Virginia Democrat slams racist opponent, share your birth control story, and President Obama
Welcome to a new daily series at Shareblue Media, providing you with links to important news, interesting stories, useful information about actions of resistance — and a picture of President Barack Obama to give you Hope™. Ralph Northam, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia, is running against a man who gleefully exploits bigotry and […]

- Ralph Northam, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia, is running against a man who gleefully exploits bigotry and racist fears to try to prop up his campaign. Republican Ed Gillespie’s latest revolting ad — which attempted to conflate violent gang members with undocumented immigrants, and to tie Northam to them — was apparently enough to win over racist in chief Donald Trump. But Northam was not about to let it go without calling it out:
Ed Gillespie blaming Ralph for MS-13 violence is nothing more than a page from Trump’s playbook. pic.twitter.com/nKKDXaOVex
— Ralph Northam (@RalphNortham) October 6, 2017
- And speaking of bigots getting a smackdown, after neo-Nazis returned to terrorize Charlottesville, Virginia, yet again, the vice mayor of the town minced no words about what they deserved: namely, some shiny new metal bracelets.
Charlottesville Vice Mayor @DrWesBellamy calls for prosecution of participants in tonight’s white supremacist rally. pic.twitter.com/ZNP1lZZlkh
— The Daily Progress (@DailyProgress) October 8, 2017
- The Trump administration has declared all-out war on birth control. The advocacy group Generation Progress is encouraging you to Share Your Story of what birth control means for you and your health to make sure the Trump administration understands why access to affordable birth control is a necessary part of health care that should not be taken away.
- Now that Trump is revoking the deferred action program for DREAMers, it’s never been more important for Congress to pass the DREAM Act. The Center for American Progress has the toolkit you need to contact lawmakers and demand that they pass the DREAM Act now so that young men and women who were brought to the United States as children can remain in their homes as the Americans they really are.
- After the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, the NRA offered up their evergreen talking points in an attempt to distract people from their glaring culpability in perpetuating a culture of violence and encouraging Americans to be armed to the teeth. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein had their number right away, before Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox even made it to the TV studios.
It is legal for an American to carry a weapon. It’s legal for them to drive a car. However, they register that car. We should perhaps look — and the NRA says, you know, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Well, cars don’t kill people — people driving them kill people. And so there are a lot of things that could be done to make it safer. But every single one has been opposed by a very powerful organization, that then goes out to get any congressman or senator that votes to the contrary. And that’s a fact of life.
- The massacre in Las Vegas was terrifying enough that even some Republican members of Congress are coming around on certain gun safety measures. But it will be crucial to hold them accountable, and to continue the pressure on those who are still more afraid of the NRA than they are of another Vegas, Orlando, San Bernardino, or Sandy Hook. In a recent weekly address from House Democrats, Rep. John Lewis, who has always been on the right side of this issue, offered a powerful and emotional plea to his Republican colleagues:
What will it take for [them] to wake up? They offer moments of silence and vigils. They offer thoughts and prayers. But they do nothing! … They peddle the lie that we need more guns to stop the violence … I’ve seen too many gun deaths, and I’ve seen too much Republican inaction and obstruction. And I’m here to say, this must stop, and it must stop now.
In this week’s Democratic address, @RepJohnLewis urges Republicans to join Democrats in taking simple steps now to #EndGunViolence. ↓ pic.twitter.com/FHzVmAOOwR
— House Democrats (@HouseDemocrats) October 7, 2017
- Following reports that Trump is planning to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal achieved under President Barack Obama, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy explained on CNN’s “State of the Union” just how troubling this move would be.
And the reality is, the president is about to impose on himself and this country a dramatic self-inflicted wound, because by pulling out of this agreement, Iran will go back onto a path to develop a nuclear weapon, the other partners that were with us on sanctions over the last decade will not reimpose them, and Iran will look like the victim in this situation. They will get everything they want: they will be able to restart their nuclear program, they will continue to get sanctions relief, and they will look like the aggrieved party. And it is just absolute fantasy to think that this president is going to be able to get them back to the negotiating table when they, ultimately, will get everything that they want if we ended up violating this agreement.
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