U.S. National

GREEGREE #127 starts with the great ANDREA MILLER of the Center for Common Ground as she explains her legendary organization’s grassroots work in the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court  race. 

Because the Court in WI is evenly divided (3-3) between progressives v. conservatives, this oddly timed (April 3) election will have huge impact.  

As Andrea explains, a woman’s right to choose is on the line, as is redistricting, voter registration and much more in a state that could well decide the 2024 presidential campaign.

We hear further from KARLA SAND in Minnesota, who gives important detail on the unexpected victory of KEITH ELLISION for the AG office in Minnesota.

DR. RUTH STRAUSS asks Andrea about the Virginia election that has now sent the state’s first woman of color to the US Congress.

DOROTHY REIK and CYNTHIA PAPERMASTER also add to our discussion, in particular about the potential US Senate candidacy of Rep. Barbara Lee, the only Congressperson to vote again the Afghan War.

Nobody with a sane perspective of reality can deny that the Republican Party has become a cesspool of nefarious qualities like white supremacy, Christian nationalism, homophobia, antisemitism, QAnon conspiracy theories and unbridled greed amongst other character deficiencies mixed together looking for a leader that will allow unbridled greed to properly use the other nefarious "qualities" to maintain itself in the leading role.

Florida’s sane people are in a deep quagmire. We not only have Donald Trump as resident of the State, but worst yet, we have Ron DeSantis as governor. DeSantis working in conjunction with an inept Democratic Party, (sometimes the Dems are so inept that it makes it difficult not to believe they are working in conjunction), has been able to convey the image that Florida is going to be in the Republican camp for a long haul. All because while DeSantis is busy implementing Fascism many of the Democratic leaders are more concerned about “encroaching socialism.”

For many months, conventional media wisdom has told us that Joe Biden would be the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump in 2024 because he did it before. The claim was always on shaky ground -- after all, Trump was the ultimate symbol of the status quo when he lost in 2020, as Biden would be in next year’s election. That’s hardly auspicious when polling shows that the current electorate believes the country is “off on the wrong track” rather than “headed in the right direction” by a margin of more than a 3-to-1.

But now, the bottom has dropped out of that timeworn spin for Biden in the wake of the discovery of unsecured classified documents under his control, the appointment of a special counsel to investigate and the botched handling of the scandal by the White House.

The current notion of a “moderate Republican” is an oxymoron that helps to move the country rightward. Last week, every one of the GOP’s so-called “moderates” voted to install House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who won with the avid support of Donald Trump and got over the finish line by catering to such fascistic colleagues as Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert.

In Green Grassroots Election Protection zoom #122 we pay tribute to pioneer election protection mainstay CLIFF ARNEBECK, who has just passed.

This heroic Ohio attorney joined with BOB FITRAKIS, CLINT CURTIS, JULIE WIENER & others who demanded an end to the 2004 electoral fraud that wrongly gave GEORGE W. BUSH a 2d term.

Clint gives us a tour of the paper ballot issue and questions the use of computerized ballot images to count the vote.

We then hear from DEEPA DRIVER and VINCENT DeSTEFANO about the situation with JULIAN ASSANGE.

Deepa delivers a brilliant talk on the absolute need for protected journalism and a public funnel for critical documents.

These days, conventional media wisdom says that President Biden will have a smooth path to renomination if he wants it.

Don’t be so sure.

Fifty-five years ago, pundits scoffed when a Democratic senator announced that he was running against incumbent Lyndon Johnson for their party’s presidential nomination. Eugene McCarthy launched his campaign to challenge Johnson’s continual escalation of the war in Vietnam.

Joe Biden’s public approval rating is now at 42 percent, virtually identical to what it was for President Johnson when the McCarthy campaign began in November 1967. A few months later, on March 12, 1968, McCarthy received 42 percent of the votes -- a stunning result, just 7 percent behind Johnson -- in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. Senator Robert Kennedy jumped into the race four days later. And two weeks after that, Johnson shocked the country by declaring that he would not seek re-election.

Our elections need to be protected and our progressive campaigns need grassroots support, exclusive of the party system.

In this GREEGREE zoom #121 we lay out a template for our work through November, 2024 (and maybe beyond).

We look first at a list of 20+ core issues dealing with election protection that will be in varying degrees the upcoming focus of our work.  They are listed below.

We are then joined by RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP, who explains the nitty-gritty importance of grassroots “relational” campaigning with “democracy centers” for progressive candidates everywhere.

Ray focusses in particular on Georgia, where the recent GEORGIA MIRACLE has helped swing control of the United States Senate, among much more.

Dec. 18, 2022, Tucson, AZ - A hearing has been set for Monday December 19, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. for thirty (30) minutes in Division 18 Pima County Superior Court. The court will hear the DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT against John Brakey & AUDIT Elections USA. 

Monday’s hearing should be interesting according to attorney Bill Risner and could have a chilling effect on Arizona citizens. Santa Cruz County filed a lawsuit against AUDIT USA and its Director and co-founder, John Brakey, simply because Mr. Brakey requested a public record from the county’s election department. 

AUDIT USA, founded in 2004, is a well-respected 501(c)3 nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to working towards elections that are transparent, trackable, and publicly verified: www.AUDITelectionsUSA.org 

Meanwhile within the last 10 days the Santa Cruz County recorder who made false allegations against Mr. Brakey has resigned her elected post. 

We are joined on GreeGree #120 by ANDREA MILLER of the Center for Common Ground and RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP.
They are chief architects of the astounding grassroots victories in Georgia 2020-2 for the US Senate seat now held by RAPHAEL WARNOCK.
These electoral landmarks turned on turnouts organized without help from the Democratic Party, which spent some $50 million on media advertising.
Much of that money lines the pockets of party consultants who are highly paid and often make kick-backs on the ads they place.
Yet as we hear from SUE DORFMAN, on-the-ground campaigns were forced to beg even for simple yard signs and door hangers.

Joe Biden has directed the Democratic National Committee to reduce the danger that progressives might effectively challenge him in the 2024 presidential primaries. That’s a key goal of his instructions to the DNC last week, when Biden insisted on dislodging New Hampshire -- the longtime first-in-the-nation primary state where he received just 8 percent of the vote and finished fifth in the 2020 Democratic primary. No wonder Biden wants to replace New Hampshire with South Carolina, where he was the big primary winner.

The White House and mainstream journalists have echoed each other to assert that Biden would face no serious challenge to renomination if he runs again. But his blatant intrusion into the DNC’s process for setting the primary calendar is a sign of anxiety about potential obstacles to winning renomination.