Focused Read in 3 minutes -- for the introduction...
the full read of the linked PDF is about 8 minutes
"The Real Mike Pence"
A Lifetime of Attacks on the LBGTQ Community
"On March 4th, 1841, in the
early afternoon, William Henry Harrison was sworn-in as the 9th
President of the United States.
On March 26th, Harrison became ill
with a cold.
On April 4th, at 12:30 am, less than 31 days after
taking office, he died.
... And
every four years, the phrase “a heartbeat away from the presidency”
is trotted out by pundits to underline the importance of dissecting
vice presidential nominees.
And yet, no vice president
in history has wielded more influence, with less scrutiny, than Mike
Pence.
While Donald Trump’s scandals and erratic tweets dominate
the airwaves, Pence has operated largely out of public view,
stacking
the administration with members of his inner circle,
pushing his
long-standing legislative priorities,
and currying favor with donors
and candidates across the country.
He has even become the first vice
president in history to have his own Super PAC.
And yet, many
Americans do not know anything about Mike Pence or his record.
Pence serves in an
administration that has spent its first year in office bending the
rules, defying the Constitution, and upending the norms that protect
the system of accountability for our elected officials.
The Trump
administration has changed the game, so to speak.
The vice presidency
has also changed.
The experience-bereft nature of Trump on everything
from budgetary analysis to foreign policy has inflated the stature
and influence of his second in command.
... as the two men played golf, Pence asked what
his job description would be if they wound up in the White House
together.
Trump gave him the same answer he’d been dangling in
front of other prospective running mates for weeks:
He wanted “the
most consequential vice president ever.”
Pence was sold.
Some have
sought to peg Pence as a “sane” voice in an otherwise chaotic
administration, but those closest to him
— including the president
—
know his extremism is a defining element of his character.
In a meeting with a legal
scholar, as the conversation turned to gay rights, Trump pointed to
Pence and said “Don’t ask that guy — he wants to hang them
all!”
Pence wields inordinate
power in this administration, stealthily influencing policy
decisions, stacking the administration with his own loyalists, and
pushing his extremist ideology. Meanwhile, he has laid the groundwork
for a presidential run, as his aides have said that he “wants to be
ready” to run for president in 2020.
... in each office Pence has held, his extreme
positions seeking to undermine the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ
people, women and others has been a defining element of his agenda.
During his 12 years in
Congress...His real focus was on impeding progress — on
everything from marriage equality to open service of LGBTQ people in
the military to funding for Planned Parenthood.
As governor, Pence was
aggressively destructive in his policies.
He forced through
legislation to discriminate against LGBTQ people, restricted needle
exchanges that would help combat the state’s HIV crisis, and sought
to prevent legalized same-sex marriages from being finalized in
Indiana. ...
Today, as vice president,
Pence has been fully complicit in the distractions and lies of the
Trump administration, while carrying water on legislation that would
have taken health care coverage from
millions of people, lobbying Congress to pass an irresponsible tax
bill, and working behind the scenes to ban transgender members of the
military from serving their country.
This report, which details
Mike Pence’s long track record of attacks on the LGBTQ community
and others, aims to begin placing a greater spotlight on Mike Pence’s
extreme agenda.
The American public deserves to understand the
motivations and ideology of a vice president that is largely unknown,
but inordinately powerful within a tumultuous White House.
In word and deed, Pence
has attacked LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, refugees, workers, and
voters. He has attacked science, health, transparency, education,
justice, and public safety. Pence as vice president is already
dangerously advancing his outdated agenda.
But now he continues to do
all of this — just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
You can read more here
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→ Direct sources for Democrats:
* ( Personal favored and most informative follows are shared here with the understanding that readers will always apply their own critical thinking to any information provided anywhere by anyone. #StrongerTogether does not share sources of information lightly but -- no one is perfect! -- so always #DistrustAndVerify I am using a star rating that is strictly based on my situational experience with the work of the media personality specifically in relation to issues of interest to me. )
The Democratic Party Website
Also
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
( 📎 Interesting to note: Wallace, a former Republican (or an inactive Republican I believe she calls herself) is new to the job but for right now she has clearly put country over party and her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO... )
...for Networking for Democrats today!
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
📎 Note: I rarely get involved in primary races -- outside of those in my own area. And, unless there is a glaring reason that can not be ignored, I support Democratic Party nominees winning in general elections.
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
Eleanor Roosevelt with female reporters
at her first White House press conference
on March 6, 1933.
“ … At first Eleanor Roosevelt adhered to her own...political topics. She told about her daily schedules, discussed the prints on the White House Walls, and shared low-cost menus for Depression-era households. But reporters pressed the First Lady for more news on public policy, and the press conference sessions soon broadened their scope. As early as April 1933 Eleanor Roosevelt provided a political scoop; she announced that beer would be served in the White House once Prohibition ended. By the end of 1933, according to UP reporter Ruby Black, the First Lady had defended low cost housing, the subsistence homestead program, equal pay for equal work, old age pensions, and the minimum wage. “Tea Pouring Items Give Way to Big News,” Black declared. “No newspaperwoman could have asked for better luck,” reporter Bess Furman recalled. The First Lady, she wrote, “conducts classes on scores of subjects, always seeing beyond her immediate hearers to ‘the women of the country.’” … “ ( You can read more here )
( #its2018now )
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Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
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See the League of Women Voters website:
Vote411 here
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Thank you for Focusing!
g., aka Focused Democrat
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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