Members of the Electoral College will meet in their respective state capitols Monday, to formalize the election of the President-Elect.
That’s right, the Electoral College is an actual thing made up of actual people if you didn’t already know. And that thing actually never meets in one place. Rather they go to their state capitols and place their vote based on what are often some arcane rules or laws.
There has been a lot of talk about some potential “faithless electors” voting against the President-elect even though their state voted for him, but I don’t really see that happening en masse, at least not en masse enough to send the decision to the House of Representatives….who would vote for the President Elect anyway.
So that means all the plans for resistance efforts are still a go, until we awake from this Bizarro World to find The Donald on a podium in Manhattan conceding defeat.
Since that’s not likely to happen, at least not in the sense of a mass awakening event that it would need to be, preparing a vigorous resistance effort is necessary, and that’s just what many groups are doing.
Liberal group The Center for American Progress founded by Clinton Campaign chair, John Podesta, announced that it was relaunching its advocacy arm to do battle with the incoming administration.
The Action Fund already prominently displays the tag RESIST on its home page, and will most certainly be some direct action calls in the coming weeks and months.
In that vein, NARAL Pro-Choice America is sounding a warning to any Democrats who might think about assisting the repeal/replacement of Obamacare. In their words, don’t. But if you do, expect a world of hurt from us.
Thankfully, most of the Democrats in the House and Senate get this, and won’t accede to GOP efforts to repeal President Obama’s signature healthcare law without something a whole lot better, which is about as likely as me naturally re-growing hair on my quickly balding head.
For those Democrats who might think about going out on a limb on Obamacare, catching heat from the big advocacy groups in DC may not be the only hurdle you have to clear. A group of former Hill staffers put together a manual for engaging your Representative or Senator effectively. I read this document Wednesday night, and I think its a good roadmap for folks who may not have a strong, or even relevant party operation in their area, or who just want to do something without having to go through committee. You can read the whole thing here. I would also point out that this document doesn’t just detail what to do if an elected goes astray, but that praising members who do what you want them to do is very effective in keeping them on the straight and narrow.
Some positive reinforcement always helps.
List Time
I see and read a whole lot of great stuff from writers and organizations all over the country every day. My inbox fills up, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are a mess with it. But honestly, I don’t have time to write about all of it, or even some of it. I write like I like my pulled pork…slowly smoked and in large quantities. With that in mind, a couple of polls released by the Pew Research Center caught my attention, so I thought I’d share them with you.
Fake News
The advent and popularization of “fake news” has 2/3 of everyone confused according this study by Pew. In fact, its causing people confusion about the details of basic events.
Right after the election, Buzzed conducted a study of viral Facebook posts and found that a whole bunch of them were just plain wrong.
Both of these articles are good reads, especially the Buzzfeed article.
Yesterday, Facebook announced new tools to identify fake news and hopefully keep it from spreading. It is the information equivalent of Chlamydia.
What’s and “alt-right”?
Despite Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton devoting a whole speech to it, 54% of Americans polled have never heard of the “alt-right”. Lets try and keep it that way.
Busted Boom
While housing prices have mostly recovered from the 2008 mortgage crisis, ownership rates haven’t, according to this study by Pew. And its been especially bad for African-Americans and young people wanting to buy homes.
On another note, this article from The Atlantic argues that Obama’s tenure in the White House actually made the foreclosure era worse. I’ve got some issues with the article, but its a different perspective than I’ve read in a while, and that, at least, was interesting and refreshing.
Save the Planet
In the final Pew poll I’ll mention, it looks like 59% of Americans favor stronger environmental regulations even though that’s about as likely to happen under the new administration as me growing a third arm (which would present challenges in finding clothes, but opportunities at multitasking).
SAD!
Finally, 59% of Fox News viewers thing the incoming administration will either range between average and one of the worst in US history. 43% have an absolutely negative outlook.
Y’all, if the people who watch Fox News have already given up, even before the inauguration, I just don’t know what to say. I do know “MANDATE” ain’t one of them.
Thanks for reading.
And since it seems like I’m going to be writing more often, and you like what I’ve been doing here at the blog, do me a favor and share this on Facebook. I haven’t had a troll over here in a long time. Let me tell you, there’s nothing more validating that getting someone to bash you mercilessly for being on point. So help make that happen for me by sharing this link on your Facebook or Twitter. And while you’re at it, follow me on Twitter.
Have a good weekend.
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