Last week, we announced our fundraising effort – and a zoom with Four Directions. We got some great clips from the zoom, which was fun, and informational.
Key Information
- Jon Tester is running what looks to be his toughest race yet!
- So while it’s not a swing state, it is a strategic choice – this is is a seat we have to hold!
- As always, we feel that boots on the ground is the best bang for our buck.
- The Native American vote is critical, and they make up 6.5% of the population.
- That’s far more than the margin of victory has been for Jon Tester in Montana.
- Four Directions has secured an external match for us, and we have another angel match.
- We are trying something new for this new $5,000 Angel match.
- Every dollar you add through the thermometer is double-matched, no limit.
- Multiply your donation by 4 to see how much will go to Montana.
- The Balloon Juice angel will mail their $5,000 check when we reach $18,500.
Click below for all the details. And don’t forget to thank our BJ Angel!
Angel match starts now!
WaterGirl
We are trying something new for this new $5,000 Angel match.
Every dollar you add through the thermometer is double-matched, no limit. You don’t need to add a comment in order for your donation to count toward the match, but if you do comment, your comment might inspire someone else to donate!
Multiply your donation by 4 to see how much will go to Montana. (Reminder: let’s say I donate $100, and the Angel matches is, which makes $200, and the external match that Four Directions found will match the $200, which turns it into $400.)
The Balloon Juice angel will mail their $5,000 check when it reaches $18,500.
I have some other stuff going on tonight, so I won’t be able to thank you all personally, so I’ll just say here that we are really giving a big boost to Four Directions for Montana!
sab
Jackals need to banged over the head to contribute?
Not true, just me being obnoxious, because I can.
Rose Weiss
You convinced me – I put in $100. I haven’t really started considering political contributions for next year’s elections, but I guess earlier is better and can have more impact, especially when carefully targeted.
Almost Retired
That Zoom was awesome. Four Directions clearly appreciates the BJ contribution. They are becoming more and more comfortable with us and unguarded in our Zooms. Bret and OJs passion and sense of humor really came through. It felt more like a discussion with friends than a fundraising call. I refuse to abandon hope and supporting a targeted effort like this makes me feel empowered. So I’m throwing in another contribution which will end up being (something, something..math), a whole lot more.
ETA. And thanks BJ angel.
Dangerman
Hey, I was promised no math.
Ducks? Yes. Dogs? Sure. Math? Wasn’t in the fine print.
ETA: Ok, so my MS emphasized Operations Research (read: math nerds). Details, details.
H.E.Wolf
Four Directions’ website has a good write-up about their work.
fourdirectionsvote.com/about/
lashonharangue
@Dangerman: Math is everywhere.
I’m in for $100.
H.E.Wolf
More excerpts from the Zoom with Four Directions: if something is in quotes, it’s an exact quotation. If not in quotes, it’s paraphrased/summarized.
“Balloon Juice was invaluable” in funding their work in 2022 in the Reno/Sparks NV area*, and in the GA runoff for Sen. Warnock.
*this might be the area where the Four Directions volunteers were out in the snow, a few days before Election Day 2022?
Question from a BJ attendee: Is lack of addresses on reservations an issue?
Answer from OJ Semans (co-founder): You never know ’til you’re there – “we have moccasins on the ground” – and we have a good working relationship with the MT tribes.
Additional details from Bret (their political consultant): In ND in 2018 and NV in 2022, we put together a tribal addressing system that the state couldn’t reject – a self-certification affidavit on tribal letterhead that Person X lives in Precinct Y.
Bret, continued: We figure out what county officials are asking for, and beat them at their own game – “sometimes all you have to do is say ‘boo’ if you have a reputation.”
Barbara
Donated $100.
eponymous
In for $250
So happy we are supporting 4D again!
BlueGuitarist
In for 25 for this round. Thanks WG, Angels, Juicers, & Four Directions!
Montana is a US Senate Swing State.
Plus overlaps a winnable US House seat down-ballot: MT-1. Biden -7, but in 2022 Monica Tranel lost by only 3 to Ryan Zinke while being outspent 2-1.
Jon Tester is like the photo that comes with the frame for the US Senator from MT (as Sherrod Brown is for Ohio).
Tranel – Montanan, lawyer, US Women’s Olympic Rowing team Gold Medalist, x-Republican – is a good candidate for the district, which includes the Black Feet and Flathead reservations.
(Also hoping that Mary Peltola encourages Tranel to be another successful pro-fish, pro-choice, pro-freedom, pro-family candidate in difficult terrain.)
Tom Levenson
Threw in a few bucks.
H.E.Wolf
@BlueGuitarist:
Thank you for mentioning Monica Tranel, who is running in the Democratic primary – the Democratic winner will aim to defeat the odious Republican incumbent, Ryan Zinke.
As it happens, Tranel’s campaign issued a press release today. “Last week … Monica Tranel hosted forums with Native leaders from the Blackfeet and Flathead Reservations to discuss issues relevant to Native women…”
Sounds like someone who might get Native votes, when Four Directions gets them to the polls.
monicatranel.com/news?id=7ce976e2-bf68-4255-9ffd-38aaf81b4c96
BlueGuitarist
@H.E.Wolf:
thanks for this info and the info above!
Another Scott
Thanks for this.
I had a good day at work (something I’ve been trying to do for 5+ years finally worked). Yay!
+$250.
Thanks WG, 4D, and angel(s). This is an important race and we need every seat we can get.
Cheers,
Scott.
Maxim
Thanks to our angel! In for $50.
H.E.Wolf
@BlueGuitarist:
You’re welcome! I feel like all of us little fish are a force to be reckoned with, when we pool our info and resources.
And thanks as always to WaterGirl, for steering us into good array.
Mendenhall
Just donated $50
H.E.Wolf
It feels very satisfying to support a Native American GOTV group during the run-up to Thanksgiving. :-)
Heading out for a while. Exciting to see the thermometer rise!
mvr
OK, in for $50. Not sure whether that needs to be said given the info about how the match will work (if I understood the bit that was new) but it may encourage others to mention it so . . .
Lurker Dan
Added $100. Thank you Four Directions and the matching angels!
mvr
@BlueGuitarist: Very pro-fish myself. (Also very anti-Zinke after his performance in the Trump admin.) So in fact I gave to Tranel last time around and also Peltola.
gwangung
In for $100.
BlueGuitarist
@mvr:
👍
TriassicSands
I just saw this on the WaPo website:
Initially, the District Court judge Lee Rudofsky ruled against the plaintiffs trying to sue Arkansas for its new voting district map. He said the Justice Department had to join the suit.
Then this:
Garland refused. WTF?
The three judge panel — one Trumpist, and two George W. appointees. One of those dissented. Maybe this time the SCOTUS will just come clean and decide that African Americans don’t have a right to vote. I mean they couldn’t vote when the country was founded, and ancient history is now the basis for all SCOTUS Five + One decisions, so why should they be permitted to vote today? Next, the Court will announce that Thomas, but not Brown can vote. Tim Scott? Gets to vote. The only fair thing is to allow African Americans who vote Republican to cast ballots and those who are Democrats to patiently await the day when the SCOTUS reestablishes the right of Whites (and select African Americans) to own slaves. Why stop at half measures? Thomas and Alito could have their wealthy patrons buy them plantations and a “stable” of slaves. After all, slavery were all the rage in in the late 18th century and Thomas and Alito both think we are still living in the 1700s, so, hey, why not?
I’ve haven’t finished reading the article and I want to see if there is a compelling justification for Garland refusing to join the suit. If not, I guess I’ll contact my favorite representative and see if ol’ Marjorie will go ahead and impeach Garland. Obviously, that’s what we need to do with officials with whom we disagree.
The dissenter wrote:
ETA: No time to proofread either — the nurse is here with my heroin and Everclear.
I don’t know if this has already been mentioned. Because of the constant interruptions here in my hospital room it’s hard to maintain any continuity, so I will go back and read previous comments soon. I just wanted to slam my keyboard getting this in a comment.
mvr
@TriassicSands: I’m guessing that the long history of cases where individuals sued and won led Justice to think this result was not going to fall out of their failing to join the case as the trial judge (whose theory this apparently was in the first place) demanded. So I don’t blame Garland for this result. I squarely blame the Trump appointed judge and appeals court justice as well as the white Bush guy.
I also predict that even this Supreme Court won’t uphold the decision.
But yes the decision blows and that we are now in this posture in the courts sucks. What we need now is a countervailing decision from another circuit.
I guess to get that the Justice department should refuse to join a lawsuit in a better circuit and the defendants should appeal. It is the last part that will be hard to secure, though the first part isn’t so easy either given that no judge in (say) the 9th Circuit would rule as the original did in this case.
TriassicSands
I can’t donate anything right now. After 16 days in the hospital, no discharge date yet, and $2000.00 a bag (2 a day) IV nutrition (TPN), I have to hold off until the whole medical bill picture comes into focus. Add to that 10 days on a very expensive antibiotic, both a PICC line inserted (and removed) and a tunneled line inserted, along with a vigintillion blood draws for a googolplex of tests, I don’t know what to think. My future is very uncertain at this time. So much is up in the air, I feel a little bit like a skinny Hindenburg — things could blow up at any time. But the hospital room is free, right?
But at least my diet is great. Anybody ever been on a liquid diet? Tiny selection, much of which is sugar. The UWMC has three soups on the liquid diet menu. My main food at home for four months has been a tomato soup (Pacific brand), which I really like. However, I’ve eaten it every day for four months. The room service here has tomato soup on the menu. (Of course!) When I moved up from a clear liquid diet to a full liquid diet, there was a pureed clam chowder on the menu. I tried to order it, but that was an out-of-date menu and they no longer had it. (I can’t have any chunks or solids at all.) However, they also had a pureed potato and leek soup and a pureed chicken and rice soup. I tried both and they were both quite good (low bar at this point). However, they constantly run out of both and all I’ve had for the last three days — tomato soup. They have been out of those two soups more days than they’ve had them.
grandmaBear
In for $50.
emrys
$25
mvr
@TriassicSands: That sounds rough. Especially when they tantalize you with decent soups and then run out.
Matt McIrvin
Yup, I’m in.
TriassicSands
@mvr:
You know what they say, you’re not paranoid if someone is really out to get you. I just can’t figure out who it is that has it in for me.
I suspect the deep state. Or maybe extraterrestrials. Or Marjorie Taylor Greene. Or more likely (i.e., definitely) no one.
Hint: Don’t ever end up on a liquid diet. On the other hand, I moved up from a “clear liquid” diet. and the selection there is essentially broth, one kind of “clear” nutritional supplement (sweet), and a bunch of beverages — coffee, several teas, etc. But twice a day they hang a large bag of nutritional fluid, which looks suspiciously like urine. $4,000.00 a day for “food” you can’t taste because it goes in a vein. Even the best restaurants in the world don’t cost that much (unless you order expensive wines or champagnes).
Bragging rights. If someone asks me what the most expensive meal I’ve ever had is, while I puff up my chest, I can say $2,000.00.
mvr
@TriassicSands: Made me laugh!
TriassicSands
@mvr:
They say laughter is the best medicine. Whether it’s any good, it sure costs less than what I’m getting.
stinger
Chipped in $25 to help Four Directions say “Boo!”