Want to get an idea of elected U.S. Government political figures and what industries fund them? Bluesky can help.

Thanks to opensecrets.org, Bluesky users have the option of going to @us-gov-funding.bsky.social (which can be found under the Moderation tab in Settings) and choosing Show Badges for each of their categories of industry donations. Then if the representative has a Bluesky account, the info shows when you see one of their posts.

In most cases, there's an explanation that "The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates."

Visit https://www.opensecrets.org/campaign-expenditures/methodology to learn more.

Here are the current businesses, industries, organizations, and interests that get flagged on representatives' profiles, if you opt to have US Government Contributions (opensecrets.org) do so.

Lawyers/Law Firms
Health Professionals
Real Estate
Laborers Union/Midwest Region
American Federation of State/Cnty/Munic Employees
National Beer Wholesalers Assn
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products
Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Service Employees International Union
United Food & Commercial Workers Union
Securities & Investment
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing
Retired Donors
Club for Growth
Michigan Industrial Tools
Amway/Alticor Inc
University of Chicago
JStreetPAC
Northwestern University
Women's Issues
Microsoft Corp
EMILY's List
University of Washington
Defense Aerospace
Electronics Mfg & Equip
American Israel Public Affairs Cmte
Boeing Co
KLM Equities
Patterson Planning & Services
Pro-Israel
Indian American Impact Fund
Edward C Levy Co
Non-Profit Institutions
Valve Corp
Leadership PACs
League of Conservation Voters
Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda
University of Colorado
Blackstone Group
American Federation of Teachers
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn
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Munger, Tolles & Olson
Every State Blue
Seville Classics
University of Pennsylvania
Comcast Corp
National Assn of Realtors
Education
University of Pittsburgh
Human Rights
Democratic/Liberal
State of Vermont
Equality Project PAC
Public Sector Unions
University of Wisconsin
National Education Assn
Automotive
University of Michigan
Ford Motor Co
Rock Holdings
Alphabet Inc
Wilson, Sonsini et al
Stanford University
AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America
SAS Institute
University of South Florida
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Transportation Unions
Industrial Unions
Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union
Searcy, Denney et al
Florida Crystals
United Auto Workers
American Bankers Assn
Capital Group Companies
Akin, Gump et al
Freedom Capital Partners
Kitebrook Partners
Technology Crossover Ventures
WilmerHale LLP
Harvard University
Lobbyists
University of New Mexico
Paul, Weiss et al
NorPAC
Gibbons PC
Nike Inc
Intel Corp
Dominion Energy
Altria Group
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Hueston Hennigan Llp
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy
Miller Weisbrod Olesky
American Assn for Justice
Ame Church
University of Minnesota
University of California
City of New York, NY
University of Arizona
Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte
Building Trade Unions
Boilermakers Union
Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation Union
Goldman Sachs
GE Aerospace
Citigroup Inc
Princeton University
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City of Austin, TX
Carpenters & Joiners Union
Duane Morris LLP
Amblin Partners
Smarthinking
Vezina, Lawrence & Piscitelli
Arizona State University
Snell & Wilmer
US Dept of Energy
Perkins Coie
Waterford Property Co
Curtin Maritime
University of Massachusetts
Paloma Partners
Air Transport
FedEx Corp
Federal Aviation Admin Managers Assn
Allied Pilots Assn
Mackenzie Capital Management
Law Offices of Jeremy D Weinstein
PG&E Corp
American University
Georgetown University
Conner, Strong & Buckelew
Brown-Forman Corp
Norton Healthcare
Holland & Hart
Brownstein, Hyatt et al
State of Illinois
Covington & Burling
Kaiser Permanente
State of California
J Street
Casinos/Gambling
McGinn, Montoya et al
Operating Engineers Local 57
Narragansett Bay PAC
Transport Workers Union
Walt Disney Co
Bain Capital
Yale University
RTX Corp
Qualcomm Inc
Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing
Lowenstein Sandler Llp
Berkshire Partners
Pro-Israel America PAC
US Acute Care Solutions
Emergency Medicine Physicians
Eisenhower Health
City of Chicago, IL
Ice Miller LLP
Eli Lilly & Co
Dorsey & Whitney
Fragomen, Del Rey et al
Cisco Systems

Telehealth Will Die In 3 Weeks Without Congressional Action

We assume we know that most people voted from a sense of malice.

I don't think that's true for many, many people.

A elderly friend of mine, Judy, a Jungian therapist who was deeply disappointed by the outcome wrote this to those of us in our book club today:

"Yesterday, I needed to be in solitude and “just be.” Today I felt the need to go and have breakfast at [the café] not for interaction but to sit quietly with my New York Times and be present to the energy around me. I needed to quietly be in community and somehow know that the earth was still turning and that day would follow night and that people were going about their lives. My spirit was calmed as I sat and read and quietly observed those around me. And the interesting thing was that each of the servers that spoke to me, those that give me a feeling of “home” and familiarity and comfort as I often go have a meal there, I found all voted differently than me. Bambi, as she ran over and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, even tho she wasn’t my server, was beaming and said “God is so good! He took care of us this time!” Kristen, the dishwasher, is very dear to me. She is “on the spectrum” and is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen, both here and at Linda’s, came over and said, “We really needed a change! Maybe now we will get it!”

These are folks that give me kindness and a feeling of “home” and they voted for Trump. This feels like where the work is going to be as we heal our world and somehow find peace within ourselves. The angry bros with their MAGA hats, what is underneath their raised fists? The suburban white women and the minorities that voted for Trump— what do we learn from it? I don’t know the answers, but I think if we are going to bring about the change we hope to see, we have to struggle with these questions. Not to agree, but to understand where they are coming from and not look at them from a superior stance as “deplorables” or we will get the same results in the next election. And we can’t just use generalities like “misogyny” and “fascism” and “diversity training” and “Biden economics” and not dig deeper than that to put those important truths into language that truly speaks to people."

This is who so many of the Trump voters were. People feeling desperate and willing to take a chance that things would be better for them and their families. Hardworking decent people working to feed and clothe their families. NOT the hateful brainwashed FOX idiots whose minds are closed, not the Russian-paid influencers and bots out to alienate and divide Americans. Yes, those are a subset, but not the majority. Somehow I don't believe punishing them all will work out well for our future. Divisions would become chasms. And it will delight Russia and our other enemies if we go that route.

Statement of Christian Faith & Democracy

Nothing makes me fume more than the absolute defamation and disrepute Christian Nationalists and the theocratic wannabes proclaim as if it was what Jesus stood for. Seems to me that it's very important for Christians who actually believe the Bible and work to love and serve all Creation to speak up.

I was so glad to run across an effort of Christians from across a number of denominations to speak up and out for democracy, for the Gospel of Jesus, and to take a strong stand against the efforts by Christian Nationalists and others to use fear to manipulate and tear down our nation.

Some of those who have signed it include Dr. Diana Butler Bass, Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, Walter Brueggemann, Shane Claiborne, and The Most Rev. Michael Curry. All Christians are invited to sign on in agreement with the statement, so I did. I hope you will read it and consider doing so too.

Some of the names of signers you may recognize include Diana Butler Bass, Tony Campolo, Walter Brueggemann, Shane Claiborne, and Michael Curry.

https://toucan-goose-tybk.squarespace.com

From the About page:

The science behind Donald Trump's love of the "poorly educated."

Matthew Sheffield is a former Mormon and conservative activist. He writes and publishes Flux (available on Substack) and also hosts the podcast Theory of Change, recently had on sociologist Darren Sherkat. The discussion centered on how right-wing social viewpoints seem to inhibit cognitive development.

Here are some excerpts from an autogenerated transcript of this week's podcast.

https://plus.flux.community/p/the-science-behind-why-donald-trump

They're TRAINED to do that. Bannon pushed them to believe they were at war and in war intimidation is fine.

The goal is political power. But people recognize the truth when they hear it, especially when people share their personal stories. They cannot win a good-faith argument. They can't support their argument with facts. If the truth is heard it is believed, especially when your personal story about why this is so important to you is shared.

That makes us powerful, and therefore they work hard to demoralize us.

Maybe it's sucking us into what we think is a conversation with the hope of having the other person become at least somewhat open to our point of view. Instead, the other just moves to another argument once you effectively counter one of theirs. That's to waste your time and wear you down.

They create chaos and also flood the zone with sh*t, like you've probably seen in videos of school board meetings, to intimidate and try to get you to give up.

Trouble Nation | Red Wine & Blue has a great training video on how to deal with harassment. Just watched it today and took lots of notes.

We've been wondering WTF is going on behind the scenes.

A couple of fascinating posts by Dr. Tracy A Peterson may point to some of it. Here's a bit about here from her Twitter bio:
She's a Los Angeles based Legal, Political & Cultural Analyst on TV and radio and has appeared on a number of shows and networks.
"After practicing law as a Trial & Appellate lawyer and investigator for 20 years, I earned a second doctorate and focus my research on implicit bias & corruption."

An earlier thread of hers I found enlightening was on how the media earn money, books, promotions based on such "scoops" and reporting – which incentivizes the behavior we're seeing with all the media, including some we're seeing on MSNBC.

https://x.com/TracyExplains/status/1813866352199057485

Red Wine & Blue

This evening I attended the most energizing, exciting virtual meeting. I just learned about the group today because I saw that Heather Cox Richardson was speaking about Project 2025 so signed up.

35K people attended the Zoom! And another 35K (so 70,000❗️in all) had signed up - apparently many like me just today. They’d added to their webinar package but didn’t have it big enough to accommodate anywhere near all those who wanted to attend.

They’re tremendous organizers, I was impressed. An effective hour, then they invited anyone interested and able to stay for small(er) group breakout sessions. They had breakout rooms, about five for swing states, so I attended the one for the other states. 9,200 stayed for that one, in fact people lingered after it was over for almost the full second hour.

Check them out: Red Wine & Blue (redwine.blue on the web or redwineblueUSA on social media including YouTube). They have several events a week of different types.

Their website got overloaded too, but after waiting a few hours it's available again.

Their philosophy is that it’s more fun getting stuff done together. 😊

Because 70 percent of Americans don’t know about Project 2025, they focus on relationships and personal connections with conversations on flipping that number so 70 percent (at least) do know. I especially liked it because I wouldn’t be wearing a partisan hat when talking to people regardless of their party.

That works best for me in a small red-violet town where I have lots of friends and acquaintances who are either of a different party or not particularly political. I suspect a number of them will be appalled when they know more about Project 2025, but if I was wearing my Democratic hat some might not be willing to listen.

Project 2025 for those looking for more of it's horrors in one place

I ran across a long but excellent thread on X by Emily Galvin-Almanza (a lawyer active in the public defender space) that is one of the better explanations of much of the ramifications of various Project 2025 proposals. Not exhaustive, but I learned new things of interest. It's not published anywhere else but I thought it merited wider circulation, so I put it in a single document. I wanted to share it here, but not without permission. I now have that. "sure go for it!" she said.

"It is considered sophisticated and educated to know only the bad

stuff about religion. Of course, that’s ironic because to only know the bad stuff is to not actually be educated."

"Half the time when I’m giving a public presentation, the first question about religion is a negative question. What do you think about Islam and violence? What do you think about the Catholic Church and the pedophilia crisis? Why do so many people of faith hate gay people? Particularly in the areas of America where people have higher levels of education, those are their first questions."

[…]

“Our society relies on religious communities to take care of people, to do addiction counseling, to do job training, to do hunger and homelessness work, to do refugee resettlement. We just don’t often tell the story of them doing that work. And I think that that’s a big problem.”

[…]

"In America, people build institutions — hospitals, social service agencies, colleges, whatever — out of the inspiration of their own faith identity, but the institution serves people of all identities. That is not a common ethos in human history.

But that’s the story of America. That is American pluralism at its best. That is civic cooperation."


Eboo Patel is an American Muslim who is the founder and president of Interfaith America. He was interviewed by Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest who has a religion column in the NYT as well as Christianity Today.


Behind a paywall unfortunately: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/opinion/patel-eboo-organized-religion.html

I once mainly knew the negative things about religion, especially Christianity. At least, if I knew some of the many contributions made by religious people and groups, the negative far outweighed the good in my mind. I was anti- both religion in general and Christianity in particular. This interview does a great job of reminding me of the positive role many faith communities have and still provide us.