Open Threads

In Michigan, people who are in jail, awaiting trial, are eligible to vote.  But many or most of them them don’t know it.

These are people who haven’t been convicted of anything, but can’t afford $5,000 or whatever for  bail.  (Don’t get me started on how wrong that is!)

VAAC wants to send postcards to 1,200 people  who are in jails in Michigan, awaiting trial, letting them know they can vote and sharing information about the process.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

If you commit to doing 100 postcards or more, they will send you everything you need in a box!

• pre-printed VAAC postcards
• pre-printed labels telling them about the process
• postcard stamps
• mailing labels

All you have to do is:

add the labels and the stamps to the postcards

write a 10-word message to them in your own handwriting

mail the postcards or ship your completed box back (still checking on that detail)

They need postcards for 1,200 folks who are in jail.  That would be 12 people who can do 100 postcards, or fewer people doing more cards.

Who’s up for helping people in Michigan to vote?

Update:

We have 12 sets of 100 postcards available.

If you are one of the 12 people,, VAAC will ship your “postcards in a box” box next week, so you should have them in 7-10 days or so, depending on the mail.

Rules of the road:

• You can start writing as soon as you get your postcards in a box
• You put your postcards for recipients in the mail.
• Postcards should be mailed by Sept 15.

So it seems like you’ll have about 2 weeks to write your postcards once the box arrives.

Please send me your name and mailing addresses by email, so they can send your box!

And send your nym so I can match the emails I get with nyms from this thread.

Update:  The original 12 slots for 100 postcards all have been filled.  Thank you!

Update on Wednesday morning:  I heard from VAAC this morning, they may be able to use the additional 6 of you after all!  Waiting to hear more.

Postcards for VAAC (Voting Access for All)Post + Comments (63)

In his latest “fact check”, Glenn Kessler shits the bed and rolls around in it. [gift link] One of the lowlights:

“We know from his own chief of staff, four-star General John Kelly, that Trump while in Europe would not go to the gravesites in France of the brave service members who gave their lives in this country, he called them ‘suckers and losers.’ ”

—Biden

Kelly did not exactly say this. Trump, on repeated occasions, had vehemently denied this story. In 2023, however, John F. Kelly, Trump’s White House chief of staff in 2018 — who had previously not commented on the controversy — issued a statement to CNN that Trump “rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

Note that Kelly’s statement is carefully worded and does not directly say Trump refused to visit the graves because he thought they were losers, as Biden claimed. He says Trump thinks war dead are losers and he did not want to go to the cemetery. Both could be true — but not connected.

Trump fucked a porn star, then paid her money to sign an NDA. Both could be true — but not connected.

I ate Taco Bell for lunch and then had explosive diarrhea. Both could be true — but not connected.

Here are things that we thought we knew, but Glenn’s not so sure: Trump said “fine people on both sides” about the Charlottesville riot — Glenn accepts Trump’s distinction between the neo-nazis in the march and the fine people who were also carrying torches in the neo-nazi march. Trump suggested injecting bleach to combat COVID — ackshully, Glenn says, Trump mentioned an “injection inside” the lungs with a disinfectant. Totally different! And there were no “love letters” to Kim Jong Un from Trump — Glenn says there’s “no evidence” (here’s evidence) and that Trump’s comment about “falling in love” was “puffery”. I guess we excuse Trump for “puffery” but god damn any Democrat who puts a little spin in their convention speeches.

What kind of a broken brain do you need to file this piece?  Who is the audience?  What greater good is it serving?  What value are you providing subscibers?

When journalists whine about the death of journalism, they’re often talking about a self-inflicted wound.

(Note that I didn’t even consider whatever the Times wrote, but Atrios has one terrible example.)

The Utter Death of the Fact Checking ProjectPost + Comments (272)