24 Comments
Oct 28Liked by Andra Watkins

The Orlando Sentinel is no longer endorsing for the presidential race which I’m sure is a corporate decision.They were recently acquired by Alden Global Capitol.

The OS editors found a workaround with yesterday’s OpEd:How Would Jesus Vote ? They also called out DeSantis as a Christian Nationalist.

“To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful.”

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/10/27/editorial-how-would-jesus-vote/?share=

Expand full comment
author

I’m glad to see some journalists standing up to fascists. Corporate media seem to be competing for who can be the center of regime propaganda.

Expand full comment

Why are they so obsessed with trying to become a regime propaganda network? It is to please Trump, if he gets elected? Also, does your article indicate that Jeff Bezos informed the Editorial Board at the Washington Post not to endorse any candidate because he wants to get on Trump's good side and not lose money or have the Post lose its license? I'm slightly confused.

Expand full comment
author

Most corporate media is now owned by billionaire 45 supporters. These billionaires support 45 because he gives them tax cuts and no regulation, basically unfettered access to continued profit. The tax breaks he passed for them in 2017 expire in 2025 and must be extended. It will cost them billions if that doesn’t happen.

These billionaires also have enough to weather whatever happens to the economy in the short run. It can collapse. Heck, the whole world can collapse. Many have apocalypse bunkers. They would flee to those and emerge when it was safe while the rest of us perished. They want a world where they make unlimited money, own everything, and never pay taxes.

Expand full comment
Oct 29Liked by Andra Watkins

Action step for folks here - We must help get more Democratic voters to the polls in swing states! Let’s support those tireless folks who are door-knocking, phone banking, & text banking till - and including - Election day! But how are those likely Blue voters located?

Field Team 6 is the only organization that identifies likely Democrats, gets them to register, then nudges them to vote. Their approach gains new Democratic votes for only $2.24 for 1 new vote - a fraction of other organizations’ cost-per-vote. But they need names, addresses, and phone numbers of who to approach.

Democrat Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in August 2023 - as a direct result of Field Team 6’s outreach.

Even now, there are a dozen states where you can still register to vote - some even on election day. And in any swing state, volunteers can still go door knocking, phone banking, & text banking. As little as 10 or 20 votes per precinct can enable Democrats to win.

Join me in donating at https://www.fieldteam6.org/ Their research identifies the people who doorknockers and phone bankers need to approach.

To check out Field Team 6’s impact, see https://www.fieldteam6.org/_files/ugd/c03fe4_ca47cde71737499492a602eb46bf0aba.pdf - They have a very impressive track record of getting more people to vote Democratic.

Who will help? Can I see a show of hands? (I’m too tired to go door-knocking - I’ve sent out 500 postcards in the past several weeks.)

Expand full comment
author

I’m sharing this comment, Jan. And I’m donating. I mailed a batch of postcards last Thursday. WE ARE DOING THIS.

Expand full comment
Oct 29Liked by Andra Watkins

Thank youuuu

Expand full comment
Oct 28Liked by Andra Watkins

Plenty of wealthy business people (including Mark Cuban) have clearly warned of a recession or worse should Dumbass get into the White House. Believe them.

It's why I'm not booking our 2025 trip or buying a car, until I know the election outcome.

Expand full comment
author

And Nobel Prize winning economists have resoundingly said 45 would crash the economy.

But MAGA doesn’t care. They hear they’re strapped and miserable daily in their echo chambers. They’re heard pretty much non-stop for Biden’s entire presidency that we are on the brink of a major recession, that every penny more they spend is IT! Many Americans are economically illiterate and think vibes = the actual health of the economy.

Plenty of Americans DO struggle financially. Climate-driven storms, droughts and fires are decimating crop yields. Florida’s storms this year coupled with one 2 years ago destroyed Orange and pecan crops. Seed banks were wiped out. The cost of multiple food items will go up from these weather events alone. Then we have bird flu killing chickens and contaminating eggs. We have meat processors hiring children because Republicans ran out so many of the migrants who were willing to do that work so Americans could have their cheap meat. We have collapsing coffee and chocolate yields in South America. The law of supply and demand says when supply shrinks but demand stays constant, prices go up. That’s basic economics 101, but Americans don’t hear that on business news. They largely hear how Democrats are to blame for every cent they don’t have and everything they can’t buy. Democrats respond by pulling out numbers and statistics of all the ways Americans are better off, but VIBES. If they don’t feel better off, that message pisses them off. This whole area is such a mess, because so many Americans are fucking clueless, and they don’t want to learn how the economy works. They refuse to learn anything but what confirms their own biases.

Expand full comment
Oct 28Liked by Andra Watkins

Excellent feedback and so true. Willful ignorance will be humanity's downfall.

I watched a documentary on the failed cocoa crops in South America earlier this year. They interviewed the actual farmers, who of course also get screwed from the "middlemen". (same with coffee beans farmers)

Expand full comment
author

And it takes these various failures a cycle or so to impact prices.

Expand full comment

I did try to have this basic economics 101 conversation with family and talk about supply and demand as they have seen it work throughout their lives, but they do have Maga flu.

Expand full comment
author

Ugh. I know. My parents looked like Dax Sheppard in Idiocracy when my husband tried.

Expand full comment
Oct 28Liked by Andra Watkins

Andra, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration's HIPAA rule regarding out-of-state records for abortion and gender-affirming care. They filed it in Amarillo, Texas.

My favorite line in the article is: "Christian Nationalists are essentially calling for the creation of a national spy network to stop Americans from receiving certain types of health care that offend their beliefs. Let’s call this what it is: religiously based fascism."

https://www.au.org/the-latest/articles/new-christian-nationalist-lawsuit-seeks-to-gut-health-care-privacy-provisions/.

Expand full comment
author

Of course they filed it in the most sympathetic court where it can be appealed to another sympathetic court and make its way to the far-right Sympathetic Court.

Expand full comment

It's hard to tell what their motive is other than intimidation, fear, and harassment, since going out of state for health care is legal, but I bet it is to do something unthinkable in the future. I'm confident the ACLU will respond swiftly and put significant public pressure for Republican's to stay in their lane regarding privacy for out-of-state healthcare records and decisions, especially for adults.

Expand full comment
author

Their goal is to use Comstock to outlaw abortion nationwide, but these lawsuits are a multipronged strategy. Because say Democrats turn Congress blue, scrap the filibuster, and repeal Comstock. The Supreme Court can’t uphold a law that has been repealed. So this is another route for them to prohibit abortion nationwide: by getting people to snitch on others who offend their religious beliefs.

Expand full comment

How can they ban abortion nationwide is Comstock is repealed by "snitch[ing] on others who offend their religious beliefs"? By the way, the only citizen bounty-hunter law in the country is in Texas, so anywhere else people can go out of state without fear. The abortion numbers went up in every state since Dobbs, except Texas, Oklahoma, and Idaho. Somehow, Texas' numbers didn't drop significantly, compared to Oklahoma and Idaho. I wonder why, given the other states don't have an S.B. 8 type of law.

Here's the report: https://societyfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/WeCount-Report-8-June-2024-data.pdf.

Expand full comment
Oct 28Liked by Andra Watkins

Exactly. These zealots would never want any vaccine forced on their bodies, but they are happy to force us into their regressive repro 'healthcare' and forced gestation policies.

Physical Liberty of our bodies is the most basic and important human right. The Christian Taliban only wants this right only available to THEM. No one else, including rape and incest victims. These people are the most deplorable and vile.

Expand full comment

I guess I didn't make the connection then, or it didn't really sink in. Thank you for reiterating this at a time when I'm "ready to hear."

Expand full comment
author

We’re bombarded with so much. It sometimes takes multiple reminders to connect things.

Expand full comment
Oct 28Liked by Andra Watkins

Excellent!! Thank you!

Expand full comment

Andra, what did you think about the article I sent to you last week (it's in the chat)? I hope you found it intriguing as I did.

Expand full comment
author

It reminded me of Steve Bannon’s Bible (which I read during 45’s presidency.) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/174648/the-fourth-turning-by-william-strauss/

Expand full comment