Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

It’s the corruption, stupid.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

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

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

This really is a full service blog.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

We still have time to mess this up!

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

He really is that stupid.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

“But what about the lurkers?”

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Flooding The Zone

Flooding The Zone

by | 196 Comments

This post is in: 

Steve Bannon talked about “flooding the zone with shit,” meaning overwhelming people with disinformation. That is what Donald Trump and his people are doing now with respect to voting. Our job is to resist it and turn it back.

Trump tweets multiple times a day about voting by mail. In his tweets, he emphasizes how unsure, how erratic it is. In fact, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington primarily use a vote by mail system. Most other states allow absentee voting by mail, under a variety of rules. That variety is being exploited by Trump’s man in the Post Office, Louis DeJoy, who is sending out postcards claiming to remind people about voting. Those postcards are incorrect for many states. The Colorado Secretary of State has tweeted out a correction and is suing the Postal Service for disrupting the election.

In response to that suit, a federal court is blocking sending out the postcards.

But many have already been sent out. I received one on Saturday (September 12). Others have received them in Maryland, Massachusetts, Kansas, California, and Ohio  (see this thread).

Trump has also been tweeting instructions to voters in North Carolina that could lead to double voting, a felony. His argument seems to be that by voting by mail and then showing up to vote in person, voters can make sure their ballots are being counted. States have procedures that weed out duplicate ballots of this type, and the North Carolina Attorney General has told people not to do this.

The intention is to confuse voters and make the ballot-counting more difficult. It also sets the stage for Trump to claim problems in the counting. The idea that he might bring legal action or urge his “militia” supporters to riot is an implicit threat.

Roger Stone has brought in his own brand of disruption, suggesting that Trump invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to seize Nevada’s ballots and arrest a bunch of his and QAnon’s favorite enemies. On its face, in a law-abiding administration, this suggestion would be shocking. Stone is known for his theatrics and political games (ratf***ing). His intention is that we not know what to expect, up to and including a major illegal seizure of power on election night.

The way to deal with this is to be prepared for many possible disruptions on Election Day and beyond. Back in April, Biden said that he expects Trump to cause some sort of disruption. Ronald Brownstein quotes leaders of progressive organizations preparing to deal with that disruption. David Corn reports on wargaming of the election to help plan.

Biden has a strong volunteer base in his campaign, and I would not be surprised if that base includes lawyers ready to do battle in court as well.

It’s best that the organizations involved in planning not lay out their plans this early, which would help Republicans to develop responses.

My own expectation is that Trump and his people will do much less than they are threatening. Poll watchers are severely restricted in what they can do. The media are starting – barely – to point out that we may not know the results on election night. I’m trying to get that word out on Twitter, as are others. Trump is fundamentally a coward and blowhard, but it’s prudent to prepare for the worst.

Our best defense is an overwhelming and decisive vote for Biden, which is why Trump and others are trying to muddy those waters. Check your state’s election board or Secretary of State. They should have websites. Or you can go to usa.gov to find information.

VOTE

AND GET YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS DOWN THE LINE

 

Reader Interactions

196Comments

  1. 1.

    dnfree

    We got our postcard in Illinois. I’m voting early in person. I don’t trust the handling of mail ballots.

  2. 2.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Well stated, Cheryl. Today I talked to a normally calm friend who is freaked out about Election Day disruptions and dirty tracks. I hope the Democrats are planning massive countermeasures behind the scenes. I have to admit the level of public concern seems a little underwhelming.

  7. 7.

    Scout211

    I posted in an earlier thread about that. When I got that postcard in the mail last week, I was confused. Our county in California has been 100% mail-in for the past year. Many counties opted in for that and California was in the gradual process of moving to 100% mail-in. This November, every voter will be mailed a ballot.

    The postcard was confusing, only mentioning “absentee” requests and also stating that the ballot should be mailed 7 days before the Election Day, which no one believes is enough time. At first I thought it was incompetence but upon further review, nope.

  9. 9.

    Gravenstone

    Those are the same post cards sent to WI voters. I suspect they’re using a “one size fits all” approach because they know it will conflict with a lot of individual state systems.

  10. 10.

    Ruckus

    In response to that suit, a federal court is blocking sending out the postcards.

    Already got mine in CA

    Already threw it out.

    I’ve suggested before that if you get a real ballot in the mail, which for example CA is sending out to every voter, that you vote early and that you take your ballot to a drop off box, rather than trust the mail to get it there on time. Other states vary with the exact procedure but CA now has early voting, and drop off is allowed at polling places and there are boxes in many other places. The registrar of voters has a specific page for the location of the local polls and all drop boxes. The 2016 election I dropped my ballot off at a library and the primary this year at my local polling location. (I’d moved inbetween)

  13. 13.

    Scout211

    And a further note re: California. Our county had centralized ballot drop boxes throughout the county so no need to mail the ballots and trust the USPS. I assume that will be available in all the other counties now that California is 100% mail-in. We also had regional voting centers for early and Election Day in-person voting. It’s good to live in a Blue State.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    Megan Messerly
    @meganmesserly
    ·15h
    President Trump sought to undermine confidence in Nevada’s election on Saturday, falsely telling supporters that Gov. Sisolak controls millions of votes, mail-in ballots can be accepted without signatures and Republicans likely wouldn’t be sent ballots

    I think they don’t have to repeat the lies when they debunk them. Honestly, this does more harm than good. For this set of lies, the only people who would have heard and been fooled are Trump voters at a rally, and they’re impossible to reach anyway. They’re gone. No point telling them anything.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    I got one and threw it away, naively assuming the postamaster general wasn’t burning the midnight oil seeking to lie to and disenfranchise the people who pay him.

    Next time I’ll read it, if only to find out what the low quality hires spend their days doing, because they sure don’t spend any time working. That’s what I get for trusting any one of these crooks and slimeballs  for 4 seconds.

  16. 16.

    Sab

    Are they sending these to every postal customer house? We only got one although there are three registered voters using this address. They might end up confusimg more of their own voters than ours.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    We have in-person early voting this year, I believe for the first time. Starting October 13 or 14.

    I’m not going to go early, though. This is an important election, and I need to take my time and listen carefully to all the candidates before making my decision.

  19. 19.

    TS (the original)

    They are also, presumably adding millions of mail items to an already collapsing mail system, which together with confusing voters, was no doubt the plan in the first place.

  20. 20.

    frosty

    PA. We got the same postcard. I’m going in person to get my vote counted on Election Day. No early  voting here, I’ll wait in line with my MAGAt neighbors if I have to.

  22. 22.

    Kay

    RNS) — Leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the pastor of an AME congregation in Wilmington, Delaware, are condemning a Trump-Pence campaign ad that uses footage of Joe Biden kneeling in the sanctuary of a Black church, describing it as racist and demanding an apology.
    The Rev. Silvester S. Beaman, pastor of Bethel AME church that is featured in the digital spot released Wednesday (Sept. 9), said it encourages viewers to see Black church leaders and their flocks as “thuggish rule breakers.”
    “The ad is overtly racist and offensive on numerous levels,” Beaman told Religion News Service on Saturday (Sept. 13). “It is a racist attack on the African American church, and because it was an attack on the Christian church, it should be offensive to every Christian and person of faith.”

    Another proud, proud day for the Republican Party. They’re using footage taken IN THEIR CHURCH to launch racist attacks against them.
    Not one Republican in Congress will dare object. They’re all terrified of the thugs they created and loosed on this country.
    Barr should come out and deliver another scolding, sanctimonious lecture on morality to the nation.
    What an absolute fraud.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    I’ve said it more than a couple of times in the past: where is Kevin Uxbridge when we need him, to rid us of these Husnock? Every fucking one of the Murderer-in-Chief’s enablers/minions.

  26. 26.

    FlyingToaster (Tablet)

    We got one Friday, addressed to my husband, and it was completely inaccurate about voting by mail in the People’s Republic Commonwealth.  Alas for DeJoy, our Prince of Darkness Secretary of the Commonwealth had sent the actual vote-by-mail instructions postcard a couple weeks earlier.

    We live 4 blocks from our single-precinct polling place, and .7mi from Town Hall, for early voting.  Fuck these never-ending-Gish-Gallop assholes.

  28. 28.

    debbie

    I counted 35 Biden signs on my 28-minute walk just now. (Maybe 36; I was distracted briefly by a very cute puppy bounding my way.)

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    Settling in for The Princess Bride live reading.  Wisconsin Dems.  Program not on yet.

    They are NOT flooding the zone with shit.

    Foo on Bannon and his ilk.

  31. 31.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Why would I suddenly start making sense? //

    Seriously, I don’t know how you people keep so many tabs open without getting confused.

  34. 34.

    West of the Rockies

    I’m not able to log into the Princess Bride reading. I paid, everything was a go, but I’m not finding the actual internet comnection to watch.  Tried FB, Actblue…

    Where are you guys going?

  39. 39.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    I’ve seen people talk about dozens of open tabs. I limit myself to a handful or two, a standard set of Google news, my email,, weather,  B-J, LGM, and some special interest sites that I open and close pretty promptly.

    But I’m with Gin & tonic, regarding a long and careful study of the candidates and their positions! /snark.

  40. 40.

    Marcopolo

    @West of the Rockies: I received a confirmation email after the donation and then giving registration info.  The link was in the confirmation email titled: WisDems Presents: A Princess Bride Reunion Registration Confirme

    That being said, either they are having issues, I am having issues or it hasn’t started yet cause all I am getting is the start video screen.

  43. 43.

    mac8

    I think the Wisconsin Democrats and/or the tech team may have underestimated the amount of Princess Bride fans who would be logging on to this thing.

  44. 44.

    J. Squid

    I got my postcard here in Oregon this week.  I was so excited I immediately requested my mail-in ballot (often called “absentee” ballot) at least 15 days before Election Day!*

    I’m so thankful to the Duke of the USPS for making good use of his service’s budget.**

    *  I did nothing of the sort because after a quarter century here, I know how voting by mail works in my state.  That is that there is no other option.

    ** I am, in fact, pissed that they’re wasting money this way while destroying the USPS for fictional budgetary reasons.

  46. 46.

    Bonnie

    Washington State has been voting by mail since 2005.  I love this system.  Also, there are in most places a special box to put only ballots in it.  They are usually right next to a mailbox.  My sister and I have always used the ballot box for obvious reasons.  Also, we usually fill out our ballots as soon as we get them; and, then, we drive to nearest ballot box.  However, before Trump, I have always had a high regard for the USPS.  (Is there any American institution that trump and is toadies haven’t destroyed?)  I don’t care if I know who is President on Tuesday night.  As it is, my sister and I always watch movies all day on election day because the election coverage is soooo boring.

  49. 49.

    sanjeevs

     

    From the Financial Times

    Republican donors are pouring an unprecedented amount of cash into some of the country’s most hotly contested Senate races in a sign that the party’s backers are increasingly focused on holding on to the second chamber in case Donald Trump loses the presidency.

    So far, eight of the most competitive Republican Senate campaigns have raised a combined $128m in this cycle, according to a Financial Times analysis of Federal Election Commission data. That is more than three times as much as the $41m they had raised at this point in their previous races.

  52. 52.

    Kent

    @schrodingers_cat:BS has emerged rested from his third home ? to tell Biden how he is campaigning wrong

    By which he means that Biden is not campaigning exactly like Wilmer did.  Because we all know how well that worked when it was just a select group of primary voters, much less a broad and diverse electorate in critical swing states.

    Fuck him.  He *could* do what Elizabeth Warren is currently doing which is unreservedly leaving it all on the field for Biden.  But no, he’d rather kvetch.

  54. 54.

    Marcopolo

    @sanjeevs:  And yet, the Ds are outraising them.  Dramatically.  No link for the article but without that information the article is lacking some context.

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @West of the Rockies:

    Glad it’s not just me. I keep getting a message that Safari can’t connect to the server. I seem to recall this happening a year or two ago with some massively-hyped concert. It finally connected, I think, after about an hour of confusion and fuckery.

  62. 62.

    Jinchi

    @Kay: For this set of lies, the only people who would have heard and been fooled are Trump voters at a rally, and they’re impossible to reach anyway.

    I’m pretty sure the Trump voters are getting the message that Democrats are cheating by letting illegal aliens vote and stuffing ballot boxes, so it’s only fair that Republicans get to vote by mail and in person.

  63. 63.

    Kent

    @debbie:I counted 35 Biden signs on my 28-minute walk just now. (Maybe 36; I was distracted briefly by a very cute puppy bounding my way.)

    Mine is the only one I have even seen in my neighborhood (greater Vancouver WA area).   I don’t know of another within walking distance of my house.  What state are you in?

  68. 68.

    Elizabelle

    Guys:  try refreshing your browsers?  Click the confirmation email again?  I ended up with two screens.  Wish I could share one with you.

    Still a Dems organizing pep.

  69. 69.

    LuciaMia

    a year or two ago with some massively-hyped concert. It finally connected, I think, after about an hour of confusion

    Was that the Youtube tribute to Sondheim?

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    I will entertain you all with the loopiest sign I have seen this weekend:

    small plane pulling a banner:  Confederate flag — is it a Trump ad?

    No.  It says:  STILL CAPITOL OF THE CONFEDERACY.

    Absolutely perfectly, I spied it while waiting on the light next to the AP Hill burial monument in Richmond VA, now in the middle of a busy intersection.

    I think the plane was up there because — it’s NASCAR weekend in Richmond.  Yee haw.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @Jinchi:

    I think his voters ballots are going to be all fucked up because he has no idea how any of this works and he’s always talking about “signing ballots”.

    • DO NOT sign or initial your official ballot.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    Fingers crossed you’re all doing well.

    Whoopi’s audio was off, but the kid is great, and RReiner is great as the grandfather.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @Jinchi:

    I hope they write all over the ballot. Then it’s spoiled and not counted. People claim that Trump votes but if he does someone else is doing it for him because everything he’s telling them to do is wrong.

  84. 84.

    LuciaMia

    Aw, I was really looking forward to this. Not gonna work if I have to refresh it literally every 30 seconds.

  85. 85.

    Jinchi

    @Kent: Driving in the hills yesterday I came across a large field with 4 large Trump 2020 flags. In the center of the field was an ATV that had burst into flames driving across the dry grass. It was a metaphor for the times, and I was a bit ticked off that the idiot started a grass fire just a few miles upwind of a town of 100,000 people during the worst fire season in memory.

  86. 86.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kent:

    She’s from Ohio, of all places. In my neighborhood, there’s no signs at all. Around town I do see plenty of Trump signs

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    They’re going to try and disrupt the election, and call any results – small/med/large Biden win – into question.  We should

    • beat on our national snooze media NOW to quit both-sides-ing this, and call it what it is: a historic attempt by a sitting president* to undermine our country’s electoral process…it’s complete dereliction of duty, it’s completely in line with what Putin wants, and it’s because he knows if he loses he goes to jail.
    • beat on the snooze media again, because why not?  :)
    • talk to EVERYONE about this (whether in-person, on the phone, via social media, letters to the editor, op-eds, etc)…this is NOT RIGHT and we will not stand for it.

    Everyone keeps talking about all the disruption and potential violence if/when trumpov loses…I don’t think he and his supporters get it.  If he keeps doing this, or even if he tones it down and somehow manages to eke out a slim EC “victory”…there’s no way a majority of this country would accept the results.  I know I won’t.

    I don’t think it’ll come to it, but if trumpov’s willing to burn it all down to try and save himself, well, many of us are willing to do that and more to get him out.  No. More.

    Respect the results or face the consequences, Donnie you fraud.

  96. 96.

    Kent

    @debbie: Columbus, Ohio, believe it or not.

    I guess that makes sense.  Columbus is a bluish (I assume?) spot in a state that might be vaguely swingish if the winds blow in the right direction.   If WA gets close or goes to Trump then we are truly in Dante’s 9th circle of hell.

    Of course that doesn’t prevent our local MAGAts from putting 20 ft high Trump signs on their barns and driving around with tattered big Trump flags mounted in the back of their coal rolling trucks.  The Trump flag has become the new Confederate flag around here.  The new way for loser racists to self-identify.

    But ordinary local suburban folks haven’t engaged yet.  Over in Portland I see more signs but then it’s Portland.  To properly sign up a Portland yard you need the Biden sign, but also the BLM signs and various other woke stuff like the multi-language everyone is welcome signs.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    Cary Elwes should be wearing a black mask.  Over his eyes.

    Would be refreshing, in this day of masks.

  102. 102.

    Ken

    @Baud: Having Kanye in there makes the decision that much more difficult.

    I know what you mean.  Yes, he seems the best of the protest candidates, but I worry that voting for him still amounts to sullying my precious vote by using it for someone less than perfect.

  108. 108.

    Jeffro

    It may have been earlier in the day, but apparently Ronna ROMNEY McDaniel has been tweeting about how poor Joe Biden’s response to/plans for the pandemic have been.

    Um

    Er

    What?

    Wasn’t it Charles Pierce who said the GOP has a collective prion disease?

  112. 112.

    Geoduck

    @Bonnie: Yeah, the system works well here Washington state and I wouldn’t want to go back, but I still get a little nostalgic about actually performing the voting ritual over at the local precinct station.

    And I got one of the USPS cards.

  116. 116.

    dnfree

    @Sab: ours is addressed to “Postal Customer”. I don’t think it’s tied to voter registration. The articles said it was also going to PO Boxes.

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Wolfhard.

    Born in 2002.  (Feel ancient yet?  I do.)  Actor from Stranger Things.  Canadian.

    No wonder we like him.

    Do you think that’s his birth name?  Finn Wolfhard?  Sounds like a Games of Thrones character.

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    Isn’t it nice to have a Sarandon on screen and we are not wincing?

    Chris Sarandon.  He’s been good in a lot of movies.

  120. 120.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jeffro: Apparently the new talking point is to pretend that Biden was getting the exact same intelligence and warning that Trump did, and that Biden’s response would have been worse somehow.

    It’s staggeringly weird.

  121. 121.

    pattonbt

    I just wanted to say how impressed I have been with Colorado.  I have lived overseas for almost 20 years now and every election cycle they have improved the process for overseas voters.  It is quick, simple and electronic.  And I think I get my ballot this week!

  124. 124.

    Jeffro

    @MisterForkbeard: That’s a good way to to put it… 0_0

    “YOUWOULDHAVEDONE ALLTHESAMETHINGS TOLDTHESAME LIESSTILLBEENHOLDINGAL LTHESENO-MASKRALLIESLIKEI’MDOINGNOW …wait…”

    All Biden has to say is, “If you knew back in February that it was highly contagious and was spread through respiration…why do you keep having these large in-person rallies?  Don’t you care about your cultists?”

  125. 125.

    Zinsky

    Roger Stone is shit wrapped in skin and the most unAmerican scumbag to ever besmirch our political system.  The fact that Trump commuted this antisocial, lifelong criminal’s prison sentence may be among the most heinous things Trump has ever done.  No one deserves to die in prison more than Roger Stone.  I hope in the Biden Administration, additional charges are made against Stone and he lands in prison where he is broken and abused like he has done to so many others.

  127. 127.

    prostratedragon

    @MisterForkbeard:  And apparently Stephanopoulos has started spreading this nonsense around, per earlier threads here and on twitter. Trying to get Symone Sanders on the defensive about it.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus

    “I hope we win.”  I have always loved that line.  Fezzik’s simple decency as a war-starting brute is sweet.

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack

    @Jeffro:

    Thank you for breaking the blog!

    When someone does one of these hilarious run-on-no-spaces things it completely fucks up the comment box in “mobile” mode—phone and tablet displays—because the comment box embiggens itself to encompass the wide line width and leaves the reader able to see only a small part of the comment box on their screen.

    Maybe just stick to trying to make “TCNJ” a thing.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    I’m glad TPB seems to be going well after some early hick-ups. I’m sure that, unless they planned ahead, it was appearing to be a mini-DDOS (distributed denial of service attack). TPB is popular!!

    In other news, Virginia can start voting this Friday September 18.

    Vote NO on Amendment #1.

    https://bluevirginia.us/2020/09/delegates-mark-levine-and-lamont-bagby-amendment-1-would-enshrine-gerrymandering-in-virginia-constitution-vote-no

    By these two measures, Amendment 1 is a giant step backward. First of all, it allows unlimited gerrymandering. You would think a so-called “reform” measure would at least bar line drawers from overwhelmingly favoring a single political party. Not this one. Amendment 1 allows 60% of Virginia’s population to be represented by a minority of legislative seats. That alone should cause you to scratch your head. Furthermore, there are scant protections for racial and ethnic minorities.

    That’s not even the worst part. Even worse than the “how” is the “who.” The amendment expressly gives the four legislative party leaders power to populate the entire commission with their own appointees, including close friends and family members. Independents and third parties would have zero representation.

    And if just two legislators object, the entire process is thrown to a panel of judges appointed by the very legislature whose district lines they are designing. One judge could draw district lines for her own brother, a sitting senator. See a conflict here? We do.

    Vote NO on Amendment #1!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  142. 142.

    Elizabelle

    It’s incredible the whole cast was good with doing this for Wisconsin.

    And I thought Vince Vaughan did really well as Fezzick.  It was wonderful.  Wish we could see it again.

  148. 148.

    Darkrose

    FTFNYT, but this from Ben Smith about how the Intercept burned Reality Winner is apalling:

    “They sold her out, and they messed it up so that she would get caught, and they didn’t protect their source,” her mother, Billie Winner-Davis, said in a telephone interview last week. “The best years of her life are being spent in a system where she doesn’t belong.”

    Failing to protect an anonymous leaker is a cardinal sin in journalism, though the remarkable thing in this instance that The Intercept didn’t seem to try to protect its source. The outlet immediately opened an investigation into its blunder, which confirmed the details that the Justice Department had gleefully announced after it arrested Ms. Winner. They included the fact that The Intercept led the authorities to Ms. Winner when it circulated the document in an effort to verify it, and then published the document, complete with the identifying markings, on the internet.

  149. 149.

    Another Scott

    @Darkrose: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.’

    I’m sorry she trusted them.  :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  152. 152.

    Another Scott

    I hadn’t seen the WisDems.org blurb about this (from 9/4): https://wisdems.org/news/the-princess-bride-cast-to-hold-reunion-script-reading-fundraiser-for-democratic-party-of-wisconsin/

     

    The Princess Bride star Cary Elwes released the following statement upon the announcement: “I think most people are aware by now that Donald Trump has completely abdicated his duties as President to represent and stand up for all Americans. He has failed to keep the country safe from COVID-19 and as a result he is responsible for the devastating chaos, violence and economic collapse that we are now experiencing. If America is going to have a real chance at healing we must get rid of Trump. And that is only possible if we win Wisconsin. I am thrilled to be part of this very rare reunion of my colleagues from The Princess Bride as a way to increase awareness and garner resources for the state that will determine the fate of America.”

    Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler released the following statement upon the announcement: “The 2020 election is just like The Princess Bride: giants, monsters, chases, escapes, miracles. We’re thrilled that some of the world’s greatest stars are joining us to relive the magic of my favorite movie in the world and help us safely navigate the fire swamp of Wisconsin politics.”

    Well done.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  154. 154.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    This story about VP debate moderator Susan Page is truly fucked up!

    Murshed Zaheed @murshedz

    Doesn’t matter whether

    @SusanPage

    herself paid 4 the party hosting one of the shadiest Trump officials: Seema Verma. What matters is that she hosted a party 4  someone who used 2 work w Pence & now Paige is gonna “moderate” Pence’s debate v Harris. Not ok.

    Susan Page of USA Today criticized for hosting off-the-record event honoring Trump appointees

    The USA Today Washington bureau chief was recently picked by the Commission on Presidential Debates to host the vice-presidential debate on Oct. 7.

    washingtonpost.com

    h/t https://twitter.com/murshedz/status/1304251728984977408

  157. 157.

    trollhattan

    We know the AQI index tops at 500 but data will deliver results past that mark. IIUC they don’t have a meaning in health outcomes beyond “You’re gonna die!” and with that in mind I note Mammoth Lakes, CA–a tony ski resort on the Sierra Nevada east slope–currently tallies a 968. NB for oxygen fans, Mammoth Lakes elevation is 7,900 feet.

  158. 158.

    trollhattan

    @Darkrose:

    It seemed at best to be horrid mishandling on their part back then, and perhaps an active burn on her. Shame on them [editors note: Glem has his shame gland removed while still a young child].

  159. 159.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yep. And the sidekick in the live-action Beauty and the Beast.

    I was amazed how well he channeled André, voice, accent, everything.

    Did anyone else get a lot of screen freeze (finally bailing in the Q  & A when it froze permanently)? Or is that just my internet connection. Other sites seem to be working OK.

  160. 160.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    More on Susan Page conflict of interest:

    In circles of journalism far from my own, particularly within the Beltway, it’s considered appropriate for journalists and the power brokers they cover to see each other socially, particularly if they are perceived as needing each other’s help to climb the slippery slope to fame. That is apparently the rationalization for the otherwise very fishy discovery that the moderator for next month’s vice-presidential candidate debate, veteran journalist (now with USA Today) Susan Page, hosted a party late in 2018 in honor of Mike Pence’s powerful protégé Seema Verma, who runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the Trump administration.

     

    The party, dubbed a “girl’s night,” came to light as part of a U.S. House report (made public by Politico) on pretty heavy taxpayer-subsidized spending by organizer and Republican public relations type Pam Stevens as part of an effort to raise Verma’s profile or improve her brand or whatever euphemism for aggrandizement of the already-powerful you prefer. Turns out Page, not John Q. Public, paid the four grand or so for Verma’s party, but perhaps Stevens separately billed the feds for her consulting work on the event. In any event, the controversy isn’t really about who paid for the party, but whether a working journalist at Page’s level who has been hobnobbing with Mike Pence’s best-known associate in the Trump administration ought to be moderating his debate with Kamala Harris. Matt Yglesias thinks the answer is clearly “no.”

     

    Page’s employer is defending her, unsurprisingly, with a “nothing-to-see-here” statement that she’s part of a group that’s forever celebrating the professional advancement of women in D.C., as the Washington Post reports:

     

    USA Today spokesperson Chrissy Terrell said on Thursday afternoon that Page was “unaware” that the CMS was billed for the event, which the newspaper said was held to honor “two women who had recently gotten significant appointments, Heather Wilson to head the Air Force and Seema Verma to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — both milestone moments to be recognized.”

     

    The newspaper defended Page’s decision to host the gathering, which the publication said are “routinely hosted” by female journalists to “honor significant accomplishments of both Democratic and Republican women,” with the journalists footing the bill.

     

    The question isn’t whether Page should have hosted this particular gathering, but whether journalists should be “routinely” hosting social events for the kind of people they are supposed to be covering. Yes, Old Girls Networks like this are more understandable and less ethically objectionable than the Old Boys Networks they emulate, but they still promote the very idea of insular Beltway elites that helped feed the rise of Verma’s and Pence’s mutual boss Donald Trump.

    h/t https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/veep-debate-moderator-hosted-dinner-honoring-pence-protg.html

  162. 162.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Update on the air in Tracktown, USA: AQI 427.  It was foggy and smoky this morning, visibility as at about 500 feet, tops.  The fog has burned (ouch!) off, but still very smokey.

  163. 163.

    Elizabelle

    Chris Sarandon is from “a little coal town” in West Virginia.  Hmmm.  (He’s 78, too.  Inconceivable.)

  164. 164.

    TS (the original)

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    very fishy discovery that the moderator for next month’s vice-presidential candidate debate, veteran journalist (now with USA Today) Susan Page, hosted a party late in 2018 in honor of Mike Pence’s powerful protégé Seema Verma, who runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the Trump administration.

    You would begin to think the media & every other organisation wants to re-elect trump. It becomes impossible to understand why – when the first thing a 2nd term trump would do would be to limit any interaction with the media other than with his very best friends. I guess those best friends now run the US media & those “not partisan” organisations.

  166. 166.

    bluehill

    Looks like TikTok is going to sell itself to Oracle. Interesting. TikTok rejected Microsoft’s bid even though Oracle doesn’t have much of a consumer business. I think Ellison is a Trump supporter and now he has access to a social media network that’s very popular with a young demographic.

  167. 167.

    Bill Arnold

    @Darkrose:

    the Intercept burned Reality Winner is appalling:

    A lot of people have hated The Intercept since they did that. Myself included. Occasionally I’ll look at a story depending on byline, but I prefer not to. Scum, as an institution.
    Reality Winner, on the other hand, was(/is) very brave. Broke the law and had poor OpSec so got caught with The Intercept’s help, but sometimes the law needs to be broken.

    “Be good and don’t get caught”.

  169. 169.

    Kay

    Josh Lederman
    @JoshNBCNews
    NEW:
    @NBCNews
    has obtained a photo from one of Pompeo’s “Madison Dinners.”
    Here’s Justice Alito, Atlanta Falcons CEO Steve Cannon, Fox Business’ Bartiromo & WH Counsel Cipollone at a June ’19 dinner, paid for by the taxpayer

    Gross. Toadying up to him. It’s so perfect that they gave such a lofty name to these corruption-fests.
    “Madison Dinners”. Insufferable.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    The secretary and his wife held two dozen of the lavish dinners before the coronavirus hit. Among the invitees were Supreme Court justices, billionaires and celebrities, in addition to foreign dignitaries. Every single House or Senate member who was invited was a Republican, according to a master invitation list obtained by NBC News.
    The dinners had raised concerns among State Department officials involved in planning them that they were using federal resources to cultivate a donor and supporter base for Pompeo’s future political ambitions.

    Those poor employees. The Trump Administration sucks ’em right into the corruption.

  172. 172.

    Elizabelle

    Reading up on the various cast bios:  re Chris Sarandon’s 3rd marriage in 1994, which has lasted to this day:  his wife is actress-singer  Joanna Gleason, and her father is Monty Hall.  The Let’s Make a Deal Monty Hall.  Who lived until 2017.

    Joanna and Monty are Canadian.

    Christopher Guest, husband of Jamie Lee Curtis, is more formally the 5th Baron Haden-Guest.  There’s an older brother, the also famous Anthony Haden-Guest, but he was bypassed as Baron because he was born before his parents married.  Christopher and both of his brothers are actors.

  174. 174.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kay: If you hooked up Madison to a generator, you could power most of the northeast from the spinning in his grave.

  175. 175.

    tokyokie

    We got the postcard last week, and I immediately dropped it in the recycling bin. It did prompt me to double-check our voter registrations, and they’re in order. We’re still planning to vote early.

  176. 176.

    NoraLenderbee

    @trollhattan: The AQI in Mammoth swings between extremes quickly. We’re monitoring it because that’s where we go for our annual hiking trip, originally scheduled for Sept. 19th. Not holding my breath. :(

  178. 178.

    Steeplejack

    Just watched Van der Valk on PBS, and I’ve got some issues. This first episode was okay, as Eurocop series go, but it has fuck-all to do with Nicolas Freeling’s original Inspector Van der Valk. Major HBO Perry Mason syndrome going on. Van der Valk in this series is gruff, hardboiled, packing a gun, while Freeling’s hero is a more cerebral, Maigret-like deteective. That aside, the series has potential.

    I highly recommend Freeling’s 10 Van der Valk novels. Gun Before Butter (1963; published in the U.S. as Question of Loyalty) is a classic. The King of the Rainy Country (1966) won an Edgar for best novel.

  179. 179.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater, Dwayne Haskins, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, Tyrod Taylor, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson

    10 Black starting QBs in Week 1 — the most in a season opener in NFL history ?? pic.twitter.com/k0tyBrAb3k
     

    — The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) September 13, 2020

    Thanks Obama

  181. 181.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    I was just Googling the Wikipedia bios of some of the cast members. In the course of it, I put together the following:

    Chris Sarandon used to be married to Susan Sarandon, who had a relationship with Sean Penn, who was married to Robin Wright, whose character was married/not married to Chris Sarandon’s character in The Princess Bride.

    Rabbit holes. Gotta love rabbit holes.

  182. 182.

    Chetan Murthy

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: I’m so old I remember when they used to say that Black football players couldn’t be QBs — that it required too much intellect for them to handle.  Yeah, we’ve made progress since then, thank goodness.  Even if I don’t watch CTE-ball, I can still appreciate that they’ve made strides towards equality.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Fox Business’ Bartiromo

    Fox business viewers think “I need somewhere to put my life savings, so I think I’ll take the advice of these raving lunatics on my favorite propaganda show”

    Then she sells them a rip-off reverse mortgage.

  185. 185.

    prostratedragon

    @Chetan Murthy:
    Believe it or not, they used to say the same about wide receivers, because the WR has to run precise routes and make adjustments on the fly to the quarterback, i.e. think on the same page as the white dude. I think Paul Warfield was the first AA star at the position, and he only retired in 1977. There is nothing in human behavior crazier than white supremacy (though male supremacy is a photo finish).

  187. 187.

    Chetan Murthy

    @prostratedragon: Without looking it up, I’d be willing to bet they used to say that shit about women’s tennis until the Williams sisters came along.  And now we have Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, Sloane Stephens, and gee I wonder who else, just *tearing up* the court.

  188. 188.

    Steeplejack

    @Kay:

    Mid-pandemic, "as Congress scrutinizes his use of government resources to entertain CEOs, big-dollar Republican donors and television anchors," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "is quietly relaunching his extravagant, taxpayer-funded 'Madison Dinners.'"
    https://t.co/mBuL974E3Z

    — David Gura (@davidgura) September 14, 2020

  189. 189.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne:   Six degrees of separation. And less.

    Enjoyed the reading.  I definitely have not seen TPB since it was first out in theatres.  Remembered the Inigo Montoya character — how could you not? —  and just bits of the rest.  All had a visual memory, but not for the marvelous dialogue.

  192. 192.

    Another Scott

    In other news, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/european-nations-impose-measures-covid-19-surges-200913181240461.html

    New cases in the UK reached more than 3,000 in 24 hours for the second day in a row on Saturday, with the Sunday Times newspaper reporting that about one-third of those were at elderly care homes where the virus has roared back.

    “I think one would have to say that we’re on the edge of losing control,” Mark Walport, the British government’s former chief scientific adviser, told BBC radio.

    After a spate of local lockdowns this month, new government restrictions come into force across England on Monday, limiting social gatherings to no more than six people.

    Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told citizens the country was already facing “the beginning of the second wave” as new daily infections climbed towards 1,000.

    Kurz said the government would further restrict events and extend the areas where mask-wearing is mandatory to include all shops and public buildings.

    Meanwhile, France reported 10,000 new infections on Saturday, close to the peak of the first wave in April.

    Prime Minister Jean Castex declined to announce any new major restrictions on Friday despite noting a “clear worsening” in the country’s outbreak.

    :-(

    It might be sensible to start stocking up on things again.

    It didn’t have to be this bad. The US could have provided leadership in December, and maybe even in November.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-slashed-cdc-staff-inside-china-prior-to-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN21C3N5?utm_source=reddit.com

    https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-arrival-united-states-december-2020-6

    China reported the new affliction to the World Health Organization on January 3, after the organization requested information about rumors it had seen on an open-source platform, the Associated Press reported.

    By then, the virus had likely been infecting humans for at least a month. Government data traces the country’s first COVID-19 case to November 17, according to the South China Morning Post.

    […]

    Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t confirm community spread in California until February 27, a recent CDC report found that the virus actually began to spread in the country between January 18 and February 9. The US’s first coronavirus death, California autopsies have shown, happened weeks earlier than we originally thought. In Florida, at least 170 people who were later confirmed to have COVID-19 first reported their symptoms from December 31 to February 29, according to the Miami Herald.

    There’s still no treatment. There’s still no cure. There’s still no vaccine. The virus is everywhere.

    Be safe.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  193. 193.

    prostratedragon

    @Chetan Murthy: Yes, even players as great as Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, and others of their era had trouble being seen as more than novelty acts by some of the “serious” sports people, though they did at least get their major matches covered on tv. Note that the women’s finals still are always, always treated as the lesser of the two.

  194. 194.

    Captain C

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater, Dwayne Haskins, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, Tyrod Taylor, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson

    You could make an argument that six of these QBs have at least an outside shot at the Hall of Fame if things break right for them (Newton, Jackson, Mahomes, Prescott, Watson, Wilson).

  195. 195.

    opiejeanne

    @Captain C: Wilson was brilliant today, and he seemed to have some sort of psychic connection with the players who caught his passes today. They put on an incredible show.

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