| Stay tuned, stay informed | | DEFENDING AMERICANS' RIGHTS | | Yesterday 42 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) drew a hard line in negotiations over the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act because of an anti-LGBT, anti-women provision House Republicans tacked onto the act. In a letter to the leaders of the Armed Services committees in each chamber, the senators strongly opposed the Russell Amendment, an incredibly broad amendment that would effectively allow taxpayer-funded discrimination under the guise of "religious liberty." The consequences of the provision could be huge: If passed, the amendment could undo workplace protections for 28 million people in federal contracting jobs including LGBT people, women, and religious minorities by allowing federal contractors and grantees to discriminate against their employees based on their religious beliefs. That means an employer could fire an employee for being in a same-sex relationship, using birth control, or getting an abortion. And even though this rider is in a defense bill, the Russell Amendment would apply to any federal agency. | | The fight over this provision is happening as most of the country (and world) are buried in presidential election news, so now seems like a relevant moment to bring up the fact that as governor Trump's running Mike Pence championed a "religious liberty" bill himself that made it much easier to discriminate against LGBT Hoosiers. But no matter the outcome of the election, the defense authorization bill, and by extension the Russell amendment, will have to be passed when Congress comes back for their lame-duck session on November 14th. Stay tuned, stay informed. | | To the left. (to the left). Looks like Trump's supporters aren't as conservative as he is. On almost every issue—from climate change to taxes on the wealthy—Trump's voters' policy preferences are more liberal than him…. except for a couple key issues. Trump and his fans agree on his proposal to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the US, and they are more conservative than Trump on guns and the minimum wage. Read more here. | | Poll Truther. Donald Trump appears to be firmly stuck in the denial stage as he has begun to openly question the accuracy of basically every poll that shows him down. Trump instead has said "I believe we're actually winning," and that papers that show him behind in the polls, like the New York Times, are "phony, disgusting, dishonest papers." It's not the first time the Trump campaign has been in extreme denial of polls. Hopefully one day they can make it to the acceptance stage. | | Make Polling Great Again. It's not surprising that Trump doesn't believe he's behind since he has spent very little of conducting his own polls. In fact, his campaign has spent more on hats than polls. | | Snap-Chat. Sure, it may be all the rave with Millenials these days, but if you take anything more than a 10-second glance into the lives of young Americans today, you'll see just how much they care about the rest of the world. For many reasons, young people today have got a lot to lose from a Trump Presidency. A big one is Trump's foreign policy, which is particularly out of touch with what's best for millennials. Learn more about why foreign policy matters to millennial voters here. | | Last Ditch Efforts. By Mitch McConnell & Co to hold on to the Senate. Yesterday, we learned that the Senate Leadership Fund, a PAC with ties to Majority Leader McConnell, is pouring in $25 million into six Senate races across the country. Here's looking at you, NV, PA, IN, NC, NH, and MO. Apparently they're trying to go out "guns blazing" in the next two weeks to stop Donald Trump from "dragging the entire GOP down with him." | | And Emma Watson has a message for Americans: "We know one of the most reliable indicators of peace and prosperity, nationally and globally, is not a country's level of wealth, democracy, or ethno-religious identity; but how well its women and girls are treated…These decisions will affect whether we believe equality is an idea that matters." Hermione has never been wrong before. Go vote. | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.