2020 General Election - Other States and Third Parties

I’ve been making these posts about the 2020 Elections in an effort to help people research their candidates and to take downballot elections seriously. Most of my posts are Minnesota-centric as I am a resident of Minnesota; however, I am aware that each state has their own electoral system. That means that not every state will have all of the same candidates - in fact, as I alluded to on my post about the Minnesota Presidential Election, there are only three candidates on all 51 [Note 1] ballots this year: Biden/Harris (Democrat), Trump/Pence (Republican), and Jorgensen/Cohen (Libertarian). This means that parties can have multiple people running for president or vice-president, have people running as a political statement, or have people run as a spoiler vote.

2020 Downballot Races (Minnesota)

When you vote, do you remember to check the back of your ballot to make certain that you voted for everything that’s happening? Sure, you know about the President, Congress, and State Offices. But what about your local courts, mayors and city council members, and park commissioners? Each of them play a vital role in how your city, county, and state works. Statewide and local elections can determine our rights.

2020 General Election - Race for Congress (State - Minnesota)

This year is an election year for the Minnesota State Legislature. With the spectacle and glamour of the federal government, people tend to forget that the state governments have a lot of power - state legislatures hold the keys to the civil rights of America’s citizens. The United States Congress isn’t taking major action on guns, on abortion, or on minimum wage - all of that is being taken on by state legislatures. Also, in many states, state legislatures draw new US congressional maps every 10 years after the Census.

But a number of these races are left uncontested, which is unfortunate as laws are passed more frequently at the state and local levels than they are at the federal level. That means state legislatures do a huge amount of work while no one is looking, and they don’t have anybody to challenge them to make certain that they keep in touch with their constituents. If you want action on laws in regards to abortion, marijuana, public safety, or anything else, then you need to pay attention to your state legislatures. Remember that one vote can swing an election - don’t leave us in the fuck barrel.

2020 General Election - Race for Congress (Federal)

The 2020 General Election is drawing ever closer. Are you registered? Minnesotans can register here. Early no-excuse voting has already started, and you can still request your ballot by mail. It is not too late! If you do request your ballot by mail, you can mail it back or deliver it yourself; if you decide to not request a ballot by mail, you can still vote early in person - or even on election day itself, if you have to! MPR News had Secretary of State Steve Simon answer questions about early voting - I suggest that everyone give it a listen. Now, research your candidates and get out there! Get voting!

2020 General Election - Race for President and Vice President

Here we are, folks. The 2020 General Election is on November 3rd. In Minnesota, early no-excuse voting started on September 18th, 46 days before Election Day. You can request your ballot by mail and mail it back or deliver it yourself, or you can vote early in person. MPR News had Secretary of State Steve Simon answer questions about early voting - it’s an excellent listen, and I suggest all Minnesota voters listen to it. Voters in other states, I strongly suggest that you check in with your Secretaries of State and see if you can vote early.

Black Fan, White Fandom - CONvergence 2020

Black Fan, White Fandom: What it was like in the days before representation was as prominent, even though we have a long way to go. Panelists: Taylor Aaron Cisco, Briana Lawrence, Justin Edward Grays. Liaison: Shannan Paul

Although COVID-19 has postponed CONvergence: The Stuff of Legends to 2021, we still were able to move forward with having an online convention. CONvergence Online was a free to attend event where we can digitally gather and enjoy the convention weekend; we were still able to hold room parties and participate in panels over Zoom. You can listen to or download an audio version of the panel here, or watch on the CONvergence YouTube channel.

CVG 2020 Will Be Online - I Hope To See You There!

Although COVID-19 has postponed CONvergence: The Stuff of Legends to 2021, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be a CONvergence in 2020. This weekend will be CONvergence Online - a free to attend event where we can digitally gather and enjoy the convention weekend! I hope to see you all there!

I will be on a panel with Taylor A Cisco on Friday the 21st at 6PM: Black Fan, White Fandom - “A discussion of how PoC kept their geek torches burning in the days when representation was non-existent.” If you have any early questions that you would like us to consider during our discussion, please feel free to fill out the form below. I cannot guarantee that your question will come up, but even if it doesn’t, I will do my best to answer your question in a post after the convention!

I made a long response to this offensive post so you don't have to.

Some time ago, someone wrote a post on social media and accredited it to pro-golfer Bubba Watson. This post was a poorly written, terribly construed piece of garbage that takes more time to explain why each point of it is incorrect than it took to write in the first place. It uses the type of rapid-fire wording that makes it look like it is trying to be thoughtful and making a point when it is nothing more than an offensive dog-whistle and rides on the back of the lack of media literacy in certain groups of people. It is an attempt to make things look like Black people don’t care about our communities when we have been struggling our entire lives to survive.

Minnesota 2020 Primary - US House, 5th MN District

Now that I have made my decision about who will get my vote for the Senate in the Primary, let’s take a look at the US House of Representatives. I live in the Minnesota 5th Congressional District, which has 9 people running across 3 parties. Like for senator, only one person can get my vote, so I will have to narrow it down.

Minnesota 2020 Primary - US Senate

Tuesday, August 12th, will be Minnesota’s Primary Election Day. A primary election determines which candidates will be on the ballot in the November general election [8], the winner representing their political party. There are 12 candidates across five parties running this year - Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) [Note 1], Republican, Legal Marijuana Now, and Grassroots - Legalize Cannabis. I haven’t yet decided for whom I am going to vote, and so I will share my decision with you as I finish making it.

It's Time for the Minnesota 2020 Primary Elections (Federal Edition)!

It's Time for the Minnesota 2020 Primary Elections (Federal Edition)!

With all that is going on in the world, it is sometimes easy to forget important things. One thing that many people seem to have forgotten is that there is a primary election in Minnesota on August 11th. That makes sense, as we already had our presidential primary on March 3rd, and then many townships had elections on March 10th. But yes, we have another primary - it’s not over yet!

We Must Defund and Dismantle the Police

We have been seeing gestures from political entities, ranging from Black Lives Matter murals painted on streets and streets renamed to Black Live Matter, to congresspeople wearing Kente Cloth, to cops kneeling in supposed solidarity before resuming their beatings of protesters. But gestures are not enough - action is needed. What we need are the defunding and dismantling of police, as well as investment in communities.

State of Minnesota Emergency Executive Order 20-20 - Part 2

Before I read to you, a disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and none of this is legal advice. I am merely reading a publicly accessible document published by the State of Minnesota. The document can be accessed here: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/archive/execorders/20-20.pdf

This order is 22 pages long, and so I will be cutting it up into several parts.

State of Minnesota Emergency Executive Order 20-20 - Part 1

Before I read to you, a disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and none of this is legal advice. I am merely reading a publicly accessible document published by the State of Minnesota. The document can be accessed here: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/archive/execorders/20-20.pdf

This order is 22 pages long, and so I will be cutting it up into several parts.

Welcome to Justin Reads!

Welcome to Justin Reads. In this channel. I will read to you historical documents, governmental orders, and various works in the public domain. If you have any specific requests, please leave a comment for visit my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/justingrays

Super Bowl Halftime Shakeup

The 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show seems to have ruffled some feathers. I personally didn’t care about Super Bowl LIV until a couple of days after it happened - that was when I started seeing commentary from various folx calling out people who have been having “righteous anger” about Jennifer López and Shakira’s halftime performance. To be honest, I still don’t care about football or the Super Bowl itself [Note 1] [Note 2]; I only liked the beauty, pageantry, and importance of this particular halftime performance.

It took over a day before I saw any negative posts about the halftime show appear in my social media - in fact, I only saw one directly. The condensed version of the one negative post said: “We want women to not be seen as sex objects… yet we celebrate during half time woman[sic] in almost nothing doing strip club moves” and went on to say that men of “integrity” chose a better path than to watch the show [Note 3]. It was strongly implied that the men of “integrity” were some flavor of Christians - Assemblies of God [Note 4], I think. This was a troubling sentiment, and I responded with:

So, we should blame women for men not treating people like people? That doesn't make sense. And what about the Latinx kids in cages singing BORN IN THE USA and LETS GET LOUD surrounded by an illumined Venus symbol? Did you notice the foot work? Did you notice the rope Shakira tied around her body while belly dancing? Everything done at this event has a far, FAR deeper meaning. Not to mention the multilingual songs, the Puerto Rican flag, that sex work is legitimate work and the pole wasn’t about you? This righteous anger is very weird, I find. "Here's what appropriate dress is" with no concept of culture or history, with nothing said about kids in cages or the policing of brown bodies. Depressing.

One person took exception to my saying that sex work is legitimate work, and made her feelings clear about it, expanding on them on her own page. Unfortunately, everything said was either based on a lie, was a half-truth, or was the legacy of white people removing POC agency. I was initially incensed, but then instead of engaging directly I decided to go ahead and write this.

When I made my initial comment on the Super Bowl post, I had not yet seen the entire performance; only clips, stills, and other people's comments. Since then, I have seen the performance in its entirety. I was absolutely floored by it. It was an amazing experience. It also made me even more disturbed by the comment that I saw.

I hope that anybody who reads this will have the opportunity to share it and help spread knowledge - stop the shaming and misinformation.

An Academic Interest in Sex

One of the Sex Education YouTubers whom I follow, Hannah Witton, posted a video: Early Signs I Would Be a Sex Educator | Hannah Witton. She got me thinking - why am I also interested in sex as a subject? Why do I watch YouTubers like Hannah Witton and Dr. Lindsey Doe, and follow-up on different studies and talk to people about sex? And so I went on a mental journey and thought about the different events in my life that set me on the course that got me to where I am today.