Library Research Notes is a product of hippiegrrl media, where we believe that Black Lives Matter, Climate Change is real, Treaties should be honored, Bodily autonomy is essential, Love is love, No human is illegal, Science=Truth, Unions work, Gun Reform is imperative, and the time for Trans Liberation is now! We value your readership. If you enjoy the Library Research Notes newsletter, please share it with a friend.
Hello again and welcome back to the Library Research Notes newsletter. It’s early voting season, here in Tennessee, and soon to be all around the country as well. We had high turnout on day one, and we are tracking slightly above 2020 so far. I am hopeful that these turnout numbers will remain steady and that we will, at minimum, oust Marsha Blackburn from the Senate by voting in Gloria Johnson. That, my dear readers, will be one of the best birthday gifts I can hope for, second only to President Kamala Harris! Let’s do this!!
As always - there are ballot measures that are important to consider, when visiting the polls. Below is a sample of some of the most interesting propositions, amendments, initiatives, etc. For a full list of all measures, visit ballotpedia.org
Abortion - let’s codify some reproductive rights!!
Arizona - Proposition 139: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion
Colorado - Amendment 79: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion and repeal provision banning the use of public funds for abortions
Florida - Amendment 4: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability
Maryland - Question 1: Provide for a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion
Missouri - Amendment 3: Provide for a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion
Montana - CI128: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability
Nebraska - Initiative 439: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability
Nevada - Question 6: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability
New York State - Ballot Proposal 1: Provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their "ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability" or "sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy"
South Dakota - Constitutional Amendment G: Provide for a state constitutional right to abortion with a trimester framework for regulations
Wages
Alaska - Ballot Measure 1: Increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour and require employers to provide earned paid sick leave for employees
California - Proposition 32: Increase the state's minimum wage to $18 per hour
Massachusetts - Question 5: Increase the minimum wage for tipped employees to meet the state's standard minimum wage
Missouri - Proposition A: Increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour and require employers to provide earned paid sick leave for employees
Nebraska - Initiative 436: Require employers to provide earned paid sick leave for employees
Drug Use Policy
Florida - Amendment 3: Legalize the recreational or personal use of marijuana
Massachusetts - Question 4: Allow persons 21 years of age or older to grow, possess, and use natural psychedelic substances, as well as establish a commission to regulate the licensing of psychedelic substances and services
This one is particularly interesting - “The initiative defines natural psychedelic substances as "substances from a plant or fungus and any plant, fungus or preparation containing those substances: (1) Dimethyltryptamine; (2) Mescaline; (3) Ibogaine; (4) Psilocybin; or (5) Psilocyn." Individuals would be allowed to grow the plants or fungi as long as the area does not exceed 12 feet by 12 feet and is secured from access by persons 21 years of age or younger.” (ballotpedia.org)
Only two other States, Colorado (2022) and Oregon (2020), have passed similar measures.
North Dakota - Initiated Measure 5: Legalize the recreational or personal use of marijuana
Nebraska - Initiative 437: Legalize the medical use of marijuana in the state
South Dakota - Initiated Measure 29: Legalize the recreational or personal use of marijuana
Be sure to check your ballot before heading to the polls, to clearly understand the measures that might appear as they are often written in a confusing manner. You can find more information on your ballot by visiting vote411.org.
The Vice Presidential Debate
Next up, I would like to discuss the VP debate that took place on 1 October 2024. Now that a few weeks have gone by, we have all had time to digest it and come up with our own thoughts and feelings about how it went. First impression was that it was very cordial, but that isn’t the most important thing about a debate. Was their substance? Does it even matter, since these are the VP candidates?
Normally, I wouldn’t even speak on the VP debate, but this year it is very important because JD Vance is not someone that would be good to have a heartbeat away from the Presidency. His ideas about how the country should be run are archaic, making him a favourite of the TheoBros (motherjones.com) and a close second to Mike Johnson for worst person in the line of succession.
Rather than going question by question through the debate - I just want to share with you some quotes, along with links that debunk some of the claims that Vance made. There were several things he said that were untrue, but he has a tendency to be quite smooth with his delivery, so they may have slipped by. Here are a few for your consideration, all drawn from the transcript you can find here: cbsnews.com
“…one of the things that I've noticed some of our democratic friends talking a lot about is a concern about carbon emissions. This idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change. Well, let's just say that's true, just for the sake of argument, so we're not arguing about weird science. Let's just say that's true. Well, if you believe that, what would you, what would you want to do? The answer is that you'd want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible and you'd want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world.”
JD Vance
There is certainly a lot to unpack here, including the assertion that the Trump administration would do anything other than cut taxes for corporations and remove restrictions on polluting, but the main thing I would like to focus on is the fact that he says “IF YOU BELIEVE THAT”. Climate change denier.
“Look, in Springfield, Ohio and in communities all across this country, you've got schools that are overwhelmed, you've got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes. The people that I'm most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris's open border.”
JD Vance
Here, Vance doubles down on a lie that he told about migrants living in Springfield, Ohio, even though it has been debunked by the residents of Springfield many times over. Also - Vice President’s don’t make policies. VP Harris may have been implementing Biden’s policies, but she didn’t create them. That is not the job of a Vice President.
“The CBP app has not been on the books since 1990. It's something that Kamala Harris created, Margaret.”
JD Vance
In the midst of Vance trying to be ‘not fact checked’ by the moderators, he mentioned an app that is used by US Customs and Border Protection, called the CBPOne App. He claimed that this app is “where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand”. This is a mischaracterization of the app, which is actually what anyone immigrating to the US would use to get started. The app itself was released on 28 October 2020 - when Trump was the President.
When asked if Vance would ‘seek to challenge this year’s election results’ he responded with this…
“I think that we're focused on the future. We need to figure out how to solve the inflation crisis caused by Kamala Harris's policies. Make housing affordable, make groceries affordable, and that's what we're focused on.”
“Remember, he said that on January 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully. And on January 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the President. Donald Trump left the White House. And now, of course, unfortunately, we have all of the negative policies that have come from the Harris-Biden administration.”
JD Vance
So many pieces of misinformation. First - January 6th was not a peaceful protest and Trump never said that. Trump never conceded. And there are no ‘Kamala Harris policies’ or a ‘Harris-Biden administration’. Kamala Harris is the Vice President. Yes - she is part of the Biden-Harris administration, but the VP, again, does not have the power of the Presidency. The VP serves at the pleasure of the President. Seriously - has Vance never watched an episode of The West Wing?!
From here, Vance went on to claim that he “never supported a national ban” on abortion, which was a backtrack from his statement, in 2022, while running for Senator when he stated that he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” (cnn.com) This, of course, was not direct support for a ban, but he certainly does believe this and is lying now to win votes from moderate voters who don’t want to see reproductive rights completely dismantled in this country.
Vance, again, talked about the concept of ‘late-term’ abortion as if it is not the hardest decision of a pregnant person’s life, but some random decision in the 38th week when they just wake up and decide they don’t want to be a parent. But within that response, he also mentioned that Catholic hospitals are at risk of being forced to “perform abortions against their will”. This is not true, but drawn from a court case in which the State of California sued a Catholic hospital for not providing care to a patient whose life was in danger. (California Sues Catholic Hospital for Denying Emergency Abortion Care) Although religious affiliated hospitals do not schedule abortions for those who choose not to be pregnant, when a patient who is in distress during pregnancy comes to the emergency room, I do believe that they would perform whatever procedure is needed to save the life of the pregnant person. If they are not doing this, they are actually going against the Hippocratic Oath, and should not be allowed to continue practicing medicine.
The above is just a sample of the misinformation that Vance is willing to float in order to maintain the MAGA base. I realize you might be thinking, what about Walz? Well - I will say that he didn’t do a perfect job in the debate, but he is not an existential threat to democracy, so I don’t feel the need to focus the attention on him and away from the real threat of Trump-Vance administration. If given the chance, they will dismantle the government from the outside in and move us ever closer to a fascist, authoritarian state. Project 2025 is the blueprint and the first Trump term was the setup.
Let’s not let these two get ahold of that office. Vote like your life and country depend on it because, as I’ve said before, they quite literally do.
Good news from the stacks
If you made it this far you DEFINITELY deserve some good news!!
Previously Unknown Mozart Song Discovered in German Library After 200 Years
Classic Cocktails: ‘Let Loose in the Library’ to benefit public library programs
Jefferson Parish libraries offer free legal advice in 'Ask-a-Lawyer' sessions
This Savvy Librarian Was the True Force Behind New York’s Iconic Morgan Library
Thank you for reading this post
If you feel so inclined, please share. And if you want to interact even more, please leave a comment!