Tell YouTube to stop pushing gun videos to children!

Sunday Dose of Democracy:

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Trump gets hit with CRUSHING news as debate fallout intensifies
Taylor Swift's endorsement has sent nearly half a MILLION people to voter registration sites. Brian Tyler Cohen breaks down why this is great for Kamala, bad for Trump, and a sign of bigger things to come.

Take Action: Demand the media cover Trump’s craziness properly!

How Donald Trump got Loomered
Jeet Heer, The Nation: "Even in MAGA circles, Loomer is regarded as a loose cannon who loves to get attention from inflammatory comments that undermine the Republican Party. But Trump doesn’t share the squeamishness of conventional politicians. In fact, he gave a shout-out to Loomer, saluting her as “a woman with courage.” Trump added an important caution: You don’t want to be Loomered. If you’re Loomered, you’re in big trouble. It’s the end of your career, in a sense! Yet, despite this wise warning, Trump is allowing himself to be Loomered. In the face of considerable opposition from Trump’s other advisers, Loomer has emerged as an important unofficial adviser to the former president. As a part of Trump’s inner circle, Loomer is already causing divisions, since her racism is too overt even for many MAGA politicians who themselves are seen as incendiary. The fact that Trump has taken Loomer into his fold as an ad hoc adviser is proof of how central racism and xenophobia are to his presidential bid. But Loomer’s lack of control and propensity for interparty squabbling could hurt the former president. Trump has Loomered himself—and we should hope the Loomering continues."

Take Action: Pass President Biden's “No One Is Above the Law" constitutional amendment!

New poll shows VP Harris and Trump NECK AND NECK in crucial swing state
WisDems: A new Emerson College poll shows presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and would-be-dictator Trump tied at 47% in the absolutely-must-win swing state of Wisconsin. The road to the White House and a Senate majority runs through Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Democrats are building a state-wide get-out-the-vote grassroots organizing machine to knock on every door and visit every county for VP Harris. But they can't do it alone. Will you chip in to help the best state party in the country save our democracy from Trump and his radical Project 2025 cronies?

Vance, Yost targeting Haitians in Springfield, Ohio with ignorant fear-mongering disturbs me deeply
David Dewitt, Ohio Capitol Journal: "Sometimes the disgusting sewer of presidential year politics hits a little too close to home, and you end up watching a national conversation play out largely divorced from reality or the actual experiences of communities intimately connected to your own life. That’s what happened to me Monday as I watched Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance lie about legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, and — displaying no sense of conscience whatsoever — make an abhorrent insinuation about them. His purpose, it appears, was a trollish attempt to mislead the public and prey on people’s hatreds and fears. I suppose he thinks that’s good politics.What Vance insinuates about “pets” is indefensible. It’s sad that the Springfield News-Sun even had to fact-check it. It’s a disgusting racist lie from the extremist right-wing internet, and Vance perpetuated it to millions of followers. Shame on him. As for Vance’s claim that Haitians are 'causing chaos all over Springfield,' and Yost pointing to Haitians in Springfield as an example of migrants 'terrorizing our communities,' I have no idea what they’re talking about. Go to Springfield and tell me where to find the chaos and terror, because every time I’ve been the last four years, I haven’t seen it. Serious people should discuss serious solutions to serious issues. Politicians using dangerous rhetoric to whip people up into a frenzy of misinformed anger and viciousness is not needed and not helpful. With Nazis already marching through downtown Springfield, I’m sickened that statewide elected leaders would instigate and inflame the situation even further. We must be better than that, and we must demand better than that from our elected officials."

Take Action: Tell the White House to not let billionaires choose corporate regulators!

Trump’s dour negativity contrasted with Harris’s optimism about America
Robert Reich, The Guardian: "To say that Kamala Harris nailed it in Tuesday night’s debate is an understatement. She knocked it out of the park. She combined civility with firmness. She made Donald Trump look and sound like the blubbering idiot he is. It wasn’t so much Trump’s shambolic responses that gave Harris the big win. It was her manner, in sharp contrast to his. Harris spoke of a 'new beginning' for America. What does this new beginning consist of? She didn’t have to talk about her youth, gender or ethnicity, because these attributes were obvious. It was her positive energy – in contrast to Trump’s overwhelming negativism – that drove home the point. The 'new beginning' is a new generation of leadership. When she said Americans were ready to turn the page on the politics of the past and strive together for a better future, she didn’t need to do more than make the slightest gesture toward the ageing, raging fount of grievance standing on the other side of the stage. Harris’s closing statement didn’t even mention Trump. She didn’t have to. By then the choice was clear – either Trump’s bottomless negativism, pessimism, lies and anger, or Harris’s affirmative view of America and its endless possibilities."

Take Action: Keep the 10 Commandments out of public schools!

J.D. Vance’s master plan for Citizens United 2.0
Freddy Brewster, The Lever: "Vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and other Republicans are spearheading a lawsuit aiming to prompt the Supreme Court to move beyond its landmark Citizens United decision and tear down some of the last remaining rules designed to prevent megadonors’ money from influencing public officials. What’s more, Vance has ties to one of the appeals judges who agreed with the effort and just helped tee up the case for Supreme Court consideration. Experts say Vance’s lawsuit, as well as a new regulatory decision allowing a candidate to work hand in hand with a deep-pocketed outside election group, is part of a coordinated effort, decades in the making, to destroy the last vestiges of campaign finance laws designed to prevent the wealthy and the powerful from spending limitless amounts directly on candidates and demanding favors in return. At the heart of Vance and the National Republican Senatorial and Congressional Committees’ lawsuit is a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that barred party committees like the National Republican Senatorial and Congressional Committees and the Democratic Senatorial and Congressional Committees from coordinating spending with candidates. If the lawsuit is successful and party committees are allowed to spend freely on candidates, corporate interests and wealthy donors could use the committees to circumvent remaining limits on contributions — the total amount that individuals can give directly to candidates or their affiliated committees."

Maybe he’s born with it, maybe it’s ketamine
Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian: "Every time I think Elon Musk can’t possibly sink any lower, he grabs a shovel and starts digging...He’s posted an extraordinary amount of unhinged content in the past, but last Sunday he really outdid himself: the billionaire reposted a tweet from “Autism Capital” that suggested that 'women and low T men' are not able to think freely because they 'can’t defend themselves physically.' The only people who can think freely are 'high T alpha males and aneurotypical people ... this is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.' Of course, Musk wouldn’t be the first billionaire to dabble with casual thought experiments such as: what if we stripped women of all their rights? Peter Thiel, who runs Palantir, the dystopian technology company, and who has bankrolled JD Vance’s political career, once mused that women getting the right to vote had been bad for democracy. And we all know what Vance’s boss, Trump, thinks of women. But this isn’t just about women: Musk platforming terms like 'low T men' shows how toxic masculinity hurts men, too, and how testosterone has been politicized. Ridiculous 4chan memes aside, there is also an interesting conversation to be had about the effects of testosterone levels on decision-making – it’s a question that has been studied for a very long time. And you know what those studies show? That testosterone makes men 'less likely to question their impulses' and is linked to 'less self-reflection.' Which sounds a lot like Mr Musk, doesn’t it? Not that it’s meant to imply that Musk is bursting with testosterone, to be clear. I hear ketamine, which Musk is very fond of – and says investors should want him to keep taking – can sometimes have a similar effect on people’s ability to make rational decisions. Or perhaps he’s just high on misogyny: it’s one hell of a drug."

Brian Tyler Cohen makes MAJOR announcement
Shameless by Brian Tyler Cohen: Everybody's favorite YouTube commentator, podcaster, and MSNBC contributor Brian Tyler Cohen has written a book, SHAMELESS: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy! Shameless breaks down the lies and hypocrisies of a Republican Party steeped in MAGA mania and what steps Democrats must take to fight back, with a special foreword by Rep. Jamie Raskin. Pre-order your copy here!