I've promoted billboard campaigns as a way to organize locally for decades!!

Depending on the market, they can be downright cheap. The biggest barrier I've found is settling on a great design. Once you have that, campaigns to raise funds from local people create connections that last. And people who have given even a dollar to get that sign up see a concrete result of their contribution. And that inspires further action, greater hope, and more engagement.

like all UHF channels. Reruns of Gomer Pyle, Hogans Heroes and Star Trek. Those were the days! And 24/7 news? Who the hell is going to watch the news in the middle of the night, or the middle of the day for that matter. Apparently a lot of people. He was an innovator. I'll give him that.

and a warehouse of 55 gallon drums of coca cola original ingredients.

but yea, the american dream

... and 50-odd years ago, I met him briefly at Ted Hood's boatyard in Marblehead, Massachusetts where he'd had the Tenacious II hauled out for a bottom cleaning, I think it was. Nice enough guy, as I recall.
Hood also owned a sail loft where the finest sails in the world were made. That's how I happened to be there. I was doing technical blow-apart drawings of Hood foretriangle reefing systems and suchlike. And, no, I'm not much of a sailor, but I have hurled over the gunnels of some very prestigious yachts.

... here in Vermont, so some Vermont businesses advertise on them just over the state lines of New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Dang!

My best friend in the late 70's early 80's, was April. She spent her early years in Little Rock, MS (Yes, MS, not AK). It's a tiny place about 40 miles from Meridian, MS. Her mother left MS long before I met April. April grew up in Topanga Canyon (and if you know the culture in So. Cal in the 70's, Topanga was unique).

Anyway, April was my roommate in West Los Angeles when her mother inherited the family home in Little Rock. April went back to help out. I spent a few weeks down there on a couple of occasions.

It was an immersion in a different world for me. A rich, nuanced, frustrating, and very strange world that was completely at odds with any stereotype. The family had history in the community. A woman who I think was a child of a former slave of the family was a friend.
Nobody had any problem with April's gay older sister.

April ended up re-locating "back home." I lost touch for lengthy periods of time, but my partner and I visited and stayed for a couple weeks in 2005, so I got another glimpse into life there. April died way too young in 2010.

I'm not sure that I have a point, but the thing that was most notable to me was that there was a general "politics isn't for the likes of us" attitude -- until something pissed them off or got their attention. And then they could be a formidable bunch of people.

I suspect that the current insanity has engaged people the Republicans don't even realize exist.

Wonderful story. I grew up in the south and you're right, it is nuanced. I guess the meanness that started in the mid-90's kind of overshadowed that and at times I lose sight of it. One of mom's cousins was gay and everyone knew it. But Hill was Hill and everyone loved him. Hill was short for Hilliard. He and my maternal grandfather were the funniest people I've ever known. When those two teamed up it was a rolling in the floor riot! And a bit off color at times. I remember my grandmother's most said phrase was...Jess!! Language!! I miss those days.

Many Are Going Away

and Biden, Obama, etc.

are the Blues Highway, cotton fields, the big rest area on I-55 once you enter the state going southbound, and a McDonalds in Jackson off 55 that had the best quality food for a McDonalds. They sold grits.

Jackson, Mississippi is a Democratic city. In the 2025 mayoral race the Republican candidate got less than 1% of the vote. Harris got 72% of the vote in the county.

How many here live in a district that went for Harris by 72%?

Which is why the Republicans are doing their best to destroy higher education.

Last edited Sat Jul 4, 2026, 02:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Here in Michigan Harris won 71% of the vote in Ann Arbor (University of Michigan). There are also counties in Michigan that went 70-72% for Trump.

My point is that the red state - blue state analysis oversimplifies things. People were expressing surprise that there would be Democratic support in Mississippi.

I have family in one of the reddest parts of MI and good friends in Ann Arbor.

It's the same in NC.

I try to remind folks that the Democrats in red states are just as good as the ones in blue states. And they have a tougher row to hoe.

I think we are going to flip Michigan's 1st district.

I noticed that my relatives have gotten all quiet like on social media.

SUCKER!

Just ask the Orange Turd, he'll tell you.

Most of Jackson is in the 2nd Congressional district, which Bennie Thompson has held for 33 years. The seven person city council has 6 Dems and 1 Repug.

If you want to find billboards which show the pendulum swinging, look out in the sticks, not in a state's largest city.

This is one of those things which may make people feel good, but doesn't actually signify anything new or useful.

it may not indicate all that much about any changes in the electoral climate like you indicate. It would say a lot more about pendulums swinging I would think if it was in Dubuque Iowa rather than Jackson MS. Nevertheless, it is still nice though that people in that city & county are still expressing how they feel about all the other red counties in their state. And it's nice to learn of a Mississippi group seeking justice.

Meanwhile in Phoenix, where 4th of July celebrations are a 10 day ‘season’ of street fireworks in Latino neighborhoods starting prior to July 1, there’s not a cherry bomb to be heard. Eerily silent. Very sad.