Monday, October 03, 2016

Corrupt Donald Trump, Deabeat Donald Trump, Scandal-boi Donald Trump hasn't ONE ounce of humanity

Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!

I'm still not able to spend much time blawgging right now--my dad is still in a health facility, so every minute I'm not at work, I'm there with him. Fortunately, he should be home in about a week or so. But until then, I'm hardly home more than he is!

Even tho I am scraping the bottom of the barrel of hours in the day to bring you this blawg, I still apparently managed to overload the Mailbag today nearly to bursting--the gussets are about to blow any second, cap'n! As a ree-ward for your patience, I have hidden a few extra funnies at the bottom of the post. Read, scroll, watch, giggle (hopefully--or snort some Fireball!), and enjoy (hopefully, or snort some more Fireball!).

Be sure to read through all the headlines today and watch all todaze videos--they tell the stories I don't have time or energy to comment on for you today--and don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:

Daily Kos
AlterNet

Peas, friends. Take care of yourselves and your elderly friends and rellies for me. Trust me--y'all are worth it! I shudder to think what would happen to my beloved dad if he didn't have me to lean on. And fortunately for me, he lets me lean on him, too. I'm just grateful to have him with me and to have the wherewithal to take good care of him. But I can say this: getting older is an adventure, so be prepared. And enjoy every minute you have with your loved ones while they're still with us. I miss Dot Calm more each day.
  
- Dot Calm's shadow

Consider the preemptive Blogger phuqued-up phormatting disclaimer to be in effect. Grrr.
-- Dot Calm's shadow

********************************************
 Many people are saying
that inhuman Donald J. Trump
wanted Alicia Machado to die
from anorexia and bulemia.
So much better for her to be skeletally thin
and sick unto death
and maybe die
than to gain weight,
regain her health,
and live.

***
Donald J. Trump liked
Alicia Machado at 118 pounds.
He thinks he's the healthiest,

sexiest man on the planet
when he's 60 pounds overweight,
orange,
and bald...
but he doesn't want to see

an anorexic-bulemic survive
if it means that she gains weight.
******************************************** 
    
Headlines & Articles
   
AlterNet: 10 Times Police Killed The People They Were Called To Save
   
AlterNet: How to Hack 3 Sexist Things Every Woman Has Heard in the Office
    
Rolling Stone: Donald Trump's 13 Biggest Business Failures
    
deathandtaxes: Donald Trump claims his wife doesn't poop or fart
     
Democracy Now!: ExxonMobil Lawsuit Cites Decades-Long Cover-Up of Climate Change

...And now a buncha headlines from Vox:

I'm from Atlantic City. I've seen how Donald Trump's false promises devastate a community.
...Donald Trump: the Wal-Mart of real estate.
   
Donald Trump's tax plan makes impossible promises. This cartoon explains.
...This is why evangelicals and some young people gravitate to Donald--they don't realize it's impossible, and they wouldn't care if they did. Magical thinking in action.
  
Whatever is actually in Trump's tax returns is worse than what the New York Times says
...Ya think?!?? I think Americans have a right to know what the fat orange anus is hiding. Personally, I'd bet that he's not even worth $100 million, that he hasn't paid a dime in charity since Sony Walkmen were a thing, and that he hasn't paid taxes since then, either. Speaking of charity, doncha just love how the Trump Foundation takes other people's money to give charity to Trump? And here I thot Republicans didn't like mooches....
    
Leaked tax documents reveal how Trump could have avoided paying income tax for a decade
...And here's the New York Times's take: Donald Trump Tax Records Show He Could Have Avoided Taxes for Nearly Two Decades, The Times Found
   
The past 6 days proved Donald Trump is dangerously unfit for the presidency
...Now tell us something we didn't know!
   
Let's dispel this notion that Donald Trump knows what he's doing
...You've got to be shitting me! Someone, anyone, actually ever once thought Donald knew what he was doing...ever?!??
     
Donald Trump's nasty, false tweetstorm against Alicia Machado proves how easy he is to bait
...When it comes to being baited, Donald J. Trump is the master baiter. In all seriousness, though, do you really want your president to be Vladimir Putin's--and, indeed, all our enemies'--puppet? Watching Hillary's masterful playing of Dumbass Donald, could anyone still doubt that Donald Trump is Putin's bitch useful idiot?
    
I counted every interruption in the first presidential debate. And then I did the same for Obama-Romney
...Spoiler: Donald interrupted Hillary 51 times. She didn't interrupt him nearly as often. Too bad Donald doesn't understand what a debate is. My dad, who took debate class in high school, was appalled.
   
The surge in violent crime is overblown — but here's how to combat it
...Step 1: start holding police accountable!!!!!
   
Why Donald Trump can't stop feuding with Alicia Machado, explained
...Hell, I'll explain it: Donald is a narcissistic cry-baby who can't deal with having his ass handed to him by a girl.
   
What Hillary Clinton's leaked audio teaches us about Hillary Clinton
...It teaches us that Hillary is a seasoned, realistic politician who understands The Art of the Possible. Donald does not even understand what reality is. I was shocked at how flattering the article is to Hillary--if you have a thing for reality, that is. I do.
   
Alec Baldwin nails Donald Trump's debate performance in SNL cold open
...Oh, snap! I'll dig this up and post it next time, friends. Meanwhile, I doubled over laughing when I read this on the train home this evening!
   
Trump Foundation receives cease-and-desist letter from New York Attorney General
...And that's because the foundation isn't set up properly to receive the funds for Donsie Wonsie to spend-spend-spend on himself.
   
States are using welfare money to fund anti-abortion propaganda
...Fuck. This is so fucking wrong on so many fucking levels. They are taking Welfare money that people need to live on and spending it to force women to give birth whether they want babies or not. They are taking food out of the mouths of the very babies they demand be born! These fuckers need to be made to live on the reduced resources they're leaving people with so they can see what it's like to be made to live like a political football.
   
You don't need "genius" to pull off Trump's tax avoidance — you just need to be rich
...Mortgage underwater? Lost your job because some rich asshole outsourced your position to China? Too bad you're not rich like Donald Trump--then you'd be able to write off your losses to offset your income tax bill on future income. Nice work if you can get it....
   
CNN's Jake Tapper: should Trump really "be casting aspersions on the marriages of anyone else?"
...I saw a funny about this that I'll post at the bottom if I can find it.
   
Donald Trump's The Apprentice was the definition of a hostile work environment
...For women. In case you didn't know.
   
Drudge Report is spreading a conspiracy about Bill Clinton it debunked in 1999
...Republicans are so phuquen pitiful...!
   
LeBron James endorses Hillary Clinton: “we need a president who brings us together”
...Thanks, LeBron. Now, let's see if Donald thinks you're as great this season as he did last season! But I know you're too comfortable in your own beautiful skin to give a phuque what Dumbass Donald LOSER Trump thinks!
   
Short-term thinking in corporate America is strangling the economy
...Isn't this what they call extraction capitalism--isn't that why Wal-Marts always leave the communities they infiltrate infinitely poorer and worse off than they found them?
    
The mind-blowing scale of Trump's billion-dollar loss, in one tweet
...Short read, friends. It's only about one tweet, after all!
   
Young voters seem to mistakenly think Donald Trump would be tough on Wall Street
...Holy phuque. They're so wrong that they're not even wrong.
  
------------------------------------------------
     
AlterNet: Donald Trump’s Misogyny Doesn’t Sleep: Tweeting Sexist Smears at 3am Is Super Unpresidential

After fat-shaming Alicia Machado, Trump moves on to slut-shaming her, with an assist from Newt Gingrich.


If Donald Trump is really as rich as he claims to be, why hasn’t his team hired a few people to keep an eye on him 24/7 and wrestle his phone away from him when he’s about to go on a tweet rant? It seems like it’d be a good investment. Because his middle-of-the-night frothing about sex tapes does not make him look super presidential.

During Monday evening’s debate, Hillary Clinton pushed all of Trump’s buttons when, toward the end of the conversation, she mentioned former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who reigned when Trump was an owner of the pageant. “One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest,” Clinton told the crowd. “He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called this woman Miss Piggy. Then he called her Miss Housekeeping because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado and she has become a U.S. citizen and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”
 
Machado has in recent weeks been an outspoken Clinton supporter, reigniting the controversy that surrounded her 20 years ago when she gained weight during her time as Miss Universe. Back then Trump explained to the world that “When you win a beauty pageant . . . you really have an obligation to stay in a perfect physical state.”
Machado, who says that Trump called her “Miss Piggy,” was put on a diet — even as she went public with her personal struggles. In 1997, as her term was winding down, she told the Washington Post that when she was crowned, “I was anorexic and bulimic, but almost all of us are. By the time I won, I was actually recovering. But the year leading to it, I didn’t eat at all. And whatever I ate, I threw up. I weighed 116 pounds when I won. I was skeletal.” In May, she told The New York Times, “I was sick — anorexia and bulimia for five years.”

Yet Machado’s admitted history of eating disorders seems not to have registered with Trump — or his outspoken supporters. On “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday, Trump called in to say that Machado “was the worst [Miss Universe] we ever had. The worst. The absolute worst. She was impossible. . . . She was the winner and, you know, she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem.”

Newt Gingrich also defended Trump’s narrative, saying this week, “You’re not supposed to gain 60 pounds during the year that you’re Miss Universe.” And a Trump talking-points memo that circulated on Wednesday claimed that “Hillary Clinton bullied and smeared women like Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky.”

What’s more ironic, Gingrich judging someone’s weight or Trump accusing anybody of “smearing” a woman?

Campaigning in New Hampshire Thursday, Trump insisted that “I don’t think I took the bait. You know every online poll had me winning the debate.” But by the early morning hours of Friday, he was behaving rather . . . baited. In a true to form storm of incoherence, the man who says he has a “winning temperament” was tweeting these gems:

Truly, Trump has now achieved his own platonic ideal of a Trump tweetstorm. There’s the “crooked Hillary” reference. The insane conspiracy theory. And for the big flourish, there’s some slut shaming!

Trump, who earlier this week was addressing a group of evangelical Christians and is now recommending people “check out sex tape,” appears to be referring to Machado’s 2005 appearance on a Spanish-language reality show called “La Granja” (“The Farm”). Though she was engaged to another man at the time, at one point cameras caught her cavorting — clothed and under the covers — with a fellow cast member. Sure, you could technically call it a “sex tape,” but it was tame enough for television. Consenting adults are allowed to have sex and it doesn’t make them “disgusting.”

Machado was also accused in 1998 of driving the getaway car after her boyfriend was involved in a shooting. The judge in the case later claimed she had threatened him. She was not arrested or charged. On Anderson Cooper’s CNN show this week, Machado addressed her history and said, “He can say whatever he wants to say. I don’t care. You know, I have my past. Of course, everybody has a past. I’m not a saint girl. But that is not the point now.”

Funny how quickly Trump’s commitment to not “bully” women evaporates when they directly challenge him on his past crappy behavior toward them. Bonus hilarity: Let it not be forgotten that lately Trump is allegedly being advised by Roger Ailes — a guy who just settled a sexual harassment suit.
So guess what? Getting in bed with someone on a reality show or having a resolved legal issue in the past does not change anything. No one was setting up Machado as “paragon of virtue.” When you’re called upon as, say, a future leader of a country to account for your behavior, you don’t blatantly try to distract the issue by bringing up a woman’s sexual past. It’s a completely unhinged approach. It does, however, make it clear that Donald Trump’s behavior toward women is just as revolting now as it was two decades ago.

-----
Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub.
     
------------------------------------------------
    
Democracy Now!: USA Today Editorial Board: Donald Trump Unfit For Presidency

In news from the campaign trail, the editorial board of USA Today has declared Republican nominee Donald Trump unfit for the presidency. It’s the first time in its history that the country’s highest-circulation newspaper has taken sides in a presidential race. This is USA Today editorial page editor Bill Sternberg.
Bill Sternberg: "The unanimous consensus of the board is that he lacks the temperament, the knowledge, maturity, steadiness, that America needs in its president."
The USA Today editorial board wrote of Trump, "He is erratic. ... He is ill-equipped to be commander in chief. ... He traffics in prejudice. ... His business career is checkered. ... He isn’t leveling with the American people. ... He speaks recklessly. ... He has coarsened the national dialogue. ... He is a serial liar." USA Today has not endorsed Hillary Clinton or any other candidate.
     
------------------------------------------------
     
AlterNet: It's The Science, Stupid--Science can explain why Trump supporters believe so many things that are demonstrably wrong

September 30, 2016

Last week, The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper went to a Donald Trump rally to interview the spray-tanned oaf’s supporters about some of their more fantastical beliefs. The results were bizarre, even by the standards of a presidential campaign that long ago broke the wacky-meter.



Trump supporters suggested that Hillary Clinton had multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and even AIDS, and was using a body double to conceal her ill health from the public. They also dug into birther conspiracy theories about President Obama.

One man even ranted that, “Barack Obama had big part of 9/11,” because he was “always on vacation, never in the office.” (Pro tip: Barack Obama was not president when 9/11 occurred.)

To liberal viewers, this whole display is boggling. These folks clearly are competent enough to dress themselves, read the address of the rally and show up on time, and somehow they continue to believe stuff that’s so crazy and so false that it’s impossible to believe anyone that isn’t barking mad could believe it. What’s going on?

“There definitely are conspiracy theorists. There definitely are facts where people have fundamentally misinformed beliefs. But there are also propositions that they’ll affirm for a display purpose,” Dan Kahan, a Yale professor of law and psychology explained to me over the phone.

Kahan also works as a researcher and educator for the Cultural Cognition Projection, where researchers look into “the tendency of individuals to conform their beliefs about disputed matters of fact … to values that define their cultural identities.” The project looks at issues, such as climate change or vaccination safety, where huge swaths of people stubbornly reject scientific facts, because those facts don’t conform to their worldview.

There are a couple of reasons that people might embrace flatly false beliefs like the ones on display at this Trump rally, Kahan explained to me. One explanation is that they sincerely believe these false things.

“People have a stake in some position being true,” Kahan said, “because the status of their group or their standing in it depends on that answer.”

“But then there are other things that people will say because that’s kind of like a declaration of who they are,” he added. “Part of the reason they might be doing it is because they know it’s really going to get an aversive response from people who have an alternative identity and who know that’s the true answer.”

With birtherism, Kahan continued, there are people who actually believe that Obama is hiding the facts of his birth, but there also a lot of people who are saying that more because it’s a “kind of a middle finger” and because it gives conservatives pleasure to drive liberals batty by saying these things.

As evidence, Kahan pointed to a paper by published in Public Opinion Quarterly in 2014 that found that minor changes in survey wording found very different rates of birtherism in the public.

With some questions, researchers hypothesized, “respondents might have viewed this question as constituting a quiz to assess whether they were well informed about political facts,” leading Republicans to be more inclined to admit that Obama was born in the United States.
Other questions, however, might have been viewed “as offering them an opportunity to express anti-Obama sentiment by challenging the legitimacy of his presidency.” In these cases, aligning one’s self with birtherism was less about actually believing the president was born in Kenya, per se, and more about expressing one’s racism and hostility towards liberals.

It’s not exactly lying. It’s more that the truth is secondary to the goals of expressing political views and antagonizing liberals by staking out these positions.

This distinction might explain some of the positions that Trump supporters staked out in the Daily Show video.

“I don’t have any,” one man told Klepper when asked for proof of his outrageous claims. “It’s my opinion.”

This, of course, makes liberals nuts, because whether or not Clinton has Parkinson’s is not an opinion, but a matter of empirical fact. But folks who say things like this are “telling you something about this belief,” Kahan explained.

“It’s not even a matter of fact for them,” Kahan continued, noting that some beliefs, “by their essence, defy empirical assessment.”

“Do I have proof? No. Do I have articles? No,” one woman in the Daily Show interview proudly declared. “My mind is made up.”

“I think at that point someone’s just telling you that it’s some kind of performance,” Kahan said.

This no doubt goes a long way towards explaining how on earth it is that Trump is considered more honest and trustworthy than Clinton by voters. According to Politico’s fact-checkers Trump tells a lie an average of once every three minutes. Clinton, in contrast, was rated by Politifact as the most honest candidate in either party in this year’s primary season.

For a lot of people, a candidate’s adherence to empirical facts isn’t really relevant to their estimation of how honest they are. “Honest” is more about a tangle of beliefs, stereotypes and wishful thinking than about the facts on the ground.
The fact that Clinton is female, for instance, works against her, since she’s carrying years of misogynist stereotypes about women’s mendacity as baggage. Many people have a kneejerk belief that ambitious women are inherently conniving and deceitful, and that is more powerful than actual facts in shaping perceptions of Clinton’s honesty.

On the flip side, Trump’s willingness to thumb his nose at “political correctness” may not be fact-based, but it is blunt, and that often gets confused with honesty by a lot of people. Conservatives aren’t wrong to think that a lot of people believe racist or sexist things, but fear to say them out loud for fear of social censure. Trump throws caution to the wind and says the foul things that many people fear to say out loud, and that makes him seem “honest” in their eyes, even though he literally struggles to make it through five minutes without telling a lie.

None of this means that facts don’t matter. But in understanding why people believe the things they do or say the things they do or vote the way they do, facts matter less than things like identity, values or what social circles people run in. That Trump can lie his head off, day in and day out, and never lose the support of his fans is just further evidence of what social science has been demonstrating for years.

-----
Amanda Marcotte is a politics writer for Salon. She's on Twitter @AmandaMarcotte. 
     
******************************************** 


******************************************** 

Mailbag

Stop Trump Volunteers via ActionNetwork.org
Donald Trump is MELTING DOWN.


A bombshell report from the New York Times says Trump may not have paid any income tax for the last 20 years, because on his 1995 tax return he reported losing nearly one billion dollars.

After this news was released, Trump showed up to a campaign rally and delivered a truly unhinged set of remarks. He said Hillary probably cheated on Bill, that she should be in jail, and mocked her bout with pneumonia by flailing his arms around.

Trump's meltdown couldn't come at a worse time for him. Hillary is soaring in the polls after her huge victory in last week's debate, and early voting has started in swing states like Iowa, Virginia and Wisconsin.

This is our chance to finish off Trump. There is a way for anyone--including you--to turn out Hillary Clinton voters where early voting has started. You can contact voters in those states today, from home, no matter where you live.

Sign up to make calls from home to get out the vote in swing states for Hillary Clinton. Just follow this link, click the "get started" button, create an account, and start calling!

Can't make calls? Please chip in $5 on PayPal to help me sign up volunteers to make phone calls. I'm just a volunteer working to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump, and I fund the operation of this email list out of my own pocket.

Making calls is surprisingly easy:

  • All you need is a computer and a phone.
  • Once you are ready, just click through this link.
  • From there, you will see a red "Get started" button. Click that button.
  • After you click the red button, a pop-up window will appear.
  • In that window, take 30 seconds to create an account as a Hillary Clinton volunteer.
  • Once you create an account, you will be automatically directed to a list of active phone banks.
  • Choose whichever phone bank you like, or select a state from the drop-down menu you will see.
  • Finally, the name and phone number of a voter will appear on your screen, along with a script of what to say.
  • Just give the voter a call, read the script, listen to what they have to say, and mark down how the call went!
  • When you are done, you can easily move on to another call. Make as few or as many calls as you wish!

It's really that easy, but if you need more help Hillary's campaign has tutorials and training sessions which are easy to find after you create an account. You can even make practice phone calls before starting the real thing.

Sounds great! I can sign up and start making phone calls from home to help get out the vote in swing states for Hillary Clinton.

Can't make calls? Please chip in $5 to help me sign up more people to make phone calls. I'm just a volunteer working hard to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump and I fund the operation of this email list out of my own pocket.

Phone calls like these are the most effective ways you can volunteer in this election, These calls are how we are going to defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton--with regular people like you and me reaching out to voters in swing states.

It's the perfect time to make phone calls. Donald Trump is melting down, Hillary Clinton is rising in the polls, and early voting has started in some crucial swing states.

Hillary's campaign has made calling voters in swing states easy. All that's needed now is to add your voice to those calls.

Yes! I can sign up to make calls from home to help get out the vote in swing states for Hillary Clinton.

Can't make calls? Please chip in $5 to help me sign up more people to make phone calls. I'm just a volunteer working hard to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump and I fund the operation of this email list out of my own pocket.

Thank you for reading,

Natasha Chart
Mother. Daughter. Private citizen. Volunteer.
Rochester, New York
    
------------------------------------------------
   
CREDO action
Tell Pres. Obama: Stop giving weapons of war to local police
The petition to President Obama reads:
"Police aren’t at war with civilians – they don’t need weapons of war. Stand strong on your ban on certain military equipment transfers through the 1033 Program and move to end the 1033 Program completely."
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►
   
------------------------------------------------
   
From ATTN:

Hi there:

This week was National Voter Registration Week, and ATTN: launched a campaign called 3 Minutes (because it only takes about 3 minutes to register) in order to highlight the importance of making your voice heard in this election. As an issues-driven media company, ATTN: believes strongly that your vote matters. Not only have countless Americans fought and died for this right, but critical issues such as war and peace, environmental agreements, the future of the Supreme Court, and criminal justice reform all depend on whom you elect to office.

Even if you don't love the major presidential candidates in this election, it's still up to you to choose your representatives, senators, governor, and even local sheriffs, prosecutors, and judges. Ignoring the system will not change it, and letting others decide for you is too risky a bet. Take 3 Minutes: register to vote now or share this link with your friends who are not yet registered.

Other Stories Worth Your Attention This Week:

+ Raising the Minimum Wage Doesn’t Kill Jobs, It Creates Them
+ Politicians Should Be Asked About Their Policies, Not Their Outfits
+ Not Enough People Are Talking About What Just Happened to Children in Syria
+ Donald Trump Had a Chance to Win the First Debate. Here's How He Blew It
+ Snoop Dogg Explains What Issue He's Voting For This Election

Talk to you soon,
Matthew
    
------------------------------------------------
   
CREDO action
Stand with Sen. Warren: Tell the FBI to explain failure to prosecute bankers
Petition to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz:
"Publicly explain why the Department of Justice failed to prosecute any of the Wall Street institutions and individuals involved in the 2008 financial crash."
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►
   
------------------------------------------------
   
From HillaryClinton.com--Deadbeat Donald Trump released parts of his 1995 tax returns, which show he didn't pay federal taxes for the following 18 years!

Late last night, right around the time that we were finally leaving headquarters, three things happened:

The New York Times unearthed parts of Trump’s 1995 tax returns -- which, among other things, reveal that it’s possible, even likely, that Donald Trump didn't pay federal income tax for the following eighteen years. That means not one cent of his supposed millions went to veterans, students, or improving our infrastructure -- not one.

At a rally in Manheim, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump went off the deep end, claiming that Hillary is sick, that she belongs in jail, and that the election will be rigged -- claims with no basis in reality outside the fever dreams that wake Trump up at 5:30 in the morning.

Our team in California had to cancel bus trips for volunteer canvassers into Nevada in the month of October -- because we just didn't have the budget to pay for it.

I can’t tell you how important it is that you donate right now. We’re 37 days from Donald Trump sliding gleefully into the Oval Office.

Please. We have to win. You’ve already stepped up this week -- thank you. Chip in $25 right now:


Thank you,

Christina

Christina Reynolds
Deputy Communications Director
Hillary for America
   
------------------------------------------------
   
CREDO action
Tell Congress: Stop the modern day Native American land grab
The petition to the U.S. Congress reads:
"Reject the Utah Public Lands Initiative Act and any other legislation that would strip away sacred, fragile lands from Native American tribes and hand it over to the oil and mining industry."
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►
     
------------------------------------------------
     
Repro Health Watch

Advocates nationwide ramp up efforts to end Hyde | September 30, 2016

This week marks the 40th year of the Hyde Amendment, a harmful appropriations rider that denies millions of women Medicaid coverage for abortion care. With over two-thirds of U.S. states and the District of Columbia withholding Medicaid abortion coverage, women's access to care is often based on their zip code -- a disparity in access that disproportionately affects low-income women and women of color. But advocates are ramping up efforts to end Hyde for good. In this edition of Repro Health Watch, we take a closer look at a growing movement across the nation to #BeBoldEndHyde - ensuring that all women have access to abortion coverage no matter how much money they make or how they are insured.



Featured blog: A double bind: When states deny abortion coverage and fail to support expecting and new parents

It's the most basic of rights and foundational to our ability to thrive: Every person should have the freedom to decide if, when and how to raise a family. But for many women struggling to make ends meet, this is not reality. Instead, they face obstacle after obstacle, including denial of access to abortion coverage and a lack of workplace supports. More »

Read More



Analysis highlights role of federal, local advocacy efforts to combat Hyde Amendment

"As the Hyde Amendment turns 40 this month, activists and legislators are seeking to permanently end the prohibition on federal funds from covering abortion care," columnist Katie Klabusich writes for Truthout. More »

Read More



Study: Hyde amendment makes U.S. an 'outlier' regarding abortion coverage

The United States is among a minority of countries where abortion is legal yet public funding for abortion is restricted, according to a study in the journal Contraception, The Atlantic reports. According to the researchers, about 6.7 million women -- fewer than half of U.S. women who have coverage through Medicaid -- live in a state that uses state funds to cover abortion care. More »

Read More



RHW.9-30.Lee.jpg



Commentary discusses Hyde Amendment's 'emotional and cultural' toll

In a Rewire commentary, columnist Steph Herold discusses the "emotional and cultural effect" of the Hyde Amendment, "a sneaky rider" that denies coverage of abortion in Medicaid and other government insurance programs. She explains that beyond "poor health outcomes," especially for women of color and low-income individuals, the amendment "contributes to a culture rife with abortion stigma." More »

Read More



Featured map: Workplace policy rights and protections and restrictions on health insurance coverage for abortion care

In this map, the National Partnership for Women & Families illustrates the harmful effect of Hyde and state restrictions on abortion coverage when combined with states' failure to adopt workplace policies needed to ensure families' economic security.

RHW.9-30.Map.jpg

Spotlighting the Hyde Amendment, op-ed explores intersection of reproductive, transgender rights

In an opinion piece for the Texas Observer, columnist Nan Little Kirkpatrick spotlights the intersection of reproductive and transgender rights by detailing the link between the Hyde Amendment and a lawsuit challenging a federal "rule change meant to protect trans people from discrimination in health care." She writes, "Whether it's access to abortion, access to the gender confirmation care of our trans siblings' choosing, or access to health care in general for millions of uninsured Texans, ending Hyde is about pushing back on decades of oppression that we see reflected everywhere around us." More »

Read More

Featured study: Analysis examines growing effort to overturn harmful Hyde restrictions

In this analysis, Heather Boonstra, director of public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, examines the harmful effects of the Hyde Amendment and other federal abortion coverage restrictions on low-income women. Outlining abortion-rights advocates' growing effort to overturn such restrictions, Boonstra concludes, "With a new administration and Congress taking office next year, and elections in all 50 states too, advocates are hopeful about rebuilding support -- however long it takes -- toward achieving true access to abortion care for low-income women, regardless of the state in which they live." More »

Read More

The Nation spotlights summit drawing connections between repro health care access, women's economic security

Conversations about abortion rights and economic security "are mostly happening separately, overlooking the ways in which access to reproductive healthcare is inextricably tied up in a woman's ability to support herself and her family financially," columnist Zoë Carpenter writes for The Nation. Spotlighting the Progressive Congress' "groundbreaking" summit, which aimed "to reframe abortion as an issue of economic justice," Carpenter sheds light on growing political support for the EACH Woman Act (HR 2972) aimed at repealing the Hyde Amendment. More »

Read More

Click on the map to see what's going on in your state:


State by State
------------------------------------------------
     
Daily Kos Liberation League
Right now you can make your voice officially heard regarding police accountability.

Because of the Arrest Related Death Act the DOJ has the responsibility to require police officers to collect data on any and all deaths of people while in custody. Right now, the DOJ is accepting public comment on the importance of this data collection.

We need this information. We need you to help make sure the DOJ has the support of the public to require police to comply.

Sign and send the petition: Tell the DOJ to require accurate data on deaths in police custody.

This opportunity allows the public to let the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Department of Justice know data regarding deaths during arrest is extremely important to the public and media. The DOJ has a responsibility to uphold this Congressional Act to the full extent of the law--and holding police accountable is long over due in this country.

The public must weigh in on the importance of this data--OR the DOJ will only hear from law enforcement agencies, who will likely say this reporting is a burden.

The public needs to comment and make it known that data regarding the loss of life during an arrest is not a burden, but an opportunity to protect citizens in the future.

Sign and send our petition to the DOJ: Law Enforcement Agenices must report deaths in custody.

The data collected via the ARD Act will be instrumental in drafting and passing legislation that protects citizens and transforms the role of law enforcement agencies and the way they interact with citizens when they are in crisis. This data is just one of many steps in our fight to ensure that the police are working for communities of color and not against them.

The moments you take to clearly express your opinion will bring the Law Enforcement Agencies in this country one step closer to accountability.

Sign and send the petition here.

Keep Fighting,
Carissa Miller

     
------------------------------------------------
        
Petitioning John Stumpf

We are asking that John Stumpf resign as CEO from Wells Fargo

Petition by Frank Noack
Lake Arrowhead, California
6,160
Supporters
John Stumpf has been CEO since 2007. Under his watch, Wells Fargo sales employees, trying to meet targets that called for every customer have eight products with their bank, opened more than 2 million bank and credit card accounts without the knowledge of their customers.
The bank was caught opening millions of fake bank and credit card accounts for customers over the past five years. The phantom accounts were a way for the bank to earn extra fees from unwitting customers, as well as artificially inflating its sales figures.
Stumpf told the public he is full responsibility so we asking for his resignation. He made $19.3 million in annual compensation (including a performance bonus of $12.5 million) in 2015.
     
------------------------------------------------
     
From SumOfUs.org--Bayer kills bees dead, wants bees dead, and is suing Europe for saving the bees...Bayer wants us all to starve!

Wow. Bayer, BASF and Syngenta are suing the European Commission to overturn a ban on the pesticides that are killing millions of bees around the world.

A huge public push won this landmark ban -- and we can't sit back and let Big Pesticide overturn it while the bees vanish.

The UN sounded the alarm bells: Unless we act now, the bees are at risk of global extinction. We have to show Bayer and Co. now that we won't tolerate them putting their profits ahead of our planet's health.


Bayer and its friends make a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, or neonics.

Neonics are coated upon seeds before they are planted, spreading through the plant and killing insects stopping by for a snack.

These pesticides can easily be replaced by other chemicals which don’t have such a devastating effect on the food chain. But companies like Bayer, BASF and Syngenta make a fortune from selling neonics -- so they’ll do everything they can to protect their profits. 

The EU banned three of these bee-killers in May 2013, after a massive public campaign and a clear scientific finding from the European Food Safety Authority that neonics pose huge risks to bee populations. Let's defend this landmark ban for the bees and our food supply.


Worse still, a EU report that could have banned dozens of pesticides has been buried -- due to industry's massive lobbying. 

We cannot allow Bayer and Co. to intimidate European authorities. 

The current ban on bee-killing pesticides is up for review soon, so let's make sure their lobby efforts aren't successful this time! 

Bayer is an enormous company with a ton of public-facing brands. Neonics are a big part of its bottom line, but it can't afford poor publicity on a global scale. And if word gets out that Bayer is wrecking our ecosystem and threatening a creature responsible for pollinating a third of all our crops, the company will have to back down.

SumOfUs have been right at the front of the global campaign to save our bees. Tens of thousands from the SumOfUs community took action and got Lowe's -- one of the biggest garden retailers in the world -- to stop selling bee-killing pesticides. And we just helped France win a major victory for the bees: France's parliament voted in favor of banning all neonics -- now we are fighting to get the law through the Senate and uphold this historic ban.

The pressure from Bayer is mounting -- but we can only save the bees if we stand up against the big corporate interests.

Sign the petition to tell Bayer, BASF and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuits now.

Thanks for all that you do,

Paul, Emma, and the team at SumOfUs



More information:

EU scientists begin review of ban on pesticides linked to bee declines, The Guardian. 1 July 2016
'Supressed' EU report could have banned pesticides worth billions, Euractiv, 3 February, 2015
Lobby against bee-killing pesticides, Digital Journal, 1 May, 2014
EU insecticide ban triggers legal action, Nature News, 28 August, 2013

     
------------------------------------------------
    
Grace for New York
My kids are lucky not to have any debilitating allergies – but some of their classmates do. Parents across the nation rely on the epinephrine auto-injectors called EpiPens to keep their kids safe, but purchasing a pack of two EpiPens – one to keep at home and one to keep in their kids’ backpacks – costs more than $600.
The recent news that Mylan has raised the price of lifesaving EpiPens by 548% in less than a decade is even more shocking: Pricing EpiPens out of the reach of so many whose lives literally depend on them just to make more money is wrong.
There aren’t many other working moms in Congress, so I often have a different perspective from most of my colleagues. That’s why I fight so hard on issues like this – and it’s why I need your help now. Join me to call on Mylan for immediate action:
As a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Kids’ Safety Caucus, I know how important it is that we take action on this price hike that likely happened just to pad executives’ pockets: A reported 40% of Mylan’s operating profits are from the sale of EpiPens alone.
I called on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to investigate Mylan’s pricing, and I’ve introduced legislation to lower prices for EpiPens. I’m doing everything I can to make sure this critical medicine is accessible and affordable – but I need you with me:
Thank you for standing up with me,
Grace           
      
------------------------------------------------
     
CREDO action
VICTORY: Alabama judge Roy Moore suspended from the bench
Our activism works.
Friday, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore from the bench for using his office and his authority to block marriage equality.1
Last January, more than 53,000 CREDO activists pushed back on Judge Moore’s hateful and bigoted misuse of power. They recognized that despite the fact that LGBTQ people could marry in all 50 states, the fight for equality for LGBTQ Americans was far from over.
Victory
In the last nine months, CREDO members have also pushed back against extremist state legislators’ attempts to pass anti-transgender laws. Most notably, CREDO members helped force the NBA and NCAA to pull major games from North Carolina in response to the state’s discriminatory anti-transgender law, HB 2.
The massive opposition to HB 2 is having a chilling effect in other states like Texas where right-wing extremist legislators are trying to push similar anti-LGBTQ bills.2 Alabama’s strong rebuke of Judge Moore will send a similar message to other anti-LGBTQ public officials that there will be a price to pay for obstructing equality.
You can help add more voices to this important work and celebrate the power of our collective activism by sharing the news of this victory with your friends and family.
Click here to share on Facebook.
Click here to share on Twitter.
You can also just share this link or forward this email to your friends and family: http://act.credoaction.com/go/12620?t=6&akid=19935.1059363.86D9sV
We look forward to continuing to work together to fight for LGBTQ equality. Thank you for your activism. It clearly matters.
Heidi Hess, Senior Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
References:
  1. Campbell Robertson, "Roy Moore, Alabama Chief Justice, Suspended Over Gay Marriage Order, The New York Times, Sept. 30, 2016.
  2. Garrett Brnger, “Officials leery about loss of NCAA basketball if Texas Legislature passes ‘bathroom law,” KSAT, Sept 14, 2016.
     
------------------------------------------------
     
                                                   
 
Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Joe Heck is one of the worst anti-choice politicians on the ballot this year—and his race could decide control of the U.S. Senate. Will you chip in $15 to help defend choice and keep Joe Heck out of the Senate?
Donate Now
Joe Heck is one of the most anti-choice politicians in Congress—and his race could decide control of the U.S. Senate.
That's why we're launching a major ad campaign calling him out for his votes and tying him to Donald Trump, who he endorsed unequivocally.1
So far we've been able to commit $300,000 for the campaign. Will you chip in $15 to help defend choice and keep this ad on the air as long as possible?
Yes, I'll chip in $15 to help defend choice and keep Joe Heck out of the U.S. Senate.
Just take a look at Joe Heck's record. This guy is almost as scary as Trump, the presidential candidate he's supporting:
  • Heck voted at least 8 times to defund Planned Parenthood.2
  • He wants to criminalize abortion after 20 weeks, even for victims of rape and incest.3
  • He cosponsored "fetal personhood" legislation that is so extreme it would ban some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization.4
  • He opposed Obamacare's contraceptive coverage provisions, arguing that birth control has "nothing to do" with women's health.5
  • After Donald Trump said that women should be punished for abortion, Heck said he had "high hopes" that Trump would win.6
  • He voted for legislation allowing hospitals to refuse to provide abortion care even to women whose lives are in danger.7
The list goes on and on and on. But the bottom line is clear: we can't let this man set foot in the U.S. Senate.
NARAL Pro-Choice America has been going door-to-door in Nevada as part of a major voter-outreach program, and this ad campaign will help redouble our efforts to defeat Joe Heck and put control of the Senate back in pro-choice hands. Will you chip in $15?
Yes, I'll chip in $15 to help defend choice and keep Joe Heck out of the U.S. Senate.
Thank you for helping to make reproductive freedom real for all women.
Ilyse G. Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America
DONATE NOW

Sources:
3. Final Vote Results For Roll Call 539, House.gov, July 31, 2012
4. H.R.374 - Life at Conception Act, Congress.gov, January 20, 2011
5. Joe Heck blames the Democrats, Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 13, 2012
6. Nevada senatorial hopeful Dr. Joe Heck campaigns in Pahrump, Pahrump Valley Times, June 1, 2016
7. Final Vote Results For Roll Call 789, House.gov, October 13, 2011
            
------------------------------------------------
     
CREDO action
Submit your public comment to protect reproductive health care.
The comment to the Department of Health and Human Services should read:
"I support President Obama’s new rule that would prevent states from withholding Title X federal family-planning money for reasons other than a provider’s ability to deliver services effectively. Adopting the new rule would stop Republican extremists from using politics to deny trusted health care providers like Planned Parenthood Title X funding. Please bring an end to state-level attacks on women’s health. Ensure that all women and all families have unfettered access to high-quality comprehensive reproductive health care."
Take action now ►
            
------------------------------------------------
     



The New York Times says the "public option is back" -- and they're right. Join over 100,000 others by signing onto the petition here.
Then, will you chip in $3 to our successful work pressing Democrats to keep elevating true progressive issues for voters?

Six months ago, political insiders shunned the public option. But after insurance giant Aetna pulled coverage for millions of people, the PCCC got to work.
We launched a Senate resolution with 5 leaders, including Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley. That's now ballooned to 33 senators and national headlines like this on Thursday:
NEW YORK TIMES: The Health Care 'Public Option' Is Back
Join over 100,000 others by signing onto the petition here.
If voters wake up on Election Day thinking about the public option, debt-free college, expanding Social Security, and Wall Street reform (instead of email servers and tax returns), Democrats will win in a landslide.
Will you chip in $3 to our (wildly successful) efforts to mobilize voters in November by pressing Democrats to campaign on popular progressive issues.
Why did the Big Insurance lobby and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell attack our public option campaign?
Because they know it's effective, we have momentum, and voters will rally around big popular ideas like the public option if they hear about it before November.
When Hillary Clinton, President Obama, and Senate leaders like Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray join with progressive leaders like Sanders, Merkley, and the PCCC in calling for a public option, it's clear we are changing the debate for voters.
The same is true on other issues PCCC members have helped thrust into the national spotlight: Debt-free college, expanding Social Security, breaking up Too Big To Fail banks, jailing corporate executives who broke the law, and others.
As we aim to mobilize young voters and swing voters in November, nothing is more important that pressing the Democratic Party to keep campaigning on popular progressive issues. The New York Times says "the public option is back." Will you chip in $3 to help keep the momentum going?
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
-- Adam Green, PCCC co-founder
           
------------------------------------------------
     
From UltraViolet--Donald Trump's unhinged misogynist tweetstorm

For five days, Donald Trump has been at war with Alicia Machado, the Miss Universe winner he insulted as "Miss Piggy" and "Ms. Housekeeping."1

And early this morning he unleashed a storm of tweets, attacking her in the most viciously personal terms.

His poll numbers were already terrible with women and Latinos, and this has the chance to put Trump away for good.2

To keep the pressure on, we're flying airplanes over five big college football games in key battleground states THIS WEEKEND with banners saying "Trump Says Women R Pigs. Disagree? Vote."

Will you chip in $5 to help fly these airplane banners and fund other efforts calling out Trump's sexism?

College football is a BIG deal in key swing states like Iowa and North Carolina. By flying these airplane banners over stadiums and tailgates, we'll be creating a huge buzz in the press and among the young voters we need to win.

Polls are saying that young voters appear less likely to vote this year than in 2012 and 2008, but Trump's attacks against women and body-shaming of Alicia Machado has the the potential to inspire young people—especially young women—to vote like never before.3

This morning, Trump doubled down again on his attacks on Machado, calling her "disgusting" and threatening to reveal a sex tape of her (which at this point doesn't appear to exist).4

Hillary's performance clearly got under Trump's thin skin. Everyone's saying he lost, and now he's lashing out. If we can lean in and take advantage, this could finish him for good. Will you chip in $5?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 to help fly airplane banners at college football games this weekend calling out Trump's sexism.

Thanks for speaking out.

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Adam, Holly, Kathy, Onyi, Susan, Anathea, Audine, Shannon, Megan, Libby, and Emma, the UltraViolet Action team

Contributions will be used at UltraViolet Action's sole discretion to support its programs and activities.

Sources:

1. "Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado Hopes 'Miss Piggy' Story Will Boost Clinton Support," NBC News, September 28, 2016
2. "Clinton and Trump's demographic tug of war," The Washington Post, accessed September 30, 2016
3. "Less than half of millennials think they'll definitely vote in November," The Washington Post, September 29, 2016
4. "Before 6 a.m., Donald Trump proved Hillary Clinton's point about his temperament," The Washington Post, September 30, 2016
   
------------------------------------------------
   

VoteVets


We wanted to make sure you had a chance to see the email General Clark sent this morning.
There's a lot at stake this November: stopping Donald Trump, electing progressive veterans like Tammy Duckworth and Jason Kander, and stopping the well-funded campaign to privatize veterans' health care.
There's just a few hours left before we close the books on the final FEC quarterly fundraising deadline of the election, so we wanted to echo General Clark's request and ask:
Please make an important $3 contribution to VoteVets before tonight's FEC fundraising deadline comes to a close.
This deadline isn't just about how much money we can raise -- although that's important -- it's about how many contributions we receive to elevate the voices of veterans in these campaigns.
All our best,
The team at VoteVets
                 
------------------------------------------------
     
CREDO action

The right to vote is under attack. In states across the country, conservatives have enacted discriminatory photo ID laws, cut back early voting, eliminated polling locations and done everything they can think of to make it harder for people to vote.
How did it come to that, today, in 2016? Find out by watching a video CREDO just co-produced with the Brennan Center for Justice on the fight to vote in 2016.
Please watch the video now and share it with your friends.
The bad news is that 2016 is the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. The good news is that people are fighting back. Courts are striking down discriminatory voting laws left and right, and many states have passed legislation to make it easier to register to vote in the past few years.
To learn more, watch the video now. Then, share it with your friends and family. Click here to watch and share the video on Facebook.
If you are not on Facebook, you can watch and share the video on YouTube by clicking here.
Thanks for everything you do to defend the right to vote.
Josh Nelson, Deputy Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
P.S. Our friends at Fight for the Future have set up a simple online tool that makes it easy to register to vote or find out if you’re registered via text message. Click here to get started now.
© 2016 CREDO. All rights reserved.
                  
------------------------------------------------
     
 
 
      All month long, our friends and family in the reproductive rights, freedom and justice movements across the country have been emailing, tweeting, Facebooking, organizing and activating around the anniversary of the Hyde Amendment.
It's been remarkable to watch. We've coalesced around one common goal: To make sure that the Hyde Amendment, the discriminatory policy that picks and chooses who can access abortion based on where they work, live or what kind of insurance they have, never celebrates another anniversary.
Today's the day: Forty years ago, the Hyde Amendment was passed by Congress. Show your commitment to always fighting back and never giving up by sharing our graphic on Facebook.
Not on Facebook? Here are some other ways you can share.
Together, we've shifted the national conversation around Hyde in remarkable ways this past year. Under the leadership of the All* Above All Coalition, the EACH Woman Act was introduced in Congress last fall to repeal this harmful legislation, and it now has more than 120 cosponsors.
For the first time ever, a major party candidate not only talked about Hyde—long considered the third rail of electoral politics—but stood strong and called for its repeal, as Hillary Clinton did just a few short months ago. She successfully spurred widespread conversation about how this discriminatory policy impacts American families.
And, in no small feat of organizing, the Democratic Party included the repeal of Hyde as a plank in its party platform at the convention in July.
This progress is extraordinary. We're closer than we've ever been to banishing Hyde once and for all—and it's thanks to the hard work of activists like you.
Take a moment to mark this anniversary by sharing our graphic on Facebook and reaffirming your commitment to a world in which a woman's ability to access abortion doesn't depend on her income level.
Thank you for all you do for reproductive freedom.

Ilyse Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America
                    
------------------------------------------------
   
From Daily Kos--Our Get Out The Vote program is YUUUUGE! Have you signed up yet?

In the last three weeks, more than 10,000 members of the Daily Kos community have signed up to volunteer for get out the vote. This destroys every one of our previous get out the vote volunteer efforts. Absolutely incredible!

You, and other members of the Daily Kos community, are clearly invested in defeating Donald Trump, taking back the Senate and electing progressive candidates up and down the ballot. So we're expanding the volunteer opportunities available to meet the demand!

Keep the momentum going! Sign up to make calls from home for progressive candidates across the country.

Can't volunteer but still want to help? Click here to chip in $3 to the Daily Kos Get Out The Vote Fund.

Daily Kos has joined the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) Call Out The Vote program. Calls are made from home or any location you choose — you don’t need to live in a target state or go into a field office. We already have call shifts scheduled — including one for TODAY!

PCCC has been running this program for years and have gotten fantastic results.

They team up with progressive candidates so that we're calling the voters the campaign has identified as most important.

Also, once you sign up to make calls, an organizer will follow up with you by phone and email to make sure you have everything you need so that your volunteer shift is success.

There are only 38 days left before the election. It's a critical time. Thanks to you, we're doing great work. Let's keep up the momentum.

Yes, I can help by Calling Out The Vote from home! Show me the schedule so I can sign up.

Can't volunteer but still want to help? Click here to chip in $3 to the Daily Kos Get Out The Vote Fund.


Keep fighting,
Monique Teal, Daily Kos
     
******************************************** 


******************************************** 

Democracy Now!

Stories


Ava DuVernay's new documentary chronicles how our justice system has been driven by racism from the days of slavery to today's era of mass incarceration. The film, 13th, is named for ... Read More →

As Ava DuVernay's new documentary 13th opens at the New York Film Festival, we speak to two people featured in the film: Malkia Cyril of the Center for Media Justice and Kevin Gannon ... Read More →

Part of Ava DuVernay's new documentary 13th looks at how ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, has played a central role in the expansion of the U.S. prison system. ALEC has ... Read More →

In Colombia, voters have rejected a peace agreement between the government and the nation's largest rebel group in a shocking turn of events that threatens to prolong the nation's ... Read More →

Close to 100 scientists have signed onto a letter decrying inadequate environmental and cultural impact assessments for the Dakota Access pipeline, calling for a halt to ... Read More →

Headlines →

Democracynow.org will be streaming live coverage expanding the debate tomorrow—Tune in!
View this email in your browser
Democracy Now! Expanding the Debate

Watch Democracy Now!'s LIVE Special Expanded Vice Presidential Debate Coverage

Tuesday, October 4 / 8:00pm - 11:30pm ET

  • 8:00-9:00pm Pre-debate roundtable discussion hosted by Amy Goodman.
  • 9:00-11:30pm Expanded vice presidential debate, giving third party candidates a chance to respond in real time to debate questions.
Democracy Now! will host special live coverage of the first U.S. vice presidential debate from Richmond, Va. We will air the full debate between Republican VP nominee Mike Pence and Democratic VP nominee Tim Kaine and "expand" the debate by giving third party candidates a chance to respond in real time to the same questions.

Green Party VP nominee Ajamu Baraka has already agreed to participate. We have also invited Libertarian VP nominee William Weld.

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman will moderate a pre-debate roundtable from 8-9pm ET, followed by the expanded vice presidential debate from 9-11:30pm ET.

Stream LIVE starting at 8:00pm ET at democracynow.org/debate.

Or tune in live on:

Free Speech TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 & DirecTV Ch. 348)

KCET/Link TV (Dish Network 9410 & DirecTV Ch. 375)

MNN in Manhattan (Time Warner Cable 1993 and Verizon FiOS 37)
Check your local Democracy Now! station for listings.


Stories


"We are under attack from climate change—and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII," says Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, in an extended interview in our New York studio. "It's ... Read More →

We speak with 350.org's Bill McKibben about how the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of hundreds of other tribes from across the U.S., Canada and Latin America have resisted ... Read More →

"Finally, we have an example of the U.S. Congress putting U.S. citizens above the relationship with the Saudi government," says CodePink's Medea Benjamin in response to the vote by ... Read More →

A new investigation reveals Donald Trump's businesses violated the U.S. embargo on Cuba and secretly did business there in the late 1990s and then tried to cover it up. The investigation draws ... Read More →

Headlines →

     
******************************************** 


******************************************** 

Daily Kos

  • Trump called reporter a 'c*nt' and 'sh*t for brains' for writing a story he didn't like
  • Hillary Clinton trolls Trump with late-night tweets of her own
  • Clinton's odds continue to tick back up
  • Add your name to stand with Hillary: Stop Donald Trump in his tracks. sponsored
  • A young woman candidly shares the humiliation of waiting on Donald Trump everyday
  • Newt Gingrich: 'There's no excuse' for Trump's insulting 3 AM attacks
  • Mike Pence won't pardon an innocent man
  • Donald Trump goes there ... where there is 'crazy'
  • Obama in New York magazine quotes McConnell: Any deal 'should be entirely on my terms because it hurts me'
  • 'In a time of Trump, Millennial Jews awaken to anti-Semitism'
  • Add your name with PFAW to oppose the First Amendment Defense Act which would distort the principle of religious liberty to allow taxpayer-funded discrimination. sponsored
  • A reflection on evangelical Christians who suddenly feel they have nowhere to turn in this election
  • Bill! Hilarious clip shows Bill Clinton irking President Obama—because he can
  • The flim-flam man lost a billion but runs for WH on business skills
  • LeBron James endorses Hillary Clinton
  • SpaceX is set to take on the wild, wild waste
  • Don't talk to me about justice unless you are voting to secure the Supreme Court
  • If you tell me you are supporting Trump, I already know 7 things about you
  •    
  • Trump has meltdown at rally as NYT bombshell article goes to print
  • Trump: 'I could have nailed Princess Diana'
  • So, the Donald comes to Michigan and has his ass handed to him by local media.
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • Clinton campaign responds to NYT's bombshell report about Trump's taxes
  • The GOP is now fearing the Trump down ballot effect
  • P.J. O'Rourke, of all people, has endorsed Hillary Clinton
  • Trump mocks Clinton's bout with pneumonia, suggests she's 'crazy,' says she probably cheated on Bill
  • This accountant weighs in on Trump's 1995 tax returns
  • Stop mocking Gary Johnson
  • Millennial voters are key at defeating Donald Trump, and NextGen Climate Change has a way to reach them in swing states. Click here to volunteer to make phone calls, texts and other ways to help out.
  • Guess what, haters. You just wasted a decade.
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders is about to start tearing up the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton
  • New York Times: Trump may not have paid federal taxes for nearly 20 years
  • It's 3:20 a.m. As good a time as any to tweet...an epic troll!
  • Clinton campaign raises record breaking $154 million in September
  • I voted for Hillary in Virginia today
  • Sign the petition to Congress: Don't let bottled water industry take over our national parks.
  •      
  • The Trump meltdown continues, and at the worst possible time
  • Trump's Florida spokesperson resigns as campaign responds to allegations of Cuba payoffs
  • Trump hints that he may chicken out of the second and third debates, blaming it on the mic
  • Want to help Get Out The Vote for Democrats? Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • Man shoots and kills wife, blames his fear of Black Lives Matter
  • Hackers attack Newsweek after it exposes Trump's Cuba crimes
  • Bested by mere women, Trump loses his mind—His toxic 'pathological sexism' no longer acceptable
  • Clinton smashes 'unhinged' Trump with epic Twitter takedown
  • Wow! Darrell Issa threatens to sue Democratic opponent over ad and has lawyers beg for an apology!
  • If you tell me you are supporting Trump, I already know 7 things about you
  • Sign the petition: Stand with PFAW and tell Congress you support the reforms laid out in the "We the People Act" and want to see it passed! sponsored
  • Trump Hotel guests received a complimentary USA Today declaring Trump unfit for the presidency
  • Howard Dean continues his No F@#ks Left to Give tour and doubles down on Trump cokehead tweet
  • Police officer who killed Terence Crutcher says she shot him because she was temporarily deaf
  • Yesterday the Republican nominee for president told America to 'check out' a sex tape
  • Wisconsin flouting judge's orders, continuing to disenfranchise black voters
  • Trump-like Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte invokes Hitler and urges genocide against drug addicts
  •      
  • Viral meme is touching some nerves and may be one of the most powerful quotes this election year
  • A literary magazine in Mexico just won the award for best Trump cover
  • Donald Trump sneaks out of bed to attack Alicia Machado and tell America to watch a sex tape
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • Ivanka Trump's business know-how the result of lemonade stand that extorted money from the 'help'
  • Trump singles out and shames non-Christians at rally—asks crowd what to do with 'them'
  • Google conspiracy theory shows where Trump is getting his news
  • Former Hillary-hating 'Bernie Bro' journalist pens humbling, fact-filled piece on why he's #WithHer
  • Trump Foundation not even certified to take donations, may have to give everything back
  • Tennessee man arrested for showing up to Black Lives Matter protest in gorilla mask, passing out bananas
  • Sign the petition: I agree with Hillary: America is already great. sponsored
  • Trump's terrible week
  • USA Today issues its first-ever un-endorsement for 'dangerous demagogue' Donald Trump
  • I had to tell my 9 yr old daughter she couldn't be Hillary Clinton for Halloween. Was I wrong?
  • Here is the repulsive audio of Donald Trump and Howard Stern talking about how 'vagina is expensive'
  • Review of a new biography of Hitler has many people thinking of ... someone else
  • University of Vermont raises, then loses, then again raises a Black Lives Matter flag
  •      
    ******************************************** 

    ******************************************** 

    AlterNet
    By Janet Allon, AlterNet
    When the election is over, these people should not be let off the hook. READ MORE»

    By Ilana Novick, AlterNet
    The hotel got a new feature not listed on the website.  READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    The "Last Week Tonight" host explains why it's so hard to hold the police accountable.  READ MORE»

    By Robert Reich, RobertReich.org
    Knowing how to game the system is not the same as being a good businessman. Never was. READ MORE»

    By Janet Allon, AlterNet
    The columnist lets loose on a stream of invectives on the "puerile, sophomoric sniveler." READ MORE»

    By Dena Landon, Salon
    I was determined my son would eat only healthful, homemade foods. And it totally backfired on me. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "It's really about the tremendous tax advantages that apply to a wealthy filer like Donald Trump," says David Barstow. READ MORE»

    By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
    Ava DuVernay’s new film, "13th," is named for the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery with the exception of punishment for crime. READ MORE»

    By Mark Sumner, Daily Kos
    He wasn't judging female contestants on their business skills.  READ MORE»

    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    He also had some choice words for Trump's Republican backers. READ MORE»
         
    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    Just a fraction of the hundreds who allege Trump has stolen goods, services and livelihoods from them.  READ MORE»

    By David J. Krajicek, AlterNet
    Politicized crime laws enacted in response to atrocities are almost always expensive failures. READ MORE»

    By Britta Love, AlterNet
    Is there any better symbol of what’s gone wrong in mainstream American culture than the success of Donald Trump?  READ MORE»

    By Michael Joseph, AlterNet
    The sugar industry sold out our health for corporate and personal profit. READ MORE»

    By David Masciotra, Salon
    Democracy is meant to be for grownups — but the GOP nominee's followers are basically kids scared of the dark. READ MORE»

    By Karen J. Greenberg, TomDispatch
    The lessons we should have learned from post-9/11 government overreach.  READ MORE»

    By Paul Rosenberg, Salon
    Anthropologist Peter Turchin's "Ages of Discord" provides a crucial decoder ring for Trump-era social strife. READ MORE»

    By Max Blumenthal, AlterNet
    Posing as a non-political solidarity organization, the Syria Campaign leverages local partners and media contacts to push the U.S. into toppling another Middle Eastern government.  READ MORE»

    By Cecily Myart-Cruz, AlterNet
    McDonald's is exploiting the trust between teachers and students to promote its junk food. READ MORE»

    By Derek Black, NYU Press
    Report after report demonstrates that high suspension rates and harsh discipline do not deter misbehavior, keep the environment orderly, or make schools safer. READ MORE»

    By Mary Pascaline Dharshini, Medical Daily
    Like most things pot, we need more research. READ MORE»
       
    By Itzayana, AlterNet
    Nothing could have prepared me for what I lived those four nights in the jungle.  READ MORE»

    By Janet Allon, AlterNet
    In the Trump bubble, not much oxygen gets in. READ MORE»

    By Jeremy E. Sherman , AlterNet
    Things are not looking good for the long haul... READ MORE»

    By Carrie Weisman, AlterNet
    Late-blooming lesbians find they have a journey of many steps ahead of them.  READ MORE»

    By Simon Maloy, Salon
    "Nobody calls Sean Hannity"—but everyone fears him. How a right-wing media icon became Trump's towel boy. READ MORE»

    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    A series of data points suggest a high-turnout is taking shape. READ MORE»

    By Jeff Bryant, Campaign for America's Future
    “I’m just concerned about the proposal and what it means for the children all across the Commonwealth" READ MORE»

    By Reynard Loki, AlterNet
    New studies examine the environmental impact of restaurants using wood-burning ovens. READ MORE»

    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    CEO of the Commercial Finance Association apologized. READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    Challenging climate of brinksmanship and confrontation, women call for lasting peace accord. READ MORE»

    By Thom Hartmann, AlterNet
    When agribusinesses control the government, people die.  READ MORE»

    By Patrick Cockburn, AlterNet
    It was interesting to see a tradition of deliberate mendacity being not only maintained, but outdone in Syria over the last week. READ MORE»
         
    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    Even the youngest black children are treated with undue suspicion. READ MORE»

    By Peter Dreier, AlterNet
    Ironically, it is the insults that are likely to do more damage than the scandals. READ MORE»

    By Lucy Goodchild Van Hilten, AlterNet
    New research reveals that high-fat diets can impair memory and make our immune systems attack our own bodies. READ MORE»

    By Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon
    After fat-shaming Alicia Machado, Trump moves on to slut-shaming her, with an assist from Newt Gingrich. READ MORE»

    By Larry Schwartz, AlterNet
    New studies on dementia give hope for the future. READ MORE»

    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    CNN/ABC agree to look at top 30 questions before next town hall-style debate. READ MORE»

    By Jim Hightower, AlterNet
    Trump may make better television, but state and local government races will define our country's future.  READ MORE»

    By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
    It turns out science can explain why Trump supporters believe so many things that are demonstrably false or idiotic. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "Willie Velasquez was a Mexican American civil rights pioneer who changed the local and national political landscape forever." READ MORE»

    By Remi Newman, Kinkly
    Porn is being blamed these days for failed marriages, ruined political careers and the "corruption of our youth." But is it really to blame? READ MORE»

    By Brad Reed, Raw Story
    Trump himself has posted numerous anti-vaccination tweets over the years. READ MORE»

    By Jahan Marcu PhD, Project CBD
    The DEA wants to ban it, but the Southeast Asian herb has valuable medicinal properties and can help with withdrawals from opiate addiction.  READ MORE»
    By Janet Allon, AlterNet
    Those involved in this long con need to do some serious soul searching. READ MORE»

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Just when you thought Trump could not possibly sink any lower. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "Bombing that bad ought to be a war crime." READ MORE»

    By Robert Reich, RobertReich.org
    It's not hard to imagine a time when all of us will stop working. READ MORE»

    By Chauncey DeVega, Salon
    Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger Effect? Trump is Exhibit A of this dangerous form of idiocy. READ MORE»

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Young voters may not be down with Clinton, but she's betting they're down to make a difference. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    “It’s not a joke! It’s like, whoa! We are in real jeopardy." READ MORE»

    By Rae Paoletta, Revelist
    Novum Pharmaceuticals approaches Martin Shkreli levels of price gouging.  READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    O'Reilly tried everything he could to talk his version of sense into delusional Trump. READ MORE»

    By Sarah K. Burris, Raw Story
    Donald Trump is instructing his surrogates to begin attacking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for her husband’s extra-marital affairs.  READ MORE»
         
    ******************************************** 


    ******************************************** 

    Movies!

    Sam Harris completely dismantles Donald Trump. Very recently, I've developed more trust and respect for Hillary Clinton than I'd ever have expected to--I've learned to see why Dot Calm admired Hillary so greatly. But I don't forget Hillary's history, either. However, as John Oliver remarks in his video posted below, the only reason she seems so scandal-plagued is that her detractors have worked overtime to publish and denounce her every fart. And, like I said last time, I'm not worried about Hillary's e-mail scandal because I think she'd jump through her own asshole to overcompensate fixing the problem if elected--and I think the Clinton Foundation coverage has been unduly negative (again, watch the John Oliver clip below). If you don't like Hillary Clinton even the least little bit, which is completely understandable given her media coverage since the 1990s, you need to listen to Sam Harris talking about both candidates. He's no Clinton fan either, but he makes a clear and reasoned case for voting for her, just as Noam Chomsky does. I agree with Sam that Christopher Hitchens, who wrote a book on Clinton scandals, was a pragmatist and would also have voted for Hillary, just as he said he was open to doing in 2008. Remember, if elected, Donald Trump would have an eager and willing Congress to pass the Paul Ryan budget and a lot of other theocratic hateful legislation that would endanger us all. Just imagine how much poorer we would all be! Just imagine how much more unsafe our food, water, and air would be once they deregulate everything! Just imagine all the wars they'd get us into...!


    Here's Samantha Bee's take on Fat-Donald-the-john-wiper calling Alicia Machado fat and referring to her as "housekeeping." Like I said last time, Donald claims to be 6'3", and he claims to weigh 235 lbs--but we all know what a "projectile liar" (great term--thanks, Sam Bee!) he is...meaning that there's at least another 50 lbs in his gut and his ass and he's probably not 6'3" any more (if he ever was) because of his age, weight, and poor diet. Like I said last time, he just pretends his extra weight doesn't exist, like his tax returns and his $650 MILLION foreign and domestic debt  (conflict of interest much?)...and he just pretends he's still tall and commanding the way he pretends he still has his daddy's fortune, which in fact he's pissed and frittered away in one bad business deal after another (the link is to Matt Taibi's Rolling Stone article on just 13 of Donald's failed business deals. Did you know about "Donald Trump: the fragrance"? Probably smells like ass after pooping McDonald's). Like I said last time, being generous and assuming that Donald isn't lying (which he is) about being 6'3" and weighing 235, DONALD J. TRUMP IS OBESE. Like I said last time, it is hypocritical AF for Donald to poke fun at people who gain weight when he's such a GLUTTONOUS UNATTRACTIVE FAT PIG DOG MISS PIGGY OINK OINK WHERE'S MAH TROUGH himself! Wanna talk someone who "likes to eat"? Then just look in the mirror, Donald GLUTTONOUS UNATTRACTIVE FAT PIG DOG MISS PIGGY OINK OINK WHERE'S MAH TROUGH Trump! What's interesting is that Donald GLUTTONOUS UNATTRACTIVE FAT PIG DOG MISS PIGGY OINK OINK WHERE'S MAH TROUGH Trump can't give a shit about Alicia Machado herself. As Hillary said, Alicia Machado is a person with a name. And if Donald GLUTTONOUS UNATTRACTIVE FAT PIG DOG MISS PIGGY OINK OINK WHERE'S MAH TROUGH Trump had had just an ounce of humanity, he'd have looked at Alicia Machado as a person and realized that she had been battling anorexia and bulimia and that she was sick and trying to heal--trying to survive. But Donald GLUTTONOUS UNATTRACTIVE FAT PIG DOG MISS PIGGY OINK OINK WHERE'S MAH TROUGH Trump doesn't have an ounce of humanity. He'd rather live in his fantasy world where women are only worth something if they look like 118-pound anorexic-bulimic Miss Universes...and Melania doesn't poop or fart (trust me, Donald GLUTTONOUS UNATTRACTIVE FAT PIG DOG MISS PIGGY OINK OINK WHERE'S MAH TROUGH Trump--maybe 5'11", 125 lb Melania doesn't eat enough to poop often enough for you to know about it, but she probably farts silent-but-deadlies 24/7/365 in your general direction. You just can't hear it or smell it because you're OLD).

    ...As Samantha Bee says, Trump just pissed off every American woman who's ever been called fat, which is ALL OF THEM. Yes, even the tiny little skinny ones. Dot Calm was a petite Barbie doll of a lady with two petite daughters...but the older, somewhat heavier one (which isn't saying much) called the 97-pounder "fat ass" for decades...until the older one finally realized that the younger one was smaller than she was and that there was nothing "fat" about her.

    Here's the Samantha Bee segment mentioned in the Vox headline I posted last week.

    ...Here, Sam, lemme help you out with a little sum'n sum'n I posted last time:
    ...He looks like he's about to sneeze...
    too much blow before the debate?

    Here's John Oliver's well researched but also deliciously funny must-watch take on the 2016 election and candidate scandals...

    ...which also reminded me of something I posted last time:
     

    ICYMI last time I posted this...


    Here's a 2014 John Oliver video on the American wealth gap. Only this year has O'Bama finally managed, against complete Republican obstructionism, to create an inflection point where the rich are getting rich slightly less quickly than everyone else, and the 99%'s incomes are finally starting to trickle up--THANKS, OBAMA! For some reason, this is not the big news I'd expect it to be. As John Oliver says, the kind of income inequality we've seen in America since Reagan took office is dangerous to overall growth. I liken it to a game of Monopoly where one player has all the property and the money stops moving--the game isn't won or lost yet, but it completely stagnates. You'd think that the ultra-obscenely-rich Republicans in this country would have that elementary understanding of money and how it moves. But no--they are so driven by money-lust that they'd rather kill the golden goose (that's us) than let it live another day to go on enriching them.


    John Oliver on American journalism, which is in real trouble. If honest-to-goodness journalism goes down the tubes, so do we. Donald Trump's dream nightmare for America will have no opposition--it will operate in complete secrecy because we've abdicated investigative journalism. We can't fight what we don't know about! Please, friends--go buy a paper or subscribe online. Consider WaPo or Newsweek if you like their investigations of Donald Trump and want to see such investigations in the future--and write letters to the editors to let them know what you're doing and why. Maybe your support will help give them some bawls to stand up against Donald's Trumpertantrums when they tell the truth about his corruption, inhumanity, outright theft, and otherwise creepy, insane, bullying, and narcissistic personality and behavior.


    John Oliver on America's illegal domestic spying and Edward Snowden


    John Oliver on police accountability. All we want is for police to be held accountable the same way society holds us accountable--especially if we are Black and Brown. No more double standards!! Do I trust the police--do I think for one moment they hold themselves or each other accountable when they shoot someone Black? Hell no!! They lie like bad carpet. With every new tragedy, I automatically disbelieve the po-po's story because they've been caught lying so many times before. They are just not credible. And they're not even responsible to their own, either, apparently. The one officer in the video whose fellow officers wouldn't respond with back-up when he was in dangerous situations? That's not fucking funny. Those bastards could have gotten the man killed, and it all would have been fair, square, and legal-like. They'd have laughed all the way home to their presumably battered wives and girlfriends. Sick. Fucking. Bastards.


    Randi Rhodes on Donald Trump's taxes: like Leona Helmsley says, only the little people pay taxes. It's feckin' hilarious that Giuliani and Christie call Trump "genius" for sticking us with the bill--but how genius is it to LOSE NEARLY ONE BILLION DOLLARS in the first place?!?? And do they really expect us to believe that Donald John Trump does his own taxes himself every year, which is surely what they're implying when they give him the credit for skipping out on his tax bill for decades at a time?!?? Donald Trump is a horrifically bad businessman--there isn't a word in the English language to describe just how feckless, gormless, and incompetent of a businessman Donald Trump is. I wonder if he actually pays his accountant--if anyone deserves credit for maneuvering the tax code, that's the guy. Not moronic Donald Trump.


    'Til next time, check out these great channels:
    ...or, if you just want something mindless and fun, try Tested
      
    ********************************************








    Why the phuque would anyone
    marry any of these nasties even once?!??




    Don't get me wrong...
    I like Jill Stein, but this is funneh!!

    BoingBoing's September 30th edition
    of Trump lies...
    tumblr_oebgn7jfqw1uqyxnpo1_128

    And now a few words
    from Mrs. Betty Bowers...


    Betty tweaked
    Donald "Miss Piggy John wiper" Trump's
    sash...
    it used to say "Miss Congeniality"...
    I think The New Yorker
    tweaked everything else--
    it's way too flattering
    to be realistic!