TV aerials Middlesbrough primarily operate throughout the North of England with occasional involvement in the other UK and European projects. TV aerials Middlesbrough offer a wide range of services, all related to the reception and distribution of Satellite and Terrestrial transmissions for both commercial and domestic applications.
Councils, Housing Associations, Hospital Trusts and like organisations.
SAVE 20%: eBay has launched its early Black Friday sale, with 20% off from selected sellers using the code PURCHASE20.
Black Friday deals are picking up pace as many leading online retailers launch early Black Friday promotions. eBay is the latest big name to drop a sale, with 20% off from selected sellers until Nov. 19.
The discounts won't be automatically displayed on the site, but all you need to do to access the deals is use the code PURCHASE20 at the checkout. There's a minimum spend of £15, maximum discount of £75, and maximum of three redemptions, but that's all you need to remember. Read more...
SAVE UP TO £144: Apple iPhones are on sale in Mobiles.co.uk's early Black Friday sale, saving you up to £144 on list price.
There is probably going to be quite a lot of excitement generated by Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2020. There is always a bit of commotion around deals on things like the Nintendo Switch, 4K TVs, and games consoles, but nothing comes close to Apple.
Everyone loves deals on all things Apple. We're talking about discounted AirPods, Macbooks, iPads, and of course, iPhones. These are the deals that get everyone really worked up, and we're happy to report that you can already save up to £144 on a range of iPhones on Mobiles.co.uk. Read more...
SAVE 68%: A two-year subscription to NordVPN is on sale for £2.86 per month as of Nov. 14, saving you 68% on list price.
As a sort of warm up to Black Friday, a bunch of VPN providers are offering special deals to get you in the mood to save.
A two-year subscription to NordVPN is on sale for £2.86 per month as of Nov. 14, saving you 68% on list price. This also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can always back out with your cash if you're not satisfied.
You could also win up to two free years of coverage if you subscribe to NordVPN. To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is subscribe to a two-year plan, and depending on luck, you’ll be gifted a one-month, one-year, or two-year plan on top of the one you’ve bought. Just log into your account or check your email to find out which plan you’ve snatched. The process is random, but the bigger the prize, the rarer it is. Read more...
With so many different programming languages out there, it can be tough trying to kickstart your coding career.
How do you know where to start? Well, Python and JavaScript are often dubbed as the most beginner-friendly options, but there's another that actually gives them a run for their money: Ruby (and it's add-on framework Rails).
Ruby on Rails may not be the most traditional starting place for coders, but it's designed to be both logical and resourceful, making it easy to dive into. This all-purpose programming language is used to build some of the most complex websites in the world – like Hulu, Airbnb, and Kickstarter, just to name a few. And unlike other popular languages and frameworks, it's designed for both front and back end-use. So, you can build an entire app or website from scratch without having to outsource work to programmers versed in other languages. Read more...
Microsoft Excel is everywhere, in practically every industry. It's the closest thing to an "essential" software that exists in the modern workforce. The vast majority of us learn Excel basics in school or on the job, but very few know how to tap into the wide array of features Excel offers — and trust us, there are a lot.
You might claim to be "proficient" in Microsoft Excel on your CV, but what happens when your manager asks you to run a VLOOKUP on the spot? From organising and analysing data to automating tasks and visualizing trends with charts and graphs, being a pro at Excel will make you everyone's favourite person in the office. Read more...
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping season has sort of merged with the delayed Prime Day this year, which has basically left everyone with months of non-stop deals. Depending on your outlook, this is either a fantastic opportunity to save or an overwhelming period of stress.
We can help you through to the end of this busy shopping season, whichever side of the line you fall on. If you are relishing the prospect of more deals, we can pick out the very best offers for your consideration. If you're feeling drained by all the promotions, we can save you time and hassle by directing you to what actually might be of interest. Read more...
We're almost a week into the U.S. President's big sulky sore loser tantrum, and there's still no sign he'll concede the election any time soon. Nearly 80 percent of Americans recognise President-elect Joe Biden as the victor, but the baby-in-chief continues to throw applesauce all over the walls while Republicans wipe his chin and hand him more plastic spoons.
The country is exhausted, fearful, and angry, yet the GOP is stubbornly committed to joining the President in his playpen. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien reportedly even told his staff not to mention Biden's name.
"Oh, so the President-elect is He Who Must Not Be Named," quipped Late Show host Stephen Colbert. "He's Lord Old-emort!" Read more...
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO shared the news on Twitter, saying he's got "symptoms of a typical cold." He also said he was tested four times in the same day, with two tests coming back negative, and two positive.
"Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD," he tweeted.
Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.
In an industry where the spotlight is always focused on shiny new things, it's basically unprecedented that a two-decade-old programming language like JavaScript is still thriving. If JavaScript were a person, it could now buy alcohol, rent a car, and blow money in Vegas.
The backbone of over 95% of all websites, it's considered to be the world's most popular programming language. But even with its ubiquity, JavaScript also remains the most misunderstood language, too. Novice coders usually mistake it for Java, or relegate it to a mere scripting language rather than a full-blown programming language. Little do they know that JavaScript is also used for databases, servers, animations, visual effects, and a whole lot more. Read more...
TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to Mondly is on sale for £75.91 as of Nov. 13, saving you 95% on list price.
This might be a distant memory, but learning can be fun. Just because we're adults now doesn't mean we can't learn new things, and it certainly doesn't mean we can't have fun doing it. Enter: Mondly.
It's definitely not too late to master a new language, and there are some pretty fun ways to do it as a fully-fledged adult. Mondly is a top-rated language learning app that uses state-of-the-art speech recognition software to listen to your words and give positive feedback only when you speak clearly and correctly. Read more...
SAVE UP TO 55%:Sennheiser headphones are on sale this Black Friday, saving you up to 55% on list price.
We know aesthetics are important when it comes to headphones, because nobody wants something ugly wrapped around their head. Style is key, but this shouldn't come before sound quality.
Fortunately, there are plenty of brands that deliver on both fronts, like Sennheiser. This popular brand provides the best of both worlds, with excellent sound quality delivered from a wide range of stylish devices.
We haven't come across a lot of headphone deals in early Black Friday promotions, but Amazon has dropped a bunch of deals on Sennheiser. You should check out everything on offer, but if that sounds like too much work, we have lined up a selection of the best deals for your consideration: Read more...
SAVE UP TO 53%:Smartwatches and fitness trackers are on sale this Black Friday, including top brands like Samsung, Honor, and Huawei.
It's not always the case, but sometimes early Black Friday deals omit the biggest brands. You'll come across loads of great camera deals, for example, without the likes of Canon and Nikon. This year seems to be different though, as we've seen impressive discounts on some of the biggest names in the tech game.
There are already loads of smartwatch and fitness tracker deals as part of Amazon's pre-Black Friday sale, including top brands like Samsung, Honor, and Huawei. There's a lot to consider, so we've helped you out. Read more...
With its simple red, white, and blue lower third chyron and utterly innocuous name, Newsmax TV could be a minor news network like any other. Except it’s not. Newsmax TV is an ultra-conservative outlet that’s been operating on the fringe since 1998. But in recent weeks, it’s been catching on.
The typically conservative Fox News has not gotten behind Trump’s lie that there has been voter fraud, and that Biden is therefore not yet the president-elect. Seeing this as a betrayal, Trump, his allies, and subsequently his followers, have been turning to other sources of information willing to spread the message they want to hear. Read more...
SAVE 83%: A two-year subscription to Surfshark is on sale for £1.68 per month as of Nov. 12, and includes an extra three months for free.
Surfshark is one of the most popular VPN services, even though it hasn't been around for as long as some of the other leading names. It's clear to see why, given that subscribers get unlimited connections, fast content delivery, advanced security and privacy, and personal customer support.
All of this is great, but most users don't care about these long lists of helpful features. Most users only care about one thing: whether a VPN can unlock streaming services from around the world. Read more...
SAVE £100: Nectar has launched its early Black Friday sale, with £100 off any mattress plus two free premium pillows, up to £450 off bundles, and up to 30% off accessories as of Nov. 12.
We all know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great opportunities to save on things like headphones, speakers, consoles, and TVs. It's not all about consumer tech though. There are other products that always seem to cause a stir at this time, like mattresses.
In recent years, all the leading online mattress retailers have competed to offer the best deals and lowest prices at this time. You're the winner in this competition, as you can walk away with a great deal on your bedding. Read more...
SAVE 55%: Purchase an Echo Dot for £39.99 on Amazon, and get six months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free.
Black Friday can be stressful. There are a lot of deals on offer, and it can be tricky to know which ones are actually worth considering. It's not always like this though, because sometimes the best deals are totally obvious.
Amazon is giving away six months of Amazon Music Unlimited with all purchases of the Echo Dot. The Echo Dot is available for £39.99 on Amazon, and a six-month Amazon Music Unlimited subscription would normally cost close to £50. We don't need to tell you that this is a good deal. Read more...
What's something that ISN'T a joke but still FEELS like a joke to you?
A new Twitter meme has users listing things that feel suss to them, despite being fairly innocuous on the face of it. Subtler than microaggressions, these objects and actions don't hold any particular connotations at first glance, but are so frequently accompanied by certain behaviour that they're now guilty by association.
It's the doctrine of joint criminal enterprise, but with bigotry.
The meme was kicked off on Tuesday by Twitter user abcdrih, who asked, "What's something that ISN'T racist but still FEELS racist to you?" Read more...
Everyone's second-favorite radicalization engine came crashing to a halt late Wednesday afternoon as YouTube videos refused to play. The website itself loads just fine, but videos only display error messages when users attempt to play them.
According to DownDetector, which is owned by Mashable parent company Ziff Davis, reports of problems with YouTube started pouring in around 3:44 p.m. PT.
"If you're having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you're not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix," explained a YouTube spokesperson. "We'll follow up here [on Twitter] with any updates." Read more...
Google announced a new storage policy Wednesday governing user accounts, and while most of the resulting headlines focused of a new price tag for Google Photos, an important change went mostly overlooked. Notably, going forward, Google says that if you don't check in on your Google Drive files every now and then, it may delete them.
Google frames this change as a way to tidy up abandoned digital detritus, perhaps left over from long-forgotten accounts. Which, maybe, sure. Or, alternatively, it may be that a Google user simply stored some valuable files away for a while — like one might with physical documents in a fire-proof safe — and simply hasn't peeked at them in a few years. Read more...
Surprise: you shouldn't have to go over the same spot on your floor a million times in order for your vacuum to actually pick up the mess. Seriously. It should take one or two sweeps and — voilà — you're done. So if cleaning your small living has been taking you hours that never seem to end, it's time for an upgrade.
Luckily, you're just in time for Black Friday. Well, actually, you're a bit early but time doesn't seem to exist this year because the sales are in full effect — especially at Walmart. (Check out their 2020 deal plans here.) Read more...
It’s been twenty-five years since Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged for defending the environment.
from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/if-theres-something-valuable-under-the-soil-life-aboveground-can-be-hard
via Middlesbrough
SAVE $100: Get the Shark IQ Robot Vacuum R100 for only $199 from Walmart starting at 7 p.m. EST Nov. 11 in an early Black Friday deal.
We've said it once and we'll say it again: Vacuuming sucks. Dragging around a big, heavy, loud vacuum to get your floors clean doesn't have to be the norm, since there are so many robot vacuums that can do it for you just as well. This Black Friday (and by that, we mean the entire month of November), you can find awesome deals on robot vacuums that will make your home smarter and cleaner.
If you haven't heard yet, the second round of Walmart's Deals for Days begins Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. EST, where you'll be able to grab deals like this Shark IQ Robot Vacuum for $100 off. Don't wait if you see something you like — all these low prices are only good while supplies last. Read more...
If you can't go to Australia to pet the koalas, the koalas will now come to you — sort of.
Google has added eight Australian animals to its collection of mobile AR creatures, allowing users to size up animated 3D renditions of the country's native fauna. It's an entertaining little update, and a good tool to help you determine which ones you could take in a fight.
(The answer, by the way, is "none of them," because the Australian animals that won't straight up disembowel you with their feet are so adorable that punching them will send you directly to Hell.)
TL;DR: Currys PC World has launched its Black Tag event, with the best Black Friday prices guaranteed.
Black Friday is fast approaching, and we're seeing increased activity from all the leading retailers. Amazon has dominated the news so far, but now Currys PC World has got involved.
Currys has finally launched its famous Black Tag event, with the best Black Friday prices guaranteed. This event is running until midnight on Nov. 19, with a bunch of impressive deals on TVs, home appliances, headphones, and much more.
You might be thinking that it's best to wait for something better as we get closer to Black Friday, but this is where the Black Tag event is special. If Currys lowers its prices further on Black Friday, it will refund you the difference on your purchase. To qualify for this, all you need to do is register your purchase within 14 days. So why wait? Read more...
SAVE 58%: A two-year plan subscription to TunnelBear is on sale for £3.17 per month as of Nov. 11, saving you 58% on list price.
The online world is full of hackers, malware, viruses, and other nasty things that mean to do you harm. It can be a dangerous place full of threats, so it's vital that you stay protected.
We're not saying you should panic, because there are many different ways of boosting your online security. We're just making sure that you take this seriously, as you should consider investing in something that takes online threats seriously, like TunnelBear.
SAVE £50.99: The Ninja Foodi multi-cooker is on sale for £149 on Amazon as of Nov. 11, saving you 25% on list price.
Cooking for the whole family can be a really rewarding experience, but it's not always like this. Sometimes you just can't be bothered, and that's fine. It's in these situations that you could use some help.
The Ninja Foodi is a nine-in-one multi-cooker that can pressure cook delicious meals up to 70% faster than traditional cooking methods. It's got both a pressure lid and a crisping lid that gives your food a perfect golden finish.
SAVE £26: The MyHeritage DNA Test Kit is on sale for £49 on Amazon as of Nov. 11, saving you 35% on list price.
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday period is a great opportunity to pick up deals before Christmas. You can tick off everyone on your list for less if you're willing to commit to the busiest shopping season.
The deals have already started to drop on sites like Amazon, with strong discounts on everything from Nintendo Switch bundles to smartwatches. Things are definitely starting to pick up, and the latest offer from Amazon is particularly impressive.
Listen to Facebook, just not a Facebook-owned analytics tool designed to provide insight into Facebook.
That appears to be the argument made late Tuesday by Facebook's Alex Schultz in a frankly confounding blog post titled "What Do People Actually See on Facebook in the US?" Shultz serves as both Facebook's vice president of analytics and the social media company's chief marketing officer, a combination that perhaps helps explain his bizarre insistence that the Facebook-owned CrowdTangle tool, which consistently shows right-wing links dominating the platform, isn't "fully representative."
CrowdTangle, an analytics tool Facebook makes available to "select Facebook publishing partners," is designed to help users "[benchmark] the performance of [their] social media accounts vs those of [their] peers." Using the tool, for example, you can see which public posts had the most interaction during a certain time period. Read more...
While most people are focusing on those new MacBooks with in-house chips that Apple announced on Tuesday, I have yet to move past that delightfully cringey moment brought to us by Apple's software chief Craig Federighi during the livestream.
In an effort to fully demonstrate how the new MacBooks now instantly wake from sleep mode with its latest operating system, MacOS Big Sur, Federighi decided to "set the mood." And by that I mean: The lights dimmed and he awkwardly opened up and stared at the MacBook Air as Barry White's Playing Your Game, Baby played in the background.
My friend immediately texted me saying, "Craig is such a vibe." To which I replied: "That's a nice way of putting it." Read more...
Now that you know everything about Parler, the conservative social network that’s currently the number one free app in the App Store, there’s yet another social network popular with Trump supporters that you may want to know about.
It's called MeWe, and it's currently the number two free app in the App Store.
Image: mewe
Here’s everything you need to know about the site competing with Parler for conservatives looking for a new online home.
What is MeWe?
MeWe is an alternative social networking site that's currently experiencing a surge in new users as Trump supporters search for new platforms in order to avoid Facebook and Twitter. It bills itself as the “next-gen social network” and centers its sales pitch to new users around data privacy and providing an ad-free experience. Read more...
You've got your comedy horrors, your psychological horrors, your tense thriller-y horrors — and, of course, your genuinely scary horrors.
I'm not just talking about your run-of-the-mill, yikes-that's-a-bit-creepy kind of films, here, either. I'm talking about the truly terror-inducing — the type of movies you wake in the dead of night thinking about, and which stay with you for a long, long time after the credits have rolled. The horribly twitchy, sleep-with-the-lights-on-and-avoid-all-mirrors kind of movies.
In oral arguments on Tuesday, Kavanaugh appeared inclined to let the Affordable Care Act stand even if the individual mandate is struck down.
from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/supreme-court-justice-brett-kavanaughs-vote-may-save-obamacare-this-time
via Middlesbrough
Members of the Democrat’s community-outreach team say that the effort was underfunded, unfocussed, and ineffective.
from Everything https://www.newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/as-trump-gained-latino-support-in-florida-bidens-campaign-ignored-warnings
via Middlesbrough
A politician was accused of using a fake burner account for a gay Black Trump supporter. That’s when things got weird.
Dean Browning, a former commissioner in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, confused Twitter users on Tuesday when he replied to his own tweet claiming to be a gay Black man who voted for Trump. In reality, Browning is a white man who describes himself as a “proud pro-life & pro-2A Christian conservative,” as his Twitter photo and bio clearly illustrate. None of this makes sense, but don’t worry, it will make even less sense soon.
Here is what happened: On November 8, Browning tweeted, “What Trump built in 4 years, Biden will destroy in 4 months” — a standard sentiment percolating on the MAGA internet right now. On Tuesday, November 10, when another user argued that, actually, it was Obama who built what Trump takes credit for, Browning came back with a retort.
“I’m a black gay guy and I can personally say that Obama did nothing for me, my life only changed a little bit and it was for the worse,” he wrote. “Everything is so much better under Trump though. I feel respected — which I never do when democrats are involved.”
Dean Browning, former Lehigh County comissioner who seems to have forgotten to log into his burner account, was about 2,500 votes away from being the GOP's nominee in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional district this year. pic.twitter.com/ftiY68wae6
To anyone who has spent enough time watching pro-Trump conservatives and #resistance liberals argue on the internet, it seemed extremely clear what had taken place. Browning was the owner of another Twitter account, one claiming to be a gay Black man who loved Trump, and he simply forgot to log in to it before posting the reply (this is often called “sock puppeting” online). Immediately, users began to flood into the discussion, calling out Browning’s accidental exposure of his fake burner account.
The situation seemed to remain a mystery to Browning, who left the tweet up for several hours. Later in the day, though, he said that it was actually all a misunderstanding. “Regarding the tweet that is going viral from my account — I was quoting a message that I received earlier this week from a follower,” he wrote. “Sorry if context was not clear. Trump received record minority votes & record LGBTQ votes. Many people won’t say it vocally, but do in private.”
Though Browning attempted to use the “silent majority” argument, most people didn’t buy it. Within the span of just a few minutes, Washington Post journalist Phillip Bump claimed to have found the smoking gun: the fake account in question. “You know who replies to Dean Browning a lot? ‘Dan Purdy,’ a gay black Trump supporter who joined Twitter in October,” wrote Bump, including screenshots of Purdy’s frequent replies to Browning.
@DanPurdy322 is an account with a cartoon of a Black man wearing a beanie as its avatar and a Trump 2020 logo as its header. As people on Twitter soon discovered, it also has a history of posting extremely racist and sexist remarks. Sample tweets include “Black ppl can’t count” and “black women will be the death of America,” among many others, in Purdy’s short time on the platform.
If Browning turns out to be the man behind the account, this is not a new phenomenon, particularly among conservatives. As far back as 2016, experts were identifying huge networks of pro-Trump bot accounts for people who didn’t actually exist. In October, Clemson University social media researcher Darren Linvill told the Washington Post that he’d identified more than two dozen Twitter accounts claiming to be Black Trump voters who’d gained hundreds of thousands of “likes” and retweets in the span of just a few days, sparking major doubts about their identities. Many used photos of Black men from news reports or stock images, including one in which the text “black man photo” was still watermarked on the image. White nationalists have also had a history of disguising as “antifa” online to sow fear toward leftists.
The Browning-Purdy plot thickened, however, when the account posted a video shortly thereafter of a Black man claiming to be Purdy himself. “I sent that message to Dean, Dean accidentally posted it somehow, that’s the end of the story,” he said. “No, he’s not a sock puppet. No, I’m not a bot.”
so the video was taken down, but here it is in case you want your brain to melt: pic.twitter.com/umGPjt5sN4
Many of the replies to the video asked questions like, “How much is he paying you?” and accusing him of being a hired actor. Internet sleuths like Jon Hendren (better known as @fart on Twitter) used Google to discover that “Dan Purdy” was also the name listed on a suspected account that had a history of several other aliases — including “Pat Riarchy” and “White Goodman.”
so from googling it would appear @deanbrowningpa's black guy identity "Dan Purdy" was also once used on the suspended account @soulcookie322. but before that account became Dan Purdy, it was a white guy named "Pat Riarchy" and "White Goodman". dean is really something else pic.twitter.com/gFkUPkNDPV
— food truck drove away with my debit card (@fart) November 10, 2020
In yet another twist, people noticed similarities between the avatars — and faces — of the man in the video and William Holte, otherwise known as Byl Holte, otherwise known as the adopted son and nephew of music legend Patti LaBelle. Holte has indeed written several articles on Medium complaining about feminism and anti-racism in the media and proudly calls himself an “anti-feminist TV critic.”
However horrifying the tweets from “Dan Purdy” may be, the fiasco has offered, for some, a welcome distraction from the news. Much like the objectively hilarious Four Seasons Total Landscaping ordeal, the idea that a small-time Republican politician is posing as a gay Black man on Twitter — who may also be Patti LaBelle’s actual son — is too juicy to ignore. “Congratulations to Dean Browning, today’s main character,” tweeted Chris Geidner. “I really needed this … LMAO” added Yashar Ali.
Browning, meanwhile, continues to, as they say, “tweet through it,” while Purdy’s account has been suspended. Vox has reached out to Dan Purdy and Dean Browning (and Patti LaBelle) and will update with more info as it comes in.
I would love to see a debate between Candace Owens and AOC!
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/11/10/21559458/dean-browning-dan-purdy-byl-holte-patti-labelle-twitter-gay-black-man
via HDMI Installers
Emerson Gorman, a Navajo elder, with his family in the Navajo Nation town of Steamboat in Arizona. There are roughly 67,000 eligible voters in the Navajo Nation. | Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
Indigenous voters are often forgotten about. But they may have been key in turning swing states for Democrats.
Before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, grassroots organizers in the Navajo Nation were able to attend chapter meetings and perform door-to-door campaigns to encourage people to register to vote. But as the pandemic continued to overwhelm tribal communities, field organizers had to figure out other ways to reach out to Native American voters while limiting physical contact to prevent the spread of the virus. It was a challenge, considering many homes in Indian reservations do not have formal addresses and post offices tend to be miles away.
However, the pandemic didn’t stop organizations like the Rural Utah Project from doing the work. When the lockdown was lifted in May, field organizers in the Navajo Nation — whose territory stretches across New Mexico, Utah, and northern Arizona — returned to the ground and left flyers with voting information inside resealable plastic bags at people’s doors. The group had also partnered with Google to provide plus codes that serve as addresses based on longitudes and latitudes in parts of the Navajo Nation that can be hard to track and created hotlines to direct Indigenous voters to the right place, since voting precincts tend to be confusing. This robust voter outreach by grassroots advocates, many believe, impacted the results of the election in the state.
Rural Utah Project
The Rural Utah Project organized drive-through voter registration events across the Navajo Nation ahead of the 2020 election.
Indigenous people make up nearly 6 percent of Arizona’s population, with eligible voters in the Navajo Nation reaching roughly 67,000. Although Indigenous populations are often overlooked by the Democratic Party and categorized as “something else” by the media, precinct-level data shows that 60 to 90 percent of Navajo Nation voters went for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. And though the presidential race has already been called for Biden, it looks highly likely he’ll win Arizona, too. He is currently ahead by 15,000 votes in the state — a fraction of the votes given to him by the Navajo.
In Wisconsin, another key battleground state, Indigenous voters also may have aided Biden’s narrow win. Native Americans make up about 1.2 percent of the state’s population, or 70,000 people. While the exact percentage of the Native vote Biden received is still uncertain, some key facts point to voter turnout in tribal lands. Menominee County, dubbed a bellwether for the state, overlaps with the Menominee Reservation and has an Indigenous population of nearly 90 percent. Biden won the county with 1,303 votes, compared to President Donald Trump’s 278 votes.
“If it hadn’t been for the tribal nations, Biden truly wouldn’t be in office,” said Tara Benally, field director for the Rural Utah Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates and performs outreach to underrepresented voters. “Just seeing the turnout, that’s something Biden should be aware of and needs to truly understand that he has to work with these Indigenous nations — because if Biden doesn’t come through for these Indigenous nations, what does that mean for him? Where does Trump come into play again?”
The Navajo Nation turned out for Democrats after being ignored by Republican leaders in the pandemic
2020, in particular, has been a challenging year for tribal communities. Indigenous people were hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic, which compounded the underlying health and environmental injustices they already face. By May, the Navajo Nation quickly recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases per capita in the country, exceeding numbers in New York and New Jersey. Yet despite the devastating health emergency, Republican state officials did little to keep the virus from spreading. Not only did the Trump administration slash funding for Indigenous communities, but policies for mask mandates, business lockdowns, and translations for Covid-19 resources were lacking. And when the federal stimulus package rolled out nationwide, finances were slow to arrive in tribal nations.
“There’s been a lot of distrust with the government, especially with treaties and funding. Anytime we get a budget, they tend to get cut,” Benally said. “When nations do expect funding from the federal government, it’s very minimal and it doesn’t go very far.”
Native Americans continue to reckon with a longstanding history of neglect and mistreatment. These unjust legacies have impacted their access to health care services, education, water affordability, and other critical resources. So when Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, released a comprehensive plan for tribal nations in October, which highlights strengthening nation-to-nation relationships and addressing health disparities, Indigenous communities caught a slight glimpse of hope.
“But in years to come,” she added, “what would be great to see from elected officials and the Democratic Party, if they want to keep winning Indian Country, is investment to remove voter suppression barriers, to make voting more accessible to our communities, to invest in roads, and all of these things that just make traveling to cast a vote easier.”
As with most marginalized communities across the country, voter suppression and accessibility issues run rampant in tribal nations. For instance, unjust mail services make it difficult for Native Americans on tribal lands to vote. Scottsdale, Arizona, a city of roughly 184 square miles, has 12 post offices compared to 26 post offices in the entire Navajo Nation, which covers more than 27,000 square miles; the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community has zero.
This year’s election also broke records in representation: Three of the 18 Native American women who ran for office won congressional seats — Democrats Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo member in New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, a Ho-Chunk Nation member in Kansas, were both reelected to a second term, while Republican Yvette Herrell, member of the Cherokee Nation in New Mexico, beat the Democratic incumbent — the highest number in a single election cycle. Native American women represent about 1.1 percent of the US population yet have historically been underrepresented in Congress. Both Begay and Benally underscored the significance of this shift, especially in light of the longstanding patriarchal structure in Indigenous communities.
“At this time, the representation is really going to elevate women’s voices, as a woman, as a mother, and as a parent,” said Benally. “For many decades, it has just been the male leadership; it’s always been one-sided. In Navajo, men turn to their women on what needs to happen, what happens on a day-to-day basis, because the women took care of the house, the kids, and all the men did was go out to gather and hunt. For so long, that hasn’t happened here with the federal government, and now that it’s happening, Indigenous women will really make change happen for the people.”
But even with Indigenous people overwhelmingly throwing their support to a Biden-Harris administration, organizers say the work is not done. From stopping the Keystone XL pipeline to protecting Indigenous women and girls as well as demilitarizing the US-Mexico border that crosses tribal land, Begay said there is still a spate of issues that Native Americans want to see a new administration held accountable for.
“With women in office, they know what it means to take care of a family around the clock,” she said. “To have that kind of person in leadership in these offices makes a lot of sense for how we’re dealing with a pandemic, how we deal with climate change, all of these things that influence the livelihoods of our families — how we access food, how we access our basic needs — and so having that kind of leadership in place is going to be really important.”
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/21559183/navajo-nation-arizona-biden-indigenous-voters
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Emerson Gorman, a Navajo elder, with his family in the Navajo Nation town of Steamboat in Arizona. There are roughly 67,000 eligible voters in the Navajo Nation. | Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
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