Today on The Daily Signal Podcast, Rob Bluey, executive editor of The Daily Signal, speaks with Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, the largest media watchdog in America. They discuss the latest news regarding media censorship, including the suppression by Twitter and Facebook of a New York Post article reporting the contents of the hard drive of a laptop the newspaper alleges belonged to Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden.
We also cover these stories:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin talk by phone about another COVID-19 relief package for Americans.
The Supreme Court says it will hear a case on whether military funding may be used to pay for building President Trump’s wall along the border with Mexico, and whether those claiming asylum in the U.S. must stay in Mexico pending resolution of their requests.
The Canadian border will remain closed to Americans for at least another month.
Baratunde speaks with Sherrilyn Ifill, the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund about the very long history of voter suppression, why it still exists (hint: white supremacy and racism), and the current tactics being deployed for the 2020 election.
Show Notes + Links
We are grateful to Sherrilyn Ifill for joining us.
Follow her at @Sifill_LDF and @NAACP_LDF on Twitter. You can learn more about the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund at https://www.naacpldf.org/.
We will post this episode, a transcript, show notes and more at howtocitizen.com.
Please show your support for the show in the form of a review and rating. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords!
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW. ACTIONS FOR THIS EPISODE.
INTERNAL ACTIONS
Become educated on the systems of oppression so you know the roots and how to fight back.
Two good books to start with for a comprehensive take.
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B Wells
Visit www.morethanavote.org to make your voting plan. This is the organization that LeBron James helped start, and they’ve partnered with a number of groups including Sherrilyn and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Also visit https://votesaveamerica.com/plan/ the newly released tool from Vote Save America to get ready with a sample ballot for your area to plan your voting so you can be EFFICIENT at the voting booth.
EXTERNAL ACTIONS
Find out the EXACT requirements of mail-in or absentee ballots in your state and share them so every vote is counted.
The requirements and directions for voting by mail differ by state. Some require signatures by a witness on the outside of the envelope along with the witness’s address and your signature. Some require using two envelopes when mailing them back. Get the details from a trusted source or from the ballot itself and remind people to triple check these details!
Be a democracy team captain.
Take the lead in making sure at least three people you know vote. Follow up with them often until they have voted. Ask each one to do the same!
Compile key information about voting and vote by mail for your state. Then simplify the directions for those you are taking responsibility for, and share resources with them. Here are two comprehensive and easy to understand sites summarizing the steps for each state:
Finally, offer to provide a witness signature for the mail-in ballot envelope if that’s required, or offer to deliver their ballot to the drop-off location if they are unable to do so themselves.
Support the polls.
Bring water, masks, gloves, umbrellas, and other supplies to share with people waiting in long lines to support the polls. If you’re an artist, consider bringing your talents to the public as people wait in line. They will love you for it.
If you take any of these actions, share that with us - action@howtocitizen.com. Mention Making Our Vote Count in the subject line. Also share your citizening on social media using #howtocitizen.
We love feedback from our listeners - comments@howtocitizen.com.
Amanda Holmes reads Elizabeth Bishops’s last poem, “Sonnet.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
You can find Kelsey on Twitter here. His Github is here. His personal journey with Kubernetes is detailed in a nice piece here.
Kelsey has an interesting role at Google. He sits at the director level but is an independent contributor with no direct reports. Instead he works to help galvanize interest in particular tools and topics, driving adoption at a broad scale.
In Episode 6: A battle for the GOP in Idaho. Plus: "confrontational politics." What it is and how the Dorr brothers are popularizing it. And an unexpected update about the Dorr family.
The Trump administration was given a victory in the courts regarding the census. It's absolutely bad news, but Andrew has a plan for that! Ok, ok, it was Elizabeth Warren's plan, but Andrew breaks it down for us! It's a one weird trick that actually will work, assuming that we win in November. Before that, we've got yet another Mazars update. It's going exactly how Andrew told us it would go, and that's... not great but also not bad.
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.
Music
As Old Roads by Goldmund
Wake by Taylor Duepree and Marcus Fischer
Sedentary II by Kyle Bobby Dunn
Talk to the Church by Gaussian Curve
Notes
The best resources I found for Sally Story (it’s easy to find out more about Reed v. Reed) came from a couple of sources: 100 Americans Making Constitutional History, A Biographical History, edited by Melvin L. Urovsky. And Natalie Wexler’s article, “Sex Discrimination - a Search for a Standard.”
To start off, you know we gotta talk some Toob’. Then it’s on to the resounding victory of Evo Morales and Luis Arce’s MAS party in the do-over Bolivian election following last year’s coup. This dovetails nicely into a story about Trump blowing off the intelligence briefings for milkshakes, which brings us to wonder what horrors might return to the intelligence agencies under a slightly-more-competant Biden administration. Finally we take a look at California’s prop 22, regarding classifying gig-based workers as employees.
Let’s get one last big push for Nithya Raman for LA City Council: https://www.nithyaforthecity.com/
Trump attacks Dr. Fauci and science as his campaign descends into chaos and recriminations, but both the Trump and Biden campaigns still see a path to victory for the President. Rudy Giuliani recycles smears against the Biden family, and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes talks to Jon Favreau about how the race looks in one of the most important battleground states.
New York Times political reporter Peter Baker discusses his new book on the unlikely rise of James A. Baker III, and how his influence over Washington, the White House, and global politics spanned a generation.
