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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

We still have time to mess this up!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The words do not have to be perfect.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

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You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / Deep Breaths and Calming Thoughts Open Thread

Deep Breaths and Calming Thoughts Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  November 6, 20184:57 pm| 128 Comments

This post is in: Birdwatching, Election 2018, Open Threads

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Was just reading more about the three- or four-hour wait times and broken-ass equipment at polling places in Georgia, Texas and elsewhere. It’s an outrage, and the people responsible should be fired for incompetence and/or prosecuted for election fraud. It’s not like Election Day creeps up on corrupt, cheating fuck-sticks like Brian Kemp; they know exactly what they’re doing.

New rule: state secretaries of state receive a year in jail for each hour a constituent at their slowest polling place has to stand in line. I bet they’d make sure poll workers plugged the goddamned voting machines in then, wouldn’t they?

Oh wait, yeah, deep breaths and calming thoughts — here’s a beautiful limpkin that landed on my dock this morning:

Limpkins have a serene look, but for my money, they have the most blood-curdling call on the river. So, no sound — just the bird photo.

Open thread!

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Reader Interactions

128Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    November 6, 2018 at 5:02 pm

    Second day in a row you’ve had a bird I’ve never heard of. I might need to visit Florida again. I’m hoping Orlando wasn’t representative.

  2. 2.

    donnah

    November 6, 2018 at 5:02 pm

    My mom, 83, just texted me that she voted today. I’m super proud of her! I reminded her this morning that every vote counts and she could make a difference.

    Now we wait…

  3. 3.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 5:02 pm

    I wish I could take deep breaths but all that does it set off my coughing. This cold is kicking my ass. Finally got some new batteries for the thermometer and turns out I have a low grade fever. No wonder I feel so crappy.

  4. 4.

    Jeffro

    November 6, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    Ve ah going to chrush dem beneath aw heels and heeah de lamentations of dere vimmin (and dere men, too)

    God, I know I haven’t been to church in ages, but if you just serve up some cosmic justice to Ted Cruz tonight, I’ll see you on Sunday ?

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    Sitting here checking out the news nets (which I don’t normally do) because I’ll be off to class soon.

    But first…

    @AlyssaNo_L
    Follow Follow @AlyssaNo_L
    More
    Charlie Matthews, 73, presents @staceyabrams with roses during a campaign stop at Annie D’s restaurant on #ElectionDay. He said that he dedicated the flowers to Abrams on behalf of all the deceased women in his family that did not get to see her make it this far in the Gov. race.
    https://twitter.com/AlyssaNo_L/status/1059880167923949569

  6. 6.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    When I watched the noon news I was furious, but it is who we are. Black districts just unfortunately forget to have power cords sent to them, and it just happens to take four hours to rectify that situation. There was a senior center in Atlanta that had one machine and more than 100 waiting in line. That should not happen, but since our SOS is incompetent it did, and guess what the odds are he’ll be our next governor.
    I’m cheering for your state to show us the way.

  7. 7.

    Ohio Mom

    November 6, 2018 at 5:06 pm

    I feel the same way I do on long car trips: Are we there yet? Is this Election Day over yet?

    Just worn out from waiting.

  8. 8.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    At the very least the secretary of state should recuse himself from overseeing the election if he is on the ballot..

  9. 9.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    @KhushbuOShea
    Follow Follow @KhushbuOShea
    More
    Greg Martin, 70, is a native of Atlanta. He says the hour and half he waited to vote is the longest he’s ever waited. “I voted for Stacey Abrams because Brian Kemp is an asshole…and misogynistic piece of shit.” #ElectionDay @guardian

    https://twitter.com/KhushbuOShea/status/1059864496729194496

  10. 10.

    Mike in NC

    November 6, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    Per the book “The Apprentice”, Brian Kemp was among several GOP secretaries of state that wanted no part of an investigation into Putin’s tampering with the 2016 election.

  11. 11.

    debit

    November 6, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    The last few days I’ve been distracted from the election by clearing most of the first floor of my house to have my wood floors sanded and stained. Unfortunately, they are so bad that my floor guy said the only way to salvage the situation is to stain them ebony. It’s a shame, since I wanted light floors, but I guess I now have an excuse to get some white furniture and be oh so dramatic.

    Tonight I plan to retire to the basement family room with a plate of chicken tacos and a bottle of vodka and watch the results come in.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 6, 2018 at 5:09 pm

    @lamh36: heh, I was just about to post that same tweet

  13. 13.

    satby

    November 6, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    The older (72+) guy in the booth next to me is a hardcore right winger, John Bircher type. Last Thursday he fell in his bathroom and broke six ribs, plus other injuries, he has heart and high BP problems normally including an aneurysm they’re monitoring, and is supposed to be evaluated for a knee replacement. Also diabetes and severely overweight. He hasn’t been able to come work at the market since then, and may not be back for a month.
    And I know all this because he was there today, on his way to vote for the troglodyte Republicans running here. Because nothing short of coma would stop him from supporting them.

  14. 14.

    MazeDancer

    November 6, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    $365,000 and 12,467 PostCards later, perhaps you want to follow the Balloon-Juice Candidates tonight?

    PostCardPatriots.com has a map of all the Balloon-Juice Candidates placed in their states. Plus some election night viewing tools.

    Go to PostCardPatriots.com. Look for the icon with the late, great Maisy Cat – labelled “BJ Map”. Click. Map. You can keep that tab open, or download a PDF of the Balloon-Juice Candidates Map. Makes it easier to follow BJ Candidates while commenting at BJ all night.

    Knocking wood for Dems and all the BJ Candidates.

  15. 15.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Exactly. Elections should be overseen by nonpartisan bureaucrats. It’s a conflict of interest with strong secretaries of state.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    November 6, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    @satby: Is it too much to hope that he sprains his ankle before he gets to the polling place?

  17. 17.

    bluehill

    November 6, 2018 at 5:14 pm

    @satby: I’m gonna guess he’s on medicare.

  18. 18.

    satby

    November 6, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: I at least have the satisfaction of knowing I already had cancelled his vote with mine.

  19. 19.

    satby

    November 6, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    @bluehill: oh, of course. But none of them believe that Mitch and Paul and the guys mean cutting their entitlements, just all those illegal aliens getting it.
    Seriously, that’s what they’ve told me.

  20. 20.

    The Moar You Know

    November 6, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    The Trumpers in my office are suicidal today. They honestly think he’s going to be in prison by next week.

    If only I could make their nightmares come true.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    November 6, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    state secretaries of state receive a year in jail for each hour a constituent at their slowest polling place has to stand in line.

    Too nice. Life in prison, no chance of parole for long election lines.

  22. 22.

    Mandarama

    November 6, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Hoping so hard here in Tennessee that we send Marsha Blackburn home unemployed! Some good news from local political reporter:

    NEW: An amazing stat given to me by Davidson County Elections Administrator Jeff Roberts just now. Election Day vote totals across Nashville’s 35 largest precincts have already surpassed the Election Day turnout at those precincts in the 2016 election. That’s massive turnout.

    That was on Twitter. They are also discussing the actual effect Taylor Swift had on the 18–29 vote.

  23. 23.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    From Philip Wolgin’s Twitter feed
    In case the stakes of tomorrow’s elections weren’t abundantly clear, the Trump administration just asked the Supreme Court to try and end #DACA asap. Tomorrow, #ElectionDay couldn’t be more important. Vote to #protectDreamers

  24. 24.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    November 6, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    @satby: I constantly wonder how people can be so stupid, and how so many not-stupid people can still be so ignorant or misinformed. I’m guessing that for them, the place that in our lives is occupied by the news, politics, books, substantive discussions, etc., is filled with Kardashians, cake mix shortcuts, and bigotry.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    November 6, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    Where is Badger?

    A picture of that cutiepie always calms the soul.

  26. 26.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    Georgia GOP candidate Brian Kemp was foiled by his own state’s voter ID law when he tried to vote https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/georgia-gop-candidate-brian-kemp-foiled-states-voter-id-law-tried-vote/#.W-IT2X55kbA.twitter

  27. 27.

    HuCat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    Limpkin? Sounds like a bird that hangs around waiting to see if there’s anything left after the buzzards fly away.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    November 6, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    @lamh36:

    Just dust…that’s all…just dust…

  29. 29.

    bluehill

    November 6, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    @satby: More faces for the face-eating leopard party. Motivated reasoning is powerful.

  30. 30.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 6, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    @lamh36: Is that true? LOLOL

  31. 31.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    Barack called me three times, so there. Each time I told him I already voted, but he just kept talking.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    November 6, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    thank you for all your postcard updates.

  33. 33.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    My friend who just became a citizen this August voted straight D!

  34. 34.

    debbie

    November 6, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    Just voted. All 20 machines were in use, but I hardly waited at all.

    I am so, so ready to jump and dance around. I think Trump’s statement earlier today that he could have been softer is his acknowledgement he is about to get the ass-kicking of his life, and I cannot wait!

  35. 35.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes.. The local news covered it. Stacey voted early and didn’t have that problem.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    November 6, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    @JPL:

    He neglected me (sob), but I still went straight ticket.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    November 6, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    @lamh36:

    The Universe, she is a bitch.

  38. 38.

    TS (the original)

    November 6, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    They honestly think he’s going to be in prison by next week.

    Despite the 3 years of “lock her up” no democrats ever thought Hillary would end up in prison. Interesting that republicans believe he could get there.

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    November 6, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    Elections is my job.
    When I say that all these problems are absolutely deliberate, please believe me. Don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, because it’s as bad as you think it is. It’s not incompetence. Stop saying that they are incompetent. ALL of it is deliberate malice and should be criminal.

  40. 40.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    I streamed MSNBC a few minutes before three with Katy Tur, and they were broadcasting not to far from me. Ossoff and Greg Bluestein from the AJC were on. The AJC political reporter mentioned that there only seemed to be problems at polls where minority registrants vote. go figure.

  41. 41.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 6, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    @satby: Don’t they know that from their own applications that they have to have a lot of paperwork and wait for results? How is an illegal alien with few or no papers, most foreign, supposed to get entitlements? How do they prove they are entitled to it anyway?

    While there may be some refugee emergency aid, most people either have to just work or receive charity from private sources like HIAS, churches, and family/friends already here.

  42. 42.

    grubert

    November 6, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    I constantly wonder how people can be so stupid, and how so many not-stupid people can still be so ignorant or misinformed.

    Was just saying to a friend, we optimistically overestimate how far we’ve developed/evolved. It was just a few hundred years ago we stopped dumping our poop into our drinking water. ( honest, look up on the London sewer system.. )

  43. 43.

    gene108

    November 6, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    @satby:

    Part of me wants them to get the government they keep voting for, without us holding them back.

  44. 44.

    grubert

    November 6, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    @TS (the original):

    Interesting that republicans believe he could get there.

    It’s almost as if, deep down, they really kinda know what they’re doing and what he’s about.

  45. 45.

    The Moar You Know

    November 6, 2018 at 5:29 pm

    Despite the 3 years of “lock her up” no democrats ever thought Hillary would end up in prison. Interesting that republicans believe he could get there.

    @TS (the original): I found it interesting too, which is why I posted it. I think it’s what some interrogators call a “tell”.

    Here’s another interesting tidbit: I told them that’s not how it works. They won’t listen. They DO think that’s how it works.

  46. 46.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @grubert: Yeah I mentioned to someone after trump kidnapped the children that I choose to be informed, and you choose to watch the hallmark channel. Yep I haven’t talked to that person since. funny how that happened.

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    November 6, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @satby: Meanwhile, a young man I work with, a bright, talented, funny guy, reasonably intelligent, who’s done circus work all over the wolrd, including with truly disenfranchised folks like the Palestinians in the Red Noses brigade, tells the world on FB that he’s just not sure voting makes enough of a difference. I could just scream.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 6, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    a small chuckle

    michaelscherer @ michaelscherer
    I have asked both Donald Trump and Joe Arpaio how many House seats there are in Congress. Trump refused to answer. Arpaio guessed wrong.

    that’s the kind of question I want asked of trump, starting with, “Could you recite the words to “our great national anthem”

  49. 49.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 6, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I agree-it should be like the iRS or the Postal Service; bureaucrats with regular jobs. This works well for both agencies in that things work smoothly because the workers are experienced and have no stake (beyond the personal). If we still have polling places, they should be temporary workers called in for election management on a list.

  50. 50.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @JPL:

    ✔
    @kylegriffin1
    · 59m
    Obama recorded 50+ GOTV robocalls, radio interviews and digital ads. He recorded radio ads to run on African American radio shows in AZ, FL, GA, IL, IA, MI, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, and WI. He did digital ads for Gillum and Cordray.
    https://t.co/CnbMfcH10w

    Obama Went Into Stealth Campaign Mode in Closing Days With Big Election Push
    The president quietly recorded get-out-the-vote calls along with ads to blanket African-American radio shows.

  51. 51.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    @rikyrah: Is someone keeping a tally of all these voting irregularities? And where they are occurring? The election mismanagement is a feature not a bug of R governance.

  52. 52.

    Jay

    November 6, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    @gene108:

    Based on Kemp’s record so far, 4 hours x 56,000 voters so far x 1 year per hour, = 224,000 years in jail.

  53. 53.

    James E Powell

    November 6, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    I’m going to start throwing up around 4:30 PDT, I’m sure of it.

  54. 54.

    JMG

    November 6, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Tell him it sure as hell makes more difference than not voting. With that, I’m off to start making chicken thighs in apple-mustard-cream sauce.

  55. 55.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    @Miss Bianca: That’s what the purity left believes.

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    November 6, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @HuCat: Funny you should mention buzzards because a carrion bird photo-bombed my limpkin shoot this morning:

    When a vulture photo-bombs your limpkin shot… pic.twitter.com/4YdkTMyY2d

    — Betty Cracker (@bettycrackerfl) November 6, 2018

  57. 57.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @lamh36: Did you see the news about Idris Elba?

  58. 58.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 6, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    @grubert: By definition, half the population has an IQ below 100. IQ isn’t everything, of course.

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    November 6, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    I’m making lentils, drinking wine, and watching The Detectorists. My son forbids the news because it depresses him but we have negotiated watching the election returns tonight.

    Also too fuck Jill Stein.

  60. 60.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    @MomSense: What did she do now?

  61. 61.

    Pogonip

    November 6, 2018 at 5:36 pm

    There are 3 companies that manufacture U. S. voting machines. Three. And I’ll bet each company’s machines are engineered not to talk to the other two’s products.

    Get rid of them. Go to paper ballots. Have a large supply of pens. If the ballots don’t get delivered to such-and-such polling station, have some paper so the voter can write down his vote, which he will then seal in a provided envelope and hand to the poll worker, who will countersign the envelope, showing that “Yes, this voter came out of the booth and handed me this.”

    The only reasons we have these voting machines are Profit! and so that some TV station can be First! at reporting results. These are not good enough reasons to force people to stand in line all day because the power’s out or someone forgot the cord to the machine or The System Is Down. With the Pogonip Method, people could vote as fast as they could check off the lines on the ballot, by candlelight if the power’s out.

    I’ve been ranting about these stupid voting machines for years. While I’m ranting, I think the Secretary of State of wherever that building was foreclosed the day of the election (day before?) should set up a new polling location for NEXT Tuesday for the affected voters, and the election results could just wait till those votes were counted, TV stations be damned. Also, he should charge every single person involved in that foreclosure with election fraud.

    Harrumph.

  62. 62.

    TS (the original)

    November 6, 2018 at 5:36 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    I think it’s what some interrogators call a “tell”

    Good to see they understand that there might be good reasons for their dear leader to be charged with an offense. The next two years of democrats in charge of house committees should be interesting.

  63. 63.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 5:36 pm

    The area I live in is older and conservative. There are younger folks moving in as those of my age move out, so the 6th is shifting. Lucy McBath did not campaign here at all which was smart, because you don’t want to turn out Handel’s voters. That might help her win, although the precincts that I went by today were packed. This district is gerrymandered to insure a republican win.

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    November 6, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    @JPL:

    Black districts just unfortunately forget to have power cords sent to them, and it just happens to take four hours to rectify that situation. There was a senior center in Atlanta that had one machine and more than 100 waiting in line. That should not happen, but since our SOS is incompetent it did, and guess what the odds are he’ll be our next governor.

    He isn’t incompetent at all~!!~ He is corrupt and criminal, immoral and ethics free.

    He’s doing a great job of corruptly influencing voting patterns to improve his chances at winning a crooked, corrupt election, in order to keep using executive power in your state for the exclusive benefit of himself and his fellow white supremacist fascists.

    In an ideal world, he would be caught red-handed at this dirty work, convicted of illegally influencing voting patterns, and spend the next eight years in jail, watching while a new election with an independent judicial monitor in charge leads to a shift in power in Georgia.

    I’m not holding my breath, though.

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    November 6, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    Betty I’m not sure I can take many more winters. If I were to move to Florida, are there some artsy towns that aren’t terribly expensive you would recommend?

  66. 66.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Ya know I did…in fact, somehow I happened to wake up way too early…and bam…there was the news…LOL

  67. 67.

    tobie

    November 6, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    @lamh36: I’m envious. He didn’t record radio ads or robocalls for Maryland. What’s wrong with Baltimore City or PG County? Not good enough?

  68. 68.

    Louise B.

    November 6, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    @Yarrow: I had that bug last last week. You have my sympathies – it was brutal. Lots of cough syrup.

  69. 69.

    Aleta

    November 6, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    Before they can vote, SOS’s must go to each polling place with a nonworking machine and stay standing at the back of the line until all machines work and a few more added. Then on to the next place.

  70. 70.

    J R in WV

    November 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    Betty C:

    The Linpkin is a beautiful, loud bird, but nowhere near as creepy as the Loons of northern lakes and streams. I listened to both birds just now, and the Loon’s call, as I recalled, is positively weird, especially as they’re somewhat nocturnal, calling out like they do late at night.

  71. 71.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    @EricHolder
    52m52 minutes ago
    More
    4.5 hour waits in African American districts in Georgia. Good job Kemp. No one is surprised. And this guy wants a promotion to Governor? Be strong Georgia and vote for Stacey. ⁦@staceyabrams⁩

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    In 2016, some jackass troll was claiming that reports of voters having to leave long lines or walking away after being refused a ballot were fake, because those people did not immediately Tweet about it or report it to a central authority, so there couldn’t have been enough to affect the election.

    This is how dumb some “progressives” are — they think that people whose vote was suppressed always report that it happened to them. ?

  73. 73.

    bluehill

    November 6, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Seems like attention-seeking behavior to post it on FB. Wonder if he went to any protest marches.

  74. 74.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    @hellofasandwich
    First Dem flip of the night: Lou Leon Guerrero wins Guam’s gubernatorial election. The GOP held this office for the past 8 years.

    Hey…any little bit of good news right!

  75. 75.

    Aleta

    November 6, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    Rewards should be offered for information leading to Kent’s apprehension and conviction.

  76. 76.

    Ohio Mom

    November 6, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    @Miss Bianca: (rollingy eyes) I have a 23 yo friend who is similarly bright, who is also “they’re all the same.” I tried my darndest but could not convince him to vote. I want to slap him.

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    Here’s one tiny ray of hope — as I understand it, Kemp needs 51 percent of the vote to win today. Otherwise, it goes to a run-off election and this election happens all over again with a whole bunch of REALLY pissed-off voters who got shut out this time.

  78. 78.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 6, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    The voting chicanery in African American areas is appalling. This shouldn’t be happening in a developed country. I hope when Abrams wins (please let it be so), she makes it a priority to fix the glitches faced by too many voters of color in Georgia. Plus, the SoS has to recuse his or herself from SoS duties if he/she runs for Governor or other political offices.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    @Ohio Mom:

    If it helps, this morning I had a nervous 18-year-old kid in line ahead of me casting his first big boy vote, so that attitude is not necessarily as widespread as you might fear.

  80. 80.

    Aleta

    November 6, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    @MazeDancer: That is so cool. Thanks.

  81. 81.

    MattF

    November 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    A very long line at my polling place this morning– lots of people, a long ballot and only two scanning machines. I was in line for an hour. Everyone was apologetic, no particular bullshit (I live in a solidly blue precinct), but it was a rather screwed-up situation. It happens.

  82. 82.

    chopper

    November 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    i can’t do much by way of deep breaths and calm thoughts. i’m prepared for disappointment just in case cause i’m already so pissed off, as i’ve been for two years. if we do great tonight, awesome and fuck the fucking gop. if we lose, fuck the fucking gop anyways.

  83. 83.

    eclare

    November 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Had forgotten about that, good point. Plus hopefully extra scrutiny if it goes to a runoff, with lawyers lined up.

  84. 84.

    p.a.

    November 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    Nice relaxation: Chef John at Food Wishes on YouTube.

  85. 85.

    Captain C

    November 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    @TS (the original): To be fair, he seems to have committed many, many felonies.

  86. 86.

    Ked

    November 6, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    getting pre-drunk, just so it doesn’t hurt as much if it goes weird tonight

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    November 6, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @MomSense: Mount Dora is kind of artsy and still affordable. Micanopy is affordable and somewhat artsy-fartsy thanks to the proximity of the university. Cedar Key is sort of like the Florida Keys used to be before they were overrun with tourists and priced out of reach. I’m sure there are more obvious places that I’m forgetting!

  88. 88.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 6, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @Mnemosyne: But that will give Kemp more time to come up with reasons to purge (Black) voters from the rolls. I hope Abrams wins decisively today and ends this once and for all.

  89. 89.

    Gelfling 545

    November 6, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @debbie: All the Dem candidates were also on the Women’s Equality Party line so I went that way.

  90. 90.

    japa21

    November 6, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    Stated manage elections but it seems to me that when it comes to Federal elections the government can specify certain minimum standards such as there must be one voting machine per X number of people.

  91. 91.

    VeniceRiley

    November 6, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Go ahead and slap him. Tell him he should be grateful, because if any of my friends cared so little about my rights slipping away, or children in cages, I would kick them in the nuts.

  92. 92.

    lgerard

    November 6, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    As someone who spent several decades as an election official these stories of people waiting in line for hours drive me into an absolute homicidal rage.
    In the busiest election I ever worked, 2008, no one waited more then 15 minutes to get a ballot. This despite the fact that we were so busy that i did not get a chance to vote myself.nor eat anything for 11 hours.
    The easiest method of disenfranchising people is the miscalculation of voting resources and every year it is the same story from the same places.

    I wish someone like the Brennan Center would do a nationwide, precinct by precinct analysis of voting including the number of people assigned to each precinct, the number and type of machines allocated to each precinct, and the average wait time for each precinct. I’m sure the results would be eye opening.
    I would also hope that it would show the utter uselessness of touch screen machines. They are nothing more then an inefficient choke point in the voting process. You can have 50 people at a time filling out paper ballots and then it only takes seconds to run them through a scanner. It is so much faster.and so much more secure,

  93. 93.

    MattF

    November 6, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    @Ked: Now that you mention it, getting pre-drunk sounds like a live option.

  94. 94.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 6, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    This election finds Californians grateful for the vote-by-mail option. Can you imagine what the lines would be in Los Angeles or San Francisco without it? And i’m sure Oregon, Washington, and increasingly Colorado appreciate it as well. No lines, no games with polling stations.

  95. 95.

    MomSense

    November 6, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Thank you. I’m an achey mess and winter hasn’t started in earnest. I usually wait until November to turn on the heat but I had to start the beginning of October this year.

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Just to be clear, I really, really want Abrams to get 51 percent today and kick Kemp to the curb.

    I’m just reminding people that even if Kemp gets more votes today, there could be a run-off election and I can’t imagine that the ACLU of GA doesn’t already have their briefs written to file first thing tomorrow morning in case Kemp gets a plurality but not a majority. It ain’t over till it’s over.

  97. 97.

    Gelfling 545

    November 6, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    @CarolDuhart2: Refugees also have only a limited period of time to get a job in order to retain their status.

  98. 98.

    Mark

    November 6, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    Here in Washington State it is 100% vote by mail. I heard on the news this morning that they are expecting up to 80% participation.

  99. 99.

    Pogonip

    November 6, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @lgerard: Hear hear! I am pleased an actual poll worker agrees with me.

  100. 100.

    Gelfling 545

    November 6, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Miss Bianca: He’s not sure? He probably does things all the time where the results aren’t a certainty. Even if it doesn’t help in his opinion,it certainly doesn’t hurt.

  101. 101.

    Haroldo

    November 6, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    @MomSense: Mount Dora is kind of artsy and still affordable. Micanopy is affordable and somewhat artsy-fartsy thanks to the proximity of the university. Cedar Key is sort of like the Florida Keys used to be before they were overrun with tourists and priced out of reach. I’m sure there are more obvious places that I’m forgetting!

    Micanopy was/is at the top of my list and the tip of tongue!

  102. 102.

    Pogonip

    November 6, 2018 at 6:03 pm

    @MomSense: Here in Upper Pogonippia it was 95 degrees at the beginning of October. Then a couple of days before Halloween the temperature dropped 50 degrees in 6 hours. Arthritics, me included, were not happy.

  103. 103.

    chopper

    November 6, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Mandarama:

    if we end up taking the senate thanks to TN i expect the beltway hot takes will start revolving around “taylor swift won the senate for the democrats!”

  104. 104.

    AliceBlue

    November 6, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    Polls have closed in Kentucky and parts of Indiana. Here we go.

  105. 105.

    sdhays

    November 6, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    @Mnemosyne: And, by the same token, even if Stacey wins a plurality, there will still be a runoff election in December. A runoff, one way or the other, seems the most likely to me, but I would love to be wrong and see Stacey curb-stomp that shithead today.

  106. 106.

    satby

    November 6, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @gene108: me too. SS is more than 3/5 of my income, but the only thing that teaches a conservative is bitter, personal experience. So sometimes I wish they could get it without hurting the non- malevolent in our society. Like me.

  107. 107.

    drdavechemist

    November 6, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    Bustling but no wait on the East Side of Providence at around 4:15 pm. Check in was fast and efficient with a QR code scan of my license, and more than half of the dozen or so cubicles for filling in the scannable paper ballot were in use. There were two scanners in use and mine had recorded 4xx votes, which I think is more than I remember in some previous elections.

    Spousal unit just told me that the line was out to the parking lot at about 7:15 this morning, so she’s going back now to try again. That’s impressive since there’s not too much competition in most of our local races. We will return Dems Whitehouse (senate) and Cicilline (house) at the federal level, probably re-elect Gina Raimindo as governor (with a plurality after the Republican and an independent split the “throw the bums out” vote), and most likely keep our incumbent democratic mayor, especially since it was recently trumpeted broadly that his independent opponent worked for our twice-convicted felonious mayor, the late Buddy Cianci. The down-ballot races had no significant opposition, and in fact there was nobody politicking out in the parking lot, so the locals apparently figured there was no need to stand out in the rain trying to win a few extra votes in our highly democratic enclave.

    Hoping that we can celebrate some good news tomorrow (and not planning to stay up late to find out what happens in places where I have less vested in the outcome). Cheers!

  108. 108.

    satby

    November 6, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @Miss Bianca: tell him the story of my market neighbor. That guy is convinced voting matters, as are his cohort of Good Germans. They show up, and often because of that, they win. They never are confused about that cause and effect. I just don’t know why our ostensible allies don’t grasp that.

  109. 109.

    lollipopguild

    November 6, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    @AliceBlue: Polls in western ky(west of i-65, sorta) close at 7 eastern time. They are on Central time.

  110. 110.

    Raven

    November 6, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    I had to go out to the store and I noticed my neighbor had left her interior light on. She’s a heavy duty political activist and I was pleased that she thanked me for writing about not being able to vote when I came home from Vietnam! I posted it on Facebook trying to encourage people to vote and got tons of “likes”!

  111. 111.

    Viva BrisVegas

    November 6, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    @lgerard:

    these stories of people waiting in line for hours drive me into an absolute homicidal rage

    So is the media out recording these offenses against democracy? If not, why not?

    They should be heading to every overstretched polling place to broadcast what is going on. Then heading to polling places that have no problems and asking the question, “Why the difference?”.

    Always remember, if it’s not on video, it didn’t happen.

  112. 112.

    J R in WV

    November 6, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    Thanks for the map, the postcards, the texting and phone calls and canvassing !!

    But tonight, the map of Balloon-Juice candidates. I contributed to many people on the map, and some not on the map, but good democratic candidates nevertheless.

    You’ve done a ton of work for all these candidates, and for the pack of rabid jackals of Balloon-Juice. Thanks again!!

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    November 6, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @MomSense: I had to turn the A/C on today because it got up to 87! We can usually turn it off between November and May.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    November 6, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    The voting chicanery in African American areas is appalling. This shouldn’t be happening in a developed country.

    Takes you back to the days of counting the number of bubbles in a bar of soap.

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    Red Judy is interrogating Nancy P while she was asking Ronna McD soft ball questions.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    November 6, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @Mark:

    WOW.

    80%

  117. 117.

    Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.

    November 6, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    Meanwhile, thank heavens we live in a post-racial America:

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/election/article/Poll-worker-directs-racist-language-at-a-north-13367024.php#photo-16457927

    “That’s when Barnes walked up to her and shoulder bumped her and said, “I’m white. Have you seen the news?”

    “If you call the police, they’re going to take you to jail and do something to you, because I’m white,” Barnes told her in front of several witnesses.

    Barnes told Anthony she was loitering and she was going to call the police on Anthony.

    “The loiterer is back. The loiterer is back,” she yelled.”

  118. 118.

    cain

    November 6, 2018 at 6:36 pm

    This should be covered extensively so we can show how badly they want to stop us from voting and how hard they try to put us off. We cannot be stopped. We are going to keep coming .. the demographics is against old white men.

    We are the Terminator ..

  119. 119.

    Brachiator

    November 6, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    An old Phil Collins song drafted for a waiting for results anthem

    Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight

  120. 120.

    Miss Bianca

    November 6, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    @satby: So I did finally post your story, and this addendum on his FB page:

    So. OK. *This* guy believes his vote will count. And because he votes, it does. Meanwhile, you, a young, fit guy, who has travelled and worked with disenfranchised people from all over the world: what is your excuse? You’re not *sure* voting works? You do things ALL THE TIME without being sure if they’re going to work! That doesn’t stop you from learning a new juggling trick! And voting definitely works better than NOT voting. Ask the kids sitting in cages how they feel about your decision. Ask the people whose healthcare is threatened, whose social security is threatened, whose abortion rights are threatened, whose immigration rights are threatened, whether they think voting “works” or not. Ask your Palestinian friends who CAN’T vote, because they’re permanently disenfranchised, how they feel about it. Or better yet, get off your ass and get to the polls before they close and THEN ask them.

    Don’t know if it will change hearts and minds, but at least I’ve stopped fuming about it.

  121. 121.

    MomSense

    November 6, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    This past summer it was hotter and more humid in Maine than in Naples Florida.

  122. 122.

    ellie

    November 6, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Ok, I love Idris Elba so I had to Google. OH HELL YEAH! I just love him!

  123. 123.

    lgerard

    November 6, 2018 at 7:07 pm

    I was in a Hipster Coffee Shop here in LA this morning. At one end of the place, there was a table with an LGBT couple talking about how they were excited to Vote Red today!— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) November 6, 2018

    OH NO!

  124. 124.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    November 6, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    @lgerard: LOL. I call bullshit.

  125. 125.

    Haroldo

    November 6, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    @MomSense:

    This past summer it was hotter and more humid in Maine than in Naples Florida.

    I am a former (tho’ not long term) Mainer and have since puzzled over what seemed to me to be a Portland – Naples pipeline. To be sure it’s snowbird driven, but it seemed so specific. Why these two areas?

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    November 6, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:
    I have been wondering: if Stacy Adams should win, is it Secretary of State Brian Kemp who has the task of certifying her victory?

  127. 127.

    Geoboy

    November 6, 2018 at 7:34 pm

    @JPL: Kemp isn’t incompetent, he’s a criminal.

  128. 128.

    tybee

    November 6, 2018 at 8:58 pm

    Limpkins have a serene look, but for my money, they have the most blood-curdling call on the river

    i’ll see your limpkin and raise you a black crowned night heron.

    absolutely the weirdist sounds in the southern swamps, bar none.

    heard something in the Okefenokee one night, and the next morning, in the little souvenir shop in the stephen forest state park,when i tried to explain the noise, all the rangers slowly backed away from me.
    the wife howled with laughter but it scared the shit out of her, too, at 2am in the middle of that swamp
    took me a decade to identify where that noise came from.

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