Sunday, March 17, 2024

Never Trump

 Trump’s Attack On Reproductive Freedom 

  • Trump has bragged about restricting the reproductive freedom of millions of women, saying proudly that “I'm the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade.”
  • Mere days before the ruling, new reporting revealed Trump’s plans for a national abortion ban that would rip abortion rights from even more women across America. 
  • Trump has long supported a nationwide abortion ban, even saying in a speech to his MAGA supporters that “there of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.”
  • Trump has even gone so far as to call for punishing women who have abortions.
  • Trump has claimed credit for every extreme abortion ban passed thanks to his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, and said he was ‘proud’ to have terminated abortion rights.
  • And Trump’s close allies have plans to effectively ban abortion nationwide without the help of Congress. Trump’s allies could even attempt to prosecute doctors and patients for sending or receiving abortion medication in the mail. 
  • According to a poll conducted by the firm of Trump’s own longtime advisor, 86% of voters support IVF.
  • Trump appointed an anti-IVF judge to a lifetime federal judicial appointment. He even added her to a list of potential Supreme Court picks. 
  • The Trump administration proposed a rule that would have allowed healthcare workers to refuse IVF to women who were single, LGBTQ+ or in an interfaith relationship. 
  • Trump’s White House and campaign hosted the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who ruled to restrict access to IVF.

New Reporting Outlines Trump’s Plans To Ban Abortion Nationwide

Overturning Roe wasn't enough for Trump –– as the New York Times reported this morning, now he wants to ban abortion nationwide.

  • This would have devastating effects for people in every state, resulting in millions of women unable to get the health care they need.
  • It’s extreme, dangerous, and out of touch with a majority of Americans –– including Independents. 
  • Trump has called for punishment for women who get an abortion and repeatedly bragged about being “the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade.” He’s claimed credit for the chaos and cruelty happening across the country:
  • More than 1 in 3 women of reproductive age now live under an abortion ban.
  • A majority of state bans have no exceptions for rape or incest.
  • Doctors can be charged with a felony for providing needed reproductive health care and in some states physicians could face life in prison. 
  • Women are being turned away from emergency rooms, risking their lives.
  • This is the horrible reality that Donald Trump has already caused, and it will only get worse if he’s given power again. 
  • This is the choice in this election: Donald Trump will ban abortion nationwide. President Biden and Vice President Harris want to restore Roe and protect reproductive freedom.

Donald Trump’s Racist, Extreme Immigration Plans

  • On Wednesday, a bombshell report from the Washington Post laid out Donald Trump’s racist, extreme, and deeply un-American immigration plans.
  • Trump has already proven that he doesn’t care about securing the border or making America safer: He just killed what would have been the toughest and fairest reforms to secure the border in decades because he thought it would help him politically.
  • Now, Trump is proposing militarizing our immigration system, building mass detention camps, attempting to deny children born here citizenship, and separating families.
  • These aren’t hypothetical threats – as president, Donald Trump plotted ways to militarize our immigration system, and now Trump and his allies are openly talking about their even more extreme and dangerous plans for a second term. 
  • These cruel policies are meant to stoke fear and divide us because Trump is betting a scared and divided nation is how he wins this election.
  • He’s making the wrong bet.
  • The American people chose unity over division and hope over fear in 2020 when they elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and sent Donald Trump packing, and they'll do it again next year.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

What it's like to be a Democrat

Dan Rather wrote this about the former Grifter: 

He has changed what was until recently considered unacceptable behavior for our leaders. He has normalized bigotry, misogyny, racism, ageism, ableism, sexism.

He has changed how we socialize in public places. If politics comes up in conversation, we’re more often inclined to speak softly, if at all, and glance around to make sure we aren’t overheard. Not because we are ashamed of our views, but because we are concerned for our safety.

Full copy here

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) said that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice are not doing enough to protect election workers from rising harassment and threats of violence, which Fontes argues is "imperiling our democracy." It's on the Rolling Stone here

I work elections and this is deeply personal. 

On my LinkedIn account, I have the same words I have on FB, Instagram, Threads, etc. 

Life on Lake Huron. Democrat. Ally. 

And in LinkedIn, I have Human Resources because I still do some (very selective) HR consulting. 

A well-meaning individual sent me a LI message and suggested I remove the word Democrat from my profile. With that word in my profile, companies may not consider me. 

My response was simple: I have no interest in working with anyone who thinks the current GOP is anything less than a full threat to our country and our democracy. So there would be and will continue to be mutual disinterest. But thank you for your concern.

How do we change the narrative? Why should we be afraid to take a position? 

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

What's wrong with the GOP?

Let's start here. 

DONALD TRUMP IS IN THE POCKET OF THE  NRA

We have a gun violence epidemic in this country – gun violence is the leading killer of kids. But at every turn, Trump has caved to the NRA and sold out our kids’ and communities’ safety. 
As president, Trump made the gun epidemic worse by standing in the way of common-sense gun reform and making it easier for criminals to carry guns.
o He promised to block bipartisan bills with common sense gun safety measures. 
o He refused to support proven effective policies like a federal assault weapons ban.
o He rolled back regulations designed to keep guns from dangerous people.
Now Trump is running for reelection on an agenda that would not only fail to tackle gun violence in our communities – it would make us less safe:
o He’s supporting national concealed carry reciprocity legislation that would weaken states’ gun safety laws and harm law enforcement. 
o He’s encouraging concealed carry in our kids’ classrooms and arming teachers.
o He’s promising to roll back President Biden’s bipartisan, effective gun safety measures.
Trump’s agenda is not only dangerous – it’s also wildly out of step with Americans:
o A vast majority of Americans – including independents and gun owners – agree with commonsense actions to reduce gun violence. Donald Trump will block all of them. 
Meanwhile, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken on the NRA to make our communities safer:
o Established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
o Signed the most significant federal bipartisan gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.
o Combating deadly, untraceable ghost guns.
o Closing background check loopholes – and more.
The bottom line: Donald Trump has made it crystal clear who he’s running to serve: when confronted with horrific gun violence, he tells survivors to “get over it,” and at every turn, he has done exactly what the NRA commands him to do.

TRUMP IS BLOCKING BORDER SECURITY 

Donald Trump has directed MAGA Republicans to kill what would be the toughest and fairest reforms to secure the border in decades because he thinks it will help him politically.
This agreement would make our country safer, make the border more secure, and treat people fairly and humanely - and is supported by Donald Trump’s allies – like the Border Patrol Union, which endorsed Trump’s campaigns for president twice – and the Chamber of Commerce.
After years of talk about securing the border, Trump has now proved he would rather put politics first.
That’s exactly who Donald Trump is: always looking out for himself and not the American people
From Day One, President Biden has been working to fix a broken immigration system. 
That’s why, for the past several weeks, his administration has worked in a bipartisan way to negotiate in good faith on a strong and fair bipartisan border security bill.
The American people will know why this bill failed: Donald Trump and his MAGA friends said ‘no’ to border security. 
 

Friday, January 26, 2024

Senate Passage of Human Trafficking Legislation

 Attorney General Nessel Issues Statement on Senate Passage of Human Trafficking Legislation

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel praised today’s unanimous passage of Human Trafficking legislation through the Senate. Senate Bills 515-517 are also supported by the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission, which is housed within the Michigan Department of Attorney General. 

“This legislative package includes long-awaited reforms that will protect human trafficking victims and provide them with the same rights in court currently provided to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence,” said Attorney General Nessel. “It will also provide Michigan law enforcement officers and prosecutors with additional tools to help prosecute those who engage in this heinous, criminal behavior. I applaud the Senate for passing this critical legislation.”

This legislation, sponsored by Senators Rosemary Bayer, Sue Shink and Stephanie Chang, will:  

  1. Add to the hearsay exception and allow for such statements to come in if they were made not only by a victim of domestic violence, but also a victim of human trafficking.
  2. Expand the reach of the statute that allows for admission of other prior similar acts to include admission of other acts of commercial sexual activity, prostitution, and human trafficking, instead of only in domestic violence or sexual assault cases.
  3. Help hold perpetrators of these crimes accountable by allowing jurors to consider an abuser’s or trafficker’s true nature or abuser’s and trafficker’s plans regarding human trafficking offenses.

The Department of Attorney General testified in support of these bills before the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. Since 2011, the Department of Attorney General has provided training to more than 3,000 professionals and filed charges against 35 individuals for human trafficking, which all led to arrests. The Department also has successfully convicted 29 people, with cases against several additional defendants pending.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Trump Is A Far Weaker Candidate Than in 2016 and 2020

Thanks to Simon Rosenberg for his article.  

As I wake this morning I keep returning to this:

In 2022 we were told a red wave was coming - it didn’t.
In 2023 we were told a recession was coming - it didn’t
In 2024 we are being told Trump is a strong candidate - he won’t be

In my view Trump is far more degraded, extreme and dangerous than he was in 2020. His performance on the stump is far more erratic, wild, even comically so. He is making huge unforced political errors (coming out against the ACA, WTF?). And there are at least six things voters will come to learn about him that they didn’t know in 2020 that will push him further and further away from an electorate that has already rejected him and his politics in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023:

He is a rapist
He committed massive, decades long financial fraud
He led an insurrection against the US, tried to end American democracy
He stole America's secrets, lied to the FBI, shared them w/others and betrayed the country
He and his family have taken billions from foreign governments
He ended Roe 

Republicans are taking an extraordinary and unprecedented risk in nominating Trump. He’s the most unfit man to ever run for President, one twice Impeached, 91 times indicted, who has done all these things above, and who may be barred from running for leading an insurrection against the United States. No one who has run for President has had anything like this baggage before. At a strategy level backing him is an extraordinary and unprecedented risk.