The 2020 Election Cycle is going to be a Wild Ride for our Country
While the upcoming elections can and will be seen as a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency, his conduct in office, and his actions:
- betraying our Kurdish allies after a phone call with Turkey’s president
- the treatment of children at the border
- the Ukraine situation with Rudy Giuliani and Joe Biden
- continuous defiance of Congressional subpoenas, i.e. Obstruction of Congress
- and on and on and on
Referendum or not, the 2020 Election Cycle is going to be wild. Case in point:
House Republicans recently raided a House Committee investigation by disrupting the under oath deposition of a high ranking DOD official Banana Republic-style violating House rules and National Security protocols.
There is a lot more to come:
- massive social media disinformation efforts from the campaigns and overseas (bots)
- the rhetoric on right wing media and in Congress will grow more hostile
Recent congressional testimony from Mark Zuckerbrod indicates that Facebook will continue to allow (and collect revenue) for political ads without checking the truth of the messaging. There is going to be a helluva lot of disinformation disseminated to the American public with the intent to mislead and enflame voters against fellow Americans on Facebook and other platforms. This is deserving of serious pushback.
Here are a few new Pushback Options for Social media:
This leave-behind is a page containing @RealDonaldTrump alongside several dozen “Feds” (ex-federal law enforcement and intelligence community officials) with their three latest tweets visible in the same context: makes for a strong “chaser” to your response. Show me.
Here’s another chaser for a strong pushback: a page of tweets from 2016 Trump voters who state that they will be voting differently in 2020. These pages (totaling over 600 tweets) are a result of daily data mining looking for legitimate tweets (including a bunch from @Trump_Regrets — thank you!) and updated daily despite the toll that reading thousands of hateful tweets has on the soul looking for redeeming ones. LOL. Show me.
This section was built for activists and concerned citizens to quickly interact with members of Congress on Twitter, as well as Congressional Staffers who monitor these Twitter feeds. The members are color-coded by party (GOP red — Dem blue), sorted by seniority in office, and two latest tweets. Each member has several social media links and an OpenSecrets link to grab a quick look at their campaign donations.
Furthermore, the members are organized into basic groupings for quick navigation:
- Congressional Leadership
- By Chamber: House & Senate
- By Party: GOP & Dems
- By State: Senators and Representatives
Example of usage scenario for activists and concerned citizens:
Let’s say that the Administration announces a policy which adversely affects the environment of my home state, I can quickly find my state delegation, and within minutes, I can tweet my Senators and all Representatives my concerns. I can also quickly post to their Facebook pages.
A trick to posting 10 or 20 or 30 social media posts to my state delegation members quickly is to right-click the link and open a new tab on my browser per Congressional member, and paste in my message, as shown in the demo video above.
“When we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?” Rep. Elijah E. Cummings
Ultimately, the operation of this website in terms of building and maintaining, data-mining and paying digital costs, was my response to an explosive argument that I experienced recently with a family member over continuous presidential misconduct. Plus thousands of hostile right-wing social media comments that I have seen online. I imagine that there are many many Americans who have had similar demoralizing experiences and would appreciate having a strong clap-back reply at the ready, for example:
“Interesting points you make there. Have you seen this? https://notfoolingmetwice.com/feds/“
The truth of the matter is that I can’t make as compelling a case as these Feds do every day on Twitter. Instead of “talk to hand” it is “talk to the Feds” — which is better for my mental health and still serves to erode support for the administration.
So I hope that you take https://notfoolingmetwice.com for a test ride, try a couple of clap-backs on social media and see how it feels. I have found that it feels pretty good.
By the same token, we are completely dependent upon “tips” to keep this effort up and running, and frankly a little worried about the potential ISP bills. More info at https://notfoolingmetwice.com/about.html
And finally, some food for thought (for men or women):
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Thank you for your time and I look forward to the comments.
