October 31, 2021 / Newsletter 248 |
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HELP US FIGHT JIM CROW 2.0!
Your donations help us in the fight for all eligible voters to be able to cast their votes & have them counted.
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VOTE ON NOVEMBER 2ND!
Only 8% of Gainesville Democrats have voted in the mayoral election. If you’re one of the 92% who have yet to cast your ballot, DO IT ON TUESDAY!
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SAVE THE DATE
Hall County Democrats November Meeting
When: Monday, Nov 8, 6:00-8:00 pm (meeting gaveled to order at 6:30)
Where: Gainesville Civic Center
FEATURED SPEAKER:
John H. Eaves, PhD
Dem Candidate for GA Secretary of State
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VOTE!
LAST CHANCE IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2
YOUR VOTE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. DON’T SKIP VOTING.
VOTE on November 2 at your regular precinct. Click the link to find your voting location on My Voter Page:
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HELP GET OUT THE VOTE!
Laura Colannino is organizing canvassing in Gainesville to get out voters for the mayoral race.
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Get Out the Vote Phone Banking
On November 2nd, Georgians in municipalities across the state will head to the polls for local elections. These local races are crucial to guaranteeing that elected officials across the state are Democrats committed to justice, jobs, and healthcare.
Join us to help make sure Democrats have what they need to vote in these elections and help flip these seats!
-- Click the link and sign up for call shifts today through Election Day (Tuesday)!
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Weekly Thoughts from the Chair:
Honoring Jovita Moore
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On Friday, the relentless march of cancer took the life of Jovita Moore. We knew it was inevitable, but that did not spare us the loss. Jovita made metro Atlanta a better place. She is missed.
We can imagine ways to celebrate Jovita’s life. We can light candles. We can hold a service. We can recount the highlights of her life. We can share our treasured personal experiences with her. These are all good things, of course. Still, I believe that Jovita Moore might prefer that we honor her life by making an admirable and honorable use of our own.
As citizens of Planet Earth, we are indebted to those who brought us from the stone age to the space age. Accordingly, we must be good stewards of our planet and good stewards of our civilization. We are indebted to those who brought us our cherished freedoms. We are obligated to preserve our freedoms and we are morally obligated to resist those who would impose tyranny and fascism.
Citizens have the authority – and the co-existent responsibility. As United States Citizens, we have the authority to determine our leaders. We also have the responsibility to participate in the selection process. We will honor Jovita Moore if we accept our moral responsibility and duty to select our leaders.
We can do this by voting – which is how we exert our moral authority and discharge our moral responsibility.
There’s an election in Gainesville. Go vote. Consider it a tribute to Jovita. I would suggest that you vote for Pandy – but whatever you do – GO VOTE!
Mike
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WE NEED DEMOCRATS TO VOTE! |
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Historian Heather Cox Richardson, professor of American history at Boston College and an expert in the Civil War and Reconstruction, has a warning for Americans:
“We are in an existential fight to defend our democracy from those who would destroy it.
“People seem to hark back to films from the 1930s and 1940s and think that so long as we don’t have tanks in our streets, our government is secure. But in this era, democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.”.
Since Biden won the Presidency almost one year ago, the GOP and the Trump cultists have launched literal and figurative attacks on our democracy. Thousands of angry losers stormed the Capitol building, threatening to kill the Speaker of the House and the sitting Vice President—the 2 people next in line for the Presidency. And in the months since, GOP state legislators have enacted dozens of laws designed to make voting harder, especially for the poor, students, the elderly, the disabled, and people of color.
Richardson writes: “The 33 new election laws in 19 states will not fail. They are designed to replace the idea of democracy with a hierarchy in which a minority will determine our fate.”
The game is already stacked in favor of the minority in Federal elections, with the Senate and the electoral college giving an advantage to less-populated states. Republicans control many state legislators and governorships, ensuring further attempts to disenfranchise progressive urban and suburban voters through redistricting.
Those of us who believe in democracy, and who think that government has a role to play in improving the lives of its citizens face 2 choices:
- We can give up, cede to the Republicans, and try to keep our heads down as the white, extremist Christians take over.
- Or we can vote. We can vote in every election. We can register voters, we can call, text or visit our neighbors to be sure they vote. We can decide that this democracy is worth saving and that we’re willing to spend time and energy to save it.
If you live within Gainesville city limits and you haven’t voted yet, vote on November 2 for Devin Pandy. If you’ve already voted or you live outside Gainesville city limits, sign up to phone bank to get out the vote, call your friends in Gainesville and encourage them to vote. So far only 521 people, out of over 21,000 registered, have voted. This is a solid chance to elect a Democrat to serve in Hall County! Where are our voters?
Make a commitment that our democracy won’t fade away because we were too complacent or too cynical or too busy to try to save it. Don’t turn away. Your country needs you every bit as much now as it needed the greatest generation to fight against the Nazis.
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These Trump fans were at the Capitol on 6 January. Now...
One of the candidates filmed himself on the Capitol steps. Another clambered over scaffolding and waved others forward towards the building. Still more were outside, milling around and protesting against the lawful election of Joe Biden. Of the...
Read more
www.theguardian.com
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Democrats' biggest push for voting rights fails with no...
subscribe to The NPR Politics Podcast podcast Senate Democrats' most forceful and perhaps last push for major voting rights legislation this year was blocked by a Republican filibuster on Wednesday afternoon. The procedural vote to move forward...
Read more
www.npr.org
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State & Local News (Some links may require a subscription)
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Hall's cities aiming for their share of federal Rescue...
Georgia received $2.4 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act money on May 20, and is set to receive a total of about $4.8 billion once its expected second payment hits March 2022. Local governments received some direct ARPA funds last March.
Read more
www.gainesvilletimes.com
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Kelly Loeffler wants Republicans to vote. Is she the...
At 9 a.m. on a recent Saturday in Gainesville, Kelly Loeffler made her way from table to table in a local café. Wearing a pink and green plaid shirt, dark blue jeans and distressed brown work boots, she greeted members of the Republican Women of...
Read more
www.gpb.org
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Brace yourselves: Politicians begin remap of a changing...
The Georgia General Assembly will redraw congressional and legislative districts during a special session that begins at the state Capitol on Wednesday. Majority Republicans will wrestle with creating maps for rapidly growing state that has...
Read more
www.ajc.com
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108,000 people will get medical debt relief after Stacey ...
ATLANTA - The political organization led by Democratic titan Stacey Abrams is branching out into paying off medical debts. The Fair Fight Political Action Committee on Wednesday told The Associated Press it has donated $1.34 million from its...
Read more
www.npr.org
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National News (Some links may require a subscription)
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During Jan. 6 riot, Trump attorney told Pence team the...
As Vice President Mike Pence hid from a marauding mob during the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, an attorney for President Donald Trump emailed a top Pence aide to say that Pence had caused the violence by refusing to block certification of...
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www.washingtonpost.com
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Trump wants call logs, aide's notes hidden from Jan. 6 panel
Former President Donald Trump is trying to block documents including call logs, drafts of remarks and speeches and handwritten notes from his chief of staff relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection from being released to the committee...
Read more
apnews.com
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Claremont Institute's descent into Trumpian extremism...
The program, called the "Sheriffs Fellowship," directly recruits elected county law officers to become part of "a countervailing network of uncorrupted law enforcement officials" in the face of last year's civil unrest, COVID-19 restrictions, and ...
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www.dailykos.com
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The states where the most people are quitting their jobs ...
As reported by Alyssa Fowers and Eli Rosenberg, writing for The Washington Post: Kentucky, Idaho, South Dakota and Iowa reported the highest increases in the rates of workers who quit their jobs in August, according to a new glimpse of quit rates ...
Read more
www.dailykos.com
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