Do You Have An ELECTION PLAN for November?

Posted on October 5, 2026 by rikyrah

Election Day is a misnomer.
It’s actually ELECTION SEASON.
And, Election SEASON is OPEN

DO.YOU.HAVE.AN.ELECTION.PLAN.FOR.NOVEMBER.

In most states, there are three ways to vote.

MAIL VOTING – YOU apply and receive a Mail Ballot. You fill out the ballot and return it to your local election authority.
There are usually three ways to return a mail ballot:
1. You take it to the Election Authority
2. Mail Ballot Dropboxes controlled by the Election Authority (IF AVAILABLE)
3. Mail Back the Ballot via the USPS.
I cannot stress this enough.
IF your only option to return you Mail Ballot is through the USPS
a. DO NOT give it to the Postman
b. DO NOT put it in a Mailbox

TAKE IT TO THE POST OFFICE. GO INSIDE AND REQUEST THAT THE POSTAL EMPLOYEE PUT A DATESTAMP ON YOUR RETURN ENVELOPE IN FRONT OF YOU.

The two largest rejection reasons for Mail Ballots are:
Signature on returned envelope DOES NOT MATCH your Official Signature on file at the Election Jurisdiction
The date stamped on the return envelope IS TOO LATE FOR THE ELECTION

Contact your local Election Jurisdiction and see if there is a form that you can use to Update your Official Signature, so that you can try and make sure that the signature on the ballot envelope matches what is in their database.

If you have a Mail Ballot, you need to call and ask:
Does your ballot have to be AT your local Election Jurisdiction BY ELECTION DAY
Or
Does it have to be POSTMARKED BY ELECTION DAY.
If the latter, what amount of time is the ballot given to arrive at the Election Jurisdiction?

The second way to vote is Early Voting.
Does your election jurisdiction have a time set aside, before Election Day, where you can go cast your ballot?
Early Voting is good for me. Get it out of the way. You never know what could happen on Election Day.

The Final Way is voting on Election Day, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2026.
Most jurisdictions open before you go to work. I would always suggest go early, because you never know what will happen throughout the day.

Have a Family Chat? Ask them what their voting plan is?
Do you have Seniors on your block or in your church/synagogue/mosque? Ask them if they have a Voting Plan, and if they need assistance? Maybe they don’t now how to go online to request a Mail Ballot? Maybe they don’t know where their local polling place is – you should be able to help them find that online. Maybe they can catch a ride with you to the site during Early Voting.

Do your Elders live in a Nursing Home? You can ask the Administrator if the local Election Jurisdiction has a Nursing Home Voter Program. If so, is your Senior signed up for it? If not, how can they participate?

Do you have family in the Military or Live Overseas?
They can vote, using the last address where they lived in the United States.
They Need to fill out a Federal Post Card Application for Military and Overseas voters.

Do you know when Voter Registration closes for your state? Look up on your State Board of Elections website.

If you are in Illinois:
Paper Voter Registration closes TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2026
Electronic Voter Registration closes, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026 AT 11:59 PM (if you have an Illinois Drivers License/State ID with the address that you want to use for voter registration)
https://ova.elections.il.gov/

Grace Period Voting begins Wednesday, October 7th. That’s when you register to vote and vote at the same time. You will need 2 pieces of ID, but only ONE has to have your address on it. Illinois is a state with a long list of acceptable forms of ID:

Acceptable Forms of ID
Passport or Military ID
Driver’s License or State ID card
College/University/School/Work ID
Vehicle registration card
Lease, mortgage or deed to home
Credit or debit card
Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid card
Insurance card
Civic, union or professional membership card
LINK/Public Aid/Department of Human Services card
Illinois FOID card

Examples of first-class mail addressed to voter that can be used as ID:

Bill, Transcript or Report Card from School
Bank Statement, Pay Stub or Pension Statement
Utility, Medical or Insurance Bill
Official mail from any government agency

Grace Voting is in limited places for both the Chicago Board of Elections and for the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

CBOE:
• Downtown Voting Supersite (137 S. State St.)
• CBOE Office (69 W. Washington St. – 6th Floor)

Cook County Clerk’s Office:
The Five Courthouses and 69 W. Washington St – PEDWAY.

Monday, October 19, is when large scale Early Voting Begins. [OCTOBER 19 – NOVEMBER 2]
In Cook County, the voting is divided:
Chicago Board of Elections: City of Chicago proper
Cook County Clerk’s Office : Suburban Cook County
For the Chicago Board of Elections, there will be an Early Voting Site in EVERY WARD, beginning October 19th.
In Suburban Cook County, there will be 57 Early Voting Sites open, beginning October 19th.

For the rest of the Chicagoland area:
Will County Clerk
DuPage County Elections
McHenry County Clerk
Lake County Clerk
Kane County Clerk
Kendall County Clerk

If there is Judge Retention on your ballot – Google your local Bar Association. Most have a guide, with recommendations. The ones to look out for are the ones with NOT RECOMMENDED– these candidates couldn’t even get a Qualified rating by the local Bar Association?

Please get your VOTING PLAN in place.

UPDATED:

Hillary Rodham Clinton

@hillaryclinton.bsky.social
Over a dozen states have important voter registration deadlines today. Check your registration and make a plan to vote at IWillVote.com. Then ask friends and neighbors to do the same.

Posted in 2026 Elections, Elections, voters | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Open Thread | The rise of the Jim Crow theobros

Posted on October 5, 2026 by rikyrah

The rise of the Jim Crow theobros
(RNS) — A group of Reformed pastors and influencers has wedded old-school segregationist theology with the hypermasculinity of the manosphere and the savvy of the attention economy to preach and sell white supremacy, antisemitism and patriarchy to angry young men. Its audience is small but growing, and their movement has ties to powerful religious and political figures.
The rise of the Jim Crow theobros
Bob Smietana
September 24, 2026 at 2:19 p.m. ET

(RNS) — Michael Spangler does not look like a white supremacist and antisemite.

He has no visible tattoos, no shaven head, no black overcoat or jackboots. No hood, no Confederate flag and no Nazi images appear in the background as he sits in front of a screen for a recent Zoom interview.

Instead, the soft-spoken Christian school teacher and pastor of Piedmont Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, sporting a neatly trimmed beard, was dressed in a charcoal suit and sat in front of a fish tank that seemed straight off the set of Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.”

Then he began talking about Jews. And a broad smile broke across his face.

“You’re asking if I oppose the Jews who murdered Christ?” said Spangler as he paraphrased a verse from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, which he says labels Jews as “the enemies of God and all men.”

“We need to consider them and treat them accordingly.”

A segregationist and “race realist” whose start-up church, which has a handful of families, bars Black people out of fear of “harmful race-mixing,” Spangler is one of a small but growing group of pastors and internet influencers who openly embrace racist and antisemitic views, casting them as true Christian ideas.

This group, many of whom fit the Reformed Christian theobro typology — known for their distinctive beards, suits and penchant for exegeting over whiskey — has wedded old-school segregationist theology from the Jim Crow-era South with the hypermasculinity of the manosphere and the savvy of the attention economy to preach white supremacy, antisemitism and patriarchy, mostly to disillusioned young men on the internet.

And along the way, they are turning outrage into cash.

Selling white supremacy
In May of 2026, Joel Webbon, a Texas pastor and self-described Christian nationalist with more than 100,000 followers on X, launched On the Nose Media LLC, a new for-profit media company.

The company, which does business as NXR Studios — short for “New Christian Right” — bought the YouTube channel formerly run by Right Response Ministries, a nonprofit founded by Webbon in 2019. Along with the channel came more than 180,000 subscribers and a library of videos with more than 20 million views.

……………………………………………………….

No longer taboo
Partridge and Webbon, along with Calvin Robinson, a British cleric who lost his ministerial credentials for making a Nazi-like salute at an event, recently took part in a long YouTube discussion on what to do about “the Black problem.”

Along with arguing for mass deportations, the panelists claimed the Civil Rights Act has held Black Americans back, that Black Americans are less intelligent than white Americans and that interracial marriage, while not banned by the Bible, is ill-advised, and minorities should know their place.

George Yancey, a professor of sociology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, believes the rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have created space for these kinds of racist ideas to thrive.

“When Trump was elected, and the way Trump talks about race, that created a permission structure for people to talk about race,” he said. “Some people had these racist ideas, but they were afraid to say it before Trump.”

It is not inherently evil to own another human being.
YouTube influencer Joshua Haymes

Yancey also wonders if the George Floyd-era discussions about racism have played a role as well. In those discussions, the definition of racism was expanded beyond what he called “no-doubt about it” hateful forms of racism to include disagreements on how best to address racial disparities.

“I really want to reserve that term for people who engage in the sort of hateful racism that I grew up seeing,” Yancey said.

Webbon, who declined a request for an interview, recently sat down in a wood-paneled studio with Thomas Rousseau, founder of the Patriot Front, a white nationalist organization. After a promo for the NXR’s upcoming fall conference, “Christ is King: America After Trump,” which offered deep discounts for families, they discussed, among other things, whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Black, should be deported to Africa along with other Black Americans.

UH HUH
UH HUH

Posted in Open Thread, Politics, Racial Oppression, Racial Politics, Racism, Religious oppresion | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Weekend Open Thread

Posted on October 3, 2026 by rikyrah

Good Morning.

I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.
Since they announced a couple of weeks ago that the annual vaccines were available, please go and get your shots.

I have been watching the Different World reboot on Netflix.

Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Open Thread | Our Military is SUPPOSED to be NON-RELIGIOUS.

Posted on October 2, 2026 by rikyrah

ANY RELIGION IS WELCOME
Including those with no religion at all
Who are willing to serve.

So….WTF IS THIS NONSENSE???

DOW Rapid Response
Department of War 🇺🇸
@DOWResponse
.@SECWAR “Today, at my direction, I am establishing the Office of Religious Affairs. Starting today, and for Secretaries of War after me, the Office of Religious Affairs will report straight to the top.

No staff filters. No bureaucratic dilution. A direct line to the Secretary. This won’t be a policy shop pushing paper. It will have real teeth. It will protect budgets, demand infrastructure, and strengthen religious support.

The experts – our chaplains – will finally have an advocate at the highest levels. Policy and resources will serve the mission, not smother it.”

02:43
4:06 PM · Sep 30, 2026
https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/2105403935506813211

@RonFilipkowski
Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
So what if you just want to serve your country in the military now and don’t want Christian nationalism shoved down your throat and pushed on you by military leadership? I guess you are out of luck. Because that was our military for the entire history of the country until now.
4:52 AM · Oct 1, 2026
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2105596707438289077

Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
Pretty clear Hegseth’s primary mission is to transform the military ideologically by overtly indoctrinating troops with Christian nationalism and apocalyptic holy war messaging while rooting out those who don’t want to participate and just want to serve their country admirably.
8:56 PM · Sep 30, 2026
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2105477035917214199

Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
Everything George Washington and the founders feared about unhinged fanatics gaining control of the military power of the federal government is now happening. They designed a framework to prevent it, but that framework is premised on a Congress participating in government.
9:01 PM · Sep 30, 2026
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2105478206677570037

Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
Pretty clear Hegseth’s primary mission is to transform the military ideologically by overtly indoctrinating troops with Christian nationalism and apocalyptic holy war messaging while rooting out those who don’t want to participate and just want to serve their country admirably.
8:56 PM · Sep 30, 2026
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2105477035917214199

This is not hyperbole. Take it seriously.

Ford News
@FordJohnathan5
BREAKINGNEWS: Adolf Hitler formered the Ministry Of Church Affairs that reported directly to Hitler. This appears to be the same thing Secretary Pete Hegseth is directing our military to do as well. 🚨
https://x.com/FordJohnathan5/status/2105439699862966507

Posted in Open Thread, Politics, Religious Freedom, U.S. Military | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Open Thread | Whites Only :The disaster the justices have unleashed has its roots in one of the darkest periods of our history.

Posted on September 30, 2026 by rikyrah

This excellent article about THE WORST COURT SINCE TANEY is from Mother Jones.

Whites Only
The disaster the justices have unleashed has its roots in one of the darkest periods of our history.
Ari Berman and Pema Levy
September/October 2026 Issue

On May 8, hundreds of civil rights protesters, carrying signs that said, “No Jim Crow Maps” and “Hands Off Our Vote,” descended on Baton Rouge to oppose a plan by Louisiana’s Republican-controlled legislature to dismantle one or both of the state’s majority-Black congressional districts. They packed a Senate hearing, occupied three overflow rooms, and spilled into the Capitol’s halls.

Just 10 days earlier, the Supreme Court had destroyed the Voting Rights Act in its Louisiana v. Callais decision, triggering a mad rush to eliminate majority-Black districts across Southern states. The next day, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, despite 42,000 already-cast ballots, suspended Louisiana’s House primaries to give his party time to push through a new map reducing Black representation in Congress before the 2026 midterms.

Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields was on the front lines of this fight. It was his district, stretching 200 miles from Baton Rouge to Shreveport, that Callais had set the stage for invalidating, with Justice Samuel Alito calling it “an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

The Supreme Court’s decision decimating Section 2 of the VRA—which had required that racial minorities have an equal opportunity to meaningfully participate in elections—threatens to return the country to a pre-1965 America, when white supremacy was the law of the land and Congress contained no Black members from the South. “This has sent us back, in my view, over 60 years,” Fields says.

When he appeared before the state Senate that day to testify against the new redistricting plans, he was joined by three other veteran Black politicians. Although Fields, a 63-year-old lawyer, has a reputation as an even-keeled consensus builder, he grew emotional as he spoke.

“To me, it is personal,” he told the Senate committee. “Since Reconstruction, Louisiana has elected four African Americans to Congress. And you’re looking at all of them. Four.” Even though nearly a third of Louisiana’s population is Black.

“You said something very profound,” state Sen. Gary Carter Jr., an African American Democrat from New Orleans, told Fields. “From the 1870s all the way through [the] present, just you four gentlemen—that’s it. And now this body wants to reduce that. ‘We want to cut it. That’s too many.’ How do we not be outraged?”

Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Elections, Black Voter Suppression, Black Voters, Chief Justice John Roberts, Civil Rights, Open Thread, Politics, Racial Bias, Systematic Racism, The United States Supreme Court, Voting Rights, Voting Rights Act | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 35 Comments

Open Thread | Fmr. Navy Commander: Hegseth Is Purging Black and Minority Military Leaders

Posted on September 28, 2026 by rikyrah

Fmr. Navy Commander: Hegseth Is Purging Black and Minority Military Leaders | Amanpour and Company
Earlier this month, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll became the latest in a string of high-profile military leaders to resign. Others have been forcibly sidelined and removed by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, as part of a campaign against what he calls “D.E.I.” and “woke” policy. Former U.S. Navy officer Theodore Johnson joins Michel Martin to discuss what Hegseth’s overhaul means for the future of the military.

Originally aired on September 14, 2026

Posted in Open Thread, Politics, United States Military | Tagged , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Weekend Open Thread

Posted on September 26, 2026 by rikyrah

Good Morning.

I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.
Since they announced a couple of weeks ago that the annual vaccines were available, please go and get your shots.

Black Journals
@blackJournals01
A Black cadet at West Point was found unconscious in his room, tied to his own bed, with his ears slashed.

The academy’s conclusion was that he had done it to himself.

Johnson Whittaker. 1880.

He was one of the first Black cadets ever admitted. He had been ostracised for three years — no roommate would share with him, no cadet would speak to him.

On the morning of April 6, 1880, he was found beaten, bound, and bleeding on the floor of his quarters.

West Point convened an inquiry and decided he had staged the whole thing to win sympathy. Then it court-martialled HIM.

He was convicted. The conviction was eventually thrown out by the President on legal grounds — and the army discharged him anyway on a technicality about an exam.

He became a teacher and a lawyer and never talked about it much.

In 1995 — one hundred and fifteen years later — the United States finally issued him a commission as a second lieutenant.
12:00 PM · Sep 24, 2026
https://x.com/blackJournals01/status/2103167581372997885

Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Open Thread | In 2016, The MSM Twisted Themselves In Knots to Call It ‘ Economic Anxiety’

Posted on September 24, 2026 by rikyrah

That was NONSENSE then.
It’s NONSENSE now.

RACISM IS THE REASON
Can we PLEASE quit pretending that bigotry isn’t at the root of Trump’s support?
D. Earl Stephens ✍️
Sep 13, 2026

Donald Trump hates the same people his supporters do.

Any time I spend a portion of my day considering the dark, noxious cloud that has become a part of the American landscape, and more specifically, the origins of this man-made disaster, I arrive at this place.

It’s as sad, simple, and as hideous as that.

Trump is a terrible president, and an even worse person. He’s certainly not smart, and is obviously ill-bred. He has done nothing to make anybody’s lives better but his own, and the billionaires who are carving us into pieces. He is using our White House to launder our money to fill his bottomless pockets, while spending hundreds of millions more to celebrate himself with arches, ballrooms, and tacky golden trinkets.

This isn’t even in dispute.

He’s a liar, a cheat, a pervert, and a complete clown. He tapes stringy fir to his head each day, and slathers his face in orange goo. He looks absolutely ridiculous, but nobody in his inner circle dares say a word.

Thank God this emperor at least has clothes.

He doesn’t know what he is talking about in almost any conversation, and just spits out random words and sentences that often make absolutely no sense. The minute somebody calls him on this, which is generally a woman in our press corps, he lashes out with the venom of a convicted felon and serial woman-abuser.

Our air and water is being poisoned. Prices are skyrocketing, and we are in a war with no way out, because he has turned our Pentagon into a bumbling mess, where cowards in uniform salute the crown or else.

And of course, he is doing everything he can to wreck our vote. Even that we talk about in all-too-casual tones, which really should blow all of our minds on a regular basis.

As I’ve written before, Trump’s ongoing attack on America is a national emergency and should be addressed this way. Right now, we are being forced to make plans for what might happen if our very own president violently comes after OUR vote in November.

Can we stop right there for five seconds to consider THAT?

Instead, we are fixated on all the other preposterous things he is into each and every day. Why just yesterday he traveled to Ireland to duck in some golf, and insult and divide the people there. The day before that he talked about bribing Republican voters, and then there is the never-ending projectile vomit about renaming lakes and attacking places like Greenland and Canada.

So what is there to recommend him? Why does your aunt, or best friend, or husband support this sickening maniac?

It’s the bigotry, stupid.

Plain and simple.

Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, GOP, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Open Thread | The Protect College Sports Act Is A Scam and a Fraud

Posted on September 22, 2026 by rikyrah

So…

EERRRRRBODY can make money from College Sports…
EXCEPT for the athletes PRODUCING the product on the field that funds the machine?

PHUCK-OUTTA-HERE

AFL-CIO ✊
@AFLCIO
College athletes need a seat at the table to set the terms of their work.

Senators: make athletes’ voices heard. Reject the Protect College Sports Act and work with athletes to draft legislation that actually empowers them, not just the NCAA, sports conferences and universities.
https://x.com/AFLCIO/status/2100677838177272223

Scott Schneider
@EdLawDude
The “94% of athletic departments lose money” statistic is doing a lot of work here.

Athletics is, in this respect, exactly like the math department. The university does not ordinarily ask whether mathematics “generated enough revenue” to cover the salaries, classrooms, scholarships, and administrative costs associated with teaching math. It decides the activity advances the institution’s mission and subsidizes it accordingly.
https://x.com/EdLawDude/status/2100617409078128738

Quincy Avery
@QuincyAvery
The Protect College Sports Act is wild. Taxpayer aid for poor kids is socialism, but 20-year-old Black athletes should subsidize Elizabeth’s rowing team with the money they generate. Redistribution is only a problem when it doesn’t come from a Black athlete’s pocket.
7:28 AM · Sep 18, 2026
https://x.com/QuincyAvery/status/2100924842912469025

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

Open Thread | The Oppenheimer Opportunists

Posted on September 21, 2026 by rikyrah

Oh, How I FELT this essay from over at The Establishment Bar:
Posted by Proud Establishment Dem
September 14, 2026

Being a contrarian can be quite lucrative these days.

Just ask any number of “progressive” media personalities who consistently criticize the Democratic Party. Looking down a laundry list of TV hosts and podcasters, and you’ll see that those most critical of the party also happen to be those who are the most financially stable. They can take the stance that they do because they know they’ll be safe from the Trump Administration’s most brutal and repressive actions. Being wealthy shields them from any sort of empathy for those whose mere survival is now at risk as a result of being held hostage to the Trump regime. It has become an exclusive club, with members constantly promoting and elevating each other on their respective media platforms. They are not apologetic about who they are and frequently become angry when anybody calls them out on their views. They are the apex of privilege and don’t see any sort of problem that their criticisms of the Democratic Party are then being amplified by Republicans to do even more damage to our most vulnerable communities. All that matters to them is that the page views keep increasing and the checks keep coming in.

This has led to a new class of people I’d like to call Oppenheimer Opportunists.

Oppenheimer Opportunists are folks who would gladly watch the world burn if it meant they could score a few extra dollars. Despite having a public platform to oppose this fascist regime, these individuals are instead ignoring the blatant corruption of Donald Trump and the Republican Party and are instead blaming the Democratic Party. They are Murc’s Law personified; for them, nothing Democrats do or don’t do will ever be good enough. They prey on their audience being uneducated and frequently belittle Democratic leadership even though they’re the minority party in Congress. Being an Oppenheimer Opportunist means that you refuse to acknowledge any Democratic Party wins in flipping seats or holding the line against this administration at the state and local level. This entire class of pundits exists to both-sides everything to death in an effort to try and conflate both parties together in the minds of their viewers. An Oppenheimer Opportunist knows better, but the temptation to undermine the Democratic Party for personal financial gain is simply too great to pass up.

The net worth of these Oppenheimer Opportunists is something to behold. Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks kicks us off with a net worth of a meager $2 million. Her former co-host, Kyle Kulinski, who branched off to create his own podcast, Secular Talk, chimes in with a net worth of $3 million. Former MSNBC host Joy Reid is worth $4 million, with her income now coming from The Joy Reid Show podcast. The Young Turks founder and failed congressional candidate, Cenk Uygur, has a net worth of $5 million. Cenk’s nephew and all-around scumbag Hasan Piker is worth $10 million. Kulinski’s wife, Krystal Ball, who hosts the Breaking Points podcast, is worth an even bigger amount of $44 million. And, of course, we can’t forget mainstay television hosts like Jon Stewart and Bill Maher, who have a net worth valued at $120 million and $140 million, respectively. Crime may not pay, but criticism of Democrats most certainly does.

But who exactly is paying these revolutionary cosplayers for their services?

YES….WHO INDEED IS PAYING THEM?
I THINK IT’S AN EXCELLENT QUESTION.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Elections, Open Thread, Politics, Professional Leftists | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments