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You are here: Home / Politics / America / VOTE!!!!!

VOTE!!!!!

by Adam L Silverman|  November 6, 201810:10 am| 182 Comments

This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2018, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security

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(Chamberlain’s Charge by Mort Kunstler)

This paragraph, from the foreword of a historical novel, has always resonated:

Late in June the Army of the Potomac, ever slow to move, turns north at last to begin the great pursuit which will end at Gettysburg. It is a strange new kind of army, a polyglot mass of vastly dissimilar men, fighting for union. There are strange accents and strange religions and many who do not speak English at all. Nothing like this army has been seen upon this planet. It is a collection of men from many different places who have seen much defeat and many commanders. They are volunteers: last of the great volunteer armies, for the draft is beginning that summer in the North. They have lost faith in their leaders but not themselves. They think this will be the last battle, and they are glad that it is to be fought on their own home ground.

Michael Shaara; The Killer Angels

(20th Maine Monument, photo by me)

We are once again forced to fight for Union. Let’s do it the easier way today at the ballot box!

You all know what you have to do!

Open thread!

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Previous Post: « An Election Day Message From Your Benevolent Overlord
Next Post: No Labels, mo’ probems »

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  1. 1.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 6, 2018 at 10:13 am

    It really is this simple: the union vs the rebels.

    Let’s hope this is the high water mark.

  2. 2.

    BGinCHI

    November 6, 2018 at 10:16 am

    I voted so hard I think I hurt my arm.

    I also hope our shithead billionaire governor loses big and takes it very personally, because he should. He made the state worse and hurt people who needed help.

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:16 am

    @A Ghost To Most: That’s this photo:
    https://i0.wp.com/emergingcivilwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Hancocks-Ride.jpg?ssl=1

  4. 4.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 6, 2018 at 10:17 am

    @BGinCHI:

    He made the state worse and hurt people who needed help

    Feature, not bug.

  5. 5.

    Mike J

    November 6, 2018 at 10:17 am

    “Dónde votar” (“where to vote”) is the top trending search on Google in the US today: +3,350%

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:17 am

    @BGinCHI: You’re in Chicago, you have another arm, go VOTE AGAIN!!!!!//

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2018 at 10:19 am

    A “foreword” is the thing that is at the front of a book, not forward. Sorry, that’s one of my pet peeve homophones.

    I’m doing my knee exercises right now before I shower and head to my polling place.

  8. 8.

    khead

    November 6, 2018 at 10:19 am

    We are all at Little Round Top now.

    Side note: Cole turned me on to a computer game called “Ultimate General: Civil War” a while back. It is fantastic. There is nothing I enjoy more than stomping the Confederates at Culp’s Hill.

  9. 9.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 6, 2018 at 10:19 am

    @Adam L Silverman: The high water mark was Pickett’s Charge, the next day after LRT. I fully expect the corresponding stupid and futile gesture this year.

    ETA LRT was the real high water mark.

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 6, 2018 at 10:20 am

    @Mnemosyne: Thank you. That one bugs me more than most as well.

  11. 11.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 6, 2018 at 10:21 am

    Fight for Union so you won’t have to fight for secession.

  12. 12.

    Ian G.

    November 6, 2018 at 10:22 am

    Ah, Chamberlain, my favorite. Nothing must get under the skin of MAGAts more than a COLLEGE PROFESSOR routing their ancestors with a bayonet charge. Alex Jones told them all that a college education would make them into soyboy cucks.

  13. 13.

    eclare

    November 6, 2018 at 10:23 am

    That is a great book.

  14. 14.

    oldgold

    November 6, 2018 at 10:23 am

    The last paragraph of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address seems to speak to us on this day of reckoning.

    It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

  15. 15.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    November 6, 2018 at 10:23 am

    Voted straight D as always the first weekend of early voting in NC. When I get off tonight, I’m going home, getting drunk on my ass, ignoring any election news, and going to bed. When I get up late tomorrow morning, I’ll see what tomorrow brings. No matter what, Trump will still be president*, and the Rethugs will still be deceiving, inveigling, and obfuscating, just like they have for the last 50 years.

  16. 16.

    Mary G

    November 6, 2018 at 10:23 am

    @Mike J: Yep, all the top trending topics on my Twitter are some form of VOTE FOR YOUR LIVES!

  17. 17.

    mellowjohn

    November 6, 2018 at 10:24 am

    Joshua Chamberlain looks suspiciously like Jeff Daniels.

  18. 18.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 6, 2018 at 10:26 am

    We are once again forced to fight for Union.

    So I’m the only one here fighting for Management?

  19. 19.

    Chris

    November 6, 2018 at 10:27 am

    OMG YES. So much thanks for the reference to Gettysburg and the 20th Maine, and even more for “The Killer Angels.” I credit that book for my having not bought into Lost Cause crap.

  20. 20.

    Spanky

    November 6, 2018 at 10:29 am

    @A Ghost To Most: Well, opinions differ (which is why we’re all here). I’d say last year’s VA election was the Little Round Top – a harbinger of what was to come. Today, we hope, is the turning point. From here it’s all downhill for the Rebs.

    No one knew on 7/4/63 how it would eventually turn out. There was still bloody work to be done. Merely turning the Rebs is not the same as defeating them. There’s still work to be done after today.

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 6, 2018 at 10:29 am

    @Steve in the ATL: Yes.

  22. 22.

    Kelly

    November 6, 2018 at 10:30 am

    Lyle Lovett “Election Day”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCC7VBxw_d8

  23. 23.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 10:30 am

    I was going to help GOTV today but Sunday night I came down with a terrible sore throat that showed up very suddenly. It’s rapidly moving through the stages of a cold. I’m in the massive congestion stage heading to cough. Feel horrible. Can’t sleep well due to congestion so I’m really bleary-eyed. They’re going to have to make due without me.

    I voted early so I don’t have to go vote feeling like this. Thank goodness.

  24. 24.

    raven

    November 6, 2018 at 10:31 am

    Funny, I went down the Signal Corps rathole during the last post and this pic of General Warren at the Little Round Top Signal Station popped up! Shoot, move and communicate.

  25. 25.

    tokyokie

    November 6, 2018 at 10:31 am

    @Mnemosyne: Back in the day, the introduction to the Wall Street Journal stylebook was under the heading “Foreward.” Kind of hard to take seriously the copy-editing chops of an organization that misspelled what was literally the first word in its stylebook.

  26. 26.

    dr. bloor

    November 6, 2018 at 10:32 am

    @mellowjohn: And you never see them photographed together.

  27. 27.

    JanieM

    November 6, 2018 at 10:33 am

    Great post, Adam.

    As someone who has adopted Maine as my home (31 years now), and regardless of whether Maine has adopted me or not (I’m “from away,” after all, which in some circles is considered an insuperable handicap), I am always moved by the story of Chamberlain and Little Round Top.

    From Wikipedia: “Maine was so eager for the cause that it ended up contributing a larger number of combatants, in proportion to its population, than any other Union state.[1] About 80,000 men from Maine served in the U.S. military as soldiers and sailors.”

    I heard a radio talk about Maine in the Civil War a while back. Interestingly (esp. to me as someone who grew up in Ohio), a lot of Mainers who lived through the war didn’t come back. They had seen places (PA, VA, Ohio, etc.) where there were multiple feet of topsoil instead of the hardscrabble land here, where if you stick a shovel in the ground you’re as likely as not to hit ledge.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 6, 2018 at 10:36 am

    @JanieM: They had seen places (PA, VA, Ohio, etc.) where there were multiple feet of topsoil instead of the hardscrabble land here, where if you stick a shovel in the ground you’re as likely as not to hit ledge.

    To say nothing of demon clowns, vampire antique dealers and rabid St Bernards

  29. 29.

    Spanky

    November 6, 2018 at 10:36 am

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    No matter what, Trump will still be president*, and the Rethugs will still be deceiving, inveigling, and obfuscating, just like they have for the last 50 years.

    Yes, and even if/when Democrats win a majority in one or both houses, there’s still 8 weeks of a dangerous lame-duck congress.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    November 6, 2018 at 10:39 am

    @A Ghost To Most:

    I fully expect the corresponding stupid and futile gesture this year.

    I believe the stupid and futile gesture you’re describing is known as The Trump Administration.

  31. 31.

    PaulWartenberg

    November 6, 2018 at 10:40 am

    I will cherish the photo I got of myself at the point the 20th Maine held that day. Holding that flank meant holding that hill, holding that hill protected the entire Union line, that Union line stood Pickett’s Charge to save the Union itself. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine earned that Medal of Honor.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    November 6, 2018 at 10:42 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    So I’m the only one here fighting for Management?

    That’s right, class traitor.

  33. 33.

    msb

    November 6, 2018 at 10:43 am

    Add me to the people who would follow Lawrence.

    Voted absentee weeks ago.

  34. 34.

    Josie

    November 6, 2018 at 10:44 am

    @Chris:

    I am reading that book right now, since someone told me it would give me a good look at how to write battle scenes. I find it really impressive so far due to both the level of research and the writing style.

  35. 35.

    frosty

    November 6, 2018 at 10:45 am

    @Steve in the ATL:
    LOL (literally). Thanks for the larf today.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 10:47 am

    @oldgold:

    Something in my eye.

    Baud laughed at me, but when I opened my eyes this morning I was thinking about Little Round Top, which I learned about right here on this blog.

  37. 37.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 6, 2018 at 10:48 am

    @Spanky: I wonder though, if the lame duckers may suddenly become rebellious. They don’t need Trump anymore for anything, and they don’t have to fear if Russia suddenly releases those emails…They are going home!

  38. 38.

    Mike in DC

    November 6, 2018 at 10:49 am

    I voted in MD this morning. About a 1 hour wait. Turnout had a 2006 vibe to it, which of course is a good sign.

  39. 39.

    MoxieM

    November 6, 2018 at 10:49 am

    Let’s hear it for teachers of Rhetoric! and voting!!

  40. 40.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 10:49 am

    @CarolDuhart2:

    They still need wingnut welfare. Why do you think Flake and Sasse act the way they do?

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:50 am

    @Mnemosyne: Fixed.

  42. 42.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 10:50 am

    Um, I don’t mean to be that guy, but couldn’t this:

    It is a strange new kind of army, a polyglot mass of vastly dissimilar men, fighting for union. There are strange accents and strange religions and many who do not speak English at all. Nothing like this army has been seen upon this planet. It is a collection of men from many different places who have seen much defeat and many commanders

    -apply to the Roman Republic/Empire, for example? Well, except for the “speaking English” part?

    Anyhow, the core message stands: get out and vote!

  43. 43.

    Skepticat

    November 6, 2018 at 10:50 am

    @JanieM:

    … the hardscrabble land here, where if you stick a shovel in the ground you’re as likely as not to hit ledge.

    This is only one of the reasons I live elsewhere in the winter. There isn’t enough soil around my house on a Maine island to bury the water pipes, so there’s no water from mid-October into late May.
    My ancestors went from being ship owners and privateers in Massachusetts to doing what my dad called “farming rocks” in Maine, and several of them served in the 20th Maine. Professor-General Chamberlain’s always been one of my family’s favorite heroes.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:50 am

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The Roman army was largely not made up of volunteers.

  45. 45.

    Platonailedit

    November 6, 2018 at 10:51 am

    If you have ANY problems voting today, call our hotline. 314-365-4232— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) November 6, 2018

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:51 am

    @oldgold: That’s one of two possible posts from me tonight once the returns are in.

  47. 47.

    Chris

    November 6, 2018 at 10:51 am

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Because I’m a Star Wars nerd, I hate calling them “Rebels” when they’re, at best, Separatists, and at worst, straight up Imperials. “Rebs” is as close as I’ll get.

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:52 am

    @Steve in the ATL: Apparently you are.

  49. 49.

    Platonailedit

    November 6, 2018 at 10:52 am

    My husband is at our St Louis polling site and he says lines are longer than he's ever seen. They're so long, he's in a corridor of the polling site he did not know existed. They rerouted the line to make room ?

    This is good. Get out and vote, Missouri! Polls open til 7:00 pm!

    — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) November 6, 2018

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:53 am

    @Yarrow: Have some soup, take a decongestant, go to bed!

  51. 51.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    November 6, 2018 at 10:54 am

    Voted just a few minutes ago. Dianne Feinstein got my vote as well as all other Democrats.

    While I am a proud Christian, as a liberal I really dislike having to perform my civic duty in a church facility. Is there *no where else* this can take place? Really?

  52. 52.

    japa21

    November 6, 2018 at 10:54 am

    @Adam L Silverman: Already written?

  53. 53.

    Chris

    November 6, 2018 at 10:55 am

    @Josie:

    The military history is good (all the soldiers in my family love it), but I remember it for the politics it got into (mostly through the eyes of either Chamberlain or Fremantle) because I happened to read the book right around the time i was starting to become aware of that sort of thing. And because it was pro-Union where, I’d already noticed, most entertainment wasn’t.

    (The movie does this too, but less, as you’d expect since they can’t delve into characters’ thought).

  54. 54.

    Keith P.

    November 6, 2018 at 10:56 am

    Looks like my ” I can’t vote ” post did not go through here. I was really not meant to vote this year it is pretty apparent now. Team Beto wants me to drive to my polling site, as does Harris county dem party hq. I finally emailed the state party annotated with “I tried to vote but my frustration tolerance is not boundless” hope Beto doesn’t lose by a vote (or maybe I do)

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 10:56 am

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini:

    Wow. That doesn’t happen here. Firehouses and schools.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:57 am

    @Platonailedit:

    he’s in a corridor of the polling site he did not know existed

    This is how the inprocessing to the reeducation camps starts…//

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:57 am

    @japa21: Yep. The second one is very short. I wrote it months ago.

  58. 58.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 10:57 am

    I have P/T at 1:30 and then we’re going to vote!

  59. 59.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 10:58 am

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m the world’s worst napper. I am a world class fail at sleeping during the day. I could go to bed but I’d probably just toss and turn and get annoyed. The decongestant is a good idea, though. I might give that a shot.

    This cold is moving so rapidly, it’s kind of crazy. The sore throat came out of nowhere on Sunday night and was excruciatingly painful. Yesterday was the head congestion part and I’m already moving into the chest congestion part of it. I’m taking something called Umcka, which is supposed to shorten the duration of colds. My friend swears by it. Anyone ever tried it?

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 10:59 am

    @Yarrow: If you’ve got any blood pressure issues, get the Coricidin HBP stuff.

  61. 61.

    Platonailedit

    November 6, 2018 at 11:00 am

    Somewhere out there, a moron is preparing to vote the wrong way.Cancel that vote.#ElectionDay2018— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 6, 2018

  62. 62.

    raven

    November 6, 2018 at 11:00 am

    @Josie: Try “War Like the Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta” for a look at another battle that saved the union. My ancestor was with the 11th Tennessee and died in that battle.

    “The question remains, had the Confederate Army remained on the defensive within their extensive line of works and delayed the city’s capture a few more weeks, whether the outcome of the November presidential election and the war could have changed in their favor. The Democrats, who were projected to win the election, were running on a peace platform to end the war through negotiation, without a demand for an end to slavery.”

  63. 63.

    geg6

    November 6, 2018 at 11:01 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Yep. Been there several times myself (seeing as I only live a few hours away and my dad was a huge history buff). It never fails to inspire. Joshua Chamberlain and his men are in my pantheon of super heroes.

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 6, 2018 at 11:02 am

    this is pretty much me– how many hours to go?

    Brian Beutler @ brianbeutler
    Calmly awaiting the first batch of return[vomits profusely]

  65. 65.

    Platonailedit

    November 6, 2018 at 11:02 am

    I hope the rethugs get paid back in 2010 level of shellacking. They earned it.

  66. 66.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 11:03 am

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
    Once upon a time the polling place for my precinct was in a public library. Since then, it’s been moved to two different churches on the same street as the library, across from the high school. I have no idea why they moved it, but I preferred when it was in the library on separation of church grounds.

    For unrelated reasons, I vote absentee by mail now. So much easier and I get to have a week or so to take my time to vote.

  67. 67.

    Cermet

    November 6, 2018 at 11:03 am

    @A Ghost To Most: Pickets charge was a lost battle even before it began; there was essentially no chance it would have succeeded and the Confederate forces where in dire straights at that point – out numbered, ill supplied, and had a bad position to defend. Lee had trapped them in a terrible dilemma – stay and lose, or retreat and lose. Till the battle of Little Round Top, his options were rather different. So, the defense of Little Round Top would have resulted in the complete destruction of the Union flank and the lost at the Battle of Gettysburg if those men had failed. No battle during that conflict was more critical to the victory for the Union. Lee lost both the War and any claim to military greatest at that moment.

  68. 68.

    Mary G

    November 6, 2018 at 11:03 am

    Just got back from driving the teens to school. Detoured one block over to check out the polling station in a McMansion’s garage – full, people waiting to park or walking from way down the block. Less than a quarter mile further on, came across another one, in the lobby of a hotel, also no available parking and four or five people walking in. This is not usual for midterm elections here.

    The teen’s girlfriend talked to her hated grandmother and found she was voting for all Republicans, so she bullied two of her cousins who just turned 18 into registering and voting Democrat to cancel her out plus one. I have a 16-year-old convert!

  69. 69.

    MoxieM

    November 6, 2018 at 11:03 am

    Gonna go vote, bringing a cane in case I need to stand for a while (which would be good, politically.)

    My kid tried, and tried, and tried some more to get an absentee/overseas ballot from the city clerk here in the Hamp of North, and they just never fucking responded. I send her the Federal link (FVAP.gov) yesterday, but she was kind of steamed that she effectively prevented from voting by the inefficiency and we-don’t-give-a-shittery of our civic officials here. I don’t blame her.

    onward.

  70. 70.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 11:04 am

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Hey, you’re not that kind of doctor! //

  71. 71.

    Kay

    November 6, 2018 at 11:05 am

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

    They think Issue One is going to win, Goku, despite my prediction of a loss. I voted for it although I thought it would fail.

    That’s a big deal in crim justice reform, if it passes. It’s amazing how far people have moved on that issue. It’ll be an earthquake.

  72. 72.

    Spanky

    November 6, 2018 at 11:05 am

    @Yarrow:@Yarrow:

    I’m taking something called Umcka, which is supposed to shorten the duration of colds. My friend swears by it.

    It sounds disgusting, so it must really be good!!!

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:05 am

    @Platonailedit: Like this genius!

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/what-i-learned-last-weekend-s-rallies-donald-trump-barack-n931576

    Max Colvin told me his number-one issue was the economy and jobs. “I think the president has done a terrific job and even though I’m still unemployed that’s OK,” he said. Colvin, who said he used to read the weather on a local radio station in Macon, thinks the president just needs more time to help him find a job.

    “It’s not even been two years yet,” he said. “All the signs are pointing to a better economy every day and more jobs. Everyone is saying we’re going to have inflation but if you have a job and you’re making good money do you care what a loaf of bread costs?”

  74. 74.

    Raoul

    November 6, 2018 at 11:05 am

    Sometimes

    Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
    from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
    faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail,
    sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

    A people sometimes step back from war;
    elect an honest man; decide they care
    enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
    Some men become what they were born for.

    Sometimes our best efforts do not go
    amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
    The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
    that seemed hard frozen: may it happen to you.

    ~ Sheenagh Pugh

  75. 75.

    LAO

    November 6, 2018 at 11:06 am

    My polling place was packed this morning (after 9am) and must say anecdotally, many many young people. So encouraging.

  76. 76.

    bookdragon

    November 6, 2018 at 11:07 am

    Going to vote at lunch time. My daughter is coming – last time she can vote with me since she’s 17 (and really, really annoyed she can’t cast her own vote yet).

    I’ll vote straight blue and hope that next Memorial Day when I go to plant a flag at the grave of the gr-gr-grandfather who fought for PA in the Civil War, my Dad and I will be able to carry on the tradition of telling him that the Union still stands.

  77. 77.

    Mary G

    November 6, 2018 at 11:07 am

    "I heard people were making racist robocalls in my name against Stacey Abrams, who I am one hundred percent for, in Georgia," Oprah said on Instagram. "I just want to say: Jesus don’t like ugly … And we know what to do about that: vote. Tomorrow show up and show out, and vote." pic.twitter.com/CvK5VP60Az— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 6, 2018

    Is she on a boat?

  78. 78.

    randy khan

    November 6, 2018 at 11:08 am

    I always enjoy the ritual of voting. In my precinct, there always are poll workers and party representatives I know, so I get to say hello to them. When your ballot is accepted, the machine that scans it makes a little “thunk” noise so you know it’s done (and also tells you on the screen), and you get your “I voted” sticker. Then I walk out the door to the PTA library book sale – you buy a book or two for the library, and put a bookplate in the front. Every year I write that it’s in honor of my mother, who was a reading teacher. This year, I bought a picture book called “The Peaceful Garden” and a chapter book by a Newberry Award winner.

    Nothing can spoil that experience, certainly not a bit of rain, and not even the discovery that Reince Priebus lives and votes in my precinct, and apparently was there while I was. On the other hand, the precinct generally goes 2-1 or better for the Dem, so maybe it’s fitting that he votes there now.

  79. 79.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 11:08 am

    @Keith P.: I saw your comment yesterday and replied with this website: Patient Voting.

    Also, from the Harrisvotes website under Disabled Voters then Special Circumstances.

    You may submit an application for a late ballot because of sickness or disability after the last day of early voting and before 5:00pm on election day. In order to qualify the sickness or disability must originate on or after the 12th day before election day. (Secs. 102.001; 102.003).

    You may submit an application to vote due to a death in the immediate family that occurred on or after the 5th day before election day and will be absent from the county on election day. (Secs. 103.001; 103.003b).

    Voters are required to submit an application for these specific instances. Please contact the Elections Division at 713-755-3150 for questions.

    Link.

  80. 80.

    The Moar You Know

    November 6, 2018 at 11:09 am

    While I am a proud Christian, as a liberal I really dislike having to perform my civic duty in a church facility. Is there *no where else* this can take place? Really?

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini: It’s not like most election boards are awash in money so they take whatever is volunteered. I used to volunteer out my garage, but it was just too small. They use the firestation down the street from me nowadays.

    A lot of schools do it but I am not sure from a security standpoint that doing so is a good idea.

  81. 81.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 11:09 am

    @Adam L Silverman:
    True, but I didn’t quote that part. Still, you’re correct. I was just trying to be a history pedant and failed :). The message is inspiring and thanks for sharing it.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:10 am

    @Cermet: After reading a number of things about Lee and his decision making, my own theory, which I can’t prove, is that he suffered a series of micro-strokes as a result of his reported high blood pressure throughout the war which impaired both his judgement and functioning. This is in addition to the fact that he was a terrible strategist.

  83. 83.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 6, 2018 at 11:10 am

    Go Vote, kitteh has no time for your excuse making!

  84. 84.

    RobertB

    November 6, 2018 at 11:11 am

    @raven: Replacing Johnston with Hood was a Confederate own goal.

    The Confederacy has the rep of better leadership, but that was not the case anywhere except for in Northern Virginia. Of course that theater was kind of important.

  85. 85.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 6, 2018 at 11:13 am

    @Adam L Silverman: “I’m delighted that the leopard is eating my face!”

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:13 am

    @Platonailedit: Or this lovely woman.

    .@svdate went to a Trump rally and asked his supporters if they care whether he lies all the time. One woman’s response: "I don’t care if he sprouts a third dick up there.” https://t.co/JpNvL6MCzM

    — Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) November 5, 2018

  87. 87.

    Spanky

    November 6, 2018 at 11:13 am

    @geg6: Same here. First time was a 9th grade field trip. We did Pickett’s Charge. Shit, that was a long walk!* I bet Pickett’s men didn’t have to wait for traffic on the Emmitsburg Road.

    * – Maybe a half mile, actually, but it seemed to take forever to a 14 year old. I can only imagine what it seemed like to the Army of Virginia. My great grandpappy was working hard that day in a Federal artillery battery. All he saw was smoke.

  88. 88.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 11:13 am

    To mix metaphors, Casablanca is on TCM tonight at 8:00 PM EST. We can watch Paul Henreid lead the anti-Fascists in La Marseillaise.

    Our horrible Repug state senator left literature in our mailbox yesterday. I said, “Ooh, I wish I’d been here!” My husband said, “Major, there are some sections of [Our Town] that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade.”

  89. 89.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 11:15 am

    ‪every year I usually plead for a happy birthday shoutout from @idriselba but this is just as good! Idris Elba named Sexiest Mam Alive on my birthday…can’t be mad at that ?????‬

    And he also encouraged folks to vote!!!

    Who’d have thought it! Thank you @people & all the fans for naming me #SexiestManAlive⁠ ⁠. Don’t forget to grab your issue this week bit.ly/2OpbsSV. I’m honoured & thankful. What’s even more important is your vote in the midterm elections. Your vote can make a difference!??
    https://twitter.com/idriselba/status/1059672529323868160?s=21

    My day is already looking up! Hoping for good news tonight!!

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:15 am

    Well this is definitely weird. Not really subtle though.

    AZ MIDTERMS- POLLING PLACE FORECLOSED- VO TUE0161- Polls in Maricopa County and Arizona opened at 6am but some Valley locations are already experiencing issues. Three polling places are currently down, incl in the Gila Precinct in Chandler. The building was foreclosed overnight. pic.twitter.com/8LSP5iykVD

    — CBS Newspath (@cbsnewspath) November 6, 2018

  91. 91.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 6, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: You’ll have to up your game to be a history pedant here.

  92. 92.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @lamh36:

    I thought of you when I saw the news about Elba!

  93. 93.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @Mary G: I don’t think so. It looks like she’s in a gym. Those are exercise machines.

  94. 94.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @Adam L Silverman: “Third”?

  95. 95.

    Mary G

    November 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @lamh36: I saw that and thought of you.

  96. 96.

    Cermet

    November 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @raven: You forget who were the Generals on each side – zero chance Sherman would have allowed such an occurrence and he didn’t; Hood was too aggressive to sit in a siege he knew would end in disaster. Also, Sherman out flanked Hood and forced him to flee. Sherman would have loved if Hood had stayed. Atlanta was doomed either way and would have fallen quickly if Hood had “dug” in.

  97. 97.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Haha, the Trump crazy is so strong I didn’t even notice that!

  98. 98.

    Chris

    November 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

    @RobertB:

    It’s virtually the only theater anyone talks about in that war.

    (Except Ford Theater, but that’s a different story).

  99. 99.

    Mary G

    November 6, 2018 at 11:19 am

    Kemp gets more desperate every day:

    And here we go smh pic.twitter.com/n4O92upfGw— ✊?Black Aziz aNANsi✊? (@Freeyourmindkid) November 6, 2018

    Polling place moved with no notice in a black area to another which is a 40 minute walk away, and most residents don’t own cars.

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @Mary G: No, she’s in her home gym. She’s leaning on a really high end treadmill.

  101. 101.

    Keith P.

    November 6, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @Yarrow: Yeah, I’ve tol Team Beto, my hospital social worker, AND Harris County Dem party, but the never reply. I’d still need printer and postal stuff since I am literally confined to a hospital bed. I was gonna do a party line vote this year, too, but this cycle just leaves a really bad taste….if I never get a donation solicit or hear about how important every vote is, it’ll be too soon

  102. 102.

    Raven

    November 6, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @randy khan: It’s old business around here but when I came home from Vietnam in Sept 69 I was still only 19 and couldn’t vote for 14 months. I don’t miss.

  103. 103.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 11:21 am

    Come on Texas!!!

    “WATCH: Pamela, 77, with her oxygen tank and her “BETO FOR SENATE” T-shirt, fights back tears while talking about seeing Rep. O’Rourke while they both voted in Texas this morning:

    “We’re honored that he was here … We want him to win.”

    https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1059828415145095169?s=21

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:21 am

    @Steve in the ATL: It kind of tickles after a while…//

  105. 105.

    rattlemullet

    November 6, 2018 at 11:22 am

    A book all Americans should read.

  106. 106.

    Kay

    November 6, 2018 at 11:22 am

    Eric W. Dolan
    ‏Verified account
    @EWDolan
    Follow Follow @EWDolan
    More
    GOP’s Darrell Issa concedes his district on Fox News before polls open: ‘We know the results already — there will be a Democrat

    Hah! Let’s celebrate that one. Especially said on Fox, with their horrible, gross greedhead “reporters” who campaign for Republicans and spread lies.

  107. 107.

    MazeDancer

    November 6, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Pouring rain. Knock on door. Drenched person on porch.

    From the Delgado Campaign!

    Wanted to know if I needed anything. Would drive me the 3 blocks to vote. Thanked her profusely. She’s sees my sticker: “Oh you voted”. Told her, yes, I bought the stickers for the town. She pointed to her sticker. Big Smiles all around.

    Really impressive GOTV. Most encouraging.

    And spending 8 bucks on Amazon for 500 stickers was one of the most rewarding things ever. All the poll workers were excited. People were happy. Not having stickers past two elections has left many crestfallen leaving the polls.

    Pretty sure it’s GOP Run County voter suppression. When Dems take over – Stickers for everyone!

  108. 108.

    cain

    November 6, 2018 at 11:23 am

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Foreclosed right before election night? Yeah, definitely something is up there. It’s amazing to me that we experience this level of vote suppression. They are scared shitless.

  109. 109.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 6, 2018 at 11:24 am

    My niece’s husband wrote a well-written, interesting book about Sickles at Gettysburg. I recommend it if you’re into that. The nephew-in-law is a docent at the battlefield.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:25 am

    @Gin & Tonic: I just copied and pasted the tweet. I’m trying not to actually think about it.

  111. 111.

    FelonyGovt

    November 6, 2018 at 11:25 am

    I inked my ballot so hard I shook the whole voting stand. Oops.

  112. 112.

    zhena gogolia

    November 6, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @MazeDancer:

    He’s my guy I adopted via Swing Left! I so hope he wins!

  113. 113.

    Fair Economist

    November 6, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @raven: Maybe, but Hood only withdrew after Sherman had cut his supply lines, in September, and by that point he was outnumbered more than 2:1. Had he stayed he would have been besieged and his army destroyed. The war wouldn’t have ended until Lincoln left office and that wouldn’t be until March. There was just no way Hood would have sacrificed his army to *maybe* change the election. Having both major Confederate armies under siege by tremendously superior forces wouldn’t be a horrible situation for Lincoln to run on anyway.

  114. 114.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @lamh36: Was just coming here to post this! Just when you think Idris Elba couldn’t get any better, he does.

  115. 115.

    pk

    November 6, 2018 at 11:26 am

    @randy khan:

    I always enjoy the ritual of voting. In my precinct, there always are poll workers and party representatives I know, so I get to say hello to them

    I hate going to vote. I moved to PA from a state where all voting was by mail. First time I voted I got into an altercation with an older white woman who took it upon herself to chastise two black children climbing a tree at the voting place. Called the kids “unruly negros”, and when I spoke up she told me “this is not what we do in America”. I’ve hated going to the polling place ever since.
    Our demographics have changed a bit since then, but my inner dialogue every time I go voting is “Oh God! Ugh! It’s full of old white people voting for republicans, why am I even here”? In 2016 it there were MAGA hats and Alex jones t-shirt guys and I wanted to kick them.
    Ours is swing district this time, so of course I’m voting, but it’s pouring with rain, thunderstorms expected and not going to be pleasant at all.

  116. 116.

    RobertB

    November 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @Adam L Silverman: I figure The Killer Angels had the right notion of it; Lee had drank so much of the ‘morale is to the physical’ koolade that he thought his army could pull it off. But at that point it was Fredricksburg redux, with the Confederates on the losing side.

  117. 117.

    Raven

    November 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @Fair Economist: Yea, the quote is from a review and I’m no expert.

  118. 118.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @Kay:
    That sounds amazing! I had a feeling it was going to fail too. It still might. But hopefully not!

    It’ll help a lot of people if it passes:

    A “yes” vote supports this constitutional amendment to:
    Make offenses related to drug possession and use no more than misdemeanors;

    Prohibit courts from ordering persons on probation for felonies be sent to prison for non-criminal probation violations;

    Create a sentence credits program for inmates’ participation in rehabilitative, work, or educational programs;

    And require the state to spend savings due to a reduction of inmates, resulting from Issue 1, on drug treatment, crime victim, and rehabilitation programs.

    By the way, who was saying they think it will pass?

  119. 119.

    Timurid

    November 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Interesting. It would explain how he could be so sharp one day and spaced out the next.
    If true, Day 2 Gettysburg was the most clutch popped capillary of all time.

  120. 120.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

    @raven: @RobertB: @Cermet: This was a recurring problem with Lee’s generalship. He was a terrible manager of his talent, for lack of a better term for it. Hood was very good at being a hunter and a killer, but he’s not the guy you stick in charge to hold the line. He’s the guy you send out to get around and behind the enemies lines and make mischief.

  121. 121.

    Spanky

    November 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

    @MazeDancer: You really are awesome. Do you know that?

  122. 122.

    Raven

    November 6, 2018 at 11:32 am

    @Adam L Silverman: I guess that all-night march was supposed to give themn the element of surprise but humping it down to Lakewood and back in wool uni’s in July probably wasn’t the best thing to do.

  123. 123.

    Chet

    November 6, 2018 at 11:32 am

    @Mike in DC: 2006 is the feeling I’m having today too. Do you remember the Iraqi election where they dipped their fingers in purple ink? In 2006 I went out and bought a bottle of purple ink, and I spent all election day dunking my middle finger in it.

  124. 124.

    lamh36

    November 6, 2018 at 11:33 am

    @lamh36: oh and just in case ya wanted a lil sexy ya brighten up ur morning… there’s a video?

    ‪Idris Elba, Sexiest Man Alive 2018, Answers All Your Questions | PeopleTV https://youtu.be/j_DWNPoBQAs via @YouTube‬

    ur welcome crow Idris fans

  125. 125.

    Kay

    November 6, 2018 at 11:34 am

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

    The people at the bd of elections.

    Our entire law enforcement apparatus did a front page editorial in the local paper opposing it- police, sheriff, prosecutors, judges but it was bullshit fear mongering. They know better. It really left a bad taste in my mouth, like they’re protecting the criminal justice industrial complex. I had already voted for it but I was so pleased I did when they published their big pack of lies. I’m ashamed of the judge. He’s smart. He knows these dire predictions of criminals running free are BS. They still have PLENTY to charge people with and if they run short they’ll just create some new felonies. This idea that they might run out of criminal charges is just nonsense.

  126. 126.

    MomSense

    November 6, 2018 at 11:35 am

    If any Jackals are ever in Mid Coast Maine, go check out the Joshua Chamberlain museum. It’s quite good. As a reminder that the fight continues, my son and I saw a truck flying a confederate flag when we exited the museum in our last visit.

    Last week I early voted for Chamberlain’s doppelgänger and hometown Senator Angus King. Seriously they look exactly alike.

    I’ve been thinking lately about the story of one of the last battles of the civil war. Chamberlain instructed his men to salute the captured confederate soldiers and officers. It was his way of preparing for reunification. I’ve been so full of rage for so long now, I wonder whether I will have the ability to follow his example.

  127. 127.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 11:35 am

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Challenge accepted : )

  128. 128.

    Gravenstone

    November 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

    @Mary G:

    .I have a 16-year-old convert!

    Better. You have a 16 year old activist.

  129. 129.

    RobertB

    November 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

    @Fair Economist: Until the loss at Atlanta, the 1864 election was still close. If Atlanta was still held by the Confederacy, it could have made the difference. Had Johnston been in charge at Atlanta, he might have managed to last for the six months or so needed to get McClellan in office with peace still on the table.

  130. 130.

    Chet

    November 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

    I also played this a lot in 2006: The revolution will not be televised by Gil Scott-Heron.

  131. 131.

    JPL

    November 6, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @Mary G: It says the page doesn’t exist for me. Lyft is offering free rides to the polls in poorer districts in GA.

  132. 132.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @Raven: Most likely not.

  133. 133.

    RobertB

    November 6, 2018 at 11:43 am

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s been a while since I read Lee’s Lieutenants, but IIRC the moral of it was “All the good generals got shot.” Freeman might be marinating in Lost Cause, but it’s been a while since I read it and his biography of Lee.

  134. 134.

    Doug R

    November 6, 2018 at 11:43 am

    @Chris:

    Because I’m a Star Wars nerd, I hate calling them “Rebels” when they’re, at best, Separatists, and at worst, straight up Imperials. “Rebs” is as close as I’ll get.

    First Odor

  135. 135.

    NotMax

    November 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

    Repeating.

    (Puts on Tom Levenson hat.)

    Election Day.

    {Removes Tom Levenson hat.)

  136. 136.

    Fair Economist

    November 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @Adam L Silverman: I always thought Hood was a conscious Hail Mary pass by the Confederate leadership. Yeah, his chances were slim, but with “sensible” strategy Atlanta was going to fall in short order and at that point the war would be over and it was just a matter of time. From Atlanta Sherman could march in any direction he chose along a railroad supply line and the Confederates didn’t have a force to stop him anymore (Johnston was badly outnumbered even before Hood converted nearly half his army to casualties). I think they knew Hood would probably lose horribly, as he did, but there was some chance he might win and that really might have won McClellan the 1864 election.

  137. 137.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @Keith P.: That’s terrible. I’m sure they’re all just slammed today. Do you have friends or family who can print out the forms and bring them to you? I just hate leaving any voter on the sidelines. We need to get you whatever you need so you can vote!

  138. 138.

    H.E.Wolf

    November 6, 2018 at 11:45 am

    @bookdragon:
    This is for your g’g’grandfather, may he rest in peace and power.

    From Steven Vincent Benet’s short story, “The Devil and Daniel Webster”:
    *************
    It’s a story they tell in the border country, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire. Yes, Dan’l Webster’s dead — or, at least, they buried him. But every time there’s a thunderstorm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky. And they say that if you go to his grave and speak loud and clear, “Dan’l Webster — Dan’l Webster!” the ground’ll begin to shiver and the trees begin to shake. And after a while you’ll hear a deep voice saying, “Neighbor, how stands the Union?” Then you better answer the Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible, or he’s liable to rear right out of the ground…
    *************

  139. 139.

    Sister Golden Bear

    November 6, 2018 at 11:45 am

    @Adam L Silverman: You’re working the morning shift for TengaPhule? //

  140. 140.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    November 6, 2018 at 11:46 am

    @Gin & Tonic: She thinks he’s a reptile and already has two?

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:47 am

    @Raven: That was most likely unhelpful either.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    November 6, 2018 at 11:51 am

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

    This is interesting- Columbus trumps Cleveland:

    Kyle Kondik
    ‏Verified account
    @kkondik
    Follow Follow @kkondik
    More
    Not a prediction, just something to watch – today may be the day that Franklin Co. (Columbus) passes Cuyahoga Co. (Cleveland) as the largest source of total votes in Ohio. Cordray will get a huge margin there – he also may benefit from being from an R part of the country

  143. 143.

    Doug R

    November 6, 2018 at 11:53 am

    @Kay:

    They think Issue One is going to win, Goku, despite my prediction of a loss. I voted for it although I thought it would fail.

    That’s a big deal in crim justice reform, if it passes. It’s amazing how far people have moved on that issue. It’ll be an earthquake.

    Cannabis legalization and INSITE and Canada turning into weed central seems to show a turning of the tide on the “war on drugs”.

  144. 144.

    Raoul

    November 6, 2018 at 11:53 am

    @Raoul: Note: Pugh’s language is too gendered for my tastes, really. But the heart of the poem touched me, even as it seemed from another era.

  145. 145.

    Manyakitty

    November 6, 2018 at 11:56 am

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I voted yes on Issue 1. Hope it passes! Straight D ticket, of course. I even voted for the one judge I usually abstain from (I know her personally, and meh).

  146. 146.

    Keith P.

    November 6, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @Yarrow: Nope, and I am well past my desire to vote.

  147. 147.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @RobertB: Never read it. The issue was really the culture of Lee’s command combined with Lee as a leader who was a poor strategist. It was very unique.

  148. 148.

    NotMax

    November 6, 2018 at 11:59 am

    Election day memory from the TV.

    There’s a certain politician i n Hawaii who does win a lot (but not always) and whom I’d say is dumb as a box of rocks except that would be an insult to both boxes and rocks.

    Anyhoo, local reporter was at his HQ and periodically, over more than an hour, they’d come back to him: “He’s still not here.”

    Eventually the reporter was able to intone (NOT making this up): “We’ve found out why he’s taken so long to show up. Apparently he got lost in the parking lot. In fairness, it is an L-shaped parking lot. Back to you at the anchor desk.”

  149. 149.

    Kay

    November 6, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    @Doug R:

    I wonder if people started to think of it as a scam. It has become endless. They’re arrested and convicted of something relatively minor and years later they’re still in the system- “on paper”, in treatment, reporting, whatever. No one could GET OUT of the system once they landed in it. And the fees! They’re always paying fees, which they don’t have which also keeps them in the system. It starts to look like a racket, like the point of the thing is to maintain the thing. We have to feed the big machine bodies so it keeps chugging along.

  150. 150.

    Ksmiami

    November 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    @pk: wtf is wrong w Pennsylvania? I did a road trip through the country there and the towns were literally these disgusting little morasses of prisons, meth heads and nursing home denizens – how do these places exist?

  151. 151.

    MoxieM

    November 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    @lamh36: Idris Elba is beyond fantastic. Thanks for sharing that. I cannot count the number of times I have watched and re-watched Luther (love Brit police procedurals, and love Mr. Elba, so there you go!)

  152. 152.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    @Keith P.: Are you sure? There’s still time left in the day. Can we help you get what you need?

  153. 153.

    The Moar You Know

    November 6, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    Nope, and I am well past my desire to vote.

    @Keith P.: But you had to show up here and tell us all what a horrible job the Democratic party apparatus has done in getting out the vote. Gotcha. Pied and done.

  154. 154.

    MoxieM

    November 6, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I reckoned she meant the lump on his shoulders, that other one, and a new one? Or more likely, being a Trumpster, she just can’t count. To two.

  155. 155.

    Fair Economist

    November 6, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @RobertB: I’m not disagreeing that Atlanta holding out *might* have changed the election, but Johnston’s army would have been doomed if it had tried to stay. Sherman could have cut all the supply lines and he’d have been under real siege, like Vicksburg, not quasi-siege like Petersburg (where there was railroad supply throughout the siege). Vicksburg only held out 6 weeks, and Johnston would have had to last 6 months. No general would have done that.

    I also think Lincoln would still have won because if both major Confederate armies were trapped in sieges, it would have been very obvious the war was almost over anyway. I’m not even sure that would have been worse for Lincoln than the actual situation at the election, which had the Confederate Army of Tennessee marching back towards Tennessee (they had not yet been defeated) and Sherman incommunicado in Georgia doing an unprecedented march without supplies.

    My ultimate point is that the Confederate leadership pretty much knew these risks and there was absolutely no way they would ever have ordered an army to stay in Atlanta hopelessly under siege.

  156. 156.

    Skepticat

    November 6, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    Cancel that vote.

    I always work hard to offset my insignificant other’s mistakes, at the polls anyway.
    @MomSense:

    Seriously they look exactly alike.

    They DO, don’t they? Funny, I never noticed that, but now I won’t be able to forget it.

  157. 157.

    NotMax

    November 6, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @Ksmiami

    Keeps the dingy cinder block buildings housing taverns in business.

    Steady business.

    ;)

  158. 158.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 6, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: Not that I’m aware.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    November 6, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    Maggie Haberman
    ‏Verified account
    @maggieNYT
    Follow Follow @maggieNYT
    More
    The president, who’s repeatedly mocked people for criticizing his tone, says he maybe could have had a different tone the last two years as Republicans say they’re preparing for a bad Election Day today

    This is bullshit but hope springs eternal, I guess.

    He’ll never have a “different tone” because this is what he is- he’s a racist, mean-spirited asshole. It’s not an act. He’s a bad person. He’s been a bad person for 50 years.

  160. 160.

    Keith P.

    November 6, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @The Moar You Know: You have no fucking idea of what condition i am in so fuck off, really.

  161. 161.

    smintheus

    November 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    @Kay: Nobody forced Trump to kidnap children from asylum seekers. He’s the scum of the earth and that’s how he’ll always behave.

  162. 162.

    The Moar You Know

    November 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    You have no fucking idea of what condition i am in so fuck off, really.

    @Keith P.: You just stated you no longer want to vote because – your words – Beto and the Democratic party have let you down. If you’re not willing to take an offer of some help and get your vote in, but just want to sit there and bitch about how the Dems have let you down, I’ll be totally honest: I have no use for you.

  163. 163.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    November 6, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I imagine he’s exhausted by this point. People get cranky when they’re exhausted. Let him be.

  164. 164.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 6, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    @Keith P.: JFC, did you not click over to the website for Patient Voting you were pointed to??? Here: https://www.patientvoting.com/texas

    Get someone in the hospital to print you out the form requesting an emergency absentee ballot (there’s a link at that page). (I’m sure you can find a sympathetic staffer. Use your jackal charm!)

    Fill it out.

    Get someone (maybe call one of the local campaigns?) to pick it up & take it to the Early Voting Clerk & bring back an emergency absentee ballot. Hopefully s/he can wait while you fill it out & sign it & then take it (it appears) back to the Early Voting Clerk.

    All the links you need are on that site. Time’s a-wastin’!

    (ETA: Cleanup in Aisle Blue…)

  165. 165.

    smintheus

    November 6, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    Heavy turnout in my rural PA town this morning. The parking lot was backed up, which I haven’t seen since 2008. The town usually votes 2/3 Republican, so I don’t know what that foretells.

    On the other hand, my wingnut neighbor usually has yard signs up for several candidates weeks in advance of election, and is eager to talk politics. But he has only a single sign recently put up, for a gubernatorial Trumptard who’s almost certain to lose, and he never brings up politics with me any more. He’ll vote party line GOP, and he appears to be in much closer contact now with several more extreme neighbors of ours who are just out and out racists, but he’s too embarrassed to admit to me that he still backs these fascists. It’s a weird dynamic.

  166. 166.

    Miss Bianca

    November 6, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    @Raoul: I just stole this poem and posted it on FB to get my point across to my non-voting cohort (yes, sadly, regrettably, I still seem to be acquainted with a few), rather than swearing at them. Thank you for sharing!

  167. 167.

    Miss Bianca

    November 6, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @lamh36: That voice…that face…that presence…SWOON.

    *And* he says “get out the vote”?

    *Recovers from swoon, swoons again*

  168. 168.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    November 6, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @Kay:
    That might help put Cordray in the governor’s office. It’s going to be close so I’m not getting my hopes up too much : )

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    November 6, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @Spanky:

    @Yarrow:

    I’m taking something called Umcka, which is supposed to shorten the duration of colds. My friend swears by it.

    It sounds disgusting, so it must really be good!!!

    I hear that if you eat a garden slug you’ll never have another bad cold.

    wait for it ::

    ‘Cause you’ll be dead!

    Tick Tock Mutherfuckers!!

    Late last night, 4 am, my Irritable Bowel Syndrome (which has been quiet for quite a while now) showed up for midnight surprise. I took my med, which helps a little, but sometimes doesn’t just stop things. After a while I was able to go back to bed, at 8 or so. Catnapped for a while, going to go vote soon.

    At 5 am and 6 am in the toilet, I was rethinking this early voting idea… maybe next time? Almost certainly!! On a day I’m feeling so much better than I am now. Stress at this level sucks!

    Stress works with IBS to fuck you up!

  170. 170.

    Mohagan

    November 6, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    Great post. I was unexpectedly moved to tears by the end. I think it was the picture of the Twentieth Maine monument that did it. Chamberlain was indeed a great man, and The Killer Angels is a great book. The only CW battleground I’ve seen is Shiloh, and it was profoundly moving. All those state and unit memorials! I’m sure Gettysburg is that in spades.

  171. 171.

    Gary K

    November 6, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Yarrow: Attend a lecture. This is sure-fire. But try not to snore.

  172. 172.

    Yarrow

    November 6, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @Keith P.: JeanneT posted this info in the next thread:
    If KeithP gets back in touch, the Houston LWV has an all day phone bank to answer voting questions. They might know if anyone has extra volunteers who could be Keith P’s personal voting assistant. I imagine he’s not getting responses from the folk he called already because they are currently out in the precincts with helping people get to the polls AND doing poll watching AND door knocking/phone calling their voter lists.

    But the League has live people waiting to answer questions and might have some contacts who can help. Anyhow, here’s the info:
    LWV Houston voting day phone bank. Open till 7:00 p.m.
    English: 713-778-8920
    Spanish: 713-778-8930

  173. 173.

    frosty

    November 6, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @geg6: We went to LRT right after the book came out. 20th Maine wasn’t prominent then and kind of hard to find. Saw the monument for NY, said, nah, they were left of here, kept walking. Got mostly down the hill, saw the monument for the unit on their flank, then further down in the trees we saw the 20th Maine. Way on the left, out there on their own.

  174. 174.

    Spanky

    November 6, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Mohagan:

    The only CW battleground I’ve seen is Shiloh, and it was profoundly moving. All those state and unit memorials! I’m sure Gettysburg is that in spades.

    It is, surpassed only by Antietam.

    (IMO, obviously.)

  175. 175.

    Bruce K

    November 6, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    My ballot went in back in September, via Hellenic Post to the Manhattan election office. Just got off Skype with my family back Stateside, and they’re reporting that in Manhattan, there were lines around the block at their polling place despite punishing rain.

    So, yeah, the motivation’s definitely there.

    And in the spirit of the thread header image, we can’t fall back, we can’t stay where we are, so…

    BAYONETS!!!

  176. 176.

    Mel

    November 6, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: I go and visit my Grandma’s grave after I vote. She was an election poll worker until she was in her 70s, and nearly every year after that, she would go door to door with her best friend (also in her 70s and then 80s) in the little town where they lived, making sure that everybody would be able to get to the polls, helping people who needed absentee ballots to get them, and encouraging anybody who was aparhetic or frustrated to stay involved. She did it until she was 89, and her arthritis made it too hard to do the long walk.

    I think the sight of those two little old ladies, one with a walker, that damned determined to get out the vote, motivated a lot of slackers.

    Her two best lines: “I had an ancestor that lost his leg fighting in the Revolutionary War to make this country happen for us, and my husband was in the Sourh Pacific in WWII. They gave up so much so that people could have the freedom to vote and to have a say in what happens to the regular people in this world”, and “Even if you don’t feel like voting, I bet there is someone who needs you to be their hero and vote to keep rhem safe. I have two grandkids, and I want them to be safe and healthy and have a chance to get a good job. I want to know that they’ll be safe long after I’m gone. Who do you love that you could get out there and stick up for with your vote?”

    I miss her so much.

  177. 177.

    stan

    November 6, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @Cermet: Pickets charge was a lost battle even before it began; there was essentially no chance it would have succeeded and the Confederate forces where in dire straights at that point – out numbered, ill supplied, and had a bad position to defend.

    No battle is lost before it begins. Events are contingent. I mean, here we are in a thread using the defense of Little Round Top as an analogy. The 20th Maine ran out of ammunition – and then they won!!!

  178. 178.

    Mohagan

    November 6, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @RobertB: Yes, people have forgotten him, but Albert Sidney Johnston was supposed to be the best Confederate general (he was certainly the highest ranked) at the start of the war. He died at Shiloh.

  179. 179.

    stan

    November 6, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @Mohagan: The only CW battleground I’ve seen is Shiloh, and it was profoundly moving. All those state and unit memorials!

    Yeah, its so weird how they fought all those civil war battles near the monuments. ;)

  180. 180.

    ...now I try to be amused

    November 6, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    The sentence “They have lost faith in their leaders but not themselves” is burned in my memory.

    @RobertB:

    I figure The Killer Angels had the right notion of it; Lee had drank so much of the ‘morale is to the physical’ koolade that he thought his army could pull it off. But at that point it was Fredricksburg redux, with the Confederates on the losing side.

    “Gettysburg was the price the South paid for having R.E. Lee.” — Shelby Foote

  181. 181.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    November 6, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @geg6:

    Joshua Chamberlain and his men are in my pantheon of super heroes.

    Not much given to heroes of any kind, but I happily make an exception for Chamberlain. Wonderfully apropos painting to accompany this post.

  182. 182.

    lahke

    November 6, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    @Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: But his autobiography/account of the Civil War is just about unreadable, unless you are comfortable with Olde High Victorian. To be fair, I don’t think he wrote it until the 1890s, after a long career as an academic.

    Best memoir remains Sherman’s, IMHO. Get the second edition, when he talks about his early career. Lots of great stories, which I’ll hold off on since I bet this thread is dying……

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