Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2018 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Everybody’s Pitching In

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Everybody’s Pitching In

by | 172 Comments

This post is in: , ,

(Reposting this, because I accidentally stomped TaMara’s post last night.)
.

And if you should happen to hold a winning ticket…

Readership capture:

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    And now for something completely different. Older (2013) article, but a goody nonetheless.

    Jackals may now and again lament something about where they live, but wherever that is it isn’t as perilous as Canneto.

    This is Canneto of Caronia, in Sicily – a small village not far but perched on a hilltop in the heart of hilly Nebrodi Park, 86,000 acres, the largest protected natural area of Sicily.

    Canneto is a characteristic location in the north coast of Sicily, between Palermo and Messina, where the blue of the sea, the sun and the countryside have shaped over the centuries the rhythms of life and mentality tha[t] elsewhere today tend to disappear.

    But suddenly in this sleepy habitat strange things start to happen. Hundreds of small fires without apparent cause and in unexpected places, from the water pipeline to an abandoned chair, from a moving car to spontaneous activation of central locking of parked cars, cell phones ringing without any calls , batteries which run down all of a sudden. A navigation system went up in smoke, electrical and electronic equipment “become crazy”, and a deviation of the magnetic north of the compass . Source

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Aware the deadline has passed but am mildly curious as to whether anyone at the market was handing out voter registration forms.

  7. 7.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Looking for down ticket races now where every dollar makes a big impact. Suggestions, jackals?

  11. 11.

    satby

    @NotMax: there was an organizer canvassing and registering one Saturday, and a table set up another one, so at least two days had registration activities. That was nice.
    Hoping to unseat the odious Walorski, but it’s a long shot.

  12. 12.

    Immanentize

    @satby: Hi Satby. You asked yesterday (I saw late) my arm still hurts. Shaking hands is brutal — I never imagined how many times a day I end up doing that at work….

    Generally, friends, I am strung tighter than a high C on the piano. I really need the next two weeks to be productive for all (Immp especially) and end in election victory.

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    Sympathies for the arm. I’ve been dealing with a frozen shoulder for a few months now. Suddenly everyone wants to clap me on my shoulder!

  17. 17.

    Immanentize

    Do y’all think Hurricane Willa was conjured up by Trump to stop the caravan of hopefulls?

  18. 18.

    Kay

    Yup:

    @MattGertz
    16h16 hours ago
    More
    The current drumbeat around the migrant caravan reminds me of the 2014 ebola panic, in which media outlets, pushed by Trump and the GOP’s cynical grandstanding, aired nonstop coverage. After midterms, GOP stopped talking about it and coverage cratere

    You will not hear one word about the migrant caravan after the election. Remember this?

    The “Ebola nurse” from Doctors Without Borders who sued former Gov. Chris Christie over her three days spent in quarantine during the 2014 Ebola scare has returned to work for the humanitarian organization again.

    It becomes difficult to believe they’re not working together because no one could be this stupid and fall for this every two years.

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: How about I come over and clap you on the shoulder with my right hand and we grimace in shocking pain together? Friendship in adversity?

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Miracle Hill case reflects a wider trend in religious liberty law, policy, and practice during the Trump administration, which has frequently allied itself with evangelical Christian interests on the issue. From the initial days of his campaign, when Donald Trump vowed to overturn the Johnson Amendment — a provision in the tax code prohibiting nonprofits, such as churches, from openly endorsing political candidates — Trump has made advancing the broadest possible definition of religious liberty a cornerstone of his campaign and presidency. (Trump ultimately issued an executive order suspending the Johnson Amendment, without fully overturning it.)

    Last year, the Department of Justice released a memo mandating that all government offices — including HHS — adopt the broadest possible definition of religious liberty, upholding it even when it comes into conflict with, say, anti-discrimination laws. That move prevented any government office from second-guessing the “reasonableness of a belief” — whether, for example, in the case of Miracle Hill, forcing a Christian foster care agency to place children with non-Christian families would violate that institution’s Christian identity.

    Earlier this year, Trump created a new office designed to bolster the influence of religious groups in government: the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which is designed to have representatives throughout all other federal offices. And, in July, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of a new government task force to enforce the 2017 DOJ memo and to combat what he called the “dangers” of secularism.

    Within this paradigm, the Miracle Hill case is just one of many designed not only to promote religious liberty, but to affirm an incredibly broad definition of religious liberty, upholding both the rights of individuals to act in accordance with their conscience but also that of institutions to discriminate. While it’s unclear how this particular case will be resolved, it is nevertheless a harbinger of things to come: a federal government deeply emboldened by, and indebted to, evangelical Christianity.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    They’re also printing headlines that Trump is offering a 10% tax cut. I mean, Jesus. There’s no way to get around these people. You can spend 3 months campaigning and all Donald Trump has to do is invent some ridiculous lie and they all spread it 24/7. They work for him. There’s no other rational conclusion one can reach.

    Was it necessary to promote his tax cut lie? They really haven’t figured this out yet?

  24. 24.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    The funniest is that Congresspeople are saying they’ve heard nothing about this. Even so, 10% is puny compared to the previous beneficiaries of GOP largesse.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    Trump and G.O.P. Candidates Escalate Race and Fear as Election …

    Trump and GOP candidates escalate fear with the enthusiastic help of political media, who either still haven’t figured out they do this every two years or are helping them.

    Every single headline is his lies about the migrants or his lies about tax cuts. The GOP could not buy better coverage for them.

    If the public overcomes this propagandizing it will be a miracle.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I don’t think it’s funny. How many times is this going to happen? How many times is he going to tell a lie and get exactly the coverage he wants? I don’t know how to overcome this. He has a billion dollar private sector campaign apparatus.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    This is the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s actually getting worse. The tax lie coverage is a new low for them.

    It’s very frustrating. We actually had a substantive midterm going on – it was health care and Trump tax plan- until two weeks before the election when media started covering it and promoting Trump’s message. Now it’s bullshit and lies and Trump because that’s all they cover.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @Kay: We were never going to win this election based on media coverage. Any success we have will have to be by overcoming them. It’s something we need to learn how to do.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    Maggie Haberman Retweeted
    Peter Baker
    ‏Verified account
    @peterbakernyt
    11h11 hours ago
    More
    Trump at Houston rally: “You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, okay? Nationalist. Use that word, use that word.”

    In this case he literally told them to repeat it far and wide….and they all did.

    Here’s what Donald Trump wants to talk about- migrants, fake tax cuts and that he’s a nationalist. Aaaaand that’s what they;re all promoting. He could not buy this and he gets it for free.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I don’t know how to do it. We had a really substantive midterm! But if all that work can be undone by CNN and The NYTimes 2 weeks before the election why bother? Why not just run on hysterical fear-mongering over humanitarian issues and lies about tax cuts? It’s easier and it’s certainly cheaper- it’s free.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Not that it matters but it’s also really gross and cynical that they only cover humanitarian crises when they’re ordered to by Republicans, and the minute the election is over they don’t cover these people at all. They’re using these people as much as Republicans are. It’s disgusting.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    I knew he’d get the “10% tax cuts” headlines the moment he said it. He plays them like a fiddle and it’s 2 years later and they’re still fucking hapless, still covering his lies in the exact same ineffective and damaging way, and he’s thrilled.

    Their stupid weak ass “here’s what he said, here’s the doubts about what he said” approach does not work but they have nothing else and they won’t even try anything else because they’re rigid, conventional, coddled people who refuse to learn anything new. They won’t even try another approach. No- rather than learn anything new they’ll continue to whine and complain and insist there’s only one way to do this- they way they are comfortable with- even if it’s a massive failure.

  42. 42.

    hueyplong

    This is starting to read like a parody of defeatism.

    We go into a month-long shutdown of Mueller news (other than attempts to do away with him) and it’s all gall and wormwood. If we were still getting that Friday high, there would be worry that we’re overconfident.

    Stop being like that grumpy old hillbilly who acts like he owns the place. We’ve waited 2 years to kick ass, so it’s time to commence to kicking.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    During the “ebola health worker crisis” the nurse in Maine said thousands of aide workers had been coming in and out of the country for months and there was zero media coverage of either the workers or ebola. And that was true. But Donald Trump and Chris Christie ordered them to cover it so they used those ebola victims for 2 weeks and then we never heard another word about them. Media are using the victims of these events as much as Republicans are using them. It’s gross and shameful.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    There’s a reason I call the NYT garbage. I recommend turning it all off until after the election. Take a media vacation.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    People have been working on this for months. They’re allowed to complain. I get really tired of the happiness police. That’s not how I operate. I don’t ignore what’s happening. I don’t think it’s brave or stoic- I think it’s another variety of fear.

    This place has turned into meaningless “positive affirmations” or something. What is the point? So we can all huddle here in a cocoon and pretend none of this is happening? Is it a support group now? Because it’s always been a politics site.

  49. 49.

    hueyplong

    @Kay: Now there is some fight. It’s not “happiness police.” It’s “stop moping,” which people are free to treat as a suggestion instead of an order.

  51. 51.

    hueyplong

    @Baud: Here’s rooting for the women to outlive him in the long run and outnumber him at the polls in the short term.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    This is starting to read like a parody of defeatism.

    Yeah, well, I think repeating positive affirmations and tone policing is superstition. It’s not a little league soccer game and I’m not 6. My “good thoughts” will not actually turn the tide.

    It’s the liberal version of thoughts and prayers, as far as I’m concerned.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    I’ll let you get back to murming comforting thoughts to one another because anything else is too upsetting. I don’t feel like playing cheerleader today, if that’s okay with you.

  57. 57.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Kay:

    But Donald Trump and Chris Christie ordered them to cover it so they used those ebola victims for 2 weeks and then we never heard another word about them.

    Careful. You’re veering into conspiracy theory.

    @Kay:

    I really appreciate your opinions and insights a lot of the time, but you need to relax. In the end, there’s little individually we can do about this. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that just because the MSM is repeating this shit means we’re going to lose by default. A lot of people are fired up and that’s not going away. You can see that in the early voting numbers.

    And it’s a possibility we could lose this election but probably through outright fraud.

  58. 58.

    Ken Shabby

    @Kay:

    Kay, it is presumptuous of me to comment but

    Was it necessary to promote his tax cut lie? They really haven’t figured this out yet?

    Yes. No, they haven’t. Can’t fix Stupid (or low info, wind blown). That’s different than each of these two groups, instead:
    Independents (all sarcasm aside), who sometimes do focus on issues, in this case both single/national and local
    Midterm laconics and other sitters out. I don’t think 10% is going to get them off the couch or inconvenience their day but, trainwrecks might.

    The Deploarbles don’t need more ammo, maybe a goad or quirt but, that’s Edges. They’re going to do what they do, every year, every decade: roll in their own filth.

    I’ve No idea how this is going to come out but, I refuse to go to the dumps about it; before, during or after.

    “Charlie Brown, you’re never going to get to kick that football unless you punch Lucy in the mouth and take it from her.”

  61. 61.

    A Ghost To Most

    In the caravan in Mexico, there are Martians with sharks with frickin laser beams on their heads!

    /Moaning Ho channeling Shit Hitler, just now.

  62. 62.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Kay:

    I’m afraid some people have invested everything in the midterm election. If it doesn’t deliver a unicorn, will they have anything left?

  63. 63.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @A Ghost To Most:
    You said the same thing the other night and it’s not true. I haven’t gotten the impression that anybody thinks the Midterms will fix everything. It’s only a good first step.

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    There is obviously nothing about the teachings of Christ in evangelical christianity theofascist politics. They disbelieve in what The Christ taught then and in what his desciples teach today. In fact, they hate the actual teaching of Christ, and appear to intend to stop anyone from actually practicing Christianity in the real world.

    I hope he returns and strikes them all silent, forcing them to listen to others speak the truth to them. Non violent, just turn about as fair play. Make them listen to the truth.

    Hey, you postcard people... what do your postcards look like, front and back? I’m curious. I can’t write very well, hands/shoulders injured and repaired. I types slow too. But I would like to see what’s going on out there, what the product looks like as delivered to recipients, so perhaps someone could post photos of unaddressed front and back for those of us not yet involved to see what’s going on with that movement?

    Thanks!

  65. 65.

    Woodrow/Asim

    If John Lewis — someone who went thru a LOT more than I suspect anyone on this comments thread did, to get basic human rights, can keep his head up and his eyes on the prize, I reckon all of us on here can, too.

    Shitty media coverage and hate is all around us. And a lot of us, aren’t used to this level of horror-show. We came up in times of supposed comity and goodwill, and are getting exposed to the dark underbelly that was able to hide under the “American Dream”. The dark underbelly that started with folks the racists knew we’d be slow to defend…and now it’s growing, to be sure.

    But — look, we have a lot more tools to stop this, than my Parents had to break Jim Crow, or my college roomies, Apartheid. We cannot allow either apathy or disgust to deflect us from the work needed to bring America — indeed, the World — out of this shitstorm.

    So, yeah, I look to those who’ve been thru worse, and made the changes we’re trying to defend, for guidance. I’m reading a lot of MLK, and I reckon I should call my Dad again, see what his current take on matters are. There’s a lot of wisdom from those who came before we need desperately to tap into, for guidance and real-world reassurance from folks who’ve been thru a lot more than most of us, here.

    Whatever you need to do, to get yourself situated for the fights to come — go do it, please.

  66. 66.

    Skepticat

    I grew up in Maine when politicians–Margaret Chase Smith, Ed Muskie, Bill Cohen, George Mitchell–actually were public servants, and I frequently split my ticket. Now I’m facing this unadulterated horse hockey, which infuriates and sickens me.

    Crowdfunding to pressure Collins on Kavanaugh vote likely to face legal challenge
    https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/23/crowdfunding-to-pressure-collins-on-kavanaugh-vote-likely-to-face-legal-challenge/

    Poliquin indicates he might challenge ranked-choice results if he doesn’t win
    https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/22/poliquin-indicates-he-might-challenge-election-results-if-he-doesnt-win/

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    I never said we were “going to lose”. This is what I mean- I don’t comment here in order to assuage your fears about losing. I admit I hate to lose. There was never any doubt about that. Don’t put your fears about losing on me. I’m straight-up telling you I’m pissed about this and it concerns me. This whole “good thoughts we win, bad thoughts we lose” business is bullshit as far as I’m concerned. I get it! I’ve heard variations of it in everything from religious services to business seminars but I do not believe it. Don’t believe. Not a believer.

    It is thousands of hours of volunteer work by people all over the country and it is a damn shame that they have this billion dollar industry working against them. It IS about the team. They’re the team. I’m on their team.

    But I’ll stop because for some reason Balloon Juice has turned into a no-politics zone, which is fine, but different. In the past it was a poltiical site so perhaps you can understand my confusion now that it’s a place where we exclusively cheerlead…something. I know not what.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Matthew Yglesias
    ‏Verified account
    @mattyglesias
    10h10 hours ago
    More
    The reason Trump tells constant, easily debunked lies is that he frequently gets them written up like this.

    I accept that this is what it is, but I’m pissed about it and I refuse to pretend I can undo it with the Power of Positive Thinking.

  69. 69.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: The woo-woo theories are fun, but electromagnetic pulse (EMP) does seem the most plausible, both because it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for known technology and because it would most likely have the observed effects, such as rapid heating of anything containing metal (cars bursting into flame, wire insulation being fried. The question is who’s doing it and why, and is it accidental or deliberate.

    The article does mention EMP on its way to UFOs and other exotic theories.

    EMP simulators are available commercially. Granted it’s not the level of EMP that you’d see from a nuclear weapon, which is what a military would be interested in for both offensive and defensive use. But as I said, not too much of a stretch.

    So I’m guessing a military EMP test somewhere at sea, which is pointed at Sicily either accidentally from 100s of km away, or deliberately.

  70. 70.

    raven

    I know most of you hate Mo Jo but do yourself a favor and watch his upcoming segment with Scaramucci.

  71. 71.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @NotMax: We did voter registration at our farmers market. One of our most productive registration sites. A lot depends on whether the management allows you to set up a table there. In this case, they were cooperative. Curiously, the Walmarts in town withdrew permission, where we had been able to conduct registration drives outside their stores in past years. We used to get a lot of sign-ups at the Walmarts.

  72. 72.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Kay:

    I never said we were “going to lose”.

    I didn’t say you did. That was just me admitting that nothing is ever truly a sure thing. I was covering my bases.

    I don’t comment here in order to assuage your fears about losing. I admit I hate to lose. There was never any doubt about that. Don’t put your fears about losing on me. I’m straight-up telling you I’m pissed about this and it concerns me. This whole “good thoughts we win, bad thoughts we lose” business is bullshit as far as I’m concerned. I get it! I’ve heard variations of it in everything from religious services to business seminars but I do not believe it. Don’t believe. Not a believer.

    I don’t want you to assunge my fears. I’m trying assunge yours.

    But I’ll stop because for some reason Balloon Juice has turned into a no-politics zone, which is fine, but different. In the past it was a poltiical site so perhaps you can understand my confusion now that it’s a place where we exclusively cheerlead…something. I know not what.

    So much crazy shit is happening that I think people are starting to get worn down by it.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:

    There’s a reason I call the NYT garbage. I recommend turning it all off until after the election. Take a media vacation.

    I wish I had done that before reading Brooksie today…he is opining that Trumpov and other “populists” (that’s not what I call them) around the world have “transformed” politics by 1) “telling a different narrative”, 2) have “overturned the traditional moral standards for how leaders are supposed to behave”, and 3) have “ushered in a new conversation”. They have “thrown down a cultural, moral, and ideological gauntlet.”

    (Jesus, I can’t stop gagging)

    I guess if by
    “populist” you mean “fascist”
    “transforming politics” you mean “gas lighting and lying non-stop”
    “telling a different narrative” you mean “operating in a fact-free, all-hate all-the-time” zone
    “overturned traditional moral codes” you mean “overturned traditional moral codes because the GOP has abandoned any pretense of principles of any kind, other than power and greed”
    and by
    “ushered in a new conversation” you mean “resurrected the age-old conversation of fear, hatred, and division”

    then yeah, I guess that works…

  74. 74.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: I saw the headlines. I don’t read it. I accept that I cannot turn the table on the media imperative to drive a narrative of competitive elections, whether it’s true or false. I do think that after having been so wrong in 2016 media institutions have adopted a strategy of straddling the fences so that whatever the outcome is, they won’t look like complete idiots. I also believe that media narratives are written from the perspective of men for whom women, especially older women, and especially older women of color are basically invisible. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I am working on my second hundred of postcards and my goal is to complete 300 by October 31. And then finally do some canvassing the weekend before the election. I have held off canvassing in favor of postcards because where I live it’s just a matter of how big of a Democratic blowout it ends up being and there are no statewide elections for which that might make a difference in the outcome — and the postcards are being directed to more competitive elections.

  75. 75.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @J R in WV: Wait, you mean that Pat Robertson is wrong? That when Christ said “love thy neighbor” and taught the parable of the Good Samaritan, he didn’t mean “only be nice to people in your church / tribe?” Wow am I shocked. Next you’re going to tell me the Prosperity Gospel about how God loves rich people most of all, is not biblically accurate.

  76. 76.

    J R in WV

    Politics has always been mean in this country. I guess in some areas it was civil and polite for a few years right after WWII, but I couldn’t walk to my grade school because a crooked politician promised to throw acid in my face because my father wrote editorials opposing the crooked bastard’s run for another term to steal from the county.

    He had his county workers come around our home in the wee predawn hours and throw paint on the side of the house, leaving an empty gasoline can there beside paint-smeared wall. They also sprayed everything with brush killer on night, the lawn, the shrubs, dogwoods, rhododendrons, everything died over that week. Mom was silent but filled with rage.

    One morning the state road crew came by at dawn and used brush hooks to cut everything between the lawn and the road down to bare dirt. And I rode to school in the car with mom every morning, and she picked me up every afternoon.

    So now I don’t take any bullshit. Someone tells me they plan to vote for a Republican, I tell them to vote D for Democracy, or R for Russian fascism, their choice. They don’t like that much, but I do.

  77. 77.

    Barbara

    @Jeffro: David Brooks is retreating further and further into a world populated in his mind, a dreamscape circa 1953 when someone like Eisenhower could be president, except with a modicum of progress on civil rights. He shows himself increasingly to be the kind of person satirized by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels. No reason to read him at all at this point.

    ETA: I see that JR kind of had the same thought, about politics having been nicer after WWII. Yeah, whatever. That was then.

  78. 78.

    El Caganer

    @Kay: I’m sorry to see you hitting the wall. It’s pretty obvious you’ve put heart and soul into this for a long, long time, and to suddenly see the entire conversation in Our Liberal Media turn into lies and bullshit must be maddening. Hope your worst fears aren’t realized.

  80. 80.

    Barbara

    @satby: Well, it is Tuesday! I feel guilty because my schedule has been so rough this year that I have been to the farmer’s market no more than one out of every four Saturdays, something like a 30 year record low. I am one of those people who braves the snow, rain, and cold, none of which I mind. What I mind is having to brave all of our “community” events that they close roads for.

  82. 82.

    Barbara

    @Kay: I am not sure where you were going with this, but there are times over the past few years when I have felt like saying that it was someone else’s turn to step up, if not entirely to replace me, then to prioritize their desire for political change by doing something more useful than whining. My mother, whom I loved, vented constantly but never did a blessed thing.

  85. 85.

    Barbara

    @J R in WV: I have two sets of postcards, the picture and the blank. For the blank, I write a message on the front, and then, on the back, the address and a shorter take away of voting for candidate X on November 6. If there is early voting in the state I add something about being able to vote early as well. I would love to do entirely blank, but my hand feels like it is going to fall off after around 20. So I have switched to some design postcards. The first was a suffragette photo with the caption of votes having been hard won and worth using. I also purchased some tourist postcards with a picture of the Capitol superimposed on a graphic of the Constitution, with “We the people . . . ” prominently displayed. The message is to remember to vote on November 6 for candidate X, and that we the people need to do our part to protect democracy, the planet and Social Security from being used to pay for tax cuts. I try to mix it up a bit, in short.

    I also bought a bunch of cards from Zazzle, some blue wave, some with vintage national park themes (“We have a beautiful country, let’s vote to protect the things we love.”) I figure the more they seem like genuine messages the better.

  86. 86.

    MomSense

    I’m really angry right now. I think the Republicans are pushing the narrative that they are gaining, that hordes of terrorists are marching to our border and the Dems won’t defend us, and that there is a middle class tax cut in the works to give cover to the same combination of voter suppression and Russian attacks on our voter registration data bases that is designed to keep the GOP in power.

    All along the GOP have been behaving like they know they won’t be held accountable. They are running the Putin playbook and rigging elections is their go to play.

  87. 87.

    satby

    @Barbara:

    I see that JR kind of had the same thought, about politics having been nicer after WWII. Yeah, whatever.

    After WWII, when black GIs came home to Jim Crow, women were told to leave their jobs and get back to the kitchen so returning men could take them, and the McCarthy era. We know what they pine for.

  88. 88.

    Barbara

    @satby: Well, I meant that politics was kinder in the sense that most people were in agreement about Eisenhower. It barely lasted the duration of Eisenhower’s first term, after which McCarthy was in full terror mode and the wrong kind of people began acting as if their rights mattered.

  89. 89.

    Spanky

    (CNN) A suspicious package targeting billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros was rendered safe in Bedford, New York on Monday, a law enforcement source told CNN.
    The Bedford Police say they received a call reporting a suspicious package found in a mailbox. The package appeared to be an explosive device, police said.

    I guess somebody was pissed that he wasn’t getting his Soros Bucks on time.

  90. 90.

    khead

    So, it seems to me that this NPR article from Charlotte really buries the lede.

    Headline: “Early Voting Surges Across North Carolina, With Republicans Seeing Big Increase”.
    10th Paragraph: GOP increase is 44%.
    12th Paragraph: DEM increase is 26%.
    13th Paragraph: “Nearly twice as many unaffiliated voters have cast early votes so far, compared to 2014.”

  91. 91.

    A Ghost To Most

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    I disagree. Too many people think if we just vote hard enough, everything will be alright.
    A big win simply allows us to keep fighting, with better tools.

    Those people do not give up. Ever. Save something for the day after. And the days after that.

    You can return to your clique now.

  92. 92.

    Gelfling 545

    @Immanentize: When my shoulder was frozen months of pt did not help, nor did cortisone injections. Shoulders, they kept saying, are hard to remediate. Finally I went to a massage therapist for a few months and she was able to get to moving and functional again, though there was still occasional pain. This was not cheap and is not covered by my insurance but was the only thing that helped. Tai Chi keeps it from flaring up now as long as I practice regularly.

  93. 93.

    Barbara

    @Gelfling 545: A long time ago when I had some joint problems a doctor told me that it was really important to keep the shoulder moving because once it freezes it’s hard to regain mobility. His recommendation if you have shoulder twinges or pain of any kind was, during the course of a shower, to slowly walk your hands up the wall and around, making sure your shoulder goes through a full range of motion. The warmth of the shower helps to loosen the joints, but making sure that your shoulder goes through a full range of motion during the course of a day would also most likely help.

  95. 95.

    CindyH

    @Kay: tell it Kay! I’m a lurker and sometimes I need to vent on how bad things are – doesn’t stop me from doing the work, but it bugs the shit out of me when people scold me for seeing the ugly reality that is out there.

  97. 97.

    Immanentize

    @Gelfling 545: @Barbara:
    For me it’s my elbow (ripped a tendon putting up windows). But these are great suggestions. Especially Tai Chicken. I have long wanted to learn that discipline and as I am reaching a certain age (ha!) It really would be a good thing to make part of my routine, such that it is.

    ETA. “Tai Chicken” is the best auto correct I have ever seen (for Tai Chi) so I’m leaving the original!

  98. 98.

    Mandarama

    @Immanentize: I hope you heal quickly! And that we all get through the coming weeks. It feels like a pressure cooker. And not a nice one like the Instant Pot.

    I’m thinking of you and the Immp. My kiddo is slogging his way through his application essays and I am wringing my hands over the fact that he is sheltered and can’t combine the style of a Vonnegut with the life experiences of a young Obama and the philanthropy of a Mother Teresa. It honestly feels like too high a mountain for even a very smart regular kid. Plus he is fretful that his subject test in physics is “not high enough for MIT to even consider him.” There’s not much I can do about any of this, except realize that my worries about his education dreams are probably a drop in the ocean compared to the real threats to his future in the world around us.

    Ugh, I’m sorry. I meant to be encouraging. ?

  99. 99.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @A Ghost To Most:
    Again, I think a lot of people share your attitude. I don’t disagree with what you just said. Perhaps some have, but not around here.

    You can return to your clique now.

    I was being polite and we weren’t even that far apart in the end. You’re a total ass.

  101. 101.

    p.a.

    @khead: Pl@Barbara: It’s a virtual certainty that unless the Dems score the highest mid-term gain in the history of US elections, the MSM will call it AT BEST a disappointment, probably a defeat/’refutiation’. Look out for “Repub claim vote fraud”- siderism too.

  103. 103.

    schrodingers_cat

    Most of the media act as R affiliates so why is this current iteration of the same behavior that we see every election cycle, a surprise. The media was concern trolling Ds before Northam and Doug Jones won their respective races.
    Early voting has begun, now finally there is something I can do. That’s what I am focusing on. No one knows who is going to win. The media is not our friend, push back against their narrative, which is always R friendly. Fuck them. I am not going to let them get to me. What you do is up to you.
    @Kay: It is infuriating how media covers immigration. They cover T’s lies as truth and they have been doing so since he started his birther campaign way back in the first Obama term. He demonizes immigrants, and his friends at Vichy Times do his bidding by printing his lies, as truth. If you are an immigrant you are in a no win situation. You are either a moocher (even if you are child refugee) or you are taking a job away from an American or worse. This man has demonized the very existence of people like me. And most of the media has gone along with it.

  104. 104.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Kay: You didn’t sound pissed; you sounded depressed. Hopeless. And yeah, people are going to react to that by trying to pull you out of the abyss.

  105. 105.

    Barbara

    @p.a.: It’s at those times when I realize how homogenous and undiverse most of our media companies actually are.

  107. 107.

    Spanky

    Well, it looks like the stock market might be the October Surprise that Donnie did NOT want to see.

    We shall see where it goes, I suppose.

  108. 108.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    There’s a reason I call the NYT garbage. I recommend turning it all off until after the election. Take a media vacation.

    And, as if by magic: the FTFTFNYT is apparently reporting that Stacey Abrams burned a Georgia flag (containing the Confederate battle flag symbol) as part of a peaceful protest in college, in 1992.

    I’m not sure why they think they’ll be protected if the fascists take over. Maybe they think they can change their name to “Pravda,” and be safe?

    Motherfucking Pinche Sulzberger and his motherfucking newspaper are doing their motherfucking best to help the motherfucking Rethugs destroy this country. Motherfuckers.

  110. 110.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Skepticat:
    Collins is a total piece of shit, trying to have her cake and eat it too, saying she wasn’t going to give into “extortion” and voted what she believed was “right” through her spokesperson. She’s total scum.

  111. 111.

    schrodingers_cat

    T has lied about the legal immigration system time and time again and without any correction it gets printed. See for example, his fucking lies about the diversity visa.

  112. 112.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @khead: My husband seems to delight in depressing me. He woke me up with that headline. I told him I don’t care about percentages.

    What are the real numbers?

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    @Spanky:

    Well, it looks like the stock market might be the October Surprise that Donnie did NOT want to see.

    Drops in the market matter only when there’s a black Demonrat in the Oval Office. Or when there was a black Dem President within the last 10 years, because all bad economic news is/was his fault. [And, of course, any good economic news when a Dem — especially a blackity-black black one — is in office is due to Rethuglican tax cuts enacted … somewhen.

  114. 114.

    Butter Emails!!!

    @SFAW:

    The Georgia flag she burned is no longer the Georgia flag. It was replaced in 2003 because the old flag was just the Confederate battle flag with a strip of blue and the Georgia seal off to one side.

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    @Ken Shabby:

    “Charlie Brown, you’re never going to get to kick that football unless you punch Lucy in the mouth and take it from her.”

    That’s as true a statement as I’ve read in awhile.

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Nazi Times is all in for fellow Nazis.

    I’m surprised to see you take that attitude.

    Or maybe not. I don’t recall if you were the first here to call them the FTFNYT, but if not, you were pretty damn close.

  117. 117.

    JMG

    It’s a real simple equation. The primary audience for almost all news media is old white people. The way to keep that audience is to frighten it. There’s also the factor that much of journalism is driven by ancient formulas that allow reporters to cope with the very real and horrible stress of deadline pressure. One of those formulas is that whatever the President says is news. Another is that calling out lies is a very iffy proposition.

  119. 119.

    SFAW

    @Butter Emails!!!:

    The Georgia flag she burned is no longer the Georgia flag. It was replaced in 2003 because the old flag was just the Confederate battle flag with a strip of blue and the Georgia seal off to one side.

    Immaterial. Or rather, “Immaterial to their target audience,” which I assume is those squishes who are maybe considering voting for Abrams, but “That Stacey — well, I JUST DON’T KNOW!” [Note: which is similar to a phrase I heard all-too-often about Hillary during the 2016 campaign.]

  120. 120.

    schrodingers_cat

    @SFAW: I have been calling them Vichy Times for a while now, since they covered the then candidate T’s immigration speech, not with what he actually said but their obfuscations of the same. They have gone from Vichy to full Nazi, recently.

  126. 126.

    Butter Emails!!!

    @SFAW:

    Immaterial. Or rather, “Immaterial to their target audience,” which I assume is those squishes who are maybe considering voting for Abrams, but “That Stacey — well, I JUST DON’T KNOW!” [Note: which is similar to a phrase I heard all-too-often about Hillary during the 2016 campaign.]

    I think she’ll be OK as long as she doesn’t make the mistake of apologizing. Her statement should be that she burned the Confederate flag and emphasize that the current flag of Georgia is the flag for a reason.

  128. 128.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @SFAW: I did after two weeks of a steady drumbeat of “Here’s the latest catastrophic predictions about global warming!”

    No, actually I asked him what his preferred method of suicide was, because if he was that determined to drive me to it, he was coming with me.

    Which is also why I don’t hang out here nearly as much as I used to.

  129. 129.

    khead

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:

    I’m fine with the use of percentages. I’m just mad at the headline. If you are gonna use percentages then…..

    The real story isn’t “Republican numbers are way up”. The real story is that unaffiliated folks are even further up – and I doubt those folks are voting for Trump.

  130. 130.

    tobie

    A year ago, I found this table of the contact information (email, phone numbers) of all the major cable news organizations. I don’t know if it’s entirely current but some of the numbers should work. Call them, write them, let them know that right now they’re serving as propaganda outlets for Trump and that they owe it to the American people to report news, not the taglines Trump chooses at his rallies. Is it a drop in the bucket? Yes. Should they hear our rage? Yes.

  131. 131.

    tobie

    @khead:

    The real story isn’t “Republican numbers are way up”. The real story is that unaffiliated folks are even further up – and I doubt those folks are voting for Trump.

    The same thing is true in Nevada and Florida but you wouldn’t guess that from the headlines.

  132. 132.

    schrodingers_cat

    All Ds running for office must factor in their calculations that they are in effect running against two opposition parties, the Rs and their media enablers. That’s infuriating but that’s how it has been since at least as long as I have paid close attention to politics in this country, the race between Gore and W. If I as an outsider can figure this out, I am sure paid campaign professionals and the candidates themselves have figured it (or should have figured it) out by now.

  134. 134.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @khead: Percentages are useless without the base numbers. Let’s say that the numbers in 2014 were 20 R, 50 D, and 1 U. I can have double the number of U voters in 2018, and they’re still lost in the total of R and D voters. And R has a larger percentage increase but not nearly as many votes.

    What’s the real numbers?

  135. 135.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    As a card carrying member of the Lamentation’s chorus, I can appreciate the desire to mewl about MSM coverage in the last weeks before elections. But it is emotional flogging with no purpose. The news isn’t going to change anyone’s vote. It might depress turnout, but then we need to go and gotv. Wringing hands is not a useful activity, pointing out the FTFNYT is a pile of garbage is equally useless. The people who read ‘the paper of record’ made up their minds months ago. So who is affected by this late game reporting? ‘Indepenents’ looking for an excuse to come home to the GOP? The content is not the issue. Get bodies to the polls. Don’t let bullshit and hand wringing keep voters from doing their civic duty. There is enough actual voter suppression for electoral malaise to be an actual luxury. This isn’t liberal thoughts and prayers. It is quit bitching and get to doing. The press is the same now as it was at least during Reagan, I wasn’t paying attention before then.

  139. 139.

    The Moar You Know

    Crowdfunding to pressure Collins on Kavanaugh vote likely to face legal challenge

    @Skepticat: Three words:

    Citizens United, bitches.

    They thought Dems would be broke forever. We aren’t, and that ruling can cut either way.

  140. 140.

    hueyplong

    @khead: For example, I myself am an “unaffiliated voter” in NC, which status I hold so as to be able to vote in a GOP primary if I want to do so (e.g., voting against Trump in 2016). I can assure you that my early 2018 vote included zero Republicans.

  141. 141.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @khead: But that NPR article isn’t using percentages of registrations. It’s using percentages of the number of early voters in a previous election.

    My point, though, is that when you’re given percentages, you always ask for the real numbers.

    This is why:

    Democratic, Republican, and Unaffiliated voters are are all surpassing 2014 numbers.

    Democratic voters have cast 186,571 ballots at Early Voting sites so far, compared to 148,125 at this point in 2014, a 26% increase.
    Republican voters have cast 128,423 ballots at Early Voting sites this cycle, compared to 89,117 at this point in 2014, a 44% increase.

    Almost double the number of Unaffiliated voters have cast ballots at Early Voting sites this cycle 114,834, compared to 59,900 at this point in 2014 – far surpassing the 23% growth in registered Unaffiliated voters in that time. Source

    It would be just as accurate to say that both D and R have seen about the same increase, ~39K, with U increasing considerable more, ~55K. Or that D voters have come out in higher overall numbers, with R edging U out for second place.

    So yeah, be pissed at the headline. Be pissed at the article, too, which carefully avoided anything that might be favorable to Dems.

  143. 143.

    Brachiator

    You bought a lottery ticket huh? Rushed out there and grabbed one in hopes it could make your life better? Even though your one ticket might not win, you did it anyway cause it’s worth a shot, right?

    So did you vote?

    I love this and will use it all the time, everywhere.

  145. 145.

    BlueGirlFromWyo

    @khead: All of those are meaningless without the raw numbers from 2014 IMO. Sounds like a bad piece all around. I’ll read it later.

  146. 146.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @khead:
    From@The Moar You Know:

    They thought Dems would be broke forever. We aren’t, and that ruling can cut either way.

    They’ll do whatever it takes to win. Twisting themselves into pretzels to do so is a small price to pay in their eyes. Just like Bush v Gore was only meant to be a one-time thing that is supposed to apply only to the 2000 election. I’m sure the Roberts Court will find a way to selectively interpret Citizens United to help Republicans only.

  147. 147.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    @MazeDancer: I just sent for 25 addresses of whatever campaign needs the most help. Thank you for this. I’ve donated and written postcards for the ACLU earlier in the summer but want to do more. Kudos to those who can canvas and phone bank–I cannot, I hate it, and it shows.

  151. 151.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @khead:
    That’s a little different from suggesting that Donald Trump or Chris Christie directed major media outlets to drum up stories on Ebola in 2014 just before the midterms, if I read her comment correctly at 44.

  152. 152.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @khead: Don’t see where I recapped your post. You were celebrating the unaffiliated vote increase without enough information to know what the percentages actually meant.

  154. 154.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I didn’t realize that whole Ebola bullshit came from Trump. Fuck, even then he was malignly influencing our politics. Did he amplify or start the Birther Movement, too?

  155. 155.

    The Moar You Know

    They’ll do whatever it takes to win. Twisting themselves into pretzels to do so is a small price to pay in their eyes. Just like Bush v Gore was only meant to be a one-time thing that is supposed to apply only to the 2000 election. I’m sure the Roberts Court will find a way to selectively interpret Citizens United to help Republicans only.

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: So you bag on Kay for multiple posts for being “defeatist” and then turn around and unload far worse than she ever has.

    I stand by what I’ve said before and Corner Stone has as well. You’re a troll. I’ll also go farther and just say you’re an asshole.

  158. 158.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @The Moar You Know:
    I wasn’t fucking “bagging” on Kay. WHAT THE FUCK?!!??!?! I was trying to reassure her and help her out. Who the fuck do you think you are?!?!?!??! I’m not a fucking troll.

    You better fucking take that back.

  159. 159.

    lurker dean

    @J R in WV:
    @MazeDancer:

    Yes, see post card patriots twitter feed. My writing is terrible and slow, but I’ve managed to crank some out. Just take your time and take a break when the hand gets cramped, but just keep going. They’re both doing good work but I switched to postcardpatriots from postcardsforvoters because I can print out a nice pic in front (postcardpatriots has nice templates you can copy and print) and write a little less.

  161. 161.

    Kay

    Jake Tapper
    ‏Verified account
    @jaketapper
    1m1 minute ago
    More Jake Tapper Retweeted David Gura
    Again, the Trump administration is asked for evidence of “unknown Middle Easterners” in the caravan and again it cannot provide it.

    It’s not possible that they haven’t figured this out yet, right? This has to be an act. They BY NOW understand that the point of this game is for them to repeat the lie for 3 days? They can’t be kidding themselves that they’re actually providing some effective “debunking” thing here?

    They want you to ask them, Jake. They’re making you complicit in promoting this lie. I mean, Jesus, Pence is dumb as a rock and even he has it down now.

    I wonder what the next lie is – I know this one will last 3 days and then they’ll put out another one and the exact same thing will happen. For 2 years now, every day. There will be kindergartners who will get this and these multi-millionaires will still be struggling to understand it. You could graph it.

  162. 162.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @The Moar You Know:
    And I never said she was “defeatist”. That was somebody else in this thread. My comment was based on the willingness of conservative judges to interpret laws and the Constitution however they want to win. I still think they can be beaten.

  165. 165.

    sukabi

    @debbie: until those promoting his lies figure out kissing his ass isn’t going to actually protect them, which will be when it’s actually too late to do anything about him.

  166. 166.

    Barbara

    @Kay: Maybe someone should ask whether the Middle Easterners in the caravan are the team of Saudi assassins who are in fear for their lives now that Mr. Bone Saw has decided to scapegoat them because they lacked the finesse to get away with medieval butchery.

    Seriously, Trump and Kushner are practically bowing down before a Middle Eastern potentate and begging him to let us sell ourselves out to him even more, on the one hand, while trying to use the idea of Middle Eastern refugees as the scariest thing since forever. I know, as the song goes, that logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead in this administration, if they were ever alive, but sometimes even I find the magnitude of their depravity hard to believe.

  167. 167.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    I don’t understand how you get to be Jake Tapper and still be puzzling over why repeating a lie 50,000 times under the guise of “debunking it” doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t work. We know that now, after 2 years. Try something else. There’s something infuriatingly stubborn about it- as if it’s “THIS is how we handle THIS and that’s all that is even within the realm of the possible”

    Come on! People are endlessly inventive! We have to keep doing this? “Lie, repeat lie 50,000 times, ineffectually correct lie”? That’s the rule? Make a new rule. This one’s broken.

  169. 169.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    Come on! People are endlessly inventive! We have to keep doing this? “Lie, repeat lie 50,000 times, ineffectually correct lie”? That’s the rule? Make a new rule. This one’s broken.

    People are still watching Jake Tapper & CNN and people are still paying for the NYT. None of their lives are affected negatively by Trump or GOP policies. They don’t believe anything is broken.

  171. 171.

    rikyrah

    @Butter Emails!!!:

    Black folks, in AMERICA, shouldn’t think of doing anything with the Stars and Bars – OTHER THAN BURN IT OR DEFACE IT.
    RESPECT – it will NEVER deserve.
    And, if you are a Black American and purse your lips to tell me how the Confederate Flag isn’t anything other than the hate-filled symbol that it is?
    You get the eternal side eye and are cancelled.

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