Balloon Juice - Taking Action to Defend Democracy Archives

And in other news…. It’s officially sedition instead of alleged sedition

by David Anderson| March 2, 20228:33 pm| 33 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Taking Action to Defend Democracy, Violent Insurrection at the Capitol

“The plea marks the first successful use of a sedition charge by federal prosecutors in decades.”https://t.co/4LOXO0zgnQ

— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) March 3, 2022

Joshua James of Alabama pled guilty this afternoon to two felony counts:

Obstruction of a government function
Seditious Conspiracy

As part of the plea deal, he agreed to accept that the government has the right to argue for an upward enhancement in his sentence. He is also cooperating.

His statement of offense is quite exhaustive.

And in other news…. It’s officially sedition instead of alleged seditionPost + Comments (33)

MLK: from Dreaming to Reality

by MisterDancer| January 17, 20222:00 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Black Lives Matter, Black Votes Matter, Open Threads, Racial Justice, Recommended Reading, Taking Action to Defend Democracy, This Week In Blackness, Your Place Is In The Resistance, Cosplay Socialists, Don't Know Much About History, It's Not Too Late, Our Failed Media Experiment, Our Failed Political Establishment, Stuff About Black People Written By a Black Person, There can be no unity without accountability.

Among the most painful bits of Dr. King’s legacy is how so much of it’s reduced to “I Have a Dream.” It’s true that it’s a landmark speech, powerful and moving…

…and always heard out of context of the other, more direct speeches that graced the March on Washington (a March organized by an openly Gay Man, no less – go look up the badass Bayard Rustin, please and thank you!). As if the marchers just wanted to spend all day on their feet, listening to platitudes and winsome ideas!

I’m not going to dive into that context, I assume your Google button ain’t broke. :) What I will do, is talk about a couple of other works by Dr. King, works that ground him in the realities he fought to overcome, and that echo into these times.

The text for the afternoon will be taken from two works from near Dr. King’s passing:

“The Drum Major Instinct,” (hereafter DRUM), which you can listen to here, and read here, and
“A New Sense of Direction,” (hereafter SENSE), which you can read here.

I post all this to encourage you to read/listen to the above in full. To underline that Dr. King was far richer a thinker and even rabble-rouser than gets noticed — that the Hoover FBI feared him for damned good reasons. If you chose to read the above docs, and skip the rest of this? HELL YA!

But for those who want more? Follow…

See, Dr. King did not buy into a color-blind society. That wasn’t the context he gave his “Dream” speech under. The context, the fuller context of his work and life’s mission, is made plain by this remarkable passage in DRUM:

[…]when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, “Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You’re just as poor as Negroes.”

And I said, “You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white.

And you’re so poor you can’t send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march.”

Now that’s a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can’t hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out.

And there’s so much more.

show full post on front page

One of the positive parts of Dr. King’s approach was in seeing a bigger picture, was in tying together all manner of injustice into a massive framework, what we today would call an attempt at intersectionality. It’s far from perfect; we know he was far too casual about martial relations to see the fullness of sexism. And although he was surprisingly cool with Rustin, he also failed to be vocal at all about what we’d today call LBGTQIA+ issues.

Yet there was a seed of power in his approach to directing white people to look inside themselves, in his challenge to their (and society’s) assumption of inherent goodness. And as critical as he was towards poor whites, that sympathy evaporates completely when you consider his words towards what we, today, might see as Privileged White people. From SENSE:

[…]policy-makers of the white society have caused the darkness. It was they who created the frustrating slums. They perpetuate unemployment and poverty and oppression. Perhaps it is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes, but these are essentially derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.

King is far more aggressive – even angry — about calling out white society than he’s usually portrayed as. Reading his dissections of that systemic failure, and ideas on overcoming it, are bracing to this day…sadly.

See, King’s quick to lay the political blame on what I contend are still surpassing the Black and Brown voice in politics:

Negroes became outraged by blatant inequality. Their ultimate goal was total, unqualified freedom. The majority of the white progressives were outraged by the brutality displayed. Their goal was improvement or limited progression.

Obtaining the right to use public facilities, register and vote, token educational advancement, brought to the Negro a sense of achievement; he felt the momentum. But it brought to the whites a sense of completion. When Negroes assertively moved on to ascend the second rung of the ladder, a firm resistance from the white community became manifest.[….] Everyone underestimated the amount of rage Negroes were suppressing and the amount of bigotry the white majority was disguising.

(Not everyone. Ask Malcolm X, or Rev. Shuttlesworth, and you’d get a different answer on this, to name two people right off.)

But Dr. King is hella on the right track. And he knows it. And we’re still talking about the impact white progressives have on the Black and Brown vote, to this very day.

And because he’s on the right track, I can say this: Dr. King is clear that some changes can’t be made by speaking too kindly. That some painful truths have to come to the fore.

That’s what Black Lives Matter did. That’s what the 1619 Project did. That’s (part of) why Critical Race Theory – an academic theory mostly for lawyers – had to be scapegoated.

Dr. King saw that the closer we get to reality, the harsher the blow back. The more we talk about the systemic issues in this country, the more the arc of justice pushes the many folx who’ve suffered under those issues into the light and air we all deserve…and the more the old guard will press and preen and pervert and backstab to maintain power.

And SENSE touches on what kind of people have, and can, overcome those barriers:

[…]there are millions who have risen morally above prevailing prejudices. They are willing to share power and to accept structural alterations of society, even at the cost of traditional privilege.[…]Their support serves not only to enhance our power, but their break from the attitudes of the larger society splits and weakens our opposition.

It’s…not an easy calling, that Higher Calling, y’all. If you say it is, if you think I overstate things, then I ask you to show your work.

To conclude: I submit there are some things we can all learn from studying even a bit of Dr. King. And I hope the above serves as a starter, to that on your part, today.

MLK: from Dreaming to RealityPost + Comments (45)

State Team Updates & Strategy

by WaterGirl| August 16, 202110:00 pm| 6 Comments

This post is in: Taking Action to Defend Democracy, We Have Agency

Our zoom with all 7 states to talk about strategy was on Monday at 8pm. If you are working on this project and you missed the zoom and want to catch up, please send email and I will send you the link.

In the meantime, here’s the promised post. Please use it to add the reports from your states and anything else that is useful: thoughts or ideas that came up in the meeting that we don’t want to lose track of, things you have thought of since, etc.

State Team Updates & StrategyPost + Comments (6)

All States Taking Action

by WaterGirl| July 9, 202110:05 pm| 4 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Taking Action to Defend Democracy, We Have Agency

We have 7 pilot states for Taking Action to Defend Democracy project.

This post (still in progress) is where we’ll put things that are relevant to all the pilot states.

Interface roles explained:

We will want to know who is filling each of the roles on the team.

(exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Alan and WaterGirl. Schedule the contact every 2-3 days or as necessary.
(exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Matthew [Lisa] and manage the state’s spreadsheet
(exactly one) person to keep tabs on the state’s page [link here?] and the project’s page [link here?]

Project roles explained:

one or more people to research legislation, using Voting Rights Lab and similar sources
one person in particular that can take the first crack at the Voting Rights Lab in the first 2-3 days, so others can fill in the rest from other sites
one or more people to research elected officials. Committee ranking members, minority caucus leadership, and their staff people are key here. Hint: also include Dem Party activists as a potential means of cutting through the clutter.
one or more people to contact the elected officials. Ideally should be a resident of the state. Hint: use the legislative research to inform questions to the electeds, use their answers to inform the legislative research.
one or more people to identify state activists trying to build resistance against the legislation
one or more people to contact the activists

Please set up communication channels within your group however you wish. What works for you is best.

For communication about spreadsheets, please contact the person who presented the spreadsheets at your team meeting.

For communication with the leadership team, regular reports can be posted on the state pages. But please use email when there is an urgent issue or something you need to call to our attention.

When in doubt, email is fine. Don’t hesitate to contact us when you need to!

Team Roles! (add person’s nym here)

Interface Roles

Contact with Alan & WaterGirl

Contact with your Spreadsheet Person (Matt or Lisa):

Monitor the Team Post:

Project Roles

Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days):

Research Legislation on other sites:

Research Elected Officials:

Contact Elected Officials:

Identify State Organizations & Activists:

Contact the Activists:

This list will be on each state page. Please copy it into a comment and add the names there.

All States Taking ActionPost + Comments (4)

Arizona Taking Action

by WaterGirl| July 9, 202110:00 pm| 22 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Taking Action to Defend Democracy, We Have Agency

We have a four person group of Balloon Juice peeps who are taking on Arizona.

They are researching bills intended to restrict voting or overturn the will of the people. They are also making lists of elected officials, party activists, and civic and political activists that might be mobilizing to fight these awful laws, and they will be making contact with those groups to see what might be done to help them in their efforts.

This thread is a place where that team can communicate, share information with one another, ask questions, etc.

But anyone that has potentially helpful information related to AZ is encouraged to comment. Maybe you know of a political organization that might be active in AZ, or you have an in with an elected official or an aide in the state. If you know anything that might be helpful, please jump in.

You can also chime in to applaud the AZ stat team: Almost Retired, km, FelonyGovt and sophronia.

Otherwise, you can ignore this post (and the 6 other posts that will go up once one of the pilot state teams meet for the first time). Each post will be active for a couple of weeks, and a link to these posts is in the sidebar.

show full post on front page

Arizona Taking ActionPost + Comments (22)

Florida Taking Action

by WaterGirl| July 9, 20219:55 pm| 9 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Taking Action to Defend Democracy, We Have Agency

We have a three-person group of Balloon Juice peeps who are taking on Florida.

This thread is a place where that team can communicate, share information with one another, ask questions, etc.

But anyone that has potentially helpful information related to FL is encouraged to comment. Maybe you know of a political organization that might be active in FL, or you have an in with an elected official or an aide in the state. If you know anything that might be helpful, please jump in.

You can also chime in to applaud the FL stat team: Ian, Suburban Mom, and Faithful Lurker.

Otherwise, you can ignore this post (and the other posts that will go up once one of the pilot state teams meet for the first time). Each post will be active for a couple of weeks, and a link to these posts is in the sidebar.

Summary after Florida team Meeting

Thanks so much. To recap the Zoom discussion we made the following assignments that we volunteered for yesterday. If I got anything wrong just let me know.

Primary spreadsheet wrangler and contact for Lisa – Karen/Suburban Mom
Regular (every 2 – 3 days) communication and status update with project leaders – Faithful Lurker, if possible?
Monitoring BJ thread for updates and news – Ian
Research on state-level legislative and governance structures and legislative activity- Karen/Suburban Mom (input from all welcome)
Research on local organizations and initiatives to combat voter suppression – Ian (input from all welcome)

Faithful Lurker, we are a relatively small group, and it sounds like the states with larger teams are dividing up the research activity. We don’t want to duplicate effort. Time is of the essence, and we need to move quickly to complete the initial research in 2 weeks or less. Florida has not experiences as much legislative activity as soon states, so that sounds doable.

I am going to try and set up a Google Drive folder we can use to share what we find, organize the materials that are sent by others, and also communicate what we’re working on next so that we avoid duplication. Hopefully this will work for everyone. So that we spend more time on research and less on fussing with technology, could you please let us know:

What is the best way to reach you – is it email, IM, posting on the BJ thread or something else?
Are you comfortable using Word and Excel?
Are you comfortable using Doodle Polls to arrange meetings?
Are there times slots or days in general that work well for you to connect?

Best work times for each team member for this project

Karen/Suburban Mom: my best times for working on this are usually early mornings and weekends, Eastern Time. I check email throughout the day. I spend big chunks of my working days on Zoom meetings so it is hard for me to answer a call, but I can usually email or text.

Team Members

Interface roles explained:

We will want to know who is filling each of the roles on the team.

(exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Alan and WaterGirl. Schedule the contact every 2-3 days or as necessary.
(exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Matthew [Lisa] and manage the state’s spreadsheet
(exactly one) person to keep tabs on the state’s page [link here?] and the project’s page [link here?]

Project roles explained:

one or more people to research legislation, using Voting Rights Lab and similar sources
one person in particular that can take the first crack at the Voting Rights Lab in the first 2-3 days, so others can fill in the rest from other sites
one or more people to research elected officials. Committee ranking members, minority caucus leadership, and their staff people are key here. Hint: also include Dem Party activists as a potential means of cutting through the clutter.
one or more people to contact the elected officials. Ideally should be a resident of the state. Hint: use the legislative research to inform questions to the electeds, use their answers to inform the legislative research.
one or more people to identify state activists trying to build resistance against the legislation
one or more people to contact the activists

Please set up communication channels within your group however you wish. What works for you is best.

For communication about spreadsheets, please contact the person who presented the spreadsheets at your team meeting.

For communication with the leadership team, regular reports can be posted on the state pages. But please use email when there is an urgent issue or something you need to call to our attention.

When in doubt, email is fine. Don’t hesitate to contact us when you need to!

Team Roles! (add person’s nym here)

Interface Roles

Contact with Alan & WaterGirl:

Contact with your Spreadsheet Person (Matt or Lisa):

Monitor the Team Post:

Project Roles

Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days):

Research Legislation on other sites:

Research Elected Officials:

Contact Elected Officials:

Identify State Organizations & Activists:

Contact the Activists:

Please copy this list into a comment and add the names there.

Florida Taking ActionPost + Comments (9)

Georgia Taking Action

by WaterGirl| July 9, 20219:50 pm| 11 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Taking Action to Defend Democracy, We Have Agency

We have a 3-person group of Balloon Juice peeps who are taking on Georgia.

This thread is a place where that team can communicate, share information with one another, ask questions, etc.

But anyone that has potentially helpful information related to GA is encouraged to comment. Maybe you know of a political organization that might be active in GA, or you have an in with an elected official or an aide in the state. If you know anything that might be helpful, please jump in.

You can also chime in to applaud the GA stat team: SiubhanDuinne, AM in NC, and Regine Touchon.

Team Members

Interface roles explained:

We will want to know who is filling each of the roles on the team.

(exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Alan and WaterGirl. Schedule the contact every 2-3 days or as necessary.
(exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Matthew [Lisa] and manage the state’s spreadsheet
(exactly one) person to keep tabs on the state’s page [link here?] and the project’s page [link here?]

Project roles explained:

one or more people to research legislation, using Voting Rights Lab and similar sources
one person in particular that can take the first crack at the Voting Rights Lab in the first 2-3 days, so others can fill in the rest from other sites
one or more people to research elected officials. Committee ranking members, minority caucus leadership, and their staff people are key here. Hint: also include Dem Party activists as a potential means of cutting through the clutter.
one or more people to contact the elected officials. Ideally should be a resident of the state. Hint: use the legislative research to inform questions to the electeds, use their answers to inform the legislative research.
one or more people to identify state activists trying to build resistance against the legislation
one or more people to contact the activists

Please set up communication channels within your group however you wish. What works for you is best.

For communication about spreadsheets, please contact the person who presented the spreadsheets at your team meeting.

For communication with the leadership team, regular reports can be posted on the state pages. But please use email when there is an urgent issue or something you need to call to our attention.

When in doubt, email is fine. Don’t hesitate to contact us when you need to!

Team Roles! (add person’s nym here)

Interface Roles

Contact with Alan & WaterGirl:

Contact with your Spreadsheet Person (Matt or Lisa):

Monitor the Team Post:

Project Roles

Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days):

Research Legislation on other sites:

Research Elected Officials:

Contact Elected Officials:

Identify State Organizations & Activists:

Contact the Activists:

Please copy this list into a comment and add the names there.

Georgia Taking ActionPost + Comments (11)

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

A consequence of cucumbers

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

I was promised a recession.

Bark louder, little dog.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

This blog will pay for itself.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

People are complicated. Love is not.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

And in other news…. It’s officially sedition instead of alleged sedition

MLK: from Dreaming to Reality

State Team Updates & Strategy

All States Taking Action

Arizona Taking Action

Florida Taking Action

Georgia Taking Action