The Green Pill Secret: Voting

In the United States of America, on 5 November, 2024, you have your last chance, as a citizen, to vote for your next President. But, did you know there are also down-ballot elections? Do you know who your Congressperson is? Do you know your Governor? Do you know your state Senator and Representative or Delegate? Because, believe me, fixing the flaws in the system starts in the grass roots and all politics is local so please do read up on your county or parish ordinances up for vote, and be mindful of who’s running for School Board or Soil and Water or County Attorney General.

On this site, we won’t tell you how to vote—however, I did suggest you listen to Taylor Swift instead—but for your state and local elections, think about how we can make politics more responsive to the people. For instance, do you know where your state lies on the Swamp Index? If you’re like me, you may be surprised to learn that Virginia ranks 46th of 51 in the Index; my co-host Cat (who couldn’t make this episode) in New York is all the way up at 14th place, by comparison. This is why my special guest Nancy Morgan and I have been fighting to get money out of politics. After all, since Citizens United v. FEC, we’ve seen astronomical growth in dark money political spending under the guise of legitimate businesses. While you’d need a constitutional amendment to undo Citizens, many other reforms are best performed in your local state capitol, from Atlanta to Salt Lake City.

And you know I, personally, have been a big proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment and women’s bodily autonomy, for electric vehicle access and support, and for good governance of one person one vote and for every vote to be equal with a National Popular Vote bill. The National Popular Vote is a bill passed in states with a total of 209 electors—only 61 more electors are needed to have the voters choose our President. After all, the system we have now causes both large and small states, both deep red and deep blue states, both rich and poor states to be totally ignored because they aren’t a battleground. And if you are in a battleground, your days are numbered. After all, Ohio and Virginia used to be battlegrounds, but not anymore. That capriciousness just isn’t a good way to select the leader of world’s biggest military. Is your state part of the compact? Great, maybe you can help in some other states! If not, write your state legislators, and consider, if your governor is against it, add those 888 words as an amendment to your state constitution, like Nevada.

Of course, there’s also the issue of Opened Primaries to keep our candidates more centered and weed out the unstable ones. And of course First Past the Post voting is one reason we get such diametrically opposed and out of touch candidates and are so afraid of the Spoiler Effect. I’m glad that Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff Voting is gaining traction, though I feel that it’s not as intuitive as Star Approval Voting, which is what you see in, for instance, your Amazon ratings, and has a much better chance of being Condorcet. And of course there’s the issue of Gerrymandering, which we tried to fix with OneVirginia2021 but failed miserably with obstructive politicians added at the eleventh hour to the “independent” redistricting panel. Gerrymandering allows the politicians to choose their voters, and not the natural other way around.

If any of these non-partisan issues matter to you and you’re in Virginia, please come to our Democracy Day on 21 January in Richmond, on the Quindecennial anniversary of Citizens!

Virtual Campus ERA Day

Although, yet again, I was not able to attend this wonderful conversation about how close we are passing the Equal Rights Amendment and what we can do to cross the threshold, I did think the video was inspiring and though there were too many wonderful folks for me to name all of them, I wanted to thank our next Governor, Jennifer Carroll Foy, for being a part of it.

As Alyssa Milano points out so eloquently, we’re all in this together and every voice counts. Alyssa is amazing and I grew up watching her on Who’s the Boss (as a fellow thespian I hope she knows I don’t pigeonhole her that one role given her expanse of other work) and am so delighted to see her working so hard to extend equal rights to women. I have been a supporter in my heart since before the show premiered, although I’ve only been actively lobbying in Richmond since Delegate Carroll Foy came to office.

Alas, we didn’t get the ERA in 2018 despite my friends and my lobbying. But when I heard the bill was passing through the Illinois General Assembly, I immediately started posting, messaging, and tweeting to my friends in Illinois to get the bill passed, even if it meant Virginia couldn’t be 37. No shame in 38. And no shame in 39 either, as I always tell my dear friend Triana Arnold James in Georgia. I’m just delighted Illinois has a wonderful Republican State Representative Steve Andersson was behind us there and made sure the Illinois made it to 37. I was so proud to shake his hand when HJ79 passed.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Nevada State Senator Pat Spearman. Without Spearman’s push in Nevada, I don’t think I’d have been aware that we still had hope for passage despite the arbitrary and unconstitutional deadline. Thank you Pat. You rock and I hope someday to shake your hand too!

There were so many wonderful people at the event, but most inspiring of all were the student organizers. They inspire me to see the next generation as passionate about this issue as I have been.

Learn about the Equal Rights Amendment

Posted by ERA Coalition on Monday, April 27, 2020

Thank you my lady and gentlemen friends for watching and soon we will have our Twenty-Eighth Amendment, with your help!

Join Me Today to see #CO2Fre in Cyberspace

I’m excited to show off #CO2Fre to all of you today on Zoom. My friend Charles Gerena has organized an exciting event where I will be lecturing on the advantages of EV ownership and my love for cruising on a cloud.

I love showing off #CO2Fre for Drive Electric Week and I love working with Charles. Each year, Charles organizes an EV Event in Richmond during the main session of the General Assembly of Virginia and 2020 was no exception. I was down there on Tuesday, 14 January showing of #CO2Fre to everyone who cared to stop by.

I was very happy to give a ride to Delegate Joshua G. Cole that day. He is someone we’ve been following for years, hoping to see him in office. I was so happy when he was finally, fairly elected to represent Fredericksburg. VA. He’s also a great singer!

2020 RVA Drive Electric Day in Richmond
On Tuesday, 14 January, 2020, I was back in Richmond to show off #CO2Fre to the various staff, Lobbyists, and of course, when opportunity arose, Delegates and Senators. 2020 was no exception and this year I gave a ride to none other than Del. Joshua Cole from Fredericksburg! He’s someone we have been fighting to get into office for years and it was so great to see him on his first year serving us as Delegate!

I was so happy to give Joshua a ride in #CO2Fre that day. That day was bright and sunny and although this day has started out with dreary rain, I’m hoping to have better weather when I show you around #CO2Fre and show you what #CO2Fre can do!

Join us on meetup and follow our Facebook event for updates and a video of our event, to be posted after we finish.

I look forward to cruising on a cloud with y’all, today.

The March 2020 EVA/DC Meeting I never went to

Which is to say, I attended the EVA/DC meeting, but I did so virtually using Zoom. Overall, it was a lovely meeting with some great discussions. I ended up coming in about 15 minutes late but was able to give a summary of all the goings on in Richmond with the Virginia General Assembly.

We had some wonderful discussions about outreach, youth engagement, and updating our famous Info Sheet. We have many EAA chapters who adapt our sheet for their organization. I’m so proud of Doron Shalvi for that!

All in all, another wonderful meeting. Just sorry I accidentally messaged my favorite roller-coaster riding astronomer during the meeting. D’oh. And I’m just sorry #CO2Fre felt so left out!

Idle Electric Car
For the first time in a long time, I attended an EVA/DC meeting without my electric car. That’s because it was a virtual meeting I enjoyed while #CO2Fre sat idle. © 2020, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

230kW Charging—bliss

As you read yesterday, I had a crazy-busy day in Richmond yesterday but all the events at the State Capitol weren’t the end of it. That post was long and probably should have been broken up into two posts but actually it was three and here is the third.

Before I got to the capitol, I called the Richmond Omni Hotel to reserve the EVSE so that I could be mostly charged when I left and I wouldn’t be late for my Author Meetup in Ashburn. The Valet assured me the spot was opened but when I got there some Volkswagen Plug-In Hybrid took the spot and I couldn’t charge. I left my key with the Valet but couldn’t do anything more as I had to get to the Committee meeting.

When my bills had been heard and I got back to the car and met the Volkswagen driver. The Valet couldn’t contact him so he was just finished charging and since I needed to go I couldn’t charge at all. $20 parking, down the drain. But I did thank him for driving an electric car.

As it was, I had to charge in Glen Allen, VA SuperCharger for about 15 minutes. I was very said I couldn’t find any of Margie Hunter’s Tchotchkes. I looked everywhere but to no avail. I met a couple of nice Tesla drivers, but because I was running late and wanted to try the SuperCharger at Broadlands, I needed to be on my way.

Low Battery Warning
#CO2Fre is giving me a Low Battery warning just as I arrive at the SuperCharger. © 2020, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

I finally got to the SuperCharger in Ashburn and as soon as I parked, I got the Low Battery warning!

No matter, I was at a V3 SuperCharger, not even on #CO2Fre‘s map yet! I plugged in and peaked for a fraction of a second at 230kW, then started to slide backward. I took this photo a fraction of a second after the high point.

230kW SuperCharger
A fraction of a second after displaying 230kW the power meter was still at 225kW and falling. © 2020, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

I charged for about fifteen minutes, until my battery reached about 75% and the power was down to 125kW or so. I then drove to my meeting.

I was 45 minutes late.

PSA: If you charge your car at the Richmond Omni, please leave the Valets a way to contact you!

I got home after the meeting and rushed to complete yesterday’s post before midnight yesterday (posting it a bit before it was finished with final update about 10 minutes after midnight).

Phew!

And do you know what Tomorrow is?