I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like today was the most positive I have been since Trump was elected. Everything has just been better- colors are brighter, music sounds better, thinks smell better, just everything is better.
Don’t get me wrong, in the short term we are still fucked, but it feels like Democrats have started to figure out how to fight and how to win, and that is at the local level on solid local issues with good grassroots gotv operations. I think if we continue down this road. instead of trickle down from national candidates helping local ones, we can expect the opposite- turnout for local candidates will trickle up and help our national candidates.
I just feel hopeful for the first time in a long time.
japa21
I was, of course thrilled to have the governorships won. But to be honest, the really exciting things are the victories at even below state representative level. I am talking about mayors, sheriffs, school boards,etc. That is where the GOP focused for decades and got them to where they are today. Looks like we are starting to take back the reins at all levels. Not there yet, but yesterday really gave me hope.
Ithink
This African-American (voter) and fellow citizen couldn’t agree more!
Yutsano
If Menendez can stall his sentencing until after the Great Joisey Whale is bounced from Trenton that would be great.
Ithink
Damn it, almost got first comment in the thread!
Mathguy
Still giggling about transgender woman beating homophobic man. There is hope for this country if that can happen in Virginia.
different-church-lady
Eventually every Oz meets his Toto.
quakerinabasement
Danica Roem is my favorite story of the day–took down the author of the (failed) Virginia “Bathroom Bill” and then chose not to criticize him, saying, “He’s my constituent now. I don’t attack constituents.”
Awesome!
debbie
This is good, but it’s also good that Trump oversteps his authority more often and more blatantly. You just know his tiny but chubby and grimy fingers are all over this:
hellslittlestangel
You sound like a guy who might have a few bucks to donate to Doug Jones’ campaign.
eclare
Reposted from below:
Danica Roem after getting a call from Joe Biden.
kindness
We’re with you John. Now how do we get the purity folk to not frag the rest of the party? I thought we had learned but then the Donna Brazil crap hit the fan. Rinse/repeat.
Ithink
I just hope we find a boundary shattering and winning 2020 candidate for 2020 is all I RELLY want now. #LetsGetBusyFindingHimorHer
Brachiator
Yep. And I liked this little story from over on Gizmodo: Rooting for All the Black Folk: 7 Cities in America Elected Their 1st Black Mayors Tuesday Night
People are pushing back against all the racism, anger and resentment of Trumpism.
Keep on pushing.
eclare
@different-church-lady: Going to steal that phrase!
Major Major Major Major
Almost totally agree, John. I feel a lot more effortless today.
@Yutsano:
It’s not like he has to retire. There’s nothing in the rules that says
a dog can’t play basketballa senator can’t be in prison. Make Yertle find a 2/3 vote to remove him.TenguPhule
@kindness:
Four union reps, a knuckle duster and a dark alley come to mind.
NobodySpecial
I think a lot of the party apparatus saw the Reagan campaign and drew the wrong conclusions, and we’ve been running down the wrong path ever since. Maybe we’re back on track, now that many of the big national party apparatus has repeatedly crashed and burned publicly.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Sending our thoughts and prayers to the GOP.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Rather not muddy the waters by forcing Democrats to vote to save a convicted crook, thank you very much.
Let’s not give Republicans a precedent they could use to save Trump, Pence, Ryan or McConnell.
TenguPhule
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Thoughts of Destruction and Prayers for Justice.
TenguPhule
@NobodySpecial:
Let’s not get carried away here. 2010 & 2012 taught us that the lessons of 2006 & 2008 were quickly forgotten.
Chip Daniels
What I find best is that all the messages that were supposedly losing messages won last night.
Gun control, health care, femininism, diversity…all these things won.
This isn’t the short term jolt of running on a fear campaign, its building a shared vision of what Democrats can do when they are in charge.
Nicole
Charles Pierce said Danica Roem ran a campaign straight out of Tip O’Neill’s playbook. That is, she ran on a local issue that people care about (roads). Love it.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: I doubt the sentencing, if he is found guilty, would be that fast (Thanksgiving, Christmas), but I agree, I don’t care if he’s in jail, he stays until Murphy is sworn in. Some people on Maher were arguing, no, we have to be better. Bill was adamantly no, stop bringing knives to gun fights.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Yutsano: even if he’s convicted, it hard to see how it would be upheld after SCOTUS said you can take bribes in the Bob McDonnell case.
Joyce H
Me too! I was starting to have this real sense that we might be experiencing the Decline and Fall of our civilization.
You know how you read about some ancient empire, and when it starts declining, sometimes there will be an actual competent emperor come along for a few years and he starts improving things, and you start to think (even knowing that you’re reading about a fallen ancient civilization), hey, maybe this guy can turn it around! Then he gets killed in battle or assassinated, and the new guy is the same kind of corrupt incompetent that had been before and the decline continues. Sometimes I fear that Obama was that guy – With Bush Jnr on one side and Trump on the other, he was the one who who came along for a while to made you think we could turn it around.
If Gillespie had won last night, especially with that horrific campaign he’d run, I’d start imagining a terrifying old age, huddled behind barred doors while gangs of barbarian hordes rampage outside.
Corner Stone
True. And I plan to tune in to Fox News to watch Donna Brazile tell us our exact next steps to victory!
patrick II
@quakerinabasement:
I thought was a taken and meant in part as a generous peace offering, but I also thought it was a very sly dig. Nice work, Ms. Roem.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: Republicans don’t give a shit about precedent, and voters don’t give a shit about process. You’d rather have Christie appoint a Republican who’d serve until at least January 2019?
SatanicPanic
@kindness: Donna appears to be walking that back. At least it didn’t seem to hurt in this election.
Yarrow
@kindness: Turning out the base in numbers like we saw yesterday will go a long way to shutting up the purity folks. And Donna Brazile and her posing for photos with that abusive traitor Sheriff Clarke can fuck right off. She’s peddling her book by going on Tucker Carlson’s show. She’s done.
Corner Stone
@eclare: I want Joe Biden to shut up and go all the fuck away.
MisterForkbeard
@eclare: There’s a REALLY OBVIOUS thing Menendez should say if he’s convicted and sentenced: “Republicans blocked the lifetime appointment of a Supreme Court justice for a year. If they can wait that long, they can wait a month before we appoint an interim Senator.”
MisterForkbeard
@Corner Stone: That’s dumb. Getting a congratulatory phone call from a former VP is no longer something he’s allowed to do?
Maybe (just maybe) you’re going overboard with this?
debbie
@Yarrow:
And shutting them up will do exactly what? Your key to success is continuing the antagonism?
eclare
@Corner Stone: Danica felt differently, according to the picture. I thought it was touching.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: Bob is going to hang on FOUR EV ERRR. That asshole ain’t going a-knowheah, thanks be to the dear FSM.
different-church-lady
@kindness: We learned. Donna did not.
eclare
@MisterForkbeard: Good point.
Major Major Major Major
@Joyce H: I’ve seen people float the Obama-Gorbachev parallel ’round these parts before.
different-church-lady
@debbie:
Create some peace and quiet at the very least.
Corner Stone
@MisterForkbeard: May his firebird find the sainted cliff of STFU from henceforth.
Yarrow
@debbie: How the hell did you get that from what I said? When the base turning out in large numbers is what’s winning elections, that’s what people will pay attention to. Candidates and parties like to win elections. Purity folks can still talk all they want but they will get less attention if the base is winning elections.
ruemara
I don’t think the party woke up. I think the people who vote the party realized they were asleep and woke up.
@Yarrow: It’s getting old that acknowledging the Bernitis squads being antagonistic is ginning up antagonism. Stop doing it and we can stop telling you you’re doing it.
different-church-lady
I think we might need to clear something up. At this point the so-called “Purity Folks” (the quotes are definitive there) are not interested in purity. They are interested in lobbing bombs and stirring shit. They will never shut up, but we can at least stop giving them our credulity.
Yutsano
@japa21: It’s a start. Miles of work left to do.
Having said that…I’m starting to get slightly optimistic about the 2018 Senate.
debbie
@different-church-lady:
Our not shutting up after the election, more than anything else, is why yesterday was a good day. Lets not have those who have issues with the DNC have to resort to similar methods. It could work against us.
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: Agreed. This is pretty typical of who the Dem voters ought to have been last year (and to a large degree were). Don’t forget, we won the popular vote by a resounding margin.
geg6
I agree, John. First time I felt a sliver of hope. We can do this. The down ballot wins are just setting my spidey sense tingling. That’s where it really is meaningful. We can do this.
Yes we can.
debbie
@different-church-lady:
You’re talking about the people who support the guy who cannot be named, right?
Brachiator
@Chip Daniels:
Great point. Maybe this will suggest a theme or focus for future election battles.
zhena gogolia
@TenguPhule:
You never let up!
Yarrow
A key insight into yesterday’s VA Gov race is this:
Republicans didn’t stay home. Dems turned out to vote.
Baud
Today was a good day.
@ruemara: Agree.
Rusty
Feeling good too about the local successes. Our Rochester NY suburb has only had Republicans on the town council since we moved here 20 years ago. Supposedly there hasn’t been a Democrat elected since 1920’s (would love to find a source for that). Yesterday we turfed out the two Republicans running for two first time candidate Democrats. They ran good campaigns on local issues, and did a phenomenal job of GOTV. In person visit, mailers weekly then daily and finally an email from an active Democrat friend on Monday night. The town was get-able, Democratic registrations have grown, and the Republican town went for Hillary over Trump (she was a good senator for upstate). The party committed resources and it paid off. Yeah!
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Incorrect, Republicans love them some precedent when it works for them. And we’d lose faint hearted Democrat and mushy independent votes that could mean the difference between victory and violence and don’t pretend that we wouldn’t. A lot of the people who can be persuaded to vote D expect us to have some minimal standards, for some reason.
different-church-lady
@SatanicPanic:
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Kelly
For me the heartwarming news is the turnout. I was crushed to discover how many of my fellow Americans voted for an obvious con man, Trump. Most of them would vote for him again but the less politically engaged folks are stirring up and they’re on our side. It appears to me Trump and his ilk will keep the petal to the metal spinning their tires like bad drivers in the snow. Hopefully the ruckus will keep the less engaged stirred up and the idiot Republicans driving won’t get very far.
different-church-lady
@debbie: Not by definition, no. But there’s a lot of overlap on the Venn diagram.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow:
I suppose its politically incorrect to wish she suffers an accident that keeps her out of the media for awhile.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
Thread won, once again
ruemara
@different-church-lady: That is an excellent visual.
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia: is there any part you disagree with?
Yarrow
@TenguPhule: I do not wish she suffers an accident. I do hope Dems realize what she’s doing and cut her out. She’s not trustworthy.
different-church-lady
@zhena gogolia: Put it on the mantle with the others…
zhena gogolia
Someone needs to make germy’s line about the cockroaches into a rotating tag.
I floated this the other day, but I guess nobody here watches Poldark. It turns out Ross is a purity pony.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: Am I reading this right, you are advocating for solving our political problems with moderation and common decency?
zhena gogolia
@TenguPhule:
No, I’m just admiring your consistency.
debbie
@TenguPhule:
More like it’s bad karma. Her metaphorical fifteen minutes will pass soon enough.
Major Major Major Major
@debbie: @different-church-lady: I bin somebody into the “purity pony, ignore” bucket based on current actions, not past ones, but yeah, one is basically a subset of the other.
Kathleen
@Corner Stone: I understand from my AOL Home Page she also ripped President Obama in her book. Something about his ego something something.
Baud
@Yarrow: She is finished.
SatanicPanic
Makes me excited to volunteer for a campaign next year- I might actually be on the winning side!
Patricia Kayden
@Brachiator: Tiki torching White Supremacists failed badly if they thought their foolishness in Charlottesville was going to intimidate people of color and liberals. And Trump’s awfulness hasn’t helped Republicans in the suburbs and urban areas where most voters live. Just hoping this is a good indication of what we can expect from voters next November. Not sure if Trump will even still be in the White House by then given Mueller’s investigation and the threat of more indictments hanging over this regime.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: Yes. I do find it preferable to the alternative, you know.
And nothing I’ve said is untrue, if our Ds in Congress have to defend a convicted felon, we’re gonna find ourselves in deep shit come the election.
japa21
@Yutsano: What will make me feel really optimistic about the 2018 Senate is if Jones wins or even only loses by 3% or so.,
rp
@ruemara: And that’s exactly what needed to happen. Obama has been making this point forever.
Citizen_X
@debbie:
Wow, thanks for saving us all!
Who needs coalitions, right?
Baud
@Kathleen:
We should have just kept DWS in for the final six months.
different-church-lady
@Patricia Kayden:
They were intimidated right into the voting booths.
trollhattan
@debbie:
And I suppose Sinclair is in the wings with a big ol’ sack of offshore wingnut cash to snap CNN up in a heartbeat should it come up for sale.
trollhattan
@Baud:
As it turns out, yup.
TenguPhule
@Kathleen:
We got ourselves a Heretic here!
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: Do you have any evidence that voters give a shit about process? And what I meant by “republicans don’t give a shit about precedent” is that… they don’t. The fact that they find precedent that’s convenient to them or invent it wholesale if they can’t shows that they don’t care, not that they do.
different-church-lady
@Baud: Calling for her scalp always smelled like a rat-fucking campaign to me, but I didn’t (and still don’t) have the chops to defend that hunch.
SatanicPanic
@different-church-lady: Also a fair characterization. She clearly thought she was being a savvy operator when she released that book instead it went over like a fart in an elevator. Some people aren’t as clever as they think they are.
debbie
@trollhattan:
They grow more pernicious by the day.
Baud
@trollhattan: Soros should buy CNN. I’ll donate half my Soros paycheck for that effort.
Fair Economist
@NobodySpecial:
It probably was the right path for a while. The Obama coalition would have been a minority even in the 90’s and we needed Blue Dog types. Now things have changed.
I think Fox News and the Wingnut Wurlitzer in general have altered the landscape as well. There was a time when self-identified “conservatives” (who don’t necessarily favor conservative policies) could be reached and convinced to switch tickets. Now most of them are in cloud cuckoo land ranting about Jade Helm, talking about how hard Trump works, and claiming the Federal Government spends most of its money on the poor.
I think the huge changes between Bill Clinton’s platform and Hillary Clinton’s platform mostly reflect this. They were always both pretty liberal but were proposing what they thought would win.
Kathleen
@Baud: I was pissed she got canned. Not a big fan of hers necessarily, but the kowtowing was ridiculous.
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia:
Betty or Doug would be the best bets to flag it down.
Kathleen
@TenguPhule: Fueled by Dinosaurs!!!!
ThresherK
@different-church-lady:
Professor Marvel / Oz may have been working a bit above his abilities, and dealing in bunkum, but he was not the unrepentant asswipe that Trump, Christie, Gillespie, (insert almost any R here) is.
(I would suggest one of the Wicked Witches, but since Gregory McGuire wrote Wicked, even they aren’t purely villainous!)
Peale
@Yarrow: yep. Now if we can just convince those dem voters to come out every time, we’ll be getting somewhere. My fear, though, is that once A Dem is president again, Dem voters will decide that they aren’t needed any longer
debbie
@SatanicPanic:
No one is. Very few of these instant-type books ends up well for the author.
Kathleen
@different-church-lady: I totally agree with you.
Bill
John, here is a FB post making the rounds from a grass roots activist that makes many of the same points as your post. H/T DU
Mainstream Media and Talking Heads still don’t get it and still keep going for the “divisive” story – here’s what really happened for Virginia and elsewhere:
1. GRASSROOTS ACTIVISTS drove the BIG win in Virginia (and likely elsewhere) – the top of the ticket rode the coattails of the down ballot GOTV efforts – don’t get me wrong we have come to enthusiastically support Northam, Fairfax, and Herring and the leadership they’ll bring — but it didn’t start with them and the DNC is NOT the issue.
2. We woke up and embraced – VOTING MATTERS!!!!! It’s a right to be cherished.
3. We BEGAN MONTHS AGO starting with great research by some VA teachers on what was possible in each district – months ahead of the DNC. The DNC became helpful in July but we had begun recruiting and canvassing months earlier.
4. We realized that a rabid, narrow-minded, white supremacist MINORITY is ruling the country for the benefit of (knowingly or not) of powerful corporate entities or oligarchs determined to block any common sense move forward on host of local and national issues that will determine the future well-being of the majority of Americans
5. We wanted to begin the PROCESS OF RECLAIMING AMERICA for the TRUE majority who are proud of what America stands for – equal opportunity, inclusion, innovation, fairness, science, compassion, and sacrifice.
6. We realized there is NO PERFECT CANDIDATE but a more perfect general assembly could be convened with a variety of strong candidates with individual stories and perspectives that will reflect the myriad of constituents all united in a passion for the democratic process and a responsive government.
7. There was a hundreds (thousands?) STRONG FLUID NETWORK of grassroots activists working around the state using many tools and programs to GOTV. We didn’t wed ourselves to one method, one group or one tool…and we moved between candidates as needed. No egos. No turf. (And thank you, Tom Periello and your mother for your gracious, steadfast, valuable participation in ALL of our efforts – you helped hold our eyes to the target and not on tantrum political infighting!)
8. We’re also GRATEFUL for the spirits, money and boots on the ground that came from DC, MD and elsewhere nationally – we’re ready to reciprocate!
Doug Jones – we’re now coming to support you in Alabama even though they say it can’t be done!
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
I feel exactly the same way! I doubt my positivity will last very long but I’ll take whatever I can get.
Yoda Dog
@Yarrow: Oh HELL fucking NO. That is it. She is fucking dead to me.
lgerard
The best part of yesterday was that the enthusiasm of the Woman’s March inspired so many first time candidates to run, and that so many of them won.
trump can certainly take credit for that
Yarrow
@different-church-lady: Perhaps Bob Mueller’s investigation will provide some insights into all that once the findings are made public.
debbie
@Kathleen:
OMG. You listen to NPR. Did you hear this this morning? She makes Betsy DeVos seem sane and well-reasoned.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
You know, one odd thing I never understood about President Obama was his utter lack of interest in being the head of the party. Howard Dean–not by himself, but he was kind of the leader here–broadened the party to where we won seats all over the country. The 50 state strategy. The party just seemed to kind of lose all interest in that after Obama’s first win in 2008, and Obama, as the head of the party, didn’t lean on the party leaders to get back into the game. Maybe I’m all wrong about this, and I’m reading it wrong, but that’s how it seems to me. Maybe under Perez, we can get back to Dean’s way of doing things.
Baud
@Kathleen: I hear you. I hope the Unity Commission goes too. ASAP.
Mnemosyne
If we show up, we crush them.
That’s the lesson of yesterday.
Peale
@trollhattan: I wish It was a better network so I’d feel the need to defend it. It’s kind of like Defending NewsHour. There aren’t a lot left f liberals to defend there, and if they were purged, we might not notice the difference.
Patricia Kayden
Just seeing the racist fliers that targeted two Asian Americans in New Jersey and I have to say that I am shocked at the ugliness to which they were subjected. Thankfully, they both won last night.
Yarrow
@Bill: That’s a great summary. Thanks for posting.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: The Repubs got a lot of people hostile to Hillary over unfounded charges of corruption. Those people didn’t vote for her.
What do you think is gonna happen if Democrats in the Senate vote against evicting a convicted D Senator? They’re gonna get pillaried and this time it wouldn’t be unfounded. Just having people not vote at all would benefit the Rs, because “they’re all the same” mindset has always always favored them at election time.
And Republicans break precedent when it suits them, but in this case it would work for them. And like it or not, our party’s Senators actually do care about the traditions and history of the Senate.
Major Major Major Major
@zhena gogolia: @TenguPhule: We have a submission form for taglines and pie filter quotes.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
Also in New Jersey. Happily, it didn’t work.
Baud
@TenguPhule: New governor gets sworn in in January. Dems can wait. No one will care.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: To be fair, DWS was not very media savvy and self-inflicted some of those wounds that brought her down.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
That doesn’t sound the the hostile media fifth column we all know and loathe.
I’m fine with running out the clock, but we really don’t want that vote on the official record.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: I probably don’t understand this because I never watch cable news.
Peale
@Patricia Kayden: yeah. Omg. You don’t want Asians anywhere near school districts. I mean the disrespect shown to teachers by those people is legendary. The drop out rate will go through the roof. I think I got that message in a fortune cookie once: “never spend a dime educating your children”
Baud
@TenguPhule: No one we care about will care.
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: I find it odd that Republicans are still running their mouths about communism while supporting a President who was elected because of Russian interference in our elections. Funny that.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: If it works as well the photo submission form then its never gonna see the light of day.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule:
I dunno, part of me is starting to think it doesn’t even matter whether we provide fodder for that kind of thinking or if the Republicans just have to make up corruption bullshit out of whole cloth. Their voters will believe it either way. I guess it might depress turnout for our voters, but that has to be weighed against handing an extra seat to the Republicans during this next legislative year, which is kinda important too.
@TenguPhule: As the person who wrote both, I’m offended.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
True, but we need a majority.
Baud
@TenguPhule: We have it. See yesterday.
Travels with Charley
I haven’t caught up with all of the comments – still reading comments from downstairs threads – but I wanted to share a comment from my sister. Long-term Republican, Fox News person. LOATHES trump & is willing to vote Dem if that gets him out. Has banned Fox News in her home, broken with Texan friends on politics. All since the 2016 election! She is THRILLED by the VA results, says “anything to get trump out of power.” As bleak as things have been the last year…there are many signs of a huge change happening……
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
Exactly! I know I bring it up every time there’s a GOPer nearby.
eclare
@Baud: If Christie appoints an R Senator, they will work through Christmas 24/7 to abolish the ACA. They will drag Rand and Thad in on hospital beds to cast votes. That is why it is vital to wait for Murphy. I think that is a valid reason to wait.
trollhattan
Former Trump staffer with most-punchable neck soon bringing his puss to FOX. America celebrates.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
It was terrible. The security check kept expiring ridiculously fast and I could not confirm that it even made it through after I hit the send.
Hungry Joe
In so many of these races the victories came from devastating, impossible-to-overcome percentages of black and latino votes: 80 percent for Dems, 90 percent for Dems. AND their turnout. It depends on the demographics of any particular district or state, of course, but in most places all we have to do is get 35-45 percent of the white vote to win. How screwed — or rather, how much more screwed — would this country be without all these sane minority voters?
Major Major Major Major
@Travels with Charley: That’s great!
Baud
@eclare: Also, why would Dems disenfranchise New Jersey? They just chose a new governor.
debbie
@Baud:
Not quite. Turnouts yesterday were low; it’s just that the good guys were more motivated to turn out. That may not happen next time. We should be striving for overwhelming, landslide-size majorities.
newdealfarmgrrrlll
@Travels with Charley: that is encouraging news!
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: I don’t know what “The security check kept expiring ridiculously fast” means. Or why you’re using the past tense.
Patricia Kayden
@Yarrow: Wow. She is truly gone. Never expected this from her but I guess knowing that she will never again lead a presidential campaign has messed her up.
ruemara
@Travels with Charley: Hey, that is very cool. Welcome your sister back to the fold of sanity and patriotism for me
@Hungry Joe: Very. Based on the white vote. Which is why we’d love to have progressives focus on empowering us.
Baud
@Hungry Joe: Well, it’s the minorities that are driving the GOP voters crazy. But you’re correct. The fact is, most of the country’s political problem are white people’s problems.
Baud
@debbie: Turnout in Virginia was high. Don’t know about other places.
trollhattan
@Peale:
They get by being not-FOX, but a few of their folks have developed backbones since being attacked 24/7 by this administration, proving once and for all they arent’t loved or even valued. I trust some of their individual folks but not management, who need a both-sides-ectomy.
eclare
@Baud: Where have I heard this logic before? As you said, no one we care about will care.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: The Security verification on the form. The one to prove you’re not a bot.
Baud
@eclare: Huh? Dems will care about disenfranchising New Jersey and we care about Dems.
debbie
@Baud:
Here, Dems pretty much swept everything. Even most of the school levies passed. The turnout is reported to be 29%.
Patricia Kayden
@Hungry Joe: Thankfully 1 in 5 Virginia voter was Black so that is a huge plus for Democratic candidates.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: Well, how do you know you’re not a bot?
eclare
@Baud: Poor wording, I agree with you. Was referring to the logic of not letting Obama appoint a Justice. No one we care about will care if we hold out for Murphy.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: And “expires”? (The time token on the form is set to 24 hours.)
I’ve not heard of anybody having trouble with the CAPTCHA, what’s your browser and such? Can you do other CAPTCHA’s?
ETA: because seriously, the photo form has lots of submissions, so i’m interested in nailing down remaining errors
Baud
@debbie: Pretty high for an off-off-year minor election.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: I was using chrome, I had to do the captcha almost every other minute because it kept telling me the captcha had expired after uploading a photo.
So far that’s the only one I had a problem with.
Baud
@eclare:
Good.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: Bots don’t hate Republicans as much as I do.
eclare
@Baud: See my comment 125.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: So you haven’t used it recently or tried the quote form at all, and I’ve probably changed the code since this bug?
ETA if you do try the quote form and end up with a bug, lemme know your plugins too
Shana
@Baud: Of the 2 off year elections, this is the higher participation one. In 2019 there won’t be any state-wide candidates and therefore the lowest turnout (as a rule).
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: It was last week. I was trying to upload puppy and vacation photos. The only plugins were adobe and flash.
debbie
@Baud:
Is it? I’m disappointed. Every election should be 100%, dammit.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: Can you try submitting a quote real quick?
eclare
@TenguPhule: I’ve been wondering where your vacation photos were.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: I’m not on that computer right now. I’ll try in a couple of hours.
TenguPhule
@eclare: So have I. Some of them came out very nice too and I really wanted to share the new puppy pics of Winnie the Pooper.
eclare
@TenguPhule: Aww, you got a puppy?
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: It would help me feel better about myself if you could try it on whatever computer you’re on right now.
zhena gogolia
@eclare:
They’re all pictures of tumbrels.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Peale: I think this colossal shit show of the past 10 months will provide the Left with a lot of NeverForget material to always remind us why we need to always show up, always GOTV, always be involved locally etc. I know slot of newly active people like myself who are vowing to make this a way of life going forward.
eclare
@zhena gogolia: Hahaha….
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: LOL. Was that a vacation with VDE? And no pikes? I haz disappoint.
TenguPhule
@eclare: Yes, one of our dogs passed away in Feb, puppy came to us in June.
She is not yet housebroken, hence her title.
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia: It was Japan, they have some of the biggest fucking knives in the world. Also, a surprising collection of antique firearms and other means of dispensing death sold in shops in a country where guns are strictly regulated.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: Okay, submitted the quote form.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: and it worked on your end?
Next step is to try that form on the computer you can’t use the photo form from. If you would like to help me troubleshoot, of course, since I can’t reproduce the issue.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: at a certain point doesn’t a knife just become a sword? I feel like there’s a hard limit on how big a knife can be.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Japanese Tuna Knives. They are bigger then most swords, except perhaps Scottish Claymores and Japanese Great Swords.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: Looks like it worked. I’ll try the photo form again in a bit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
In my little city of Duluth, GA, in the only competitive race we had yesterday City Council member), a young African American man won against the incumbent and another challenger! I voted for him but honestly didn’t think he had a chance. SO glad to be wrong!
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: ok. I’ll keep checking here.
@TenguPhule: wow, I feel like that’s really abusing the word knife, but the more I think about it the more I see I had an incorrectly narrow conception of what a knife is earlier.
fuckwit
@Major Major Major Major: that’d be me. jury’s still out. but yesterday was encouraging. let’s see if this keeps up to 2018 and 2020 and beyond
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I had the impression that Obama considered the DNC to be hostile and fundamentally broken. He repurposed OfA and continued its data collection and fundraising efforts as “Organizing for America”. I believe that organization contributed more to the Clinton campaign (in terms of donor lists and tech data) than the DNC.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
I know, I’ve seen the infomercials.
frosty
@Major Major Major Major:
Late to the thread. I just did, worked fine. Firefox, no plugins that I’m aware of.
qwerty42
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like today was the most positive I have been since Trump was elected. …
Yeah. Lot of … *odd* responses from some of the GOP folks (it’s the #NeverTrumpers! They’re traitors! Rick Wilson is behind it and is a secret Dem …)
But this sweeping good news is so great. I expect the GOP leadership to continue on the tax cuts for billionaires no matter the cost.
Barbara
I totally agree. In my city in New Jersey there was an incredible amount of interest in the council elections (prior to this year I must confess I didn’t know who my councilpersons were. This year I met two of the candidates and attended several council meetings.) But your point about interest “trickling up” is exactly what I’m seeing here – when local politics gets exciting and attracts good candidates, then voters will go to the polls whoever is running at the top of the ticket.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
So when did you do the “I’m not a robot” check? At the end, or while submitting a photo? I’ve submitted a lot of photo sets, and after the first time they have all been smooth.
Don’t do the robot check until you’re done with submitting things. That’s as smooth a submission tool as you’re going to find!
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
Tengu is trying to hit the “Capcha” between photos, instead of waiting until all his photos are in and he’s ready to hit the submit button, IIRC. That got me at first, and then I realized you don’t need to prove you’re not a robot for every photo you upload, just when you submit your photo set.
Maybe a note to do the captcha at the end of submitting stuff would do it. Otherwise you need to hit that checkbox every time you upload a photo. I thought it was a trivial issue, but it obviously bothered him.
Major Major Major Major
@J R in WV: ah. That would indeed do it! I’ll open a ticket for me. Thanks
J R in WV
John, You’re so right about the relief last night and today.
We went to bed early last night, and I was restless and got up and watched the threads and news sites for 2 or 3 more hours, with a small glass of really good single barrel bourbon, as others mentioned 30 year old scotch, etc. The variety of winners, first black mayor of lots of towns, first trans Delegate in Va, who beat a homophobic bigot and was gracious about it.
It made me feel like last year was a real anomaly – plus the Russian hacking and fake news. Trump was all “Ed Gillespie isn’t really a conservative, he isn’t close to me!” which wasn’t strictly false but wasn’t really true either. Ed used all of the Trump hot button issues without talking about Trump that much. And it failed!!
Counties in PA and OH electing local Dems either for the first time in decades or forever. Just so much good news. I know Alabama and Doug Jones is a long shot. Roy Moore stands a good chance of being a Senator, even though I’m kicking in a weekly contribution.
If I thought it would help I would go down to canvass, but there’s no way I can sound like I’m from Alabama I don’t think, and they would be sensitive to Yankee carpetbaggers I suspect. So I’m just going to contribute to the campaign, and wait to hear the results. I wonder if they use touch-screen machines down there?
Here in our county it’s a touch screen voting machine, but you can see a printed tally through a clear window on the side of the screen, it lists every choice as you make them, then confirms your votes at the end of your voting session. I would rather fill in the blobs on a paper ballot, which we did back a few years ago, but whatever.
I would like to see random audit counts of the paper tally and the electronic totals from random machines, but I’m not very paranoid about our voting.
Cole: Thanks for what you do to provide this site to everyone. It provides consolation when elections go poorly, and helps us celebrate when they go well! Sleep tight!
JR
Bill Arnold
Yep, in response to original post, was in a powerfully good mood this morning, despite not getting enough sleep. More the symbolism of an awakening American populace than anything else. OK, and that the margins were surprising to a lot of people.
Was talking with my favorite wingnut last night (mainlines breitbart/fox/etc, 2nd amendment fan). He was going on (as usual) about how only single payer would actually work in America because other more complex systems would be/are gamed. Then complaining about employers who give people only irregular part time work and fire them if they show up a few minutes late. Then agreeing with me that student loan debt levels among the young are insanely, “destroy America” high. Then agreeing with me that the proposed tax law changes re higher education (e.g. taxing tuition wavers for graduate students) are bad, agreeing that they are like a national policy of “eating our children” (OK, those were my words stolen from frank zappa).
Then a co-worker (scary bright) opining today that the most important thing is to increase resistance levels to propaganda/marketing/etc broadly across populations, worldwide. (That’s my line/wish :-), but they didn’t remember it, fine with me. Pretty sure they’d be OK with this breaking consumer capitalism, too.)
Change is in the air, if we nurture it sufficiently. IMO.
Barry
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: “even if he’s convicted, it hard to see how it would be upheld after SCOTUS said you can take bribes in the Bob McDonnell case.”
IOKIYAR
Barry
@SatanicPanic: “Donna appears to be walking that back. At least it didn’t seem to hurt in this election.”
After posing with Clarke, she can DAIF.
bluefish
Pendulums swing, don’t they? The harder they come, the harder they’ll fall, one and all. Crack open your Hegel, little boys, and await your fate. Mere ducking ain’t going to save this Secret Tree House Gang.