There is a time machine after all! We are back to the equivalent of “It’s just locker room talk!”. More on that below.
In the meantime, this happened yesterday.
Native Americans in Montana ask court for voting sites on reservation (Newsday)
BILLINGS, Mont. — Native Americans living on a remote Montana reservation filed a lawsuit against state and county officials Monday saying they don’t have enough places to vote in person — the latest chapter in a decades-long struggle by tribes in the United States over equal voting opportunities.
The six members of the Fort Peck Reservation want satellite voting offices in their communities for late registration and to vote before Election Day without making long drives to a county courthouse.
The legal challenge, filed in state court, comes five weeks before the presidential election in a state with a a pivotal U.S. Senate race where the Republican candidate has made derogatory comments about Native Americans.
Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship a century ago. Advocates say the right still doesn’t always bring equal access to the ballot.
Many tribal members in rural western states live in far-flung communities with limited resources and transportation. That can make it hard to reach election offices, which in some cases are located off-reservation.
The plaintiffs in the Montana lawsuit reside in two small communities near the Canada border on the Fort Peck Reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. Plaintiffs’ attorney Cher Old Elk grew up in one of those communities, Frazer, Montana, where more than a third of people live below the poverty line and the per capita income is about $12,000, according to census data.
It’s a 60-mile round trip from Frazer to the election office at the courthouse in Glasgow. Old Elk says that can force prospective voters into difficult choices.
“It’s not just the gas money; it’s actually having a vehicle that runs,” she said. “Is it food on my table, or is it the gas money to find a vehicle, to find a ride, to go to Glasgow to vote?”
The lawsuit asks a state judge for an order forcing Valley and Roosevelt counties and Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen to create satellite election offices in Frazer and Poplar, Montana. The offices would be open during the same hours and on the same days as the county courthouses.
The plaintiffs requested satellite election offices from the counties earlier this year, the lawsuit says. Roosevelt County officials allegedly refused, while Valley County officials said budget constraints limited them to opening a satellite voting center for just one day.
Valley County Attorney Dylan Jensen said there were only two full-time employees in the Clerk and Recorder’s Office that oversees elections, so staffing a satellite office would be problematic.
A 2012 federal lawsuit in Montana sought to establish satellite election offices on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations. It was rejected by a judge, but the ruling was later set aside by an appeals court. In 2014, tribal members in the case reached a settlement with officials in several counties.
Monday’s lawsuit said inequities continue on the Fort Peck Reservation, and that tribal members have never fully achieved equal voting since Montana was first organized as a territory in 1864 and Native Americans were excluded from its elections. Native voters in subsequent years continued to face barriers to registering and were sometimes stricken from voter rolls.
“Equal means equal,” said Bret Healy, an expert witness for the plaintiffs who was also involved in the 2012 Montana case. “It is substantively, mathematically and logically not equal if there’s not a satellite office on the Indian Reservation.”
Tester on The Last Word about 3 months ago. Take a minute to listen. He would have my vote!
A few clips of them sparring in last night’s debate. Is it wrong that I want to wipe that snug look off of Sheehy’s face?
Angel matches, as of this afternoon:
We have a match for the first $1,000 of matching donations for Four Directions Montana / Jon Tester.
We have a NEW $1,000 Angel match to keep us going on Field Operations for the Osborn Nebraska senate race.
We have $1,250 left on the Angel match for AZ Candidates.
For all of these, matching up to $100 per person when you tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.
AZ Supreme Court fundraising is complete!
All of today’s angels are anonymous! Donations up to $100 per person for each thermometer with an angel match. To be matched tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.
Nebraska ($1,000 Angel match)
Montana ($1,000 Angel match)
Arizona Candidates ($1,000 Angel match)
North Carolina
OTHER NC THERMOMETERS COMING TOMORROW!
.
WaterGirl
Unrelated, I added the World Central Kitchen thermometer back in the sidebar – they are feeding people in Asheville, NC. The thermometer says $11,580 – that’s from when we first put it up after the War in Ukraine started, before we added a new thermometer that had the World Central Kitchen and another organization for Ukraine.
Our very own beth, my parter in crime on the Balloon Juice pet calendar, is in Asheville. They are lucky enough to still have their home, but no water, no power, no fuel, etc. And a lot of people have it even worse than that, which adds some perspective on how bad things are in Asheville.
FYI, I asked beth to consider making an Amazon wishlist over the next few days in case BJ peeps want to help. No idea whether she will do that, though!
Click the thermometer if you want to support World Central Kitchen. I swear that man is a saint.
rikyrah
Whatever Tester has to do in order to win is fine by me. We need that vote.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: And the rich carpetbagger is saying that the 3rd generation Montana farmer is out of touch with Montana, and too Washington DC.
Origuy
Rest In Power, John Amos
West of the Cascades
Gave $100 to Four Directions Montana and $100 to Dan Osborn for Nebraska. Thanks Angel matches!!
Chet Murthy
Huh, gosh, it seems like the problem is one of ready transportation to/from the reservation towns. Gosh, it seems like:
(1) they can transport the election office
(2) they can arrange regular transportation for the people to the county seat
(3) or they can rely on the existing transportation infrastructure for mail (DeJoy! Hiss!) and make vote-by-mail the default! [not “oh you need to apply for a mail-in ballot”]
Gosh, I wonder why they don’t do #3. [which doesn’t change that they still need to make sure the mails run on time]
Baud
@Origuy:
I was upset when they killed him off on Good Times. RIP.
Wapiti
@Chet Murthy:
or (4) make the reservation a separate county, if the county governments can’t possibly support the population on the reservation.
John Revolta
Now I want a pink fedora.
CTlurker
I gave 10.00 to four directions Montana.
There go two miscreants
In for: $100 for Osborn, $100 for Four Directions, $140 for the AZ candidates, and $300 for the NC candidates.
Stacib
@Baud: Me, too but I totally understood his reasons for leaving. He said the J.J. character was too close to buffonery, and he felt it was an injustice to images of Black people it painted.
Wapiti
@Wapiti: ETA: Roosevelt County, where most of the Fort Peck Reservation is located, is a whopping 10,000 people total. I could see that they might not have resources to expand their operation, even if they wanted to. But … that’s what state and federal help is for, if it’s needed.
cckids
For those following satby and the travelling cats, she and Bunny arrived safely in Seattle. Miss Bunny has now arrived at her new home in Everett, after an unwelcome trip through typical morning city traffic. She’s hiding out, as expected, deciding if she can trust this space yet.
She seems very sweet, and is super plushy and beautiful, though she has worried eyebrows at the moment. According to the notes sent by her former person, she loves to be brushed! This makes her the first pet in my family (including the grandpups) who will enjoy that necessary process, which makes me happy :)
Having a cat again makes the home so much better.
eclare
@Stacib:
My parents wouldn’t let me watch Good Times because they thought it was too caricaturish.
Chet Murthy
@Wapiti: My guess is in that case the new county would be unable to operate for lack of funds. If the reservation is as thinly-populated as reported, there just aren’t enough people there to support even minimal government infrastructure. But there is precedent for this: rural mail delivery, rural electrification, rural roadways — all were designed so that they could reach everybody, regardless of cost, on the principle that these things were simply necessities and the government would pick up the cost. The same should be true of the right to vote, and states must be compelled to make the ease of voting roughly equal for all citizens. Just b/c you’re poor or live far away, shouldn’t mean that you can’t vote as easily as I can (basically, 3 blocks away downhill, in somebody’s garage). And that can be arranged in many ways, including vote-by-mail or county-supplied copious transportation the days before and on the day of the election.
rikyrah
Art Candee![]()
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@ArtCandee
When I say that this longshoreman ILA strike has been planned for a while, this is why: Here’s Harold Daggett saying OVER A YEAR AGO in July of 2023, after he met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago saying “mark my words, there’s going to be an explosion,” and that the ILA is going to “light the fuse” (essentially tank the economy) while spewing America First propaganda.
Art Candee![]()
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@ArtCandee
It is insane to me that this one man, Harold Daggett, not the vote of the entire union, has this much control over our economy. Especially when the man made $728,000 last year from the ILA, plus another $173,000 as president emeritus of a local union branch.
Most every dockworker puts in overtime which means that they earn over $150,000 a year. Harold has been asking for a 77% raise for workers.
Last night, it was reported that he rejected an increase of 50%. It’s also being reported that he turned down between 2x-3x the contribution to their retirement funds. And NO automation of any kind for the next 6 years. Mental.
https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1841176019614777819
rodwell
Donated $25 for Four Direction Jon Tester and $25 for Dan Osborn.
rikyrah
KSlattery![]()
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@KSlatteryResist
July 2023, more than a year ago, ILA President Daggett started preparing the union workers to strike on October 1, 2024. Yet he refused to sit down at the bargaining table the past few months. He’s asking for twice the salary increase negotiated by the West Coast ILA. I’m pro-union but something smells fishy. Article below #ProudBlue #DemsUnited
10:11 AM · Oct 1, 2024
https://x.com/KSlatteryResist/status/1841133950519164958
eclare
@cckids:
Yay! Satby brought William, the orange tabby, to me. He is very sweet other than being a food bully to my other cat. I think I’ll start feeding her in my pantry, which has a door. He is still getting used to sharing space with my dog, but my dog has ignored all of my other cats, so that will come.
He is so affectionate!
FastEdD
$25 to each of the 4 states.
Grateful for the opportunity.
rikyrah
@cckids:
Awe…that’s so sweet….
eclare
@rikyrah:
Huh. Thanks for this info.
Dan B
@cckids: Hello to Bunny, and you! Satby’s coming over Thursday and then, after hanging out in our jungle, we go to friends for a birthday (delayed due to VP debate viewing) and then visiting the new stairway to the waterfront and new “Oceans” exhibit at the aquarium on Friday.
Pictures of Bunny when she appears, please.
WaterGirl
@cckids: Congratulations to you and your new companion!
eclare
@Dan B:
Satby said that she is going to gather photos of all of the rescue kitties in their new homes and send them in.
I have one good one of William, but every time I try to take another, he jumps down from his perch.
SatanicPanic
@rikyrah: Interesting stuff there. 50% increase is too little? wut
zhena gogolia
@cckids: Congratulations!
Matt McIrvin
@Stacib: I recall a documentary a while back pointing out that Family Matters went through exactly the same process as Good Times–it was supposed to be a realistic sitcom about a working-class black family in DC, but the character of Urkel, this clownish nerd caricature, took over the show and became the focus of increasingly fantastical plots.
sdhays
Sheehy sure sounded like he was pretending to be pro-choice (adjacent?) in that clip from the debate.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I got Family Matters confused with Family Ties and was surprised to learn that Alex Keaton was suppose to be black.
Belafon
@rikyrah: When Republicans bust all the unions up, he can brag about making it happen.
WaterGirl
@West of the Cascades: @CTlurker: Thank you!
rikyrah
Edward-Isaac Dovere
@IsaacDovere
the official White House photo from the Situation Room today, with focused on Harris right at Biden’s side as they’re briefed on the Iran-Israel situation:
https://x.com/IsaacDovere/status/1841201000574828971
WaterGirl
@There go two miscreants: Thank you!
I consider everyone who donates to be a kindred spirits, but people who donate in increments that divide evenly by the number of people in the thermometer are double kindred spirits.
Please tell me that there are numbers that you like and numbers that you don’t like. I was a million years old when I learned that not everyone has feelings about numbers.
Can I do this later?
@WaterGirl: I’m so impressed by the people who make the thermometer number even, or a palindrome, or pretty.
WaterGirl
@sdhays: Yep. Trying to give the impression of being pro-choice while being absolutely the opposite.
They think we’re stupid! The problem is, some of us are.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: This hit me too.
Fair Economist
Tossed in $100 for Dan Osborn.
Redshift
@rikyrah: Hmm, I’m going to have to take that all with a grain of salt. I had read this Bluesky thread earlier (pre-strike) about likely BS attacks on the union’s position, which includes some of those issues. Unfortunately, I don’t see anything either in the accounts you posted from or mine that give me a strong basis to judge whether they know what they’re talking about.
WaterGirl
@Can I do this later?: I take note ad enjoy that, too!
I also enjoy the even number vs. stray cents competition. Not to mention the round number people. Or round number plus $1.
Another Scott
@rikyrah: I ass-u-me Secretary Pete and the rest of the administration is keeping an eye on things. And won’t let anyone blow up the economy over this.
Transportation.gov:
We’ll see how it goes.
Cheers,
Scott.
pluky
@Stacib: JJ wasn’t close to buffoonery, he epitomized it. There are other terms from minstrel shows and vaudeville that apply, but with seriously stronger racist connotations.
WaterGirl
@John Revolta: Love the pink hat, but I’m not sure that’s a fedora.
Sallycat
I tried to contribute $25 each to all four parties identified in the post. I got a message and a phone call that some of my attempts to use my credit card failed, but which ones didn’t go through can’t be identified to me. If you give me your email address I will post more details.
Ksmiami
@rikyrah: then he’ll force Biden to act in the best interests of the nation and shut the strike down. Fuck em. I have zero sympathy for these overpaid goons.
RaflW
I still think about a very kind young progressive Democrat from Nebraska who I became friends with in (ugh) golf class at TCU in the ’83-’84 academic year (fall? spring? Can’t remember). I was still under the influence of my Republican dad as a college Freshman.
Charles and I would have loud and energetic fights about policy and politics on our way back to the dorm after class. I think he might have been a class ahead of me, not sure. When he’d get red-faced mad (which was often, I was a stubborn little freak – both very anti-nuke yet pro-capitalism) his mild stutter would get much worse. But I was at least not socially horrible, so I was (I hope I recall accurately) decently patient.
When our arguments had run out of steam, one of us would say to the other, with a smile “See ya soon!” “Yup!”
The fights were fun, seemingly for both of us. I’m quite sure he had much more of an effect on me than I on him. Clearly I went more liberal. Sadly, Nebraska did not stay like Charles. Maybe Dan Osborne can bring the state a little closer to it’s progressive history.
$100 for his Dan’s efforts!
Belafon
@Ksmiami: Which has the possible effect of annoying the unions that have backed Harris.
WaterGirl
@Sallycat: send email to my nym at balloon-juice.com
If that’s too cryptic, check Contact Us in the white menu bar up top for an example.
Ksmiami
@Belafon: nah. The ILA are mostly overpaid a-holes. Most other unions don’t really have common cause with these guys at all.
WaterGirl
@RaflW: For Dan in honor of your old friend!
persistentillusion
$25 to each of the four. Thanks for being our accountant, WG
Old School
Update to yesterday’s post. Man smashes guitar not signed by Taylor Swift:
Anoniminous
Funny how low population counties with white people can get money that isn’t in the budget for low population non-white people counties.
Just one o’ them coinkie-dinkies I reckon.
PST
@eclare:
So did John Amos, something he said often enough and loud enough that it led to his dismissal from the show.
Princess
Walz could do well to spend some time watching the Tester debate. Judging from these clips, it was a masterclass in making a smart lying twerp look like … a smarmy lying twerp.
I know one of the issues in the MT race is moneyed people coming to the state and turning it into their playground. It should help Tester that his opponent looks like the villain in an 80s high school movie.
prostratedragon
@rikyrah:
Oh, ’tis indeed straight-up rat fucking.
Mercy
$50 for Montana, $50 for North Carolina. Thank you, WaterGirl!
JiveTurkin
@Belafon: Stuck between a rock and a hard place. The ILA has lots of leverage now, will have very little after election no matter who wins.
EarthWindFire
@sdhays: The tell was that “often it’s women who don’t have any support in these decisions” line. So just turn it over to us strong men (pun intended) who know what’s best for you. Because if she just had the right kind of man in her life, she’d never even think about an abortion. No sirree, she wouldn’t.
Dmkingto
Just sent $50 each to Osborn, Tester, & Arizona. I’ll do North Carolina tomorrow
banditqueen
Thank you so much anonymous angels, WG, WCK–all of you make it easier to reach out and help.
Melancholy Jaques
@Origuy:
He had a lot great roles, but the ones I remember most is adult Kunta Kinte and McDowell’s, home of the Big Mick.
karen marie
@rikyrah: I thought Wonkette’s explanation of what’s going on with the dock workers was good. Read it and you might come down off the ceiling.
karen marie
@SatanicPanic: I’ll recommend you read Wonkette’s explainer as well (I already posted a link for rikyrah).
sdhays
@EarthWindFire: It was a very weird formulation – he mentioned these narrow exceptions that very clearly don’t actually exist in the real world and then talked about them like they opened up “decisions”, as if they restored Roe v. Wade minus support for the harlots, of course.
No, these “exceptions” merely provide hurdles that a woman probably doesn’t have time to clear, even if implemented in good faith (which they clearly aren’t). Not much decision making allowed to happen, and if a woman does come to her own decision, she has to fight for it to prove she’s worthy of it in a very narrow time window, unless, of course, she makes the decision Sheehy wants her to make.
Such a lie.
p.a.
Yeah, when I heard about this (at the time potential) strike last week I thought it smelled of seafood restaurant dumpster on a July afternoon.
This info explains it. Teamster playbook.
suilebhan
$50.00 each to Osborn, 4 Directions MT and Arizona Candidates. Thanks for this opportunity, WaterGirl.
Princess
@sdhays: He also very clearly said “life of the mother” not health so he’s fine with forcing a woman to bear a child who’s going to die and render her permanently unable to have another one like that woman in Texas.
pat
$100 to Jon Tester.
WaterGirl
@Anoniminous: YEAH, that totally leaves me scratching my head, totally perplexed!
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
I just gave $42 to Nebraska to bring it up to $8192 (I bet you can guess what’s interesting about that number), and $100 to Montana because I couldn’t think of anything cute to do there.
I realized when I was in elementary school – hell, in the early grades! – that not everyone was a numbers junkie like me. (I’m also a calendar math geek for good measure.)
WaterGirl
@Princess:
That jumped out at me like he had shouted it through a bullhorn.
Tenar Arha
@WaterGirl: Hi I donated $25 to the Four Directions Montana Tester fund. Hoping there’s still a match.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Hmm, 81 yes, but 8192 does’t jump out at me, except that 9 x 9 = 81.
Numbers people unite.
WaterGirl
@Tenar Arha: Yes!
We have $290 left on the current Tester match
$125 left on the current Osborn match
$850 left on the AZ candidates match
realbtl
Like most of these newbie Rs Sheehy lies constantly.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@rikyrah: (and anyone else concerned about the longshoremen’s strike:
The roots of this strike rest in the fact that there are two different unions representing the longshoremen—one representing workers at the East and Gulf Coast ports, and other those at the West coast ports. There is, and has been for some time, a considerable pay differential between the two groups, in favor of the West Coast workers.
The pay increase they’re asking for is a staged increase of $5/hour over the five years of the contract; this will bring them closer to West Coast wages but not equal them by the end of the contract, as I understand it. The 2018 contract granted them $1/hour raises yearly; right now the top hourly pay is $39/hour on the East Coast. They haven’t kept up with inflation, like a lot of the rest of us.
Management is pushing for full automation of all equipment, which, as those of us who’ve been boggling over Mr. Muskmelon’s adventures, as well as those at Google, can agree is a tad risky.
Also, the longshoreman don’t work regular 40-hour weeks—they are assigned work as needed. So they might have steady work—and even overtime—one month, and not so much the next. In the New York area, this can mean traveling to one of several different ports in the area, so there’s that as well.
Here’s an update from the ILA on the strike & their intentions. If you check through the posts there (arrows at the bottom of the page), you can see other updates & explanations as well.
The ILA is exempting military cargoes & also cruise ships (those are a minimal pert of their work & I think they felt it wasn’t worth the bad publicity from ruining people’s vacations.)
Ksmiami
@Princess: No one can do James Spaeder like James Spaeder
Timill
@WaterGirl: 2 E 13
ie 8 x 1024
JaySinWA
Thanks for the World Central Kitchen reminder.
I did my donation directly at https://wck.org/
Hopefully eliminating the middleman helps, maybe if just getting it there faster.
WaterGirl
@JaySinWA: I think they get the funds quickly, regardless.
JillR
$100 for each of the 4
There go two miscreants
@WaterGirl: I have some favorites, but no numbers that I actually dislike.
VFX Lurker
@WaterGirl:
Thanks again for making it so easy for us to help.
WaterGirl
Okay, I am caught up on matches! Thanks everybody, great day!
I case I missed anyone, these are the comment #s with donations added to the spreadsheet, since I posted the comment # list this morning.
email
105
114
5
10
11
18
21
39
email
47
52
58
61
68
70
72
74
83
85
Reply here if you donated and your comment # isn’t listed.
I’ll check back in the morning.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl: 8192 = 2^13. I think I was in 8th grade when I calculated the powers of 2 up to 2^20 = 1048576 when I was bored during homeroom. I can still reel them off at a moment’s notice.
Also the squares of the integers have a cool pattern where the same last two digits keep repeating, but reversing their order at every multiple of 25. E.g. the squares of 23 through 27 are 529, 576, 625, 676, 729. Which means that once you know the squares up through 25^2, you can just keep rolling with the rest as far as you’ve got the energy for it.
Yes, I’m a nerd and proud of it!
VFX Lurker
@WaterGirl: It’s possible I missed the match, but I posted donation amounts at comment #85.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: As you should be!
WaterGirl
@VFX Lurker: No, you didn’t miss the match!
You must have been typing your comment as I was typing mine. Glad you caught that. (Hoping that I would have caught it in the morning, but this is better!
I will edit my comment at #86 since yours was posted after mine.
Thank you!
1by0
$75 each to 4 directions (Tester) and D Osborn.
WaterGirl
@1by0: Got it, you are matched thank you!
Another Scott
@karen marie: Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
TooManyJens
$100 to Osborn
Cheryl from Maryland
$50.00 to Osborn and $50.00 To Four Directions Montana
lowtechcyclist
Just gave $116 to Montana and $91 to Nebraska. Got some good cribbage hands now.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: hahaha!
Temp Decloaked Lurker
$100 for Dan Osborn, $50 for the Tester boost.
WaterGirl
@Temp Decloaked Lurker: Got it, thank you!