2016 Voter Resources: register, get help with voting problems, check out candidates

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iTunes App: #Unidosapp – The Next Generation of American Voters One-stop app for the Next Generation of American voters to connect with the issues that matter to you in the 2016 presidential election. Find out how to register, vote, and get help with all of your presidential election questions. Get it on iTunes

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Cada Voto Cuenta Volunteer sign-up LatinoJustice’s Nonpartisan Cada Voto Cuenta Election Monitoring Voter Protection Initiative is recruiting bilingual Spanish-speaking legal volunteers in five states.

voting assistance flyer

On Election Day, 4000 CommonCause Election Protection community and lawyer volunteers will be ready to provide on the spot assistance on Election Day to voters everywhere in the US.

Voting hotlines
866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) – English language hotline
888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) – Spanish language hotline
888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683) – Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog
1-844-418-1682 – Arabic language hotline

Call hotline numbers to learn where to go and what you need to do in order to vote. Also, report on problems like long lines, faulty voting machines and any other obstructions you encounter while attempting to vote.

Please help spread the word about the hotlines by: read more

Has Sweeney convinced NJ legislators to turn their backs on giving a living wage to NJ workers any time soon?

Fight for $15 in NJ
Source: NJ Working Families
Why will New Jersey have a ballot referendum next year (aka constitutional amendment) that will allow state voters to decide whether to approve SCR1500 and increase the state’s minimum wage – but only by 62¢ in 2018 to $9 per hour and $1.00 a year after that to finally reach $15 an hour eight years from now, in 2024?

I got a slightly confusing reply from State Senator Bob Gordon to my email regarding this issue and have been checking into what his reply could mean. Here are the facts I’ve learned: read more

Days after referendum is defeated Colombian citizens demonstrate and president wins Nobel Peace Prize

Colombians march for peace
Source: AFP News Agency clip via YouTube
Colombians turned out en masse to demonstrate for peace after a ballot referendum was narrowly defeated on Sunday 02 October 2016 50.2% to 49.8%. The deal would have brought to an end Colombia’s half century of civil war. Former Pres. Alvaro Uribe led the “no” vote campaign surge by stirring up support among voters for his claim that FARC opposition forces deserve neither amnesty from criminal prosecution or government support to assist with transitioning back into civil society, both of which were provided for under the terms of the peace agreement.
read more

For healthy and non-GMO foods, vote for House and Senate candidates like Josh Gottheimer

Josh Gottheimer v Garrett in NJ's 5th CD
Source: foodpolicyaction.com

In November, vote for the House and Senate candidates who believe in good, healthy and GMO-free food. Food Policy Action compares the food positions of 12 sets of candidates.

Here’s the scoop on Rep. Scott Garrett vs. Josh Gottheimer – New Jersey’s 5th District Congressional candidates:

Josh Gottheimer supports a strong federal safety net for seniors and food insecure families with children. He also supports fair wages and working conditions for food and farm workers. Incumbent Scott Garrett has voted repeatedly to cut hunger reduction and nutrition programs like SNAP; and he opposed measures that would reduce the misuse of antibiotics in food. read more

Trump is raking in the dough … from his own campaign’s contributors

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Trump via Flickr
Check out Politico’s article on Donald Trump’s success in collecting the funds of an adoring public who wish to support his presidential bid … and transferring campaign money into his own pockets. Some would call this unethical, others would call it good business but certainly, this is completely unprecedented:

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has paid his family’s businesses more than $8.2 million, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance filings, which reveals an integrated business and political operation without precedent in national politics. The GOP presidential nominee’s campaign has paid his various businesses for services including rent for his campaign offices ($1.3 million), food and facilities for events and meetings ($544,000) and payroll for Trump corporate staffers ($333,000) who helped with everything from his traveling security to his wife’s convention speech. read more

Larry Hamm & Danny Glover discuss how to carry Bernie Sanders’ progressive agenda forward

larry hamm, danny glover
Source: democracynow.org
In a Democracy Now! interview, Larry Hamm and Danny Glover share their thoughts on how to carry forward the progress Bernie Sanders’ made during his presidential campaign toward swinging the Democratic Party back to a progressive political agenda (which it lost touch with some time ago).

And by the way, both gentleman plan to vote for Hillary Clinton in November.

LARRY HAMM: Yes. I’m going to follow the guidance of the standard-bearer Bernie Sanders, and I’m going to vote for Hillary Clinton. It’s a choice between neofascism, Donald Trump, and neoliberalism, Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump must be defeated, and not just defeated, he must be defeated decisively. There must be a repudiation of these ultra-right-wing and fascist tendencies that are supporting him and that are in his movement. The struggle against neoliberalism, which has been going on for the past 40 years, will continue after November the 8th. read more

NY Times reports: Cory Booker is just an image. And other reasons to dislike the guy.

Booker marketing hot pockets

Booker marketing hot pockets
Source: twitchy.com
Some of the reasons to dislike Cory Booker:

Booker was handsomely paid to go into Newark and blow it up from the inside so property values would fall and residents would be eager to sell to developers and gentrifiers for a fraction of what their properties were worth. That’s what gentrification is all about.

While Mayor Booker went around collecting over a million dollars for speeches, he managed to also push a Newark firefighter to the ground in front of a burning building … to fire a huge number of police officers and to cripple the city’s Department of Public Works so snow removal could not be performed. Interestingly enough, he concurrently waged a misleading PR campaign based around his promises to personally shovel out residents who were snowed in. The number of Newark residents Cory helped were just a handful of those needing professional snow removal. read more

March for a Clean Energy Revolution | Marcha por la Energía Renovable

Join the March for a Clean Energy Revolution on Sunday, 24 July 2016 in Philly.
Únese a la Marcha por la transición inmediata a la energía renovable el domingo 24 julio 2016.

Find a bus or carpool to the march.
Buscar transporte por bus ó ride compartido a la marcha.

Scholarship tickets available. If you need one contact Matt Smith 201-321-1967.
Los pasajes se pueden obsequiar para los que necesitan una mano para poder asistir la marcha. Contáctame por email ó al teléf 862-203-8814 por mayor información. read more

Bernie did endorse Hillary but he did not concede. Meaning: his delegates will count at the DNC

The Bernie movement
Source: YouTube
Bernie Sanders and the movement he has ignited all over the United States has been on tenterhooks since Bernie endorsed Hillary for President. But there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Robert Nestah explains what meaning it has for the Vermont Senator’s campaign, his supporters and his pledged Democratic National Convention delegates that Bernie also did not concede the Democratic presidential primary race to Ms. Hillary.

In Question and Answer form, Nestah lays out what every Bernie supporter ought to know about the logistics behind Sen. Sanders’ move: read more

Physicians for Social Responsibility & others to hold fart-in protest at DNC

Fart-in-Class
Source: WikiHow
The Philly Branch of Physicians for Social Responsibility is promoting a fart-in protest at the Democratic National Convention. USA News tells us what a fart-in is:

Advocates for poor people and progressive causes say they still plan to make a stink – literally – during Hillary Clinton’s big night accepting the Democratic presidential nomination this month.

The plan: feed beans to Democratic National Convention delegates for Bernie Sanders, and send them into the Philadelphia convention hall to show what they think of the former secretary of state… read more

President, Press and Governor speak out: police brutality must be condemned and controlled

Alton Sterling
Alton Sterling Source: YouTube
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

– John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions Meditation XVII

This week saw the police murder father of five children Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana not long before school lunch supervisor and student mentor Philando Castile was murdered by a policeman near St. Paul, Minnesota.

New York Times writer Michael Eric Dyson offers a sizzling condemnation of white people for failing to hold brutal police accountable for killing people of color. Because ultimately, they don’t want to see that their greed for privilege has created and supports the social environment in which it is OK for this to happen. What a read: read more

Powerful coverage of a study on how students and teachers are being affected by the 2016 election hate rhetoric

Trump hates equally
Source: imgflip.com
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports on the results of a casual survey administered online by Teaching Tolerance about the current presidential election. About 2000 teachers responded and submitted 5000 comments.

Students who identify with Trump’s hate rhetoric are using it to justify bullying behaviour, persecution of certain students and threats … while immigrant and ethnic minority students across the country are voicing fear, expressing thoughts of suicide and having meltdowns in class. read more

Truthout’s WRPitt is terrified by Hillary & Trump – and bursting proud of Bernie

Anonymous blows lid off Hillary
Source: Anonymous
Truthout editor William Rivers Pitt sees exactly what I do: that Hillary Clinton is just about as scary a presidential candidate as Donald Trump is. And there are more like us out there.

I was a proposed Bernie pledged delegate, but was bumped off the Democratic National Convention attendance roster because my district vote was split and Hillary as front-running candidate got the first pick. Once Hillary’s people chose her delegates and Bernie’s campaign picked my son Ivan Wei, there was no room left for me. read more

A kid created a browser app that shows you who is buying politicians

Greenhouse browser plug-in
Source: allourgreen.us
16 year old Nick Rubin created a browser plug-in called Greenhouse that lets you hover over politicians’ names on any web page to see which donors have given them money, and how much. Vice reports that it works in, “Chrome, Firefox, and Safari and is completely free.” Here’s more:

How does Greenhouse work?
It works by highlighting the name of any member of Congress on any website, and when you hover over these names a little box appears that shows detailed contribution information with amounts and where those amounts have come from. It’s basically a list of the top-ten industries from which they receive their money. My goal was to create something that promotes transparency. It would be great if people used it on sites where they’re reading about politics every day. For example, if you’re reading a piece on Congress votes for energy policy, you might see that a sponsor has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry. I like to say that Greenhouse allows people to see the money story behind the news story. read more