Democracy Happy Hour – August 24, 2022

Democracy Happy Hour, August 24, 2022 - Meeting Recordings & Chat File:

• Speaker View Recording:  https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/mvC4fQP4aLli3D8mbXAsnZ3Woabgp42F7CbO0yogPKMLoa0rVUF7z0TRSh7MtKcjuX_nV1FEVyPl1UWX.u_ch8-FS4GkKl66e
• Gallery View Recording: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/t7U4NNJcQ3kwSrUQ1CmUj-ma0fKNT3jd16RE1WnWGK_eRdTvfFKvPtfqX5kHnXKEzv9SqKAr-lDf46OV._baqfXcYIcDIlPkE
• Chat (Link will download a text file to your computer):  https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/sdownload/hnhH_JfhOE4KhoVX2QsspGDwAQnfVkYvEkYufBIDMD3SZpMOE44JnOiH7ppO5oJLX_-N6mfLkwuqpGb_.g0I_8LDb6NMsUEI6

Actions, Events & Misc. Links:

Fix Democracy First links:

• DONATE to Fix Democracy First or Fix Democracy First Education Fund @ https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/donate
• YO VOTE! (Youth Organizers for Voter Outreach, Teaching & Engagement) - https://www.yo-vote.org
• WON (Women in Office Now) – https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/won

Upcoming Democracy Happy Hour Topics:

• Aug 31 – Youth Involvement to Strengthen Democracy
• Sept 7 - Why Do We Need the Separation of Church & State?
• Sept 14 - Minority Rule: How did we get here?
• Sept 21 - Benefits & Types of Public Funding for Elections
• Sept 28 - Next U.S. Supreme Court Session: What can we expect?

ACTIONS:

• Ranked Choice Voting in Washington State:
• Seattle - https://fairvotewa.org/
• Clark County – https://fairvotewa.org/ClarkCoCampaign/
• San Juan County – https://fairvotewa.org/SJCOcampaign/
• FVWA - Why Ranked-Choice Voting Works -https://www.mobilize.us/fairvotewa/event/434070/
• Ranked-Choice Voting WA Monday Funday Phone Bank -https://www.mobilize.us/fairvotewa/event/444167/
• Ranked-Choice Voting vs Approval Voting - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g1cE2au5bG1tfjrlIxxswCC_yBHqz7pb/view
• Election Protection - Stopping Voter Suppression- https://protectthevote.net/?partner=fixdemocracy
• Pass a Local Resolution in Response to the January 6 Hearings- https://www.democracyresolutions.org
• Protect Our Democracy TAKE ACTION page - https://www.rightwinginsurrection.org/action-center/take-action-activists

DISCLOSE ACT:

• Call Your Senator to Support the DISCLOSE Act - https://act.newmode.net/action/declaration-american-democracy-coalition/call-your-senator-support-disclose-act
• Write a Letter about the DISCLOSE Act! - https://act.newmode.net/action/declaration-american-democracy-coalition/write-letter-about-disclose-act
• Walking to Fix Our Democracy - https://www.fixourdemocracy.us/

Are We Coming Closer to Civil War? Links:

• How close is America to a new civil war? - https://theweek.com/us/1008573/how-close-is-america-to-a-new-civil-war
• Is America on brink of civil war? Such predictions are overblown and dangerous. - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/contributors/2022/07/03/americans-divided-civil-war-unlikely/7767742001/?gnt-cfr=1
• Is the US Headed for another Civil War? - https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/09/16/is-the-us-headed-for-another-civil-war/
• Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon, survey finds - https://www.science.org/content/article/half-of-americans-anticipate-a-us-civil-war-soon-survey-finds
• Your “We Are Headed Toward a Civil War” Friend Has a Point - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/american-democracy-civil-war-survey-political-violence-authoritarian-rule.html
• Is Civil War Coming to America? - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/books/review/how-civil-wars-start-barbara-f-walter-the-next-civil-war-stephen-marche.html
• 3 retired generals: The military must prepare now for a 2024 insurrection - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/17/eaton-taguba-anderson-generals-military/
• Are We Really Facing a Second Civil War? - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/opinion/america-civil-war.html
• How Civil Wars Start - https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/18/how-civil-wars-start/
• US is 'closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe,' a leading expert on civil wars says in a new book - https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/18/how-civil-wars-start/
• ‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country - https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/08/they-are-preparing-war-an-expert-civil-wars-discusses-where-political-extremists-are-taking-this-country/
• As Right-Wing Rhetoric Escalates, So Do Threats and Violence - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/13/nyregion/right-wing-rhetoric-threats-violence.html
• Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence - https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/trumps-angry-words-spur-warnings-of-real-violence/
• Trump Supporters Are Calling for Civil War After FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago - https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d39zq/trump-supporters-civil-war-fbi-search-mar-a-lago  
• Russian State TV Suggests Potential U.S. Civil War As Result of Trump Raid - https://www.newsweek.com/russian-state-tv-suggests-potential-civil-war-trump-raid-1732356
• With the end of Roe, the US edges closer and closer to civil war - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/26/second-civil-war-us-abortion
• Imagine another American Civil War, but this time in every state - https://www.npr.org/2022/01/11/1071082955/imagine-another-american-civil-war-but-this-time-in-every-state
• Red states are building a nation within a nation - https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/red-states-blue-states-control-of-national-policy-fault-lines/index.html
• The modern-day Civil War that has erupted in America - https://www.nationofchange.org/2022/08/01/the-modern-day-civil-war-that-has-erupted-in-america/
• We don’t need a civil war to be in serious trouble - https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/01/harvard-political-scientist-says-u-s-civil-war-unlikely/

Democracy in the News Links:

Never Before in American History: The F.B.I. Searches a Former President’s Home - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/us/politics/trump-fbi.html

FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search followed months of resistance, delay by Trump - https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/23/trump-records-mar-a-lago-fbi/

Mar-a-Lago Boxes Had More Than 700 Pages of Classified Papers, National Archives Letter Says - https://www.wsj.com/articles/letter-to-trump-lawyer-highlights-national-archives-concern-over-sensitive-materials-before-mar-a-lago-search-11661271403

Trump seeks special master to review seized Mar-a-Lago materials - https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/22/fbi-search-trump-affidavit/

Judge gives Trump until Friday to better explain why he wants a special master for Mar-a-Lago documents - https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/politics/trump-special-master-deadline/index.html

Trump Tells His Lawyers: Get ‘My’ Top Secret Documents Back - https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-tells-lawyers-get-my-top-secrets-documents-back-1234580501/

Trump’s turbulent White House years culminate in Fla. Search - https://apnews.com/article/new-york-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-classified-information-8dd6297eaebc358ffc15c153dc1b000e

Inside the War Between Trump and His Generals - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/inside-the-war-between-trump-and-his-generals

Trump, Without the Presidency’s Protections, Struggles for a Strategy - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/us/politics/trump-investigation-strategy.html

Court orders release of DOJ memo on Trump obstruction in Mueller probe - https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/19/barr-memo-court-mueller-release-russia/

Jan. 6 Panel Questions Trump Cabinet Members on 25th Amendment Talks - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/us/politics/trump-cabinet-25th-amendment.html

Jan. 6 panel investigators traveled to Copenhagen to view Stone footage - https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/23/jan-6-investigators-traveled-to-copenhagen-00053310

Giuliani says he ‘satisfied’ obligation with Ga. grand jury - https://apnews.com/article/rudy-giuliani-testimony-georgia-election-investigation-e9be9d1c149214b8a386d1621e2c3dfb

Files copied from voting systems were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers - https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/08/22/election-system-copied-files-trump/

How Trump’s Endorsements Elevate Election Lies and Inflate His Political Power - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/22/us/trump-endorsements.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share

Six drastic plans Trump is already promising for a second term - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/16/trump-speeches-extreme-agenda-2024-bid/

Election deniers march toward power in key 2024 battlegrounds - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/15/election-deniers-march-toward-power-key-2024-battlegrounds/

Election Deniers Go Door-to-Door to Confront Voters After Losses - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/election-deniers-door-door-confront-180724124.html

Oversight Committee Report Reveals How Election Lies Endanger Election Workers and American Democracy - https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/oversight-committee-report-reveals-how-election-lies-endanger-election-workers

Historians privately warn Biden that America’s democracy is teetering - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-us-historians-democracy-threat/

State Legislatures Are Torching Democracy - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/state-legislatures-are-torching-democracy

States Are Bracing for Social Media-Enabled Election Violence - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-19/states-are-bracing-for-social-media-enabled-election-violence

Election officials brace for onslaught of poll watchers - https://www.votebeat.org/2022/8/22/23312841/poll-watcher-increases-election-observer-rules#Echobox=1661165793

Threats to democracy top list of issues facing US: poll - https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3610753-threats-to-democracy-top-list-of-issues-facing-us-poll/

UW professor outlines how states went from the laboratories of democracy to working against it - https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/uw-professor-outlines-how-states-went-from-the-laboratories-of-democracy-to-working-against-it/

Voting rights in the United States: A state-by-state analysis - https://www.usatoday.com/storytelling/grid/united-states-election-voting-rights-state-by-state/

Republicans Turn Against the League of Women Voters - https://www.propublica.org/article/league-of-women-voters-gop-trump

‘This is crackpot stuff’: Election fraud mania reaches the trenches of democracy - https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/this-is-crackpot-stuff-election-fraud-mania-reaches-the-trenches-of-democracy/

Democracy not dying: WA has 3rd highest voter turnout in nation - https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/democracy-not-dying-wa-has-3rd-highest-voter-turnout-in-nation/

A new, powerful signal that Dems’ midterm hopes aren’t lost - https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/16/democrats-midterms-hopes-washington-00052049

Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Georgia Election Law Said to Harm Black Voters - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/us/politics/supreme-court-black-voters-georgia.html

Maps in Four States Were Ruled Illegal Gerrymanders. They’re Being Used Anyway. - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/elections/gerrymandering-maps-elections-republicans.html

NC Supreme Court says lawmakers voted into office through gerrymandered districts may have limited authority in amending state constitution - https://www.wral.com/the-north-carolina-supreme-court-on-friday-decided-to-send-a-case-back-to-a-lower-court-to-consider-further-to-what-extent-state/20424139/

Gerrymandering lawsuit moves forward in Utah; judge rules no need to wait for U.S. Supreme Court - https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2022/08/23/utah-gerrymander-lawsuit-will/

Can computer simulations help fix democracy? - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/algorithmic-redistricting/

Kansas was just the beginning: Abortion-rights activists turn to states — and they're winning - https://www.salon.com/2022/08/23/kansas-was-just-the-beginning-abortion-rights-activists-turn-to-states--and-theyre-winning/

Twenty states, D.C. join in opposing Texas lawsuit on emergency abortion care - https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2022/08/16/twenty-states-d-c-join-in-opposing-texas-lawsuit-on-emergency-abortion-care/

Title X advocates worry that birth control may go the same way as abortion - https://www.npr.org/2022/08/16/1117615628/abortion-birth-control-title-x-supreme-court-family-planning-planned-parenthood

Redistricting, abortion supercharge state Supreme Court races - https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/17/state-supreme-court-elections-00051412

Judge blocks Florida’s ‘Stop Woke Act’ restrictions for private companies - https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/florida-stop-woke-act/

Supreme Court climate ruling ignites deregulatory challenges - https://www.eenews.net/articles/supreme-court-climate-ruling-ignites-deregulatory-challenges/

Democrats Designed the Climate Law to Be a Game Changer. Here’s How. - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/climate/epa-supreme-court-pollution.html

Term limits for justices gain new attention, but prospects for passage remain dim - https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/08/term-limits-for-justices-gain-new-attention-but-prospects-for-passage-remain-dim/

An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/republican-dark-money.html

How a Secretive Billionaire Handed His Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts - https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid

‘It’s a rip-off’: GOP spending under fire as Senate hopefuls seek rescue - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/19/gop-senate-rescue-midterms/

Two “dark money” groups bankrolled a “pop-up” super PAC spending millions on GOP primaries - https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/08/two-dark-money-groups-bankrolled-pop-up-super-pac-spending-millions-gop-primaries

Conservative nonprofit plans to spend millions bashing ‘woke’ left in midterms - https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/16/conservative-nonprofit-midterms-00052081

'Can I count on you?' Trump revs up fundraising pitches after FBI's Mar-a-Lago search - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/18/mar-a-lago-raid-official-trump-defense-fund/10328752002/?gnt-cfr=1

Liz Cheney converted her House campaign-finance committee to a leadership PAC hours after losing her primary, filing shows - https://www.businessinsider.com/liz-cheney-converts-campaign-committee-to-pac-after-primary-loss-2022-8

Liz Cheney Says New Political Group Will Target Trump Allies - https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-says-new-political-group-will-target-trump-allies-11661108619

The Koch network and other Trump allies are quietly backing his biggest GOP critic: Rep. Liz Cheney - https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/23/the-koch-network-and-other-trump-allies-are-quietly-backing-his-biggest-gop-critic-rep-liz-cheney.html

How a top US business lobby promised climate action – but worked to block efforts - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/19/top-us-business-lobby-group-climate-action-business-roundtable

Facebook parent Meta seeks to kill transparency requirements in Washington’s campaign finance law - https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/facebook-parent-meta-seeks-kill-transparency-requirements-washingtons-campaign-finance-law/JMVWUYIKN5B6XMMNP32ZDOVNCU/

Don’t let Facebook off the hook for political ad transparency - https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/dont-let-facebook-off-the-hook-for-political-ad-transparency/

As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration With the Two-Party System - https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/08/09/as-partisan-hostility-grows-signs-of-frustration-with-the-two-party-system/

The state of democracy and how to defend it - https://thefulcrum.us/big-picture/Threats-to-democracy/global-democracy-champions-summit

NEW POLLING REVEALS 56% OF VOTERS BELIEVE VOTING SHOULD BE A GUARANTEED RIGHT FOR ALL – INCLUDING THOSE IN PRISON - https://www.commoncause.org/press-release/new-polling-reveals-56-of-voters-believe-voting-should-be-a-guaranteed-right-for-all-including-those-in-prison

Restoring voting rights is an important step in rehabilitation process - https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2022/08/15/your-turn-washington-state-restoring-voting-rights-after-prison/10310781002/

What Washington's SoS candidates think of ranked-choice voting - https://www.kuow.org/stories/what-washington-s-sos-candidates-think-of-ranked-choice-voting

APPROVAL VOTING IS A RISKY PROSPECT FOR SEATTLE - https://www.sightline.org/2022/08/11/approval-voting-is-a-risky-prospect/

Broadening Donor Participation in Local Elections - https://mccourt.georgetown.edu/news/broadening-donor-participation-in-local-elections/