Free Press Election Reporting

GREEP Zoom #84 Gerrymandering Catastrophe, 5G & Ubiquity University

We start our Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Zoom #84 with the amazing network UBIQUITY UNIVERSITY, founded by JIM GARRISON, with GEORGE CAPPANNELLI and SHELLY ALCORN.   This HUGE global network offers the opportunity to link pro-democracy work throughout the globe.   Our deep dive into Gerrymandering features great, powerful organizers such as JENNIFER ROBERTS, ROBERT WILSON, JUDITH WHITMER, RAY MCCLENDON, MYLA RESON, DENNIS BERNSTEIN, RUTH STRAUSS, TATANKA BRICCA & many more fighting at the core of this life/death issue.    In Ohio, North Carolina, Nevada, Texas, Wisconsin and elsewhere, the mess of our election maps has moved the US to the level of a failed state.     Without a solution to this horrifying problem our democracy cannot survive.    We also hear from Julie Levine and Julian Gesser on the desperate dilemma of fighting life-threatening 5G, now being foisted on the entire nation.     Don’t miss this incredibly vital, powerful & important gathering.    

Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Zoom #82

GERRYMANDERING FIGHT BACK & RIGHT-WING TERROR   We start our Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Zoom #82 by celebrating a major victory for solar energy in California, and with Arizona’s GOP-led refusal to gut the electoral process there.   Though sane Republicans are an endangered species, there seem to be enough in some states to fight for our democracy.   We’re then joined by the great JENNIFER ROBERTS of the Carter Center to discuss serious push-back against partisan gerrymandering.     Unfortunately, we receive news curing the zoom that the US Supreme Court has refused to uphold an Alabama Supreme Court decision throwing out that states horrific partisan re-districting.  But it’s a provisional ruling, so there’s hope.   We’re then led by the great JOEL SEGAL in an in-depth discussion of how to fight back against the Trump/Bannon fascist coup being staged now in the US.     We’re also joined by HAL GINSBERG of Our Revolution, TATANKA BRICCA from the Romero Institute, MIKE HERSH from Progressive Democrats of America and many powerful others.     With comments from our numerous great participants, we

Biden Must Immediately Enact by Executive Order the John Lewis/Freedom to Vote Acts

The John Lewis and Freedom to Vote Acts have been officially stonewalled. Joe Biden must now enact them by Executive Order.

The key historic precedent is the Emancipation Proclamation, approved by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.

Today’s voting rights bills are essential to beat the uncivil war against democracy being waged by Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and their Jim Crow cult of autocracy.

Bannon says he’ll “take over the election process” and rob voting rights from millions of Americans of youth and color.

He leads an angry, aging cohort that’s lost its grip on the American electorate. By 2045, the US will be half non-white. Half is already born after 1981. In 2016 and again in 2020, Millennial/Zoomers under 30 rejected Donald Trump by more than 60%.

Thanks to America’s grassroots Election Protection movement, 2020 was our fairest, most reliably counted presidential contest. In the time of COVID, vote by mail, paper ballots, scanned ballot images and reliable audit/recount procedures---won by pro-democracy activism—made all the difference.

#79 Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Jan. 17, 2022

Voting Rights Bills Under Attack On MLK DAY…and a plan to fight back 

On Martin Luther King Day we confront the horrendous blitzkrieg against voting rights and the future of American democracy.

At this GREEP ZOOM #79, we begin with the Ohio Supreme Court’s welcome overturn of a horrendous gerrymandering travesty.

We get a report from MAYOR JENNIFER ROBERTS on the battle for voter rights in North Carolina and the work of the Carter Center.

We hear about Wisconsin’s outrageous denial of drop boxes and the ability of voters to send in their ballots with family members.  

We hear from JENNIFER TANNER, TATONKA BRICCA, WENDI LIEDERMAN and RON LEONARD about the attack on solar in CA, FL and throughout the country.

We hear from MYLA RESON on the denial of democracy at the Pacifica Radio Network.

Then the great Constitutional attorney JOEL SEGAL presents the idea of a Presidential Executive Order to implement the voting rights acts.  

This extremely powerful, detailed, critically important discussion on how to preserve our democracy should not be missed.  

Part 1:

#77 Grassroots Election Protection Dec. 20, 2021

We cover a huge swath of the election protection universe in today’s GREEP #77 zoom gathering, with more than 90 people joining us.   We start with PETE PECKARSKY and STEVE ROSENFELD reporting on the fascist assault on voting rights in Wisconsin.   With JODIE EVANS and TATONKA BRICCA we deal with the government’s attempt to murder JULIAN ASSANGE and LEONARD PELTIER.   JOEL SEGAL introduces the magnificent concept of a VOTING RIGHTS SUMMER in which millions of young people would convene to save our electoral system from the fascist Trump/Bannon blitzkrieg.   We also hear from JULIE LEVINE about the horrifying dangers of 5G and what we need to stop it.   We hear from Europe about major mass mobilizations against the killing of a young boy in Greece.   And we CELEBRATE the victory of a millennial progressive in Chile.  NO MORE PINOCHET!!!

#75 Grassroots Election Protection Dec. 6, 2021

Keynote Speaker:
KENNY BRUNO: DEFCON FOR DEMOCRACY

The Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Coalition zoom #75 headlines the great long-time activist KENNY BRUNO in a devastating 90-minute discussion of what we need to do to save our democracy.

We start with a brief report from HEDY TRIPP in Minnesota who organized our GREEP #74 call with KEITH ELLISON, the state’s Attorney-General.

Kenny’s bio includes important work with Greenpeace USA, Pipeline Fighters Hub, the Ruckus Society, EarthRights International and more.  He is co-author with Beth Handman and their daughter Antonia Bruno of a number of very cool children’s books.

Kenny’s current article “Trump Has Already Laid the Groundwork to Subvert the 2024 Election” appears at Truthout (https://truthout.org/articles/trump-has-already-laid-the-groundwork-to-subvert-the-2024-election/) with an overview of what we face to preserve what’s left of our democracy and protect ourselves from a devastating dictatorship.

Minnesota Attorney-General Keith Ellison on saving our democracy

Our 74th GRASSROOTS EMERGENCY ELECTION PROTECTION COALITION Zoom features the great KEITH ELLISON, Attorney-General of Minnesota in a riveting All-Star gathering that gets to the core of to save our democracy under fire.

Keith was the lead prosecutor in the GEORGE FLOYD case and has been at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement and much much more.

He is a brilliant, personable, deeply dedicated grassroots politician who helped found the Congressional Progressive Caucus.  Today he works to preserve the right of our citizens to safely cast ballots and have them reliably counted (what a concept!).

Keith is joined by ANDREA MILLER of the Center for Common Ground, whose work in Georgia and elsewhere on voting centers and computerized mass mobilization has been pathbreaking and essential.and getting ever moreso…

RAY MCCLENDON of the Atlanta NAACP tells us how the GEORGIA WAY of grassroots organizing is key to fighting off the fascist right-wing assault bearing down on our nation.

Internet Voting Plague Threatens SF & Bay Area

Backroom deals are being made to introduce secretive, paperless, risky Internet voting (IV) to San Francisco (SF) and the Bay Area (BA). This has been going on for many months, with no notification to the public, and most tellingly, no notification to the SF Elections Commission (EC) until October, 2021. 

To stop this, democracy advocates are now going public. We are asking you to speak out for paper-based, transparent elections, and for assisting the disabled to vote without endangering our government.

To make them easy to find, we are starting with a Summary, Objectives and Contacts. Below these is a Background section that you may need to read to understand what is involved.
 

SUMMARY

Secret SF Bay Area IV project

SF is working in collaboration with BA-UASI to develop a voting system using Internet voting (IV). They issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) April 2, 2021. Nobody informed the SF Elections Commission until October, 2021.

The Diplomatic Experience, My Week as an International Elections Companion In Venezuela

In my blog I usually only use one photo per article, they say a picture is worth 1000 words, I think it is better fitting to use a few images for this article, which you will see below. This article will be longer than most, so will put them in sections. It is fitting I write this article on the day both Fidel Castro died, and when his friend and defender of the Chavistas, football legend Maradona also died, as a way to honor their legacies. It also happens to be Thanksgiving in the US, but I do not celebrate it, as its used to cover up crimes against Native peoples. Yesterday I was too exhausted from the trip to start the article. When I was given the accreditation in Venezuela the translation of the title of my status was “International Elections Companion” which I think is better than observer. As observers, like some from the bourgeois countries from official organizations, not coming independently, like the US or EU, it implies that we can meddle.
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