Open Thread | Please Be On The Lookout…As Voters, We Have to Stay Vigilant

He_art_dave
‪@producerdave.bsky.social‬

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i got a 3rd party very official looking “voter registration” mailer today. took 40 seconds of googling to see its a pac front. go to the official site in your state and check you are registered to vote. dont use third party mailers.

‪He_art_dave‬
‪@producerdave.bsky.social‬
· 11h
It was a 501c4 so the legality is grey imo. I could have filled it out, and it might have messed up my current registration. Someone could grab it, and fill out a new person, the form had my address prefilled.
W/ everything going on its just …

fuck.
7:56 PM · Jun 8, 2026

He_art_dave
‪@producerdave.bsky.social‬

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Thats the thing it was a real registration form. But those “charity” non-profits shouldnt send the form prefilled out.
I get it. could be either side. getting people to register but with everything politics being pushed into confusions, its better everyones paying attention. Look at who sends what.

https://bsky.app/profile/producerdave.bsky.social/post/3mntfxexbos24

Please be on the lookout for mailers like this.
1. Call up your local election jurisdiction. ASK THEM if they have sent out any Official Election Mailers.
2. Ask for an email address to the Head of Voter Registration. Election jurisdictions don’t know what groups are doing out there. By you calling them up and sending them a copy of the mailer, you are helping them, because they will have an answer for the next voter that calls. And, if they have a sample, they can talk with the next voter and describe it perfectly.

Election jurisdictions don’t only get calls from voters. They might get calls from the local alderperson, council person, municipal clerk, who have been contacted by voters. If they know about it, and have a sample, they can send the copy to them, and they will be able to serve their constituents better.

3. Ask to talk to the Legal Counsel for the Election Jurisdiction. Putting the group on the radar of the Legal Counsel is a good thing.

4. If you find out from the election jurisdiction that it’s NOT FROM THEM, then post it on your social media, so that you can warn others.

5. This doesn’t just have to be voter registration applications. It’s also done with MAIL BALLOT APPLICATIONS.

DO NOT FILL OUT A MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION UNLESS YOU KNOW THAT IT’S FROM THE ELECTION JURISDICTION. Check and see if your Election Jurisdiction has the option for you to complete a Mail Ballot Application ONLINE AT THEIR WEBSITE. If they do, please use that method.
If you want to complete a paper Mail Ballot application, go get the ones that they have ON THEIR WEBSITE and download it for yourself.
I wouldn’t trust a Voter Registration or Mail Ballot Application that comes from a Third Party in the Mail.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Weekend Open Thread

Good Morning.
I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.

Tony Award Winner Joshua Henry

Just look at how his fellow co-stars are looking at him.

The comments on this video cracked me up.
Folks said
‘ He sounds like how a Disney Prince should sound.’
‘Idk if this makes sense but his voice sounds handsome lol’
‘Saw him on Good Morning America the other day, and my dad said, “What song does his voice make you think of?” And we both said, “Old Man River.” 😅 That rich, soulful bass is just so resonant. 🥰’ (me too. Thought immediate of Paul Robeson’s Old Man River)

Joshua Henry Performs ‘Soliloquy’ from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

Happy Juneteenth!!

Happy Juneteenth!!

The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth

On “Freedom’s Eve,” or the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were black, marched onto plantations and across cities in the south reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation spreading the news of freedom in Confederate States. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States.

But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.

The post-emancipation period known as Reconstruction (1865-1877) marked an era of great hope, uncertainty, and struggle for the nation as a whole. Formerly enslaved people immediately sought to reunify families, establish schools, run for political office, push radical legislation and even sue slaveholders for compensation. Given the 200+ years of enslavement, such changes were nothing short of amazing. Not even a generation out of slavery, African Americans were inspired and empowered to transform their lives and their country.

Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day. Although it has long celebrated in the African American community, this monumental event remains largely unknown to most Americans.


Continue reading

Posted in Barack Obama, Black Excellence, Black History, Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth, Michelle Obama, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 27 Comments

The Opening of the Obama Presidential Center

Chris D. Jackson
@ChrisDJackson

📸 Great photo of @JoeBiden and @DrBiden with the Obamas, Bushes, and Clintons in Chicago today.

This is America. Not what is currently in the White House.

Acyn
@Acyn

Obama: I am not immune to anger or doubt. But I do know this when we lose faith in each other, when we stop believing that voting matters… we open the door to the most ruthless or the most careless, or the most fearful among us who see some groups and some people as more equal ernment as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies, and keep those who are different in their place. I do not believe that is the story of America that prevails in the end.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/2067678059940233343

Continue reading

Posted in Barack Obama, Black Excellence, Black History, Breaking News, Malia Obama, Michelle Obama, Open Thread, Sasha Obama | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Open Thread | If They Didn’t Have Staggering CORRUPTION, They Wouldn’t Have Anything

This needs to be a Democratic Theme leading up to the midterms:

Mike Levin
@MikeLevin
This is so insanely corrupt, I can’t even believe it.

More than half the donors to Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom just won over $50 billion in new federal contracts in six months.

And here’s the part that should make your blood boil.

Sixteen of these 27 donors were facing federal enforcement actions, antitrust reviews, labor cases, securities charges. Many of those cases have been quietly dropped or scaled back since Trump took office. You write a check, your legal problems disappear. That’s not a coincidence.

The White House won’t even release the full donor list. They’re hiding it on purpose, because daylight is the one thing pay-to-play can’t survive. A federal judge already ruled ballroom construction has to stop until Congress authorizes it.

Government is supposed to serve the people, not auction itself off to the highest bidder. When access goes to whoever pays the most, working families always end up paying the price.

We either end the corruption, or the corruption will end us.

Posted in 2026 Elections, Corruption, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Open Thread | The Man Unqualified to be Secretary of Defense Continues to Try And Erase Black Contributions to the Military

I first heard the name Chappie James when I went for a tour on the campus of Tuskegee University in Alabama. There is a building named for him with a replica of the plane that he flew while in the Military.
I am not shocked by this. Just enraged.

Mike Young
@micyoung75

Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. flew 101 combat missions in Korea and 78 in Vietnam. He stared down Qaddafi at an air base in Libya. He became the first Black four-star general in the history of the United States military. Ronald Reagan called him “a truly great American.” Florida m.

Pete Hegseth took down his portrait from the Air Force Art Gallery and left the wall empty.

Colonel Gerald Curry passed that painting every day for more than a decade on the way to his office. He is writing a leadership book based on James’s service. When the portrait came down, he said it “really, really hurt.” Shortly after, he retired.

Clint Smith interviewed two dozen currently serving, retired, and civilian Black military members for this piece. Person after person described the same thing: promotions blocked or delayed, senior Black and female officers dismissed, Confederate monuments restored, books about Black service members removed from military libraries, affinity groups disbanded. One training instructor described her team manually striking out passages about accomplished Black service members from educational materials – by hand, page by page.

Hegseth at Quantico told 800 generals and admirals it was acceptable to “put hands” on subordinates and promised their records would be kept clean if they faced discrimination complaints.

A retired Army officer told Smith his fear plainly: “If Pete Hegseth and the current administration had their way, you wouldn’t see any of us in key leadership positions. I think the whole idea is to eliminate as many of us as they can, take us back as far as they can.”

Chappie James’s words are engraved on his tombstone at Arlington: “This is my country and I believe in her.” The Pentagon took down his portrait. His words are still there.
https://x.com/micyoung75/status/2065539890524127669

Wes Moore
@iamwesmoore

Sec. Hegseth’s actions continue to be despicable – and they certainly aren’t representative of the Army I served in.

We’ve repeatedly seen how this White House has disparaged and mistreated both active-duty service members and the veterans who raised their hand to serve this country. I’m glad that people are continuing to stand up and speak out.
https://x.com/iamwesmoore/status/2064413006495154417

John “Was Great While It Lasted…” Grossund
@JGrossund

Replying to @micyoung75 and @iamwesmoore
And that is part of their plan. Strip the service of anyone with integrity and loyalty to the oath and replace them with a White, Christian Dominionist, Jihad force ready to crusade against American Citizens, accept illegal orders, etc.
5:30 PM · Jun 12, 2026
https://x.com/JGrossund/status/2065486902644625789

Once again:
Harry Truman’s Executive Order to Desegregate the troops was issued in 1948!

Posted in Black Excellence, Black History, Open Thread, Politics, U.S. Military | Tagged , , , , , | 35 Comments

Weekend Open Thread | Happy Pride Month

Good Morning.
I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

J. Anderson Coats (she/her)
‪@jandersoncoats.bsky.social‬

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My day job is at a rural branch of a public library, and we have a Pride display. Yesterday I was at the desk when a man came in. Fifties, maybe, or sixties. Plaid shirt, mesh trucker cap, suspenders. He went up to the display and just stood there for a long moment. Then he came up to the desk. 🧵 1/

Not gonna lie, I braced. I mentally ran through the spiel I’ve prepared for when someone complains about a display. Especially a Pride display. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens enough. Freedom to read. Something in the collection for everyone. Here’s my supervisor’s card. 2/

He glanced at the display. Then he ran a hand down his face. Graying whiskers. Sunbrowned. Then he said in a very quiet voice, “You know, when I was young, we weren’t … we could never…” And he gestured to David Levithan’s “Two Boys Kissing” with the cover that shows, well, two boys kissing. 3/

“Yeah,” I replied quietly. And I leaned closer and I asked, “Want me to go over there with you? Help you pick one?” 4/

Right away he shook his head and took a step back and sputtered, “No. Thank you. No. No.” Then he glanced at the display again and went on in this quiet, wistful voice, “But. I just … I’m glad you’re doing this. For the young ones.” 5/

“Yeah,” I said again. Then I said, “For you, too. These books are here for everyone.”

He nodded. Looked at the display. Stood in front of the desk for a moment. Looked at the display again.

Then away he went toward the holds area. 6/

It kinda broke my heart, if I’m honest. But he’s not ready, and that’s okay. I hope he is one day. But today is not that day.

So it’s okay if you’re not ready. Maybe one day you will be. The books are always here. They will be waiting for you when you are ready. 7/7
https://bsky.app/profile/jandersoncoats.bsky.social/post/3mns7izom2c2p

I often tell Peanut that I remember the bad old days. I remember when everyone in High School that came out to me was hiding it from their families because they thought they would kick them out. Mind you, I grew up in an Northern Urban Center. But, even there, LGBTQ kids didn’t feel that they would be accepted by their own families. It’s because I remember that is why I continue to be enraged by those who want to reverse all the gains that the LGBTQ Community have made since when I was in High School. Foolishly, I couldn’t imagine anyone actually wanting to GO BACK to those times. But, I see the hate-filled folks who attempt to hide behind religion as their excuse.

Posted in Happy Pride Month, Weekend Open Thread | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Open Thread | Since October 1, 2025, the U.S. has accepted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were Afrikaners.

Lips so pursed.

Donald V. Watkins
17h
·
TRUMP ENGAGES IN A LAND GRAB IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA FOR THE PRIORITIZED RESETTLEMENT OF APARTHEID-LOVING WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES
PART I
By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on June 10, 2026

Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, South African native Elon Musk convinced President Donald Trump in January 2025 that fellow white South Africans, known as “Afrikaners,” are victims of genocide in their own country. Afrikaners are the white ethnic minority that ruled South Africa with brutal force during the era of racial apartheid (1948-1994) in that country.
Since October 1, 2025, the U.S. has accepted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were Afrikaners. Trump plans to admit up to 17,500 Afrikaners by the end of the 2026 fiscal year in September.

According to a New York Times article in May 2025, one of the primary resettlement cities for Afrikaners is Birmingham, Alabama. The city that was once known as the “Johannesburg of the South” for its violently enforced racial segregation and suffocating discrimination against Blacks is being prepared to receive the family members of the Afrikaners who enforced White Supremacy against the country’s black South African majority with massacres, torture, beatings, and unimaginable acts of gratuitous violence.

Trump’s U.S. Departments of State (DOS), Homeland Security (DHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Health and Human Services (HHS), have partnered with the Alabama Office for Refugees (AOR) and various non-profit groups to administer the resettlement of Afrikaners in Birmingham (and three other primary locations in America). This effort is coordinated through the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which has an $11 billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year.

AOR currently has three primary in-state regional offices that participate in the federal refugee resettlement program, with one – Birmingham-based Inspiritus — specifically identified as a processing center for Afrikaners in Birmingham.
Once the Afrikaners arrive in America, they get generous cash stipends, more than adequate food assistance, healthcare via Medicaid, employment placement assistance, educational assistance for their children, and housing assistance on an interim and permanent basis. In short, Trump has federal money flowing to the Afrikaners on a priority basis.

Five Birmingham Neighborhoods and Communities Have Been Targeted in a Land Grab for Afrikaner Resettlement
Working quietly with AOR, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, and Sen. Katie Britt, the Trump administration has targeted the Birmingham neighborhoods and communities of Smithfield, which includes College Hills, Graymont, Enon Ridge, and East Thomas, and Bush Hills for the resettlement of thousands of incoming Afrikaners.

One of the main pillars of Trump’s Birmingham Afrikaner resettlement plan took shape on November 10, 2025, when DHS and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a joint public notice of their intent to purchase property for a “training center.” The property description in the notice mirrored the property description of the 192-acre campus of Birmingham-Southern College (BSC).
The Coast Guard is a DHS law enforcement agency, just like ICE. It is ramping up its force by up to 15,000 law enforcement members and support staff. What’s driving this growth is Trump’s ramped-up of ICE roundups, detentions, and deportations of immigrants of color.

The BSC purchase, which was announced in March, was part of Trump’s “Trojan Horse” trick on the unsuspecting Birmingham neighborhoods and communities. The $126 million used for the purchase reportedly came from the $38 billion allocated in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which was signed into law on July 4, 2025, for 34 new ICE detention centers.
On June 5, 2026, the Trump administration celebrated the BSC purchase with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an official dedication program on the BSC campus. No Black federal, state, city, or county official was permitted on the stage at the dedication ceremony or in the photo-op of the ribbon cutting. This snub occurred three days after the U.S. Supreme Court okayed a congressional redistricting map that intentionally discriminated against black voters in Alabama.
This snub was a subtle but direct message to the incoming Afrikaners, as well as the 11,000 new ones in the citizenship pipeline this fiscal year, that the “White Supremacy” to which they were accustomed in South Africa is intact in Birmingham and protected by the Trump administration, the state of Alabama, and the Supreme Court today.

The estimated 1,000 civilian jobs at the Birmingham Coast Guard facility are earmarked for Afrikaners, not the black residents who live in the five adversely impacted neighborhoods and communities. What is more, the presence of the Coast Guard facility affords the Trump administration a unique opportunity to use the federal power of eminent domain to: (a) clear these neighborhoods and communities of existing residents and other “undesirables,” (b) take the private residential properties into the federal land management program that holds title to two soon-to-be-demolished public housing projects in the affected neighborhoods, and (c) lease or sell all of this federal property to private developers for the exclusive use in the Afrikaner resettlement program on an autonomous “Whites Only,” mini-version of a “Freedom City.”

The Trump administration also plans to use federal eminent domain power to obtain additional property in the vicinity for DHS’s ICE immigrant detention center function. No local approvals are needed for Trump’s land grab. He can repurpose this property on an emergency basis for critical federal government functions.

On May 7, 2025, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and the MAGA-controlled Alabama legislature conducted advance preparatory work for Trump’s land grab plan by seizing control of the Birmingham Water Works Board’s $1.3 billion in assets, without any significant fight, and placing these assets under the firm control of a newly-formed, white-controlled, Central Alabama Water agency. Trump and his allies in Alabama knew that whoever controls the water controls land development and redevelopment projects.

Funding for Trump’s Birmingham land grab for the Afrikaner resettlement plan is coming from $18 billion in budgeted federal funds and $5 billion in tax credits that have been redirected and earmarked for different scales and versions of Trump’s “Freedom Cities” program.

Part II in this investigative series will follow the money. Who is benefiting from the flow of money in Trump’s Birmingham land grab, and who is not? The answers will shock you.

Posted in Breaking News, Immigration, Open Thread, Politics, Racial Bias, Racism | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

Open Thread | Must Keep On The Lookout for the Phony SuperPacs

Glad that he did the digging. You know this isn’t the only one out there. So, we must keep on our toes.
Citizen United…
Contributing to the WORST COURT SINCE TANEY

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
1. Lead Left, a super PAC created on 4/24, purports to stand “against MAGA extremists.”

It has spent $3M+ in Democratic primaries.

But it’s funders and motivations have been secret.

Until now.

It’s a GOP dirty tricks operation.

🧵
7:59 AM · May 27, 2026

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
2. Popular Information found that Lead Left is linked to Caleb Crosby, a Republican operative. Crosby is the treasurer of the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the primary super PAC of the House GOP.

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
3. Lead Left’s spending has been unusual.

In Texas, Lead Left spent 900K supporting Maureen Galindo in the Democratic House primary. Galindo, a sex therapist, pledged to turn an ICE detention facility a “prison for American Zionists.”

Her campaign less than 11K. (She lost last night.)
7:59 AM · May 27, 2026

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
4. Lead Left has also intervened in Dem primaries in swing House districts in Nebraska and PA.

It has gone to great lengths to conceal its identity and backers. It listed its address as a mailbox at a Staples on 2241 North Monroe Street in Tallahassee, Florida. Its treasurer has no online footprint
7:59 AM · May 27, 2026

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
5. But of the roughly 48,500 political committees created since 2016, only two others share an address with Lead Left — the Staples at 2241 North Monroe Street in Tallahassee.

Both of those committees are connected to the Crosby Ottenhoff Group, the political compliance firm founded by Crosby.
7:59 AM · May 27, 2026

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
6. One of the groups located at 2241 North Monroe Street was Fight Right Inc, the super PAC that spent over $14 million supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. The Treasurer for Fight Right Inc was Kaylen Melton, a CPA at Crosby Ottenhoff.

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
7. The other group listed at 2241 North Monroe Street is Justice Truth, a super PAC that was also active during the 2024 cycle. The treasurer of the group is another GOP operative linked to Crosby Ottenhoff, Thomas Datwyler.
https://x.com/JuddLegum/status/2059620585244590358

Posted in 2026 Elections, Buying Influence, Dark Money In Politics, Elections, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 44 Comments

Open Thread | I Just Can’t…….The Latest Whistleblower Report

Has got to enrage you, cause it did me.

ONCE AGAIN…
IT WAS NEVER EVER EVER ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

Trump officials planned to mark 2.7 million living people as dead, whistleblower claims
A former Social Security executive said the plan, which was not carried out, would have used a death database to pressure immigrants to leave the country.

June 5, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

By Meryl Kornfield

The Trump administration had plans to classify 2.7 million living people — including some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents — as dead as part of its immigration enforcement efforts, according to a former senior Social Security executive.

The previously unreported plan, which the Social Security Administration said was not carried out, would have used one of the government’s most consequential identity databases to effectively erase people from the financial system, potentially cutting them off from wages, banking, government benefits and other services.

Jeremiah Schofield, who worked at Social Security for 25 years and helped lead the agency’s IT modernization efforts before leaving in October, said he refused to help implement the plan after agency lawyers warned that falsely marking living people as dead could violate federal law. Schofield said he realized the plan’s possible intent — to intimidate and worsen the finances of immigrants — as well as its potential unlawfulness after taking a sample of people from the 2.7 million and discovering they were all alive. Some were U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, teenagers and senior citizens, including one widow who was a legal permanent resident receiving survivor benefits.

Schofield has provided details on the plan in a 49-page whistleblower disclosure to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is on the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The disclosure was reviewed by The Washington Post, and it offers the most detailed account yet of how officials from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service sought to use Social Security data in service of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In an interview with The Post, Schofield said he is speaking publicly for the first time because he believes Americans need to understand how government data can be misused and, in some cases, already has been.

Social Security carried out a smaller version of such an effort last year, The Post previously reported, moving 6,100 immigrants into its “Death Master File” — a database used by banks, employers and government agencies to determine whether someone is alive. Some of those people later showed up at Social Security field offices to prove they were alive and were restored in agency records.

In a written statement, a Social Security spokesperson who did not provide their name said the agency “did not add a list of 2.7 million names to the Death Master File. SSA maintains the highest level of internal controls. This includes having all appropriate policies and procedures in place to maintain the integrity and accuracy of agency records.”

Schofield’s whistleblower complaint describes a tumultuous period inside Social Security, as career officials questioned the legality of such efforts and watched DOGE officials gain access to some of the government’s most sensitive databases. In one meeting, Schofield said, a DOGE official working with the Department of Homeland Security described the goal of declaring 2.7 million living people dead: making immigrants so miserable that they self-deported or went to Social Security offices for help, where they could be arrested.

Just reading this…..this is pure evil.

Posted in Immigration, Open Thread, Politics, Social Security Administration | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments