Thank you for that introduction, Governor. And thank you all for being here. It's great to be back in this beautiful state.
It brings me no joy to say it, but our great republic is going through some dark times right now. We have a president who is mentally and morally unfit for office - who has corrupt ties through his family and his businesses with foreign despots around the world from China to Iran to Saudi Arabia. And the rot has spread from the head down; corruption is commonplace in the Cabinet, in the Department of Justice, in the office of the Senate Majority Leader.
Now, I haven't said anything that any of the other candidates for your nomination would disagree with. Maybe Vice-President Biden or Senator Harris or Senator Warren would phrase it differently. But they'd all go on and say "And this is why you should make me President! So I can put a stop to this!"
And don't get me wrong; I think that all of those men and women would make fine presidents. I've worked with some of them in the Senate, I've met some of them in political life or socially, and they are all fine, dedicated, intelligent people.
But we have to ask the question: what if we lose? What if you all - if we all - go out and raise money to put, let's say, Elizabeth Warren in the White House, and she campaigns like heck, and, well, next November, she loses? I hope to god she doesn't, but - what happens then? We've just raised three, four, five hundred million dollars and it's all gone up in smoke, that's what.
And that is why I am going to be campaigning on issues, not personalities. What matters to ordinary Americans isn't the name of the person in the White House or the Senate chamber, it's the policies that he or she puts in place.
So I will be going out there and raising money for policies, not campaigns. If I, or any other Democrat, is elected in November next year, that money will be returned to the donors, or donated to whatever worthy cause those donors decide. I hope it'll be the Democratic Party [laughter] but that's up to them.
But if President Trump is re-elected, we will be using that money to make sure he pushes through our policies.
And we will be doing this by bribing him.
We estimate, based on our analysis of previous public-domain reports of presidential corruption, that achieving sustained, sincere presidential support for any given political objective can be achieved at a cost of between $20 million and $50 million. We estimate that achieving the support of Senator McConnell for the same objective will cost around $10 million.
This means that for the cost of a single presidential campaign, we can achieve between eight and ten of our key policy goals - even if we lose the election!

Now, you may be worrying that openly bribing President Trump will get us into some sort of legal trouble. But I'm telling you today you don't need to worry about that. Who's going to push for a prosecution? The White House? They can't investigate without investigating their own boss. The Justice Department? Same deal. The Senate? Same deal. The House? Why would they when they're seeing every bill they pass run straight through into law, on a vast gleaming freeway of sleaze?

So I'd encourage you - please do donate as much as you can to the campaign of the Democratic nominee, whoever that is. Please donate to me, as well! But, just as insurance, just to cover all the bases, please also open up your wallets and send a little cash to the Legislative Encouragement Fund.

Thank you and enjoy the dinner.

Oh, is this a CBP thing?

There should be a discussion of this, but I have no idea what to say. Other than to repeat an observation I saw on on twitter, that Anne Frank wasn't gassed: she died of disease due to unsanitary conditions.

So heartbreaking. The obviously correct policy of letting people in to live with their relatives or wherever they want appears to be not up for discussion. Mentioning past successful episodes of integration here also not done, most recently 70k Bosnians into St Louis (city pop 320k, city+county 1.3M).

I used to try occasionally watching fox or listening to Rush or at least peeking at the feed of the few people I distantly know and am friends with on facebook that avidly repost right-wing stuff. I can't manage to any more.

This is a great thread. What the hell are we even doing indeed.

There's this odd phenomenon here that kids are camped out across the street from where I work (also across the street from Nationwide Arena) for a week before local favorites 21 Pilots are playing a concert. Every time I walk by this little camp, I wonder what would the authorities would do if a bunch of refugees from Guatemala set up a similar-type camp.

Hm. There's a lot of fracas on Twitter about whether it's appropriate to share without warnings the AP photo of two corpses including a kid's in the thread in 5. The linked thread is arguing for (as deliberately and politically jarring).

I was just in Scotland for a month, and I gotta say it was really really hard to come back to this fucking country.

Oh, look. It's a lawyer who argued that soap and toothbrushes aren't necessary to keep children in safe and sanitary conditions trying to convince her FB friends she's not a bad guy. I am unconvinced. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/justice-department-lawyer-defends-herself-after-viral-video-child-migrant-n1021771?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

Yeah, go down the list one more time:

1. Do I have volunteer hours available?
2. Do I have money to give to orgs that help?
3. Do I have a social media platform I can use to rally others?
4. Can I call my elected officials on a daily basis, as recommended somewhere?
5. Do I have other skills or materials that could do some good?
6. Is it worth changing my life in a significant way in order to give different answers?

Answers:
1. Not many. Something else would have to give, and my available hours are definitely limited. We met up with some friends of lourdes' last summer in Albuquerque who were driving people newly released from detention to wherever they needed to go, but it was a "drive up to Colorado Springs in the middle of the night" kind of thing -- not the easiest to set aside.
2. A small amount, significantly less this year than last year. It sucks.
3. No. I can reach my family and comment here.
4. YES I should probably do this. The recommendation was to "make it a part of your daily routine."
5. Hard to say given the shortage of time and money. In a few months we'll be able to put people up in this house if necessary.
6. This is what the "never again is now" slogan is getting at, and the possible strategies are all pretty complicated. I find the rhetoric frustrating: we all have to do heroic things! But I think it is, paradoxically and unintentionally, an appeal to people to stand on the sidelines and clearly observe: an appeal to a history we have observed and judged for decades. But that's not the right part of people's hearts and minds to mobilize. Don't bother thinking about how history is going to judge you. Who fucking cares? What can you do?

This law professor is trying to organize mass travel to the detention areas, more or less to protest and witness. I think. It seems very ad hoc.

1. Do I have volunteer hours available?
2. Do I have money to give to orgs that help?
3. Do I have a social media platform I can use to rally others?
4. Can I call my elected officials on a daily basis, as recommended somewhere?
5. Do I have other skills or materials that could do some good?
6. Is it worth changing my life in a significant way in order to give different answers?

Here's my answers:
1. I find this paralyzing to evaluate. Surely I do, but I don't know what tradeoff to make.

2. Yes, about the same as last year.

3. I'm not willing to. I think that FB and this place are both echo chambers for me, and that other people are able to use their platforms in better ways than I am.

4. It's really hard to imagine that contacting Cruz and Cornyn does anything whatsoever in a million years. My house rep is already wonderful (Lloyd Doggett).

5. Surely I should be capitalizing on proximity.

6. I don't know! It's paralyzing!

Overall, this exercise is giving me insight: Locally, I feel surrounded by people who are doing the social media thing, and not much else. I am intimidated and inhibited from individually doing the kinds of things I might agree to do if there was a friend group all doing them together.

Feeling helpless during all this is killing me. But you reminded me to look up my representative (on the fence about impeachment, which is outrageous, because she's generally quite good) and call her.

Right. I should be doing that every day. I keep thinking of ways I can help and coming up with very few.

For "proximity", here's a big long list: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/18/heres-list-organizations-are-mobilizing-help-separated-immigrant-child/

1. Probably in some sense. I certainly find the time for computer games and TV daily or almost daily and occasionally going out. I'm tempted to make excuses - parenting, a job, etc. - but I could probably find some time to volunteer if I tried.
2. Yes. I give monthly to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the local food shelf, if I remember correctly. I could always give more, and/or give to something targeted to this particular outrage.
3. No.
4. Can I? Technically, I own a phone, so yes. But my district is already 90 percent Democrat and has no voting Congressional representation anyway. I feel guilty about being defeatist or lazy but it seems appropriate here.
5. Nothing comes to mind. In theory I could cultivate a social media platform. In practice it seems like more work for less expected value than volunteering.
6. Nothing comes to mind. Now, almost definitely not. In a year or two, I can imagine things developing to the point where that would make sense, but not this summer or calendar year.

Last for now: but of all the "be a hero" rhetoric on Twitter, the one thing that brought me up short was the exhortation to look your kids in the eye and tell them everything that's happening to these other kids. Have you all done this? I have not done this, and yeah, on the one hand it's to avoid traumatizing a fairly young child, but on the other hand it's because I'd have to conclude it with nope, I'm not a hero, I'm just sitting here working at my job and checking my phone for messages and tending my garden, as always. Thoughts and prayers. This is a tormenting prospect.

I think the rationale behind calling reps (someone who is not pig-ignorant here, pls correct me) is that they all keep a daily tally of who calls on which side of which issue, and even Ted Cruz might at least notice if a *huge* number of constituents are calling to say that he's doing a crap job on this issue. (He's routinely getting calls in support of building the wall, remember.) So in theory, it does add up. I think. As far as literally calling daily, no idea.

I wonder if Toomey is taking calls now. He wasn't when the health care vote was on.

1. I have been going to meetings, and did some postcarding and canvassing. Will do again. My partner has been a champ. He has no willingness to do those, but complete willingness to cover with our kid, so he also serves. Am trying to get more involved locally.

2. Money, yes. Small amounts. I figure between the inspiring candidate of the day and the agonizing crime of the day, I'll just leave my wallet out and open.

3. Yeah, in my niche. I've queue up some new topics, but doing them well requires, like, work and concentration and I keep taking pieces to 80% of the way there and then leaving them. I've been thinking more about traditional media. Like, what would it take to get an op-ed in the paper? What if we could re-colonize those?

4. No. I haven't been doing this. My state reps certainly don't need it. My federal reps, well. I didn't think Matsui did, but she does. I don't figure Harris needs my pushing. Feinstein isn't listening to us anyway.

5. I'm good at hosting meetings. I'm good at logistics. Haven't put those to work in a bit. I did see an interesting need arise last year. In a de-brief for how elections went in Fresno, someone pointed out that all these new people running for office need campaign treasurers. There was a bottleneck of people who were trained to be campaign treasurers, which is somewhat legal/technical but not that hard. The few people who had experience with it were overwhelmed. So maybe if you want to do something more involved in the back of the house, getting trained to be a campaign treasurer for local races is an option.

6. Is it worth changing my life in a significant way? Well, I always wanted to run for office anyway. So maybe that isn't a change, but more of a push. I am not sure if I am quite there, and the slots above me are mostly well occupied now. But I'm trying to be more involved and visible for a couple years down the line.

17: I was able to leave voicemails with both PA Senators using the 5 Calls app. Worth a shot.

18.5: Where would one get training to be a campaign treasurer, assuming you don't need e.g. professional accounting certifications? This seems like the sort of thing I would be good at.

I did that last year - our state has a large PDF guide explaining how to do it in some detail, and then the city has a few rules of its own that it puts out decent guidance in.

In a de-brief for how elections went in Fresno, someone pointed out that all these new people running for office need campaign treasurers. There was a bottleneck of people who were trained to be campaign treasurers, which is somewhat legal/technical but not that hard. The few people who had experience with it were overwhelmed. So maybe if you want to do something more involved in the back of the house, getting trained to be a campaign treasurer for local races is an option.

OMG yes. This is a huge need everywhere. It's very finicky, detail-oriented work, and the consequences for getting it wrong are huge, so not many people want to do it, but it's crucially important.

Where would one get training to be a campaign treasurer, assuming you don't need e.g. professional accounting certifications? This seems like the sort of thing I would be good at.

Here, the state agency that oversees campaign finance laws does regular trainings. I assume it's similar in other states but I don't know the details.

(At least in our case, this is a separate agency from the one that runs elections. Again, not sure how it works in other states.)

lk -- Your "Concentration Camps don't belong in 2019" sticker has new salience. Show it with pride. You could knock doors in Wisconsin in the fall of 20 -- so if you want to be doing something meaningful now, it could be arranging your life so that a week or two in Wisconsin in late October 2020 isn't just possible, but not unduly burdensome.

I'm not calling either Sen. Daines or Rep. Gianforte, because I think of them both as worse than useless. They are very closely hitched to Trump, but have been willing to take small stands against Trump on narrow issues that directly affect their voters. Both would view defying my wishes, and those of people like me, as a positive outcome.

Thanks, Minivet and teo. PA resources seem a bit less useful than in other states, but still looking into it.

Oh hey, look who's coming to town this afternoon. Probably just a refueling stop. My commute home goes right by the base, though, so this may be the closest I ever get to him.

PA resources seem a bit less useful than in other states, but still looking into it.

Hm, I see what you mean. This is the relevant agency, but it doesn't look like they offer any training. Maybe reach out to the local Democratic party?

My sense is that having someone to do the campaign treasurer stuff is super helpful for any newcomers, especially in the tiny-ass races where we should be building up a bench.

26: What about trying to approach it with a couple friends? I've realized that I get a ton done if I have a working partner and almost nothing if I don't. If you could get a handful of people together, it could be like a standing study group. Combination social, check each other's work, identify solutions. I do think the formal organizations (League of Women Voters, Democratic groups, ought to have a way to connect you to training. Or create some.)

Glad to hear you're thinking about running for office yourself, Megan.

I can't let a decade of openly saying stupid shit on the internet stop me!

That's the spirit!

31: Say Stupid Shit Somewhere New 2020

||

India exported 319,000 tonnes of finished steel in May, down 28% from the same month last year and the lowest level since April 2016, the data showed. Steel exports to the EU dropped 55% in May, led by fewer shipments to Italy, Belgium and Spain, which together made up about 80% of India's overall exports to the region. That comes amid 'safeguard' measures by the EU that are designed to limit incoming steel and prevent a surge of imports as a result of Washington's 25% import tariffs, which have effectively closed the U.S. market.

I somehow missed this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-26/bank-of-america-will-stop-lending-to-private-prison-companies

JPMorgan Chase & Co. took a similar step in March, breaking off its relationship with the industry after deciding it was too risky, and Wells Fargo & Co. is also halting loans to the industry. Protesters have been urging bank executives to back away from the business, and shares of several prison companies slumped last week after presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren tweeted about her plan to get rid of them. "The broader issues are the need for reforms in the criminal justice system and immigration," Finucane said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-05/jpmorgan-ends-financing-of-private-prisons-following-criticism

The shift comes after increased scrutiny. Protesters have been urging JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon to stop backing the sector as part of a growing chorus of critics who have been following the CEO around the country to get the bank to join their fights over a slew of social issues.

I am truly shocked. What's the catch? I assume there's more to the risk analysis than protests?

As always, the catch is the continued existence of capitalism.

|| Ok, they can draw blood without a warrant from an unconscious drunk driver. |>

|| Partisan gerrymandering is a political question. |>

38: Elaborate?

39: So the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4 split as you'd expect.

More elaborate?

39/41: as of today, federal courts do not have jurisdiction to entertain claims of partisan gerrymandering.

Census decision looks like it's terrible but dressed up to seem not so terrible. We're going to find out that the Census Bureau doesn't really need as much time to get its forms printed as they've been claiming.

It's decided on jurisdictional grounds: the majority decided that it doesn't have the ability, and thus power, to adjudicate claims that a state's districting scheme violates the federal constitution by being designed to favor one party over another. Says you have to go to Congress, or the state legislatures, to get this fixed, as the federal courts have to dismiss your case.

I'm not saying anything about the census case, other than that potchkeh gets it exactly right.

|| And the Indian jurisdiction case is going to be re-argued next term, so that's that. Vacation time. 73 published opinions this term. |>

The state legislatures have to determine whether something violates the federal constitution?

What if they disagree? We should have some sort of federal court.

So is the question going on the forms?

I wasn't sure if I should post, or let LB post.

47: It can't go on the form based on the current administrative record, but they left a path wide open for Commerce to fix that problem. Which they surely will. Some chance other challenges will keep it bottled up, but I wouldn't bet on it.

I threw up a placeholder thread for discussion.

Partly inspired by this thread (I mean, I was inspired before but I made myself take the step), I just wrote to this small shelter in my neighborhood (broadly construed) that's the only shelter in NYC dedicated to refugees and asylum seekers experiencing housing insecurity. Its executive director came to speak at my unsynagogue about his experience fleeing persecution in Nigeria for being gay and experiencing persecution for being black and a refugee here. They need overnight volunteers to open and sleep at the shelter and that seems very feasible for me -- it's just a bike ride away. So I'm visiting tomorrow. There's also a project right now on Ragtag for an org that helps LGBTQ asylum seekers. I checked out the github. I'm going to try to carve out some time. This feels a little harder to me; in theory it makes sense that it's leveraging skills I have. In practice it seems so similar to my work it's hard to get energy for it.

I don't know if service for a different pop than the people at the Southern border substitutes for activism but both of these things feel closer to me and more accessible than much else I could do on the 1-6 list. TBH it also helps in both of those cases that I think I could enjoy it: it sounds like fun to me to hang out with a bunch of people with from all different places and play dominoes with them (apparently this is a popular activity) and I also like programming.

Tia, I've very much taken to heart the original Indivisible instruction: work in your location, in your niche. I mean, I wish I were a person who could address the most brutal issues in the most brutal places. (Except that I don't really wish that, I guess.) I respect those people a lot. But pushing where I can push is also worthwhile, and more than I would have done three years ago, and I have more leverage in my own interest areas. For the other stuff, I send small money.

||

Huh. Unfogged seems to have disappeared from google searches (it shows up fine on duckduckgo, though). Is this happening for anyone else?

|>

Honestly, the URL isn't very hard to remember.

53 see 31. Meghan's already wiping her slate clean.

47: Answer hazy, ask again later. And later means a couple of months from now -- stuff will have to happen. I'm too busy to explain in full. My guess is it doesn't ultimately go on, but it's indeterminate now.

Hmm. And now it's back. It looks like Meghan's attempt to escape the past has been foiled.

57: Now, we're on to Plan B -- confuse the issue by creating a "Meghan" with an "h".

Hegan?

Megah.

Mega H is my rap name.

Make Edinburgh Great Again, Hurriedly

I went to meet with the director of that shelter. Seems like it will likely work out, though I probably won't get started till late July. He was really happy to hear I was Spanish speaking -- "priceless asset" were his words. I should remind myself that that is a special skill; it's just sometimes hard to know what the situations are where "able to converse but not fluent" is useful, though this seems like one of them.

I meant to also say that I just got an email from HIAS with a link to this page of action ideas for people people looking for other stuff to do. I guess I could remind myself that I am certified to teach English as a Foreign Language as well.

Well done, Tia. There's not much I can do other than donating to RAICES.

from within the Department of Homeland Security itself. A union representing asylum officers, the front-line adjudicators of humanitarian claims, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday criticizing the MPP program. Though they make a range of arguments, two are particularly relevant to their area of expertise: that the program's protections against refoulement are inadequate, and that the MPP worsens inefficiencies in processing asylum claims.