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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Ensure You Will Have No Regrets

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Ensure You Will Have No Regrets

by Anne Laurie|  October 30, 20184:58 am| 106 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Election 2018, I'm With Her, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

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Owner Story: "Our Maine Coon Webster enjoying Autumn leaves" pic.twitter.com/Y4x83cn4fi

— Fluff Society (@FluffSociety) October 19, 2017

I’m challenging everyone across the country to start a #VotingSquad to get your friends and family ready to vote. That means you, @JanelleMonae, @TomHanks, @FaithHill, @TheTimMcGraw, @CP3 & @Lin_Manuel!

Build your squad & then tag 5 others to do the same! https://t.co/TyUUB9GhTi pic.twitter.com/lO4Goedx8q

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 26, 2018

Second, know that if you're a registered voter, you have the right to vote. This @ACLU guide walks you through your rights. https://t.co/4j8S5GEe4X

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 26, 2018

Fourth, vote for state legislature candidates and governors who will support laws that make voting registration automatic, make vote by mail possible, and extend early voting periods. @Sister_District, @flippable_org, and @TheDLCC are excellent organizations to plug into.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 26, 2018

Students. You don't have to be well-informed to vote. Approximately nobody is. You just have to be well-informed *enough* to vote for the candidate you're *pretty sure* will be better. That's a low bar! You can make it! https://t.co/0XhMs4GuN8

— Paul Musgrave ?????? (@profmusgrave) October 9, 2018

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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    pat

    October 30, 2018 at 5:10 am

    Open thread, Hope it’s OK to post this again.

    We rented a car to drive from the airport in Vienna to Graz, where we returned the car the next day.
    When we picked it up we were told to inspect it, took a quick look in the park garage, under less than ideal lighting, didn’t notice anything (not really knowing what to look for, actually.)

    When we returned it there was a tiny scratch, about an inch long and less than a quarter inch wide, on top of the rear bumper, in front of the luggage compartment. We have no recollection of causing this scratch.
    We had only the basic insurance (big mistake?) and now Hertz is charging us 415 euros (close to $500) to repair this tiny blemish.

    What can we do? It will go on my credit card at the end of this week.
    Thanks for any help or sympathy!

  2. 2.

    pat

    October 30, 2018 at 5:33 am

    Looks like I might have killed the thread before it got started.

    Before we came here, I voted absentee. There were two republicans running unopposed and I left their little ovals blank.

    I also spent some time knocking on doors. Came across one idiot who said he never votes because what can one vote do? Looked like a millennial.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    October 30, 2018 at 5:42 am

    Trying to start the day off with a modicum of better news.

    Goddamn nice result.

    Blasphemy is to be decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland after voters overwhelming supported a referendum to remove it as an offence in Irish law.

    The result, announced late on Saturday night, saw 64.85% of the electorate voting Yes to decriminalise blasphemy, while 35.15% voted No. Source

    So far as we know, it is not full of stars.

    An almost perfectly rectangular iceberg has formed in the Antarctic Peninsula. Source

  4. 4.

    Bruce K

    October 30, 2018 at 5:56 am

    I’m still struck by the one time I encountered Hillary Clinton in person, at a women’s group meeting in New Jersey during the 2004 Kerry campaign. (I was with the NJ Kerry office, and I got assigned to the stop.)

    She wasn’t campaigning for herself, so she didn’t pump herself up, though she did talk about her experiences. She wasn’t nasty, and she wasn’t cruel. In a crowd of people after her speech, she came across as a very pleasant human being. I might have exchanged a few words with here, but I can’t remember what they were.

    My impression: there’s no doubt she has flaws, some of them glaring, but at the core I got the impression of a decent human being.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 6:00 am

    The president plans on doing away with birthright citizenship, according to Axios….

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    October 30, 2018 at 6:03 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  7. 7.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 6:03 am

    @Bruce K: That was before the emails though. If she had won, she’d ignore the rule of law also.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    October 30, 2018 at 6:04 am

    @JPL

    Yeah, that’ll fly about as far as Baron Harkonnen on a pogo stick.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 6:06 am

    @JPL: Something tells me his plans to repeal the 14th Amendment will fail. Spectacularly.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    October 30, 2018 at 6:07 am

    @JPL: little thing called the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
    Not exactly his call.
    Of course, I will point out my belief that the attack on birthright citizenship is just a shiny object scam.
    They want the 14th Amendment because it is the foundation of the progress of the country since 1954–BROWN

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    October 30, 2018 at 6:08 am

    @pat:
    What a rip-off ??

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    October 30, 2018 at 6:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    No man, no madness
    Though their sad power may prevail
    Can possess, conquer, my country’s heart
    They rise to fail

      – Chess (the musical)

    What’s especially telling and sad is that the song is originally about Russia.

  13. 13.

    Schlemazel

    October 30, 2018 at 6:17 am

    @pat:
    Mornings start slowly many times

    yeah, you are probably screwed. This trick is something the cut rate companies started 3-5 years ago, I didn’t think it had migrated to the big companies yet. They do not do it to corporate renter yet as fat as I can tell. Call their customer rep & complain maybe it will help. Tip for everyone: use your cell phone camera & take many pictures before you leave. Be sure to get any dings and scratches.

    If you have not rented recently – particularly leasure & not corporate – you will notice many little things beside the substantial increase in daily rates. Another one is not having the gas tank full but you only need to bring it back as full. So if it is 1/2 full you only need to have it half full on return. Their pre-paid option was not paying off I guess so in addition to charging the person who brought it back at 1/2 they assume you will bring it back well over so as to not get charged.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 6:18 am

    Morning Joe just showed the video, and trump said they told him he could just sign away the birthright citizenship with an executive order. The guy thinks he is a dictator.

  15. 15.

    Wanderer

    October 30, 2018 at 6:26 am

    @ Pat

    Sorry to hear about the car. Could your car insurance for your personal car help? You’re probably not the first people paying to get that “scratch” fixed unfortunately.

    OT I always ask Fox channel be changed in any business or Dr. office I have to wait in.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 6:26 am

    @JPL: Reality is a beach.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 6:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Now I’m streaming CNN, and they say it’s a ploy to change the subject back to scaring people about immigrants.

  18. 18.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 30, 2018 at 6:37 am

    @NotMax:
    And in that spirit, fuck ALL religions.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 6:38 am

    @JPL: It’s all he’s got at this point.

  20. 20.

    Immanentize

    October 30, 2018 at 6:45 am

    @rikyrah: The right wing has been aiming at the 14th forever, but usually it has been the federal government’s power to enforce the equal protection clause (a la section 5 of the voting rights act). This attack on birthright citizenship has been percolating in the right wing legal community since, hmmmm, probably 9/11/01. There are arguments about it only applying to people brought here forcibly (slaves), but there is broad consensus that it is bullshit. But those arguments are out there. I wonder how Kavanaugh will receive them? I will tell you one thing, though, even Thomas will reject an attack on birthright citizenship.

  21. 21.

    hueyplong

    October 30, 2018 at 6:49 am

    @Immanentize: “I will tell you one thing, though, even Thomas will reject an attack on birthright citizenship.”

    Not sure I’d bet my own money on that.

  22. 22.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 6:53 am

    @Immanentize: It appears to be a ploy to get out the vote. Call me naive, but I can’t imagine there are that many people concerned about babies and birthright citizenship.

  23. 23.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 6:56 am

    If Trump thinks he can get rid of birthright citizenship with an executive order, then why hasn’t he done it.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 7:02 am

    @Immanentize: The right wing legal community has never heard of United States v. Wong Kim Ark? I’m not a lawyer and even I know of it.

  25. 25.

    debbie

    October 30, 2018 at 7:03 am

    @pat:

    That’s about what bumpers cost. Check your own car insurance policy and see if there’s anything in there that will help you. Not likely, but it couldn’t hurt.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    October 30, 2018 at 7:04 am

    @JPL:

    If Dems win back the House, you will see all kinds of executive orders. We’ll be ordered to love him, we’ll be ordered to be quiet, we’ll be ordered to …

    You get the idea.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 7:06 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  28. 28.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:07 am

    @JPL:

    Timing. An alternative argument is he typically spends his Awful coins wisely. More shrewd than anything decent like, oh, actually creating and building anything of value in the world most of the rest of us live in. If he can use that anytime, he’s going to use it at the ugliest time. He’s fucked up and, one of the reasons why is the sense of timing for maximum torment and effect

  29. 29.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 7:07 am

    @JPL: The president still hasn’t locked her up. Fuckem.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 7:10 am

    @JPL: Because he knows he can’t. I’m really not getting the point of this lie, not seeing what it does for him.

  31. 31.

    Immanentize

    October 30, 2018 at 7:12 am

    I see the New York Times belongs to the Face Eating Leopards Party. Headline this morning:

    For Jews in U.S., a Shocking Burst of Anti-Semitism

  32. 32.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I don’t. One of the things staggering to me in the past two decades is there has been and continues to be an entire group that ….hires this done…to parse every little opening, plot every petty strategy and tactic and, with an end game having nothing to do with anybody but them. If you thought of it like a foreign op, which it almost is in all but source, it’s been brutally patient and effective. I don’t tbinkmabout this tiny shit because I didn’t think I / we had to, needed to. It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around people that fucked up.

    Not being self righteous, just not wired for it; never have, never will.

  33. 33.

    Ken Shabbyk i

    October 30, 2018 at 7:14 am

    @debbie:

    Think so, too. Temper tantrum in the nanny’s quarters.

    Am not into torment but, with him? I could briefly enjoy the show and check in from time to time on that miserable son of a bitch –

  34. 34.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    A guess: his core support. They don’t care if it’s ‘right’ or even sane; they just care if it works.

    It’s like the slow build to warehousing hair, shoes, gold fillings, coats, eye glasses…you get the idea….

    If any of these miserable souls had a conscience, they’d have split out ages ago. They don’t.

  35. 35.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @Immanentize:

    Yep. Who Knew.
    Do you remember Weekly Reader in grade school? It’s like that only you can’t draw mustaches on everyone. The Atlantic has become the same kind of vapid, banal horseshit as has just about any other previously needed source. And, except for a Tiny Desk Concert, NPR can blow me –

    Yep! Think coffee’s kicking in, it’s a new day in America, The Shining City on a Hill, where You Are Better Than You Were Four Years Ago.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    October 30, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Watch a rally. Watch how the crowd gets all excited and shouts it over and over, and watch how Trump basks in the glow of that fervor. Frankly, it sounds like thousands of people, all having sex at the same time.

  37. 37.

    clay

    October 30, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @Immanentize: By definition, someone born here WAS forcibly brought here. I don’t recall asking ME if I wanted an American birth.

  38. 38.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:26 am

    @debbie:

    Ouch.

    Y’mean, crazed livestock rabidly humping each other amid their filth?

  39. 39.

    Barbara

    October 30, 2018 at 7:26 am

    @JPL: The point was made (by Adam?) that the horror of pipe bombs and slaughter at Tree of Life by Trump’s fellow travelers has taken the narrative out of Trump’s control, and his attempt to get it back is going to involve doing or saying things outrageous enough to escalate his importance in the news cycle.

  40. 40.

    Aleta

    October 30, 2018 at 7:28 am

    @pat: No experience with this, but is it worth a try to challenge them? Tell H. about the poor light to start and that you did no damaged. Ask if it was damaged after you left. Inform them you are telling the credit card co. you will dispute the charge. Tell the credit card co.. Complain a number of times on Hertz’s facebook and twitter (this is said to be the most effective way to get their attention now). Tell them you’re notifying other consumers not to use them, on other social media sites. Tell Hertz you are sending consumer complaints to the state AG and the newspaper, BBB, etc.. Tell them you want them to drop the charge or lose your family’s business and good word for life. See what happens.

  41. 41.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 7:28 am

    Imagine if you will, the executive order is retroactive, then what……

  42. 42.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 7:29 am

    @JPL: Nothing, because it is unconstitutionally void.

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 7:31 am

    @Ken Shabby: @debbie:

    A guess: his core support.

    So how does it help with them? If they believe it to be true, which a fair number are likely to, why would they not feel betrayed by “this man with this power that he refuses to use to protect us from the blight of anchor babies”? Getting them all worked up just so they can see how weak he really is?

    How does that help him politically?

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    October 30, 2018 at 7:32 am

    Thread

    Spooky DEAD Talk ??? (@profmusgrave) Tweeted:
    So it turns out the racist trial balloon op-ed in the Post was deemed a success by the Trump administration. What can I say? This is as blatant an attack on the Constitution as I would expect to find in the outset of a dystopian novel. https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1057227880315392000?s=17

  45. 45.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 7:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Fox will convince them he did it.

  46. 46.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 7:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s trump’s way of getting out the vote.

  47. 47.

    debbie

    October 30, 2018 at 7:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Because Trump has them believing meanies like liberals keep him from achieving what they want. It’s not his fault. It never is.

  48. 48.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:34 am

    @JPL:

    Imagine if you will, the executive order is retroactive, then what…

    Imagine, if you will, the group that sponsored torture, vote suppression and a host of other obscenities saying “too soon” , going back to closed door sessions and planning a sequence that will work.

    This group lives in a different ‘country’ than you do, is effective, patient and thorough. Many of us keep making the mistake that we’re all broadly on the same page. No one in that group read the memo except to find holes and opportunities in it.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 7:37 am

    @Baud: FOX will convince them the Earth is flat.

  50. 50.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    How does that help him politically?

    A guess: it really doesn’t (if we’re being rational, which this group is not) but, this is the same group chanting Lock Her Up and CNN and, whatever else foams their mouth. It doesn’t seem to matter to them as long as it’s vindictive to someone else. I think – Know – they’d turn on each other like a pack of rabid dogs if there was any dissonance. Disloyalty, I think they call it.

    I don’t think these people think as far as their next pee.

    Nothing they gather to hoot about and sweat is remotely in their interest. They just want to hate amid fear stench.

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 7:39 am

    @debbie:

    Because Trump has them believing meanies like liberals keep him from achieving what they want.

    So he admits to being weak and ineffective.

    ETA I would make an ad emphasizing how weak and ineffective he is. Hit him where it hurts.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 30, 2018 at 7:39 am

    @pat: Along with others, unfortunately, I think you’re screwed. I’ve rented cars in western Europe a couple of times a year in recent years, and I generally find they’re more assholish about this sort of thing than in the US – but the full-coverage insurance tends to cost less than in the US. Sorry.

  53. 53.

    JPL

    October 30, 2018 at 7:42 am

    @Ken Shabby: Cruelty is all they know. I imagine that just saying that he plans to do that has caused fear in many individuals.

  54. 54.

    Aleta

    October 30, 2018 at 7:42 am

    With every announcement by T, I hear an invitation to the media: cover this instead of T’s disapproval numbers, debate this instead of report on why people hate T. They’ve always relied on making the public think that others similar to themselves want T. They’re desperate to change the subject and start arguments to make Dem campaign ads less interesting.

  55. 55.

    debbie

    October 30, 2018 at 7:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Never!

  56. 56.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2018 at 7:43 am

    @NotMax: I believe Massachusetts’ blasphemy law is still on the books (though not enforced, of course). They repealed the law against witchcraft when Dukakis was governor.

  57. 57.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:43 am

    “What else floats?”

    A DUCK!

    “And, therefore?”

    MORE WITCHES!

    “I’m going to take away your healthcare but, I’ll take theirs, too.”

    BURN HER!

  58. 58.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 7:43 am

    @JPL: Yeah, most people don’t know it’s blantantly unconstitutional.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    October 30, 2018 at 7:45 am

    @JPL:

    His followers are like junkies- they need a bigger and bigger hit of hate to get fired up.

    I work with “moderate” Republicans- nearly the entire legal community here are Republicans. They know it’s wrong but they’re cowards. They say the news is so “negative” that they can’t watch it. Oh, the handwringing and sorrow would break your heart. They’re talking about the President they elected. It makes them uncomfortable so they’ve decided they’ll just hide out and not look or listen while mewling vaguely about the horrible state of the country.

  60. 60.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:46 am

    @Baud:

    She turned me into a NEWT!

  61. 61.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2018 at 7:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: They’ve heard of Wong Kim Ark. They just don’t agree with it. They want a test case so they can overturn it, and they may have enough hacks on the Supreme Court now that they can.

    I could see the US becoming something like apartheid-era South Africa, with some large fraction of the population disenfranchised by being declared citizens of Mexico in place of some fictitious bantustan.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 7:50 am

    @Matt McIrvin: So you don’t think Dems can win again?

  63. 63.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:50 am

    @Kay:

    They know it’s wrong but they’re cowards.

    Good Germans.

    Plus:

    “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”.

  64. 64.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 7:53 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Exactly.

    I was going to amend the I’m a pepper Dr Pepper song which rhymes with SA’s k-word But, it’s prolly too early for that…

    Wouldn’t you like to be a keff, er – Pepper (prepper), too?

    Im a prepper, she’s a prepper, wouldn’t you like to be a prepper, too?

    There. That’s acceptable.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 7:54 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They want a test case so they can overturn it, and they may have enough hacks on the Supreme Court now that they can.

    I don’t see that happening. The language of the 14th Amendment is very succinct:

    All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

    There’s no wiggle room in that.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    October 30, 2018 at 7:55 am

    @Aleta:

    I wish media would resist the call to demonize and fear-monger about invading hordes bringing disease, but we watched the exact same dynamic with ebola and they’re smart people so I have to assume it’s deliberate. The ebola panic was also bullshit and they did the exact same thing there. This isn’t even new. They find a group of dark skinned foreigners and fearmonger about them invading and spreading disease. As the Republican said “this is the play”. Since media are going along with it again I have to credit them with understanding what they’re doing- once may have been an error- twice is deliberate.

    No one is forcing them to cover this to the exclusion of everything else. These are business decisions. We’ll have to find a way to get past them and around them because this works for them and they aren’t going to stop.

    Democrats succeeded to a certain extent this cycle. There were real debates in these congressional and state races- health care and taxes and corruption. It was only in the last 2 weeks that Trump and media succeeded in turning it to the latest brown people invasion story. So, we’re learning. We’re evolving. And we’ll get better with each one. By 2020 it won’t succeed at all and Trump will, actually, have to shoot someone on the street to dominate headlines. We’ll have a template and we can build on it.

  67. 67.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2018 at 7:58 am

    @Baud: Win what? With just the House of Representatives we couldn’t do much about this, since he’s proposing a completely non-legislative path. And if the Republicans can craft the electorate they want by just revoking citizenship, that’s a pretty good way to lock themselves in.

    The interesting possibility is that some states start to react by refusing to recognize native-born non-citizenship and letting people vote.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    October 30, 2018 at 7:59 am

    @Ken Shabby:

    Well, they can’t watch. It’s too negative! All this shooting and bombing- it’s upsetting them. They wish….whoever was ginning this up would stop it, but what can you do? It’s like being surrounded by 25 Jeff Flakes. Troubled. Very troubled.

  69. 69.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2018 at 8:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Have you argued with these guys? I’ve gone around and around with them before. Believe it or not, they say the wiggle room is in “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”, and that it has something to do with the President’s authority to protect the country from an invading army. And I think the minority opinion in Wong Kim Ark actually said something similar. This is a popular argument on the US right.

  70. 70.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:00 am

    @Kay:

    Trump works media right out of their own playbook. That’s most of the entire point.
    Sometimes, he’s better at it. I don’t even think it’s about smart; just need to be an amoral, clever bastard and Game On.

    It’s What’s For Supper.

  71. 71.

    Elizabelle

    October 30, 2018 at 8:01 am

    Good morning, jackals. Reposting this from last night. The GOP has lost Sully Sullenberger.

    We saved 155 lives on the Hudson. Now let’s vote for leaders who’ll protect us all.

    … I am often told how calm I sounded speaking to passengers, crew and air traffic control during the emergency. In every situation, but especially challenging ones, a leader sets the tone and must create an environment in which all can do their best. You get what you project. Whether it is calm and confidence — or fear, anger and hatred — people will respond in kind. Courage can be contagious.

    Today, tragically, too many people in power are projecting the worst. Many are cowardly, complicit enablers, acting against the interests of the United States, our allies and democracy; encouraging extremists at home and emboldening our adversaries abroad; and threatening the livability of our planet. Many do not respect the offices they hold; they lack — or disregard — a basic knowledge of history, science and leadership; and they act impulsively, worsening a toxic political environment.

    As a result, we are in a struggle for who and what we are as a people. We have lost what in the military we call unit cohesion. The fabric of our nation is under attack, while shame — a timeless beacon of right and wrong — seems dead.

    This is not the America I know and love. We’re better than this. Our ideals, shared facts and common humanity are what bind us together as a nation and a people. Not one of these values is a political issue, but the lack of them is.

    This current absence of civic virtues is not normal, and we must not allow it to become normal. We must rededicate ourselves to the ideals, values and norms that unite us and upon which our democracy depends. We must be engaged and informed voters, and we must get our information from credible, reputable sources.

    For the first 85 percent of my adult life, I was a registered Republican. But I have always voted as an American. And this critical Election Day, I will do so by voting for leaders committed to rebuilding our common values and not pandering to our basest impulses.

    When I volunteered for military service during wartime, I took an oath that is similar to the one our elected officials take: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I vowed to uphold this oath at the cost of my life, if necessary. We must expect no less from our elected officials. And we must hold accountable those who fail to defend our nation and all our people.

    After Flight 1549, I realized that because of the sudden worldwide fame, I had been given a greater voice. I knew I could not walk away but had an obligation to use this bully pulpit for good and as an advocate for the safety of the traveling public. I feel that I now have yet another mission, as a defender of our democracy.

    We cannot wait for someone to save us. We must do it ourselves. This Election Day is a crucial opportunity to again demonstrate the best in each of us by doing our duty and voting for leaders who are committed to the values that will unite and protect us. Years from now, when our grandchildren learn about this critical time in our nation’s history, they may ask if we got involved, if we made our voices heard. I know what my answer will be. I hope yours will be “yes.”

  72. 72.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:04 am

    @Kay:

    Understood. Intelligent (enough), well-educated, insulated (perhaps central point) people, standing on their own head to make it work.

    End game is lifeboats without oars. If they were really smart, they’d see over the horizon. Maybe none took ‘history class’…or good notes in pre-law.

  73. 73.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:07 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “Have you argued with these guys?”

    Yes. I don’t do it, any more. It goes in the broad group of drugs to avoid.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    October 30, 2018 at 8:08 am

    Meet Andrew Gillum’s wife, R Jai. He married well ?

    https://youtu.be/AYSiO21I2dY

  75. 75.

    Baud

    October 30, 2018 at 8:10 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Win the while thing after 2020. Even if the supreme Court goes full-on fascist on citizenship, Congress still can pass legislation to restore birthright citizenship.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    October 30, 2018 at 8:11 am

    @Elizabelle: I saw that and I’m gonna re-tweet it every hour on the hour today. Go Sully!

    In the exactly-opposite direction, in terms of looking out for our fellow Americans, Brooksie really reached to get today’s column together: The New Cold War. No it’s not about partisan fighting. It’s about “connection vs isolation”, as if that is the real fucking issue re: the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

    Yes, “thoughtful centrist” Brooks would really like us to believe it’s that simple. Increase the connection in our society and all these loners stop picking up assault rifles and…hey wait a minute…don’t Europe and Japan have loners too? Why don’t they…pick up…assault rif…oh I see. Brooks, you disingenuous piece of shit.

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    October 30, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @Jeffro: David Brooks sickens me.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    October 30, 2018 at 8:13 am

    @Ken Shabby:

    Right, But they can be gotten around. I know they can because they were AWOL for 9/10’s of the midterm campaigns and the midterm campaigns were pretty substantive. It’s only here at the last they dominate with the invading brown hordes again, exactly as we saw with ebola. When’s the last time you read about a humanitarian aide worker re-entering the country? They all didn’t stop working. They still go in and out and work in places with disease. Media made a decision after the election to stop covering it. Which means “the threat” was bullshit. The “caravan” coverage will end at midnight on election night.

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 30, 2018 at 8:13 am

    @Matt McIrvin: No I haven’t. Why bother? I just tell them they are ignorant idiots filled with fevered dreams they’ll never see chasing rainbow farting unicorns.

  80. 80.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:13 am

    @Baud:

    In Best Scenario, there’s going to be a lot of this. That’s how the engine’s supposed to work. Decades. And, lots of hurt people before then. Civil Rights only took….400 to 200 years, depending on when you start the clock. And, incomplete, far as that goes.

    Failing best scenario, more decades, more misery. Hopefully not 200 years, because we won’t get there.

  81. 81.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:15 am

    @Kay:

    YEP. Unless that horse needs digging up again to beat some more.

    I swear this is like student council in high school…

  82. 82.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 30, 2018 at 8:16 am

    @Ken Shabby: It’s the one skill he absolutely has – playing the media. And he’s been doing it for decades, yet they haven’t learned a thing.

    The top of my Google News feed now is “Trump says he plans…” It’s obviously something he can’t do, yet they cover it breathlessly. If he said the moon was made of green cheese, that would also be the first 5 minutes of the ‘Today’ show and the top block of Google News. It’s like when you’re 25, and your Uncle Milton still does that thing where he pretends to pull a quarter out of your ear – it’s tired, you both know it’s fake, but he doesn’t know any other way to interact with you.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    October 30, 2018 at 8:20 am

    @Ken Shabby:

    I don’t want to jinx it and my predictions aren’t any better than anyone elses, but I think we’re in good shape. I’ve been canvassing and it feels good out there for us, our base is engaged. I don’t know about their base but ours will come out. I think the closeness of the Ohio governor’s race may turn out to be a good thing because they’re sort of panicking now that they realize it’s really tight – we needed a close one at the top of the ticket and Sherrod Brown isn’t going to be close :)

    Kavanaugh was good for us. I don’t trust white women voters but “Kavanaugh” seems to have turned into one of those issues for Democrats where everyone piles everything they hate into that basket, that word. “Kavanaugh” is a term of art for “everything I hate about Trump”.

  84. 84.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:25 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Where I land with that is
    They don’t thrive on other people’s torment; he does. He Glows with it.

    What a wretched, depraved pact.

    There was a Stephen King story, Apt Pupil. A former SS Concentration Camp guard was discovered by a teenager and the kid wanted to learn all he could. When he began to finally realize what was happening, his response was to snarl at the old man:

    Fuck You.

    The old man’s response stuck with me to this day:

    Didn’t you know? We’re fucking each other.

    That is surely both parties.

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    October 30, 2018 at 8:26 am

    Meanwhile, I think Catherine Rampell has been reading BJ: Trumpov Isn’t To Blame, His Whole Party Is

    Don’t let the GOP off the hook for enabling this corruption and abuse of our democracy, America!

    …in focusing our anger and debate on Trump, we let so many other Republicans off the hook.

    The president is hardly the only elected official who has played footsie with neo-Nazis, far-right thugs and xenophobic conspiracy theorists.

    Why, earlier this year, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) invited to the State of the Union a Holocaust denier who had also been banned from Twitter after appearing to threaten the life of a black civil rights activist. At the time, Gaetz said he didn’t know his guest’s ugly background.

    Somehow, though, this same far-right hatemonger ended up at a Gaetz fundraiser last month.

    More recently, Gaetz suggested that Jewish financier George Soros was funding a supposedly dangerous caravan of asylum-seeking refugees who plan to “storm” the U.S. border at “election time.”

    Other Republican lawmakers — such as Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — have dabbled in this or other dog-whistling conspiracy theories about Soros’s alleged efforts to subvert the United States.

    And then we come to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), whose good standing in the Republican Party should infuriate anyone who pretends to care about civility (looking at you, Paul Ryan and Jeff Flake).

    Some things King has done just since this summer:

    – He endorsed a white supremacist running for mayor of Toronto, a woman who claims Canada is undergoing a “white genocide.”

    – He retweeted a self-described British neo-Nazi.

    – And while on a European trip arranged by a Holocaust memorial group, King met with members of a far-right Austrian party founded by a former Nazi SS officer. He told the party’s affiliated publication that he, too, feared a coming “Great Replacement” of white European culture by “somebody else’s babies,” enabled by Hispanic and Muslim migration, in a plot orchestrated by (guess who?) Soros.

    When asked why he was palling around with European ethnonationalists, King defended himself thusly: “If they were in America pushing the platform that they push, they would be Republicans.”

    Yes. And that’s the problem.

    goGoGO! voteVoteVOTE!!!!

  86. 86.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:28 am

    @Kay:

    I am also somewhat encouraged by folks beginning to wake up and the number of candidates beginning to step up and petition to run to correct.
    That’s also how it works.
    I like that math. If we get there. These awful people can then be re-consigned to dustbins of history.

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    October 30, 2018 at 8:28 am

    @Jeffro: Catherine Rampell. Alexandra Petri. Jennifer Rubin. They see it.

    Thank you WaPost.

  88. 88.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 30, 2018 at 8:32 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It’s obviously something he can’t do

    How sure are we of that? The only vote that matters here is getting to 5-4 on the Supreme Court, and there’s been a concerted effort over decades to push the bullshit legal argument that would support it, somewhat under the radar. Google “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to see more of it than you probably ever wanted.

    Remember, authoritarians can act fast. And ICE is the closest thing to a Gestapo that he’s got.

  89. 89.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:36 am

    @Kay:

    “Kavanaugh”

    Is everything I despise in Republicans. Office and voters.

    I *have* had ….one conversation with an old high school friend, specifically about this. She’s Religious, GOP, very likely single issue pro-life obsessional and, somewhat coyly engaged me in a disingenuine discussion of that hearing.

    – I believe her.
    – This was never litigated and, in a hearing, couldn’t be but should.
    – Set those two aside and look just at temperament.

    Was my brief argument.

    >crickets<

    I don’t know how any of these people do it, especially women, but, at the very least, it ain’t rational. Only reason I engaged with her is respect for a friend, years ago, gentle treatment and my own exercise in patience and language.

  90. 90.

    Ken Shabby

    October 30, 2018 at 8:39 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “Remember, authoritarians can act fast. “

    That’s the end game. These people do not believe in the same things the rest of us do or what’s in the charter. Never did, never will. When/if done with us, they’ll start in on each other.

    There is no fabric, here. None.

  91. 91.

    Denali

    October 30, 2018 at 9:03 am

    @Pat,
    We were warned of this scam in Budapest and always had the agent inspect the car with us and note any scratches/dents before we took it. They were not happy, but we avoided the problem and hassle.

  92. 92.

    Tenar Arha

    October 30, 2018 at 9:09 am

    @Ken Shabby: Did you read this from Vanity Fair? There’s one or two weird not broken up paragraph transition, but it’s more than implied that in the leadership vacuum left by Ailes & Lachlan, Trump is programming Fox. ETA Apt Pupil indeed.

    (The news that CNN thinks Trump is “good for business” is an added bonus though, especially if you’ve stopped watching them & realize that the 24/7 Trump stuff is all bc they need filler instead of real news. Makes me wish Sherman had more sources st MSNBC).

  93. 93.

    pat

    October 30, 2018 at 9:32 am

    @Aleta:

    I’m doing some of that, emailing hertz now, and I can dispute the charge on my credit card for up to 60 days after it is charged. I’ll be home then so it will be easier to phone and email. (I don’t do twitter or facebook.)
    I don’t expect anything to change but I told them I will never rent from them again and of course they already expect that I wont be back if they are willing to rip me off like that.

    Just got home from downtown (lunch at our favorite deli, ran into a couple of friends) so now I’ll scroll through the rest of the comments.
    Thanks to all.

  94. 94.

    H.E.Wolf

    October 30, 2018 at 9:35 am

    @Ken Shabby:
    You are very energetic today – a zillion highly-emotional comments – and I appreciate the reasons why.

    However, your comment dehumanizing the Other is exactly what the right-wingers do to those they disagree with. Please don’t copy their contemptible behavior.

    This message comes to you from someone who lost relatives to the Nazis. Dehumanizing the Other works very, very well.

  95. 95.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 30, 2018 at 9:38 am

    @H.E.Wolf: I noticed that too. Hyperbolic comments from a relatively new nym, close to the elections.

  96. 96.

    Avalune

    October 30, 2018 at 9:40 am

    @pat: Oh man that sucks! When Leto and I first arrived back in the states someone backed into our Avis in a Target parking lot. We reported it to Avis and our insurance but Avis let it go.

    Slept in my own bed last night and it was glorious. Pity our apartment is 1+ hour from the hospital.

    Jingle “Bella” Bell our manchi says less typing more petting.

    Apparently I suck at linking things…

  97. 97.

    pat

    October 30, 2018 at 10:02 am

    Hertz just emailed me to ask about my experience…. In the box where they asked for comments, I copy/pasted the entire email that I have been working on.
    Now I have sent the email to customer service. I hope I had the right email address.
    My final word is that I will dispute this with my credit card company.
    And we will look for other ways to get from Vienna to Graz! (it’s a lot cheaper to fly to Vienna than to Graz).
    Looking at trains and buses…… no more rentals.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    October 30, 2018 at 10:19 am

    @pat: I think I would contest the charges because the Hertz representative did not go out with you to inspect the car and do a walkaround. Further, the lighting was bad.

    When I rented from Enterprise (?) in Spain, the rep did a careful inspection before I took the car out.

    And a cell phone camera is your best friend. Photo the car’s condition (and the license plate, so you remember it for hotels, etc.) when picking it up, and when returning it.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    October 30, 2018 at 10:21 am

    Thank you guys for noticing that about Ken Shabby. I find that commenter very strange, and have been considering a pie filter, but wondered if it was just me.

    Seriously. Looking in and thinking “would I recommend this site to others? Looks like a bunch of hysterics.” And it’s pretty much the work of one commenter.

  100. 100.

    Avalune

    October 30, 2018 at 10:32 am

    @pat: Trains are good! We did a lot of Italy by train.

  101. 101.

    PJ

    October 30, 2018 at 10:59 am

    @pat: this is SOP in Europe. As other commenters have noted, you should photograph every inch of the car before you leave the rental lot. They will still try to ding you for whatever, but you will have evidence. Unfortunately, without that, your credit card company is probably going to side with the agency. (I was hit with a new scam last summer in France, where, after I had left, the agency claimed I had gotten two traffic violations. I had gotten no tickets while I was there. I asked them to send me the tickets, they said they didn’t have them, but they had been informed by the police about them, and that the police would contact me. I asked them to send me whatever info they had, and one of the supposed violations was from before I had rented the car. They said they had made a mistake on the date of that, but both violations were valid, and they charged me about 100 euros altogether. The credit card company did not back me up, and I never did receive any notices of violations from the police.)

  102. 102.

    pat

    October 30, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @PJ:

    Well if they photographed me driving 150 km/hr in a 130 zone, they got a LOT of other cars too.

    Thanks to everyone who responded. One of the friends we just met downtown, who lives here, got a train ticket to Vienna for……. 9 euros! Looks like the way to go. There is also a bus that makes regular trips, for less than 30 euros per person. Just have to consider the time of landing (us) and time of departure (bus or train.)
    And if we have to stay overnight in the airport hotel, it’s still cheaper than this rip-off.

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    October 30, 2018 at 12:10 pm

    @Avalune:

    We took trains in France. Interestingly the food was really good. When the conductor came through, we told him how nice his train was, and he rolled his whole head and said “This (old thing)?! it’s just a train!! You should see the first class trains!” but he was pleased to have a compliment just the same. From Toulouse to Paris, through wonderful countryside.

    In France even the red wine with a twist off lid is really good. There is so little bad wine in Europe, I think they save it all to export to the US….

  104. 104.

    J R in WV

    October 30, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Yes, Ken Shabby is a very recent new poster, who never posted once before posting multiple times a day – hell, multiple times in many threads, all a little odd, and starting just before the election. More than me, which is saying something too.

    And a strange nym too.

    Hmmm, what could it be?

  105. 105.

    Gravenstone

    October 30, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”

    If they’re not subject to our jurisdiction, then how exactly can we deport them? We say “the law says get out”, they say “bugger off yank! we’re not covered”.

  106. 106.

    Bonnie

    October 30, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    In the State of Washington, we vote by mail; thus, it is pretty much something you do by yourself. However, I would like everyone to know how much I love this system.

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