election day

Election Connection – Year End Wrap

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What a Year from Vote Save America

Let’s look at the list of the races we were following here for the 2022 Election, and see how we fared:

  • Senate Races
  • AZ – Mark Kelly
  • CO – Michael Bennet
  • CT – Richard Blumenthal
  • FL – Val Demmings
  • GA – Rev. Raphael Warnock
  • HI – Brian Schatz
  • NH – Maggie Hassan
  • NV – Catherine Cortez-Masto
  • NY – Chuck Schumer
  • OH – Tim Ryan
  • PA – John Fetterman
  • WA – Patty Murray
  • WI – Mandela Barnes
  • Also, keep an eye on Iowa and Kentucky
  • House of Representatives
  • AK – Mary Peltola
  • MI – Elissa Slotkin
  • NY – Matt Castelli
  • NY – Sean Maloney
  • VA – Abigail Spanberger
  • Governors
  • CA – Gavin Newsom
  • CO – Jared Polis
  • FL – Charlie Crist
  • GA – Stacey Abrams
  • MI – Gretchen Whitmer
  • NY – Kathy Hochul
  • PA – Josh Shapiro
  • TX – Beto O’Rourke
  • Mayor
  • Los Angeles – Karen Bass

Looks like the majority of them won their races. Beto and Tim Ryan were close. We need to keep pushing in Ohio and Texas. In that endeavor, follow Olivia Julianna on Twitter (while there’s still a twitter). She is a Gen Z political activist, doesn’t back down, and speaks her mind.

Have we learned anything from the last several years?

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Election Connection 2022

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There are exactly forty-three (43) weeks until the next Election Day. This is the mid-terms and we need to keep the House AND the Senate. We have slim majorities in both, and we are already seeing how Senate MINORITY Leader Mitch McConnell has been abusing his power. We need to make Joe Manchin one of one hundred instead of THE ONE who can capsize what the majority of us want for this country and our families.

Yes, this is a mid-term election, but regardless, there are NO OFF YEARS. We need to get in it and STAY in it.

Check out the links below to see what you can do NOW!

NOTE: In the Pennsylvania Senate race, I am not endorsing either candidate, but giving you information and the websites of both candidates who I am familiar with. Both have government experience in local and state positions.

Vote Save America

Vote Save America: No Off Years

Democracy Docket

Fair Fight

Beto O’Rourke for Governor of Texas

Stacey Abrams for Governor of Georgia

Ohio Senate Candidate: Tim Ryan, currently Representative in the House of Representatives

PA Senate Candidate: John Fetterman, currently Lt. Governor of PA

PA Senate Candidate: Malcolm Kenyatta, currently Representative in the PA General Assembly

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Election Connection – Election Day 2022

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Election Day is in 49 Days!

Make a plan to vote.

RIGHT NOW!

We need to ensure that we get every seat we can in order to accomplish the American people’s agenda. Voting Rights. Reproductive Rights. End gerrymandering. Equal Justice. a non-partisan Supreme Court.

We can do it together. Let’s go.

Some places to get you started:

Vote Save America

Vote Save America: No Off Years

Democracy Docket

Fair Fight

Friday Food on Tuesday. November.

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I’m sure it’s expected that November’s Friday Food would be related to Thanksgiving. It’s related not to the day of Thanksgiving, but the feelings of giving thanks themselves.

After four years of tension, stress, and for many PTSD, we have elected Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States. His Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris is the first woman, first Black woman, first Indian-American woman to hold that office.

They were put over the top by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and while this post is specifically about Philly, I would be remiss in not mentioning the role Black Women played in Joe Biden’s victory. We owe them a great debt of gratitutde.

In honor of Philadelphia’s role in pushing Biden and Harris over the 270 Electoral votes needed to win, my family went to a local place for cheesesteaks.

No better way to celebrate until Inauguration Day!

Cheesesteaks. (c)2020

Election Connection: ELECTION DAY! IT’S HERE! IT’S NOW!

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Today is Election Day; the last day of the 2020 Election to make your voice heard.

My Home Page is now temporarily an Election Resource Page. It includes voter protection hotlines including for the deaf and hard of hearing, some informative graphics from Vote Save America including how to volunteer and help people waiting in long lines.

When the polls close tonight, it will probably not be over. Here are a few resources to follow or get on email lists. It is also a good idea to support investigative journalism. I can’t afford a lot, but the two things I subscribed to in the last year or so are The Washington Post (on Kindle) and Cafe Insider, which features former US Attorney Preet Bharara and a few of his closest friends and associates who bring national security information to life on several podcasts with interviews on a variety of other subjects as well. These are both well worth the monthly subscription.

Others:

Vote Save America

Dan Pfeiffer’s Message Box

Pod Save America

Marc E. Elias

Ron Klain

Rachel Maddow

Preet Bharara

Connie Schultz

Andy Slavitt

Andy Slavitt’s Podcast: In The Bubble

Penzeys Spices – they have really stepped up in the last four years to help Americans know the issues and walk the walk on their values and ours.

Jesus on Twitter – I know, I know, but this Twitter feed has a way of distilling things into simple terms and reminders and adds a calming feeling in the midst of chaos. (And this Jesus Twitter specifically)

And of course, your own Representatives and Senators. Know who they are, know their online and phone information and continue to hold them accountable. They work for you.

Please add any of your own recommendations in the comments.

Below the cut are some graphics related to VP Biden’s policies including a comparison and timeline between his and Pres. Trump’s covid response/reactions.

Continue reading

Inspire. November.

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November is full of opportunities for gratitude – Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, colorful fall leaves, the smell of apples and cinnamon. We don’t think so much of Election Day as a day of gratitude, but for those of us who cherish our representative democracy, it is definitely a day to count our blessings.

After the last seven months of isolating and after 230,000 covid deaths (and rising), those of us who have been spared have much to be grateful for in addition to respecting the sacrifice made by others, not only the dead, but the frontline workers – in the health care field, in the food field and the fields that grow the food, our first responders, our teachers, and our parents, and so many other unsung heroes.

Tomorrow is Election Day.

It is the final day to vote for the candidate that best represents us, ALL of us. We have the opportunity to vote for the man (this time) who cares; who epitomizes decency and character; who truly feels the empathy this country needs right now. On a more pragmatic note, he also knows how to get things done without divisiveness, without distruct, with honesty and dedication to service, and that is Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. I proudly voted for them more than a week ago during early voting. You can join the majority of this country in turning around the hate train, the white supremecists who in the last two days tried to run the Biden bus off the road in Texas and closed highways in New Jersey and bridges in New York and today blocking polling places in California. We can take our country back, and it begins tomorrow.

“May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight as love and hope and light joined in the battle for the soul of the nation.“ – Joe Biden

What we do, we do together.

Inspire. September.

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BACK TO SCHOOL

And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.

Meister Eckhart
On the cusp. (c)2020

This back to school will be quite different from years past. My youngest starts high school, and yet won’t see the inside of the high school until January. She opted for fully virtual school while my other child in school opted for in-person/remote hybrid. Even back to school night will be virtual.

The above picture I chose was from the last day of our vacation. It is on the cusp between both summer and fall. Its place is so far north that is on a second cusp, balanced between the United States and Canada. It is a home away from home although we’d only stayed at this hotel the one time.

Reading and absorbing Meister Eckhart’s words, I will strive to be more in balance; to start something new; to find the magic of beginnings, and keep moving forward.

This year will be challenging.

It will be hard.

We’ve come through worse, both personally and as a country. We can do this – – – together.

Two days ago, we began school here. We have our agendas and our schedules, our chromebooks and our notebooks.

Yesterday marked forty-nine days until Election Day. As I said then, create your voting plan, and implement it. I was going to do a mail-in ballot, but I think my current plan will be for early voting. I have the dates and the locations, and I’m ready for this new beginning.

This week includes a doctor’s appointment, a therapy session, and the first part of a four part Cursillo workshop and concludes with the observation and celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. That holiday is my personal traditional time for starting anew with plans and changes and goals.

I’m wary… but excited.

I feel goodness and hope. I hope you can feel it also.

Election Connection: 18 Weeks until Election Day: Special July 4th Edition

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The Declaration of Independence.

July 4, 1776.

The day that started it all.

Read it today. Clicking the image will take you to the National Archives where you can read it in full. When you’re finished, read the Constitution next. Believe it or not, it’s not that long.

Word Art. (c)2020

Happy 4th of July!

Election Connection: 19 Weeks: GET OUT THE VOTE!

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Today is primary day in Kentucky (1 US Senate seat, 6 US House seats), New York (27 US House seats), and Virginia (1 US Senate seat, 7 US House seats).

I’ve already voted (about two weeks ago) through absentee ballot.

I’ve also already requested an absentee ballot for the November election.

I would encourage you to make sure you’re registered to vote (and check throughout the summer) and if you have any qualms about voting in person get an application for an absentee ballot and send it in. This is the most important election of our lifetimes. Use your right to vote.

Vote Save America can help you find out if you’re registered and you can help in battlground states by adopting a state. The instructions for doing that are right there on their website.

GET OUT THE VOTE!

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Today is Election Day, and as we’ve seen in the last three years, ALL elections are important ones. On Friday, I was at a Nanowrimo kick-off event and I saw signs for early voting, which is new in New York. I took the opportunity to give it a whirl. It all went well, and it gave me something to talk about with one of our local candidates who was going door-to-door this weekend. It was a good talk, and I felt very confident in my side of the conversation which is unusual for me. As it happened, I had voted for him.

Check your state’s polling hours, and make sure you go to your appropriate polling place.

Close you phone, tablet, and/or computer, and VOTE!