Officially announcing the start of our Four Directions Montana fundraising! As we all know, Montana is about keeping Jon Tester’s senate seat, as well as helping Native people have more of a voice in elections. Besides being “boots on the ground for the Native vote”, Four Directions also litigates – and often wins – on their behalf.
I got word late yesterday that Four Directions has fund a match for the full $30,000 we are trying to raise! Thank you, Four Directions, for finding the match, and thank you to the two $15,000 external matchers that were found!
And we have a Balloon Juice Angel for you, right out of the gate – who has been patiently waiting for Montana to be up at bat! Not sure if I can use their nym or not (waiting to hear) so for now it’s anonymous. Thank you, Marleedog!
Matching up to $100 per person, for a total of $1,000! To count toward the match, tell us about your donation in the comments or via email to me. With the external match and the Angel match, this is a 4x donation.
THIS LINK IS FOR MONTANA DONATIONS – NOT FOR THE RAFFLE
Also: raffle tickets for the Native-made quilt will be available until Sunday evening, 9/8.
$25 each. Here’s the link to buy raffle tickets and see the quilt raffle announcement and details.
WaterGirl
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: I had forgotten what Willie Nelson looked like when he was younger!
H.E.Wolf
Quoting from the previous Four Directions (quilt raffle) post:
Pila maya pelo (Thank you)
Mitakuye Oyasin (We are all related)
Nina
I’m in for 50
Almost Retired
Will drop some money in when I get home. Glad to have these opportunities to make a difference more directly. It looks like many of the Cook Report toss-up houses races are awash in money – so I’d rather help turnout Native voters in Montana than annoy voters with more ads.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Willie had a kinda Johnny Cash look about him in 1969 (scroll down a little).
+$150 Tester’s seat is important!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I never thought about Willie that way, but I can’t argue with what you said! :-)
Old School
@WaterGirl: And Willie Nelson used to look even younger!
Mrs Ragbag
In for $25.
WaterGirl
@Nina: Got it, thanks!
Steve LaBonne
$25 to Four Directions Montana.
WaterGirl
@Mrs Ragbag: Haven’t seen that nym in awhile! thank you
WaterGirl
@Old School: Holy cow! I guess i never saw Willie until 1974.
WaterGirl
@Steve LaBonne: Thank you!
Hungry Joe
POSTCARD UPDATE — SERIES 2
Postcards to Swing States:
Yesterday — 14
Running total — 96
Kristine
Just kicked in $25
Mercy
In for $100 – as usual the match is too good to resist. Hang on, Montana!
Wolvesvalley
Hooray for the external matches and our angel! Here’s another $50.
WaterGirl
Just heard back in the affirmative from Marleedog, who is our Balloon Juice Angel – Thank you Marleedog!
Maxim
Those photos of young Willie are wild.
In for $100. Thank you Marleedog, and hooray for external matches too!
snoey
Put in $100 earlier this AM
sixthdoctor
In for 50.
Marleedog
Thanks to this entire community for all that you do.
I cannot say that I feel that I am much of an angel, but I think that we can all agree that WaterGirl is the highest of archangels.
WaterGirl
Thanks to everyone who donated so far. We are halfway to our $1,000 Angel match!
I am sneaking out to pick up some lunch, but I’ll be back.
gwangung
In for $50.
Sister Golden Bear
In for $100
WaterGirl
PSA: I just heard back from the VAAC folks about the postcard boxes. They were mailed later than expected, but they should arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hope that doesn’t goof up anybody’s plans!
rikyrah
Ragnarok Lobster 🐺 (@eclecticbrotha) posted at 9:14 AM on Fri, Aug 30, 2024:
JD Vance spends an awful lot of time accusing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz of having phony back stories but not enough attention has been paid to how JD Vance entire career is a complete fabrication of billionaire Peter Thiel.
(https://x.com/eclecticbrotha/status/1829522964557300033?t=rQ_GiX4Mqd9RouGuF67Zew&s=03)
WaterGirl
Okay, now we are 3/4 of the way to meeting our Angel match from Marleedog!
(Marleedog, I appreciate your kind words, but I fear that they are far too generous!)
If we get lucky and I have an angel offer in my inbox when I return, then we’ll have that one be retroactive to cover any donations that come in over the $1k match from Marleedog.
Okay, now i’m really heading out to pick up lunch.
rikyrah
Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) posted at 11:00 AM on Fri, Aug 30, 2024:
Gwen Walz knocks JD Vance for his comments on teachers having children and fertility treatments: “We do not take kindly to folks like JD Vance telling us when or how to start our families.”
“So let me use my teacher voice … Mr. Vance, how about you mind your own business?”
(https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1829549653798568211?t=h5NiYGTEVgPACLMwBFDChQ&s=03)
Fake Irishman
In for $100.
Fake Irishman
@rikyrah:
JD is really, really bad at retail politics.
And media politics.
lamh47
@rikyrah:
Here’s the clip:.
AntiCliche
Just gave $100. Let’s go Montana and Senator Tester! Thank you @Marleedog!
raven
@WaterGirl: He was a lounge singer, I was going to post this when Walz cam on b Aird but I figured no one would get it.
Steve LaBonne
@Fake Irishman: I will never understand how Tim Ryan managed to lose to this repulsive asshole.
Alice
Donated $25. Thanks Watergirl and Marleedog!
sab
@lamh47: Yikes.
My husband went to parochial schools. He hated some of the nuns (he was an underachiever who drove teachers crazy by underachieving rather than by bad behavior) and thought others were excellent.
Try telling my stepkids that I had no worthwhile place in their lives for the last twenty years when I provided housing for some, tuition for others and love for all of them. And we always took in their pets when they had overcommitted promising shelter to strays.
Ha Nguyen
Just gave $250 to match my raffle donation.
WaterGirl
@Alice: thank you!
Okay, we completed this $1,000 match at comment #37. Yay!
I will get in touch with Marleedog with the good news.
Baud
@Steve LaBonne:
Follow up to a reddit link I posted early this morning.
Mokum
Donated $100 for four directions Montana.
WaterGirl
@Ha Nguyen: Thank you!
Lucky for us, we have a new $1,000 Angel match!
So everything resets. :-) But same rules of the road, matching up to $100 per person with a comment or an email about the donation.
This one is anonymous, and you have the first $100 of that match.
Baud
@sab:
I assume the nuns are among the teachers that do not have biological children.
Mai Naem mobile
I kicked in $25 to each thermometer. Also I didn’t realize abortion is on the Montana ballot. I hope that helps Tester eke out a win.
Old School
Trump tries out the “Arlington was a set-up” theory:
WaterGirl
@raven: Wow! I prefer Willie 2.0 :-)
But wow. People change. Or at least become who they are!
Marleedog
Wow that was fast, let us keep up the great work and the momentum going!
Just added 1K to Act Blue Four Directions Montana.
Thanks, everyone.
WaterGirl
@Mai Naem mobile: It goes both ways, too. We hope!
dnfree
In for $100! I give to Four Directions monthly also, from way back when WaterGirl started this effort. They seem like a great group.
dnfree
@Marleedog: Thank YOU!
frosty
Just donated $25 and hoping I hit the angel match. If not, a 2x match is good too.
HumboldtBlue
WaterGirl
@Marleedog: That took us to $4,000, what a great start!
Thank you so much.
dc
In for $20.00
WaterGirl
@frosty: You missed the first match, but lucky for you another Angel popped up.
We are still at 4x matching, with $750 left on this new Angel match.
sab
@Baud: He was a mild behavioral problem. When he got accepted into Coast Guard Reserve (who knows how) during Vietnam War the nuns supposed to sign off said that the Army or the Marines might build him more character and discipline.His oldest brother was in the central highlands of Vietnam at that point.
So his mom got him into the Coast Guard. They needed a school signature. His school wouldn’t provide it, so the Coast Gurad forged it. Apparently that was routine
Oops. I am getting us off topic when the topic is one we should support.
BenInNM
In for $25
Baud
@sab:
Aren’t we all?
LNNVA
I’m in for $25.00. Thanks.
1by0
I’m in for $100!
Jim Appleton
rikyrah
I have never been this limber
I have seen maybe a handful of gymnasts this limber.
I ain’t never seen a man this limber 😳😳😳😳😳
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8J13A3F/
Dmkingto
In for $100 for the matches
KatKapCC
@Old School:
Good Lord.
VFX Lurker
Wow. He must have worked hard to achieve that level of flexibility. Impressive display of physical fitness.
Just wow. Thank you for sharing that! Wow.
sdhays
@Old School: Maybe the media should start clamoring for a “sit-down” interview with the Trump campaign’s TikTok team since they seem to be more responsible for the actions of the campaign than the man they work for.
zhena gogolia
@HumboldtBlue: Yes, the clips I saw were good for us, I would say. Harris is not rattled in the slightest.
zhena gogolia
@lamh47: I LOVE HER
rikyrah
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 1:52 PM on Fri, Aug 30, 2024:
BREAKING: In a victory for voters, Pennsylvania court rules that officials must count timely cast mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates on the outer envelope. The ruling ensures thousands of ballots won’t be tossed out in the swing state. https://t.co/QbrfVNu4RZ
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1829592999124516905?s=02)
ssdd
Alexandra Petri remains a treasure. https://wapo.st/3TeEg4T
rikyrah
Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) posted at 10:06 AM on Sat, Aug 17, 2024:
Gov. Walz: Once I had my own children, it became so clear to me that every child who came through the door of my classroom was someone’s most special thing in their life. It gave me a sense of service https://t.co/tauGVHO1Sj
(https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1824825150254227609?s=02)
HumboldtBlue
This is an absolutely fascinating story.
rikyrah
Sarafina Chitika (@SarafinaChitika) posted at 1:06 PM on Fri, Aug 30, 2024:
Last time @realDonaldTrump was in the White House he appointed an anti-IVF judge to a *lifetime* position on the federal bench. She even made his Supreme Court shortlist.
Voters don’t buy Trump’s words because they have seen Trump’s actions. https://t.co/1jhXLYYSxe
(https://x.com/SarafinaChitika/status/1829581500926320748?s=02)
Steve LaBonne
@rikyrah: Great news, thank you for sharing it! As close as PA looks Ike being, this could be the difference.
rikyrah
StrictlyKamala 🇺🇦🌻 (@StrictlyChristo) posted at 2:35 PM on Fri, Aug 30, 2024:
Johnson pulled strings to get Trump into Arlington — and now the scandal is spreading
rawstory.com/johnson-trump-…
The U.S. Dept. of the Army oversees and maintains Arlington National Cemetery. According to a Washington Post report Wednesday evening, “Pentagon officials were deeply concerned about the former president turning the visit into a campaign stop, but they also didn’t want to block him from coming, according to Defense Department officials and internal messages reviewed by The Washington Post.”
“Officials said they wanted to respect the wishes of grieving family members who wanted Trump there, but at the same time were wary of Trump’s record of politicizing the military. So they laid out ground rules they hoped would wall off politics from the final resting place of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.”
Trump’s team was told he could attend only in his personal capacity and that campaign staff members were not allowed. Some of his top campaign staffers reportedly attended Monday’s event despite the rules set by cemetery officials. Also in attendance were several Republican politicians, including Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, now under fire for using a photo of the event in a re-election campaign fundraising email.
“No hats, signs or banners were allowed, according to military officials,” The Post also reported. “No speeches. Reporters and photographers could follow Trump for a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, but not to the 14-acre plot where veterans from recent wars are buried, known as Section 60. The media was kept away, unable to see the altercation — or anything else, for that matter — during that part of his visit.”
That “altercation,” reportedly involved a cemetery official who later filed a report stating Trump’s team verbally and physically assaulted her, according to multiple reports. She has said she is unwilling to press charges out of fear of retaliation from Trump’s supporters, according to The New York Times. The Trump campaign denies the allegations while campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Times the reason for her decision to refuse to press charges “is ridiculous and sounds like someone who has Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The cemetery “employee tried to enforce the rules as provided to her by blocking Trump’s team from bringing cameras to the graves of U.S. service members killed in recent years, according to a senior defense official and another person briefed on the incident,” The Post adds. “A larger male campaign aide insisted the camera was allowed and pushed past the cemetery employee, leaving her shocked.”
The Daily Caller reports Monday’s event “would have not happened without Speaker Johnson,” according to an unnamed source.
“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had to intervene to get former President Donald Trump into Arlington National Cemetery for the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal with Gold Star families, a family told the Daily Caller,” according to the right-wing website.
That source also reportedly told The Daily Caller, “Arlington Cemetery officials claimed the families didn’t want any media, photography, or videography at Section 60, contradicting what the families had actually requested. The families were fine with the media, designated by the Trump team, but Arlington kept pushing back, obstructing the process.”
Not all families were fine with Trump’s appearance and photography.
“The family of a Green Beret who died by suicide after serving eight combat tours and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery expressed concern on Wednesday that Donald J. Trump’s campaign had filmed his gravesite without permission as Mr. Trump stood in an area where campaign photography isn’t allowed,” The New York Times reports. “Relatives of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano issued their statement two days after Mr. Trump’s visit.”
“Sergeant Marckesano died on July 7, 2020, after moving to Washington to begin a job at the Pentagon. He had three children, and friends said he had chronic post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in combat. He earned Silver and Bronze Stars during his service. His gravesite is adjacent to that of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, a Marine who was killed in the 2021 bombing at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.”
The Times reports while the Hoover family gave Trump permission to photograph, the Marckesano family did not, yet his grave “was shown in photos from the visit that were published online. A video was posted to Mr. Trump’s TikTok account featuring footage from the Section 60 visit and the gravestones from behind, with narration criticizing the handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.”
(https://x.com/StrictlyChristo/status/1829603846991314953?s=02)
HumboldtBlue
There go two miscreants
In for $100.
Weftage
Four Directions II: In for $50
Another Scott
Speaking of Montana, er, Nevada I mean … Wonkette.com (I don’t see a byline):
Good, good.
Keep doing the work, Nevada Dems!!
It’s a good piece. Click on over. But then come back!!
Cheers,
Scott.
chris
In for $100!!
Baud
@Another Scott:
👍
Isua
In for $25. Thank you!
WendyBinFL
I’m in for $100. God bless WaterGirl, Four Directions, and all who contribute to this worthy cause.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott:
Love that!
WaterGirl
Just $45 left on this Angel match!
Princess
@rikyrah: And I can promise you that Amy Coathanger Barrett is an anti IVF judge, given the kind of Catholic she is.
Gretchen
Babette
In for $100
WaterGirl
We have another new angle for Montana today, friend of the blog, Andrew!
So the earlier anonymous Angel match is complete, and we are starting our third match. Same deal, up to $100 per person, in order to be matched tell us about it in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.
Our second angel will add their $1k when they return home later this afternoon.
Fine print: Babette’s $100 above went $45 for the previous match and $55 for this one. So we’re at $945 left on the new match.
BlueGuitarist
In for 4 raffle tickets
Love all y’all
BlueGuitarist
@HumboldtBlue:
Thank you!
BlueGuitarist
@Another Scott:
Thanks!
(byline Doktor Zoom – apparently omitted initially)
BJ has the best fundraising!
The Lodger
I believe Mrs. Walz omitted an adjective there.
MazeDancer
In for $25.
And thank you, Marleedog!
Sandia Blanca
In for $100!
silvery
In for $100!
Just Visiting
In for $25
WaterGirl
@Just Visiting: Love your nym!
TMinSJ
In for 100!
left coasting
Donated $100
WaterGirl
@left coasting: Love your nym!
thank you!
WaterGirl
PSA: It’s a holiday weekend, so all donatios into the Four Directions MT Phase II thermometer until it reads $22,500 will be 4x donations – no need to let us know about your donations.
PSA: It’s a holiday weekend, so all donatios into the Four Directions MT Phase II thermometer until it reads $22,500 will be 4x donations – no need to let us know about your donations.
When we get to $22,500, a gaggle of Angels will pop i the matching $7,500.
PSA #2: To get to the thermometer for quilt raffle tickets, click on the image of the quilt in the sidebar.
Terri
I just put in $100. I hope you reach the full $30,000 goal.
Blue Virginia
I just gave yesterday and today. I am adamant about keeping Senator Jon Tester in the US Senate and helping Native tribes have their voices heard about their needs, in the political process. A big reason why I gave again today, was after the offensive remarks Sheehy made about native peoples. There are so many reasons why Sheehy should not be elected from Montana and for keeping Senator Jon Tester but this latest slur by Sheehy is one more reason.