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RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-12

Kamala Harris and the inheritance from her mother
  • By Bhargavi Kulkarni
  • Jan 22, 2019 Updated Jan 29, 2019




[Image: 5c47b3828e170.image.jpg?resize=400%2C305]

Shyamala Gopalan Harris with her daughters Kamala and Maya, outside their apartment on Milvia Street in Berkeley, Calif., in January 1970, after she separated from her husband Donald Harris. From then on, the trio was known as Shyamala and the girls., Harris writes in her new book “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”

In her memoir “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” California Sen. Kamala Devi Harris touches upon her personal journey — growing up in Oakland as the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, as well as about rising through the ranks to become the District Attorney of San Francisco and later the chief law enforcement officer of the state of California, before serving as a senator.

The book is being called a “soft launch” for her bid for the 2020 presidential race. She doesn’t mince words as she shows her disdain for the policies of President Donald Trump. Neither does she shy away from projecting her as a progressive and a champion for everyday Americans.

But what remains a constant strain throughout the book is the influence her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, has had on Harris, her thought process and in shaping her career and her ideals.

Harris details what she inherited from her mother, and from her upbringing. “Though I miss her every day, I carry her with me wherever I go. I think of the battles she fought, the values she taught me, … There is no title or honor on earth I’ll treasure more than to say I am Shyamala Gopalan Harris’s daughter,” she writes.
Shyamala Gopalan Harris was a Tamilian from India, while her father Donald Harris was an African-American from Jamaica.

Pride in South Asian Roots Growing up bi-racial, there’s been a lot said about whether Harris identifies herself as a black American or an Indian-American. Though Harris has never shied away about speaking about her mother and her influence on her, there is a section of Indian-Americans who believe that Harris doesn’t identify herself as one of them. While Harris understandably identifies herself African-American in the political context, she is personally, and perhaps equally understandably, very Indian in her personal lifestyle, and is very close to her Indian extended family.

“My mother, grandparents, aunts and uncle instilled us with pride in our South Asian roots,” she writes. “Our classic Indian names harked back to our heritage, and we were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture,” she continues. “All of my mother’s words of affection or frustration came out in her mother tongue — which seems fitting to me, since the purity of those emotions is what I associate with my mother most of all.”

In the preface, Harris dedicates a paragraph on the meaning and the right pronunciation of her name. “First, my name is pronounced ‘comma-la,’ like the punctuation mark. It means ‘lotus flower,’ which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture. A lotus grows underwater, its flower rising above the surface white its roots are planted firmly in the river bottom.

But at the same time, she admits that she and her sister Maya were raised as black girls. “My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters,” she writes. “She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.”

Interestingly, the only mention of Harris’ religion or faith comes early on in the book, where she describes her growing up years in Oakland, before they moved to Montreal. “On Sundays, our mother would send us off to the 23rd Avenue Church of God, piled with other kids in the back of Mrs. Shelton’s station wagon. My earliest memories of the teachings of the Bible were of a loving God, a God who asked us to ‘speak up for this who cannot speak for themselves’ and to ‘defend the rights of the poor and the needy.’ This is where I learned that ‘faith’ is a verb; I believe we must live our faith in action.”

Journey Across 7 Seas

In the first chapter Harris introduces us to her parents, her mother’s extended family, her sister, and her growing up years with her parents. She gives a glimpse of her mother’s life in India and of how hard it was for her parents to allow her to come to California for higher studies.

“My mother’s life began thousands of miles to the east, in southern India,” she writes. “Shyamala Gopalan was the oldest of four children — three girls and a boy. Like my father, she was a gifted student, and when she showed a passion for science, her parents encouraged and supported her.”

Harris then talks about her mother’s journey from Delhi to California. “She graduated from the University of Delhi at nineteen,” Harris says of her mother. “And she didn’t stop there.” She tell us that her mother applied to a graduate program at Berkeley, “a university she’d never seen, in a country she’d never visited.”

She continues: “It’s hard for me to imagine how difficult it must have been for her parents to let her go. 
Commercial jet travel was only just starting to spread globally. It wouldn’t be a simple matter to stay in touch. Yet, when my mother asked permission to move to California, my grandparents didn’t stand in the way. She was a teenager when she left home for Berkeley in 1958 to pursue a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology, on her way to becoming a breast cancer researcher.”

She then talks about how her parents met. “My mother was expected to return to India after she completed her degree,” she writes. “But fate had other plans. She and my father met and fell in love at Berkeley while participating in the civil rights movement. Her marriage — and her decision to stay in the United States — were the ultimate acts of self-determination and love.”

Harris then gives the readers a glimpse into their life. “My parents had two daughters together,” she writes. “My mother received her PhD at age twenty-five, the same year I was born. My beloved sister, Maya, came two years later,” she writes. “Family lore has it that, in both pregnancies, my mother kept working right up to the moment of delivery — one time, her water broke while she was at the lab, and the other while she was making apple strudel. (In both cases, knowing my mom, she would have insisted on finishing up before she went to the hospital).”

She goes on describe her days as a toddler. “Those early days were happy and carefree,” she writes. “Music filled our home. My mother loved to sing along to gospel — from Aretha Franklin’s early work to the Edwin Hawkins Singers,” she recalls. “She had won an award in India for her singing, and I loved hearing that voice.” She then informs the readers how her father cared about music as much as her mother. “He had an extensive Jazz collection, so many albums that they filled all the shelving against one of the walls. Every night, I would fall asleep to the sounds of Thelonious Monk, John Coltraine, or Miles Davis,” she writes.

But then things changed; her parents eventually separated. “But the harmony between my parents didn’t last,” she writes. “In time, things got harder. They stopped being kind to each other. I knew they loved each other very much, but it seemed they had become like oil and water.” By the time Harris was 5, she says that the bond between her parents “had given way under the weight of incompatibility.” Her parents separated shortly after her father took a job at the University of Wisconsin, and they divorced a few years later. “They didn’t fight about money,” she writes. “The only thing they fought about was who got the books.”

Recalling those tough days, she writes: “I’ve often thought that had they been a little older, more emotionally mature, maybe the marriage could have survived. But they were so young. My father was my mother’s first boyfriend.”

But Harris was aware that the divorce was hard on her parents. “I think, for my mother, the divorce represented a kind of failure she had never considered. Her marriage was as much an act of rebellion as an act of love. Explaining it to her parents had been hard enough. Explaining the divorce, I imagine, was harder. I doubt they ever said to her, ‘I told you so,’ but I think those words echoed in her mind regardless.”

Their father meanwhile remained a part of the sisters’ lives. “We would see him on weekends and spend summers with him in Palo Alto,” Harris writes. “But it was really my mother who took charge of our upbringing. She was the one most responsible for shaping us into the women we would become.”

Strong, Nurturing Support

She describes her mother as smart, tough, fierce, protective, generous, loyal, and funny. And she was extraordinary. “My mother was barely five foot one, but I felt like she was six foot two,” she writes. And Harris says, Shyamala Gopalan Harris had only two goals in life: to raise her two daughters and to end breast cancer. “She pushed us hard and with high expectations as she nurtured us. And all the while, she made Maya and me feel special, like we could do anything we wanted to if we put in the work.

And Harris attributes those qualities to her mother’s growing up years in India. “My mother had been raised in a household where political activism and civic leadership came naturally,” she writes. Shyamala Gopalan’s mother — Kamala and Maya’s grandmother — Rajam Gopalan, had never attended high school, Harris writes, “but she was a skilled community organizer. She would take in the women who were being abused by their husbands, and then she’d call the husbands and tell them they’d better shape up or she would take care of them. She used to gather village women together, educating them about contraception,” she writes.

[Image: im-223072?width=620&size=1.5]
Shyamala Gopalan, left, Harris at a civil rights march in Berkeley, California.

Kamala and Maya’s grandfather P.V. Gopalan had been part of the movement to win India’s independence.
“Eventually, as a senior diplomat in the Indian government, he and my grandmother had spent time living in Zambia after it gained independence, helping to settle refuges. He used to joke that my grandmother’s activism would get him in trouble one day. But he knew that was never going to stop her. From them, my mother learned that it was service to others that gave life purpose and meaning. And my mother, Maya and I learned the same.”


Along with the life lessons, Harris writes that Shyamala Gopalan inherited her mother’s strength and courage. “People who knew them knew not to mess with either,” she writes. “And from both my grandparents, my mother developed a keen political consciousness. She was conscious of history, conscious of struggle, conscious of inequities. She was born with a sense of justice imprinted on her soul.”

And it was this activism and sense of justice that Shyamala Gopalan Harris brought to the U.S. and which drove her to the Civil Rights Movement. And Harris got a toddlers-eye view of the movement. Since she was an infant, Harris says her parents, her environment, her upbringing helped shape her. “My parents often brought me in a stroller with them to civil rights marches,” she writes. “I have young memories of a sea of legs moving about, of the energy, shouts and chants. Social justice was an important part of family discussions.”
She shares a story her mother would enjoy recalling about the time when Harris was fussing as a toddler. “’What do you want?’ she asked, trying to soothe me. ‘Fweedom!’ I yelled back.”

Throughout the book, Harris makes several references to her mother, her sister Maya and her niece Meena.

There are times when she connects a memory to a certain policy-related decision she has had to make, or remembers her mother’s teachings when dealing with or trying to overcome a certain situation. We hear some of Shyamala Gopalan Harris’ favorite quotes: “Don’t let anybody tell you who you are. You tell them who you are” or “Focus on what’s in front of you and the rest will follow” or “You may be the first. Don’t be the last.”

At every juncture of her life, we see Harris going back to her mother. When she began working at the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, Harris is once again reminded of a life-lesson her mother shared with her. “It was my mother who had instilled that [what matters is how well you run the portion of the race that is yours] in me,” she writes. “My mother was a breast cancer researcher. Like her colleagues, she dreamed of the day we’d find a cure. But she wasn’t fixated on that distant dream; she focused on the work right in front of her. The work that would move us closer, day by day, year by year, until we crossed the finish line.”

Revisiting Old Memories

One of the important things writing this book helped Harris do was “sit with good memories that don’t always make it to the front of my mind.” Talking about the process of writing her book, she says: “When I was getting ready to write this book, I spent a good deal of time going through photo albums, reminiscing with Maya, and unpacking old boxes, including things my mother had saved. It’s been a blessing.”

She also got a chance to rummage through old things, old photographs. “Our mother loved to talk with her hands, and she was always using her hands — to cook, to clean, to comfort,” Harris writes.

“She was always busy. Work itself was something to value — hard work especially; and she made sure that we, her daughters, internalized that message and the importance of working with purpose.” Another important value she taught her kids, Harris says, was how to value all work, not just your own. Harris says that her mother saw the dignity in the work that society requires to function. “She believed that everyone deserved respect for the work they do, and that hard effort should be rewarded and honored.”

[Image: WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zq...5ErkJggg==]
Kamala Harris and friends at their Howard University graduation. 

Another of her mother’s teachings: importance of a mentor.

Now, as a senator Harris says that when she travels across the country, she can relate to see how people are trying to make the voice heard, make a difference, with their kids, their babies in tow.

“When I travel our country, I see that optimism in the eyes of five-and seven- and ten-year-olds who feel a sense of purpose in being part of the fight. I see it, and feel it, in the energy of the people I meet. Yes, people are shouting. But they are doing it from a place of optimism. That’s why they’ve got their babies with them. That’s why my parents took me in a stroller to civil rights marches. Because as overwhelming as the circumstances maybe, they believe, as I do, that a better future is possible for us all.”


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-12

What Kamala Harris Isn’t Saying About Her Mother’s Background

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-kamala-harris-isnt-saying-about-her-mothers-background-11597944590

Tamil Brahmins like Shyamala Gopalan fled identity politics and socialism for the U.S.

By 
Sadanand Dhume


Aug. 20, 2020 1:29 pm ET


[Image: im-223072?width=620&size=1.5]
Kamala Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan (left), with a friend during a civil-rights protest in Berkeley, Calif.

PHOTO: /ASSOCIATED PRESS


As we learn about Kamala Harris, we’re also learning about her late mother. On the senator’s website and in numerous speeches, Ms. Harris traces her inspiration for “fighting injustice” to Shyamala Gopalan, “an Indian-American immigrant, activist, and breast cancer researcher.” In her speech to the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Ms. Harris called her mother, who died of cancer in 2009, “the most important person in my life.”

As the story goes, Gopalan arrived in the U.S. as a 19-year-old student in 1958 and plunged into the civil-rights movement in Berkeley, Calif., where she met the Jamaica-born economist Donald Harris. After a few years of marriage and two daughters, Gopalan and Mr. Harris divorced. In Ms. Harris’s 2019 book, “The Truths We Hold,” she credits her Indian-born mother with ensuring that Ms. Harris and her sister would “grow into confident, proud black women.”


For many Americans, Shyamala Gopalan’s immigrant story is a heartwarming part of a famous politician’s biography. But Ms. Harris’s mother also figures in another tale told less often: of India’s small and successful Tamil Brahmin diaspora.

Originating in Tamil Nadu, on the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, Tamil Brahmins, known colloquially as Tambrams, are thought to number fewer than two million world-wide. Though precise numbers don’t exist, scholars estimate the group’s size in the U.S. at about 50,000, a small fraction of the four million strong Indian-American community. Another 50,000 are scattered in other countries, including the U.K., Canada and Australia.


Like most Indian-Americans, Tambrams are relatively recent immigrants. Most came to the U.S. after Congress eased immigration rules in 1965. But they have produced two Nobel Laureates in the sciences, a clutch of prominent business leaders, including former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, and too many prominent doctors, engineers and academics to count.

What explains this? To begin with, historically Tambrams occupied the pinnacle of society in the Tamil-speaking region in southern India. As hereditary Hindu priests, they benefited from centuries of literacy, and many were significant landowners as well. Under British rule, the community quickly took to English education. Over time, many Tambrams rose to occupy trusted positions in the colonial government, where they developed a reputation for probity and for being sticklers for rules. Others took to modern professions such as law, engineering and medicine.


In the 20th century, as political and economic upheaval drove Tamil Brahmins from towns and villages to cities, the community developed a cult of learning. M.R. Rangaswami, a California-based technology investor who founded Indiaspora, an advocacy group that seeks strong U.S.-India relations, recalls growing up in Madras (now called Chennai) in the 1960s and 1970s, in a Tamil Brahmin community that revered the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) rather than the usual movie stars.

Ms. Nooyi credits her success in corporate America to her strict and frugal Tamil Brahmin upbringing in Madras. In a phone interview, she recalls a community for which “education was everything.”

Children weren’t allowed to be even five minutes late for school or to talk back to elders. Grandfathers supplemented homework with extra math problems and spelling tests. “As a conservative Tamil Brahmin, you could forget about fashion or having a social life,” said Ms. Nooyi. “When you weren’t studying, you were focused on classical music and dance, and on reading as much as you possibly could.”

In her book, Ms. Harris airbrushes her mother’s community from her story. The words Tamil and Brahmin don’t appear at all. At one point the senator mentions that Gopalan won an award for her singing in India, but not that it was for Carnatic music, a classical art form closely associated with Tamil Brahmins.

At one level, this omission is understandable. The senator is a U.S. politician appealing to American voters. She has no obligation to know about her mother’s ancestral community, much less to recount its story.

But the Tamil Brahmin story also undercuts many of the pieties of the U.S. left. How do you characterize America as a land of oppression when so many immigrants have clearly experienced it as a land of opportunity?

The Indian policies that spurred Tambram migration also offer a cautionary tale. Socialism, adopted at independence in 1947, created so few jobs that within two decades educated Indians began streaming to the West. Even today, the middle-class dream for many Indians begins with emigrating.
Add to this the pitfalls of identity politics. Beginning in the early 20th century, anti-Brahminism became a hallmark of Tamil politics. 

Numerically larger castes—Brahmins accounted for only 2.5% of the population—mobilized on the basis of group identity. In the 1960s they introduced sweeping quotas in education and government employment that forced many Tambrams to seek opportunities elsewhere.

The identity entrepreneurs who dominate Tamil Nadu politics justify reverse discrimination—7 in 10 college admissions and government jobs in the state have long been filled using quotas—on grounds of historical grievance. It’s undeniable that Tambrams had advantages, and many of their ancestors held views about social hierarchy that rightly grate on our modern sensibilities. Nonetheless, the community’s marginalization and migration is also a textbook example of the folly of pushing identity politics too far.

As the Democratic convention wraps up, many more Americans will have learned about the remarkable woman who raised Ms. Harris and her younger sister, Maya. They also deserve to learn the lesson of the community into which Shyamala Gopalan was born.

Potomac Watch: Last year the media and Democrats were skewering Kamala Harris for a disastrous presidential bid that never found a clear message. Today she's lauded in the press as a masterful politician. Images: Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-12

Kamala Harris's Father, Donald J. Harris, Is an Award-Winning Stanford Professor

The economist immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica for his Ph.D.


https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a33598837/kamala-harris-father-donald-j-harris-facts/

The 2020 election is fast approaching, and with that comes the presidential and vice-presidential debates. On October 7, senator Kamala Harris will face off with vice president Mike Pence in Kingsbury Hall, located on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. On August 11, Joe Biden announced that Kamala Harris would serve as his running mate for the 2020 election cycle. The newly-minted VP candidate isn’t unfamiliar with being a “first” in her field, however: In 2011, Harris made history when she was elected as the first Black and Indian American woman to serve as California’s attorney general. And if Joe Biden is elected, she will be the first Black, first female, and first Indian American vice president.

As a lawyer and U.S. Senator, Harris’s identity in both her personal life and politics has been largely shaped by her background: her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who died in 2009, was an Indian immigrant, and her father, Donald J. Harris, is a Jamaican immigrant.


During the Democratic National Convention in August, Harris reflected on her upbringing, making brief mention of her father. “At the University of California Berkeley [my mother] met my father, Donald Harris, who came from Jamaica to study economics. They fell in love in that most American way, while marching together for justice during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. In the streets of Oakland and Berkeley, I got a strollers-eye view of people getting into what the great John Lewis called ‘good trouble.’”


While Harris is very vocal about her Indian and Jamaican roots, it’s not often that she speaks out about her father. Below, what we know about Donald J. Harris.


He came to the United States to study economics.


Donald J. Harris was born in Jamaica in 1938, and moved to the United States in the 1960s to get his Ph.D. at the University of California-Berkeley. He later became naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Harris taught at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University briefly, then became an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before moving to California and securing a job as a Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Now, after retiring in the late 1990s, he holds the title of emeritus professor.


He spent many years at Stanford University.


According to Harris’s Stanford bio, “His research and publications have centered on exploring the analytical conception of the process of capital accumulation and its implications for a theory of growth of the economy, with the aim of providing thereby an explanation of the intrinsic character of growth as a process of uneven development.”

Throughout his career, Harris traveled around the world to conduct research, give seminars, and consult with various governments—including his home country of Jamaica, where he served as an economic adviser—to work toward boosting their economies.






He and Kamala’s mother met at Berkeley during the Civil Rights movement.


Harris and Gopalan met at the University of California, Berkeley, where they were both studying for their doctorates. According to their daughter’s autobiography, The Truths We HoldDonald and Shyamala “met and fell in love at Berkeley while participating in the civil rights movement.” 


Speaking about her parents, Kamala said in an Instagram post: “They laid the path for me, as only the second Black woman ever elected to the United States Senate.”

He and Kamala’s mother divorced when she was seven years old.


[instagram align='center' id='CD1IMkUj0rp']https://www.instagram.com/p/CD1IMkUj0rp[/instagram]


Kamala was just seven years old when her parents separated, and her mother was granted full custody of Kamala and her sister Maya. In a 2018 essay written by Donald entitled Reflections of a Jamaican Father, he goes into detail about their divorce, noting that it “came to an abrupt halt in 1972” after he lost a “hard-fought custody battle in the family court of Oakland, California.” Despite the terms of their divorce, Harris claims that his love for his family didn't end when his marriage did. “Nevertheless, I persisted, never giving up on my love for my children or reneging on my responsibilities as their father.”


He made sure his daughters celebrated their heritage.


In the essay mentioned above, Donald also recalls memories of taking his daughters to Jamaica to teach them about their heritage.


“One of the most vivid and fondest memories I have of that early period with my children is of the visit we made in 1970 to Orange Hill,” he writes. “We trudged through the cow dung and rusted iron gates, up-hill and down-hill, along narrow unkempt paths, to the very end of the family property, all in my eagerness to show to the girls the terrain over which I had wandered daily for hours as a boy (with Miss Chrishy hollering in the distance: “yu better cum home now, bwoy, or else!”).”


This likely had a lasting impact, as Kamala often reflects on her family’s heritage and her ancestors—factors that have shaped her worldview as a politician.


He famously criticized a joke Kamala made about her Jamaican roots.


During an appearance on the radio show “The Breakfast Club” in February, Kamala Harris joked with host Charlamagne tha God about her views on marijuana use. When asked whether she supported or opposed the legalization of the drug, she replied saying, “Half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?”


Her father was far from amused. In a statement to Jamaica Global Online, Donald wrote that “My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics.”


[twitter align='center' id='1094974352712499201' username='kylegriffin1']https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1094974352712499201[/twitter]


LUCIA TONELLI Assistant Editor

Lucia Tonelli is an Assitant Editor at Town & Country, where she writes about the royal family, culture, real estate, and more.



RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-12

Tóm lại, vợ của Joe Biden có PhD về ngành Giáo Dục, cha của Kamala Harris có PhD về ngành  Kinh Tế .

Cả hai đều dạy học .

Good . Good .  Me like  Biggrin .


RE: Linh Tinh - Hope - 2020-10-12

(2020-10-12, 06:14 AM)LeThanhPhong Wrote: Allan Lichtman: The 13 Keys to the White House

https://voxpopulisphere.com/2020/08/21/allan-lichtman-the-13-keys-to-the-white-house/

The Keys are statements that favor victory (in the popular vote count) for the incumbent party. When five or fewer statements are false, the incumbent party is predicted to win the popular vote; when six or more are false, the challenging party is predicted to win the popular vote.

  1. Party Mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections.
  2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination.
  3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.
  4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign.
  5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign.
  6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms.
  7. Policy change: The incumbent administration affects major changes in national policy.
  8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term.
  9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal.
  10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.
  11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs.
  12. Incumbent (party) charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero.
  13. Challenger (party) charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero.
--ooOoo--

2020 United States presidential election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Keys_to_the_White_House

On August 5 2020, Allan Lichtman predicted that Donald Trump will lose the 2020 United States presidential election to challenger Joe Biden based on seven of the thirteen keys of his prediction model turning false against the incumbency. In other words, keys.

(The Keys are statements that favor victory (in the popular vote count) for the incumbent party. When five or fewer statements are false, the incumbent party is predicted to win the popular vote; when six or more are false, the challenging party is predicted to win the popular vote. Each Key will be followed by True or False statements (referring to the 2020 Election, as predicted in August 2020, by Lichtman))

  1. Party Mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections. False.
  2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination. True.
  3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president. True.
  4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign. True.
  5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign. False.
  6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms. False.
  7. Policy change: The incumbent administration affects major changes in national policy. True.
  8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term. False.
  9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal. False.
  10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs. True.
  11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs. False.
  12. Incumbent (party) charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero. False.
  13. Challenger (party) charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero. True.

[Image: joe-biden-march-12-2020.jpg?w=1024]
“We are the United States of America! There’s not a single thing we cannot do if we do it together!” – Joe Biden

I am not sure if i understand these stuff but we’ll see how it turns out on Nov 3.


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-13

(2020-10-12, 11:59 PM)Hope Wrote: I am not sure if i understand these stuff but we’ll see how it turns out on Nov 3.

Allan Jay Lichtman (sinh ngày 04 tháng 4 năm 1947) là một nhà nghiên cứu về lịch sử chính trị người Hoa Kỳ. Ông là giáo sư giảng dạy tại đại học American University ở Washington, DC. Năm 2006, ông đã ra tranh cử Thượng viện Hoa Kỳ ở Maryland. Ông là tác giả của nhiều cuốn sách và đã xuất bản hơn 100 bài viết. Một mô hình nghiên cứu về xác suất thống kê do ông tạo ra đã dự đoán được người chiến thắng trong các cuộc bầu cử tổng thống ở Hoa Kỳ. Ông thường được gọi là "Giáo sư tiên tri bầu cử" do đã dự đoán chính xác kết quả các cuộc bầu cử Tổng thống Mỹ từ năm 1984 đến 2016, bao gồm cả chiến thắng của Donald Trump vào Nhà Trắng.

-----------------------------------

Đây là 13 điểm do Allan Lichtman đặt ra, chứng minh chính quyền đương thời được lòng dân, và được dân tin tưởng . Tất cả 13 điểm này quan trọng như nhau . Vì không ai toàn hảo, nên chính quyền hiện tại có thể mất 5 điểm vẫn có cơ hội tái đắc cử .  Nếu bị mất 6 điểm trở lên, nhóm tranh cử đối lập (qua số phiếu của dân, không phải là số phiếu của cử tri đoàn) sẽ có cơ hội nắm chính quyền .

Hiện giờ, chính quyền Trump mất 7 điểm .   

Tuy con số của polls đưa ra không chính xác, nhưng kết hợp với số điểm thấp của chính quyền hiện tại, chúng ta có thể tạm kết luận liên danh Biden-Harris có nhiều cơ hội đắc cử .

  1. Party Mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections. False.

  2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination. True.

  3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president. True.

  4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign. True.

  5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign. False.

  6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms. False.

  7. Policy change: The incumbent administration affects major changes in national policy. True.

  8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term. False.

  9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal. False.

  10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs. True.

  11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs. False.

  12. Incumbent (party) charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero. False.

  13. Challenger (party) charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero. True.



RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-14

(Quora) How is Trump mishandling the COVID-19 situation?

Answered by Henry R. Greenfield:

There are a lot of answers, many excellent, but none are up to date. The reason is simple, the BOB WOODWARD tapes with Trump where he directly says:
  • In February he knew the virus had pandemic potential.
  • Said it was more than 5X the death rate and virulence of the worst flu.
  • Said he was choosing to lie to the American public so they would not panic.
  • Refused to do anything because it would affect his reelection chances.
  • Deliberately downplayed everything and touted potential cures even though he knew they didn’t work like Hydroxychloroquine or injecting bleach.

I watched Fox recently, they said it was wonderful that the President didn’t tell the truth, millions could have died, that he is incredible and should get the Nobel Peace Prize that Democrats keep exaggerating the death toll and those people would have died anyways and of the 200,000 dead maybe half or more were just sick so if they died well then they were ready to go.


Is there anyone besides me that is literally sickened at this point by the apologies that Trump supporters will make for this man? For someone who has sat back and let 200,000 and probably up to 400,000 dead by January. Who has supported anti vaxers which means not everyone will even take the vaccine even when it is ready.


Someone who laughs at and contradicts experts, who manipulates the CDC, walks out on the WHO and gives it to China, who is now at rally after rally indoors knowing full well that many who attend will die.


Someone who through his gross mismanagement has allowed 10s of millions to lose their job and the economy destroyed. Look around the world, no one, not any single leader in the world has done as poorly as Trump.


And for what? So he can get reelected and blame everyone, give yet another tax cut, defund Social Security, cut Medicare but hey the evangelicals are happy because he is staunchly against abortion, he is rounding up immigrants and deporting them, the 2nd amendment (his people as if he owns them), love him because they can have unlimited arsenals and can begin to chase down the other side as they feel threatened and maybe take them out with their AR15s like the young man in Kenosha who was dropped off by his mom as he was ready to go out and get some of those protesters.


We have an election, every day we wonder what has happened to this country under Trump. The Trump apology machine is in full force, they never relent, we are battered over and over.


In the end, if there is anything that indicts this man and yes dear questioner that should declare him unfit to govern, is his own words added to that which he said to Bob Woodward. In his recent interview in response to the question at the time of 150,000 dead from the pandemic he simply said, ‘it is what it is’. No man, no leader is fit to be in any office let alone the President of the US, the so called leader of the free world who just says, hey they are gonna die, to bad.


His incompetence is appalling, the Trump enablers will have this haunt them the rest of their lives. Let us not forget who they are and how they enabled the destruction of so many lives and death on such a scale for nothing.


1.3K views


--ooOoo--

Let's vote crazy Trump out of the White House!



RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-14

(Quora) cont - How is Trump mishandling the COVID-19 situation?

Answered by Rebecca Mount-Nieto
Surviving Chiari, Syringomyelia, and Autoimmune Disorders
Answered April 3

Originally Answered: Is Trump handling the COVID-19 well as the president?


I am a single parent on Medicaid. Basically a nobody. However, I started seeing the news coming out of China and started asking questions to acquaintances of mine in China, and it was quite obvious that this virus was something much worse than a cold or flu. 


My son and I have compromised immune systems. As soon as the cases leaked out of China and into Italy, I started focusing on getting my hands on some masks. This was about the second week in February. 

By the time Washington State had its first cases, I had made sure that I had hand sanitizer, toilet paper, Lysol, gloves, masks, and enough food in case we were quarantined for two weeks. 

By the time it first reached California and New York, I was warning my friends and family to stay inside and making sure they had needed supplies. I have been isolating for three weeks now and do not know anyone with the virus. 

Now, if a nobody like me could see what was coming from miles away and take action, don't you think the President of the United States could have done that too? That's not our jobs… That's HIS job! Too focused on keeping the economy going to care if we lost a lot of lives. 

He knew it was coming. Right now they're all just playing dumb. Trump is acting like it was the responsibility of the governors to prepare. The governors are blaming Trump. Meanwhile, half the American public was trying to warn everyone. No, Trump is not handling COVID-19 well. He just sits on his golden throne daydreaming and wanting to be flattered. Not gonna happen from me…

89.1K views

2.5K upvotes



RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-14

Covid-19 : Trump vất vả chống đỡ các tiết lộ của Bob Woodward
Đăng ngày: 11/09/2020 - 11:54
[Image: 2020-09-11T023516Z_1658676756_RC22WI93YB...TRUMP.webp]

Ảnh minh họa : Tổng thống Mỹ Donald Trump, trong cuộc vận đông tranh cử tại Freeland, Michigan, ngày 10/09/2020. REUTERS - JONATHAN ERNST


Những tiết lộ trong cuốn sách của nhà báo Bob Woodward tiếp tục gây khó khăn cho tổng thống Mỹ Donald Trump. Hôm qua, 10/09/2020, ông Trump đã một lần nữa vất vả giải thích vì sao ông đã cố tình giảm nhẹ mức độ nghiêm trọng của dịch Covid-19. Nhưng phe Dân Chủ một lần nữa chỉ trích cách mà tổng thống Mỹ đối phó với dịch bệnh, đồng thời cáo buộc ông đã gây ra cái chết của hàng ngàn công dân Mỹ cho dù đã ý thức điều đó.

Từ Washington, thông tín viên Anne Corpet gởi về bài tường trình :


« Tại sao ông đã nói dối với dân Mỹ ? Một phóng viên của kênh truyền hình ABC đặt câu hỏi. Tìm cách chống đỡ, tổng thống Trump đáp lại : «  Câu hỏi của ông, cái cách mà ông đặt câu hỏi thật đáng xấu hổ, đáng sự xấu hổ cho đài ABC, cho chủ của ông ».


Nhưng nhà báo này nhất quyết vẫn đặt câu hỏi đó và cuối cùng ông Donald Trump phải trả lời : «  Tôi đã muốn chứng tỏ có một mức độ tin tưởng rất cao, tôi muốn tỏ cho thấy tôi là một lãnh đạo mạnh mẽ và đất nước chúng ta, bằng cách này hay cách khác, sẽ ra khỏi khủng hoảng này. Đại dịch lẽ ra đã không xảy ra, đó chính là lỗi của Trung Quốc, chứ không phải của ai khác. Lẽ ra Trung Quốc không được để điều đó xảy ra ».


Donald Trump thường hay đổ lỗi cho người khác, thế nhưng ông chống đỡ ngày càng khó khăn. Những tiết lộ trong cuốn sách của Bob Woodward đang giúp thêm củi lửa cho chiến dịch tranh cử của phe Dân Chủ. Ứng cử viên Joe Biden hôm qua cho biết ông thấy ghê tởm thái độ của tổng thống Mỹ và lên án một hành vi gần như mang tính hình sự của lãnh đạo hành pháp Hoa Kỳ .



RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-15

Trump doesn’t seem to understand how voting works. Here’s what you need to know | US news | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/04/election-voting-guide-voter-rights 

With Covid-19 and Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, this year’s election is especially fraught. So here’s our guide to help you through.

The presidential election is officially on 3 November, but you can request your mail-in ballot in many states today. North Carolina even begins mailing out ballots today.

This year, understanding the voting process is as crucial as ever. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the election is fraught with confusion and fear. Donald Trump has consistently railed against vote by mail, falsely citing voter fraud, though he uses the system himself. And there is heightened concern that the US Postal Service will not be able to deliver ballots in a timely manner because of poor management by the new Trump-appointed postmaster, and chronic underfunding.

To help clarify the voting process, and ensure ballots are counted, the Guardian has created a guide to the election in partnership with the Brennan Center for Justice, a voting rights not-for-profit. Here’s what you need to know.

So you want to register to vote …

Earlier this year there was a stark drop in voter registrations because Covid hampered outreach efforts to sign up voters. It’s especially important this year to register to vote on time, and to check your voter registration before an election, particularly if you’ve moved or are temporarily living elsewhere because of the pandemic.
States may have purged you from their voter rolls if they think you moved. To check if you are already registered or eligible to register in a state, you can call your local elections office, or see if they have a database online.


So you want to vote by mail …

Experts expect about 50% of Americans to vote by mail this year, though states have different rules on whether or not someone can vote by mail. In general, if you request and submit a ballot on time and fill it out correctly, it is a safe and secure way to have your vote counted. This year, election officials are recommending that voters mail in their ballots as soon as possible to avoid any USPS delays.


But mail-in ballots can be rejected because of small errors on the ballot or envelope. In this year’s primary elections, upwards of 500,000 ballots were rejected because they were postmarked too late or had an error. And some states require that you have a witness or notary present when signing your ballot. Be sure to leave ample time to read instructions carefully and ask an election official if you’re unsure how to prepare your ballot to cast a vote. In some states you can also track your ballot to see if it has reached an elections office.


Some states will compare the signature you give on your mail-in ballot to your voter registration record, so it’s important that you sign carefully and use the signature that looks like the one election officials have on file (you can call your election office to find out what that is if you are unsure). Some states require voters to put their ballot in a secrecy envelope that then goes into another envelope before they return it. Be sure to sign and date where noted on both envelopes.

[Image: 5000.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=forma...32708969cd]
Guardian US newsletters for the 2020 election and beyond

 
Read more
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If your ballot is destroyed or lost, contact your election official to find out how to get a new ballot. If you decide that you would like to vote in person after requesting a mail-in ballot, contact your local election official to find out what the process for that is.


The USPS recommends putting your ballot in the mail at least a week ahead of the election to make sure it gets to an election office on time. If you think it won’t arrive on time, some election offices are setting up secure dropboxes where people can leave their ballots without having to rely on the mail. Call your local election office to find out what options might be available.



So you want to vote in person …

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a lack of poll workers, there are likely to be far fewer polling locations than usual. This could contribute to long lines on election day, as we saw during the primary elections across the country, as well as curtailed social distancing measures.

Depending on where you live, you can try to avoid the long lines by voting during the early voting period, which can span a few days or weeks before the election, with the earliest dates starting in mid-September. Business Insider has a great chart on early voting dates [url=https://www.businessinsider.com/when-is-early-voting-in-each-state-2020-8]here
.

Whether or not you are voting early or on election day, it is recommended that you wear a mask, and sanitize your hands before and after touching any pens, ballots or stickers. When you get to your polling station be sure to practice physical distancing by trying to keep at least a 6ft distance between you and other people. There is a risk of voting in person – voters contracted Covid-19 during the primary elections in several states, as did poll workers. Consider your own risk factors, such as age or underlying health problems, when deciding whether to vote in person or by mail.



When will we know the election results?

While Americans are accustomed to finding out their next president on election night, that’s not likely to happen this year. Mail-in ballots can take days to count, and election offices are already understaffed and underfunded. Experts say we should be prepared to wait for election results unless there’s a landslide victory on 3 November.



Know your rights

 If the polls close while you’re in line, you have the right to stay in line until you vote.
 If there’s a voting machine error or breakdown at the polling station, you can cast a paper ballot.

Voter intimidation is illegal, including if someone is aggressively questioning your citizenship or criminal record.

 There is no language requirement to vote.

 If a poll worker says your name is not on the voter roll, you can request that they check the statewide system or on a list of supplemental voters. If they still can’t find it, you can cast a provisional ballot.

 Every polling station should be accessible to people with disabilities, under federal law.

The ACLU has a comprehensive list of voter rights here, including hotlines and phone numbers you can call on site if you run into an issue.


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-15

Trump rally billboard says 'superspreader event this way.' (Literally.)

CNN's Erin Burnett discusses President Trump holding rallies with thousands of supports packed together with few masks despite the coronavirus pandemic and the herd immunity proposal Trump is touting.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/14/erin-burnett-monologue-trump-rally-covid-19-herd-immunity-ebof-vpx.cnn

--ooOoo--
 
Con trai út của Trump cũng bị mắc bệnh COVID-19, nhưng may mắn không có symptoms.  Trump vẫn chưa ngán.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/15/trump-family-coronavirus-cuomo-open-cpt-vpx.cnn 

Becuoi Becuoi Becuoi


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-15

Psychiatrist Judith Herman: Trump’s collapse in the polls has “undeniably” made him more “dangerous”

https://news.yahoo.com/psychiatrist-judith-herman-trump-collapse-090001788.html

Dr. Judith Herman, the co-founder of the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Health Alliance and a longtime psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, has been warning about President Donald Trump's mental health since the 2016 election, when she called on then-President Barack Obama to request a "full medical and psychiatric evaluation" of the president-elect.

Since then, Trump's "grandiosity" has grown even worse, Herman said in an interview with Salon, and his supporters approach "cult behavior." With Trump's poll numbers plummeting and his attempts to sow doubt in the results of the election, the specter of violence amid calls for an uprising have made him even more "dangerous," she added.

Herman, who was among the dozens of mental health professionals who expressed concern about the president's mental health in "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" and spoke out at events hosted by psychiatrist Bandy Lee, spoke to Salon about Trump's "mental status" amid his electoral trouble and the dangers posed by his "cult"-like supporters.


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-15

Trump files emergency request with Supreme Court to stop release of his tax returns - CBS News

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tax-returns-emergency-request-supreme-court/ 

BY KATHRYN WATSON
OCTOBER 15, 2020 / 7:35 AM / CBS NEWS

President Trump has filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court to block the release of his tax returns. The request comes as the Senate is holding confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the president's nominee to the Supreme Court. 

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance can enforce a subpoena for Mr. Trump's business records and tax returns, a blow to the president as he tries to keep those returns from a grand jury. The president's attorneys are asking the Supreme Court to grant a stay, to hear the case and overturn the lower court's decision. 


"The president should have a fair chance to develop his serious overbreadth and bad-faith claims before his records are disclosed," the president's attorneys write. "The court should preserve the status quo in order to afford the president that opportunity." 

The New York Times has obtained years' worth of the president's tax returns, showing he only paid $750 in U.S. taxes during 2016 and 2017.

The president claimed before the 2016 election that he would release his tax returns, but has never done so, claiming his returns are still under audit. 

--ooOoo--

Ủa, Tổng Thống Trump hứa lèo hả???


BTW, chuyện gì mà Trump cuống quýt như gà mắc đẻ lên thế?

Ha ha ha.


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-15

Fox News Owner Rupert Murdoch Predicts a Landslide Win for Biden

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/rupert-murdoch-fox-news/2020/10/15/id/992102/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-owner-rupert-murdoch-predicts-a-landslide-win-for-biden

Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News and an associate of President Donald Trump, has told people close to him that he thinks Democrat Joe Biden will easily win the election.


The Daily Beast reported that Murdoch has told people in his circle that Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been less than ideal.

"The Australian-born billionaire is disgusted by Trump's handling of COVID-19, remarking that the president is his own worst enemy, that he is not listening to advice about how best to handle the pandemic, and that he's creating a never-ending crisis for his administration, according to three people who have spoken with Murdoch," The Daily Beast wrote.

Murdoch has long had access to Trump, who often tweets support for some of the Fox News programs. But the president has also been highly critical of other Fox shows, anchors, and the network's polls, which show him trailing Biden.


Murdoch, according to The Daily Beast, has not spoken to the president in weeks because the 89-year-old news mogul grew tired of Trump bashing his network. Murdoch even considered supporting Mike Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-Democrat who briefly ran for president earlier this year before exiting due to a lack of support.


Murdoch would not comment to The Daily Beast regarding its report, saying only, "No comment except I've never called Trump an idiot." That remark was in response to a claim in a book that said Murdoch spoke ill of Trump in 2016.


RE: Linh Tinh - LeThanhPhong - 2020-10-16

Trong khi Trump tự cho mình quyền "bóp chim" bất cứ ai vừa mắt mình, Biden viết lá thư rất cảm động an ủi cô sinh viên trường Stanford bị hãm hiếp khi bị bất tỉnh.

Let's vote Trump out of the White House!

 --ooOoo--

Joe Biden Writes An Open Letter To Stanford Survivor

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tomnamako/joe-biden-writes-an-open-letter-to-stanford-survivor#.ss75gBG33 

The vice president, in an open letter sent to BuzzFeed News, said "a lot of people failed" the Stanford sexual assault survivor and that she will "save lives" thanks to the powerful message she read to her assailant in court.


By Tom Namako

Posted on June 9, 2016, at 1:16 p.m. ET


--ooOoo--

Vice President Joe Biden penned an open letter to the Stanford sexual assault survivor who read a powerful message to her assailant in court detailing the effects of his actions on her.

Her letter has since been read by millions of people and has drawn attention to the judge's six-month sentence for Brock Turner — the champion swimmer who was convicted of three counts of sexual assault — even though he faced up to 14 years in prison.

Biden, who wrote the 1994 Violence Against Women Act and is involved in the White House's "It's On Us" campaign against campus sexual assault, sent the letter to BuzzFeed News on Thursday. In it, he said he is "filled with furious anger — both that this happened to you and that our culture is still so broken that you were ever put in the position of defending your own worth." He said the woman's actions "will save lives."


"I do not know your name — but I know that a lot of people failed you that terrible January night and in the months that followed," Biden wrote. "It must have been wrenching — to relive what he did to you all over again. But you did it anyway, in the hope that your strength might prevent this crime from happening to someone else. Your bravery is breathtaking."


Here is Biden's letter in full:





An Open Letter to a Courageous Young Woman


I do not know your name — but your words are forever seared on my soul. Words that should be required reading for men and women of all ages.


Words that I wish with all of my heart you never had to write.
I am in awe of your courage for speaking out — for so clearly naming the wrongs that were done to you and so passionately asserting your equal claim to human dignity.


And I am filled with furious anger — both that this happened to you and that our culture is still so broken that you were ever put in the position of defending your own worth.


It must have been wrenching — to relive what he did to you all over again. But you did it anyway, in the hope that your strength might prevent this crime from happening to someone else. Your bravery is breathtaking.
You are a warrior — with a solid steel spine.


I do not know your name — but I know that a lot of people failed you that terrible January night and in the months that followed.
Anyone at that party who saw that you were incapacitated yet looked the other way and did not offer assistance. Anyone who dismissed what happened to you as "just another crazy night." Anyone who asked “what did you expect would happen when you drank that much?” or thought you must have brought it on yourself.


You were failed by a culture on our college campuses where one in five women is sexually assaulted — year after year after year. A culture that promotes passivity. That encourages young men and women on campuses to simply turn a blind eye.


The statistics on college sexual assault haven’t gone down in the past two decades. It’s obscene, and it’s a failure that lies at all our feet.


And you were failed by anyone who dared to question this one clear and simple truth: Sex without consent is rape. Period. It is a crime.


I do not know your name — but thanks to you, I know that heroes ride bicycles.


Those two men who saw what was happening to you — who took it upon themselves to step in — they did what they instinctually knew to be right.
They did not say "It's none of my business."


They did not worry about the social or safety implications of intervening, or about what their peers might think.


Those two men epitomize what it means to be a responsible bystander.


To do otherwise — to see an assault about to take place and do nothing to intervene — makes you part of the problem.


Like I tell college students all over this country — it’s on us. All of us.


We all have a responsibility to stop the scourge of violence against women once and for all.
I do not know your name — but I see your unconquerable spirit.
I see the limitless potential of an incredibly talented young woman — full of possibility. I see the shoulders on which our dreams for the future rest.


I see you.


You will never be defined by what the defendant’s father callously termed “20 minutes of action.”


His son will be.


I join your global chorus of supporters, because we can never say enough to survivors: I believe you. It is not your fault.
What you endured is never, never, never, NEVER a woman's fault.
And while the justice system has spoken in your particular case, the nation is not satisfied.
And that is why we will continue to speak out.


We will speak to change the culture on our college campuses — a culture that continues to ask the wrong questions: What were you wearing?


Why were you there? What did you say? How much did you drink?


Instead of asking: Why did he think he had license to rape?
We will speak out against those who seek to engage in plausible deniability. Those who know that this is happening, but don't want to get involved. Who believe that this ugly crime is "complicated."
We will speak of you — you who remain anonymous not only to protect your identity, but because you so eloquently represent “every woman.”
We will make lighthouses of ourselves, as you did — and shine.


Your story has already changed lives.


You have helped change the culture.


You have shaken untold thousands out of the torpor and indifference towards sexual violence that allows this problem to continue.


Your words will help people you have never met and never will.
You have given them the strength they need to fight.
And so, I believe, you will save lives.


I do not know your name — but I will never forget you.


The millions who have been touched by your story will never forget you.


And if everyone who shared your letter on social media, or who had a private conversation in their own homes with their daughters and sons, draws upon the passion, the outrage, and the commitment they feel right now the next time there is a choice between intervening and walking away — then I believe you will have helped to change the world for the better.