High Stakes In Your Vote #253
By Hank Silverberg
The vote for president is more than a year off, but people began voting in Virginia this week with next year's race for the White House in mind.
Early voting has started in the Old Dominion where the entire state legislature is on the ballot and the eyes of the whole country are on the results.
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| (Virginia State Capitol) |
Youngkin rolled into office in 2022 having pushed a focused 2021 campaign that was narrow on specifics and capitalized on issues we still hear a lot about, like not teaching critical race theory (it never existed in Virginia), or giving parents more control over their children's schools.
He has had some legislative success on issues like lowering taxes, but he has failed to move the state backward on things like abortion or voting rights, mainly because the Democratic-controlled State Senate wouldn't let him.
Virginia has been blue for over a two decades now, driven by millions of engaged voters in the North. But large parts of the state, mainly the rural areas southwest of Richmond and in the Tidewater and Eastern shore, are still Trump country and many there long for the old red state days of the 90's and early 2000's.
The key to winning in Virginia has always been getting out the vote ,and Youngkin's victory embarrassed a lot of Democrats for their failure to see that more clearly. So everyone will be watching how that works this fall in Virginia. Will Youngkin and his party, which remain a minority in this state, latch onto one or two issues that bring out the GOP voters and move Independent voters their way?
If that happens, it may also be the message for Democrats on the national level as we head into 2024.
In 2020, Joe Biden received more votes than any presidential candidate in history.
(Biden 81.282.632)
(Trump 74.223.234)
https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election,_2020
Biden's victory was turn-out driven with turnout spurred on by four dismal, divisive and corrosive years from Donald Trump.
So getting out the vote will be critical again for
Among those needed at the polls are much of Generation Z, which was not eligible in 2020. They may not be tuned into the Trump years, part of which included a high school education on Zoom instead of in a classroom.
Which is why it's great to hear about efforts to get those folks and their older brothers and sisters into the voting both.
It was heartening to see and hear superstar Taylor Swift urging her 272 million social media followers to register to vote. It was a message received by the Swifties. On National Voter Registration Day, when she posted her message on Instagram, more than 35,000 young voters registered directly from the non-profit Vote.org site she linked them to. And within a few days that number was up to 157,041, much larger than the same day in 2020.
There was a 115% increase in 18 year-old registrations compared to the same day in 2022.
This is not the first time Swift has made such an appeal for young people to register, but the response seems much bigger this time.
It should be noted her appeal was non-partisan. And we don't know for sure how many of those Swifties will actually turn out or who they will vote for. But Swift herself has taken a career gamble and has been critical of both Trump and some of the Republicans in Congress. It seems leadership can also come with a guitar, a great voice and charismatic stage presence.
You can register to vote here:
https://www.vote.org/register-to-vote/
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/22/1201183160/taylor-swift-instagram-voter-registration
NASA Asteroid Mission Successful
What's an asteroid made of? A sample of one has been brought back successfully to Earth. Seven years after it was launched into space, the OSIRIS-REx flew by Earth on Sunday to deliver a clean sample of the asteroid Bennu.
Scientists hope they will be able to learn more about the origins of the solar system from the rocks delivered from the long and elaborate mission.
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| (The Osiris capsule and parachute in the Utah dessert, courtesy NASA-Keegan Barber) |
The OSIRIS lifted off from Earth in 2016, began orbiting Bennu in 2018, collected the rocks in 2022 and then set off back to Earth. It was about 3.86 billion miles in all.
Here's the really interesting part. The spacecraft dropped the sample capsule with 8.8 ounces of rock and soil from an orbit of 63,000 miles above the Earth. It was traveling about 27,640 miles per hour as it entered the atmosphere.
Parachutes deployed and it gently touched down in the Utah desert traveling about 11 miles per hour. It's been confirmed there was no breach of the capsule on landing.
OSIRIS-Rex, is now continuing a tour of the solar system and is heading for another asteroid named Apophis for another rock sample.
It will take a while to get inside the capsule that has been recovered. They have to make sure not to contaminate the sample with Earth's atmosphere. The capsule will eventually be transferred to the Johnson Space Center in Houston where it can be opened in what is called a "clean room". NASA says they'll reveal preliminary findings on what's inside on October 11.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/24/world/osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-return-scn/index.html
Dumbest Quote of The Week
Or was it? You have probably heard that Republicans are fighting a fierce battle on Capitol Hill against --Republicans-- to pass a continuing resolution to keep the United States government open past October 1st. We have seen this kind of nonsense before, the back and forth over spending and cuts and the like, but it's usually the two parties fighting each other. This time it's a small group of Republican Congressmen who refuse to discuss any deal at all, even one pushed by their own leadership. It has inspired some Republicans to try different ways to get the ball rolling and keep our economy from collapsing, our military war ready and our senior citizens out of the poor house.
Republican Senator Masha Blackburn of Tennessee tried a unique idea while appearing on Fox Business News over the weekend. She urged her more conservative colleagues, who have been pushing for investigations into President Biden and other top administration officials, to pass a stop-gap bill.
"If you shut down the government you can't continue that."
She is right, of course. Congress could not hold hearings if the government is shut down. But does she really want to tell her constituents we need to fund the government to investigate--the government? That's not going to play well for those young mothers getting food stamps in Knoxville or the little old lady waiting for her Social Security check in Nashville, or the farmer waiting for his crop subsidy in Bristol. Come on, Senator, you have better arguments for keeping the government open. If it closes you will loose your free snail mail privileges and free parking space.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
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