LANSING — The postcard looked friendly enough, with cartoon images of a Model T, cherries and pine trees inside an outline of the Mitten state and an encouraging message urging Michigan to “vote!”

But Leslie Figueroa was startled when she read the back.

“Who you vote for is a secret, but whether you vote is public information,” the postcard author told her. “After the election on Tues. Nov. 3, local organizations may follow up with you on your voting record.”

“I thought it was a threat,” said Figueroa.

The postcard included a paid-by disclaimer from the Indivisible Chicago Alliance, a liberal group that this fall organized a volunteer mail campaign to try to boost voter turnout in Michigan and Wisconsin.

But Figueroa, an Ann Arbor Democrat, said she initially feared it might be disinformation designed to discourage her from voting instead.

“I always vote, so they were threatening the wrong person, and I wasn’t even sure what they were trying to accomplish,” she said. “In my mind it was almost like reverse psychology.”

The postcard is an example of what experts call “social pressure” mail that can shock recipients but is considered effective and is being widely employed this year by third-party organizations seeking to boost voter turnout in battleground states like Michigan. - Bridge Michigan

Hubo dos reacciones políticas muy dañinas, una mucho peor que la otra. La primera es que tuvimos líderes, pocos en el mundo, que lo negaron. El caso de Trump es muy significativo porque dijo que Covid-19 era tonto e infectado; otro caso es el de Bolsonaro. La segunda es que tenemos políticos que, sin caer en la negación, sobreestimaron el riesgo del pánico y trataron de transmitir una imagen muy tranquila y subestimaron el peso de la negación. Así, sus mensajes tranquilizadores dificultan la atención, confirman la negación de las personas y dificultan la comprensión de los cambios que se deben realizar en su vida diaria. El gran problema es que ya se ha entendido que la emergencia es solo para cuando hay un aumento de hospitalizaciones y no estaba claro que lo que tenemos que hacer no es esperar el colapso de la salud, sino cambiar la vida diaria, entender que mientras no haya vacuna no podremos vivir como lo hacíamos antes de que llegara el virus. ¿Y eso significa? Que tenemos que implementar cambios cuando estamos en el espacio público, decidir con quién nos vamos a encontrar, registrar nuestros contactos, usar mascarillas, en fin, hacer cambios que son difíciles de incorporar a nuestra vida. Por lo tanto, los mensajes tranquilizadores dificultan la realización de estos pasos. Compartir la gravedad de la situación puede ayudarlo a superar estos mecanismos de negación. - El sociólogo Daniel Feierstein para F1 Mundial

People who think COVID19 will go away after Election Day will be confused when people like me - who’ve been reporting on COVID19 for 7 months - interviewing doctors, devastated families & grateful survivors, are covering it long after Election Day. You can’t vote it away. - David Begnaut CBS News

Pienso en la facilidad con la que se defrauda la fe que una persona tiene hacia otra, también en la pérdida de la confianza y en la posibilidad de sentirse, de alguna forma, despojada de algo que uno consideraba cierto y que ya no lo es más, como una amistad o una relación amorosa. - Rosalía Arteaga en entrevista para el diario El Comercio

Advertencia: Lenguaje fuerte

The central issue of the 2020 presidential campaign was settled within the first 11 minutes of the final debate between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden on Thursday. And it did not work out well for Trump.

“More and more people are getting better. We have a problem that’s a worldwide problem,” Trump declared. “We’re rounding the turn. We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.”

Problem One for Trump: Saying that it’s a “worldwide problem” doesn’t get him off the hook. Problem Two: We’re not rounding the turn. Problem Three: We’re not rounding the corner. Problem Four: It’s not going away anytime soon.

So Biden pounced: “220,000 Americans dead. You hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this. Anyone who is responsible for not taking control ... anyone [who] is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America.” - E.J. Dionne Jr. Washington Post

Most seemed to have made up their minds and were  voting for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. But there were some undecided  voters, too, including a Southwest Ohio woman who voted for Barack Obama  before switching sides and voting for Trump in 2016. The groups also  included an unwavering Libertarian and a man who said he and many of his  friends probably wouldn’t vote because they’ve never seen a president  impact the problems in their day-to-day lives.

There were no fights, nor even harsh words during the five 2-hour virtual meetings.

Often,  voters looked for — and sometimes found — common ground on everything  from the economy to what they hope will happen after the election, when  the real work begins.

Unity is what voters craved most.

They want nasty fights and bickering to stop among politicians -- and among themselves. - https://www.daily-jeff.com/story/news/state/2020/10/23/ohioans-retreat-into-safe-groups-crave-post-election-unity/3726617001/

Valerie Elise Plame Wilson (née Plame, August 13, 1963), is an American writer, spy novelist, and former officer who worked at the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer was leaked to and subsequently published by Robert Novak of the Washington Post. - Wikipedia. 

Vindman is one of several high-profile national security and intelligence figures ousted by Trump to mobilize against him ahead of the 2020 election; others, like former FBI agent and frequent Trump punching bag Peter Strzok, have also warned that the president poses a national security threat. “I believed at the time in 2016 and I continue to believe that Donald Trump is compromised by the Russians,” Strzok said Sunday on Meet the Press. - Vanity Fair