It’s Manipulation, Plain and Simple
The flood of GOP polls in the battleground states was expected. Don’t let them get to you.
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/its-manipulation-plain-and-simple
Jay Kuo
Oct 14, 2024

If the polls were consistently showing Trump is losing, then the media would have to explain why that is. It’s because he’s a terrible candidate: a felon, a sexual assaulter, a fascist, a racist, a misogynist, a blithering fool.

Instead they report that they are tied when they are not, and they report on his enduring strength with voters.

See how that works?

William Lindsey :toad:
@wdlindsy@toad.social
Jay Kuo thinks the polls showing the election a dead heat are "bunk":

"The GOP is manipulating the data, which is manipulating the media, which in turn is driving many people into bouts of anxiety. The race has not fundamentally changed in anyway. They’re trying to vibe shift it, and we should understand that. The antidote to this cynical ploy is action. Donate. Organize. Vote."

Part of a conversation and an example of what's going around on social media about the polling that's been going on lately;


15h
blue vote @fedivergent@mstdn.social
@jamesmarshall I got a text from Publius polls asking who I would be voting for. Responded Harris, and then got a text telling me there was a problem with my status. (There was not, which I knew, because I'd already gotten my usual email saying my vote-by-mail application was processed. All good there - I've since voted.) These seem creepy, which suggests ignore, but maybe value in responding so they get more "Harris" answers?
14h
Emily Bristor #Harris2024 @Pdlobster

@fedivergent @jamesmarshall I replied Harris and that was the end of the conversation. Seemed very sketchy, I realized after hitting Send.
13h
blue vote @fedivergent@mstdn.social

@Pdlobster I was at first very glad to get a poll via text, because I'd heard that polls are skewed because a lot of young left-leaning voters don't answer calls from unknown numbers. After this experience, though, I looked up the source of the poll and read that they have an agenda, so that sucked.


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apparently there have been a flurry of right-wing polls in swing states lately, in order to a) boost enthusiasm among 45 supporters, and b) lay the groundwork for denying the election. Most poll averages don't exclude these polls, so averages are trending right lately, but they're not representative of reality.


Political strategist: Here’s how GOP’s phony polls will help Trump with the Big Lie
https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/09/political-strategist-heres-how-gops-phony-polls-will-help-trump-with-the-big-lie.html
Published: Sep. 13, 2024, 7:19 a.m.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will try to benefit from slanted polling, a Democratic strategist warned. (AP Photo | Carolyn Kaster)AP
By Kevin Manahan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

They’re at it again.

Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg is warning voters about a slew of phony Republican polls that he expects to “flood the zone” in the final weeks before the November election in an attempt to deceive voters into believing that the GOP is doing better than it really is, and he is determined “to call bullshit” on these intentionally slanted surveys.

Why does he care? For two reasons, Rosenberg told the Meidas Touch Podcast.

“The reason it matters is a couple things,” he said. “One, is it demobilizes [voters]. When we think we’re losing, we demobilize, our voters disengage. Money dries up, right? The same is true for them, if they think they’re losing. So they want to give Donald Trump and Republican voters a belief the election is better than it really is.

“The second thing, though that’s important, is that it is vital to Trump’s effort: If he tries to cheat and overturn the election results, he needs to have data showing that somehow he was winning the election. ... Donald Trump needs to go into Election Day with some set of data showing him winning, so if he loses, he can say we cheated.”

Recent national polling on the presidential election give Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, a five-point lead nationally. She also leads or is tied in nearly every swing state.

Rosenberg called out specific polling companies, which haven’t been doing any polling since a bunch of fake GOP polls in 2022, he said — Wick, Insider Advantage, Trafalgar and Patriot Polling. He expects them to concentrate on battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, and he predicted the polls will show Republicans winning by 2-4 points more than legitimate polls.

“We cannot be bamboozled by this,” he said.

In 2022, similar polls pushed polling average to the right — so much that Real Clear Politics, which uses polling averages, predicted the Republicans would win 54 Senate seats. The GOP won only 49. Republican voters expected a red wave that never developed, Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg expects these GOP pollsters to focus on swing states — because they’re crucial and because it’s easier to game polling in the states, where there are fewer polls.

“We have to be wise and learn from what happened last time,” Rosenberg said, “and call bullshit on what’s going on here with these fake Republican polls.”

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Trump has long peddled misinformation in natural disaster responses
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/08/trump-hurricane-helene-natural-disasters/?

Hurricane recovery officials in N.C. relocated amid report of ‘armed militia,’ email shows
https://wapo.st/3BM0GEP (paywall removed)
Safety fears are growing as misinformation collides with a large-scale federal recovery effort.

By Brianna Sacks
October 13, 2024 at 6:04 p.m. EDT

LAKE LURE, N.C. — Federal emergency response personnel on Saturday had employees operating in hard-hit Rutherford County, N.C., stop working and move to a different area because of concerns over “armed militia” threatening government workers in the region, according to an email sent to federal agencies helping with response in the state.

Around 1 p.m. Saturday, an official with the U.S. Forest Service, which is supporting recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sent an urgent message to numerous federal agencies warning that “FEMA has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately. The message stated that National Guard troops 'had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.’”

“The IMTs [incident management teams] have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county,” the email added.

Two federal officials confirmed the authenticity of the email, though it was unclear whether the quoted threat was seen as credible. The National Guard referred questions to FEMA when asked about the incident. One Forest Service official coordinating the Helene recovery said responders moved to a “safe area” and at least some work in that area — which included clearing trees off dozens of damaged and blocked roads to help search-and-rescue crews, as well as groups delivering supplies — was paused.
🌱

Following Climate & environment

By Sunday afternoon, personnel were back in place, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The setback is one of the latest examples of growing concerns about safety and security in western North Carolina, where many towns were almost wiped off the map after the historic hurricane made landfall two weeks ago. In the weeks since, misinformation and rumors have made the recovery more difficult, targeting multiple federal agencies operating as part of the recovery. Federal officials such as the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA’s director of public affairs have been the target of antisemitic attacks.

Chimney Rock, in Rutherford County, has become one of the centers of tension and conflict after a rumor spread on social media that government officials planned to seize the decimated village and bulldoze bodies under the rubble. Authorities and news outlets debunked the assertion, but people still took to social media imploring militias to go after FEMA.

A person familiar with FEMA operations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the agency was working out of an abundance of caution and its teams were operating at fixed locations and secure areas instead of the usual practice of going door to door.

“FEMA continues to support communities impacted by Helene and help survivors apply for assistance,” the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. “For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, FEMA has made some operational adjustments.”

The heightening tension has resulted in residents harassing federal employees, said Riva Duncan, a former Forest Service official who lives in Asheville.

Duncan, who is also a representative with the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, said people have been yelling at federal employees delivering aid or showing up to do repairs, saying, “We don’t want your help here.”

One Forest Service employee, she said, was pulling into a gas station when someone yelled at him to leave, saying “We don’t want the government here.”

“It’s terrible because a lot of these folks who need assistance are refusing it because they believe the stuff people are saying about FEMA and the government,” Duncan said. “And it’s sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most.”

In a text message shared with The Washington Post, a woman said that her child, a Forest Service crew member from California, was one of those who temporarily left the county.

Earlier Saturday, a resident came to a supplies distribution center, now largely run by relief group the Cajun Navy with the help of a Baptist Church organization, and threatened FEMA personnel who were also stationed there in a trailer, according to two Cajun Navy volunteers. Lake Lure Police and Rutherford County Sheriff’s offices confirmed the incident.

Sgt. Herbie Martin with the Spindale Police Department, located about 25 miles outside Lake Lure, was circling the parking lot Sunday afternoon. He also confirmed the incident, saying “he hoped FEMA would come back.”

By Brianna Sacks
Brianna explores how climate change is transforming the United States through catastrophic events. She deploys to disaster zones for intense, on-the-ground reporting, as well as does investigative, accountabiliy, and enterprise reporting on how disasters impact all facets of life.


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Veterans for Harris

We've been standing the watch, along with our allies in @commondefense.

We presented to the @NCGOP at their convention & led by Lara Trump, that they must uphold the will of the voters and renounce political violence.

We were thrown out. https://t.co/8Ab80qR3Tz

10/13

— Veterans For Responsible Leadership (@VetsForRL) October 10, 2024

Stephen Miller is the opening act for Trump today in Colorado, so I did a quick comparison to see how his Goebbels impression is going. pic.twitter.com/JHskNviEiX

— Jim Stewartson, Counterinsurgent 🇺🇸🇺🇦💙🎈 (@jimstewartson) October 11, 2024

Dementia DonOLD babbling again, and he's getting worse. Nothing that isn't already known and well documented.

Donald Trump – if his plans for Autocracy and violence don't scare TF out of you, watch this clip from Detroit yesterday ... his dementia is dangerous. pic.twitter.com/VHpDAHmeK3

— DrJackBrown 🌊 (@DrGJackBrown) October 11, 2024

Really just old news, musk is well known now to constantly shadow ban, blocking accounts and posts without input from you, deleting posts, and suspending accounts that say mean things about him or traitor trump. That isn't by any means an all inclusive list.

Trump Is Boasting How Much Money Elon Musk Is Giving Him
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-censors-jd-vance-leak-goes-full-tilt-for-donald-trump?
Musk is said to have moved to the critical swing state of Pennsylvania and is considering door knocking as he goes all out to ensure Trump wins the election.
David Gardner Reporter
Updated Oct. 11, 2024 5:59PM EDT / Published Oct. 11, 2024 9:55AM EDT

They have really large crocks in Australia. Don't have to Photoshop or use AI. I've been there, seen them, wrestled with a young "small" one, almost nailed me, instructors had to come in and save me. I was a young strong crazy buck back then, they're real, I still have major scars from that one.

14. The reason you should avoid the water in Australiapic.twitter.com/RlKANL5q3G

— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) October 11, 2024

Look at the size of the crocodile in Australia!pic.twitter.com/4te5aiom1B

— Travolax | Travel & Destinations (@travolax) October 11, 2024

Spiders, lol. They aren't eating the cattle.

land where 'tough' is an understatement..

Australia is not for beginners 🧵

1. The absolute size of this cattle-eating crocodile caught in Australia. pic.twitter.com/LYlYvnGP8h

— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) October 11, 2024

More of Traitor trump family grifters.

Career consultant to nonprofits here.

Thanks for looking at this. You are correct: by no means do these sites even purport to really have a charitable purpose and by no means are charities themselves. They have no links to indicate 501(c)3 or other nonprofit filings. Just merch.

— John Olberding (@jolberding01) October 11, 2024

Solar storm coming in today/tonight and people even in the southern states from lower California to Alabama may be able to see a Northern Lights show. Also may see some energy grid faults, cell service disruptions, and maybe a few more Tesla's veering off and crashing.




.

Republicans welfare for billionaires;

House Republicans and Donald Trump – through Project 2025 – are hellbent on bailing out billionaires, big corporations, and the ultra wealthy and have no problem raising taxes on hardworking American families to do it. pic.twitter.com/b557k74Mn1

— DCCC (@dccc) October 10, 2024

How insurance companies could stiff the victims of Hurricane Milton
https://popular.info/p/how-insurance-companies-could-stiff?publication_id=1664&post_id=150029296&isFreemail=true&r=2sgacv&triedRedirect=true
Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims
Oct 10, 2024

Hurricane Milton is pounding Florida and is expected to cause billions of dollars in damage. But many Florida homeowners — even those with insurance — will receive little or no help rebuilding.

Major insurance companies like State Farm flood the airwaves with advertisements where agents quickly help homeowners repair any damage to their homes. Reality is different. According to Weiss Ratings, which evaluates insurance companies, State Farm Florida Insurance Company "flatly denied" 46.4% of all homeowner claims in 2023.

State Farm is not alone. Weiss Ratings also reported that Castle Key Indemnity Company and Castle Key Insurance Company, subsidiaries of Allstate, both denied more than 46% of all homeowner claims last year.

Rick Tutwiler, a public adjuster based in Tampa who represents property owners in disputes with their insurance companies, told the Wall Street Journal that, across the board, "nsurers have become significantly tougher on hurricane claims." Tutwiler says the insurance industry is "dominated by exclusions, diminishing coverages, and even harsher policy terms." Many insurance policies now include "higher deductibles for wind damage, reduced payouts for older roofs, limits on interior water damage, and exclusions for damage from wind-driven rain." These restrictions are being imposed along with massive rate increases for home insurance — up 20% nationwide since last year.

Further, according to Dr. Martin D. Weiss, the founder of Weiss Ratings, denying legitimate claims has become a part of the insurance industry's business model. "Many Florida insurers are short on reserves because they’ve diverted funds to shareholders or to parent companies outside the state," Weiss said. "Thus, some are abusing their power to deny damage claims as a deliberate tactic to conserve cash and avoid bankruptcy.”

Florida insurance industry whistleblowers claim that, after Hurricane Ian struck the state in 2022, "several insurance carriers used altered reports to deceive customers and lower payouts." One adjuster told CBS News that an "estimate he wrote for about $488,000 [in damage] was changed to approximately $13,000. Another was revised from about $239,000 to around $3,000." In other cases, adjusters "were instructed by some of their managers to leave damage off of reports."

When valid claims are rejected, policyholders have little choice but to sue their insurance company. Florida attorney Steve Bush believes that "some insurance companies are unwilling to fork over cash for a roof replacement unless a policyholder sues." But, due to a new law enacted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), homeowners may have a tough time prevailing in court.

How DeSantis made it more difficult for Florida policyholders to get paid

In December 2022, DeSantis signed SB 2-A into law, a “105-page rewrite of the state’s property insurance laws” created during a three-day special session requested by DeSantis. The law reduces the time period available for policyholders to file claims with their insurance companies and makes it harder for homeowners to “win extra compensation” from insurance companies that act in “bad faith.”

The law also removes a policyholder’s right to “one-way attorney fees,” which required insurance companies to pay the policyholder’s attorney fees if the policyholder was successful in suing the company. The change makes suing insurance companies more expensive for policyholders and makes finding adequate attorneys a challenge, as attorney fees now need to be paid out of pocket. The change means that even if a policyholder succeeds in suing their insurance company, policyholders still have to “spend money meant for home repairs on legal bills,” investigative journalist Jason Garcia reported.

Additionally, the law grants insurance companies the ability to offer “new policies with mandatory binding arbitration agreements” for a discounted price. Customers who purchase the discounted policies forfeit the right to sue the company. The law also removes the option of Assignment of Benefits, which allowed policy owners to “hire a contractor who [would] battle directly with their insurers.” When signing the sweeping bill, DeSantis championed the legislation, saying it “reins in the incentive to litigate” and will “make a huge, huge difference.”

DeSantis has received millions of dollars in donations from the insurance industry. Between January 2018 and December 2022, “nsurance industry employees donated at least $3.9 million to his gubernatorial race” and to his former political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, according to a 2023 report. DeSantis’ inaugural celebration in 2023 also received $125,000 from “a subsidiary of Heritage Insurance and People’s Trust Insurance.”
Why many Floridians lack flood insurance

Many more may be out of luck if the damage to their homes is caused by flooding (or if their insurance company can make a compelling claim that it is). Most home insurance policies do not cover flood damage. Instead, insurance companies sell separate flood policies. Who is required to purchase these policies and how much they cost is determined using flood risk maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

FEMA’s maps, which show how likely an area is to flood, are utilized at every stage of property development and use. Developers use FEMA maps to help determine where they will build homes and businesses. When these buildings are purchased, mortgage lenders use the flood maps to assess whether they will require flood insurance as a part of a loan. Insurers then use the maps to determine rates for flood insurance policies. When hurricanes and other severe weather events occur, local officials use FEMA’s flood maps to guide their evacuation orders.

The problem with FEMA’s maps is that they are often outdated and do not account for the effect of climate change on severe weather events and flooding.

In 2022, Smithsonian Magazine reported that FEMA considered 8.7 million properties to be at high risk of flooding, but a separate analysis by the nonprofit First Street Foundation found that the real number of properties at high risk was 14.6 million. The last time that FEMA’s maps for the Tampa Bay area were updated was October 2021. Underestimating the number of properties at high risk for flooding means that millions of properties nationwide could be underinsured for flood damage.

The state of Florida does not require homeowners to purchase flood insurance, leaving it at the discretion of property owners, mortgage lenders, and, in some cases, the federal government. According to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), homes and businesses located in FEMA-designated high-risk flood areas that either have a government-backed mortgage or have previously received FEMA disaster relief funds are required to have flood insurance.

Both FEMA and the state of Florida encourage property owners to purchase a flood insurance policy, even if they do not live in a high flood-risk area. According to the Florida Department of Financial Services, 25 percent of floods happen in low-risk areas, and over 40 percent of claims submitted to FEMA’s NFIP come from outside of its designated high-risk zones.

Despite this data, the number of flood-insured properties in Florida remains low. Of Florida’s 8.3 million homes, only 22 percent were covered by flood insurance in 2020. The Wall Street Journal reported that 95 percent of Florida homes hit by Hurricane Helene did not have flood insurance policies, even though Florida insurers sell more flood insurance policies than in any other state.


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Remarkable revelations today confirming that the Trump White House ran a sham investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, in order to give Senate Republicans cover to confirm him.

So grateful for @SenWhitehouse's work on this. https://t.co/u1aYbpfAmU

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 10, 2024

Models are kind of like stock charts, just about the time you think you know where it's going, it turns on you and kicks your ass. Hurricane Charley in 2004, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the United States and the first time in history that two tropical cyclones struck the same state in a 24-hour period, made a significant turn at 6 hours prior to landfall. Was supposed to hit Tampa at landfall. Instead hit Punta Gorda.

You may ask yourself, "why is NHC so insistent on landfall in the Sarasota-Tampa area, when every time I look the hurricane is further south?" The mean forecast track from all the global model ensembles has trended *north* not south in the last several runs. (GIF via @burgwx) pic.twitter.com/DLTa5xpo0w

— John Morales (@JohnMoralesTV) October 9, 2024

Reality > Models. Those familiar with my hurricane coverage over 33 years are familiar with my stance on that subject. And I've been witness to many many occasions in which putting all your stock in the models when empirical evidence says otherwise leads to forecast errors.

— John Morales (@JohnMoralesTV) October 9, 2024

St Lucie County #Florida Sheriff’s Office struck by tornado ahead of #HurricaneMilton #HurricaneMilton2024 pic.twitter.com/SpmfgAVjow

— William E. Lewis, Jr (@4BillLewis) October 9, 2024

Today in History: October 9, Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
On Oct. 9, 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Then there was traitor trump and his republicans.

Don't feed the raccoons.

On Patrol: Raccoon Invasion pic.twitter.com/5pAUE761Nk

— Kitsap Sheriff (@KitsapCoSheriff) October 7, 2024

Trump on coronavirus: ‘If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any’
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/502819-trump-on-coronavirus-if-we-stop-testing-right-now-wed-have-very-few-cases/
by Nathaniel Weixel - 06/15/20 4:32 PM ET

Treasonous bastard pic.twitter.com/dURRlAbuN5

— 💙Orange Dick Tater Hater #PO1135809 ($8 Parody)💙 (@realbiscuitspaw) October 9, 2024

Ironically funny.

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Putin's trump, his republicans, and Viktor Orban partnership.

European Parliament member from Germany, Moritz Körner demolished Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban on the floor of the parliament.
Orban the Toad is a Kremlin puppet wreaking havoc and making the EU parliament dysfunctional.pic.twitter.com/KEdJe9m7DS

— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) October 9, 2024

An example of what storm surges, floods, heavy rains, mixed with fossil fuel and chemical pollution can do with our water supplies.

Perrier Well Contamination Sparks Scrutiny for Luxe Water Brand
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-08/nestle-s-perrier-fecal-contamination-woes-add-to-300-billion-sector-s-hurdles?
As the French company faces challenges, the global water business is grappling with questions of sustainability.
By Dasha Afanasieva and Nayla Razzouk
October 8, 2024 at 3:00 PM MDT

Israeli Prime Minister's Office: Trump called Netanyahu last week to discuss Israeli attack on Hezbollah https://t.co/SNLGGiVDNW

— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) October 9, 2024

Yes, the Trump administration diverted FEMA disaster relief funds to ICE
Several readers asked us to VERIFY viral claims that the Trump administration redirected millions of dollars from FEMA’s disaster relief fund to ICE. That’s true.
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/verify/donald-trump/trump-administration-diverted-fema-disaster-funds-immigration-ice-fact-check/536-814bb634-4d14-4463-a77f-b2f304320d33

CNN host to Trump press secretary: Donald Trump attempted something similar to what he is falsely accusing the Biden-Harris administration of doing. In 2019, Trump used FEMA disaster money for migrant programs at the border. He told Congress he was intending to shift $155 million… pic.twitter.com/pliZYVNXBy

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 9, 2024

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The Great Wash cometh;

Hurricane Milton's storm surge is expected to reach 15 feet. For perspective here's what 9 feet looks like

pic.twitter.com/OSjMjSF5hk

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) October 9, 2024

Confounds the science.

OMG. This is hysterical!

pic.twitter.com/3Awb3bMFvD

— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) October 8, 2024

Ron DeSantis feels threatened by women in leadership so he is refusing to take Kamala’s calls.

He is Florida’s Queen and doesn’t need any help for hurricane Milton. 👸pic.twitter.com/LvRPRpRIOk

— Thank you Joe Biden (@IvanasStairCam) October 7, 2024

Been there, done that. I've always known trump is a traitor, all the republicans that support him have always known it too. Yet, they have created a "permission structure", as Morning Joe put it, and put this criminal friend and partner of our adversaries on top of their ticket for their best man to represent their party and have control over all of us.

I read from the crying cult that they are upset with the timing that these reports and the book is coming out. Why coming out with this now, why didn't he tell us before? Well, if they didn't keep themselves under the cult rock, they could have been hearing this subject stated and written about continuously for almost a decade now, and periodically many years before that.

I have to admit, I thought it was great timing. The public has a hard time remembering anything over a few weeks, or more would be remembering the massive amount of information regarding this very subject. Now is the time to make the final push, and this stuff is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of info in that article, so many quotes, so many traitorous and criminal deeds, like this one for example;

"Woodward writes that Mohammed bin Salman had an aide bring over a bag with about 50 burner phones, pulling out one labeled “TRUMP 45.”'


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More on Evanelicals4Harris;

Evangelicals For Harris@Evangels4Harris
Here is our full statement in response to @Franklin_Graham
most recent legal threats:
In response to our first ads, Franklin Graham went on a conservative media tour calling us names and telling Christian audiences to ignore the Scripture and Donald Trump’s own words in our ads. When that failed and tens of millions of Christian voters not only listened to but shared our ads, Franklin Graham turned to a page in the Trump playbook and is trying to silence us with threats of a long and costly court process.

Franklin is scared of our ads because we do not tell people what to do or think. We merely hold Trump’s own words up to the light of Scripture, the necessity of repentance, and Biblical warnings against leaders exactly like Trump.

Franklin knows he cannot use the words of Jesus Christ to defend or justify Trump — a strongman whose words and deeds reject truth, endorse violence, and advocate a worldview in opposition to the Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). Indeed, his character is more reflective of the Spirits characterized as anti-christ (1 John 4:2-3, 6-21). Followers of Jesus should study closely which spirits they walk in step with (Gal 5:16-26).

Franklin has placed his hope in a man and a darkness we saw manifest when police lines were overrun at our nation’s Capitol on January 6, in Springfield this past month, and in the spirit of fear and anger fed at every Trump rally Franklin attends.

Our hope is not in any man or woman but in Christ alone. Our call is to serve, to witness Christ’s love and compassion, and to follow His example of standing between the hypocritical religious leaders and the social outcast. We know the law is on our side in this case. If Franklin follows through on his threats, we’ll see him in court.”
9:31 AM · Oct 8, 2024


Thou shalt not vote for Trump. These prominent Latter-day Saints view that as a command from God.
He fails the “character test” spelled out in the faith’s scriptures, they argue, and is morally “unqualified” to hold the nation’s highest office.
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/10/04/prominent-latter-day-saints-urge/


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Republicans STOLE $10 million from the taxpayers emergency management funds to traffic migrants around for political purposes.

While Republicans feign outrage over false allegations of FEMA misappropriating disaster funds, DeSantis and the MAGA legislature stole $10 million from the state's emergency management agency... to traffic migrants to Massachusetts on private planes. pic.twitter.com/yE7FhjLfcQ

— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) October 8, 2024

It takes a bubble: https://t.co/mRW1U0alRf

— Media Matters (@mmfa) October 8, 2024

Evanelicals4Harris

Lawyers for @Franklin_Graham have informed us they are planning to sue us to block voters from seeing our ads. Watch them here: https://t.co/T6a00ePFvx

— Evangelicals For Harris (@Evangels4Harris) October 8, 2024

Report finds Elon Musk’s platform X is fueling falsehoods and conspiracy theories that risk undermining rescue efforts — and preparations for Hurricane Milton. https://t.co/MKltU8wiOY

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 8, 2024

Nearly 1,500 active-duty soldiers are on the ground in North Carolina to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts.

We are so grateful for the service members throughout the southeast who are providing aid to those impacted. You represent the best of America. https://t.co/A5GDMVPY7Z

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) October 8, 2024

Climate Note · Oct 8, 2024
YPCCC’s Resources on Climate in the 2024 U.S. General Election
https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/ypccc-2024-election-resources/
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Jennifer Carman, Jennifer Marlon, John Kotcher, Seth Rosenthal and Joshua Low


2024 is a critically important election year for the climate in the U.S. and around the world. As Election Day nears in the U.S., we are providing a final round-up of our election-relevant resources and insights. Many important climate policies, including the transition to clean energy, investments in underserved and more vulnerable communities, and participation in international climate treaties, will be determined by voters’ choices in the 2024 elections. In California, voters are voting on Proposition 4, which would fund flood protection and climate resiliency projects. In Washington state, voters are being asked to repeal the state’s cap-and-invest program and to preempt local governments from restricting access to methane gas.

We, along with our partners at the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, have tracked global warming as a voting priority in each presidential and midterm election since 2014. We find that in 2024, 39% of registered voters overall say that global warming is a “very important” issue for their vote, including 70% of liberal Democrats, 51% of moderate/conservative Democrats, 19% of liberal/moderate Republicans, and 8% of conservative Republicans. We find that the percentage of voters who think global warming is a “very important” issue has increased slightly over time, with 32% of registered voters saying so in 2014 and 39% saying so in 2024. Our subsequent analysis in 2024 found that virtually all of these voters prefer a pro-climate candidate.



This line graph shows the percentage of registered voters over time since 2014, broken down by political party and ideology, who think global warming is a “very important” issue to their vote in the upcoming election. The percentage of voters who think global warming is a “very important” issue has increased slightly over time. Refer to Data Tables in the methods section for complete results.

Additional Resources from Our Research:

Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Spring 2024: Our twice-yearly study of American public opinion on global warming (conducted in partnership with George Mason University) finds a majority of all U.S. voters (62%) prefer to vote for a candidate who supports action on global warming. Global warming is the #4 voting issue for liberal Democrats.
Understanding pro-climate voters in the United States: 37% of U.S. registered voters are pro-climate voters — about 60 million people. Pro-climate voters are more likely to vote in the November 2024 presidential election than other voters. Still, millions of high-potential voters care about climate issues and are unlikely to vote unless civic engagement organizations register them and work to turn them out to vote.
Changes in U.S. voters’ top reasons to reduce global warming: When asked to choose their most important reasons to reduce global warming, U.S. voters’ top choice is ”to provide a better life for our children and grandchildren.” This reason was also the top choice over time and across party/ideology groups. Since 2017, more U.S. voters say one of their top reasons to reduce global warming is to prevent extreme weather events.
Yale Climate Opinion Maps and Factsheets: Our map tools show that Americans’ acceptance of global warming is widespread and majorities in nearly every state think weather is becoming more extreme as a result. Yet, there is little agreement about whether and how to address the source of the problem: carbon pollution. More data about a wide range of U.S. climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy preferences are available through these tools for each state, county, and metro area, and most Congressional districts as of 2023.

YPCCC Partnership Resources:

YPCCC Partnerships Interview with Interfaith Power & Light (IPL)’s Rev. Susan Hendershot and Tiffany Hartung: During the 2020 presidential election campaign, YPCCC worked with IPL on their nonpartisan civic engagement campaign to identify infrequent voters who are both people of faith and worried about climate change. IPL volunteers then contacted those voters via peer-to-peer texting with values- and faith-based messaging to encourage them to vote and to check their voter registration.

Stories from Yale Climate Connections:

How to talk with (just about) anyone about climate and the 2024 elections
‘Basic peer pressure’: The plan to turn out millions of pro-climate voters in the 2024 U.S. election
How Kamala Harris and Donald Trump compare on climate change

Methods

The results of the analysis included in the chart are based on data from 6 waves (April 2014, March 2016, March 2018, April 2020, April 2022, April 2024) of the twice-yearly Climate Change in the American Mind survey – a nationally representative survey of U.S. public opinion on climate change conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Data were collected using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel®, a representative online panel of U.S. adults ages 18 and older. Questionnaires were self-administered online in a web-based environment.

This analysis includes only registered voters. Data were weighted to align with demographic parameters in the United States. Among the subset of registered voters, references to Republicans and Democrats throughout include respondents who initially identify as either a Republican or Democrat, as well as those who do not initially identify as a Republican or Democrat but who say they “are closer to” one of those parties (i.e., “leaners”) in a follow-up question. The category “Independents” does not include any of these “leaners.” Independents and respondents who do not identify with a party or are not interested in politics are not included in this report due to small sample size.

Group differences were tested for statistical significance using the weighted proportions and unweighted sample sizes of each group. For tabulation purposes, percentage points are rounded to the nearest whole number. The fielding dates and average margins of error at the 95% confidence interval for the subset of registered voters who participated in the survey, as well as each subgroups are:

April 2024 (April 25 – May 4, 2024)
All U.S. registered voters +/- 3.3 percentage points (n = 896)
Liberal Democrat +/- 6.4 percentage points (n = 234)
Moderate/conservative Democrat +/- 7.1 percentage points (n = 188)
Liberal/moderate Republican +/- 9.4 percentage points (n = 109)
Conservative Republican +/- 6.6 percentage points (n = 221)
April 2022 (April 13 – May 2, 2022)
All U.S. registered voters +/- 3.2 percentage points (n = 908)
Liberal Democrat +/- 6.9 percentage points (n = 201)
Moderate/conservative Democrat +/- 7.3 percentage points (n = 178)
Liberal/moderate Republican +/- 9.1 percentage points (n = 116)
Conservative Republican +/- 6.0 percentage points (n = 266)
April 2020 (April 7 – 17, 2020)
All U.S. registered voters +/- 3.2 percentage points (n = 911)
Liberal Democrat +/- 6.8 percentage points (n = 208)
Moderate/conservative Democrat +/- 7.2 percentage points (n = 183)
Liberal/moderate Republican +/- 8.1 percentage points (n = 145)
Conservative Republican +/- 6.0 percentage points (n = 264)
March 2018 (March 7 – 24, 2018)
All U.S. registered voters +/- 3.0 percentage points (n = 1,067)
Liberal Democrat +/- 6.0 percentage points (n = 265)
Moderate/conservative Democrat +/- 6.9 percentage points (n = 204)
Liberal/moderate Republican +/- 8.0 percentage points (n = 149)
Conservative Republican +/- 5.9 percentage points (n = 276)
March 2016 (March 18 – 31, 2016)
All U.S. registered voters +/- 3.1 percentage points (n = 1,004)
Liberal Democrat +/- 6.2 percentage points (n = 249)
Moderate/conservative Democrat +/- 6.9 percentage points (n = 200)
Liberal/moderate Republican +/- 8.5 percentage points (n = 132)
Conservative Republican +/- 6.0 percentage points (n = 267)
April 2014 (April 15 – 22, 2014)
All U.S. registered voters +/- 2.9 percentage points (n = 1,176)
Liberal Democrat +/- 6.9 percentage points (n = 202)
Moderate/conservative Democrat +/- 6.8 percentage points (n = 207)
Liberal/moderate Republican +/- 7.2 percentage points (n = 187)
Conservative Republican +/- 4.9 percentage points (n = 404)

Complete question wording by year:

How important will the following issues be when you decide who you will vote for in the 2014 Congressional election? [Global warming]
How important will the following issues be when you decide who you will vote for in the 2016 Presidential election? [Global warming]
How important will the candidates’ positions on the following issues be when you decide who you will vote for in the 2018 Congressional election? [Global warming]
As of today, how important will the following issues be to you when you decide who you will vote for in the 2020 Presidential election? [Global warming]
As of today, how important will the following issues be to you when you decide who you will vote for in the 2022 Congressional elections? [Global warming]
As of today, how important will the following issues be to you when you decide who you will vote for in the 2024 Presidential election? [Global warming]

View Data Tables for accessibility


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Trump secretly sent covid tests to Putin during 2020 shortage, new book says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/08/bob-woodward-new-book-war-trump-putin-biden/
“War,” by Bob Woodward, traces how Trump and Biden responded to international crisis and concludes that Trump is worse than Nixon, the president exiled by the Watergate scandal.
By Isaac Stanley-Becker
October 8, 2024 at 8:56 a.m. EDT

As the coronavirus tore through the world in 2020, and the United States and other countries confronted a shortage of tests designed to detect the illness, then-President Donald Trump secretly sent coveted tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his personal use.

Putin, petrified of the virus, accepted the supplies but took pains to prevent political fallout — not for him, but for his American counterpart. He cautioned Trump not to reveal that he had dispatched the scarce medical equipment to Moscow, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward.

Putin, according to the book, told Trump, “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me.”

Four years later, the personal relationship between the two men appears to have persisted, Woodward reports, as Trump campaigns to return to the White House and Putin orchestrates his bloody assault on Ukraine. In early 2024, the former president ordered an aide away from his office at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, so he could conduct a private phone call with the Russian leader, according to Woodward’s account.

The book does not describe what the two men purportedly discussed, and it quotes a Trump campaign official casting doubt on the supposed contact. But the unnamed Trump aide cited in the book indicated that the GOP standard-bearer may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since Trump left the White House in 2021.

These interactions between Trump and the authoritarian leader of a country at war with an American ally form the basis of Woodward’s conclusion that Trump is worse than Richard M. Nixon, whose presidency was undone by the Watergate scandal exposed a half-century ago by Woodward and his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein.

“Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024,” Woodward writes in the book, “War,” which is set to be released Oct. 15.......................................more


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Green Hydrogen Will Be Far Costlier Than Estimated, Harvard Scientists Find
Transporting and storing the gas are hidden costs that new research finds will make it uncompetitive as a decarbonization solution.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-08/harvard-study-green-hydrogen-will-be-far-costlier-than-estimated?
By Sing Yee Ong
October 8, 2024 at 9:00 AM MDT

The actual cost of using green hydrogen, touted as a future low-carbon solution, is at risk of being higher than projected, according to a new study. That would limit its utility to effectively replace fossil fuels.

Significant storage and distribution costs — which are often overlooked by most cost estimates — will likely make hydrogen a “prohibitively expensive abatement strategy across many major sectors,” according to a paper by Harvard University researchers published Tuesday.

Hydrogen has been pitched as a tool to cut carbon emissions in industries like steelmaking as well as long-distance transport. But many governments and companies are pinning their green goals on the fuel eventually becoming an affordable option to decarbonize.

Currently hydrogen costs $3 to $7 per kilogram. A number of analyses expect that will be cut in half by the end of the decade and drop fourfold by 2050, which would make it become almost as cost-effective as fossil fuels, according to the researchers.

But production costs are only one aspect of hydrogen’s price. For most sectors, storage and distribution costs are one-third to half of the total delivered price, meaning “future reductions in production costs will only have a marginal impact on the overall price,” they added.

“Even if production costs decrease in line with predictions, storage and distribution costs will prevent hydrogen from being cost-competitive in many sectors,” said Roxana Shafiee, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Center for the Environment, adding that the study results challenge the idea of hydrogen being the “Swiss army knife of decarbonization.”

A growing number of countries are pushing to make hydrogen a key part of their emissions-cutting strategies, particularly for energy-intensive industries. The US has invested billions to kickstart hydrogen production with generous tax credits. In the EU, policymakers banking on the fuel and building power plants that are “hydrogen-ready” to meet ambitious climate goals, though transporting and storing the gas will involve costly upgrades at ports. Australia’s government will provide $5 billion in government incentives over the next decade, and Japan’s started a $20 billion hydrogen funding program.

But demand is lagging in the sector, with many hydrogen projects failing to find buyers stepping up to purchase the fuel. Only about 12% of production capacity planned to be commissioned by the end of the decade has currently an identified offtaker, and just a small percentage of those deals are binding, BloombergNEF said in a May report

. In recent months, the sector has seen projects spiked, as well as scaled-back investment plans as it grapples with high costs.

Read More: Almost Nobody Is Buying Hydrogen, Dashing Its Green Power Hopes

Hydrogen faces “a bit of a chicken and egg problem,” said BNEF analyst Kathy Gao. “For costs to come down, projects need to be deployed. If projects are deployed, demand can increase and costs can be pushed down. But we aren’t seeing that for hydrogen.”

While green hydrogen has high potential to play a role in decarbonizing sectors such as heavy transportation and industrial heating — both large sources of greenhouse gas emissions — it would be “premature” for the government to provide so much support for the gas “without also supporting alternative approaches,” the Harvard researchers said. Those include advanced biofuels and advanced battery storage, among others.


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