The system by which an original minority of privileged, white slave holders could hold on to power in America is known as the Electoral College. And it continues to poison our democracy today. But change is coming. Inexorably, and resoundingly, coming. /1
Very soon, that same Electoral College math, which has handed the White House and the Supreme Court to the political descendants of that original privileged minority, will begin to turn against them, and brutally. Texas looms large. Florida is shifting. /2
Within four years, and perhaps even in 2020, Texas will join the blue state majority and forge an impenetrable electoral one, with 271 electoral college votes out the gate. The GOP knows this, and so it has scrambled to seize what it can, like a robber fleeing a home. /3
But Mitch McConnell has misjudged the political winds. For the exercise of raw political power is not reserved to him. Now we must use it to crush the remnants of this old, privileged guard. We must not hesitate to restore America to a path of equality, and majority rule. /4
Take your anger, friends, and walk it to the polls. Give to Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Let this Blue Wave become a tsunami, and let it wash out the filthy and the muck from so many years of hypocrisy, corruption and greed. /5
I am 83 years old. I’ve seen the best and the worst this country can be. On Nov 3rd, I pray that the America I know, with all its faults and folly, will find its soul again. And on one bright morning soon to follow after, we will begin the hard work of restoration. /end
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With the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett one step closer today, many are wondering what any of us can do, with Roe v. Wade under threat as never before. I have a few thoughts, which I’ll share in this thread. /1
For many years now, we have seen how conservatives and anti-abortion radicals have trained their sights not only on overturning Roe, but on severely limiting local access to reproductive services, in some cases effectively eliminating it as an option altogether. /2
The right has long understood that politics is local, and that if they want to achieve the kinds of restrictions they envision, they would need to take over state houses, governorships and courthouses around the country. In this they were very effective. / 3
Deep diving a bit, the NYT follow up report notes that Trump has reduced his income by claiming all manner of “consulting fees” as expenses. But the investigation discovered a striking match. /1
Trump’s private records show that his company paid a very specific $747,622 in fees to an unnamed consultant for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia. /2
Guess who owns that company? Ivanka Trump’s public disclosure forms — which she filed when joining the White House staff in 2017 — reveal she had received an IDENTICAL amount through a consulting company she co-owned. /3
I have heard many say that never in their lives have they experienced such fear, that the America they know might be gone for good. Here’s why I have hoped with my head high and my eyes focused ahead. /1 #MondayMotivation#50DaysLeft
When I was just 5 years old, soldiers marched up to our home in Los Angeles and ordered us out. We had done nothing wrong, our crime was looking like the people who had bombed Pearl Harbor. The laws and the Constitution failed to protect us. /2
No one dared stand up for us then. Politicians on both sides, from FDR in the White House to Earl Warren in Sacramento, took advantage of the fear and racism for their own political gain. We lost our home. Our friends lost businesses. We all lost our freedom. /3
People love to say that the USPS operates at a loss. Supporters urge us to go buy stamps. But this won't solve anything. The losses are driven by those trying to dismantle the USPS. In 2006, Congress passed a law that imposed extraordinary costs on the U.S. Postal Service. / 1
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, and they had to do it for 75 years into the future. This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation. /2
If the costs of this mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, it would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. /3
Let me tell you about when we took on Mike Pence in Indiana. He had just signed a "Religious Freedom" law that made it legal for establishments to discriminate against serving LGBTQs based on the sincere religious beliefs of the proprietors. / 1
Pence did it with the full backing of religious bigots who had worked hard to help get him to the governor's office. Business leaders didn't like the law. It made Indiana look backward, and it give bigotry the gloss of official sanction. So we started #BoycottIndiana. / 2
We got it trending on social media. And it worked. Big companies threatened to pull out of Indiana. Other states condemned the law. Mike Pence began back-pedaling, to the dismay of his conservative religious allies. In the end, he was forced to "qualify" the law. / 3
I address this not to Trump’s die-hard supporters, who will remain lost to reason, nor to his detractors, whom I know already stand with me. But to the millions who did not vote in 2016, listen up: This crisis is the result of Trump’s incompetence. We need better leadership. /1
We have a chance this a November to reset our destiny as a nation. We will need a president who believe in and can deliver good government, to get us out of the ditch we are in. Trump is not the man for the job. /2
We have a chance to end the politics of division, hate and blame. America can not withstand four more years of spiraling chaos overseen by unqualified people. The stakes are just too high. /3