Resist a Trump/Republican Coup

Even during a global pandemic, economic emergency, and increasingly dysfunctional, neoliberal governance, the reformist approach of U.S. progressive politics attempts to rehabilitate capitalism’s purported dynamism with approximations of social democracy for working people, without admitting the intrinsic control and impediments to reform that economic and political elites wield over fundamental structures of policymaking.  This tendency is partially a response to the Trump administration, “whose pursuit of tax cuts, corporate bailouts, and deregulation exemplifies not so much artful subterfuge but a brazen contempt for proper oversight of industry” [1].  Challenges for current, social movements to fight injustice are formidable, especially with “the Trump administration’s exercise of a new and despotic, federal police power, in reaction to nationwide, Black Lives Matter protests against police violence” [1].  But electoral politics face greater limits to advancing a more egalitarian social contract and strategies.  “The path to enduring change requires mobilization that inflicts real costs on capitalists and disrupts the nexus of elite interests…While progressive, political allies are instrumental…to implementing reform, they are never its true locus” [1].

More deeply troubling than encountering armed, right wingnuts in the downtown streets of Sandpoint, Idaho, is experiencing “liberals” who notify police in advance of their protests, say that they trust local cops, and ask for police protection from such vigilantes [2].  Did they overlook the attack dogs, water cannons, and other harmful weapons used by local cops on water protectors at Standing Rock?  The munitions applied by local cops to clear Washington D.C. dissenters, for Trump’s bible-holding, church photo-op?  The physical and chemical assaults and abductions aimed and abetted by local cops and their civil war-mongering, paramilitary friends at protesters in Portland, Minneapolis, New York, Spokane, and other cities?  Who could ever sign a letter saying that they trust local cops?  Do they not understand the Black Lives Matter and civil rights movements?  Indigenous struggles for sovereignty and land defense?  Immigrants terrorized, caged, neglected, and deported?  Local cops in support of eliminating COVID-19 precautions and liberal protests of a likely Trump/Republican coup?  Are people who trust local cops actually cops?

On October 22, for the weekly, Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) webinar, two guests joined Lauren Regan and fellow staff attorneys: Jim Wheaton, a CLDC friend, former co-counsel, and First Amendment Project ally, and Scott Parkin, a seasoned organizer with Rising Tide North America and Rainforest Action Network (RAN), for a training called Rights, Dissent, and the State: Preparing for a Turbulent Election [3].  The lively and informative, roundtable discussion considered scenarios and preparations against possible, far-right, extremist efforts to disrupt and destroy democratic processes, which could unfold around the upcoming, November 2020, U.S. elections.  With the goals of helping activists more clearly understand potential threats, expected charges from engaging in protests during this time, and collective, legal recourse against a coup and other outcomes, speakers addressed actions that governments may take to restrict citizen freedoms, rights, and responsibilities, in response to escalations of unrest.  If you missed and would like to access this online webinar, please email communications @cldc.org and request the secure, registration login information for the recording.  The RAN website also offers links to numerous civil disobedience resources [4].  Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is planning upcoming, training sessions and protests adapted to emerging, political events, despite north Idaho community reticence to participate in the meaningful and effective, direct actions that continue to provide our only recourse to justice.

“…Things are moving further in an alarming direction.  They’re planning to steal the election…for an unaccountable man at the top and his armies of spies and soldiers and cops, openly plotting some kind of coup, not in some backroom like they usually would do…Whatever might happen to this corporate crook, no one will be heeding the rules in the book…Perhaps the stock market crashes, then we’ll see if the madmen in power start World War 3…” [5].  But “if the right is prepared to steal the election, then we must be prepared to disrupt the status quo and resist.  [The Stopping the Coup] guide offers resources for organizing in your communities across the country.  It does not encourage or endorse bringing harm to any living thing” [6].

Despite our lack of faith in American electoral, political, or legal systems, WIRT activists encourage you to vote, as “we will vote.  We will refuse to accept election results, until all the votes are counted.  We will nonviolently take to the streets, if a coup is attempted.  If we need to, we will shut down this country, to protect the integrity of the democratic process” [7].  Please prepare for the November 3 to January 21 sh!tstorm, by availing yourself and your contacts of the Signal application, for end-to-end encrypted calls and texts relayed via device data, not phone signal [8].  You will find that many of your contacts already or will soon protect their communities from government/corporate snoopiness with the downloadable application, effective only when both sides securely communicate through the program (symbolized by locks and checkmarks), which also reaches non-Signal users (shown with open lock symbols).  Stop talking and texting on a third “party line”!

According to Fox television program scientist (an oxymoron?) Neil deGrasse Tyson and creative scientist, musician, and tar sands megaload-blockading, WIRT activist Jeanne Louise, an asteroid named 2018VP1 will coincidentally, closely approach Earth the day before the November 3 election, but it poses much less threat to humanity than one of the candidates [9].  As an appropriate antidote to increasingly “impactful” times, please consider voting early!  Thanks to Jeanne for revising the lyrics and re-recording her decade-old song Asteroid that “serves as an apt metaphor for our angst about the pandemic, the planet, and presidential politics,…[and that] argues for the pursuit of peace, love, and happiness, no matter how things turn out,” with the time we together have left [9].  Compared with the deteriorating state of American encounters all over the country, her new video version, posted and shared on facebook and played on the October 28, WIRT, Climate Justice Forum radio program, is a blessing!

Vote Against President Donald Trump

“Calling the 2020 election ‘the most important in the modern history of this country,’ Senator Bernie Sanders, in his speech to the Democratic National Convention [on August 17], urged people to fight ‘against greed, oligarchy, and bigotry,’ by voting President Trump out of office in November” [10].  During the last month, two presidential candidate debates between former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Trump and one vice presidential debate between Senator Kamala Harris and current Vice President Mike Pence have accentuated discrepancies in character and motivations for public service [11-13].  At the October 7, vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, a black fly landed on Pence’s white hair, while he defended cops and called accusations of their racism an “insult” [14].  In almost exactly the two minutes allotted for each speaker, the fly departed, after Harris rebuked Trump’s “Stand back, stand by” prompts to his militant supporters issued during the first presidential debate.

“Demolition is the unifying threat that drives all Trump malfeasance — too scornful even to tender bad replacements, thus no healthcare alternatives.  Day by day, this smash-mouth administration distills into the ‘Trump Smash and Trash Dump’ Demolition,…whether slicing up health care, slandering Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts and enforcement/intelligence agencies, denigrating dead, heroic soldiers, or tear-gassing lawful activists fighting white supremacy” [15].  As a centerpiece of his administration, President Trump has dismantled major, federal, and Obama-era, climate policies and rules that purportedly stifle businesses, among at least 100 environmental regulations repealed or weakened over the last four years.  These rollbacks could significantly increase emissions and “result in an additional 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2035.  That’s more than the combined energy emissions of Germany, Britain, and Canada in one year” [16].

Special treatment of Trump and U.S. officials sick with COVID-19 “also forecasts the same people who downplayed this, the same people who told you not to wear masks are the same people who are telling you that we don’t need to cut emissions, that climate change isn’t a big deal, that we don’t need to worry about it.  The economy is more important.  All this sounds familiar, right?  We have to go on with life as normal.  Because when the worst of it comes, when it finally hits home, it impacts them, well, they’re going to be able to get on a helicopter.  They have precautionary measures they’ll be able to take.  We won’t.  This is a dress rehearsal for climate change.  What you see happening now is what is going to happen then.  The only difference is it’s going to be a lot more than 200,000 people.  It’s going to be much, much more severe” [17].

“During her Senate confirmation hearing,…Supreme Court nominee [and Trump coup tool] Amy Coney Barrett said some really troubling things that indicate her lack of understanding of the scientific consensus on climate change.  Responding to questions on the subject, she resorted to the old, ‘I’m certainly not a scientist’ line that’s so popular among climate science deniers.  And she claimed not to know about Donald Trump’s views on climate change…Barrett belongs to the Federalist Society, the right-wing, legal network with ties to climate deniers and polluting interests like Koch Industries and ExxonMobil.  Her father was a lawyer for Shell, and she used to work at a firm that represented Exxon and Shell.  With the fate of climate liability lawsuits likely to escalate to the Supreme Court at some point, Barrett’s questionable ability to accept settled science would add another challenge to holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for its denial, delay, and damaging pollution” [18].

In his recent endorsement of Trump re-election, the owner, not an editorial board, of the Spokesman-Review disparaged countless, presidential actions but upheld the uncompassionate, if not violent, “economic policy and principle” that Trump and his lackeys have chosen over the health and lives of citizens, especially “frontline” workers (as usual) during the pandemic test of failed American empire.  “Donald Trump is a bully and a bigot.  He is symptomatic of a widening, partisan divide in the country…The list of Trump’s offenses is long.  He panders to racists and prevents sensible immigration reform in a nation built on immigrant labor and intellect.  He tweets conspiracy theories.  He’s cavalier about COVID-19 and has led poorly through the pandemic.  He seeks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, without proposing a replacement.  He denies climate change.  Voters knew his character in 2016 and elected him anyway…He rolled back extreme environmental regulations and led the way for U.S. energy independence…And he’s committed to supporting law and order in American cities…The nation stands a better chance of moderation and reform with him in the White House than it does with Biden pushed left by progressives intent on reshaping America to fit their fantastical vision.  This is an election that pits a wretched human being…against a doddering, doting uncle…Given that choice, economic policy and principle should prevail” [19].

“Strip away all the policy fights, all the administrative action (or inaction), all the culture war politics, and the decision for many people comes down to a basic conclusion: They just do not approve of the president as a human being…‘They have a personal dislike for him.  It’s just that simple.’…If Trump loses, history will record any number of contributing factors to his political demise.  But it should place them all in the context of that ‘simple,’ underlying reality” [20].  Feeling criminally cute during a recent speech, Trump declared, “If I lose,…maybe I’ll have to leave the country, I don’t know” [21].  Good luck with that, Donald!

Phyllis Kardos for District 1 Pend Oreille County Commissioner

If you are a Washington voter registered in Pend Oreille County, please vote for esteemed, fellow activist, Newport silicon smelter opponent, and Democratic candidate for District 1 County Commissioner Phyllis Kardos [22]!  This former classroom teacher, school principal, and district administrator not only brings her professional experiences, education, skills, and successes to her potential position, but also her knowledge of the economic and environmental issues challenging the small, rural county just west of Bonner County and Sandpoint.  Based on our interactions with Phyllis during several, recent years, WIRT climate activists trust that, as a county commissioner, Phyllis will effectively partner with local and indigenous communities and businesses and state and federal agencies, diligently work to protect public and environmental health and safety, strongly support responsible economic development, change, and growth, competently manage county budgets and agricultural, forest, and public lands, and uncompromisingly serve the best interests of county constituents and taxpayers.  Please choose Phyllis Kardos as Pend Oreille County Commissioner, via the Washington general election, vote-by-mail ballot, before 8 pm on Tuesday, November 3!

Phyllis has volunteered with Responsible Growth*NE Washington (RG*NEW), as this grassroots group and Citizens Against the Newport Silicon Smelter (CANSS) have filed cases in Spokane Superior Court and the Washington Court of Appeals, against the Pend Oreille County Public Utility District (PUD), Pend Oreille County, and HiTest Sand, the parent company of PacWest, alleging that PUD officials illegally sold land at the site of planned, PacWest, silicon smelter construction.  Both courts upheld the PUD transaction, so the anti-smelter groups filed a petition for review with the Washington Supreme Court in August 2020.  CANSS, RG*NEW, the Kalispel Tribe, and allied groups continue to stand strongly against the air and water pollution and perils to regional health and safety of this dirty, dangerous industry, while the on-hold, PacWest, smelter project pushes for Pend Oreille County rezoning of the PUD land for industrial use, despite late 2019 denial.

Shelley Brock for District 14B Idaho House of Representatives

For the position of Idaho Representative of citizens in the Eagle, Meridian, and Star communities of western Ada County, WIRT appreciates, respects, and recommends Democratic candidate Shelley Brock, an intelligent and diligent colleague, thoughtful and trustworthy friend, and experienced and exemplary leader.  Shelley has worked tirelessly among regional, grassroots efforts, to inform constituents and protect public and environmental health and safety, agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, water and air quality, and the social and economic wellbeing of the Treasure Valley from destructive, fossil fuels exploitation.  As a longtime, Idaho resident, rural landowner, health care professional, and co-founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability (CAIA), Shelley has consistently demonstrated her outstanding ability to democratically explore and demand viable changes within traditionally Republican areas.  She has considered the ideas and perspectives of various stakeholders and government officials, while helping to write and pass landmark, local ordinances in Eagle and Fruitland that protect private property rights and values and public infrastructure from harms imposed by irresponsible, oil and gas industry operations.  Shelley has also defended Idaho residents and businesses from other dangerous, land use practices and pollution sources and impacts, including the City of Boise plan to dump sewage effluent into essential canals.

In her elected position as state legislator, she would offer her knowledge, skills, and service as an accomplished leader who honestly, passionately cares about the future of Idaho.  Shelley would continue to advocate for the concerns and best interests of Idahoans, by effectively soliciting and listening to citizen input, developing good relationships across political party lines, consulting experts and research, and resolving a wide range of issues currently challenging the state and nation.  Shelley supports the integrity of federal and state, public lands, natural resources, and outdoor recreation, increased funding and excellence of public education, expansion of affordable and accessible Medicaid, fair ballot initiative processes, stronger small businesses, and more equitable homeowner and corporate exemptions and grocery and property taxes.  Please join WIRT, the Idaho Statesman editorial board, U.S. Senate candidate Paulette Jordan, and several associations and citizens who have endorsed her successful campaign, in opportunities to vote for Shelley Brock [23-29].

Paulette Jordan for U.S. Senate

A member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Paulette Jordan “would be the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate” [30].  The 40-year-old, up-and-coming Democrat is the mother of two teenage sons and a resident of rural Plummer in north Idaho.  During the fall 2020, election season, her progressive, nonpartisan, “pro-people” campaign is working to unseat “one of the most conservative members of the United States Senate…[from] the most conservative state in the union,” a “consistent defender of President Donald Trump,” Republican Jim Risch, whom she says is very anti-woman, anti-environment, and anti-working families [30, 31].  Although she won by a wide margin the June 2020, Democratic primary race against retired police spokesman Jim Vandermaas, she “faces an uphill battle in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1974” [31].

After graduating from Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane in 1998, and earning bachelor’s degrees in communications, comparative literature, and American Indian studies at the University of Washington by 2003, Paulette began her political career as the youngest-ever member elected to the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council, serving from 2009 to 2012 [31].  Narrowly replacing a Republican incumbent in 2014 and defending her position in 2016, Jordan served two terms in the Idaho House of Representatives, representing District 5, including the Coeur d’Alene Reservation [32].  In 2018, the Democratic nominee for Idaho governor stepped down for an unsuccessful run against Republican Lieutenant Governor Brad Little.  She has been a board member of the National Indian Gaming Association since 2010, and founded the nonprofit Save the American Salmon in 2018 [31].

Declaring that “we just want to make sure that we’re protecting humanity and protecting the environment,” the “pragmatic politician” cites her policy priorities as “emphasizing health care, economic recovery, stewardship of land, and increased, federal, fiscal discipline and accountability,” along with “protecting public lands, promoting clean energy, and addressing the climate crisis” [30-32].  Instead of incremental, American, health care system changes, “Jordan’s platform says that the nation’s health care system ‘must be redesigned from the ground up.  “Obamacare” [the Affordable Care Act] failed to do that’” [31].  As a senator, Paulette would deliver health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with further, emergency, coronavirus bills.  She would also “incentivize large corporations and manufacturing industries to stay in the U.S., and protect small businesses by keeping money local” [30].  “Jordan said Republicans are primarily pushing for corporate tax cuts and funding for high-income earners, while Democrats are pushing for working families and small business owners” [30].

The comparatively meager funds of Paulette’s campaign ($250,000 by October 8) rely on contributors such as the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Lummi Indian Business Council, and individual donors [31].  Jim Risch, who famously fell asleep during early 2020, Trump impeachment hearings, has raised $2.4 million from various special interests, including Delta Airlines, General Atomics, and notorious Koch Industries, the largest, private, energy company in the U.S. that also controls other destructive, petrochemical, industrial agriculture, and deforestation businesses, all owned by a family of right-wing, libertarian, billionaire funders of climate change denial [31, 33].

Jordan touts her deep, indigenous, and Idaho roots and tribal council experience as influencing her atypical perspective on interacting with the left and right for bipartisan legislation, representing all her constituents, relieving Idahoans’ concerns about their families’ finances and futures, and providing more peace, comfort, and access to prosperity.  “We look at everyone as a relative.  That same feeling and practice applies even at the state level, so I do look at all of Idaho as my family,” she explained [31].  Sometimes with U.S. House candidate Rudy Soto, Jordan has held outdoor and livestreamed rallies and other events requiring social distancing and masks, in north Idaho and throughout the state [34].  In “a historic choice by our state’s biggest newspaper, in an unprecedented election at a tumultuous time for all of us,” the Idaho Statesman editorial board, the Our Revolution campaign initiated by Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, and many others have endorsed Paulette Jordan [32, 35].  She reminds us that Idaho offers Election Day, voter registration, so if you have not already voted, please consider supporting this strong candidate with your vote!

Rudy Soto for U.S. House of Representatives (not Great American Outdoors Act)

During three days of Sixth Panhandle Paddle events on Friday through Sunday, September 18 to 20, WIRT received texts from Rudy Soto for Congress campaign staff, inviting us to a soon canceled, Sandpoint stop on his RV tour throughout Idaho’s First Congressional District [36, 37].  We responded with an information link to the annual, WIRT-hosted, weekend activities “opposing north Idaho, fossil fuels pipeline-on-rails, bridge expansions across Lake Pend Oreille and Sandpoint,” including the direct action training overlapping with Rudy’s Saturday town hall [36].  Understanding and appreciating his low-income background, we also offered our “hope that Rudy similarly defends rural Idahoans from the ongoing pollution and disaster risks of corporate greed and fossil-fueled climate chaos” [36].

Born and raised in Nampa, Idaho, Rudy Soto is the son of a Mexican immigrant and a Shoshone-Bannock tribal member from the Fort Hall reservation [38].  If elected, he would be “the first Native American and first Latino Democrat to represent Idaho in Congress” [39].  As the first college graduate of his family, he attended Portland State University, served in the U.S. Army National Guard, contributed as legislative director for the National Indian Gaming Association, and worked as a U.S. House staffer.  While a legislative assistant for U.S. Representative Norma Torres, a California Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, Soto handled energy, environment, agriculture, and transportation issues.  In 2017, the National Center for American Indian Economic Development named Rudy as one of 40 young professionals under 40, and HillVets called him one of 100 Top Influencers in 2018.  The Idaho Statesman editorial board, League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, and Latino Victory Fund (LVF) have endorsed his current Congressional campaign [39].

While WIRT appreciates these acknowledgements of Soto, we share them with disclaimers.  The coordinated, LCV, and LVF endorsements correctly note that “Latinos are disproportionately affected by the adverse effects of climate change and pollution — our health and livelihoods are on the line,” and that Idahoans should “increase Latino and Native American representation, by winning this historic election” [39].  The organizations further exclaim the importance of electing “fierce allies for climate and environmental justice” and an “environmental advocate in Congress,” who will “fight to protect Idaho’s beautiful, public lands and the health of families from dangerous pollutants due to drilling and mining,…[and] pass measures in Congress to safeguard our communities’ environment” [39].

But consider that, besides admirably and crucially supporting candidates of color who could assert climate justice, the League of Conservation Voters and other Big Green groups recently sold national public lands, especially across the West, to the oil and gas industry, via the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, the biggest (nearly $10 billion), public lands, spending bill in 50 years, passed by Congress on July 22 [40, 41].  To fund the massive, maintenance backlog and repair of outdated and dysfunctional, national and city park, and public lands infrastructure and guarantee $900 million annually spent on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the bill and its beneficiaries — national parks, the recreation and tourism industry, Western gateway communities, new, nearby residents and businesses, and expanding, wildlife-disturbing recreationists — are relying on revenue from private, oil and gas companies producing energy from federal lands and waters.

“Though the new law has been cheered by conservation groups, it fails to address either the modern crisis of climate change or the impacts of the West’s growing recreation and tourism economy on wildlife.  In this way, the Outdoors Act exposes the gaps between conservation and climate activism, while providing a grim reminder of the complicated entanglements of energy, economics, [the intertwined extinction and climate crises,] and now, a pandemic…Access to recreation drives economic growth in the rural West.  Communities that have more protected lands nearby generally grow faster and have higher income levels,…[from] both tourism and new arrivals looking to live closer to the outdoors…Reliance on oil production to pay for parks ignores the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to preserve a livable climate,…[by] ‘funding conservation with the destruction of the Earth’…Because they depend on the oil and gas industry, the LWCF and park maintenance are vulnerable should the U.S. transition away from fossil fuels, or if production drops for another reason, like the current pandemic.  Compared to the same time period in 2019, onshore, oil and gas, royalty receipts dropped 53 percent, and offshore royalties plummeted by 84 percent in April 2020.  The arrangement also provides rhetorical cover for energy executives…The bill [is] currently being celebrated as a major win for conservation and public lands.  ‘This money is not a panacea for reaching conservation goals…The funding model needs to be re-examined and reimagined.’  Moving forward, addressing climate change and biodiversity loss requires acknowledging that the crises are inextricable.  ‘The climate and conservation communities haven’t always coordinated, and that needs to change’” [41].  Apparently, Big Green welcomes such partnering only after it blindsides climate activists with another of its sell-outs to Big Oil.

In his appreciative acceptance of the LCV and LVF endorsements, Soto states that, “Environmental stewardship is core to my identity as an indigenous person, which is why I am dedicated to creating a healthier, safe environment for future generations…That requires a focus on equity…[and] the political participation of Latinos in Idaho, who face many disparities and are deserving of a leader who will fight for them as well as all Idahoans and Americans in Congress” [39].  Although WIRT agrees with these motivations, is “LCV’s advocacy work toward environmental conservation, through meaningful policy transformation,…changing the face of the planet and of Washington” more rapidly and collusively toward climate change [39]?  When asked by the Idaho Statesman in an August 28 interview, how he would have voted on the Great American Outdoors Act, Rudy Soto confirmed that he “enthusiastically” approves of this climate-wrecking, federal legislation [42].  His LCV endorsement raises serious concerns among grassroots, frontline, Idaho, climate activists.

Nonetheless, both Paulette Jordan and Rudy Soto “are genuine, grounded Idahoans with the bonus of Native American ethnicity and the genius of caring for and understanding Idahoans, especially those who are currently under-represented.  They are well-educated, personable, smart — with grassroots knowledge of Idaho’s working class struggles and potential improvements that could be made in dealing with the economy, education, and environment.  They will accept the immediate, bi-partisan challenges of finding solutions to the jangling problems of COVID-19, climate change, health care gaps, racial injustice, gender inequality, unfair taxing.  There’s a lot of fixing to do, so let’s give Rudy and Paulette the chance to represent us well and proudly” [43].

Far from gathered crowds, WIRT activists attended a combined, socially distant, Jordan-Soto meet-and-greet in early October in Sandpoint, but refrained from speaking with most candidates, due to COVID-19 concerns.  Despite numerous WIRT requests, we have not received responses during the last year from these two candidates or local Democratic campaigners about their policy positions on the fossils fuels infrastructure and transportation projects we work diligently to resist, or replies to requests for campaign promotional materials or event information links for sharing and encouraging local participation.  Conversely during the last week, a phone call and text that seem like privacy violations by both a Jordan campaign volunteer and a local, Democratic precinct captain have cited state (and county?) records that indicate that a WIRT activist has not yet voted by absentee ballot.  In response, we promised to vote in advance and send these WIRT endorsements to our thousand regional contacts.  Considering Trump administration sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service, mail voting never was an option for some Idahoans, at least not later than a week before Election Day.  If you dare, check your sent ballot’s safe arrival and status at the Idaho Secretary of State website, where we found no evidence of personal voter registration, despite 12 years of voting in Idaho [44].  In solidarity with the spirit of direct action, WIRT activists encourage you to return your absentee ballot to your county election office and/or vote in-person at your polling place on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, no matter how Idaho neighbors may behave [45].  Thanks!

[1] Reforms Are Won When Social Movements Inflict Real Costs on the Economic Elite, August 23, 2020 Truthout

[2] We Trust Local Law Enforcement to Protect Our Community, October 27, 2020 Bonner County Human Rights Task

[3] Thursday, October 22, 3 to 5 pm PDT: Rights, Dissent, and the State: Preparing for a Turbulent Election, October 21, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[4] Defending Democracy Resource Guide, October 22, 2020 Rainforest Action Network

[5] They’re Planning to Steal the Election, August 16, 2020 David Rovics

[6] Stopping the Coup: The Election Disruption Guide for 2020, Disruption Project

[7] 10 Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup, September 18, 2020

[8] Domestic surveillance is alive and well…, September 22, 2020 Edward Snowden

[9] Asteroid, an Old Song and a New Encounter, October 26, 2020 Jeanne Louise

[10] Bernie Sanders: 2020 Election Is a Fight against Trump, Authoritarianism, Greed, Oligarchy, and Bigotry, August 18, 2020 Nation of Change

[11] First 2020 Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, September 29, 2020 C-Span

[12] Vice Presidential Debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, October 7, 2020 C-Span

[13] Second 2020 Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, October 22, 2020 C-Span

[14] User Clip: Fly Detects Bullsh*t, October 7, 2020 C-Span

[15] Democrats Flirt with ‘Systemic Change’ as Right-Wingers Get It Done — Smashing and Trashing at Will, October 19, 2020 Nation of Change

[16] What Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Mean for Global Warming, September 17, 2020 New York Times

[17] Let’s Talk about Trump’s Comments and a Dress Rehearsal…, October 15, 2020 Beau of the Fifth Column

[18] Amy Coney Barrett’s Remarks on Climate Change Raise Alarm That a Climate Denier Is About to Join the Supreme Court, October 14, 2020 Desmog email message

[19] Editorial: With Misgivings, Vote Trump for President and Inslee for Governor, October 28, 2020 Spokesman-Review

[20] 2 More Funny Feelings About 2020, October 20, 2020 Politico

[21] Trump Talks of ‘Leaving the Country’ If He Loses, October 17, 2020 Rolling Stone

[22] Phyllis Kardos, Pend Oreille County Commissioner, District 1, August 2, 2020 Friends of Elect Phyllis Kardos Committee (Democrat)

[23] Letters to the Editor, October 1, 2020, October 1, 2020 Idaho Press

[24] Letters to the Editor: State Elections, the Presidential Debate, October 1, 2020 Idaho Statesman

[25] Letters to the Editor: Midas Gold, Lachiondo, Soulliere, Brock, October 14, 2020 Idaho Statesman

[26] Letters to the Editor: State and Local Elections, October 28, 2020 Idaho Statesman

[27] Democrat and Independent Challenge Incumbents in District 14. Here are Statesman’s Picks, October 28, 2020 Idaho Statesman

[28] Vote Shelley Brock, State Representative District 14, October 29, 2020 Committee to Elect Shelley Brock

[29] Shelley Brock for Idaho, October 29, 2020 Shelley Brock

[30] Paulette Jordan: I Aim to Protect Humanity and the Environment, September 28, 2020 Moscow-Pullman Daily News

[31] U.S. Senator Jim Risch Faces Three Challengers in November Election, October 8, 2020 Spokesman-Review

[32] In Case You Missed It: Idaho Statesman Endorses Paulette Jordan in U.S. Senate Race, October 30, 2020 Paulette for Senate 2020

[33] Koch Industries, Inc., October 30, 2020 Desmog

[34] Paulette for Senate 2020, October 30, 2020 Paulette for Senate 2020

[35] Paulette for U.S. Senate, October 30, 2020 Paulette for Senate 2020

[36] Friday, September 18, texts…, October 3, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[37] Sixth Panhandle Paddle, September 7, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[38] Rudy Soto for Congress, October 30, 2020 Rudy for Congress

[39] LCV Action Fund and Latino Victory Fund Endorse Rudy Soto for Congress, August 27, 2020 League of Conservation Voters

[40] Fossil Fuels-Funded Nature, August 6, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[41] Is a Big Win for Conservation a Blow to Climate Action? July 22, 2020 High Country News

[42] Statesman Editorial Board Interviews Rudy Soto, Democratic Candidate for Congress (climate change discussion: 15:22 to 18:35), October 23, 2020 Idaho Statesman

[43] Letter: Can Do Better than Letter ‘R’; Give Rudy, Paulette the Chance, October 14, 2020 Idaho County Free Press

[44] Welcome to IdahoVotes.Gov, October 30, 2020 Idaho Secretary of State

[45] Standing By: Right-Wing Militia Groups and the U.S. Election, October 2020 Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project