Letter to @mondairejones

  In response to his email thanking us for supporting him, I wrote the following: 

l  am excited that we get a young person of proven intelligence who can represent us, hopefully for years to come, presenting a more progressive approach to legislation.

I am particularly interested in de-escalating our military

I hope you'll remember my little legislative points, which sometimes get lost in the big issues

1) the cap on my HSA should not be less than the out of pocket maximum on my insurance

2) we need new social security numbers, because our numbers have been compromised. We should be able to get new numbers more easily, just like credit cards

3) the FCC needs to take more aggressive action against phone number spoofing, which has allowed widespread scam phone calls and bombing of telephone conference calls

Also spelling reform.

*****

And on November 5 I thought of a couple more points

- hospitals that refuse to take any insurance off the exchange should lose their not-for-profit status;

- we need to reinstate low-cost sea mail, so that we can return packages to China at a reasonable price.

Original Hamilton Cast Reunion | Be in the Room Where it Happens and VOT...

A Trumpist friend liked this article

https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/biden-has-earned-11-pinocchios-from-fact-checkers-during-coronavirus-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR1zx_v_7WYpdlU5IX1T8yRB7Z1WnWPk5KtAG_HX3-U7ZYQtaCusbeEJgR4

Which cites 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/13/biden-ad-manipulates-video-slam-trump/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/24/biden-campaigns-false-claim-top-cdc-official-was-silenced/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/03/how-much-pressure-did-trump-put-china-access-concerning-coronavirus/

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/16/joe-biden/biden-falsely-says-trump-administration-rejected-w/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/was-white-house-office-global-pandemics-eliminated/

This is curious since Trumpists normally consider these sources to be fake news.

In the mean time, WaPo identified 20k instances in which Trump lied

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/13/president-trump-has-made-more-than-20000-false-or-misleading-claims/

Meme about filling SCOTUS openings copied from a friend

#ThatWasThenThisIsNow #ResistTheTrumpPenceFascistRégime

#BidenHarris2020 

2016, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): “It has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year. There is a long tradition that you don’t do this in an election year.” 

2018, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election.”

2016, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.): “I don’t think we should be moving on a nominee in the last year of this president’s term - I would say that if it was a Republican president.”

2016, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.): “The very balance of our nation’s highest court is in serious jeopardy. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will do everything in my power to encourage the president and Senate leadership not to start this process until we hear from the American people.”

2016, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): “A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics. The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.” 

2016, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.): “The campaign is already under way. It is essential to the institution of the Senate and to the very health of our republic to not launch our nation into a partisan, divisive confirmation battle during the very same time the American people are casting their ballots to elect our next president.”

2016, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.): “In this election year, the American people will have an opportunity to have their say in the future direction of our country. For this reason, I believe the vacancy left open by Justice Antonin Scalia should not be filled until there is a new president.” 

2016, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.): “The Senate should not confirm a new Supreme Court justice until we have a new president.”

2016, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Col.): “I think we’re too close to the election. The president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision.”

2016, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio): “I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on who should make a lifetime appointment that could reshape the Supreme Court for generations. This wouldn’t be unusual. It is common practice for the Senate to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term, and it’s been nearly 80 years since any president was permitted to immediately fill a vacancy that arose in a presidential election year.”

2016, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.): “I strongly agree that the American people should decide the future direction of the Supreme Court by their votes for president and the majority party in the U.S. Senate.”

Copied. Please share.

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Addendum: 

Great speech by Jaime Harrison

Jaime Harrison just won his debate with Lindsey Graham by a landslide. pic.twitter.com/fNZOxpdhfq

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 4, 2020

Down the Rabbit Hole: How I got into @EricWhitacre’s Virtual Choir 6

This summer I took FTS 212 at Lehman College, with Professor Ulises Gonzalez.  This course was an introduction to film and television. It involves writing 10 papers. Professor Gonzales liked my papers. He encouraged me to keep writing film reviews after the course. Here is my first after course effort. Maybe I will post what I wrote in class as well.

Why won't this let me enlarge the last page???? So frustrating.

Voting information for this fall in NY

I just attended a CLE course sponsored by the NY Democratic Lawyers Council about voting -- and especially issues that arose in the Democratic primary this summer. I would like to provide some summary points for everyone's information.

There were horrible issues with the primary

• absentee ballots sent out late
• post office failed to postmark many ballots, especially in Brooklyn
• long lines in Westchester on election day
• voters not given all the ballots that were supposed to be voted on
• poll workers not able to get to polling locations due to subway closures
• voting locations refusing to allow voting to occur there

All of the above resulted in tens of thousands of voters being disenfranchised.

The current recommendation is that you vote early for the general election,  There will be at least 9 days available and you can vote at any early voting location in your county. Early voting was very lightly attended during the primary — so this is going to be safer from a social distancing perspective than election day.  Masks will be required — and I think they said provided.

About absentee ballots

• order the ballot through the online portal, if possible  Ordering by snail mail means you go through a vendor and a lot of those were mailed out late during the last election cycle.  The portal goes directly to the BOE
• you can order an absentee ballot based on fear of covid
• if you use the postal service, mail at least 15 days early to avoid postal service issues
• you can drop off absentee ballots at: the BOE, early voting locations, and the polls. There will be a box at the entry so you don’t have to stand in line
• you can drop off an absentee ballot for some one else if the ballot is in a privacy envelope.  There is no limit as to how many you can drop off for others, but please try to avoid dropping off suspiciously large numbers to avoid allegations of fraud

------------------------

More info

General Election is on Nov. 3, 2020

EARLY VOTING DATES AND HOURS:

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020 from noon until 5 p.m.

Sunday, Oct.. 25, 2020 from noon until 5 p.m.

Monday, Oct.. 26, 2020 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct.. 27, 2020 from noon until 8p.m.

Wednesday, Oct.. 28, 2020 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Thursday, Oct.. 29, 2020 from noon until 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct.. 30, 2020 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Saturday, Oct.. 31, 2020 from noon until 5 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020 from noon until 5 p.m.

if you are registered in Westchester County you can vote early

at any of the following locations:

Westchester County Early Voting Centers

Eastchester Public Library, 11 Oakridge Place, Eastchester, NY 10709

Dobbs Ferry Village Hall, 112 Main Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522

Greenburgh Town Hall, 177 Hillside Avenue, White Plains, NY 10607

Veterans Memorial Building, 210 Halstead Avenue, Harrison, NY 10528

Pound Ridge Town House, 179 Westchester Avenue, Pound Ridge, NY 10576

Mamaroneck Town Center, 740 W. Boston Post Road, Ma.m.aroneck, NY 10543

Mt. Kisco Memorial Complex at Leonard Park, 1 Wallace Drive, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549

Mt. Pleasant Community Center, 125 Lozza Drive, Valhalla, NY 10595

Mt. Vernon City Hall, 1 Roosevelt Square, Mt. Vernon, NY 10550

New Rochelle City Hall Annex – 90 Beaufort Place, 90 Beaufort Place, New Rochelle, NY 10801

Joseph G. Caputo Community Center, 95 Broadway, Ossining, NY 10562

Peekskill Nutrition Center – Neighborhood Center, 4 Nelson Avenue, Peekskill, NY 10566

Somers Town House, 335 Route 202, Somers, NY 10589

Westchester County Board of Elections, 25 Quarropas Street, White Plains, NY 10601

Grinton I. Will Library, 1500 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10710

Riverfront Library, One Larkin Center, Yonkers, NY 10701

Yorktown Cultural Center, 1974 Commerce Street, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

You can vote at ANY of the designated early voting sites throughout the County. These early voting centers are listed above.

Choral works by African-American composers

I asked a question on the FB group for Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 6 about how to find choral works by African American composers.  I'm compiling a list of the responses.  I'll update this as a I get more


Composers and pieces:

• joiharper.com  (has recordings of several of her works on her website)
• ysaye m. barnwell (2 votes)
• I Got a Song — Colin Lett
• Travelin Shoes — Faith Morgan
• William Grant Still’s “And They Lynched Him On A Tree”
• Dr. Rosephanye Powell - “sacred and secular works for mixed chorus, women’s chorus, men’s chorus, and children’s voices.” example: https://youtu.be/HLqrIOI86hg == esp "Non Nobis Domine" (2 votes for her)
• Andre Thomas's gospel mass: A Celebration of Life and Joy
• Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert
• William Grant Still’s “And They Lynched Him On A Tree”
• "Treemonisha" an opera by Joplin
• Florence Price https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Price
• Sydney Guillaume
• Rollo Dilworth (4 votes for him after my original question)
• William Dawson
• Brandon Williams
• Moses Hogan (4 votes) see esp https://youtu.be/OPL7gwKzpag at 25:45
• Robert Ray
• Victor Johnson
• André Thomas director of the London Gospel Choir
• Gia Music
• James Fuhrman wikipedia article about him a former student who has a collection of his works
• Mark Miller https://ism.yale.edu/people/mark-miller
• Lea Morris https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1XVD7jH-tOmuRjOA3HZvw
• Melanie DeMore
• Arnaé Batson
• Sweet Honey in the Rock, esp Ella’s Song
• Brandon Waddles -- arrangements of the works of Thomas Whitefield link on GIA music
• Uri Caine's "The Passion of Octavius Catto" (Chorus and alto soloist)
• Adolphus Hailstork
• Dr. Roland Carter
• Dr. Nathan M Carter, Jr
• "Elijah Rock" by Hall Johnson
• Jester Hairston
• Zanaida Robles
• Rosephanye Powell
• Sheldrake Alonzo Andrews https://www.facebook.com/erosdaartiste

Places to look for more information

• Tesfa Wondemagegnehu at St. Olaf's college in Minnesota 
• Grace Chorale Brooklyn
• https://www.composerdiversity.com/
• Brooklyn College Choir
• https://www.mlagmusic.com/research/beyond-elijah-rock (in this case, non-idiomatic means stepping away from the generally accepted "Black" music (gospel, spirituals, Jazz, etc), because Black composers are more than capable of composing other styles of music (styles of music that white musicians don't often associate with Black composers))
• Nathaniel Dett Chorale (African Canadian) -- videos on youtube
• https://www.earthsongschoralmusic.com/  (website of multi cultural music)
• Clips from Pacific Chorale concert dedicated to female composers 

Some choirs are commissioning pieces