Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Petty moves from a petty man.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

The words do not have to be perfect.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

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

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

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Political Fundraising 2021-22

Four Directions Boots on the Ground in Nevada – Another Angel Appears!

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If we raise $25,000, we can put $75,000 of boots on the ground in Nevada.  Let’s win Nevada in November.On Wisconsin!

Four Directions found us a double-match, and three Balloon Juice Angels yesterday helped us raise over $6,500 on the first day!

One more Angel appeared later in the day yesterday, so I’m happy to say that we have a $2,000 Angel match available, starting now.

With the double-match plus the angel match, your donations – up to $50 person – turn into 6x that amount for Nevada.

So your $10 donation becomes $60, $25 becomes $150, $50 becomes $300 for Nevada.



  
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Nevada, Here We Come!

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Update at 7:00 pm Eastern time:

 Angel matches 1-3 are complete!  Another Balloon Juice Angel has appeared, and we’ll start that one in the morning.  Thanks to all who donated today or encouraged others.

Update at 2:30  Eastern time:

Almost Retired has offered to be a Balloon Juice angel for $250, and will match up to $25 per person.

Update at 12:30 Eastern time:

Well, we blew through Angel match #1 and we have just $256 left on the Angel match #2!

After that, we are back to the double-match from Four Directions.

At that point, you can multiply donations up to $50 by 3. 

Four Directions found us a double-match, and two Balloon Juice Angels have already come forward with $1,000 angel matches.  Angel matches are complete!

On Wisconsin!

We will start out with angel matches up to $50 per person.  So $50 from you gets matched by a BJ angel and becomes $100, and that gets double-matched and turns into $300.

So, up to $50, thanks to our two BJ Angels, for now your donation gets multiplied by 6!

Your donation gets double-matched by Four Directions, so for now your donation gets multiplied by 3.

  • $50 from you becomes $300 for Nevada.
  • $25 from you becomes $150 for Nevada.
  • $15 from you becomes $90 for Nevada.
  • $100 from you (where the first $50 is angel matched) becomes $450 for Nevada

Let’s see what we can do to bring Nevada home for the Democrats and help give a voice to Native people!

Let’s win in 2022 and build a firewall for 2024 by keeping out the crazies running for office in Nevada who want to override the will of the voters.

Also, mark your calendars for this Thursday, 8/18 at 7:30 to zoom with Voces de la Frontera.  No fundraising peeps this time – just the folks on the ground who can give us the scoop in their neck of the woods.

Fabi, Political Director, Voces de la Frontera Action
Yasmin, Canvass Manager
Minerva, Relational Voter Program Coordinator, Milwaukee
Jose, RVP Coordinator, Racine

I am looking forward to this.  Send me an email if you would like the zoom link.




  
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Let’s Talk About Nevada, Part 1

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Nevada is shaping up to be a key state this year, even with just 6 electoral votes.

So let’s talk about Nevada, starting with organized labor – their take on the lay of the land in Nevada and what they are doing about it.

Organized Labor Hits the Bricks for Nevada Democrats  (from the folks at electoral-vote.com)

Nevada’s a tricky state for the Democrats this year. First of all, it’s fairly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Second, its economy is based primarily on tourism. That means that when gas prices soar, or when people tighten their belts in anticipation of a recession, or when food prices go up, Nevada is particularly hard-hit.

All of this has union leadership in the Silver State very nervous. They don’t see good things in the future if Republicans take over most or all political offices. However, they also know that when things get bad, voters tend to adopt a “throw the bums out” mentality. If so, that could cost the Democrats a U.S. Senate seat (the one Catherine Cortez Masto is running for reelection to) and up to three House seats (the ones that Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford are trying to hold on to).

To that end, the largest union in Nevada—the Culinary Union—is taking action. It is subsidizing 100 union members so that they can take leave from their regular jobs and can spend the next several months canvassing. Their primary tasks are to: (1) make the case that inflation is not the Democrats’ fault, and (2) brag about the Inflation Reduction Act. They’ve knocked on 50,000 doors so far and hope to run that total to 100,000 by the end of August. They are particularly targeting Latino voters, who are the fastest-growing demographic in the state.

We do not know how much this will help, but it will certainly help some. And if the Democrats do lose the House this cycle, it won’t be for lack of ground game in Nevada (and Georgia, and North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, etc.) (Z)

Sneak Peek: I know I had said that the VAAC fundraising would be the last big fundraising effort with a targeted amount to raise this year, but I contacted Four Directions about Nevada, and they have found us a double-match if we can raise $25,000.  They are starting to put boots on the ground and $75,000 will go a long way!

Are we up for it?

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Impressive and Inspiring: The VAAC People at the Zoom on Tuesday

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We got to meet most of the people from this video at the zoom on Tuesday.

Yes, You Can Vote in Michigan—New Video!

The video is only one minute long, so I hope you’ll watch it if you haven’t already.

We met Danny and Rob and E.B. and Percy and Booker T on Tuesday.

Smart.  Inspiring.  Passionate.  Hopeful.  Impressive!

Each one told us their story and they were seriously amazing.  When I get time I’ll put up the video of the zoom, but this week is sapping my energy and I am not going to get to it today.

When that goes up you’ll get to meet Carrie, too, one of the people who started this organization 2 years ago.  Carrie is lovely person filled with passion; I can’t wait for you to meet her, too.

The $25,000 we hope to raise for VAAC will fund community engagement done by most of the people we met.

We are into our second $1,000 Balloon Juice angel match, with $435 of that already donated before Balloon Juice was so rudely interrupted by the ransomware attack.  Between that and the external match of 21,500 (and they are still working on matching the full $25k) you can multiply your donation by a factor of 4.

$25 funds the full cost of an hour of face-to-face community engagement.  With our angel match and the external match, 25 bucks funds 4 hours.

For this angel match, we are matching up to $50 for donations in the comments.

And when this Angel match is complete, we have another one in the wings!

Voting Access for All Coalition

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Voting Access for All Coalition – Our First Balloon Juice Angel Is Up at Bat

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Voting Access for All Coalition - Ask Them Anything!
Voting Access for All

Michigan citizens with a criminal record have a right to vote!  VAAC is dedicated to ensuring that all Michiganders understand their rights – even with a felony record, on probation, parole or tether, or awaiting arraignment or trial, even while in Jail – you have the power to vote.  Your past doesn’t prevent you from impacting our future.

Your donations help us to:

– educate people who have been misinformed about their right to vote

– motivate those who do not believe their vote matters

– help people overcome the barriers that may prevent them from voting

VAAC found an external match for us (up to $20k and they are working on more) and we have a BJ Angel who offered a $1,000 match!   So any donation up to $50 can be multiplied by 4 to see the actual impact of your donation.  

Watch this video with real VAAC volunteers describing their mission.

Take a look at their Q & A from last night.  They are inspirational!

As many as 300,000 Michiganders who have a criminal record are eligible to vote, but far too many of them believe they’ve lost the right to vote. VACC is working to empower this woefully disenfranchised community, and their goal for registration and voting in November is a whopping 100,000.

Think for a second about what the margin of victory was in Michigan in 2020.

Totally open thread.

Update at 1:30 pm.

Angel Match #1 is now complete!   Luckily, we have another Balloon Juice Angel.

Let Angel Match #2 commence!

Voting Access for All Coalition

 

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Voting Access for All Coalition – Ask Them Anything!

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Let’s give a warm welcome to the folks from VAAC – Voting Access for All!

Voting Access for All Coalition - Ask Them Anything!
A short introduction from their Act Blue page:

Michigan citizens with a criminal record have a right to vote!  VAAC is dedicated to ensuring that all Michiganders understand their rights – even with a felony record, on probation, parole or tether, or awaiting arraignment or trial, even while in Jail – you have the power to vote.  Your past doesn’t prevent you from impacting our future.

Your donations help us to:

– educate people who have been misinformed about their right to vote

– motivate those who do not believe their vote matters

– help people overcome the barriers that may prevent them from voting

Watch this video with real VAAC volunteers describing their mission.

As many as 300,000 Michiganders who have a criminal record are eligible to vote, but far too many of them believe they’ve lost the right to vote. VACC is working to empower this woefully disenfranchised community, and their goal for registration and voting in November is a whopping 100,000.

Think for a second about what the margin of victory was in Michigan in 2020.

VAAC is sending formerly incarcerated individuals back into their communities to clarify the law, and they are sending representatives to several urban County jails to register eligible voters who are awaiting arraignment or trial.

They are sending volunteers to “expungement fairs,” where volunteer lawyers help citizens who have fulfilled their obligation to society get their records cleaned up.

Not just that – VAAC volunteers and employees with a criminal record are building their resumes through their efforts, and finding purpose and inspiration.

Consistent with our goal of strategic funding, we are looking to fund “boots-on-the ground” positions.   Once we know exactly what the external match amount will be, we will share more details about exactly which positions we will fund.

The enthusiasm of the founders and the volunteers is infectious.  Don’t miss the Zoom call next Wednesday, 5/18 at 7:30 pm, where some of the coalition leaders and members (even a couple of the volunteers featured in the video) will join us.

Thanks to the execrable War on Drugs and a criminal justice system with a racist history, the community targeted for outreach is large and persuadable.

With the sheer number of new voters VAAC aims to bring into the system, with the voter protection amendment promoted by Promote the Vote 2022, and with our funding of Four Directions in Michigan, we believe it’s possible to put the Michigan brick firmly back in the Blue Wall.

Enough from us!  Ask them anything, watch the video, and check out their website.

Oh, and come meet them in person at the zoom next Wednesday, May 18 at 7:30!

Voting Access for All Coalition

 

 

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Boots on the Ground Fundraising: Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Going

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After raising a shocking amount of money for candidates in 2020 and then for the Georgia runoffs, the results were mixed.  We were rewarded with the 2 wins in the Georgia runoffs, which gave us a tiny majority in the senate.  Which turned out to be everything!  Every penny we spent in Georgia paid off, and that felt great!

But, man we surely did throw a lot of money at races that felt good, at races that seemed to be possible wins – I mean who among us didn’t want to see the Turtle and Lindsay Graham out of the senate?  But in hindsight, it seemed that not all of our money was well spent.

So we got to thinking about our approach to raising money going forward.  We started with the new approach right away in 2021 – with the goal being to leverage the fundraising power of the Balloon Juice community as strategically as possible.

Strategic in terms of what kind of work we are funding.  Strategic in terms of what populations we are serving.  Strategic in terms of which states can have the most impact.  Strategic in terms of impact on future elections, not just 2022.

Anyway, Spring has sprung, and we’ve been at this new approach for about a year now, so I want to take a minute to look at our Balloon Juice fundraising: where we’ve been and where we’re going.

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Where We’ve Been

We started last spring with Four Directions and the Native vote.  Then we forged a relationship with Voces de la Frontera to help give the Latino population in Wisconsin more of a voice.  Then Four Directions again, because they had an opportunity to forge a relationship with Fair Fight, and they needed seed money to do it.

Then, with the Native vote being dear to our collective hearts, we looked at Four Directions with an eye toward the other states they considered key in 2022.  And one after another we funded their early efforts in their other key states:  Arizona and Wisconsin.  Then we approached them to see if seed money from us could get them to get an early start in Michigan, so Balloon Juice got Four Directions boots on the ground in March 2021.  I think it’s fair to say that Four Directions is active in Michigan because of us.

We got our next lead – on the next good group to support – from the work of our Join the Fight pilot test in Michigan.  That was Promote the Vote 2022, which is helping to secure the future of fair voting in Michigan, a key state.  In particular, we funded 5 fellowship positions specifically to serve and represent traditionally underserved and disenfranchised people.

After that we had the pop-up fundraising for Voces de la Frontera to help channel our fears /outrage at the appalling soon-to-be ruling from the Supreme Court.  Going forward, the rights of self-determination for women can only be protected by a legislative majority of Democrats, so we have to take those fears and that outrage and get Democrats elected at every level of government.

Where We’re Going

So what’s next?

Our next fundraising effort, that we’re kicking off this Thursday, is for what we think is a really terrific group!  Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC) serves everyone, but for reasons that will become obvious, people of color make up most of the population that is most impacted by the VAAC effort.

Watch their introductory video and let us know if you are as excited about this group as we are!  We have a Q & A post with them set up for this Thursday, 5/12, at 7:30 – I hope you will mark your calendars so you can come to the post with questions and get to know more about this inspiring group.  Also mark your calendars for the Zoom Q & A the following Wednesday, 5/18, at 7:30.

There are about 300,000 people directly impacted, and they hope to inform, inspire and empower 100,000 of those folks to actually take action and vote.  Think for a minute about what the margin of victory was in Michigan in 2020.

After that, it looks like we are going to head South.  We have helped Georgia several times, but this time we are headed to North Carolina.  No details to share with you at this point, but we want to let you know where we’re headed.

After that, our next effort we will be focused on the youth vote, as it’s becoming more and more obvious that we have a lot of work to do with young people who feel we are failing them on many fronts.

A Nod to Join the Fight

The Balloon Juice fundraising effort is (mostly) separate from the Join the Fight initiatives, though we are finding that there is a lot of synergy between the two efforts.

Join the Fight began as an effort to put our time as well as our money to good use, leveraging the power of the Balloon Juice community as strategically as possible.  Part of our goal was to find like-minded groups whose efforts we might be able to support, and who might also be interested in supporting our efforts.

And it’s working!  We are making connections with other organizations, just as we hoped it would.  Madeleine was part of our Join the Fight pilot effort for Michigan, and she is the one who was connected with VAAC as part of connecting with Michigan organizations that had been identified in the pilot project.

In Summary

We no longer have two functioning political parties, that much is clear.  There is much that we can’t control, and some days that’s all we hear about.

BUT WE CAN MAKE ELECTIONS HARDER TO STEAL, and one of our jobs is to help make the margin of victory so large that the risks are too high for those who want to steal them.

So we’ve focused on voting and voting rights.  To that effect, we’ve targeted disenfranchised communities that have the numerical possibility of swinging crucial swing states.  More specifically, we have been supporting and funding direct boots-on-the-ground efforts in crucial swing states, though that will change for our efforts to inspire and mobilize the youth vote.

Thank You

With your donations, you guys are helping to make all of this happen.  And the Balloon Juice Angels?  Oh my gosh, you are such a big part of helping to meet our goals, special thanks to you guys, as well.

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