Houston Rockets Home Court to Be Used as Voting Site in November

The clerk’s office in Harris County, Texas, and the Houston Rockets announced Thursday that the Toyota Center home to the National Basketball Association team will be a voting site for the Nov. 3 general election.

The county added the location in anticipation of record voter turnout in light of the coronavirus pandemic and will follow “strict safety protocols to keep voters and election workers safe at the polls,” Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said in a release issued by the NBA.

Any registered Harris County voter will be able to cast a ballot at the downtown Houston arena beginning Oct. 13, seven days a week until Oct. 30, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Election Day during those hours. Parking will be free and the center will follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health guidelines regarding social distancing, the league said.

More access for voters also is the goal of a lawsuit filed Wednesday by voting rights groups against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, urging a federal court to allow local election boards to install more than one drop box for mail-in ballots.

LaRose (R) required counties to have a drop box for the state’s April all-absentee primaries. But on Aug. 12 he prohibited counties from installing more than one drop box. The League of Women Voters, A. Philip Randolph Institute, and the NAACP allege that directive could suppress the votes of “hundreds of thousands of Ohioans” who now face a “Hobson’s choice.”



https://about.bgov.com/news/houston-rockets-home-court-to-be-used-as-voting-site-in-november/

A fascist manifesto is gaining fans on the right, including Mn. state Sen. Roger Chamberlain.

Since last fall, Minnesota State Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, has taken a keen interest in a book called Bronze Age Mindset. The self-published tome has captivated many on the American right while trafficking in neo-fascism, racism and misogyny. The writer is an anonymous internet figure who goes by the pen name “Bronze Age Pervert” and has 45,000 Twitter followers.

The book argues that equality and human rights are unnatural; that most people form a vast, inferior class who will only find “solace and meaning” through “submission” — and that the proper rulers of the world are white men.

A passage claims, “Life appears at its peak not in the grass hut village ruled by nutso mammies” — using a racial slur to refer to Black women — “but in the military state.”

Chamberlain, the influential chairman of the upper chamber’s Taxes Committee, tweeted at the author, Bronze Age Pervert, on April 30, thanking him for an introduction to Bach’s “Fugue in G-minor;” likely a reference to Pervert’s podcast, which uses classical compositions as bumper music. (The podcast is even more overtly white supremacist.)

“The most obvious form of hatred in this book is misogyny,” said Curtis Dozier, a Vassar College professor of classics who documents appropriations of Greco-Roman antiquity by hate groups. “His ideal of masculinity is racialized.”

Dozier has analyzed the book’s appropriations — and misappropriations — of ancient literature.



https://minnesotareformer.com/2020/08/24/a-fascist-manifesto-is-gaining-fans-on-the-right-including-state-sen-roger-chamberlain/

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I'm watching a documentary about Laurel Canyon in the Sixties

Couldn't stomach watching the convention. It must have been an amazing time to live in LA.

Nikki Fried embraces role as Ron DeSantis' counterweight

As Florida’s lone statewide elected Democrat, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is the Democratic Party’s counterweight against Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But the first-term Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services told supporters during a Zoom fundraiser Thursday that her public opposition to the Governor’s pandemic response “was not how (she) wanted to start this year.”

“I’ve always put state before party,” Fried said. “This has not been about partisan politics. This is about having a voice of reason, listening to the experts, and trying to make sure that our state survives, that our economy is back on track stronger than ever.”

Still, the Commissioner described herself as the Florida Democratic Party’s counter to DeSantis amid the pandemic after “seeing from day one that he wasn’t listening to the experts, wasn’t listening to the health care industry, really only cared about one person’s opinion, and that’s Donald Trump.”



https://floridapolitics.com/archives/362550-nikki-fried-embraces-role-as-ron-desantis-counterweight

'She was the aggressor': Former Liberty student alleges sexual encounter with Becki Falwell

A former Liberty University student says Becki Falwell, the wife of the university’s then-President Jerry Falwell Jr., jumped into bed with him and performed oral sex on him while he stayed over at the Falwell home after a band practice with her eldest son in 2008.

The student was 22 at the time of the encounter, near the start of Liberty’s fall semester. He said she initiated the act, and he went along with it. But despite his rejection of further advances, he said, Falwell continued pursuing him, offering him gifts and engaging in banter through Facebook messages.

“She was the aggressor,” he said.

The messages, screenshots of which were provided by the former student to POLITICO, suggest a flirtatious relationship that went beyond what might be expected of a mother communicating with her son’s bandmate.



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/becki-falwell-affair-liberty-university-student-band-jerry-402559

Over 300 LGBT leaders endorse Biden for president : 'The most pro-equality ticket in US history'

More than 300 LGBT leaders threw their support behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president Thursday, stating that the former vice president and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), together make "the most pro-equality ticket in American history."

In an op-ed published by USA Today, the LGBT leaders argued that Biden's career is, "as American as it gets," and touted his record with regard to LGBT issues such as marriage equality.

"He is a leader who has stood with the LGBTQ+ community for decades, offering compassion in our moments of uncertainty and policies to move us forward," they wrote.

"As a senator, vice president, and private citizen, Biden worked tirelessly to advance LGBTQ+ equality. From the repeal of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' to his historic declaration in support of marriage equality on NBC's 'Meet the Press' in 2012, Biden has proven that he will listen to LGBTQ+ people when it counts," the leaders continued.



https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/514037-over-300-lgbt-leaders-endorse-biden-for-president-the-most-pro-equality

Biden to resume campaign travel after Labor Day

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Thursday he will resume campaign travel after Labor Day next month, making stops in some of the most competitive states in the country.

Biden, who has taken his campaign almost entirely online amid the coronavirus pandemic, said at a fundraiser that he plans on going to Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all swing states this November. The former vice president maintained his events will be conducted in line with local health guidance regarding the pandemic.

“Here’s the deal. We plan on, without jeopardizing or violating state rules about how many people can in fact assemble,” he said, according to a pool report of his remarks. “So what we’re working on is how I get out. I’m going to be traveling throughout the country where I can do it consistent with the state rules about how many people can be assembled.”

Biden, known for his retail politicking skills, has done nearly all of his events from his home state of Delaware in the past few months, leading to some handwringing from Democrats that he’s not making enough stops in key states.




https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/514066-biden-to-resume-campaign-travel-after-labor-day

Benson blasts robocall warning Detroit voters to 'beware of vote by mail'

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is warning Detroit voters of a "racially charged" and false robocall that appears to be discouraging mail-in voting ahead of the November election.

The recording tells voters that their personal information will be part of a public database that will then be used by police to track down people with warrants or debt, according to a recording Benson posted Thursday to Twitter.

The CDC is even pushing to give preference for mail in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines," the recording said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Don't be (inaudible) into giving your private information to the man. Stay safe, and beware of vote by mail."

The recording alleges the call was made on behalf of Project 1599, a project spearheaded by conservative social media personality Jacob Wohl and GOP lobbyist Jack Burkman.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/27/benson-blasts-robocall-warning-detroit-voters-beware-vote-mail/3444856001/

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