Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

We still have time to mess this up!

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

In my day, never was longer.

Petty moves from a petty man.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

This really is a full service blog.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You are here: Home / Political Fundraising / Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24 / It’s Up To Us Now, Next Stop, North Carolina!

It’s Up To Us Now, Next Stop, North Carolina!

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Are you guys up for helping to flip North Carolina!

I am super excited about the group we’ll be supporting in North Carolina, but before we tell you about them, let’s talk about North Carolina!

Why North Carolina?  Key points:

  1.  NC is not a red state.
  2.  NC is a voter suppressed state.
  3.  NC now has 16 electoral votes, similar to GA (16)and MI (15)..
  4.  Trump won NC by ~ 75k votes, just 1.5% of the 5,500,000 votes cast.

Let’s talk demographics:

  1. NC is changing fast, and Republicans know it – which is why they’re cheating!
  2. NC is growing rapidly in ways that are similar to AZ, NV and GA!
  3. NC has an influx of out-of-state younger people relocating for tech and finance careers.
  4. Northerners are retiring in cities like Asheville, where beth, our BJ calendar girl, moved to.

In a recent press release, The North Carolina Black Alliance sets the stage:

For the past 14 years, through race-baiting, fear-mongering, and political theater, the NC GOP, after a hiatus from leadership…returned to play for keeps.  What was once a state in revival during the early 2000s is now a state of upheaval as Republicans use their last grasp of power to enforce more strict and exclusive provisions beyond the constitutional mandate for voting.

What does that look like, exactly?

  • Stricter voter ID requirements
  • Empowerment of partisan poll observers
  • And gerrymandering.
  • Did we mention gerrymandering?  Lots and lots of gerrymandering!

What’s the matter with  Kansas  North Carolina?

 The Republican candidate for Governor, current Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, is beyond bat shit crazy.  And he’s not very good at fundraising.  So the Republicans have to cheat.  Again.

The General Assembly buried a major change in campaign finance laws in a bill ostensibly about masks and face coverings.  Super PACS will now be allowed to donate funds to state political parties through accounts that do not have to abide by contribution limits.  The Republicans have a veto-proof majority in both chambers of the General Assembly, so they will override the Democratic Governor’s veto.

Mark Robinson is a raging anti-Semite.  Here’s something from his Wikipedia page. He seems nice, right?

He claimed that the Marvel movie Black Panther was “created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanicMarxists” that was “only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets.

He’s also a holocaust denier.  And a homophobe.  After the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting, Robinson wrote:  “Homosexuality is STILL an abominable sin, and I WILL NOT join in celebrating ‘gay pride.’”   There’s more but you get the idea.

But here’s the kicker, he’s black!  And there’s concern in NC Democratic circles that inexperienced young African-American voters could be hoodwinked into voting for this lunatic.  But before they can be educated, they have to be registered.

What can we do?

To that effect, we’re partnering with the North Carolina Youth Voter Engagement Program, an organization with a ten-year history of successfully registering and turning out young African-American voters on North Carolina’s 11 HBCU campuses.

We want to help them expand to two non-HBCU Black majority campuses (Phase I) and then to certain Community Colleges, which educate many more Black students than the state’s HBCUs (Phase II).  We’ve worked out a plan, and the Program has secured outside matches for our contributions.

NC Black Alliance Campus Engagement

We’re super excited about this next effort and our expansion into North Carolina, with this young and charismatic team.  As always, we want to help organizations do things they couldn’t otherwise do without us.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll say A LOT MORE ABOUT this group and what we will be funding.

Out-raise them.  Out-organize them.  Out-strategize them.  Out vote them.

 

 

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  3. 3.

    smith

    Thank you so much for seeking out so many worthy groups in key areas. I’m saving some of this month’s donation money for this one.

  5. 5.

    Jerry

    Josh Stein is the person running against Mark Robinson for Governor and I’m a big fan. His TV commercials are 1) about him as state AG clearing up the backlog in rape kits/rape cases and 2) just using video of Robinson being batshit crazy.

    And Josh has been crisscrossing this great state of ours and campaigning his butt off already. Every single county is being hit by him.

  6. 6.

    Almost Retired

    @Jerry:  According to the article you linked, “photos have been too dark for person to be recognized.  This has impacted the African -American community.”  Combine crappy DMV photos with newly-empowered partisan poll watchers and you’ve got a voter suppression perfect storm!

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    Runner girl is going to try and register her commie self in NC for November, whilst enrolled in school there. Unsure of the process but she’s smart and can carry a grudge. “California driver’s license? Welcome!” I’m certain will be the response.

  10. 10.

    Almost Retired

    @trollhattan:  Hurray for Runner Girl!  I made my sons re-register in college, including my son who attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo up the road.  That congressional seat in SLO was vulnerable, whereas Ted Lieu at home was just fine!

  11. 11.

    smith

    @Jerry:  According to Marc Elias at Democracy Docket, there are currently 9 pending lawsuits regarding voting in NC.

  13. 13.

    Matt

    Robinson is a reminder part the infinity that you can’t turn your back on a Jeebus Juice addict for even a moment.

    The sole highlight of a fash victory would be folks like him chanting “we won!!!!” and then the MAGAts replying “waddya mean we, BOY?”

  17. 17.

    dc

    @Jerry: Voter ID can be got quickly and easily at the State Board of Elections offices. See here: https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/voter-id/get-free-voter-photo-id

    Don’t have an acceptable photo ID for voting? North Carolina registered voters can get one from their county board of elections. Read the steps below to find out how.

    Additionally, voters can get a state ID card for free from the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV). Find more information under “No-Fee ID Cards” at State IDs | NCDMV.

    Also:

    All voters will be allowed to vote with or without a photo ID. If a voter cannot show photo ID when voting in person, they can still vote by filling out an ID Exception Form.

    https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/voter-id

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 9:32 AM on Sun, Jun 16, 2024:
    🧵
    I attended the Biden event in Los Angeles last night. Fantastic, but it made me think about a few things.

    I’ve been around a minute. Lived through several Presidential races. I remember not being excited about the candidates, but I have never in my life fixed my lips to say, I’m not voting because of it. Neither did my grandparents who survived Jim Crow and were not always welcomed at the polls.

    I don’t understand folks who are saying that today.

    Your top issue isn’t being talked about enough or going the way you think it should? Let’s survive now and live to fight another day. But first, look beyond what you’re seeing covered by the media, because Biden is not getting the same coverage that Trump is getting. And much of that coverage is skewed. It’s likely your issue is being worked on and you have been heard — so look deeper!

    We don’t have to invite the candidates over for tea and crumpets, but staying home when we have the Supreme Court that we have, is short-sided and a disservice to those of us who see Trump as the number one danger that he is promising to be.

    NO CHOICE — IS A CHOICE FOR TRUMP!!!
    https://t.co/j7Kcj81P8R
    (https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1802348411674591297?s=02)

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 9:32 AM on Sun, Jun 16, 2024:
    The Biden fundraiser event in Los Angeles last night was so well done! The highlight was the conversation with Biden, Obama and Kimmel.

    One thing struck me above all — Biden and Obama spent a fair amount of time addressing the Supreme Court crisis.

    Biden basically said, the only way out of this is to re-elect him. Agreed! We keep hearing this, but Biden said there will likely be two new appointments for the next President. No quick fix.

    I think that’s up for interpretation. Definitely conjecture.

    My take — Justices Thomas and Alito will only resign under Trump, but they are up there in years so anything can happen.

    What’s certain — we need to think in terms of prevention. NO MORE TRUMP JUDGES. We are fucked as it is. Also, picking up a seat on our side or theirs is not all this is about. It’s generational. Can we survive two 40 year-old, upside-down, flag flying, Alitos?

    Whichever president has the opportunity to nominate, they will nominate YOUNG. https://t.co/Bz7HOeCWwQ
    (https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1802348482327724234?s=02)

  20. 20.

    JaySinWA

    But here’s the kicker, he’s black!  And there’s concern in NC Democratic circles that inexperienced young African-American voters could be hoodwinked into voting for this lunatic.  But before they can be educated, they have to be registered.

    I think that’s somewhat backwards. While I suspect most younger black voters are unlikely to be “hoodwinked”, I do think the education has to be part of or in front of the registration as part of the motivation to register. Of course the education has to address the larger population, not just unregistered voters.

  22. 22.

    Sheila in nc

    Yay Watergirl! We can help NC! This state is so horribly gerrymandered; we routinely compete well in statewide races, but we end up with R supermajorities in the state lege. Also the Congressional delegation is skewed — and a fairer representation would help us control the House.

    People need to know that every vote counts here. When I was registering voters in 2016, we used to remind people that Obama’s margin of victory in 2008 averaged to 5 votes per precinct.

  25. 25.

    BR

    Sarah Taber is an excellent candidate running for agriculture commissioner in North Carolina, and could reach some of the rural voters that Dems sometimes have a hard time reaching. She’s worthy of support:

    https://taberfornc.com/

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    The Republican candidate for NC governor is a lunatic named Mark Robinson who calls himself “a black Trump” which pretty much is all anybody needs to know.

  28. 28.

    Leto

    I posted this a few days ago, but it’s perfect for now:

    Voters have no right to fair elections, NC lawmakers say as they seek to dismiss gerrymandering suit
    North Carolina’s political maps are expected to give Republicans majorities in the state legislature, and the U.S. House of Representatives delegation, even if Democrats win a majority of the statewide vote.

    Lawyers representing state legislative leaders were in court Thursday in Raleigh, arguing to throw out an anti-gerrymandering lawsuit that targets the state’s new political districts.

    The lawsuit argues that the state constitution guarantees the right to fair elections, and it says the new districts violate that promise. The Republican-led legislature argues that no such right exists, since it’s impossible to define what “fair” means.

    Republican lawmakers drew the maps and approved them in October. Political reviews conducted by outside analysts, as well as by the legislature itself, show that the new maps are expected to give Republicans large majorities in the state legislature and the state’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives — even if Democratic candidates win a majority of the statewide vote.

    The maps will be used in this year’s elections, and every election through 2030, unless struck down as unconstitutional before then. The lawsuit under debate Thursday was brought by a group represented by former Republican Supreme Court justice Bob Orr. It’s one of several lawsuits targeting the new maps in state or federal court.

    When the group filed the lawsuit, it cited a past North Carolina Supreme Court decision that said: “The people are entitled to have their elections conducted honestly and in accordance with the requirements of the law. To require less would result in mockery of the democratic processes for nominating and electing public officials.”

    Republican lawmakers, however, have long said the legislature has nearly unlimited power to draw maps however its leaders see fit. They repeated those claims in court again Thursday. Their lawyer, Phil Strach, argued that the North Carolina Supreme Court recently ruled that politically motivated gerrymandering is OK.

    Strach criticized the theory that voters have a right to fair elections as “legal gobbledygook” and added that even if the maps are gerrymandered, there’s nothing state courts can do about it. “The state Supreme Court has slammed the door shut,” Strach said.

    There’s more at the article, but the TLDR is: Republicans are going the full authoritarian/fascist route, and just don’t give a shit about disguising it anymore. Also we need about a dozen more Marc Elias groups that are constantly keeping these shitheels in check any time they try this. Also a few more SC seats, take the House, keep the Senate/Pres so we can put teeth back in the VRA. Among the millions of other things we need to do.

  29. 29.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    Two new appointments may be replacements for Kagan and Sotomayor.

    I doubt Thomas or Alito retire. They’re too arrogant to retire. They’ll serve until they’re dead.

  30. 30.

    JaySinWA

    @gene108: We need SCOTUS retirement incentive plans. Of course, the buyout for Thomas may be too expensive

    John Oliver’s $1 Million offer was obviously too low.

  33. 33.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @gene108: They might be convinced to retire the next time the GOP holds the White House and the Senate (see what Anthony Kennedy did). They’ll never willingly retire if there’s a chance a Democratic President might submit their replacements to a Democratic Senate.

  36. 36.

    Leto

    @JaySinWA:

    I mean it was a million per year, plus that $500k RV. Not a bad deal, but obviously not the same incentive as having to tongue bathe your rich daddy so he can fly you all over the world.

  37. 37.

    Miss Bianca

    @JaySinWA: I wonder if some serious Congressional investigations into SCOTUS corruption might be an inducement for certain (In)Justices to retire…

  38. 38.

    japa21

    @gene108:

     

    I doubt Thomas or Alito retire. They’re too arrogant to retire. They’ll serve until they’re dead.

    That is acceptable to me, so long as the grim reaper shows up relatively soon.

  40. 40.

    TBone

    @Mike in NC: Alex Cole xit:

    So now it’s being reported that the entire “Blacks for Trump” event in Detroit was staged. The campaign decided to put the usual black supporters that travel to every Trump event on stage, only one of them is from Detroit, and everyone else is from out of town. They saw that the church was still empty, so they filled it with Charlie Kirk’s people and other MAGAs.

    https://crooksandliars.com/2024/06/pastor-sewell-people-laughed-streets-when

  41. 41.

    Leto

    @japa21: unfortunately for us, I think those assholes are on the Kissinger longevity plan. Always, always happy to be proven wrong.

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    @Leto:

    The rethuglicans are doing this because they see a real change is possible and which might just throw them out of power for a long time. IOW they are desperate to keep power, to be racists, to keep a country that is not what it was supposedly founded upon. (Of course back then people of color were considered less than human, the same bullshit that still exists today and many conservatives are still fighting to empower today.)

  43. 43.

    eclare

    @TBone:

    Love it!  I would be proud to ride in that truck.  In Memphis.  Outside of Memphis I’d be afraid I’d be run off the road.  So good for them for being braver than I am!

  45. 45.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Jerry: Wow. That is so wrong! I hate that my state requires photo ID but at least they now do voter registration at the DMV at the same time you apply for your ID.

  48. 48.

    sab

    @Jerry: It took me almost a year to get a copy of my North Carolina birth certificate. And I thought it was because I lived out of state.

  49. 49.

    eversor

    @Leto:

    It’s the 500k for the RV that’s mind blowing.   I lived on a boat for a bit.  And no not the Navy.  But it was mad cheap to lease a 150k sailboat and live on the wharf.  Also boat!

    I couldn’t grok spending 500k on a boat.  Let alone an RV.

  50. 50.

    TBone

    @eclare: 💙❤️💙 better safe than sorry!  I don’t know what those other colored flags are either, hope someone can enlighten us.

  53. 53.

    JoyceH

    @gene108: Too arrogant to retire or too self-interested. In Thomas’ case, he’s not really rich, what most people would call comfortably off, but he lives like a billionaire. I think he’s smart enough to know that the lavish perks would dry up once he’s retired and no longer able to do favors for his “friends”. As for Alito, he’s a genuine fanatic. He’s having the time of his live making his nastiest right wing dreams come true. What retirement activity could possibly be such fun?

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: The 1A program did a segment on Project 2025 this morning that was pretty good. It sounded like it might be one of a series of programs on it. They said this was one of the  most-requested programs, for them to cover Project 2025.

  55. 55.

    rikyrah

    @gene108:

    I doubt Thomas or Alito retire. They’re too arrogant to retire. They’ll serve until they’re dead.

     

    If Biden wins, yes.

    But, the ground has already been set for if the Orange Menace wins.

    Alito and Thomas have outlived their usefulness. They are now embarrassments. The GOP would get rid of them for 40-something Federalist Society approved judges.

  57. 57.

    Spanky

    You want more liberal SC justices? Make sure that Mitch McConnell is far away from Senate leadership.

    Interred, preferably, but we can’t count on that. Keep the Senate blue!

  59. 59.

    TBone

    @rikyrah: even thirtysomethings.  Fox published Dotard’s Leonard Leo’s list of judgeship candidates already.  I’ll see if I can find it again. It ain’t good.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/potential-candidates-supreme-court-under-second-donald-trump-term

    One possible asshole:
    Judge Allison Jones Rushing, 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Asheville, North Carolina
    Born 1982. The North Carolina native was a law clerk for then-Judge Gorsuch and later Justice Thomas. She, too, was considered for the 2020 high court vacancy.

  61. 61.

    Soprano2

    @TBone: MIssion accomplished for them, they got a bunch of stories about how “8,000 people at a black church in Detroit listened to TCFG”.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    @Soprano2:

    Get used to it. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again.  Fake events treated as real in the media, maybe with correction down the line sometime.

  65. 65.

    Juju

    I’m all in with this program. Living in NC makes it more personal, but I would donate even if I didn’t live in NC. You  summarized the situation in NC quite nicely.

  67. 67.

    JoeyJoeJoe

    Just to note, NC actually has 16 electoral votes now, as does Georgia.  NC gained one in 2022.  Michigan is down to 15.

  68. 68.

    sab

    @TBone: 1A is an NPR program. Around here it runs from 10am to noon. They often do really informative programs, especially when Jen White is anchoring.

    For example, they have done some really good programs on trans issues, with actual doctors specializing in trans care.

    It is one of the reasons that I bristle when jackals badmouth NPR as uniformly horrible . Morning Edition is usually dreadful and All Things Considered almost as bad, but there are still some good programs outside of commute hours.

  74. 74.

    Juju

    @JoyceH: I’m not so certain Thomas is smart enough to know that when he retires the gig is up. When I look at the pictures of him with his billionaire “friends “ he looks as if he really believes they like him for him. Maybe it’s just me, but I get the impression that Thomas genuinely trusts his billionaire buddies.

  75. 75.

    Juju

    @eclare: I‘ll have to watch my dvr of last night’s show. I only saw the last part about the John Oliver chocolate bear cake.

  76. 76.

    beth

    not that i wasn’t excited about the other amazing organizations BJ supports, but i am very extra excited about making positive change in north carolina.

    anderson clayton, the 27 year old running the NC dems, is impressive as hell. i’m inhaling some hopium about november with her leading the way.

    as other north carolinians have noted, mark robinson, gop gubernatorial candidate, is a dangerous extremist who i still cannot believe is currently lt gov (why oh why does this state not electe gov and lt gov from the same party? it’s a terrible idea to have the opportunity for them to be different parties.).

    josh stein came out with a devastating ad about robinson and our corrupt gop supermajority lege has decided to change how campaign donations work at the state level so that all the folks who don’t want mark robinson’s name sullying their public donation record can still funnel huge sums his way anonymously.

    we desperately need to restore the purple in this state (although voting out all the current gop folks would be the best thing to happen to this state). the gop supermajority is handing millions of unaccounted for money to private christian “schools” and school from our public school budget, the UNC board of governors just voted to close all DEI offices in the state university system, they are appointing terrible leadership to the various campuses, voting maps are eye poppingly gerrymandered, the woman running to be in charge of the state education system has no education experience, didn’t send her kids to public schools and is an open enemy of public education.

    i could go on. thank you, watergirl and bj for stepping up for our democracy!

  77. 77.

    Soprano2

    This from TPM is interesting. He says that when you look at other incumbent leaders in Europe Biden is actually being bolstered by our relatively good economy, because his negatives are much less than theirs. It’s an interesting perspective.

  78. 78.

    Anyway

    @Juju: Retired SC justices have a generous pension, healthcare and retirement. Why does he need to go to his rich buddies — he’s been on the court for decades – can’t he pay his own way?

    Another bad thing about “ultra-hi-net-worth” individuals and billionaires- they make regular millionaires and rich people feel like they don’t have enough. What nonsense.

    I heard another term for it – “generational wealth” -puke.

  80. 80.

    eversor

    @Ramalama:

    Washington DC at the wharf.  They even have power.  But you’re internet is going to be over cellular service so that blows.

    I figured I’m a former Navy NCO.  I know how to sail.  I hold a license for a powered boat, and it’s cheap as shit* so why not!

    *So the problem with this is you need a laundry service and you are going to be eating most of your meals out.  You can pull off a crockpot but that’s about it.  Unless you want to go propane fired gas Korean stoves (this rock you should get one).  There’s also a ton of hidden fees.  But for a single guy in his early 30s “I live on a boat” was a hell of pickup line.

    These things still exist though now they list them on Redfin and all the housing sites.  Which leads to a trend of people that aren’t nautical trying to pull this off.  Where it’s like, no this is a thing you kinda have to know how to do or it ends badly.

    When I finally retire I’m gonna get a boat.  You know, just fart about on the ocean and have me a good time.  Or shit I can fart about on the bay.

  81. 81.

    Leto

    @eversor: I had friends, and so did my parents, who lived on boats. Some were Navy, others civilian, and yeah… $500k for an RV is just eye watering. I technically understand it, features/amenities/etc, but it’s still just crazy. That’s not even factoring in gas and maintenance! (Pedants- I know if you can afford that, you should be able to afford gas/mx. That’s not the point!)

  82. 82.

    Leto

    @eversor: I think people are expecting house boats from The Netherlands, but that’s not it. If we had those, yeah almost a typical home. But usually it’s small sail boats and you need to already have some knowledge/experience with that type of life.

  83. 83.

    StringOnAStick

    @Leto: Speaking of live aboards, the novel by Jim Lynch titled “Before the Wind” is excellent.  I’m not usually one to read fiction but our book club did this book and because he’s local to Seattle area, he came to our discussion dinner (the host gave him 3 nights in his nice, on the water Airbnb too).  It’s told from the POV of a guy who lives in a fairly grungy marina; great story about family ties and living your own life.  Highly recommended, a best seller in France!

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @beth:  Appreciate all the additional information the state of your state.  The education stuff is absolutely appalling!

    I thought maybe you were going to yell at me for calling you our “calendar girl”. :-)

    We will try our best to flip NC!

    If you guys are willing, the plan is to fund these guys twice this cycle.  Phase I starting tomorrow, and Phase II a little closer to the election.  Save your pennies – we are going for $30,000 for each phase.

  90. 90.

    Gravenstone

    @TBone: Loads of pics on Reddit of pasty white ghouls proudly wearing “Blacks for Trump” shirts. Obviously a publicity stunt and nowhere near an authentic congregation greeting the ogre.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    Via reddit

    The US government is suing Adobe for allegedly hiding expensive fees and making it difficult to cancel a subscription. In the complaint filed on Monday, the Department of Justice claims Adobe “has harmed consumers by enrolling them in its default, most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms.”

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    @eclare: He’s very clear-eyed and direct. It’s an excellent and horrifying piece, since he names names and offers up plenty of video of them saying the horrifying things out loud.

    Trump is just a piece of pork belly jerky to plop into the Oval Office. He’ll let his pack o’ dudes do whatever they wish.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    @Baud: After relying on Adobe for more than a decade I now despise them and their bidnez model. “Purchase” software? As if! [stamping of corporate feet.]

    Their changes have been extremely profitable, of course.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    Via reddit

    Latest IRS effort to target wealthy tax cheats could raise $50 billion over a decade

    The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday its latest move to crack down on wealthy tax cheats – an ongoing effort boosted by funding received through the Democrat-backed Inflation Reduction Act.

  97. 97.

    smith

    @Gravenstone: Obviously a publicity stunt and nowhere near an authentic congregation greeting the ogre.

    And right after he hustled for Black votes by speaking to an almost all-white audience in a Black church, this happened:

    Barry Markson @BarryMarkson1 2m Crooked Don just headlined a TPUSA conference in Detroit this weekend where they unfurled a “white boy summer” flag and handed out hats with that phrase. It’s a white nationalist racist, anti-Semitic phrase. 

  99. 99.

    Leto

    @trollhattan: have you seen their latest Eula change? They’re going to scrape every users hard drive for their AI generating/training purposes. They’ve already been sued for AI generating artists work. Example: they were selling Ansel Adam artwork, that wasn’t his but AI generated. A lot of artists for major companies (Netflix, Apple, the Mouse) are saying that if they do that, they’ll be breaking NDAs and other contracts.

    The market is ripe for a rival competitor to come along and offer better services. Easier said than done, after Adobe basically bought everyone out and just went full monopoly on this.

  102. 102.

    Old School

    @Baud:

    The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday its latest move to crack down on wealthy tax cheats

    But if the IRS can go after wealthy tax cheats, then they can go after ordinary tax cheats like you and I!

    (I think that’s how the outrage is supposed to work.)

  104. 104.

    TBone

    @TBone: I stan this woman

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/hacking-hate-review-1235921337/#!

    The whole point of Vingren’s efforts, which require her to assume various fake identities as she infiltrates far-right networks, is to expose the links between online activities and violence that happens in the real world. Hate on social media fuels the fire for hate crimes committed by men (they’re always men) who are groomed on social media, in a cycle that gets worse and worse with every new hit and like.

  105. 105.

    cain

    @Baud: and also stealing their work for their AI. So they are also the product and making money off of them as well.

  107. 107.

    cain

    @TBone:

    There are Democrats out there who say the Biden campaign shouldn’t run ads like this.

    Go fuck yourself. Sick of these people who think we need to be the milquetoast party. The world has changed, the political rules have changed and we have a democracy to save.

  109. 109.

    Baud

    @cain:

    Who among us doesn’t use our employer’s copier for personal copies?

    It’s the circle of capitalism.

  112. 112.

    Mousebumples

    @TBone: great video!

    I was listening to Majority 54 the other day and Jason Kander suggested an ad based on a job interview.

    • So I see here that you’ve held this job before
    • However, I have X of your former coworkers who say that you shouldn’t be rehired (eg Pence and everyone else that’s on the no Trump train from the prior administration)
    • And I see you have 34 felony convictions
    • And Y outstanding indictments under investigation

    Kander sold me on it way better, but positioning the review of a vote for Trump as a job application makes sense.

    Also Wisconsin voter anecdata time –

    1. I’m keeping track of which houses in my purple/red county have ONLY campaign signs for the GOP Congresscritter (or state house) vs those and Trump. Some that used to have Trump signs out (2016, 2020) most certainly do not anymore.
    2. Husband of my massage therapist works with the public. White guy, and other white guys presume he’s MAGA-friendly. (lol, no) Many MAGA-hats are complaining about what they view as another Biden term because they are discouraged after Trump’s conviction. (*probably – this is a recent think, but I don’t think her hubby really wants to get more info) I half suggested he feign interest in RFK to try to bring down MAGA votes for Trump. But maybe they’ll just stay home… 🤞🤞
  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    @TBone:

    Looks good, if nightmare fodder.

    Similar, Spanish film-maker chronicles her fight against extortion hackers who accessed personal pics from her stolen laptop.

    When hackers threatened to leak a film-maker’s nude photos stored on her stolen laptop, she turned the cameras on herself to document her ordeal.
    Spanish director Patricia Franquesa was sitting in a café in Madrid when thieves made off with her laptop in 2019.
    Three months later, hackers got in touch with her demanding money, threatening to leak the intimate photos she had stored on the device if she didn’t pay up.
    Franquesa didn’t know for sure – and still doesn’t – whether the person attempting to extort her was the same one who physically stole the laptop.
    But in a situation where victims have such little control, she was able to document the whole episode on film from her perspective as it unfolded.
    The result is My Sextortion Diary, which has just screened at the Sheffield Documentary Festival.
    “Making a documentary was my way of taking some control and power,” Franquesa tells BBC News. “It was my way to protect myself, not victimise myself and give me some disassociation, it was like building a bubble.”
    The distance provided by making the film was valuable, she says, and also helped her process what was going on. “It’s still me of course, but I needed to separate myself. I was talking about ‘Pati’, but there is Pati the character and Pati the director.”
    She jokes that it’s darkly appropriate that such an ordeal “happened to someone who does documentaries, so it’s the perfect opportunity to turn [the cameras] around”.

  116. 116.

    TBone

    @trollhattan: I love it when women flip the power imbalance script!  Like Stormy and E. Jean did.  Thanks for sharing! 💜

    It’s important to NOT look away.  Discomfort is a necessity.

  117. 117.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    Me.

    But then my printer will make copies – in COLOR. Which of course many, many, likely most home size/cost printers do today.

    And of course I am fucking RETIRED. And yes, I earned it. 6 + decades of employment, a stint in the US military – during a war, I earned it.

  119. 119.

    TBone

    @smith: I saw that today. LOL! DougJ can’t even make this shit up 🙄😖

    Must be getting under their skin, hit dogs holler!

    ETA the use of the word “painting” is especially ironic for an orange asshole who wears makeup every day.

    I hope he sweats rivulets like Rooty Tooty at the debates.

  120. 120.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @smith:

    Takes me back the Bush/Cheney days. I think it was Krugman who said that Republicans could serve chocolate ice cream and call it vanilla. The best the media would do is say that some Democrats claim it was brown.

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @smith:

    Evidently the critics managed to shame the FTFNYT into changing the headline to more accurately reflect reality. It now reads:

    Biden Campaign Ad Calls Attention to Trump’s Felon Status

  128. 128.

    smith

    Even more amazing, the NY Post can be shamed into telling the truth (occasionally):

    Bad Fox Graphics@BadFoxGraphics 21h
    UPDATE: @nypost has silently changed their reporting on Trump’s ‘Black church’ event in Detroit, attended by a mostly white audience
    6/15 8:11pm “The presumptive GOP nominee appealed to the mostly black crowd”
    6/16 3:12pm “The presumptive GOP nominee focused on black voters”

  129. 129.

    Regnad Kcin

    I can add that the Sec of State in NC is great about publishing data on absentee ballots that need curing. I spent Oct 2020 on the ground there, doing individual voter ballot cure door knocks. It made a difference in Wilmington.

  132. 132.

    Leto

    @Maxim: late reply, but thanks for the link! Passing it along to the wife in the happenstance she doesn’t already know.

  134. 134.

    sab

    OT: After nearly two months I finally got my Vanguard problem sorted out. Thanks to Kay’s advice.

    So now I can afford to contribute to this thread’s cause.

  137. 137.

    Regnad Kcin

    @sab: i regret spending Oct 2022 in GA, because there was no ability to make that kind of impact — lit drops and sign holding pale in comparison.

    in NC, we were also trained in voter protection at early and election day voting, with actionable steps for people who were refused a ballot

  138. 138.

    Maxim

    There’s a password-protected post about NC at the top of the main page right now.

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