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It's time for charities and for-good organisations to ditch X - a platform which helped grow and fund the Trump campaign - and move to alternatives where they aren't at the mercy of a single persons politics.

As a start, we're excited to be featured as an organisation which can help in this @BylineTimes article

There's a lot of hard work to be done, but we like hard work. Hard work is good work.

bylinetimes.com/2024/11/07/x-o…

#Fediverse #Charity #NGO #News #USPol #Politics #X #SocialMedia #Twitter


#SixYearsAgoToday #AreYouBetterOff

November 7, 2018 – A White House intern tried to wrestle away a microphone from CNN’s Jim Acosta after he asked Trump challenging questions at a press conference. The White House later revoked Acosta’s press pass, releasing a video to justify its reprimand. A C-SPAN video of the incident differed from the video released by the White House, which appeared to have been altered to depict Acosta as the aggressor.

#CriminalTrump #ResistFascism #WeirdGOP #USPol


Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Substack:

The Aftermath. Fighting Fascism by Building On All That We Achieved During the Campaign

substack.com/home/post/p-15127… #uspol #USPolitics #politics #resist


I'm Russian living in Russia. I was 5 when Putin was 'elected'. I'm 30 now. I know that feeling of hopelessness very well. You should never surrender. Autocrats of the world are counting on you being down and depoliticized because all of this. Don't give them an easy win. Always fight, no matter how bad situation seems.

#usa #trump #election #democracy #us #uspol #USPolitics #harris #russia #putin #palestine #ukraine


In the weeks to come,
protecting your communications and online activities might become increasingly important 🔒

Remember that complete anonymity online is difficult to achieve,

But here are a few tools
you can start using *right now* to greatly improve your protections and data privacy online:

📶 VPN (Proton VPN): protonvpn.com/

:blocky_white_cursor: Browser - Day-to-Day (LibreWolf): librewolf.net/installation/

:tor: Browser - Sensitive Activities (Tor): torproject.org/download/

:protonmail: Email (Proton Mail): proton.me/mail/pricing

📩 Throwaway Email Addresses (SimpleLogin): simplelogin.io/

:signal: Messaging & Audio/Video (Signal with username): signal.org/download/

📄 Shared Documentation (Anytype): download.anytype.io/

🔃 File Sharing (OnionShare): onionshare.org/

🗺️ Maps (OsmAnd): osmand.net/

✊ Activism & Groups (Mobilizon): joinmobilizon.org/en/

📆 Scheduling Meetups (Framadate): framadate.org/abc/en/

#Privacy #Safety #USpol #Activism


Anyway, as I have been repeatedly saying, you don't send a message with a vote, the message is retroactive, and if Harris had squeaked out a win, it would be "Americans don't like fascism, those suburban women who didn't like abortion bans came out in force, the younger generations don't like fascism either and can't identify with an old guy like Trump...." and so on and so forth.

And they'd also be like, "And her stand on Israel turned out to be the right one, and it was very wise to appeal to 'crossover' voters and do public appearances with Liz Cheney...."

And that would have been the narrative, that would have been the 'message' we were sending with our vote.

Alas, we're in this reality, and I'm not going to summarize the 'message' that was actually sent, according to the pundits. You're already hearing it now.

#uspol


I've seen some posts about laying low and blending in, and /s or not, FUCK that!

If I'm being ushered into a fascist dictatorship, I'm swinging at Nazis until I get put down. I have a queer kid, a lovely trans girlfriend, and a shitload of friends worth fighting for.

Be loud, be visible, be ungovernable.

#LGBTQ #Pride #FuckTrump #FuckTheFash #PunchANazi #USPol


🤔

Images:

1. US Slave States 1861
2. US Abortion bans 2024
3. US Gender affirming care bans 2024
4. US Trifecta state governments 2023

theguardian.com/us-news/ng-int…

hrc.org/resources/attacks-on-g…

ballotpedia.org/Election_resul…

#USPol


My bet is that the top two priorities for Republicans over the next four years will be:

  • Eliminate birthright citizenship. If not possible, they will try to heavily restrict it like in Europe.
  • Call for a Second Constitutional Convention.

Both of these paths will allow them to consolidate control over the next few generations.

#USPol


Sensitive content


It’s your 2024 election thread!

** This is your space to sound off as we make our way through one of the most important elections of our lifetime **

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

Share your anxiety, your news, your fear and your joy

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

Let’s update each other! Post election news as it happens. We’re in this together! ❤️

1/

#KamalaHarris #trump #uspol


@Npars01 Where might I go to see who got a good return on their investment? #uspol


So here's the breakdown: white woman moved to Harris, but not quite a majority. Latino men moved heavily to Trump, and it was not just a majority, but a 33 point swing from 2020.

Not a thing I saw coming. I mean... how do you vote for the guy calling you and yours what he calls you? How do you vote for the one _campaigning_ on an _ethnic purge against you_?

That's not all of it, but it's a lot of it.

This isn't over but this is some very, very bad case scenario here.

#uspol #uspolitics #politics #fascism


People plebisciting a toxic delusional white dude instead of a competent woman is the perfect reflection of our broken society #USpol #USAElections


“As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” So proud of my home state for a ballot question seeking to limit the kind of massive corporate spending that has plagued this election cycle, and all elections since Citizens United.

Mainers: Vote yes on 1, fight to end billionaire influence on politics!

#USpolitics #USpol #CitizensUnited #Maine


Republican Jim Banks has won his Indiana Senate race, as the heavily favored candidate. He received $3 million in crypto super PAC support in his primary race, but no support in the general.

followthecrypto.org/elections/…

#USpolitics #USpol #crypto #cryptocurrency


Republican Jim Justice has won his West Virginia Senate race, flipping the seat from retiring Democrat Joe Manchin. Justice was heavily favored to win.

He received $3 million in crypto super PAC support in his primary race, but no support in the general.

followthecrypto.org/elections/…

#USpolitics #USpol #crypto #cryptocurrency


Democrat Elizabeth Warren has won re-election to the Massachusetts Senate, winning over longshot crypto candidate Republican John Deaton. Deaton received $1.7 million in backing from crypto industry, which also spent a bit over $400K to oppose Warren.

followthecrypto.org/elections/…

#USpolitics #USpol #crypto #cryptocurrency


Looking for live election results?

@gbhnews has:

🗳️ National results & electoral counts
🗳️ Key local & national races
🗳️ Massachusetts ballot questions:

wgbh.org/news/politics/2024-11… #news #uspol #Massachusetts


Federal judges deny Missouri, Texas requests to block Justice Department election monitors - UPI.com

upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/11/05…

#uspol


The US SENATE will have two new Black female senators:
Democrats Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and
Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware!
#uspol #election2024


Probably not gonna toot a lot more now. It’s the after-work rush. And once 7pm hits it’s all #electionofficer work. Surprisingly heavy turn out. Surprising me mainly because I thought a lot of early #voting would reduce the load. But we had dozens of same-day registrations! So they were unexpected voters. Hard to anticipate.

I’ll toot out some final thoughts after 8:30 or 9:00pm EDT
#election2024 #electionday #uspol


And now a funny goof I did as an #electionofficer earlier.

A woman walked up to the check-in table and handed me her ID. The system comes back with nothing. So I search and she’s not in there. She mentions that she has changed her name. So I search a bit more. Nothing. I search by address. Nothing.

Finally the officer next to me leans over and asks “are you registered to vote?”
“No.” She answers.

Face palm.

So I’m asking a little sooner now when someone strides up and then they’re not in the system at all.

#election2024 #electionday #uspol


Finally something kinda funny happened. Voter came in and the officer next to me knew her so he’s checking her in and they’re chatting. He asks her to say her legal name (part of the process in Virginia) and she accidentally says the wrong last name. (Not sure if perhaps a former partner’s name or just a maiden name). They chuckle and she’s embarrassedly saying “don’t tell my husband!” It was all sweet and familiar and funny (not creepy, which it can seem when I write it that way). Just neighbours chuckling with neighbours in their polling place.

#election #electionofficer #electionday #election2024 #uspol


Ooh. You may have read in the news that the OSCE is sending election observers to the US for this #electionday . We just had 2 Italian women arrive and ask a few questions and chat a little. They are not official observers (meaning they didn’t present a letter from the county board of elections) so they can’t hang around like authorized observers. But we had a quick chat and shared numbers and info that we would share with any member of the public.

npr.org/2024/10/16/nx-s1-51348…

#election2024 #electionofficer #uspol


Continuing my #electionday #electionofficer live mega thread. Scroll up to see more, mute the thread to see less, without blocking me entirely.

One fun thing we do in my precinct that I enjoy is yelling “first time VOTERRR!” And cheering a little when people are voting for the first time. We don’t know it from their records. But if they say something we cheer.

I’m sure I have also processed a few fiftieth-time (or more!) #voters and I wish we could celebrate them also.

#election #election2024 #uspol


I’m reading about long lines on #electionday in other parts of the country. I love early #voting. We had maybe 10 voters waiting at 6:00am who we quickly processed. Since then, it’s been slow and steady.

In 7 hours we’ve done maybe 300 #voters, so a little less than 1 a minute. But that doesn’t mean nobody is voting. They probably voted early or absentee.

I’m a big fan of early voting. It just makes #elections easier. #election2024 #electionday #uspol


I’m in the #CovidIsNotOver crowd and still wearing my N95, especially if I’m going to deal with 1000 total strangers. Rough average in the US is 1 in 60 have an active infection. So if I do see 1000 people today, probably something like 16 will have an active infection. Virginia’s rates currently are pretty moderate. Maybe it’ll be less than 16. But there’s no reason to think there will be zero people with #covid #voting.

Of the 15 officers in my #poll precinct, 2 of us are wearing masks. Few #voters are masking, maybe 5 out of 200. Airflow is good in the room.

We offer free #masks to those who want them. But it’s a bit pointless. Nobody who wants a mask shows up without one.
#electionday #election2024 #uspol


We love it when parents bring kids to #vote. We have stickers! We make sure the kids get the “Future Voter” stickers.

Around 10:00am we had 5 voters and 6 kids. More kids than voters!

This year we have special “presidential election” stickers. First time I’ve seen those.
#electionofficer #election2024 #electionday #uspol


You might wonder “Paco, are you sharing details about #election #security that you shouldn’t share?” I have a high regard for #Fairfax County #Virginia. They make a lot of their #voting training public. You can see the training that I was given on their YouTube channel. All the details I’m sharing are in that training.

I really think they do it right. I have no complaints about how the County does things. But sometimes I think State law is not great. So we follow the law but that can be annoying sometimes.

#electionday #election2024 #electionofficer #uspol

m.youtube.com/@fairfaxcountyel…


One of the main #election #security mechanisms is as old as time. Double ledger entry and independent verification at lots of steps.

The county knows how many ballots they sent us (1600 in this precinct). They come in shrink wrapped packs of 200. We open one pack at a time as we need to.

When we open a pack of blank ballots, even though we think the ballots were counted properly at the printer, we check. Two officers count them, then swap piles and check the count. We have high confidence in how many paper ballots really were present in the precinct.

At the end of the day, there is a thorough form we fill out that accounts for every single paper ballot in the room. Did it go into a scanner with a vote? Did it go into a provisional vote envelope? Was it spoiled? (Sometimes the machine can’t read it, or a person makes a mistake. We ask them to fill in every bubble so it isn’t clear who they might have meant to vote for. And we take that spoiled ballot and issue them a new blank) We know and must account for the disposition of every ballot.

At the end of the day, the sum of ballots in the machine + provisional ballots + spoiled ballots + blank unused ballots must add up to the total that were sent to us. It can happen that there’s a discrepancy. It’s usually something like a spoiled ballot that got thrown in the trash instead of being put in the right place.

The error rate is like 1, 2, or 3 out of 1600. We’re human, after all. But many times the error rate is 0. If you’re careful and follow instructions, it’s easy to be perfect.

#election2024 #electionday #uspol


#Virginia is one of many states that prohibits #firearms and #guns in a #polling place. I’m no lawyer so I don’t really know how long it’s been in its current form. It seems like this law has been on the books a long time (since 1950 with various amendment over the years).

This is the first year we have made much of a fuss about it. We have 2 prominent signs and we got a tiny bit of training on how to handle the situation. (Pretty much tell people the law, try to calmly persuade them to go away and come back to vote without it, and escalate anything serious to 911, who have been prepped for this.)

I’ve been doing this 20 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a firearm in a polling place except an active duty police officer in uniform coming in to #vote.

#election2024 #electionday #uspol

law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/ti…


It’s a little unusual to have this much food in our #electionofficer break room. Seems like lots of people brought food to share.

We start our day at 5:00am, polls open at 6:00am. Polls close at 7:00pm and we usually get to leave about 8:30 or 9:00pm. The rules are that officers may not leave the #polls during the day. So you have to bring any food, drink, medicines, or anything else you might need during the day. Or you have to have a wonderful partner like I do, who brings you dinner toward the end of the day. Dress in layers, comfortable shoes, you know the drill.

I usually bring a thermos of coffee, some snacks, and a lunch. I always have a couple ibuprofen in my bag just in case.
#uspol #electionday #election2024


I have screwed up my #electionday threading already. 2 toots are over here. I’ll try to keep the rest of them as replies to this. So you can mute this thread or follow along as it suits you. #uspol #election #vote

infosec.exchange/@paco/1134305…


@Npars01
#USpol #Media

WTAF, Admistration?

Twitter, Washington Post, Google,...

mstdn.social/@Npars01/11343309…


Google's Saudi investors sure are getting pushy.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…