Voter Suppression and the Transgender Vote

Sean McShee
SFGN

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ezs note:  If you live in either a blue or red state, (click to find out) the time for you to approach city/town hall is now, not tomorrow or worse yet, on Election Day.  Don't procrastinate!  

How I'll vote

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President/Vice President:  Hillary Clinton (D) vs. Donald Trump (R), Gary Johnson (L), and Jill Stein (G) 

This race is, of course, the big kahuna.  Now, you might assume that I just fell in love with Hillary, just itching to vote for her.  Uh...no.  I would have loved to have voted for Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) with a very strong second for Bernie Sanders (Vermont).  Uh, Hillary came in third, folks.  And it took me a great while to warm up to her.  However, having seen her nomination speech, and her first debate performance, I gained a reasonable liking for her.  Not a swoon, mind you - but a healthy liking.  

Now on to Trump.  In case you haven't figured it out yet, he's f***ing nuts.  One quick example:  during his nominating speech, he said kind words to the LGBT cause.  Well, that's perfectly reasonable, said our friends in the Log Cabin sub-party.  However, a few days ago, he picked Rick Santorum as an adviser!   Sorry, Log Cabin, you can pick a candidate on principle - but you can't smooch their ass.

Gary Johnson is an interesting candidate.  He, like Clinton, has a strong LGBT advocacy.  He has a strong appeal with me for decriminalizing marijuana.  However, he has two strong strikes against him.  One is his absolute cluelessness when asked about the problem in Aleppo (it's in Syria, folks).  The other is his belief in the static nature of the Constitution.  Uh, sorry, Gary. The words changed - albeit just a bit - from the time you started taking the oath to the time you finished it.  Now, this may seem like mere semantics - but when you apply them to the Constitution, suddenly the meaning takes on a whole new import.

Next, Jill Stein.  When Ralph Nader took on the mantle, he looked very promising.  (For awhile, I belonged to the Green Party)    Sadly, the party has taken on a bunch of lunatics.  Now, mind you, half of the party's platform looks very promising and exciting.  The other half, however, deserve to be locked up in rubber rooms - for their sake as well as ours.

We often hear how this particular election is 'important'.  However, this one really is, and for those reasons, I endorse Hillary Clinton.

(to be continued)

Please, don't vote!

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So you're not gonna vote this election.  Hey, I understand.

So what if Yaz'min Shanchez were killed and burned - it's not like it's anybody fault, is it?

So what if a brave little transgender girl took to the streets to the streets to proclaim loudly her cause.  Eating potato chips is so much more important - isn't it?

Then again, just do it. VOTE.

Election Day is November 8.  Register early and vote.  Thanks.

So, your vote doesn't count?

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So, I watched a little TV last night, and Rachel Maddow was on.  She started with the state of Mississippi, which was quite surprising (2 for Trump, within the margin of error).  But then came Texas.  In polls there, Hillary Clinton gained OVER 2 points - a state long considered very safe for Trump.  Good news, right?

There's some sobering news, though - and it rests entirely on YOU.  

Y'see, polls are just that - really best guesses as to the outcome of an election. When the margin gets below plus or minus 3.5 percent, things get a little murky.  When things are dead even (this is actually happening in Ohio) you might as well flip a coin.

Or, you can vote.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8, 2016.  Register and vote - please!  

House Democrats Stage Sit-In Protest To Urge Gun Bill Vote (Orlando shooting)

Kristina Peterson and Natalie Andrews
The Wall Street Journal

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ezs note:  Finally - Democrats (and a few brave Republicans) are showing some balls by staging a sit-in!  My own Representative, John Larsen, is out there! You go!

Flatwoods city council to vote on transgender bathroom ordinance

Brad Myers
WSAZ

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I voted today... DID YOU?

Voting is in Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania

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Edmonton Catholic school board to vote on 'meaningless' inclusiveness policy, critics say (Canada)

Janet French
Edmonton Journal

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Bipartisan Vote Defeats Anti-Transgender Legislation in Virginia

Ryan White
HRC

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SENATOR VITALE STATEMENT ON OVERRIDE VOTE OF BILL FOR TRANSGENDER NEW JERSEYANS

Trish Graber
PolitickerNJ

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I voted... DID YOU???

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VOTE!!!!!!!!

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This is it.

Vote.

ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 3, 2015.

Vote!

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First to Canada:  Congratulations!  You made the difference by kicking Conservatives to the curb! Yay!

Next, to the US:  Yeah, I know voting can get a bit discouraging at times.  But, please, look at our friends to the north.  They voted, and they won.  I'll be straight with you.  There are no ironclad guarantees in voting.  But it provides you with the only way in which you have a real voice.  Throw your vote away, and you've thrown your voice away.

PS:  Check to see if you have a ballot initiative as well.  Please don't forget these as well as candidates.

Please, no excuses!

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Okay... I know it's a bit early, but I had to tell you.  Seems that there was this guy who was a bit disgusted.  He couldn't stand Hillary or Bernie.  (Never mind that there were three other candidates he could choose from.) So he wouldn't vote.  I tried to reason with the man; I tried to tell him that what the founders intended was a "more perfect" union, not an "absolutely perfect" union.  But he wouldn't budge.  What could I do?  Hey, I disagreed with the guy, but I do respect him.

Now... to my friends:  Please, don't let this dimwitted, shit-for-brains, asshole, dumb as dirt, nitwitted, troglodyte, moron get you down.  Vote anyways.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.

VOTE!

Vote!

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Kinda says it all, doesn't it?

VOTE!

Vote!

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Wow.  No matter how tired a saying may get, how time flies!  If you have not registered yet, geez, the time is now.  If you are able to vote now, don't put it off!  Better early than never!

Vote!

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I want to take you back a few years, to Harper's Weekly, around the year 1867.  See those men in the front cover drawing? They're voting.  Something so simple, yet so sublime.  Just two years earlier, the African-American men and women were nothing.  Less than nothing, really.  They were chattel. Slaves. Three-fifth of a human being, with the master calling the shots.  Slaveowners - and hopeful slaveowners - called them vicious slurs such as niggers and pickaninnies.  For a few brief years though, they called the shots.

A little less than twenty years before, the first women's rights convention, the Seneca Falls Convention, was held in that town.  It took over seventy years until the final nail was put into that shameful past.  

Unfortunately, the South did rise again.  It wasn't until the protests widened and Martin Luther King Jr. began his preaching and marching (to be fair, among many others) that the South truly began to erode.  Amazingly (and so, so sadly) there are pockets that still try to keep African Americans out of the voting booth.

This is freakin' 2015!!!

As a transgender woman, I find it absolutely maddening that there are transgender people who won't vote.

Here's the question - in your life, who will call the shots?

S P R E A D the word!

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If you vote - particularly as a result as a result of Emily's Virtual Rocket - you have my undying thanks.  But this year, let's kick it up a notch.  You probably have a listing of friends  you've made over the last few years on your computer.  What I'm suggesting is really ridiculously simple.  Say something like  "On Tuesday, November 3rd, please remember to vote.  And please remind your friends too."

It's that simple.

You don't have to have to have a thousand "friends"; five or ten real friends will do.  If you're lazy, cut and paste the line above.  This ain't rocket science.  (Besides, that's my line!)

Vote!

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Hartford, CT residents - today is the LAST day to vote in the primaries.  If you don't vote, you don't count.  And if you skip the primaries, forty lashes with a wet noodle!  Mwahahahaha!

All other residents - Register. If you can, vote.  That is all.

It's time! Register! Vote!

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I understand. Many of you are thinking, "Ahh, what's the use? I'm less than a drop in a bucket."  Well... I'll give you a reason.  Better yet, I'll give you eighteen good reasons:

1. Papi Edwards

2. Lamia Beard

3. Ty Underwood

4. Yasmin Vash Payne

5. Taja Gabrielle DeJesus

6. Penny Proud

7. Kristina Grant Infiniti

8. London Chanel

9. Mercedes Williamson

10. Ashton O'Hara

11. Amber Monroe

12. India Clarke

13. K.C. Haggard

14. Shade Schuler

15. Kandis Capri

16. Elisha Walker

17. Tamara Dominguez

18. Keyshia Blige

These women can't speak any more.  They were murdered. And these names are only those that we know about.

Register. Vote. Pick up the fallen flag in your own community.