. As the paper points out, both measures passed with majority support and DeSantis “only had to shave off a few points” from the required 60% margin.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is taking this election as a mandate to attack trans rights

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/11/marjorie-taylor-greene-is-taking-this-election-as-a-mandate-to-attack-trans-rights/

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention.

Fresh off of her Election Night victory, anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has expressed excitement that she, President-elect Donald Trump, and their MAGA cohorts will no longer tolerate “turning our kids trans.”

“I am so excited!” Greene said from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Election Night party to convicted former Trump advisor Steve Bannon on the Real Americas Voice network. “America will no longer tolerate this communist regime, ripping our border wide open, turning our kids trans, and promoting abortion as reproductive rights. The American people are fed up with a weaponized government. President Trump is going back to the White House!”

She also claimed that Republicans will have to “continue to fight for election integrity…. because the Democrats will steal elections if they’re given the opportunity.” She and Trump have baselessly claimed that Trump only lost the 2020 election due to an unprecedented nationwide conspiracy of voter fraud that only occurred in the states that Trump lost.

She also said that Trump will pardon the insurrectionists who were jailed for the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, “end the climate change scam,” and “go after the people” who persecuted Trump and his supporters, including former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, U.S. Rep. Bennie Gordon Thompson (D-MS), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Trump has referred to Pelosi as a “sick, crazy b**ch” and “an enemy from within.”

Last night, Greene defeated her Democratic challenger Shawn Harris, winning 71.7% of the vote in her deep red district.

Greene has repeatedly tried to shut down Congress to stop votes on the Equality Act, a bill to enshrine federal LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections. She has introduced legislation to ban gender-affirming care, has voted against marriage equality, and has repeatedly accused LGBTQ+ allies of being “pedophiles” and “groomers.”

In July, Greene spoke at a press conference heralding the start of Bannon’s four-month sentence in the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution today for defying a congressional subpoena investigating his assistance in inciting the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

Greene has previously said that an airplane never hit the Pentagon during the September 11 terrorist attacks, claimed that all school shootings are fake, said that California wildfires were started by a Jewish-owned space laser, and accused former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of slicing off a child’s face and wearing it.

 Trump has promised to ban gender-affirming care for minors nationwide and prohibit federal agencies from “promot[ing] the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.” He has pledged to deny federal funding to schools that push “radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate … sexual or political content on our children.”  He has also promised to repeal Biden-era protections for LGBTQ+ students “on Day One.”

 

Trump insulted Bannon when he was convicted of a crime

On the last day of Trump’s presidency, he pardoned Bannon who served as chief executive officer of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Bannon also served as White House chief strategist and senior counselor to Trump from January 2017 until August 18, 2017, when Trump fired him.

In August 2020, Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly spending $1 million of a $25 million GoFundMe campaign to help Trump construct a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Bannon pleaded not guilty and was set to face trial in May 2021 before Trump pardoned him.

Trump initially said the Mexican government would pay for the wall — they never did, and Trump only built 458 total miles of barriers, PolitiFact reported.

In January 2018, Trump and Bannon’s relationship soured after Bannon was quoted in Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House as calling the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump “dumb as a brick” and calling Trump “a crooked business guy” and a “scumbag.”

In response, Trump said in a statement, “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” adding, “Steve had very little to do with our historic victory.” Trump later referred to Bannon as “Sloppy Steve” on Twitter (now X) and claimed that Bannon “cried when he got fired and begged for his job.”

Liberal Redneck – Reaction to Trump Victory