Letters From An American

October 27, 2024 by Heather Cox Richardson Read on Substack

(Honestly, the entire Don-Madison Square Garden “event” idea sickened me, but I didn’t think his campaign could afford to do it. Anyway, it happened, and the fact that there was any crowd at all nauseates me. One of my great grandfathers immigrated to the US before the 1st World War, earning his citizenship in part by fighting for the US and allies in that war. The other side of the family immigrated between the wars, as they could see what may have been coming, and did. I’m fairly certain all their spirits, including each and every US veteran in my family living or dead, are also nauseated and maybe angry about this “event.” I’m happy there are people like Heather Cox Richardson, who put sensible light onto historic events. So everybody do all you can to Get Out The Vote! The facts are all on our side. -A)

I stand corrected. I thought this year’s October surprise was the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way. 

It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight. 

There was never any question that this rally was going to be anything but an attempt to inflame Trump’s base. The plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden itself deliberately evoked its predecessor: a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. About 18,000 people showed up for that “true Americanism” event, held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas. 

Like that earlier event, Trump’s rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence.  

Apparently in anticipation of the rally, Trump on Friday night replaced his signature blue suit and red tie with the black and gold of the neofascist Proud Boys. That extremist group was central to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has been rebuilding to support Trump again in 2024. 

On Saturday the Trump campaign released a list of 29 people set to be on the stage at the rally. Notably, the list was all MAGA Republicans, including vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance, House speaker Mike Johnson (LA), Representative Elise Stefanik (NY), Representative Byron Donalds (FL), Trump backer Elon Musk, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right-wing host Tucker Carlson, Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric, and Eric’s wife, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump. 

Libbey Dean of NewsNation noted that none of the seven Republicans running in New York’s competitive House races were on the list. When asked why not, according to Dean, Trump senior advisor Jason Miller said: “The demand, the request for people to speak, is quite extensive.” Asked if the campaign had turned down anyone who asked to speak, Miller said no.  

Meanwhile, the decision of the owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post not to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have sparked a backlash. As Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “in a strange way the papers did perform a public service: showing American voters what life under a dictator would feel like.”

Early on October 26, the Washington Post itself went after Trump backer billionaire Elon Musk with a major story highlighting the information that Musk, an immigrant from South Africa, had worked illegally when he started his career in the U.S. Musk “did not have the legal right to work” in the U.S. when he started his first successful company. As part of the Trump campaign, Musk has emphasized his opposition to undocumented immigrants.

The New York Times has tended to downplay Trump’s outrageous statements, but on Saturday it ran a round-up of Trump’s threats in the center of the front page, above the fold. It noted that Trump has vowed to expand presidential power, prosecute his political opponents, and crack down on immigration with mass deportations and detention camps. It went on to list his determination to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), use the U.S. military against Mexican drug cartels “in potential violation of international law,” and use federal troops against U.S. citizens. It added that he plans to “upend trade” with sweeping new tariffs that will raise consumer prices, and to rein in regulatory agencies. 

“To help achieve these and other goals,” the paper concluded, “his advisers are vetting lawyers seen as more likely to embrace aggressive legal theories about the scope of his power.” 

On Sunday the front page of the New York Times opinion section read, in giant capital letters: “DONALD TRUMP/ SAYS HE WILL PROSECUTE HIS ENEMIES/ ORDER MASS DEPORTATIONS/ USE SOLDIERS AGAINST CITIZENS/ ABANDON ALLIES/ PLAY POLITICS WITH DISASTERS/ BELIEVE HIM.” And then, inside the section, the paper provided the receipts: Trump’s own words outlining his fascist plans. “BELIEVE HIM,” the paper said. 

On CNN’s State of the Union this morning, host Jake Tapper refused to permit Trump’s running mate, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, to gaslight viewers. Vance angrily denied that Trump has repeatedly called for using the U.S. military against Americans, but Tapper came with receipts that proved the very things Vance denied. 

Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden began in the early afternoon. The hateful performances of the early participants set the tone for the rally. Early on, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a steamingly racist set. He said, for example: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” He went on: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” Hinchcliffe also talked about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins. 

The speakers who followed Hinchcliffe called Vice President Kamala Harris “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” They called former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “a sick son of a b*tch,” and they railed against “f*cking illegals.” They insulted Latinos generally, Black Americans, Palestinians and Jews. Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that “Germany is for Germans and Germans only.” 

Trump took the stage about two hours late, prompting people to stream toward the exits before he finished speaking. He hit his usual highlights, notably undermining Vance’s argument from earlier in the day by saying that, indeed, he believes fellow Americans are “the enemy within.”  

But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said. 

It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote.

Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan. 

But to do that, he needs at least a plausibly close election, or at least to convince his supporters that the election has been stolen from him. Tonight’s rally badly hurt that plan. 

As Hinchcliffe was talking about Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris was at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia talking about her plan to spread her opportunity economy to Puerto Rico. She has called for strengthening Puerto Rico’s energy grid and making it easier to get permits to build there. 

After the “floating island of garbage” comment, Puerto Rican superstar musician Bad Bunny, who has more than 45 million followers on Instagram, posted Harris’s plan for Puerto Rico, and his spokesperson said he is endorsing Harris. 

Puerto Rican singer and actor Ricky Martin shared a clip from Hinchcliffe’s set with his 16 million followers. His caption read: “This is what they think of us.” Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who has 250 million Instagram followers, posted Harris’s plan. Later, singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande posted that she had voted for Harris. Grande has 376 million followers on Instagram. Singer Luis Fonsi, who has 16 million followers, also called out the “constant hate.”

The headlines were brutal. “MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump’s MSG rally,” read AxiosPolitico wrote: “Trump’s New York homecoming sparks backlash over racist and vulgar remarks.” “Racist Remarks and Insults Mark Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally,” the New York Times announced. “Speakers at Trump rally make racist comments, hurl insults,” read CNN.

But the biggest sign of the damage the rally did was the frantic backpedaling from Republicans in tight elections, who distanced themselves as fast as they could from the insults against Puerto Ricans, especially. The Trump campaign itself tried to distance itself from the “floating island of garbage” quotation, only to be met with comments pointing out that Hinchcliffe’s set had been vetted and uploaded to the teleprompters. 

As the clips spread like wildfire, political writer Charlotte Clymer pointed out that almost 6 million Puerto Ricans live in the states—about a million in Florida, half a million in Pennsylvania, 100,000 in Georgia, 100,000 in Michigan, 100,000 in North Carolina, 45,000 in Arizona, and 40,000 in Nevada—and that over half of them voted in 2020. 

In 1939, as about 18,000 American Nazis rallied inside Madison Square Garden, newspapers reported that a crowd of about 100,000 anti-Nazis gathered outside to protest. It took 1,700 police officers, the largest number of officers ever before detailed for a single event, to hold them back from storming the venue.

Notes:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-proudboys/

New York Times, October 26, 2024, p. 1.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/26/elon-musk-immigration-status/

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/27/trump-madison-square-garden-rally

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/27/trumps-madison-square-garden-racist-00185770

Imperial Valley Press, February 21, 1939, p. 4.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/washington-post-la-times-endorsements-trump-harris-20241027.html

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They walk among us and they vote

These took several days to wade through.  I admit I do it not only for the news but for the memes in the comment sections which are pure gold.  But just reading the headlines and blurbs can give you a great idea of how really dangerous and disastrous the right / republicans are.   Fox is a totally unhinged media arm of cult tRump.   The rest of the right wing media is desperate for their cult ideas of ruling people and having control of their private lives, sexual expressions, and how people simply exist.  Please look these over and read the ones that interest you.   This shit is serious and real and we have few days left before a direction is chosen for this country.   Also notice that why the right claims that crime is up and people are terrified to step outside their homes, crime is way down.  Hugs

Raikin, you may know, is a far-right extremist.

Harris appeared here in June 2021 when he attempted to bring a loaded and concealed handgun onto the House floor. He then denounced calls for his resignation as “cancel culture.”

In October 2021 he had to be physically separated from Democratic Rep. Collin Allred after an argument over the certification of the 2020 election, which Harris had voted against.

Residents pleaded with the council, arguing that such proposals were divisive, stoked fear among the community, and would further stretch city services. “It is not only unnecessary but also a complete waste of the city’s time, money and resources,” Alexander Ermels, president of PFLAG’s Odessa chapter and a transgender man, said. Mayor Javier Joven [photo], who is up for reelection in November, has said his mission has been to help the city “repent.”

Penalties include a $500 fine and trespassing charges. Odessa, located in west Texas, has a population of 120,000.

The contacts also raise potential national-security concerns.

For the past 13 months, when a 17-year-old applied for a driver’s license or state ID and marked that they would like to register, the DMV’s system did not transmit their voter registration application to the SEC. As a result, approximately 17,000 young voters were not registered to vote despite indicating a desire to do so. These voters were also not notified that their registrations had been rejected.

Mel Manuel, Trans Candidate for U.S. House, Injected T on Camera in a Campaign Ad

Manuel is running on a platform of abortion rights, universal healthcare, and gun control.

BY SAMANTHA RIEDEL

(Way to go-run for office! Especially in and as opposition to people like Steve Scalise-A)

A trans nonbinary Louisiana candidate for the U.S. House released a defiant campaign video this week, showing themself injecting testosterone to defend bodily autonomy.

Mel Manuel, who is running to unseat far-right House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, released the video on social media platforms on Tuesday. In the video, Manuel called on voters to “take a stand” while performing a routine testosterone injection.

“I believe that you, not the government, own your own body,” Manuel told viewers, wearing a “My Body My Choice” T-shirt. “LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”

Manuel, who is running on a platform of abortion rights, universal healthcare, and gun control, highlighted a recent analysis that found Republicans had spent more than $65 million in anti-trans advertisements since the start of August. They also promoted Louisiana’s “Geaux Vote” app, which allows voters to find their polling location and get ballot information.

“To my LGBTQ+ family and our allies… No one is coming to save us,” Manuel wrote in the video description. “We have to show up at the polls for ourselves and for those we love. I’ve spent the last year and a half campaigning because we need to speak up and be represented before it’s too late. You can speak up now with your vote.”

Manuel is the cofounder of Queer Northshore, an LGBTQ+ activist organization based in St. Tammany Parish, and has previously organized against conservative book bans and anti-trans laws in the state. In contrast, Scalise has earned a reputation as a staunchly anti-LGBTQ+ Republican since first taking office in 2008, voting against the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crime Prevention Act, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and the Respect for Marriage Act; he is also firmly anti-trans, condemning “the left’s radical gender ideology” in a 2022 statement calling for trans girls to be banned from school sports. Scalise even once described himself as “David Duke without the baggage,” referring to the infamous former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Given that Manuel is running in opposition to all that, injecting T on camera is a pretty big flex. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean they expect to win; as their campaign website notes, Manuel’s goal is simply to get 35% of the vote. “Even if your candidate doesn’t win, if we can move the needle to 35 percent or 40 percent of the vote, that means the next progressive candidate will get more funding,” they explained to The Nation last year. “There’s a very, very small chance at winning, and I understand that, but we can still use the role of candidacy as a platform in and of itself.”

https://www.them.us/story/mel-manuel-campaign-ad-injection-testosterone

U.K. Teacher Who Outed Trans Student Banned From Teaching in England “Indefinitely”

In a series of posts on X, Camilla Hannan outed a trans student by name and made several disparaging comments about trans identity.

BY MATHEW RODRIGUEZ

A teacher in Manchester, England, who outed a trans student and posted transphobic messages on social media is now banned “indefinitely” from teaching in England.

Prior to the decision, Camilla Hannan had admitted to posting a series of tweets in which she outed a student of hers as trans and disparaged the trans kids at her own school. Though the panel convened in September, the UK’s Teaching Regulation Agency posted the decision online on Tuesday.

(snip)

“In particular, the panel found that Miss Hannan had a deep-seated attitude, and that, whilst she was entitled to have that attitude and hold the views that she did, it was not acceptable for her to have posted these on social media in a way that was damaging to the profession, the school, pupils and in particular Pupil A,” the report reads.

Hannan will be allowed to appeal the decision in two years, though the panel’s decision did not bode well for any future lifting of the suspension. “It is necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession,” the report reads.

This summer, a group of 20 trans teen activists gathered outside the U.K. Department of Education’s London Headquarters in order to demand greater protections for trans students. Activists hoped to underscore the “urgent need for policy changes that respect and protect the rights of trans youth, including their rights to autonomy, safety, trust, respect and inclusion.” One of their demands included protection from transphobic bullying, misgendering, and deadnaming, something that is apparently just as applicable to teachers as fellow students.

https://www.them.us/story/manchester-england-uk-teacher-camilla-hannan-outed-trans-student

The Facts on Anti-Trans Ads: Years in, Anti-Trans Attacks Remain a Political Loser

https://www.hrc.org/news/the-facts-on-anti-trans-ads

Again I wish to thank Janet, whose link I will place below, for showing me the article that had this link.   I was in a bit of despair of having to fight all over the same fights I fought as a kid.  Not realizing for years my fight was over while hers has continued.  I realized how self centered I was being.  I am not sure if the links will come through, but if you go to the site linked above they list states where anti-trans attacks have failed.   Again thanks Janet.    Hugs

https://janetannelogan.com/

————————————————————————————————————————-

by Brandon Wolf 

Voters have routinely rejected candidates who peddle transphobia and try to control their personal health care decisions, and polling shows widespread American support for equality, Democrats as defenders of young people, and a rejection of anti-transgender rhetoric.
 

In State After State, Anti-Trans Attacks Have Failed

 

In Arizona…

 

In Georgia…

 

In Kansas…

 

In Kentucky’s 2023 gubernatorial race…

 

In Michigan…

 

In Nevada…

 

In Ohio…

 

In Pennsylvania…

 

In Wisconsin…

 

In Virginia…

In 2022 Post-Election Polling, Equality Was a Winner and Anti-LGBTQ+ Attacks Were A Dud

Equality Voters delivered huge margins to Democrats at every level of the ballot.

  • At the U.S. House level, 81 percent of Equality Voters supported the Democratic candidate. Equality Voters delivered similar margins for Democratic U.S. Senate candidates and Democratic candidates for governor.

  • That number was comparable to the level of support Equality Voters gave Joe Biden in 2020 (also 81 percent) and nearly matched the level of support Black voters delivered this cycle (87 percent).

  • Among self-identified LGBTQ+ voters, who made up a midterm record 7 percent of the 2022 electorate, fully 80 percent supported U.S. House Democrats. LGBTQ+ voters delivered similar margins for Democratic U.S. Senate candidates and Democratic candidates for governor.

MAGA efforts to spread propaganda about and attack transgender people failed.

  • In this survey, voters were asked which specific issues motivated them to vote this year. Inflation (52 percent) and abortion (29 percent) ranked first and second on this list. Less than 5 percent identified gender affirming care for transgender youth or transgender participation in sports as issues motivating them to vote – last on this list.

  • This confirmed extensive research prior to the election that found anti-transgender attacks were only effective in riling up extreme members of the conservative base

  • While the attacks were ineffective with the general electorate and in fact repelled swing voters, they still caused harm, including increasing stigma, discrimination, and violence against the transgender community.

A Super Majority of Americans Support Equality

New data from Navigator Research shows strong majority support for LGBTQ+ equality, and deep concern over MAGA attacks on fundamental freedoms.

  • Nearly two-in-three Americans support federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, including 58% of independents and 42% of Republicans.

  • 61% say they will not support candidates who want to ban health care for transgender people, including 59% of independents and 41% of Republicans.

  • 70% say they are concerned that politicians are attacking gay and transgender youth to divide us, maintain their political power and control, and score political points, a clear indication that the American people see through the MAGA anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.

  • A majority of Americans agree that parents, mental health professionals, and doctors are best equipped to decide the kind of care a child needs, not politicians.

The vast majority of Americans — 7 in 10 — think that politicians are not informed enough about abortion and gender-affirming care to create fair policies

According to September 2023 polling by The 19th and SurveyMonkey, Americans would prefer that politicians either protect transgender people or not focus on transgender issues at all. Only 17% of Americans, and only 29% of Republicans, say politicians should focus on restricting gender-affirming care.

Americans Believe the Amount of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Is Excessive, Agreeing It Is “Political Theater”

Likely voters across all political parties look at GOP efforts to flood state legislatures with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as political theater. Polling indicates that 64% of all likely voters, including 72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is “too much legislation” aimed at “limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America” (Data For Progress survey of 1,220 likely voters, 3/24-26, 2023).

This quote from Cuban-American former Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen sums it up:

“Intolerance is not a good look on anyone. I remain optimistic that voters will see through this charade and will encourage their elected officials to solve the real problems of America instead of masquerading as Moral Police Officers.”

Majorities Disapprove of Banning LGBTQ+ Content in Schools – and Seem Prepared to Punish Candidates Who Do So

When asked if middle school libraries should include materials related to “gender identity” (57% “should”) and “sexual orientation” (56%), the majority of Americans believe this content should be available. In fact, by a margin of 32 percentage points, Americans are more worried that “materials that could be valuable to students will be removed from school libraries” (62%), than worry that “materials that could be harmful to students will remain in school libraries” (30%).

Yet again, Democrats and Independents are in a different place than their GOP counterparts suggesting headaches for Republicans in the 2024 elections. (Grinnell College National Poll, 3/14-19, 2023)

 

Indeed, it looks like this issue could be a disqualifier for elected officials who support curriculum censorship and book bans, based on recent polling (Ipsos, 4/24-25, 2023 among 1,005 adults nationwide, the vast majority of whom are registered to vote). More than six in 10 Americans say they would be less likely to back a candidate who “supports policies that ban books in schools and in school libraries on subject matter that deals with sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity” (38% more likely, 62% less likely).

And Americans Trust Democrats to Defend Equality, Youth Wellbeing

The 2024 Navigator Research poll showed that President Biden and the Democratic Party are more trusted than Republicans to safeguard LGBTQ+ equality and protect America’s youth.

 

  • 60% of those polled say they trust Democrats to protect the LGBTQ+ community, compared to just 19% who say they trust the GOP.

  • 54% say they trust Democrats to protect the rights and freedoms of the community, compared to just 22% who say they trust the GOP.

  • 46% say they trust Democrats to care for children’s wellbeing, compared to just 37% who say they trust the GOP.

WA man accused of tying noose around teen’s neck because he said he was gay

https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/man-ties-noose-around-teen-neck

OK this is what the right wing regressive movement is all about.  A teen happy with who he was and his friend who may or may not be gay as well, both being harassed and threatened for simply being open about themselves.   They were harming no one, but some asshole right wing adult took offense and wanted to teach them fear for being different from straight cis folk.  This is the right wing / Christian nationalism desire for a 1950s fake culture of only the things they demand be accepted being seen in society.   I remember a person I knew who was elderly asking me why we gays just couldn’t stay in the closet and not let anyone know, it was better then.  I asked for whom?  The answer was those straight cis happy people. 

One of the co-founders of the Florida don’t say gay bill that started all this was a hyper fundamentalist Christian who publically said he wrote the bill because he was upset and disgusted that kids were coming out to their peers and being accepted instead of ostracized, humiliated, and beaten up.  He hated that students, young kids were not targeted for abuse by other kids and teachers.  That stuck with me and burned deeply.  The reason is below.

One day I in science class led by a large what today we would call a maga person teacher, after class ended and I gathered my stuff and started to exit the room I was attacked by a very large kid and his friends.  I was small, about 60 pounds, not even five foot.  I got smashed in the face and body, hit till I fell to the floor.  I knew this feeling, I got it at home, so I did what I did then, covered my face already full of blood, curled up tight and took the kicks and blows.   Before the bell rang again they moved off and I started to uncurl when the teacher grabbed by my shoulder and wrenched me around to face him.  Through tearing blurry eyes I watched as he told me, “This is what you get for being a fagot and I hope they do it again and again”    I went to the bathroom and tried to wash up and stop the blood.  I sat a few classes in the bathroom.  I got marked absent for those classes but no one asked why.  This the world this person who wrote the “Don’t say gay” bill wants to bring back, that they are proud of.   Hugs.  Scottie

———————————————————————————————————————-

 

 
 

Seattle’s ABC affiliate reports:

A 38-year-old Bremerton man was arrested Monday in connection with an alleged assault involving two boys, including his biological son, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. Joseph Sweeney faces multiple charges, including second-degree assault and a hate crime.

The arrest followed allegations that Sweeney assaulted the two boys on October 20. According to the court documents, Sweeney asked his 13-year-old son’s friend if he was gay; when the teen said, “Yes, is it a crime to be gay in this house?” deputies said Sweeney put a noose around his neck and tightened it.

Sweeney allegedly recorded both boys with his cell phone while telling them to kiss each other in an effort to humiliate them, detectives said in the court documents. A search of Sweeney’s residence also led to the discovery of a firearm, which he is prohibited from possessing due to a prior domestic violence protection order issued in Kansas City in 2023.

Read the full article.

The republicans are at it again.

And she’ll need an education legislature, also

we could all use a Good News Tuesday by Jeff Tiedrich

(More good news, after Scottie’s video, as to the early voting news! Blue language alert, so no reading until you’re not somewhere the f-word is not acceptable. Else scroll just a bit, because of course the first sentence is joyous and contains the f-word. Also, italicized script beneath the suns are by the author, Jeff Tiedrich.)

Kamala’s up and Donny’s down Read on Substack

LA LA LA LA no reading here if you’re at work,

LA LA LA LA no reading here if you’re at work.

LA LA LA LA no reading here if you’re at work,

LA LA LA LA no reading here if you’re at work!

🌞 🌞 🌞 🌞 🌞

Okay. Next line,

fuck this fucking nail-biter of an election. good news is out there — let’s have a look.

undecideds are deciding — and they’re breaking towards Kamala Harris.

A majority of voters (80%) say they made up their minds about which candidate to support over a month ago, while 11% made up their minds in the last month, 6% made up their minds in the past week, and 3% still have not made up their mind. 

“Voters who made their decision on who to support over a month ago break for Trump, 52% to 48%, while voters who made up their mind in the last month or week break for Harris, 60% to 36%,” Kimball said. “The three percent of voters who said they could still change their mind currently favor Harris, 48% to 43%.”

I know, right? who could be undecided in a race that’s basically everyone gets a puppy vs diarrhea forever?

but there are huge swaths of votes who just don’t pay attention to politics until the very last minute — and now that they’re finally tuned in, it’s dawning on them that wait, one of the candidates is ass-spraying mayhem? oh, fuck that shit.

think back to 1980. polling showed the race was a dead heat — but in the final weeks, just about every goddamned undecided broke towards Reagan, and what looked like a nail-biter ended up being a blowout.

this year, however, it looks like the fence-sitters are doing the right thing.


hang on, you need some more good polling news? fine, be that way.

Kamala leads dong-obsessed fry chef Donny Convict in favorability by 11 percentage points, while 58% of registered voters fucking loathe Donny.

The nationwide poll, conducted last week, found Harris’s favorability to be significantly higher than Trump’s, with 51 percent of registered voters viewing Harris as a favorable candidate compared to just 40 percent who felt the same about Trump. Independent voters, notably, were equally split on their opinions of Harris, while the majority of independent voters—58 percent—felt negatively about Trump.

don’t forget that this is going to be the first post-Roe national election.

But perhaps no Democratic stance resonated more with voters than abortion, which saw Harris lead Trump by 23 percent.

reproductive rights continues to be a losing issue for Donny, and he’s still bragging about being the guy who shitcanned Roe.


Donny is being abandoned by his base.

white folks who never went to college have long been Donny’s most hardcore cultists — but this year they seem to be suffering from Dear Leader Fatigue.

here’s CNN’s Harry Enten to explain.

“it’s been a key demographic for him — his base. and this is what’s so interesting … in fact, it’s moving away from him. this is Trump’s margin with non-college white voters. this group is not moving towards him. it’s moving slightly away. go back eight years ago, he won it by 33. you go back four years ago, he won it be 31. now we see he’s only up by 27.”

Donny’s losing the people who have been filing out of his hate-rallies early.

after a half hour of listening to him drone on about sharks and batteries and Hannibal Lecter wants to have you for dinner, they turn to their spouse and say Lurleen, let’s go home and see if NASCAR’s on TV.

plus-27 is still a fuck-ton of support from Donny’s base — but in a close election, he can’t afford to lose the additional 6% who voted for him in 2016. these people may never vote for Komrade Kamala, but enough of them may stay home on election day to make a difference.

we’re all worried about post-election fuckery, but let’s not forget that nearly all swing state governors are Democrats.

here’s WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin to talk us all down off that ledge.

Constitutional expert Richard H. Pildes reminded us that scenarios involving mischief by governors are unlikely. “In nearly all the swing states, the governors are Democrats, who are hardly going to be receptive to any entreaties by Trump,” he wrote. Even in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, “have done as much under fire as any political officials to prove their commitment to certifying an accurate, lawful count.” And although a few local boards might refuse to certify, there are remedies in court. (A Georgia court recently rejected the notion that officials could refuse to certify results.)

and, on that note, some Arizona dipshit who thought she could fuck around with certifying her state’s 2022 senate race is now learning that finding out truly sucks.

An Arizona County elections official has agreed to plead guilty after she refused to certify the 2022 election in which Kari Lake lost to Katie Hobbs.

The Washington Post reported Monday that Peggy Judd, who helps lead Cochise County southeast of Phoenix, was indicted last year for allegedly “flouting the state’s deadlines” for the 2022 election certification.

actions, consequences. it’s nice when things work out in that order.


Jill Stein might be hurting Donny this year.

perpetual Kremlin dinner guest Jill Stein is like some fucked-up asteroid. every four years, her weird-ass orbit swings her too close to the Earth, and she ends up dicking with the tides and screwing with our electoral magnetic field.

Jilly’s back, but a new poll apparently indicates that this year, she’s taking away votes from Donny.

A new poll suggests that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is drawing more voters from former President Donald Trump than from Vice President Kamala Harris.

The poll shows Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 47 percent. However, with Stein in the race, Trump’s support dips to 46 percent, while Harris maintains her 49 percent backing, suggesting that Stein draws more support from Trump than from Harris. Though Stein’s voter base remains relatively small, at about 1 percent, it could prove crucial in an election that hinges on tight margins in swing states.


the five innocent and exonerated black men known as the Central Park Five are suing Donny for defamation.

The five men who make up the Central Park Five and now call themselves the Exonerated Five have filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump over his remarks during the presidential debate last month.

During the debate he said: “They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty.”

At the time of the trials, each had pleaded not guilty, and the victim of the attack survived.

ok, this one is not election-related news — but it still makes me laugh to see Donny get served another big, fat slice of Justice Pie.


Donny continues to be an increasingly-deteriorating imbecile.

“it’s as big a water— y’know, it’s as big a water-storm, they say, as we’ve ever seen.”

‘water-storm?’ the word is hurricane, you decompensating dotard.

Alexa, what’s aphasia?

Aphasia is a language disorder that affects how you communicate. It’s caused by damage in the area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. Aphasia leaves a person unable to communicate effectively with others.

Alexa, can aphasia be a sign of dementia?

what the fuck do you think?


so, there’s lots of good news all around — but as a commenter under yesterday’s post said, “we still have to fight like we’re ten points down.” that person is exactly right. we don’t have the luxury of complacency. that’s how we fucked it up in 2016 — we all thought Hillary’s got this in the bag, and so we blew up the balloons and popped the champagne way too early, and too many of us decided it was totes okay stay home on election day. after all, Nate Silver promised us that Hillary had a 99% chance of victory, right? but polls don’t vote — people do.

this year, we all understand the assignment.

Kamala understands the assignment, too. unlike the email lady in 2016, Kamala and Uncle Tim are hitting all the swing states. meanwhile, Donny Convict is squandering his time doing vanity rallies in places like California and New York — states he hasn’t a snowball’s chance of winning.

14 days to the election. if we vote, we win.

Since Thursday I have been in a downward emotional spiral. I am holding on. Here is why.

Hi everyone.  Maybe people are getting tired of hearing my daily struggles that break through my normal defenses sometimes and bring me to not a cliff, but a steep hill almost impossible to not fall down, with things to hit and bounce off of hurting more but very few things to grab on to that I can use to stop the falling.  Two of those things together stopped my fall Friday night, hopefully giving me something I can hold on to that will stop the falling long enough to get off the mountain slope.  I reached close enough to the bottom once in 2014.  I don’t want to fall that far again nor see what is below that at the very bottom of that long fall.  

I also need to explain that for a week I was running on 4 hours sleep and last night I only got 2 hours and 23 minutes (Friday night Saturday morning).  This morning (Saturday) on our walk Ron who also struggled to sleep noticed I was sluggish, slow for me, not talking much.  When we got back home my body couldn’t do more.  Barely able to take off my jacket and getting Ron’s help taking off a heavy long sleeved sweatshirt that was too small for me, after I put on a tee shirt I fell into bed.  I slept all day.  Ron also had not slept so came to bed for 3 or so hours.  During that time I had a nightmare of my childhood abuse and woke him by crying out for my abuser to please stop, to not hurt me more.  Ron woke me as gently as he could.  I again felt shame and sorrow over waking him from his slumber over my own trauma.   It had slowed down greatly but this last week the nightmares and crying outburst while sleeping, and while awake in my Pink Place, which Ron has tried hard to make a safe space for me.   I go through a lot of facial tissues in here.  

On Thursday after not sleeping well and having other issues I watched two videos which later was followed by a third A few days later while still trying to recover.  I just realized over half of my current tabs open on YouTube are of PSAs on child abuse or testimonies of victims trying to find resolution.   I get them in my feed because when I am in a triggered emotional set back I tend to watch these and of course Google / YouTube fills my recommendations with a constant feed of more of them.  And I fall down that mountain slope reaching out and read more and more and more of others abuse making the slope steeper with the things to hit that hurt harder, bigger, and the helpful handholds so less.   The very same reason I had to stop participating on the Male Survivor site.  Once I fall down that mountain slope the more I read / hear of others abuse so much of what happened to me the faster I fall with few things to grab on to that will slow my falling, which seems to get faster the longer I fall.  

The first video was the one that set it off.  I cut it off after the movie went to “Jesus saved my life from my abusive father who was killing me part” when I watched it.  If that saved him I am glad, but Jesus nor religion never stopped my abuse nor were any of my abuser anymore into religion than for a brief period when they got a lot of attention from being involved in the Sunday School teachings they so loved the attention as new members and maybe thought that would wash away all their sins.   They soon got disinterested and left, and I was still being abused.  Abused before it, during it, and after it.  Sometimes I would be abused before we got ready for church and if not before then I knew I would be when we got back home.  In my case the power of the lord had no help for me.  

So the first video was the worst.  It talked about how the father hated the kid because he was another man’s son.  In the video the wife had an affair and that left the husband forever taking his violence on the kid.  In my case I never thought my adoptive mother was my mother, and from the few records I could find after her death it seems my mother’s father paid for me to be adopted and paid the biological father a large sum of money.  But sadly my birth certificate list both of them as my parents.  But that was the feeling of my adoptive father, he was not raising another man’s kid.  He took that anger out on me and made clear his own kids could also to retain his favor.  In the video the other kids snuck him food and comforted him, not mine.  Mine denied the food unless I either humiliated myself or sexual pleased them.  For a few years the daily abuse was less when the adopting mother was around, which was rare, because I was still her adorable little toddler toy to parade around, yet she explained the bruising and lack of normal interaction I had as I was shy and clumsy falling often into things.  The dead eyes and lack of interest in things she explained as being tired because I fought to not go to bed.  As I have said before by the time I was 6 years old in first grade she had stopped protecting me and slowly became a participant in my abuse as I aged rather than just turning away ignoring it.  It took my school getting involved to change a lot in my life.   

But as in the short video, shorter if you don’t watch the Jesus intervention part at the last third, I became aware of the sound of every abuser.    Their footsteps with shoes or bare feet, their breathing when hurting me or using me sexually, both oral and anal, and feared being around them or the sound of them getting closer.  I also wondered if this was the time they did not stop.  I am not sure if I understood if they did not it would be death, I just feared this time they wouldn’t stop and it would keep going on forever.  As a child we had no religious beliefs so I had no idea that the abuse might stop in heaven or continue in hell, I knew nothing of death.  I just knew I wanted them not to hurt me, I wanted to have food and eat like they did, I wanted someone to hold me and tell me I did a good thing like they got.  I wanted affection.  I wanted to be able to go to the bathroom without conditions or being told to pee in a glass that as it filled I would have to drink all of it before being able to continue peeing in the glass until finishing, humiliated, crying, sad, hurt, while the hell spawn and their friends gloated over being able to make me do it.  The friends may not have understood the punishments if I peed my clothing or on the floor being reported to my adopting parents by the hell spawn, as my view wouldn’t be heard.   If they said I just peed myself rather than tell them I needed to go or they made me pee on the floor and said I did it before they could stop me … they would be believed and nothing I said would be heard.  Many times I remember them holding me forcing me to pee on something knowing I would take a nude beating with them looking on gloating.  It was a way to make me willing to accept what they demanded and willingly give them what they wanted from me.  

Sadly the only kind affection I got between late 3 to nearly 7 years old was from a little boy lover pedophile across the street.   His abuse I have never seen as traumatic.  Yes he used my body for his own needs, but he was kind, gentle, his touch and hugs were warm with good feelings.  Even when inside me he was kind, gentle, and constantly praising me as a wonderful boy.  It made me want even more to try to make him happy.   He told me over and over what a good boy I was, he really seemed to care for me which I never saw from the young hell spawn who hurt me for their enjoyment, nor from either adoptive parents. 

One punishment the hell spawn would do when they were home with no adult was to tie a wide belt or rope around my neck and then attach it to the stair banister in a way that my head was jerked into looking up at a painful angle, my hands would be tied to or through the stair rails so I couldn’t use them to defend myself.  I would always be nude.  I would sometimes be blindfolded, that was when I knew that more than them hitting me, hurting me, other kids would also be there to hurt and rape me.  I couldn’t tell where the blows might be coming from, who was grasping me grabbing my hips, who was …, everyone must get the idea.  So yes I learned to hear them, to fear them, and the child diddler across the street never seem bad or a threat to me.  He was the only bright kind light in my life.  Then he killed himself and that kindness when away forever.   But it did set me up for looking for kind abusers in my life.  Such as the principle at my 1st to 6th grade school.  He quickly realized the kid I was and made a friendship with my adoptive mother.  Even as he was facilitated a place and way for me to leave class to laydown behind the library shelves along with letting me go with a police officer questions deflected, he was also using me sexually.   Only once he was he hurtful, that was when I insulted a female teacher so before he raped me he made me with a bare bottom bend over his knees and spanked me hard as a lesson.   Then when I stood up, kissed me, hugged me, told me sternly to always obey my teachers.  And then turned me around, lubing my butt hole, and inserted himself inside me to finish …  planting his seed there.  I was then given an abnormal instruction to pull my pants up, go back to my classroom.  That time I was not offered the option to go laydown, nor go to the bathroom to expel his cum.  I understood I was being punished. I worried about it leaking and the pain of sitting.  Thankfully my teacher never called me out for fidgeting and constant movements in my hard no cushion chair, maybe knowing what was going on with me at home and in school.  

Now it is Sunday morning.  I couldn’t finish this post last night.  I was getting too upset and was too tired.   I got another 3 and half hours of sleep before I got up again.  So here is the rest of the story hopefully with less emotional upset from me.

  Wow just rereading correcting my errors now has me worn out emotionally already.  I can not imagine how it must be for everyone reading who don’t know what the life I lived is like.  It must be stories from a strange foreign world or harmful different government on earth somewhere far away.   Sorry it happened to me here, in New England.  But let me continue to get this out before it consumes me again.  I have so much unresolved pain from the past.  Some want me to ignore it, some want to reveled in it seeing my survival as overcoming it but they lose the point, it still haunts / hurts me.  Left undealt with I will be the one left falling down that steep mountain slope with no way of stopping hitting the bottom … which might be death.  

So you have read all of the above, no reason not to provide you with the videos.  The first was the beatings of a defenseless child, making him the other in the family simply because he was the product of another man’s seed he resented having responsibility to feed or care for.  You have read all of the above so here is the video, and again I ask you to make sure you are in a good place to understand that was my daily life so do not take that pain on yourself because I have already done that for all of us.  Here it is.

The second video that continued my downward spiral and the steeping of the mountain slope I was trying to find footing and keep from falling further down that slope to the hell I knew to be at the end.     This is the one being raped at school.  I was by adults but not students, but the older boys were sexually aware enough to act out on me.  Not physically hurtful but emotionally building that idea that was my place in life, to serve the more aggressive, more developed male.  Lucky for me what they wanted was so silly and quick it meant nothing.  And the teachers caught on quicly that if I asked to use the bathroom and other male kids asked right after … they were told to wait until I was back.  Which was very frustrating to them and made several to try to be my out of school friend.  One night If I could plead for it using my body as currency they never wanted to come back again.  No one came to our home and I was not allowed to go to theirs.  I have no idea what scared the older kids in grade school from wanting wanting to stay over night again.  I was willing to please, but the adopting parents were not willing for me to develop friendships.  One of the prices of the “school friend” leaving the next day was instant abuse to make me avoid asking anyone else to stay over again.   

The last video that I watched a day or two after trying to absorb / deal with the abuse was again one that religious overtones.  But even with that the ending was so shocking / revealing I want to include it.   See if I had understood any religion, if I have thought that there was a way to stop the abuse … I would do what so many other kids did.  I would have taken my life.   That is why this post is so hard to make.  It shows how stupid I was at that age, it shows how clueless I was.  If I thought there was a way to move beyond my life at that stage I would have gladly let them go all the way and kill me.   Sorry for all this.  This has been a many day post as I struggled to first write it, reread it and edit it again, then fall some more down the mountain slope to briefly grab something to try to write again.   Side note.  On the other computer I have 10 videos cued up ready to play about child abuse.  Some are PSAs and some are personal survival videos from abuse victims.  Mostly male but a few female.  YouTuber dumps them into my feed and I open them / watch them or save them … all now send me to the mountain making the slope steeper.  There was a time when the slope was not so steep and much easier to walk away from.  The force drawing me to the bottom so small.  Yet now it is returning to like 2014 and I am no longer having the flat stable land before the slope that I lived on so long.  Now I am right at the edge of that slope and far too often I am struggling as I fall down it unable to resist the pull with few handholds and the hurtful things getting ever more  / harder as I fall.   

This is what I have been fighting for months, I forget how long.  I am dealing with my own needing to leave the Male Survivor site, Kamk’s abuse and his now being in the hospital afraid and triggered.  I struggle to balance his needs that right now are far more immediate than mine.  He feels he is looking at death or worse, life with no way to ever be who he was or wants to be.  I want so badly to reach out and hug him, to hold him, to help him … but I again am that child who was forced to ask to be allowed to drink a 14 year old boys urine so I wouldn’t be beaten in the morning. Here is the last video I watched.  I wont be sharing the others in my cue … maybe just as links but no commentary, but maybe I will grant myself mercy and not include them at all.  I am going to post this and go get a shower I have put off for three days.  Much love and warm comforting hugs for those that want them but also simple heartfelt thanks to those that follow and don’t want that physical touch.  Trust me I understand how disrupting and jarring unwanted touch can be.  I love you even if you don’t want hugs.   Here is the last video which was while Rand and Ron were with me providing the handles to grab on to and the way to make the mountain slope less steep.  Hugs / best wishes.