Ruth Bader Ginsburg embodied justice, brilliance and goodness. Her passing is an incalculable loss for our democracy and for all who sacrifice and strive to build a better future for our children. pic.twitter.com/BufY4jXPR8
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) September 19, 2020
Nancy Pelosi yesterday:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg embodied justice, brilliance and goodness. Her passing is an incalculable loss for our democracy and for all who sacrifice and strive to build a better future for our children.
Nancy Pelosi in 2010, about health care, but it applies today:
You go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health care reform passed for the American people.
No matter they do – no matter what happens with the Supreme Court seat in the next 6 weeks – that is not the whole war. It doesn’t end there.
The biggest battle, perhaps the final battle, for our democracy has already begun – and goes through November 3.
Our righteous anger at what they are doing to our country may be our biggest asset.
VOTE. DONATE. ORGANIZE. VOLUNTEER. FIGHT.
…..
We’ll go through the gate, if we can.
We’ll go over the fence.
We’ll pole vault in.
We’ll parachute in if we have to.
If that doesn’t work, we’ll find another way.
We cannot quit.
* with grateful thanks to Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Nancy Pelosi for showing us how it’s done.
.
Ella in New Mexico
Love this. <3
SiubhanDuinne
The Democratic approach to effecting change:
The Republican approach to effecting change: Wrecking ball
WaterGirl
If anyone wants to whine, complain or say “I told you so” in reference to RBG’s choices, I am politely asking you to do that in another thread.
She fought like hell, for all of us, for a very long time.
SiubhanDuinne
From what I’m hearing in the background, it sounds like we’ve now officially surpassed 200,000 Covid-19 deaths.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Thank you!
rjnerd
Its a sign of cultural significance when a minimal image can be recognized instantly and unambiguously. I think this is one of them. Unfortunately, I don’t know who drew it.
an image, I don’t know how to embed
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hear, hear.
No way the news this weekend is good, it is in fact double-plus-ungood, but the Judiciary is one branch of government, we have a real chance of taking the other two.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: hear hear again, I was biting my virtual tongue so hard in that other thread, it’s virtually bleeding.
Tony Jay
Yup.
This isn’t Last Post for a functional Supreme Court, it’s the starting pistol for the legislative fight to restore one.
Announce that Democrats will, if forced to it, expand the SC to protect America from the Republican Party’s radicalism. Stick to that message while opposing whoever Trump burps up, forcing wavering Goopers on the Senate to weigh up the profit/loss equation of strapping themselves to Trump’s sinking ship for a ‘victory’ that will cost the GOP the Court for the forseeable future.
Just because the bad guys will insist on being bad guys is no reason to let up the pressure on the seats the Dems need to take to control the Senate.
Show them the knife, say no more.
dnfree
@WaterGirl: yes, water under the bridge or whatever. I remember hearing that Sandra Day O’Connor regretted retiring after she did.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
@SiubhanDuinne:
Seconded.ETA: Thirded.
Bruuuuce
When we die
We will die with our arms unbound
And this is why
This is why we fight (CW: scenes of war)
This is my song for today, and for the next month and a half. We’ll see what it becomes between November 4 and January.
WaterGirl
@rjnerd: Only front-pagers can do that, so I’ll do it for you:
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Shouldn’t even have to be said, but thank you.
Omnes Omnibus
Yep.
debbie
@dnfree:
And I’d bet she and RBG discussed that very thing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
good thread on the stakes and what (I think) the path forward should be
The Supreme Court is at best a toss-up between Rs and Ds, health care is our strongest issue
Forgot the link.
narya
@rjnerd: THAT actually brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
debbie
IAVMNAL, but can’t an injunction or something be filed against McConnell and the GOP?
narya
Okay, I have a dumb question. I have a friend who’s not working and who tends to spiral down. I want to push him to write postcards, but I need to point him to a good source for what that is, exactly. What type? To whom? Saying what? I’m sorry this is such a basic question but I trust the folks here to point me in the right direction.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Simple answer: no.
Leto
@debbie: I know it’ll rankle the established media (prepare the fainting couches), but I really want Dems to pull all the same arcane legal Maneuvers that McConnell did to basically stop the Senate from functioning. Basically tired of playing with both arms behind my back while my opponent continually punches me in the face. I’m still in favor of packing the courts, and not just the Supreme.
opiejeanne
@dnfree: IIRC, Sandra Day O’Connor retired when she did because her husband was gravely ill. He died not long after.
Raoul Paste
@WaterGirl: That’s a powerful image this morning
Omnes Omnibus
@Leto: I’ve already called Tammy Baldwin to say that I would have the Senate Dems’ backs on anything they need to do.
WaterGirl
@narya: I think there are 2 or 3 postcard groups listed in the Things We Can Do list in the sidebar.
Off the top of my head, two of them are Flip The West and Postcards to Voters. Join us for the next Action post – there will surely be folks in that thread who write postcards, and you can ask all your questions there.
Sister Golden Bear
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Leto
@Omnes Omnibus: I need to call mine and do the same. Encourage Bob Casey, while threatening Pat Toomey with the wrath of electoral doom.
WaterGirl
@Leto: I’m game for every single thing that can be done to slow-walk, delay, slow down or disrupt the process.
As far as I’m concerned, nothing is off the table.
Omnes Omnibus
@Leto: Those were my calls to Baldwin and Johnson.
WaterGirl
@Sister Golden Bear: That made me cry. Again. For like the 10th time today. But there’s nothing that says I can’t cry and fight at the same time.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Time on Target?
Almost Retired
I am a lawyer – with a partial civil rights practice at that — and I am glad RBG held on until yesterday and didn’t retire in 2015. There is no way Obama could have gotten through a progressive justice of her caliber, and we would have lost the benefit of her guidance and brilliance for the last five years. Yeah, we’ll have to fight extra hard to keep this seat from being swiped by disingenuous plutocrats, but on balance, I am glad she stuck around.
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl: Just emailed you another powerful RBG image.
Omnes Omnibus
And just a preemptive note to A Ghost to Most who is likely to show up soon and call everyone cowards: Fighting doesn’t always mean shooting or blood in the streets.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: I am not sure Tammy has the gunnery skills.
West of the Rockies
Very interesting article by David Frum at The Atlantic. I know he has his detractors, but he is not soulless and does make some intriguing points. “Four Reasons to Doubt McConnell’s Power.”
WaterGirl
One of the other jackals wrote to me last night to say that this feels like election night 2016.
Not to me. I said it feels like a month after election night 2016, when I accepted that the situation is a terrible one, but no matter how much I don’t want it to be true, I cannot wish it away, and it’s one-foot-in-front-of-the-other time.
We have 6 weeks to impact the election that ends on November 3rd.
RBG is gone. It is what it is. What are we going to do with that time? That’s what matters now.
zhena gogolia
@Sister Golden Bear:
Good quotation.
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl: Agreed.
And while I’m not a LOTR nerd, this quote is also relevant.
After Frodo says it’s hopeless to keep going without Gandalf, Aragorn replies:
“Then we must do without hope. There is always vengeance.”
FelonyGovt
I keep thinking about the concept of “the consent of the governed”, also about Jimmy Cliff’s song “Majority Rules”. There are more of us than there are of them, and this rule by an embittered, fading minority can’t continue.
I’m texting for Biden among PA voters and they are VERY enthusiastic Democrats, many of whom have already signed up to volunteer, and more who want to start.
And on postcards- various campaigns contact the postcard groups listed in the sidebar with lists of voters and a suggested script to use. In many cases you can pick, for example, a swing-able Senate race, a race to protect a vulnerable incumbent D, etc.
@narya:
Percysowner
@WaterGirl: I’ll repeat what I wrote in an earlier thread
To all those saying “she should have quit” let’s look at the facts. Her first cancer diagnosis was in 1999 TWENTY ONE years ago. Her second in 2009 ELEVEN years ago. Beating cancer usually is counted as no recurrence in five years. So by 2014 she would have thought herself out of the woods. She had her third diagnosis in 2018, when retiring was simply not an option. Frankly, it wasn’t an option after 2015 with McConnell licking his lips for an extra replacement.
The timing stinks, but she was healthy during Obama’s term and had no real reason to think she couldn’t hold out until January 2021.
She was a warrior, a good woman and a great champion of the rights of those who aren’t white, male and wealthy. Let’s celebrate that, not denigrate a legend.
zhena gogolia
@Almost Retired:
Well, you put it in a way I can accept.
WaterGirl
@Sister Golden Bear:
Colleeniem
@narya: I have no idea why people here are slagging postcards to voters here. It’s easy, they work with all kinds of campaigns. I’ve written to get Florida dems to vote by mail, for a representative seat in Alaska, for Amy McGrath in KY, and now for Cal Cunningham and other candidates in NC. It’s both effective and therapeutic!
Faith without works is dead; Criticism without constructive action is whining.
Omnes Omnibus
@Almost Retired: Yes, that is something that is frequently lost in this discussion. RGB was more than just a single vote on the Court. She was a leader of sane faction on the Court. Even if she was on the losing side, her opinion was significant and affected legal thought. She was an inspiration to a shitload of people. An new justice was unlikely to have been that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Colleeniem: Who is slagging postcards to voters here?
WaterGirl
@Sister Golden Bear:
Good one. First thing I saw this morning as I plugged in my iPad was a book on my bookshelf:
The second thing I did was open the curtains, and my crystal with the two cats sitting on the moon scattered rainbows all around the room.
I kind of felt like the world was trying to send me a message.
Lapassionara
@WaterGirl: This. And also remember that all politics is local. We need to find a way to strengthen Democratic parties on every level. We are where we are because Republicans have played a very long game, with lots of funding from the like of the Koch’s and Mercer’s, etc. They have titled the propaganda so that any social program is viewed as an attack on freedom and any tax is government overreach.
Burnspbesq
@Bruuuuce:
Time for us to be the archers of hell. No prisoners on 11/3.
opiejeanne
I volunteered to text message for Katie Portman yesterday. I just told Doug Collins that his opponent had earned some support. These two men and others are on my radar because of how gleeful they were about RBG’s death, celebrating even, and they’re not the only ones. Didn’t have a shred of decency.
Colleeniem
@Omnes Omnibus: It happened during the DNC convention and when the USPS is/was having their major issues. I forget who, but several commenters were saying that they weren’t following the making a voting plan strategy. That’s an incomplete understanding of what messages that postcards to voters spreads; it’s based on which campaign they are supporting and it changes daily based on need.
LeftCoastYankee
One of my favorite political quotes is from an admittedly kind of awful person:
“Every country has the government it deserves” — Joseph de Maistre
When we (meaning Americans, not Jackals) were disheartened, distracted and focused on nonsense, we ended up with a Buffoon and crooks.
Now we are angry, motivated and focused, we can make our government worthy of what we really need/want. I think it also implies if there are norms or “traditions” which are obstacles we overcome and change them (like Speaker Pelosi’s quote).
Eyes on the Prize, all else is noise.
cain
Couple that with the batman quote “I am the night, I am vengeance!” He might have said “vegan” but don’t quote me on that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
to which I will add:
Mitch McConnell is not a dark wizard. He has a majority of votes in the Senate backed by an ideologically homogenous base given disproportionate and unforeseen power by a series of decisions made by people who are long dead (two Dakotas? one California? Idaho? Made sense in the 1880s, I guess), money, and racism. Neither Chuck Schumer nor Dick Durbin nor even Elizabeth Warren are ever going to have the kind of control over Joe Manchin and Angus King that McConnell has over Susan Collins and Cory Gardner (not that he really needs that much control because they all share that same ideology). Joe Biden is not going to be a benign autocrat ruling by ukases we approve of. The Senate, if we take it, will look more like Michael Bennet and Amy Klobuchar than Warren and Sanders. There are no One Weird Tricks. There are no gods or ghosts in the machine. There is only voting, and the long, slow boring of hard boards.
Bruuuuce
@Burnspbesq: Yep. All in.
debbie
Rob Portman’s voicemail is already full, so I emailed him this: “How about just once you do the right thing and refuse to consider a Supreme Court justice until after the next Inauguration. Surprise us.”
LeftCoastYankee
@Lapassionara:
Good point. A big thing to do is support Democratic candidates for Secretary of State at the state levels. They are typically in charge of the voting infrastructure and process in each state.
(off to see if there’s a list of races/candidates for that)
Betty Cracker
I’m having the shittiest fucking day. The dumbest things keep happening. A partial list:
I was going to have salad for lunch before heading out for the weekly dystopian nightmare shopping trip. I was psyched about the salad because I had fresh lettuce, one last tomato, the end of a very good block of cheese, the remnants of homemade bread to convert into croutons, etc. I prepared all of this, mixed up some homemade dressing, poured it all over the bowl of salad.
Then I remembered I had some golden raisins in the cabinet, so I put those in too. Just as I was about to dig in, I noticed a fucking ANT in my salad. Then more ants. Then I looked in the box of raisins, and it was crawling with ants. The awesome salad went into the garbage along with the ants and raisins.
Fuck it, I thought — I’ll just get this grocery trip over with. I jumped in my car and was once again annoyed by the clock, which has been wrong ever since the time change. So, I tried to change it and somehow managed to reset all the instruments to Celsius and KPH. I can’t figure out how to fix it. And the clock is still wrong.
We’ve had a lot of rain, there’s mud everywhere, including on my back-up camera. I figured rather than getting out and wiping it down, I’d just back out of the gate the old fashioned way, i.e., by looking over my shoulder, and wipe the camera lens off when I got out to shut the gate. I scraped the car on the gate, causing a big fucking scratch in the paint. AND, I managed to pull a muscle in my neck or something, and it STILL HURTS two hours later.
Our road is washed out in several places, so the trip out of the swamp was a grueling, bone-jarring ordeal. I’d almost made it to the hard top when I came across a Ford Taurus stuck in a mud pit. It had a MAGA sticker, so I was tempted to keep on driving, but the driver was an older lady, so I offered to help. Long story not as long, I ended up falling on my butt in the mud while pushing the car out.
I finally arrived at the store (with a muddy ass). We’re allowed to use our green bags again, so I took mine in. I store all of the bags in a freezer bag I use to transport cold stuff home. When I unzipped the freezer bag at the checkout counter, I discovered a pack of cheese that had gone missing quite some time ago, and it was GROSS. The store handled it like it was nuclear waste, but at least they didn’t charge me for it again.
I’m going back to bed.
debbie
@opiejeanne:
I hadn’t heard of any celebration. What offensive animals they are. I hope their karma is all that they deserve.
Ruckus
@Almost Retired:
This.
You don’t win when you stop fighting.
You rarely win when you fight blindly, wildly swinging at anything.
You likely win when you are focused and strong and work together.
Be focused.
Be strong.
Be together.
We have a goal, we have the momentum, we have the power. Don’t let setbacks take you out at the ankles, stand up and move forward. It’s a fight that’s worth far more than winning, do what you can, however you can, but continue to fight.
Another Scott
https://bluevirginia.us/2020/09/fairfax-county-democratic-committee-chair-republicans-are-straight-up-attempting-to-intimidate-voters-circling-the-parking-lots-with-their-trump-flags-and-horns-blaring
We know this is coming. We have to be resolute and strong and determined. Don’t let anyone prevent you from voting. Our futures, and lives, depend on voting the monsters out.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: Look at the bright side – it’s all up from here!!
:-)
Sorry you had a rough day. :-( The GrandMaga probably noticed how nice you were and started rethinking her political views. And converting her family. I’ll betcha. ;-)
Paying it forward is usually a good idea.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I just made that into a category for posts. I’ll see if Cole will approve it as a rotating tag.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’d bet better than most of us.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: Maybe Duckworth. Maybe. Baldwin, no.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Yikes, I don’t blame you… bed might be the safest place for you today. A shitty start to a shitty day.
When you get up again later, it will surely be better.
Was your homemade bread from any of the recipes I sent?
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Exactly. It’s not over until every last vote is counted and confirmed.
And at that point we still have to move forward to the next time. This is not a one and done, never has been, never will be. This vote marks half a century that I’ve been voting (21 yrs old back then) and I’ve done so every time since. It’s the duty of every citizen to vote to uphold the concept of humanity and equality. Of course that means that one can’t vote republican, but that’s been obvious for a very, very long time.
TEL
Thank you for this post, WaterGirl. This is a much better fit for how I’m feeling. I just want to honor RBG’s life and accomplishments, and continue the fight, wherever that takes us.
Martin
I can’t get over how angry I still am. Yesterday was already a very stressful day, and I could have handled the sadness of RGBs passing, but not the anger at the unsurprising move by McConnell within, what, an hour?
Gonna go play some non-violent video games for 1-1000 hours until I no longer feel like murdering someone.
Jesse
@Lapassionara: Hear hear. We focus on all the national level stuff here, mainly because this is a national politics blog. But we also need 50 state Balloon Juices. Every state surely has a John Cole to be found.
TEL
@rjnerd: That really is an iconic image of RBG.
Angela
@opiejeanne: I think it was a bit more complicated than that. He had Alzheimers, she quit the SC, he progressed rapidly and had to be placed in a care facility. He forgot who she was and fell in love with another resident. I read about it and the whole sequence of events just broke my heart.
Leto
@Betty Cracker: ooof… we’ll see you Monday! :P Sorry your day has been ass so far. Hopefully the second half will be better.
dnfree
@Jesse: only West Virginia has a John Cole, at least the kind you mean.
opiejeanne
@debbie: On Twitter. Collins made a vile statement about the millions of babies who lost their lives because of RBG, the one running against Katie Porter was crowing and laughing “haha, we will have another R on the SC”.
WaterGirl
@Martin: We knew McConnell was a disgusting creature. But within an hour? He couldn’t even hide his glee. No sense of decorum, no honor, no integrity.
An utterly worthless
human beingcreature.jackmac
Sleep was hard to come by last night with sadness over RGB’s passing and anger over McConnell’s planned push for her replacement. In the light of day, the feeling remains borderline despair over the state of things. Republicans rarely pay for their transgressions or are held accountable. They cheat, steal elections and set up conditions where they often prevail. Their policies have enriched their benefactors and impoverished many of the rest. Plus their president is a dolt and this election shouldn’t even be close. If he were a Democrat he would have been hounded from office three years ago. Trump may yet prevail and if he doesn’t, the conditions for continued GOP fuckery will still be in place. Maybe I’ll feel better in a couple of days but right now things seem pretty bleak.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker:
That’s what I call a “JFC must every GD thing be a battle?” kind of day.
And…I’ve done that with cheese too.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl:
Thank You
the pollyanna from hell
I could not cry for Ruth until I wrote my argument. If Harriet Tubman or Ruth Ginsberg were my general, and my general made a mistake, and I knew that I would die for it, I might die angry, but not at her. Courage and intelligence and heart are enough to ask for in my leaders. Harriet only missed out on Harper’s Ferry because of influenza. If Ruth made a mistake I own it for myself as well.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: What a pain.
I once managed to set my gps to a language other than English. I don’t even remember what it was. But I had the devil of a time fixing it because the buttons were all marked in whatever the other language was.
Also, our amazon prime streaming has changed the closed caption to Danish. We are baffled.
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne:
Maybe Susan Collins can piss off a few thousand more people while she’s at it.edit: Never mind. Apparently that was in reference to Doug Collins.
Geminid
In 2018, the Democratic Congressional Communications Committee- Reps. Ciccillini (RI), Bustos (IL), and Jeffries (NY)- gave guidance to candidates to pound two issues hard: protecting pre-existing conditions and the ACA; and the trillion dollar tax giveaway for the wealthy. Must not have hurt, as the Democrats flipped 41 seats, including some that had been republican for decades, like the VA7th next door to me. The ACA issue is still very potent. I guess the meta-advice was, keep it simple.
opiejeanne
@Angela: Thanks. I didn’t remember the details.
Alison Rose
Fuck yeah:
Ginsburg to be remembered with statue in her native Brooklyn
dnfree
@opiejeanne: yes, I know. Her decision made sense at the time (2005) but her husband died in 2009 according to Wikipedia. She was only about three years older than RBG. And I bet she didn’t appreciate being replaced by Alito.
Ruckus
@Angela:
This is very common with dementia patients.
We had dad in a home and I went by one Sunday, checked in and went to his room, bed not slept in. Asked where he might be and the clerk asked if I’d checked his girlfriends room. Their past lives are at best a scattered, minimal recollection of totally jumbled bits and pieces. Dad once told me about a cow his parents had, in their 2 bedroom apartment in urban southern CA. They never had a cow at all, anywhere they lived. It was total fiction. Our recall is often hazy at best, with dementia it is far less reality and far more akin to an acid trip. It would be better if people actually knew what it might be like, rather than comparing it to normalcy. It’s nothing like normalcy.
Another Scott
https://twitter.com/dick_nixon/status/1307294090728484866
Yup. It should not be taken off the table, not even in some sort of agreement with Moscow Mitch and his minions. Especially before Biden has even taken office!!
Let them know that we’re watching and they’ll see the consequences in our good time.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: California is a poor example, it’s closer to why there’s Texas instead of multiple states in the territory occupied by Texas.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thank you.
opiejeanne
@WaterGirl: Doug Collins. Sorry I wasn’t clear. I donated to his Democratic opponent this morning when I saw his mewling about millions of dead babies. And I told him I had done so and why.
FelonyGovt
@Ruckus: Yeah, my mother in law is “remembering” places she never lived, people she never met, etc. It’s hard to deal with and we keep telling ourselves NOT to argue with her.
narya
@WaterGirl: @FelonyGovt: Thank you–I had rummaged through the What we CAN do list and wasn’t sure what would have what I wanted; thanks for helping me narrow it down. And I will likely write some of my own as well.
Let me add my thanks for this post.
dnfree
From the Washington Post analysis:
Lindsay Graham, now chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, even promised in March 2016 that he would oppose anyone Trump tried to put on the Supreme Court in 2020: “I want you to use my words against me: If there’s a Republican president … and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, ‘Let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.’ And you could use my words against me, and you’d be absolutely right. We are setting a precedent here today, Republicans are,” he said. “That’s going to be the new rule.”
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
One thing I do think should be on the table is a far, far more thorough investigation of Kavanaugh. Asside from the sexual assault stuff, which there may be far more recent episodes that could still be within the statute of limitations, that dude was living well beyond his means. If we can find evidence that any of those means were illegally obtained…say, he was taking bribes, give him the option of stepping down or going to prison. Or don’t give him the option if the case is strong enough and just send him to prison. I realize there’s no guarantee there but it would be worth looking into.
rikyrah
Yes, we need to fight.
Period.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: Yes. I’ve done postcards through FlipTheWest, TonyTheDemocrat (phone) and Postcards2Voters. All of them were super easy, you just need postcards, stamps, a pen and some time.
@narya: Here ya go. Postcard/letter campaigns, and where to get cool postcards/stamps etc.
germy
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us:
I’ve always suspected he was bailed out financially by his parents. From what I understand, $help like that doesn’t need to be reported.
He gave me the impression of an upwardly mobile but unreliable guy, the sort who gets rescued by wealthy parents throughout their lives, finally ending in their passing and his final inheritance
He would be embarrassed to admit it, because men of a certain age and class are supposed to be self-sufficient.
Supposed to be.
scav
Gate, fence, pole vault, parachute, other, no matter what, take your chair (possibly a towel) and keep going. Backwards, in heels and with a lace collar if necessary.
Toss all the cans.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@West of the Rockies: I will point out Turtle sill hasn’t gotten virus and budget passed his own party in the Senate.
narya
@UncleEbeneezer: Thank you! Will use . . .
Ruckus
@FelonyGovt:
First, sorry about your MIL, wishing the best for her.
But.
As long as they are in a place they can’t hurt themselves, let them say whatever comes out their mouths. It isn’t the person/personality you knew for decades, it’s just not. It’s the dementia talking and the deeper they go into it, the less reality there is. And it’s not the same for each person either but generally, their lives are being remade and at some point, you won’t recognize any of it. My dad started showing signs 19 yrs before he passed, the road was bumpy at best but it’s their road to travel not ours. A buddy of mine told me that in 50 yrs he’d never heard his mother swear, not one word. When she was in the depths of Alzheimer’s he said she swore like a hard core sailor. Which believe me is a lot of swearing. Like literally every other word. It takes practice to do and even more to be good at it. He said it was like she’d spoken like that her entire life. Which inside her head she may have. Or not. May your MIL not be so blessed as to be able to swear as good or as much as my friend’s mom.
debbie
@opiejeanne:
Pity, they seem to have forgotten their dead colleague, Jim Bunning, who made the mistake of doing the same thing.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Wow. Hope your late afternoon is better!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@germy: That’s possible. Just saying it’s worth quietly investigating whether there was more than just help from daddy. If there wasn’t oh well. If i recall at the time there were rumors of far more recent drunken groping episodes so that’s another angle that could pan out, or not. Just saying fully vet the guy and if he comes out clean so be it.
Jinchi
McConnell has been packing the court for years. We should call it what it is.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@rikyrah: including amongst ourselves apparently :). So long as we’re mostly fighting the enemy though.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I answered your question this morning.
“If Mark Kelly, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Arizona, unseats Senator Martha McSally, a Republican who was appointed to her seat and began serving last year, he could be sworn in as early as Nov. 30 — possibly in time to vote on a new Supreme Court nominee, elections experts said.
Hypothetically, that would narrow the Republicans’ 53-to-47 majority in the upper chamber, which may become relevant if a vote on a replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was delayed until a lame-duck session after the election.
The Arizona race is technically a special election. The state’s Republican governor appointed Ms. McSally to the seat after she was defeated by Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, in a closely contested Senate race in 2018.”
Sloane Ranger
Some good news. Early polling reported on CNN shows most voters prefer Biden nominate RGB’s replacement and, unlike 2016, more Democrats than Republicans are concerned about who sits on SCOTUS.
If Republicans think filling the seat will fire up their base, they may be mistaken.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: I saw that and thought it was one of the instances where Sherin lets his own politics show through the mask. Has anyone seen any polling on how court packing actually plays with voters?
JoyceH
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: And while we’re at it, how about an investigation into the peculiar and out of the blue retirement of Justice Kennedy, who made Kavanaugh possible in the first place. Son at Deutsche Bank, the ONLY bank that would lend Trump money, and son in the thick of it. Was it really their money, or were they money laundering for the Russians again? Was Kennedy’s retirement voluntary or coerced by bribery or extortion?
Jess
@Betty Cracker: My condolences. I had a day like that recently, and the final scene involved surprising a skunk in my kitchen, checking out the cat food. Fortunately (thank the FSM) it didn’t spray in the house.
trollhattan
@raven:
Interesting twist on the senate’s fate. Did not know he could be seated that quickly. Let’s go, Arizona! Compare and contrast with Franken-Coleman back in ’08.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
my god, my terror of raccoons has now been surpassed. Doggy door? a door left open? Are those demon rodents developing opposable thumbs now, too?
FelonyGovt
@Ruckus: Thank you. ❤️ It’s hard. This woman has been a second mother to me for 40 years, since my own mom passed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven: I wonder who makes the decision? The AZ gov? SoS?
Baud
@Sloane Ranger:
Late but good.
Sebastian
@Tony Jay:
Exactly that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven: I saw that. Thank you. I had no idea.
germy
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us:
I agree, he should be looked at. If he’s been rescued by daddy’s money (like Trump) then we can make sure it was done legally. (Didn’t Trump’s father play a bunch of illegal tricks while transferring wealth to his spawn?)
It would be nice to see Kavanaugh removed, as he was involved in the sabotage of Bill Clinton.
WaterGirl
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: I agree that he needs to be investigated, particularly the bullshit financial stuff. I don’t recall the details I read at the time, but even if it was a parental bailout, then rules were broken and taxes weren’t paid on that money.
The details aren’t important for this conversation, but they will be if we win the races we need to win and have some power in 2021.
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: ”
It’s unclear, however, if McConnell or Arizona GOP Gov. Doug Ducey could delay Kelly’s induction to the Senate.”
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@JoyceH: Do it all, and more. I’m for the use any angle, everything and the kitchen sink approach. I’m for court packing if it comes to that. And as a backup approach for 20 year term limits on SCOTUS appointments that apply to current Justices. That doesn’t specifically benefit either party in the long term but would help flip the court back to liberal faster in the short term. I just think it would be a good idea to end the lifetime appointments for something that’s long enough to take short term partisan gain off the table, or (as I said in the previous thread) achieve whatever other high and mighty purpose is the reason for the lifetime appointment. Two decades and you’re out. Could be a good rule for Senators too (or maybe 24 since they serve six year terms). In general I’m not in favor of term limits but two decades, while technically a term limit, is an awfully generous one.
Dorothy A. Winsor
zhena gogolia
Stephen F. Cohen also died yesterday.
Jess
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I had left the back door open for my dog, and hadn’t gotten around to shutting it after he came back in. Fortunately, he’s a sensible soul who has already learned the hard way about skunks, and doesn’t go after them (or porcupines) anymore. He stayed heroically behind me as I encouraged our visiter to leave.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@WaterGirl: Yeah in general we need to do a much, much better job of investigating white collar crime. Might as well start with him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jess:
My old lab made it ten years without ever being skunked and only one porcupine encounter. I don’t think he would’ve learned. He did once, while running off leash in the woods with another dog, leap over a possum. I thought for sure that was going to turn into an ugly incident, but the dogs were preoccupied with playing and chasing each other. My sister’s golden has been skunked, I think, three times.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They showed up to protest the vote, and not to vote? They’re trying to block people from getting inside to vote. Voter intimidation.
What the hell
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s a good question, and obviously too early to have some polling reflecting current events.
I assume that previous polling probably depends very strongly on the news at the time of the polls.
It’s an issue that most people don’t think about (being busy trying to live their own lives, of course). It would be good if Biden and the Democratic leadership would get in front of this issue and help mold public opinion. It will be difficult, as always, given the way the national press is tilted toward the GOP, but politics is slow and they need to build the foundation for the changes that are all too obviously needed (whatever they might ultimately be). Changes aren’t going to happen quickly (there will be months of hearings at a minimum).
Here’s a Brookings article that talks about some of the surveys that have been done – https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/should-we-restructure-the-supreme-court/
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Remember the sham FBI investigation? As I recall, it was limited to only the sexual assault allegations. Anything else was strictly off-limits. He needs to be investigated further, and if he doesn’t like it, he’s free to resign.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
I had the same moment of cognitive dissonance. I thought, Wow, Susie has really gone round the bend.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh good!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Republicans think about the courts. A lot.
as to molding public opinion, I ask myself the same question I do whenever twitter (usually the ones with a certain flower in their handle) comes up with the Big Bold Idea that Biden MUST EMBRACE NOW! Do John Hickenlooper, Theresa Greenfield and Cal Cunningham want to talk about this?
My big idea: Tie the courts to health care. This is one more way that trump and McConnell want to make it more likely that you’ll go broke if you get cancer. Or covid.
Ruckus
@FelonyGovt:
Welcome. We should help those that come upon a situation that’s new to them if we can help. My friend did a lot by his telling me of the pitfalls, pratfalls and just plan WTFs in dealing with parents/grandparents with dementia. And some you’ll learn the hard or funny way. The woman my father was sleeping with in the dementia home, her children were mortified that mom would be human and sleep with someone she liked, that my dad must be forcing her. The home had to explain to them that no one was forcing anyone, they are just new personalities and that their history is new, while their bodies are old. It helps if you are not rigid in your view of life, and understand that change is change, it happens, like or agree with it, or not.
karen marie
@WaterGirl: Is there any study as to the effectiveness of postcard/phone call/text campaigns? I know how I feel when I get yet another text – annoyed at the barrage. Post cards go straight to recycling. I’m relieved I’m not getting phone calls – a bit surprising given I live in Arizona but …
Are there people who are actually swayed by such contact?
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Had not heard that.
Condolences to Katrina v H.
Betty Cracker
@Jess: Oh dear GOD! ?
@WaterGirl: Still haven’t found the time — it was bread the mister made.
@the pollyanna from hell: Beautifully said — thank you!
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They were protesting voting? Do they think that only they get to vote or that it has to happen only on Nov 3 from 8-5 because something, something, BS?
Rethuglicans seem to enjoy sucking on exhaust pipes because they keep doing stupid things that actually hurt them as much as anyone else. Are they actually afraid that everyone will find out how idiotic and just plain bad they really are at, well everything?
LuciaMia
@Dorothy A. Winsor: What the hell were they protesting about?
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’ve started having second thoughts about early in-person. Aside from health issues and bad back, standing in line for hours and having to deal with assholes like in that tweet is beginning to feel like a bad choice.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: Campaign signs right there too. All of it is banned by election law.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LuciaMia: democracy, they’re against it
Dorothy A. Winsor
@LuciaMia: They were protesting early voting, I think. Basically, they were intimidating voters. I guess they assume they’re voting the wrong way.
Aleta
@WaterGirl: Just what I wanted ! (I want it on my car.)
Also, thank you for this fast, efficient, easily maneuverable site. And its fast, efficient, easily maneuverable comment box. I keep thinking what a a big big deal it is, to have the site be like this now. And how much concentrated work you must have dedicated to get it this way for 2020. ?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They didn’t look very intimidating. Just pathetic.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Oh good, it wasn’t just me.
Kayla Rudbek
@Yutsano: Yep, follow the money! It’s completely preposterous that he was claiming spending thousands of dollars a year on baseball tickets.
gwangung
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Law violation.
Probably a more serious violation than being an undocumented person.
WaterGirl
@karen marie: I don’t really know, maybe someone else can chime in.
I recall that in 2018 there were studies that showed that postcards helped. I am only annoyed by phone calls and texts, but then I don’t suppose I am their target audience anyway.
I suppose with postcards it depends on the message. If it’s “you need to request your mail-in ballot by x date”, I can imagine that would be very helpful as there would surely be a lot of “oh shit!” I need to get that done responses.
Benw
Can’t win tomorrow if we don’t fight today
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: If I could have homemade bread, made at my house by someone else, I would definitely take that! :-)
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I wonder if they organized through a facebook group that originated from some Russian troll farm.
WaterGirl
@Aleta: I was just thinking about the site rebuild earlier this week.
Last summer and fall I worked 35-40 hours a week on the new site AND 35-40 hours a week for my summer client. So basically two full-time jobs.
With all the stress of the pandemic and the even-more-off-the-rails administration, I honestly don’t think I could have the focus if I were trying to do it this year. And that’s even without my summer client this year (because of COVID).
Life certainly is “interesting” these days.
Sab
@Ruckus: Your comments over the years have been really helpful for me dealing with my dad’s dementia.
pamelabrown53
@debbie:
So…if you’re having second thoughts re: in-person, early voting what is your Plan B?
I live in a red state (TX) and to be on the safe side my spouse and I will early vote. If on the first day it’s too crowded, we’ll come back. Third time, if we’ve not yet voted we’ll invoke the “crawl through glass”. I’ll make certain my rapidly deteriorating spouse has mask, gloves, sanitizer, folding garden stool and snacks (enough to share)!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
he’s gonna be martyring himself so much over this they might as well add a cross to his stage show
debbie
Get a mail-in ballot, fill it out, and drive it to the BOE.
J R in WV
@opiejeanne:
More complicated than that. She publicly announced to friends at a cocktail party on or shortly after election day that Bush had to win, so that she would feel right about retiring.
So then she voted with the other Republicans to be sure Bush won, so she could retire. Shameful in my book not to recuse myself in such a situation… Then 9-11, then the still failed invasion of Iraq, etc. All on her head be it, alongside Mr Shrub, whom she helped install.
karen marie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t believe this happened for a hot second.
Steeplejack (phone)
Good thread:
Sister Golden Bear
@cain:
That was Sister Night. ?
Kathleen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Our Dem candidate from Ohio 1 has been laser focused on health care, which is her primary area of expertise and experience. According to 538, as of 9-9 she’s up 50% to his 46%.
J R in WV
@germy:
Gifts over $9,999.99 must be reported and are taxable as ordinary income. So at least tax evasion. If not a relative, more likely bribery …. in either case, perjury before the committee in answering very direct questions. He was asked, in my book he didn’t answer truthfully ~!~
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: I’m with you on all of that!
WaterGirl
One more RBG image that was sent to me. Not sure what I think of this one, as no one considered her a bitch. Or did I miss something? (I’m sure I miss a lot since I seldom read comments on twitter and elsewhere.)
edit: updating after the fact because I have been informed that the quote came from RBG herself, in response to being called a bitch. Just makes me love her even more.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: reminds me of Tina Fey’s rant in ’08 about HRC. I get what she was saying, but it struck me even then, Obot that I was, as a fundamental misread of HRC’s character and personality.
J R in WV
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
September 19, 2020 at 3:24 pm
Did no one call 9-1-1 ???? Surely intimidation at a polling place in illegal everywhere !!! I would have been making video while calling the cops.
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: I disagree, Water Girl. I don’t think he’s human. And thank you for the post and the quotations.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@J R in WV:
I’m curious about who/what that “security” was.
I like to think that shit plays really badly with the normies.
WaterGirl
@Kathleen: Point taken! I revised that comment, striking out human being and adding “creature”.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I imagine that any strong woman is considered a bitch in some circles. Luckily, I don’t run in those circles.
Kathleen
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Probably quite a few in line were the “wrong color” as well.
WaterGirl
It bothers me that we can’t just grieve the loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg because the cretins on the other side are gleefully wringing their hands like the villains they are, thinking about all the dastardly ways they can use this to their advantage. Lie, cheat, steal, that’s all they know.
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: I thought a commenter on a BJ thread had stats on effectiveness of post card campaigns. Alas, I don’t remember the day or the person who commented. Uncle Cosmo maybe?
WaterGirl
@Kathleen: I haven’t seen anything like that this year, but I don’t keep up with every thread.
Actually, now that I say that, maybe it was discussed in one of the early Action threads. I suppose if someone really wanted to know now, they could skim through those posts? There’s a link in the sidebar.
Or we can bring it up on one of the Action threads next week.
Kathleen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What did she say? I didn’t pay much attention to primary in 2008 thank God except to give a lot of thought as to which candidate I would support (I was even interviewed by CNN!!!). I liked both Obama and Clinton but I decided on Obama, ironically because I knew media would be merciless against Clinton and I thought that would hurt Dem chances.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kathleen: Fey was IIRC making a guest appearance.
Listening to it again, I’m struck by how much Fey resented Obama
Kathleen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thank you!
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Someone put a picture of mcconnel on twitter that looked like he’d swallowed shitforbrains dick whole and why did he look like that.
My response was that mcconnel was worried that his casket wouldn’t be urine proof.
He knows what he’s done and who he is. He just likes it that way.
Ruckus
@Sab:
Sorry he and you had to go through that.
As I said above, people helped me, I’m just passing on my experience to let people know they aren’t alone and that while it’s not easy, you can make it a lot harder with out the concept that while it’s the same real person on the outside, the inside is not. And it’s not your fault nor is it their fault. You don’t have to embrace it, but you can make it easier. I’ve seen two people on twitter who just had babies, in this environment, but think back 9 months and tell us you thought we’d be where we are today. Life goes on, and it changes, often far more radically than we can reasonably respond to, for reasons that we don’t know and maybe can’t understand. That takes tools to make it something you can do. Experience can = tools.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Well they have spent the last few decades doing only that and getting rewarded for it.
UncleEbeneezer
@karen marie: SwingLeft says that their mid-term review showed very positive feedback on postcards. Remember these are going mostly to current, former and likely Dems.
Another Scott
@Kathleen: H.E. Wolf pointed us to PostcardsToVoters.org previously.
https://postcardstovoters.org/faq/
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
karen marie
@UncleEbeneezer: “Positive feedback” of what sort? My real question is, is it effective. And by “effective,” I mean did it result in someone registering or voting who would not have but for receiving a postcard/telephone call/text
I don’t see anything at that link that answers such questions. Maybe I’m missing something?
Oh, I was looking at the link from Scott. Yeah, that has nothing about effectiveness.
Another Scott
@karen marie: How about this then?
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1648&context=stu_hon_theses
2% can be a big deal in some elections.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
Care to offer a citation for that? Because to my recollection, you are conflating a number of things. Gifts are not generally taxable to the recipient. Gift taxes, to the extent that they apply, are payable by the giver. One can give a gift and count it against an eventual inheritance if gift tax does apply. The under $10,000 provision is a completely different thing and part of anti-money laundering and similar laws.
ETA: Dead thread, but that was dangerously wrong info.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: It’s probably in reference to this:
Cheers,
Scott.
Jean
@germy: Yes, the MAGA people circled the parking lot, shouting, and they blocked the entrance as well. Why weren’t the police called? That’s voter intimidation. I live in VA and saw the pictures early today.
Another Scott
@Jean:
Good, good. They need to nip this stuff in the bud.
Cheers,
Scott.
CarolPW
@karen marie: Dead thread, but think about how many postcards people could have written instead of trying deal with this person.
H.E.Wolf
Hello! I’m very late to the party, and I only have knowledge of the Postcards To Voters’ discussion of this topic. Here’s what I recall.
PTV got their start in 2017, with a few friends writing GOTV postcards for a special election in GA. In 2018, the FL Democratic Party reached out and asked if PTV could help them do a pilot project to test postcard effectiveness.
The pilot project took place in 1 FL county for a specific length of time, and asked recipients to sign up for FL Vote By Mail. The FL Democratic Party provided addresses to Postcards To Voters, and tracked those recipients’ responses. There was a measurable increase over the usual number of Vote By Mail requests.
After that, the FL Dems asked if PTV would write to every Democratic voter in FL. PTV folks said they’d do it, on a county-by-county basis (rather than a scattershot statewide attempt). They completed their project earlier this year, and then did a small 2nd pass in populous counties (Miami area, Orlando area, Jacksonville area) to reach people who were new residents, newly of age to vote, etc.
FL now has about 700,000 more Democratic voters registered for Vote By Mail than they do Republican voters. [ETA: Before this project began in 2018, Republicans were ahead.]
The FL Democratic Party thinks there may be a connection… and they’re very happy, because their statistics show that once people are signed up, they vote more frequently than they did before.
If you’d like more information, the http://PostcardsToVoters.org website has an excellent FAQ page, and browsing their social media will bring up periodic posts about the effectiveness of postcards for GOTV.
Hope this helps!
karen marie
@Another Scott: I appreciate the link. I’ve got an issue with the author’s conclusion.
In the “results and analysis” at page 27, it says there was a two percent difference in “predicted turnout” but nowhere does it say whether the “predicted turnout” was confirmed by “actual turnout” numbers.
The paper is a bit scattershot in that it discusses many different forms of contact with different voters before multiple different elections. It seems to me that its conclusion that “postcards are effective at increasing voter turnout” (by two percent!) is quite a stretch.
For instance, at page 11, it says:
So …
While I applaud people taking action by reaching out to their fellow citizens to talk about the importance of voting, I’m not convinced that postcard writing is going to be (or has been) responsible for a two percent increase in voter turnout.
I can’t imagine I’m alone in tossing all election-related materials except for my ballot and the official “voter guide” straight into the recycle bin.
The paper suggests that face-to-face contact does have an impact on GOTV, but postcards appear to not have the impact that the conclusion wants you to think it does.
I’m sorry for being a wet blanket about this subject but I hate to see people waste their time and money when they could be doing something else that’s more effective – like walking their neighborhood, knocking on doors.
H.E.Wolf
@CarolPW:
No worries. I’ve answered the PTV query so often that I now have it in a cut-and-paste document. No time spent to speak of. :)
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: That’s a really fun book, actually. I am planning to read the sequel at some point!