https://retakeourdemocracy.org/2018-retake-our-democracy-strategy-voter-guide/Michael Moore on Kavanaugh & Blasey Ford, the truth about the “recovery” and how we measure our economic health, a review of immoral GOP policies from this week!,& 3 great Democracy Now! videos, two on private prisons and one from Michael Moore movingly discussing Blasey Ford. 
Today’s post includes links to our two posts from last week, a link to the Voter’s Action Guide, and three powerful videos. If you can only watch one, please watch the second of the three as it tells a haunting tale of our evolution from slavery through plantation prisons–where a higher proportion of blacks were tortured and killed than during slavery– to our current policies and practices and the conditions in private prisons. The first video (only 9 minutes) comes from a man who went undercover and worked as a guard in a private prison.. You will not be proud of the USA. The last video is also from Democracy Now, an interview with Michael Moore talking with emotion about the Blasey Ford situation.
Of greatest import, I offer more encouragement to you to take an active role in the mid-term elections. In Saturday’s post (provided below the post on the “recovery,”) I concluded a review of immoral, unethical and just plain racist GOP policies from the past week alone, along with a brief review of our withdrawal from all forms of international agreements and shared responsibilities. My conclusion was that in this context, where petitions and marches fall on deaf ears, there is only one effective recourse for resistance and asserting our own claim on the moral high ground: playing a very active role in the mid-term elections. I realize this has been a persistent theme, but I can see how many folks click through to contact campaigns and the numbers are still below 40 out of 2000 recipients of this blog. I keep hoping that some magic combination of words will motivate more of you to devote an afternoon or two ….or more, to canvassing or calling for a candidate or for sending a check to several.
If the GOP loses the US House and even narrowly loses the Senate, I can already hear Trump claiming that media bias and misinformation undermined the election or some other quirk. After all this is the guy who had inauguration photos doctored to hide the vast empty spaces. But if the election is a resounding rejection of Trump and his GOP cronies, with state houses across the nation replacing previously ‘safe’ GOP representatives and US House districts long felt to be foolproof GOP seats (like NM House Dist. 2) being taken by Democrats, it will be very hard to dismiss this. You can’t photo-shop the US House; you can’t photo shop CNN and MSNBC election results with one stunning victory after another.
But to achieve anything like what is needed to unmistakably reject the creeping fascism and overt racism and misogynist perspectives that dominate the GOP, it will require YOU to get motivated. I’ve said it before: if you call 2-3 friends and encourage them to join you, you can truly be the difference in one of the NM House races included in the Guide below. If you contact 2-3 friends who live in Las Cruces or Gallup or Silver City and encourage them to reach out to the campaign of Xochitl Torres Small and get them to become active, you can be part of huge upset in southern NM. Two years ago, Pearce retained his seat with 25% of the vote. Today Dist. 2 is deadlocked, a virtual tie. MLG is now leading by 7% after being tied for months. Her recent ads have improved considerably, especially the brief one featuring a man with pancreatic cancer who claims to be alive today because of the high risk pool excoriated by Pearce.
But really and truly, we will not achieve the kind of breathtaking victory needed without people just like you getting out of their comfort zone and knocking on some doors or making some calls. Door-knocking in particular, can be tremendously satisfying as you have conversations with people you would never have met….and each time out you know that a few more folks are going to make it to the polls. So click here to go to our 2018 Election Strategy and Voters Action Guide. And please take the plunge. On Nov 6 you can be proud of what you did and grin broadly as the results pour in.
A Week in Review: US Recovery, Poverty, Trump & GOP Insults
2008 “Recovery” & the Truth About US Poverty and How We Measure the Economic Health of the Nation
Wednesday, September 19. Obama and Trump take turns trumpeting about the ‘recovery,’ but for most Americans the recovery is just a rumor, not a reality and a financial precipice is always perilously nearby. This posts discusses what how the most used measures of economic vitality (the stock indexes, Gross Domestic Product and the unemployment rate all tell grossly misrepresentative tales of economic health, measuring the economic health of the elite and diminishing the extent of suffering among the working class. The post also posits other statistics that tell a more accurate picture. Through it all, the post captures a truer picture of poverty in America.
What is Going On? Trump / GOP Insults Blasey Ford, Rejects International Agreements, Guts Critical Environmental Regulations, Diverts Funds from Critical Human Services Programs to Fund Skyrocketing Housing Needs for Immigrant Children
Saturday, September 22. Michael Moore fears an apocalyptic dictatorship on the near horizon and no election in 2020. As this report reveals, he may not be far off. The disregard for human values and for any vestige of democratic principles is so wanton and clear. The conclusion is that it is imperative that we make this mid-term an election about not just Trump, but the spineless GOP that acquiesces and coddles a President unhinged. The post examines reports of over $200M being diverted from programs like Head Start, cancer research, AIDS services and FEMA, diverted to funded critically needed housing for the now over 13,000 children immigrants we have incarcerated. Democracy? Whatever form of democracy we have had, is definitely unravelling.
Shane Bauer Went Undercover as a Prison Guard in a Private Prison. His Revelations are Shocking [9 minutes & worth it.]
A Tremendous Description of the Evolution from Slavery to Plantation Prisons to Private Prisons with Forced Work Policies [20 minutes]
Michael Moore Powerfully Explains Why We Must Believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford
Categories: Uncategorized
The majority of your subscribers are just too complacent, and comfortable. Not many of the facts are getting much attention locally, the local news is running an alternative reality where fascism, is nothing to worry about. They don’t understand we are already there. They will continue to tell each other how wonderful they all are, on social media. It looks like nothing daunts them at all, unless the narrative is repeated by media. Look at how this community ignored that poor guy shot 17 times by the cops, or the response to the Entrada protest.
As long ass none of this effects them personally, they will continue to ignore the facts. There have been some really high profile child murders here in New Mexico, yet not much of a reaction. Sure there are a few Non profits, tailoring the message into adversity porn, just like they did with the so called “Drug Crisis.” They turn these dark underbelly facts into marketing opportunities.
What is really disturbing is that this town markets itself as hip or enlightened, while nothing is further from the truth. The workers here in Santa Fe have been silenced, in part because of the incremental raise in wages, which has remained stagnant. The oppressors have the oppressed repeating their false narratives. Most of the people reading his believe that everything is fine around here, nothing to worry about, a message repeated on Facebook. Misery is a marketing opportunity!