March 27, 2022 / Newsletter 269 |
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Save the Date
Next meeting of the Hall County Dems is
Monday, April 14, 6:00 pm
(meeting gaveled to order at 6:30)
Gainesville Civic Center
Green Street
Gainesville, GA 30501
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Join Newtown Florist Club Facebook Live on Monday, March 28th, 6 PM
Hospice Resources for you and your families. Sponsored by the NFC African American Health Disparities Committee in partnership with NEGMC Hospice and In-Home Palliative Care.
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Go Tell It In The Mountains! · Democratic Party of Georgia
Democrats Care about preserving and protecting our North Georgia environment!! YOU are INVITED to attend a Day of Engagement! JOIN US April 9 at a Regional Environmental Summit and afterwards hear from our local and state Democrat candidates. .
Read more
www.mobilize.us
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Clermont Residents: Your chance to give input.
Public hearings on Clermont’s 5-year plan will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 29, April 18 and May 16 at the Chattahoochee Center at 639 Main St.
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What's Clermont's five-year plan? Residents can offer...
The planning process is designed to ensure that major projects and policies for the community are developed with public input, said Adam Hazell, the Georgia Mountain Regional Commission's planning director. Clermont's plan will likely focus on...
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www.gainesvilletimes.com
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Upcoming key election dates:
You can request your absentee ballot for May primary now. UPDATED INFO: Elections office begins mailing out ballots on April 25.
Last day to register to vote in May primary: April 25
NOTE: New GA Voting Law requires you to be registered by this date to vote in the primary runoff (if there is one).
Early voting for May primary begins May 2.
Saturday early voting May 7 & 14; Sunday voting May 8 & 15.
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A message from our 9th District Democrats chair
Everybody plan to vote early!!!
Because absentee ballots in Georgia were one of the big ways we were able to get everybody to vote in 2020, Republicans will do all they can to.throw out as many absentee ballots on technicalities as possible… mark my word.
Although you may anticipate having to stand in long lines or being given the 3rd degree by Republicans working there, don't let that stop you from voting.
We truly do have to vote like our life depends on it...
Early voting is the safest and surest way to protect our democracy this year.
June
June Krise is chair of the 9th District Democrats.
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Drive Voters to the Polls
Hall County Dems have the opportunity to work with RideShare2Vote, a national organization that helps coordinate getting voters to the polls.
if you're interested in volunteering to drive people to the polls during the primaries or the general election, email Jennifer LaRose at jblarose13@gmail.com to learn more.
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Writing Wednesdays with Fair Count & VoteRiders · Fair Count
Nearly 155,000 registered Georgia voters do not have ID on file with the State. Under the State's new voting law, they will face additional barriers to casting their ballots. Join Fair Count and VoteRiders for a virtual letter writing party! You...
Read more
www.mobilize.us
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DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN IN HALL!
Apply to be a poll worker to prevent insurrectionists from running our elections.
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'Gutted': What happened when a Georgia elections office...
She zoomed in on the county commissioners who were about to name a new election board, sweeping away a system based on civic-minded volunteers and mutual trust and replacing it with one controlled by people claiming that fraud had corrupted the...
Read more
www.washingtonpost.com
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Apply to Be a Poll Worker
(Paid position)
Hall County is looking for poll workers! Poll workers are the KEY to running a safe, fair election.
Those wishing to become a poll worker for the May 24 General Election Primaries and/or the Nov. 8 General Election may drop by the Hall County Elections Office between March 28 and April 1, during the hours of 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. daily.
Requirements: Must be at least 16 year old. Bring two forms of ID and a voided check to expedite the process.
Further training will be provided in advance of the election dates
Location: Lower Level of the Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA
This is a paid position.
You can also apply online. Click the "Read More" link below to fill out an online application to be a poll worker.
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Hall - WorkElections
Apply online by clicking the Read More link below. Poll workers should plan to vote before Election Day unless they are assigned to their own polling place.
Read more
workelections.com
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Weekly Thoughts from the Chair:
The Soul of a Republican, Part 2
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With our country edging closer to possible conflict with Putin’s Russia, Fox News’ amoral enabler Tucker Carlson continues his relentless promotion of pro-Russia, anti-Biden, propaganda. Now, the Russian Ministry of Defense claims – nonsensically – that Biden’s son Hunter’s foundation financed bio labs in Ukraine. Predictably, this forms up nicely with previous propaganda that the Ukrainians had created biological weapons. And, you guessed it, amoral Carlson parroted the same claim in less than 12 hours. This is the malignant soul of a Republican.
And then there is Virginia Thomas. Wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence – “I never touched that woman” – Thomas. The great “Ginni” Thomas – as Virginia is known to Republican insiders and fellow travelers in her conspiracy theory universe – is now exposed as an insurrection instigator. Worse, there’s proof! She exchanged at least 29 texts with Mark Meadows, chief of staff to the defeated and disgraced former president. What were these messages about? Well, nothing really – just chit chat about over-throwing the government! This is the malignant soul of a Republican.
Ginni the Great is not just a cheerleader for QAnon. Oh, and does this have anything to do with one of the more dishonest Supreme Court Justices? No, or course not. And guess who was the sole dissenting vote in the matter of revealing the papers of the defeated and disgraced former president? It’s too easy, right? Yep, there’s Clarence (absolutely not Clarence Darrow) right there protecting the insurrectionists including his wife and presumptive bed partner. You will not be surprised to know that Clarence did not respond to questions about the obvious conflict of interest. This is the malignant soul of a Republican.
What does Ginni the Great have to say on November 10 – after the defeated and disgraced former president clearly lost the election: “Help This Great President – stand firm, Mark!!!” And what of her fellow traveler Mark – I only kiss his butt in private – Meadows? Why Mark – the sycophant-in-chief says: “This is a fight of good versus evil…. Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs. Do not grow weary in well doing. The fight continues….” Well doing!? Overthrow the government? Disenfranchise all those who voted? Of course – that’s the good! This is the malignant soul of a Republican.
And there you have it: Evil is whatever the Republicans do not like. There is no shame for these Republicans. There is no honor. There is no duty to our nation. There is no patriotism. There is no statesmanship. There is only the self-serving determination to seize power without regard to any consequence. This is the malignant soul of a Republican.
So, my friends, heed this warning: Republicans intend to convert our nation into a police state where facts don’t matter and truth is whatever they say it is. They intend to demand obedience of us from cradle to grave, enforcing their laws, at the muzzle of a gun. If there’s going to that dreaded knock at your door in the dead of night, you might want to be well armed. Or, you can organize and vote and fight as if life as you know it – depends on it – because it does.
Mike
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Disgrace around the Supreme Court |
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This past week revealed two malignant forces at work to undermine the third branch of our Federal government, the Supreme Court.
On the one had, we have the unhinged, conspiracy-pushing wife of a Supreme Court justice demanding that the Executive branch AND GOP members of the Legislative branch commit insurrection to protect the power of one immoral and corrupt man.Trump lost, but Ginni Thomas will never get over it. Instead, her husband and "best friend" is allowed to rule on cases directly related to his wife's activities. Chief Justice John Roberts wants the court's reputation to be non-political. The Thomases have made a mockery of any pretense of being "above" politics.
On the other hand, you have white GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee disgracing themselves with racist and sexist grandstanding during the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Using their CSPAN time to create video clips for their campaign ads, they showed no respect for the accomplished woman before them, who held herself with dignity throughout, nor for the Court itself. Those with Presidential ambitions conjured up the bogey men of CRT, child sex trafficking, and Islamic terrorism in an attempt to smear Judge Jackson.
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Secret Plot: New Clarence Thomas Scandal Over Wife's...
Leaked text messages reveal Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, urged Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, to find ways to over...
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www.youtube.com
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Ginni Thomas and the Conservative Rot at the Supreme Court
There are many reasons why the Supreme Court has fallen into unprecedented disrepute, but chief among them is the conservative justices themselves - whether it's their rulings in particular cases or their dubious non-jurisprudential conduct, like ...
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nymag.com
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Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas's "Stop the...
Several of the country's most respected legal scholars say that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas must immediately recuse himself from any cases relating to the 2020 election and its aftermath, now that it has been revealed that his wife,...
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www.newyorker.com
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January 6 committee has text messages between Ginni...
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot has in its possession more than two dozen text messages between former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of...
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www.cnn.com
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Ginni & Clarence Thomas aren't the only ones disgracing the image of the Supreme Court. GOP Senators treat Biden's nominee shamefully. |
Opinion: The racist, sexist mudslinging at Ketanji Brown ...
Despite disgraceful efforts by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to discredit, humiliate and smear Ketanji Brown Jackson with racist and sexist questions and comments, it is well worth remembering why her story matters to so many...
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www.cnn.com
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Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing is a...
What should have been a historic moment for the first Black woman to be nominated to the US supreme court, has become a scene of childish political theatre, thanks to Senate Republicans. And as President Joe Biden's nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson...
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www.theguardian.com
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Listen as Joanne Freeman and Heather Cox Richardson—two women who deserve recognition in their own right—discuss how women warriors have shaped conversations over gender, violence, and heroism over the course of United States history.
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Women Warriors: Ukraine & Beyond
Stories of remarkable heroism by women in Ukraine have captured the imagination of the world over the past few weeks. How have women warriors shaped conversations over gender, violence, and heroism over the course of United States history?
Read more
www.listennotes.com
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This past week, The Times published an article highlighting the 3 Republican candidates for Hall County School Board Post 1. Our own Angela Middleton is the sole Democrat running for this post.
When I read that article, which mentioned Angela in one sentence saying that the winner of the Republican primary would "face Democrat Angela Middleton" in the fall election, I was struck by how The Times seems to provide so much coverage of Republican candidates, while ignoring Democrats.
In a county where many races have not had Democratic candidates for over a decade, shouldn't it be news that we have 7 Democrats running in Hall? Even if they are unopposed in the primary, they and the readers of The Times deserve to hear about them. Name recognition is an important factor when people vote, so the more someone's name shows up in the paper, the more likely voters are to remember that name when they see it on the ballot.
The Times did contact Angela at the beginning of last week. They told her that per their editor, the article would only include the Republican primary candidates and that they would cover her in a later article.
We're looking forward to that article featuring Angela and her strong positions on education in Hall. In the meantime, if you think that Angela (and the rest of our Democratic candidates) should have coverage before the primary election, why not write a letter to the editor to say so?
If you'd like us to help with a letter to the editor, email hallcountydemocrat@gmail.com and put "letter to the editor" in the subject line.
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Who's running for Hall school board post 1? Get to know...
Candidates' thoughts on staffing Local school districts have struggled to hire and retain teachers, especially as more teachers have retired. Both Gainesville and Hall County have partnered with the University of North Georgia in establishing a...
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www.gainesvilletimes.com
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State & Local News (Some links may require a subscription)
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Bipartisan bill to expand mental health services in...
In the two weeks since House Bill 1013 was approved by that chamber, the overwhelming support heard in committee meetings and on the House floor has given way to a growing chorus of opponents who believe the mental health legislation will allow...
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www.ajc.com
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Controversial proposal to ease school library book bans...
A proposal that would make it easier for parents to object to school library books they find offensive is advancing through the legislature. The measure, Senate Bill 226, cleared the House Friday with a 97-to-61 vote that fell along party lines.
Read more
www.newsfromthestates.com
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Georgia Senate passes $30.2 billion budget
The Georgia Senate unanimously approved a fiscal 2023 state budget Friday that provides raises to teachers and state employees and restores state agencies to pre-pandemic spending levels. The $30.2 billion spending plan, which the Georgia House...
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www.gpb.org
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"Dystopian" Loophole for Georgia Judicial Elections...
Georgia Democrats had an unusually strong candidate for state supreme court two years ago. John Barrow, who had served ten years in Congress and was narrowly defeated in the 2018 secretary of state race, was seeking statewide office again, this...
Read more
boltsmag.org
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Elections directors discuss concerns, offer solutions...
Georgia's 159 county elections offices are facing myriad new challenges this year as they gear up for the all-important May primaries and midterm elections in November. Concerns over new, more restrictive election laws, along with retirements,...
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atlantaciviccircle.org
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Vernon Jones voted Democratic after saying he supported...
Georgia election records show that Vernon Jones, a Republican candidate for Congress, cast a Democratic Party ballot in the 2020 presidential primary after he had endorsed Donald Trump. One of Jones' opponents said his voting record undermines...
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www.ajc.com
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PLEASE NOTE: Any articles we post about 2022 Georgia Democratic candidates in contested primary races are intended to keep you informed. They are not an endorsement of any candidate. |
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National News (Some links may require a subscription)
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Biden gives speech in Poland
President Biden is speaking March 26 at the end of a trip to Poland intended to bolster the NATO response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more: http...
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www.youtube.com
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Oklahoma Republicans advance near-total abortion ban...
Oklahoma is one step closer to copying a restrictive anti-abortion law implemented in Texas. But legislation advanced Tuesday by the Oklahoma House is even more restrictive than the law adopted in Texas that has forced hundreds, if not thousands, ...
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www.oklahoman.com
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Texas attorney general says Austin school Pride Week...
An annual Pride Week celebration in Austin schools is breaking state law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said this week, marking the state's latest move to confront LGBTQ rights. Austin's school district said the events will nevertheless continue.
Read more
www.gpb.org
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Charter schools in Ky the latest in a long line of GOP...
OpEd: It makes sense that these Republicans support an effort based on a greed-driven desire to siphon off state funding because, well, making the rich richer and the rest of us poor seems to be the only Republican ideology these days.
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www.kentucky.com
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