Tag: resist

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Prize-winning author to present radical right’s plan to steal democracy on Oct 3

By Brad Swanson:

Prize-winning author Nancy MacLean visits northern Virginia Oct. 3

Celebrated author Nancy MacLean visits our region on Wed. Oct. 3 for a free presentation on her prize-winning book “Democracy in Chains:The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America ” .

MacLean’s book has won prestigious awards and she has earned national prominence — including this recent appearance with Bill Maher —  for exposing an organized campaign by radical libertarians to seize the agendas of the nation’s universities, political institutions and judicial system, aided by the open wallets of the Koch brothers.

The presentation is 7:30 – 9 pm on Wednesday October 3rd at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax at 2709 Hunter Mill Road in Oakton, VA 22124. (Directions here).

Sign up to reserve a seat here.

The radical right seeks to destroy public faith in institutions in order to protect the power of the 1%. They work assiduously to promote a national agenda that undercuts our democracy. And the evidence of their success is everywhere, from the White House to classrooms, courtrooms and state assemblies.

More in The Blue View

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Weekend of Action!

The November election is only two months away, and every single vote counts in building our blue wave. To make sure we do everything we can to elect Tim Kaine, Jennifer Wexton, and Gerry Connolly in 2018, we’re asking everyone who can to join our elected officials and participate in a weekend of action this weekend, September 8 and 9, 2018.

On Saturday, we will be having a canvassing and phone banking event from the home of Sue Langley:

2435 Flint Hill Road
Vienna, VA 22181

Gerry Connolly will join us at noon, and Ken Plum and Pat Hynes will also participate. More information is available here.

On Sunday at 9am, Delegate Jennifer Boysko will join us for canvassing and phone banking in Fox Mill:

2982 Franklin Oaks Drive
Herndon, VA 20171

More information is available here.

There are opportunities on both Saturday and Sunday throughout the day, so come meet your elected officials and join us in fighting to restore sanity to our government.

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Fairfax Democrats prepare to challenge themselves on race

By Sean Perryman:

Following the election of Donald Trump, the Democratic Party at both the local and national level continues to grapple with race and the role it should or shouldn’t play in its platform and organizing.

In that vein, on September 12th, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) will hold a Racial Equity Workshop for its membership. The workshop is designed to give members a greater understanding of structural racism and its impact on day-to-day interactions.

Essential to any understanding of race is an examination of racism. The construct of race after all was conceived to justify maltreatment of people of color. But it does not end there.

So, what is racism?

With Nazis, Klansman, and white supremacists running for office, taking center stage in our media, and organizing marches on the nation’s capital in a sequel to their violent gathering in Charlottesville, it’s easy to point and say “that’s racism.”

This overly simplistic definition of racism absolves us of deeper self-reflection because “at least, we’re not them,” but it fails to capture the insidious and pervasive nature of systemic racism. To point to examples of explicit racism as the only form of racism make us accountable for only our intentions and not the consequences of our actions or inactions. This simplified understanding that racism is explicit, intentional, and stems from ignorance, however, fits within the popular conception of the term.

Let me offer a more thoughtful definition: In his award-winning book, “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” scholar Ibram X. Kendi flips that ahistorical definition on its head.  “[S]elf-serving efforts by powerful factions to define their racist rhetoric as nonracist has left Americans thoroughly divided over, and ignorant of, what racist ideas truly are,” he writes.

Instead, Kendi posits that racism is better understood this way:

“Racial discrimination -> racist ideas  ->  ignorance/hate”

That is, we discriminate based on self-interest, we create racist ideas to justify that discrimination, and people internalize those racist ideas. In this understanding of racism, it is critical that we tackle how we all have internalized racist ideas, even people from traditionally marginalized communities.

If we want to be serious about being anti-racist, we cannot pat ourselves on the back for merely not ascribing to the ideology or not adopting the language of the lowest among us. We should strive for better in both policy and practice.

Can we say we have done that?

From The Blue View

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Election Alerts help Democrats win by defeating voter drop-off

By Todd Thurwachter:

When Democrats vote, we win. And in Virginia, we vote every year! That’s why Fairfax County Democrats have put into place tools like Voting: What you Need to Know and Elections Alerts. They can make a huge difference in fighting the biggest impediment to Democratic victories: Democratic drop-off in non-Presidential elections.

Voting: What you Need to Know is a handy gripcard with essential voting information on managing one’s voter registration, voting early, finding one’s polling place – just about everything one needs to know to register and vote successfully. Election Alerts emails voters before each election with updated information, including the Voting: What you Need to Know gripcard, harnessing the power of social media to maximize reach to even more voters.

This year, Fairfax Democrats are taking aim at the 40% of our voters who often don’t show up to vote in non-Presidential years. We stress the dire consequences of not voting with powerful stories that motivate our voters to take action:

* In 2010, 26 million of Barack Obama’s 69 million 2008 voters didn’t vote and Dems lost control of Congress, effectively killing Obama’s program of Hope & Change.

* That same 2010 Democratic drop-off enabled Republicans to sweep state houses and pull off the worst nationwide gerrymandering in history. That hit home– in 2012, Democrats won only 3 of Virginia’s 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives even though Tim Kaine won his Senate race by 6%!

* Last year, a single vote in VA’s 94th District assured continued Republican control of VA’s House of Delegates, allowing Republicans to keep blocking even debate of Democratic bills.

If those three dire consequences can’t get Democrats motivated to vote, what can?  But convincing voters to vote in every election is just half the battle — we need to make sure they actually cast their votes, successfully. And that’s where Voting: What you Need to Know is so critical. After all, voting in Virginia isn’t always easy. Most voters don’t know they can register to vote or update their voter registration record online at www.vote.virginia.gov. No need to waste time at the DMV.

From The Blue View

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Come Canvass Saturday with Anne Holton!

This Saturday, August 18 starting at 1pm, the Virginia Coordinated Campaign will be launching Hunter Mill door-knocking efforts from the new coordinated campaign office at

150 Elden St., Suite 244, Herndon, VA

We anticipate that Anne Holton, former Virginia Education Secretary, will join us in our efforts to reach voters.

The Coordinated Campaign has been hosting canvass events every Saturday, so if you’ve been participating in those, note the change in time and location. If you haven’t had the chance to get out there yet, this is a great time to join up and help us elect Tim Kaine to the Senate, Jennifer Wexton to the 10th House District, and Gerry Connolly to the 11th House District.

For more information, contact

Maddy White, at maddy.white@virginiavictory.org or 571.299.9490

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Sign-Up for Back to School Night

Summer is quickly coming to an end and Hunter Mill is gearing up for Back to School Nights at 21 schools from August 23 to September 26.  BTSN is a great opportunity for us to reach parents of school age children in our community to let them know about the November elections and the candidates.

Please consider signing up for one (or more) of our Back to School Nights through our Sign-up Genius link BTSN Hunter Mill 2018.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Christine Rohrer at christinefrohrer@gmail.com or 703.598.4918

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Comstock stays mum during congressional committee attack on integrity of FBI

By Julie Galdo:

Two of northern Virginia’s Congress members defended our federal intelligence agencies against vicious insinuations of corruption last month during the aggressive questioning of FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok. But our region’s third member of Congress was nowhere to be seen.

Gerry Connolly called the hearing “a new low” for Congress

Strzok came across as a dedicated Federal employee who made a dumb mistake by expressing his personal feelings about politics in his official email account. But his Republican inquisitors tried to build that into a wholesale indictment of the integrity and professionalism of our most trusted institutions.

Strzok pointed out that that sabotaging an investigation would require everyone above him to sign off on his effort to subvert the investigation all the way to the director of the FBI. “Multiple layers…section chiefs, unit chiefs, case agents and analysts–all of whom were involved in these decisions.

Don Beyer also defended the integrity of the FBI

But several of the Republican House and Judiciary Oversight Committee members were undaunted by reason and continued their assault on Strzok. Their logic can only lead to the conclusion that you can’t trust anyone in the intelligence and national security communities — that they are all motivated by politics and not love of country.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11) was having none of it. At the hearing he called the Republican questioning an attempt at “destruction of the reputation of the FBI” and “a new low for the United States Congress.” Don Beyer called it a hearing that “had no purpose other than to give Fox News coverage of Republicans attacking the FBI and DOJ.”

Meanwhile, Barbara Comstock was notable for her absence

But their colleague Barbara Comstock (R-10) did not have the courage or decency to stand up for the intelligence community. Does Comstock truly believe that many of the men and women who serve in intelligence and national security are not to be trusted? Or is she simply not be trusted to stand for what she knows is right?

 

From The Blue View

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Time to vote for politicians who support gun safety

By Karen Kirk:

“VOTE THEM OUT” was the rallying cry of speakers and protesters as more than 100 people gathered outside of the NRA Headquarters in Fairfax Saturday in support of gun safety.

“This nation breathes the oxygen that is the promise of liberty and right now, our people are suffocating,” said speaker Micaela Lattimer, a 17-year-old Latina from Maryland. “We’re not free when gunshots pierce classrooms. We’re not free when people are criminalized just for being black or brown. We’re not free when gun violence in Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore and Detroit goes ignored,” said Lattimer, speaking in English and Spanish.

“We point cameras to schools whose windows are shattered but muffle the voices who cry black lives matter. When black activists protested police brutality they were met with full riot gear and teargas,” said Lattimer, who helped organize the rally.

“To my fellow young people, it is now our job to actively urge those around us to vote and to lobby legislators and question authority,” she said. “Eternal vigilance is necessary to protect our freedom.”

“To elected officials, we the people are calling on you to develop and carry out policy that prevents a firearm from getting into the cold grip of a domestic abuser, policy that prevents the phone call telling a family their child was gunned down at age 16, policy that protects black youths from the shackles of criminalization and policy that keeps hateful people from committing a massacre. Most of all, policy that promotes humanization and education.”

“If you wish to stay in office, we demand that you actively protect our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Lattimer said.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Jennifer Wexton plans to repeal and replace Comstock

By Karen Kirk:

“Good afternoon. I’m Jennifer Wexton and I’m going to repeal and replace Barbara Comstock,” the Virginia State senator told the audience at The Good Ole Girls brunch on Sunday at the Tysons Corner Marriott.

Jennifer Wexton greets a guest at The Good Ole Girls brunch (Photos by Karen Kirk)

Wexton, who is running for the CD-10 seat, said that like many of us after the 2016 election, she just wanted to pull the covers up over her head. “But I think most of us realized that we can’t just stay under the covers for the next 4 years so we ultimately came out and seeing what the administration has been doing — the attacks on the institutions that are here to keep us safe, institutions like the free press, institutions like our intelligence community, and attacks on civility, the rule of law, immigrants, women, the environment, I knew I had to step up again and run for Congress.”

“So this is going to be an election about contrasts because Barbara Comstock and I are both women and that’s about where the similarity ends.”

  • On women’s health:“Barbara Comstock has said more than once that she wants Roe vs Wade overturned, and with Donald Trump making appointments to the Supreme Court, she may get her wish so it’s more important now than ever that we have members of Congress who are pro-choice and fight to do things like fully fund Planned Parenthood. I will do those things in Congress.”
  • On health care: “Barbara Comstock has voted 6 times to repeal Affordable Care Act and rip health care coverage away from millions of Americans. She voted to eliminate the individual mandate which has spiked insurance premiums for everybody and thrown the individual markets into chaos. I on the other hand along with (Loudon, VA Delegate) Karrie Delaneyand my friends in the General Assembly have expanded access to affordable healthcare to 400,000 Virginians.
  • On guns: “Barbara Comstock is the top recipient in money from the NRA — bought and paid for by the gun lobby. I have been fighting for years for common sense gun violence prevention and gun safety legislation. I will do the same thing in Congress.”

Wexton then outlined the contrasts on how each candidate deals with this president, saying “because while drafting our Constitution, our forefathers foresaw that we could have a president like Trump, but what they didn’t see was that we could have a Congress that enabled him.”

Read the rest at The Blue View

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College students need to apply for absentee ballot

The author’s son Ben, preparing to return to college

By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick, from The Blue View

If it’s August, it’s time to start getting ready to send your college student back to school.

The No. 1 item on the To Do List: Have them apply for an absentee ballot or register to vote ASAP and wait a week or two until they are registered and then have them apply.

It’s fast. It’s easy.

Go to: Register to Vote and Apply for Absentee Ballots

Documents: Your student will need their social security number and driver’s license number

Reason for applying to vote absentee: Student attending college or university outside of locality of residence.

Address: Your student can receive their ballot at their home address or college address.

Plans change. Don’t count on your student coming home to vote or voting in person absentee during fall break.