Weekend Overview-Petition Advertisements and Other Political News

Petitions from Change.org and MoveOn are included below.

A weekend recap of key issues coming to the forefront for the last two months of 2023:

• First and foremost, a critical election cycle in November 2023 for contests throughout the country. These include a race for a Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat, governorships in Kentucky and Mississippi(Louisiana has already been decided), New Jersey state and local races, and the crucial neck-and-neck battle for control of the Virginia General Assembly.

• Also, 2024 election laws and redistricting conflicts are bubbling up fast. This is especially the case in Southern states, and is coming to a head fast in North Carolina, where the GOP will hold more than 70% of the state’s congressional seats(despite winning less than 51% of the vote at the most in the last two US Senate contests and the most recent presidential election). Though partisan gerrymandering has been accepted in the NC General Assembly(which has a GOP supermajority), racial gerrymandering is still unconstitutional. Considering 90+% of African American voters support Democrats, 90+% of Republican voters are white voters, 22% of the state population is African American(even greater in the largest urban areas and the Black Belt in Eastern NC), and there are several major instances of city neighborhoods and precincts carved out completely or compacted into a single district in exchange for even more GOP-leaning districts, racial gerrymandering is at play and cannot be separated from NC partisan gerrymandering contrary to what is being said.

• While time is short to challenge the new maps in North Carolina, while challenging congressional maps in other Southern states(SC, GA, FL, TN, etc.), a case can be made for delaying-and slightly prolonging-the primary schedule as was done for the 2022 contests in New York State. The NY courts allowed it there to give more time for special masters to redraw the congressional and state legislative maps because of partisan gerrymandering. A request for similar action can be made in the North Carolina case to the federal courts if necessary-regardless of what the decision could be.

• The conflict between Israel and Palestine(more specifically the Hamas perpetrators of barbaric violence against civilians) is a very disturbing one to watch. It is not an easy situation having been a part of Middle Eastern history for more than half a century. The US must make a clear stand nonetheless to support Israel in defending its homeland and protecting Israeli civilians, while allowing humanitarian aid to go into Gaza for nonviolent Palestinians however possible. A clear stand for human rights and against racial prejudice, defense of Israeli sovereignty, and promoting a two-state solution for peace is not only necessary for them, but can also ease tensions in the Middle East-as well as newly created new tensions between or concerning Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans. A ceasefire in practice may not be a bad idea either if we consider advice from military advisers and their lessons from past lessons in Iraq and Afghanistan for better confronting Hamas and even in rescuing more hostages.

• Also recommending some people who are open for work. R.J Richmond has focused his work on AI communication. Martin Davis does some type of outreach and messaging on Rural America issues. Both are on LinkedIn, so feel free to take a look at their resumes if you want or need some extra support.

Otherwise, what is underlined below are the petitions I mentioned above regarding the need for outside intervention and legal action in Rhode Island and Washington DC. To summarize them in another way, if the Commerce Secretary kept a whole number of issues from the public here-meaning the State of Rhode Island, the General Assembly, and the local stakeholders and people-what is she concealing in the Commerce Department from the White House, Congress, the press, and the American people as a whole? What is she worried about that she thinks is scandalous enough to derail her self-ambitions for higher office and political influence in the eyes of the public?

Unsurprisingly, the calls for extra help and action that the General Assembly is either unable, or unwilling, to take as of now is getting steam with a rise of signatures(and maybe more to come to after today on both MoveOn and Change.org).

Whitey Bulger’s brother, former MA Senate President William Bulger, was subpoenaed in 2002 to testify to a House committee that came to Boston to investigate the use of criminal informants by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These petitions are calling for a similar congressional oversight commission to come to Providence, Rhode Island to examine Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s conduct and behavior throughout her entire career in public service and the conditions in state government that she took advantage of in the process- that are still rife with corruption and inefficiencies today to the disservice of my home state; and to the people I know.

And a Happy Halloween to all of you!