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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
November 8, 2020
Lost in the Fog of Four Years in Trump’s America
I've used TV to anesthetize myself to the outside world. But that ends now.
Libby Hill
Nov 5, 2020 11:45 am
(Indie Wire) My Netflix history lies to me. But I suspect it’s for my own good.
Before I started writing this piece, I wanted to see if I could size up how bad the situation was. When I checked, I saw only partial truths. Yes, I’d watched the entire run of “Great British Bake Off” over the last few weeks, it assured me. That’s fine! Plenty of people binge shows! It’s a pandemic! You’re stressed!
But I knew better. See, not only had I watched the entirety of “Great British Bake Off” seasons available to stream, I had done so multiple times. On repeat. For weeks on end. According to Netflix, though, it was just the once. Much like how Spotify doesn’t call in a wellness check when you listen to the same sad song for two and half months straight, Netflix scrubs your viewing history to only show an episode of a series once. I’m sure their internal records still record the truth and that the uncaring monolith judges me accordingly, but it never lets it show. It knows, perhaps, what’s up.
...(snip)....
This is all to say that the 2016 election broke me. Hillary Clinton was my deeply-flawed hero and I truly believed that when it came right down to it, the country would identify and select the “lesser of two evils.” I was wrong. And suddenly, America was not a country that I recognized anymore.
Except, America hadn’t changed. America was the same as it ever was. I was just seeing it for the first time, as reality was finally beginning to erode the rose-colored glasses of privilege. Or so I thought. ............(more)
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/11/four-years-in-trump-america-1234593230/
Lost in the Fog of Four Years in Trump's America
Lost in the Fog of Four Years in Trump’s America
I've used TV to anesthetize myself to the outside world. But that ends now.
Libby Hill
Nov 5, 2020 11:45 am
(Indie Wire) My Netflix history lies to me. But I suspect it’s for my own good.
Before I started writing this piece, I wanted to see if I could size up how bad the situation was. When I checked, I saw only partial truths. Yes, I’d watched the entire run of “Great British Bake Off” over the last few weeks, it assured me. That’s fine! Plenty of people binge shows! It’s a pandemic! You’re stressed!
But I knew better. See, not only had I watched the entirety of “Great British Bake Off” seasons available to stream, I had done so multiple times. On repeat. For weeks on end. According to Netflix, though, it was just the once. Much like how Spotify doesn’t call in a wellness check when you listen to the same sad song for two and half months straight, Netflix scrubs your viewing history to only show an episode of a series once. I’m sure their internal records still record the truth and that the uncaring monolith judges me accordingly, but it never lets it show. It knows, perhaps, what’s up.
...(snip)....
This is all to say that the 2016 election broke me. Hillary Clinton was my deeply-flawed hero and I truly believed that when it came right down to it, the country would identify and select the “lesser of two evils.” I was wrong. And suddenly, America was not a country that I recognized anymore.
Except, America hadn’t changed. America was the same as it ever was. I was just seeing it for the first time, as reality was finally beginning to erode the rose-colored glasses of privilege. Or so I thought. ............(more)
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/11/four-years-in-trump-america-1234593230/
November 8, 2020
Goodbye, Donald Trump Jr.
By ASHLEY FEINBERG
NOV 07, 202012:08 PM
(Slate) After 39 years of toiling in Ivanka’s shadow, it was finally your moment. Already a devout Republican and unquestionably the most groveling of his offspring, you were exactly the hype man your father needed: dumb enough to believe whatever Daddy told you, coiffed enough to look halfway decent on cable news, and more than passionate enough about hunting to rub elbows with the red state riffraff. That last one was something your father used to despise, but that all changed when he realized his base ate it up. And in return for being precisely the happy warrior your father needed, Trump Sr. regularly acknowledged you in public and even let you get vaguely within touching distance. What more could a perpetual disappointment want?
Now, four years and 20,000 memes later, you’re 42, divorced, and of absolutely no use to your father whatsoever. Remember earlier this month when he joked about how he’d never speak to you or your brother and sister again if he loses? A funny joke when it comes to Ivanka (whom he worships), or Eric (who has remained deeply involved in the family business), but for you? Well, we hope you kept your Halloween costume, because that’s as close to Dad as you’re likely to get. But hey, look on the bright side. You’ve still got the love of none other than Kimberly Guilfoyle. And everyone knows that’s one love that lasts. ...............(more)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/goodbye-donald-trump-jr.html
Goodbye, Donald Trump Jr.
Goodbye, Donald Trump Jr.
By ASHLEY FEINBERG
NOV 07, 202012:08 PM
(Slate) After 39 years of toiling in Ivanka’s shadow, it was finally your moment. Already a devout Republican and unquestionably the most groveling of his offspring, you were exactly the hype man your father needed: dumb enough to believe whatever Daddy told you, coiffed enough to look halfway decent on cable news, and more than passionate enough about hunting to rub elbows with the red state riffraff. That last one was something your father used to despise, but that all changed when he realized his base ate it up. And in return for being precisely the happy warrior your father needed, Trump Sr. regularly acknowledged you in public and even let you get vaguely within touching distance. What more could a perpetual disappointment want?
Now, four years and 20,000 memes later, you’re 42, divorced, and of absolutely no use to your father whatsoever. Remember earlier this month when he joked about how he’d never speak to you or your brother and sister again if he loses? A funny joke when it comes to Ivanka (whom he worships), or Eric (who has remained deeply involved in the family business), but for you? Well, we hope you kept your Halloween costume, because that’s as close to Dad as you’re likely to get. But hey, look on the bright side. You’ve still got the love of none other than Kimberly Guilfoyle. And everyone knows that’s one love that lasts. ...............(more)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/goodbye-donald-trump-jr.html
November 8, 2020
How Black voters in key cities helped deliver the election for Joe Biden
"The fact that we have matched and topped white voter participation and done that while going through voter suppression in new and old forms every year, we are extraordinary," said organizer LaTosha Brown.
Nov. 7, 2020, 5:24 PM EST
By Janell Ross
(NBC News) ATLANTA — In the way that one could on election night 2020, LaTosha Brown was making the rounds.
She was in a suite near the top of a luxury hotel so close to the airport that the balcony view overlooked a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport airplane parking lot. Also there was Cliff Albright, who, with Brown, co-founded the voter mobilization organization Black Voters Matter.
After a Google Hangout with the field directors they had hired to register, engage and boost voter participation around the country, Brown sequestered herself in a bedroom, resting her body in a hotel chair, her tired feet — by then stripped to the socks — on the bed.
Between bites of food and watching election returns turn bits of the national map red or blue, Brown juggled calls, internet video sessions and texts, in each countering the conventional wisdom with journalists, political operatives and others that the election would come down to Donald Trump's mythical all-white suburbs filled with stay-at-home moms or Joe Biden's ability to convert them. Instead, it was decided in racially diverse urban centers and increasingly diverse suburbs in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia.
The Black people who make up 39 percent or more of the population in those areas chose Biden, with some exceptions. In fact, once the vote counts from Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlanta started to near completion, Trump's lead in their respective states disappeared. Biden — who would not have been the Democratic presidential nominee without Black voters in South Carolina — reached 270 Electoral College votes in large part because of Black voters in these cities. ............(more)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/how-black-voters-key-cities-helped-deliver-election-joe-biden-n1246980
How Black voters in key cities helped deliver the election for Joe Biden
How Black voters in key cities helped deliver the election for Joe Biden
"The fact that we have matched and topped white voter participation and done that while going through voter suppression in new and old forms every year, we are extraordinary," said organizer LaTosha Brown.
Nov. 7, 2020, 5:24 PM EST
By Janell Ross
(NBC News) ATLANTA — In the way that one could on election night 2020, LaTosha Brown was making the rounds.
She was in a suite near the top of a luxury hotel so close to the airport that the balcony view overlooked a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport airplane parking lot. Also there was Cliff Albright, who, with Brown, co-founded the voter mobilization organization Black Voters Matter.
After a Google Hangout with the field directors they had hired to register, engage and boost voter participation around the country, Brown sequestered herself in a bedroom, resting her body in a hotel chair, her tired feet — by then stripped to the socks — on the bed.
Between bites of food and watching election returns turn bits of the national map red or blue, Brown juggled calls, internet video sessions and texts, in each countering the conventional wisdom with journalists, political operatives and others that the election would come down to Donald Trump's mythical all-white suburbs filled with stay-at-home moms or Joe Biden's ability to convert them. Instead, it was decided in racially diverse urban centers and increasingly diverse suburbs in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia.
The Black people who make up 39 percent or more of the population in those areas chose Biden, with some exceptions. In fact, once the vote counts from Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlanta started to near completion, Trump's lead in their respective states disappeared. Biden — who would not have been the Democratic presidential nominee without Black voters in South Carolina — reached 270 Electoral College votes in large part because of Black voters in these cities. ............(more)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/how-black-voters-key-cities-helped-deliver-election-joe-biden-n1246980
November 7, 2020
Celebrating in the Motor City
https://twitter.com/marmartraveler/status/1325181520651440128?s=19
November 7, 2020
Big
to
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Detroit
Ann Arbor
Milwaukee
Madison
And all the blue bastions in the Blue Wall
Pennsylvania, another brick in the restored Blue Wall....
Big
to
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Detroit
Ann Arbor
Milwaukee
Madison
And all the blue bastions in the Blue Wall
November 7, 2020
She's mayor of Paris btw
From the mayor of the greatest city in the world (IMO)....
https://twitter.com/Anne_Hidalgo/status/1325115998966607873?s=19She's mayor of Paris btw
November 7, 2020
Norwell officials are raising the alarm on the MBTA's proposed cuts to service on the South Shore, including the ferry to Hingham and Hull and the Greenbush and Plymouth commuter rail lines.
Wheeler Cowperthwaite The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, Mass. (TNS)
NORWELL — Norwell officials are raising the alarm on the MBTA's proposed cuts to service on the South Shore, including the ferry to Hingham and Hull and the Greenbush and Plymouth commuter rail lines.
Town Administrator Peter Morin said in a letter to the MBTA that the town pays its annual assessment into the the transportation authority, yet receives no services within its boundaries, from ferries, trains, buses or subways.
"Commuter rail is an essential component of South Shore commuting, particularly due to the continued disruption of Red Line service," Morin said. "The ferries provide commuters much needed options."
Want news like this sent straight to your inbox? Head over to PatriotLedger.com to sign up for alerts and make sure you never miss a thing. You pick the news you want, we deliver.The Norwell selectmen recognize that the revenue for the MBTA has dried up as commuters have been urged to work from home since in March. ...........(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/news/21161640/ma-norwell-officials-ask-mbta-to-reconsider-rail-ferry-cuts
MA: Norwell officials ask MBTA to reconsider rail, ferry cuts
MA: Norwell officials ask MBTA to reconsider rail, ferry cutsNorwell officials are raising the alarm on the MBTA's proposed cuts to service on the South Shore, including the ferry to Hingham and Hull and the Greenbush and Plymouth commuter rail lines.
Wheeler Cowperthwaite The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, Mass. (TNS)
NORWELL — Norwell officials are raising the alarm on the MBTA's proposed cuts to service on the South Shore, including the ferry to Hingham and Hull and the Greenbush and Plymouth commuter rail lines.
Town Administrator Peter Morin said in a letter to the MBTA that the town pays its annual assessment into the the transportation authority, yet receives no services within its boundaries, from ferries, trains, buses or subways.
"Commuter rail is an essential component of South Shore commuting, particularly due to the continued disruption of Red Line service," Morin said. "The ferries provide commuters much needed options."
Want news like this sent straight to your inbox? Head over to PatriotLedger.com to sign up for alerts and make sure you never miss a thing. You pick the news you want, we deliver.The Norwell selectmen recognize that the revenue for the MBTA has dried up as commuters have been urged to work from home since in March. ...........(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/news/21161640/ma-norwell-officials-ask-mbta-to-reconsider-rail-ferry-cuts
November 7, 2020
Dear Wisconsin: If Trump wants a recount, make him pay up front
Trump has demanded a recount after losing the Badger State. OK then — but given his track record, it's cash only
KIRK SWEARINGEN
NOVEMBER 7, 2020 11:00AM
(Salon) Earlier in this dizzying week, Donald Trump's campaign demanded a recount of the Wisconsin vote, even before it was completed. (Now they'd like to recount the entire election, but that's a different problem.) In an interview with MSNBC's Katy Tur, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said that the state has a "safe, secure and reliable" process but that a recount can happen if the vote is within a one-percent margin. He noted that if the vote is within 0.25%, the state pays for the recount; otherwise, the campaign requesting the recount must pay.
Wisconsin was called for Joe Biden Wednesday afternoon, and a near-final count suggests that Trump trails by slightly more than 20,000 votes. That's not a lot, but it's more than any plausible recount could possibly capture. Again, not the point.
As nearly everyone paying even scant attention to the real world knows by this point, Donald J. Trump is infamous for not paying his bills. Not paying for services rendered is every bit as much a part of his modus operandi as is lying and making up goofy nicknames for his foes. Oh, and saying that something is "unbelievable."
He likes to claim that services have not been rendered to the Trump Organization or that they were not rendered up to his standards. Or that they were late. He pays less than the agreed-upon price or pays nothing, daring the business or contractor to sue him. This has reportedly happened many times to workers at his resorts and various contractors doing work at his buildings. ..............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/11/07/dear-wisconsin-if-trump-wants-a-recount-make-him-pay-up-front/
Dear Wisconsin: If Trump wants a recount, make him pay up front
Dear Wisconsin: If Trump wants a recount, make him pay up front
Trump has demanded a recount after losing the Badger State. OK then — but given his track record, it's cash only
KIRK SWEARINGEN
NOVEMBER 7, 2020 11:00AM
(Salon) Earlier in this dizzying week, Donald Trump's campaign demanded a recount of the Wisconsin vote, even before it was completed. (Now they'd like to recount the entire election, but that's a different problem.) In an interview with MSNBC's Katy Tur, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said that the state has a "safe, secure and reliable" process but that a recount can happen if the vote is within a one-percent margin. He noted that if the vote is within 0.25%, the state pays for the recount; otherwise, the campaign requesting the recount must pay.
Wisconsin was called for Joe Biden Wednesday afternoon, and a near-final count suggests that Trump trails by slightly more than 20,000 votes. That's not a lot, but it's more than any plausible recount could possibly capture. Again, not the point.
As nearly everyone paying even scant attention to the real world knows by this point, Donald J. Trump is infamous for not paying his bills. Not paying for services rendered is every bit as much a part of his modus operandi as is lying and making up goofy nicknames for his foes. Oh, and saying that something is "unbelievable."
He likes to claim that services have not been rendered to the Trump Organization or that they were not rendered up to his standards. Or that they were late. He pays less than the agreed-upon price or pays nothing, daring the business or contractor to sue him. This has reportedly happened many times to workers at his resorts and various contractors doing work at his buildings. ..............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/11/07/dear-wisconsin-if-trump-wants-a-recount-make-him-pay-up-front/
November 7, 2020
(Salon) Two law firms representing the Trump campaign may have violated U.S. Postal Service (USPS) regulations and privacy law in the course of advocating for a voter fraud case in the state of Nevada.
Its electoral hopes dwindling, the Trump campaign shifted strategies on Thursday to attempting to litigate its way to a victory. The campaign filed three lawsuits, two of which were tossed within hours, and announced a fourth in Nevada which would allege "thousands" of cases of criminal voter fraud, including allegedly deceased people.
When that suit was filed, however, neither the Trump campaign nor the Republican Party were attached. Instead, it was brought in a Nevada federal court by a state resident, a "credentialed member" of the media (who also described himself to right-wing One America News as a senior advisor to the Nevada Republican Party) and the congressional campaigns for Nevada Republicans Dan Rodimer and Jim Marchant.
While the lawsuit mentioned "over 3,000 instances of ineligible individuals casting ballots," that is not included among the actual legal charges. Instead, those counts stuck to allegations regarding signature verification and observer access to ballot tabulations.
However, that evening, Trump campaign chief spokesperson Tim Murtaugh posted a criminal referral which campaign lawyers had sent Attorney General William Barr alleging "fraudulent voting by non-residents of Nevada." ............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/11/06/trump-campaign-lawyers-may-have-violated-privacy-act-and-usps-rules-in-nevada-voter-fraud-lawsuit/
Trump campaign lawyers may have violated Privacy Act and USPS rules in Nevada voter fraud lawsuit
(Salon) Two law firms representing the Trump campaign may have violated U.S. Postal Service (USPS) regulations and privacy law in the course of advocating for a voter fraud case in the state of Nevada.
Its electoral hopes dwindling, the Trump campaign shifted strategies on Thursday to attempting to litigate its way to a victory. The campaign filed three lawsuits, two of which were tossed within hours, and announced a fourth in Nevada which would allege "thousands" of cases of criminal voter fraud, including allegedly deceased people.
When that suit was filed, however, neither the Trump campaign nor the Republican Party were attached. Instead, it was brought in a Nevada federal court by a state resident, a "credentialed member" of the media (who also described himself to right-wing One America News as a senior advisor to the Nevada Republican Party) and the congressional campaigns for Nevada Republicans Dan Rodimer and Jim Marchant.
While the lawsuit mentioned "over 3,000 instances of ineligible individuals casting ballots," that is not included among the actual legal charges. Instead, those counts stuck to allegations regarding signature verification and observer access to ballot tabulations.
However, that evening, Trump campaign chief spokesperson Tim Murtaugh posted a criminal referral which campaign lawyers had sent Attorney General William Barr alleging "fraudulent voting by non-residents of Nevada." ............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/11/06/trump-campaign-lawyers-may-have-violated-privacy-act-and-usps-rules-in-nevada-voter-fraud-lawsuit/
November 7, 2020
(Guardian UK) For Democrats, the familiar sinking feeling began in the early hours of Wednesday morning when Florida came out for Donald Trump. The state is a critical battleground. Up until that point a Democratic victory in Tuesday’s US presidential election had seemed likely. Joe Biden, the former vice-president, was going to win, the polls said. Probably by a landslide. The only question was the giddy margin.
But the humiliating rout predicted by the pundits wasn’t happening. Trump’s support was holding up remarkably well. This wasn’t just true of diehard fans who had packed into his election rallies in the tumultuous closing days of an extraordinary campaign. Others were backing him as well. This, despite a health pandemic and a divisive presidency like no other.
The Florida results suggested a more complex picture was emerging. For the Biden camp, it was an alarming one. With 96% of ballots counted, Trump was 375,000 votes ahead. Biden, it turned out, had underperformed in the Democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade County. The president had increased his vote among white, working class and Latino people. And among African Americans.
Trump, it seemed, had defied his critics yet again. He comfortably won Texas, crushing Democratic hopes of flipping the state. In the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania – visited repeatedly by both candidates in recent months – Trump was more than half a million votes ahead. There were other notable wins, including Ohio and Iowa. Much of the electoral map was going red. ..............(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/red-mirage-donald-trump-election-week-soured
The vanishing 'red mirage': how Trump's election week soured
(Guardian UK) For Democrats, the familiar sinking feeling began in the early hours of Wednesday morning when Florida came out for Donald Trump. The state is a critical battleground. Up until that point a Democratic victory in Tuesday’s US presidential election had seemed likely. Joe Biden, the former vice-president, was going to win, the polls said. Probably by a landslide. The only question was the giddy margin.
But the humiliating rout predicted by the pundits wasn’t happening. Trump’s support was holding up remarkably well. This wasn’t just true of diehard fans who had packed into his election rallies in the tumultuous closing days of an extraordinary campaign. Others were backing him as well. This, despite a health pandemic and a divisive presidency like no other.
The Florida results suggested a more complex picture was emerging. For the Biden camp, it was an alarming one. With 96% of ballots counted, Trump was 375,000 votes ahead. Biden, it turned out, had underperformed in the Democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade County. The president had increased his vote among white, working class and Latino people. And among African Americans.
Trump, it seemed, had defied his critics yet again. He comfortably won Texas, crushing Democratic hopes of flipping the state. In the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania – visited repeatedly by both candidates in recent months – Trump was more than half a million votes ahead. There were other notable wins, including Ohio and Iowa. Much of the electoral map was going red. ..............(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/red-mirage-donald-trump-election-week-soured
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