Did not even need to go look for the quarters that are bunked down with pretzel fragments and peanut butter M&M shells:
To every person who chipped in a few dollars last month — thank you. Because of your support, we raised an astounding $383 million. I'm incredibly humbled.
There's still more work to be done, but I wanted to share the good news with Trimicka, one of our grassroots supporters. pic.twitter.com/f9hIPT6PTW
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 15, 2020
I think officially that is a lot of money.
On The Road – MissWimsey – Amsterdam
guachi
I was at $50 a week to Biden and $50 per week to other candidates. But since October 1 it’s $25 per week to Biden and $75 to other candidates as I figured Biden would be rolling in dough.
Cheryl Rofer
Looking forward to hearing how much Trump raised. He freaks out at these comparisons.
He wants his “town hall” tomorrow night to go head to head with Biden so that he can crow about the ratings, which he assumes will favor him. With the hate-watching, he may turn out to be right.
Poe Larity
Kid in front of me at BofA interminable line had a bucket of quarters. They told him he had to roll them and had to have an account. I’d been assuming he had an account and was overdrawn.
Some gave him cash. Now I just have to get that mountain of dirty clothes down to the basement.
Adam L Silverman
The first 100 people that donate to the Silverman Student Loan Repayment Victory Fund 2020 will get a personalized thank you email.
debbie
For me, the best part of the Barrett hearing was listening to Lindsey Graham’s rueful remarks about dark money.
Wyatt Salamanca
OT
Boycott NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC until after Election Day
NBC executives could have chosen any day and time to hold a town hall event with Trump, but these ratfucking bastards deliberately decided to air it at the exact same time as Biden’s town hall event airing on ABC. NBC will air its Trump town hall on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC simultaneously thus insuring that Trump will get higher Nielsen ratings than Biden. I’m a longtime MSNBC viewer, but this move by NBC to force viewers to choose between the 2 town hall events is beneath contempt.
Fuck Trump and Fuck NBC for putting tv ratings ahead of the best interests of voters.
h/t https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/nbc-news-trump-town-hall-savannah-guthrie-1234803981
Tim C.
Since it’s an open thread….and I love this community so I can share.
I bought an electric car. Chevy Bolt. It’s amazing. Seriously, I’m never owning a gas-powered car again. I live in the pacific northwest where power is cheap and gas is expensive. This thing has a ridiculously simply maintenance schedule and it costs me less than 8 bucks to drive 200 miles. Also it’s like driving a physics experiment where when you drive down hill you actually get more range. Why this hadn’t been a thing that completely takes over, I don’t understand.
Also, fuck dolt 45.
Jeffro
Related (maybe! in terms of a blue wave!): FiveThirtyEight is now showing a slight edge for Dr. Cameron Webb in VA-05! It’s close so (obvs) we gotta keep fighting, but still…this is happening, peeps!!
Thanks, Bob Good, for those ads showing you standing side-by-side and wrestling-hold-to-wrestling-hold with trumpov. Total gift. ;)
#ETTD
Adam L Silverman
@Tim C.: Congratulations. May you drive it in good health.
Jeffro
@Wyatt Salamanca: Yes! And be sure to write/email/call them and tell them you’re boycotting them, and their advertisers, and why.
HumboldtBlue
I posted this below but it’s also a heads-up to Watergirl.
Katie Porter is a badass.
Gin & Tonic
@Tim C.: Not everyone who owns a car has a place where they can plug it in.
Wag
@Cheryl Rofer: I know that I won’t be hate watching. I need to feel love. I’ll be watching Joe.
Jeffro
@Wag: Same here! If I want to watch a monkey flinging poo, or a wannabe pro wrestler, I know where to find that. ;)
Tim C.
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you!
And true Gin & Tonic, but it will be infrastructure week at my house next week.
Patricia Kayden
Ken
For a moment I thought this was a Cole post, destined to become part of BJ history like the naked mopping and the mustard.
Honus
@Gin & Tonic: everybody doesn’t have gas pump at home either. I mean, my family did, both gas and diesel, but we were the exception.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: Yup, no place to plug in a car here. Hell, I’m lucky if I can find a parking space in front of my house.
Kay
@debbie:
Obviously she’s not my cup of tea and I also think she plain doesn’t have enough experience to be a SCOTUS justice, but I thought she would be more engaging and less dismissive – I was surprised by how aggrieved she came off, as if she resented having to go through a hearing at all- even a joke of a hearing like that one. I genuinely do not understand why all these people seem to go around with a huge chip on their shoulders. What, exactly, do they want? A SCOTUS seat isn’t enough for them now? We’re all supposed to kiss their asses and thank them for taking these jobs? The entitlement is just off the charts. Is someone forcing them to take these jobs? On and on about the sacrifice. I don’t want her to sacrifice on my account. She should turn down the job if it’s such a nightmare.
thruppence
I’ll be working; have to set the DVR for Joe.
Ken
But all in one place? That’s the convenience when you stick with Trump.
Ken
@Patricia Kayden: Well, Rudy does sell himself as an expert on cybersecurity.
PsiFighter37
Whatever is left on November 4th should be enough to cover the lawyers. Otherwise, carpetbomb all of the airwaves, radiowaves, microwaves, etc. Let’s win ourselves fucking Texas!
Jeffro
@Ken: that’s true…he does serve up the full bananapants combo platter…
debbie
@Kay:
She shares spirit animals with Brett Kavanaugh.
Barbara
@Tim C.: I have been driving a Tesla for 7 years. Totally agree about the driving experience, but there are some logistical hiccups. We recently installed solar rooftop and we like the idea that our car is that much closer to going off the grid.
stinger
I voted today, and felt less safe, covid-speaking, than I have in months. At any one time there were about 6 poll workers, six people voting, 3-4 people being told the voting process, and 2-3 people in line within the room. If this had taken place in a gymnasium, big and with high ceilings, it would have felt okay. But this was a conference room in the public library. And it took 15 minutes (Fauci time!) to hear the process explanation and fill out the ballot. Everyone was masked, but there were constantly two or more people speaking (which I’ve come to think of as “spitting into their masks”). I’ve hardly gone into public places besides grocery and hardware stores, so the longer I was in the voting station the more I kept hearing DUM-dum DUM-dum DUM-dum…. If I get COVID from voting, I’ll be even more glad I voted for Joe and Kamala.
Honus
@Kay: hey, these kids worked their butts off to get through prep schools, college and Yale law, working in a republican hack firm, going to the Brooks Brothers riot and clerking for Silberman or Scalia, and now you want them to Answer questions and substantively defend their record before bring elevated to the nation’s highest court? The nerve!
Jay
@Gin & Tonic:
Here in BC, if you can’t plug it in at home, you go to the mall, the parkaide, Home Despot, Tim Hortons, or the various Highway rest stops, amongst other places.
You can even recharge at the top of the Highway to Hell.
Kay
@debbie:
Three days of hearings, half of which was spent listening to Republicans tell her how wonderful she is! Oh, the humanity. I honestly think these are people who are never questioned. They have the positions of authority and they do all the questioning. They’re such damn whiners when it gets turned around.
HumboldtBlue
I’m not gonna link but Sweet Mother of 1989 Lindsey Graham is being thrown out of office by Barbara Streisand and Rosie O’Donnell.
That was Hannity’s response to Lady G’s latest Fox News beg for money.
Jay
@debbie:
slime mold?
Barbara
@Kay: They really, really believe that all virtue is on their side. Look at the way they trumpet their family life. What does that have to do with being a judge? And hearing “Just us” Amy explain why courts are there to deny relief to ordinary people was just revolting.
Amir Khalid
@Patricia Kayden:
Facepalm.
Kay
@Honus:
And that’s the kicker right? They’re not just elites, they’re elite lawyers.
Hearings are unbearable to them. That is a cross these lawyers cannot bear. Questions and answers? What the fuck? No one told them there would that sort of thing in this… lawyer business job.
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue: Go Katie!
WaterGirl
@debbie: I was thinking the exact same thing! Entitled. So entitled.
Kent
Soon as the pandemic is over and kids go back to school I’m buying a used Nissan Leaf or Bolt for my daughter to drive to HS and maybe take to college depending on where she goes and if she needs a car. She’s a HS senior and has yet to have the experience of driving herself to HS.
I’m not planning to ever buy another gasoline car again.
Jay
Steeplejack
@Tim C.:
Congratulations on the acquisition. I looked at the charging options and was impressed. And the range, too. I’d like for my next (and maybe final) car to be an electric one.
Kay
@Barbara:
I love kids but I don’t bring mine to a job interview and if she does bring hers I don’t think she can complain that they heard people asking her less than fawning questions. I don’t blame them for this poor judgment- I blame their parents. Who said this was for kids? Of course it upsets them if they feel their mother is being criticized but the cure for that is not to change the hearing to make it more pleasant for 7th grade relatives of the nominee. I mean, come on! That’s crazy.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: Her children were there to help prevent people from being too hard on her – “oh, we can’t talk badly about her in front of her own children”.
They were worse than props, they were actually her shields.
What a loathsome creature Covid Barrett is.
WaterGirl
@Kay: We were writing our comments at the same time.
Kent
@HumboldtBlue: I thought Katie Porter was in a somewhat tight race. Am I thinking of a different freshman CA congresswoman?
rikyrah
@PsiFighter37:
Go for the White whale??
rikyrah
I remember when Joe didn’t have $100 before the South Carolina Primary
WaterGirl
@Kent: I was under that impression, too, which is why people are being kind enough to let me know she is doing well.
Ken
@Jay: If only we knew who’s holding Trump’s debts. The Biden campaign could buy them, possibly even at a discount. They wouldn’t need to make any threats, just the knowledge of who now held the paper would drive Trump crazier.
Benw
@Tim C.: we love our Nissan Leaf
Jackie
@Wyatt Salamanca: According to Rachel Maddow, MSNBC will be carrying ABC’s Joe Biden’s Town Hall. Her show will follow immediately.
Barbara
@Kay: @WaterGirl:
It tells you right there that she has no actual real world professional experience. In the real world, women who make references to their family obligations are usually punished for it, and God forbid what would happen if they showed up with their children at work. And you just know that she is going to do to her utmost to protect the very power structure that punishes the vast majority of working women. And she will tell you why that is just and good for everyone else except her.
HumboldtBlue
@Kent:
No. It’s Martin’s district I think and she’s doing well.
Kent
That’s an insane idea. He’s never paying them back. Let Deutsche Bank or the Russian mob eat the losses.
Yutsano
@rikyrah: I really really REALLY want someone to go to Montana! There needs to be a support for the Democratic candidates, and I think Joe can spare a day in Big Sky Country. Even do a major sweep starting in Arizona and bussing north. Who cares if Utah is going to the Orange Dullard? Stop there anyway!
Patricia Kayden
Bill Arnold
Does anybody else have the impression that D.J.Trump is on something in addition to Dexamethasone for his recent rallies?[2] I’m wondering about some low-dose long half-life speedball-like combination[1], like what A. Hitler was getting in WWII.
Thoughts? I lack personal experience with some(well, most) of the possibilities.
[1] e.g. levorphanol/methamphetamine? I am not a doctor. :-)
[2] WATCH LIVE: Trump holds campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa – some serious animated rambling, you have been warned.
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: Dark money that’s not going to Republicans. Someone should ask him if he’s opposed to the Citizens United SCOTUS decision.
Another Scott
@Jay: Hey, don’t be slaggin’ slime mold. It can solve puzzles, can learn, has an external memory-like mechanism, and is pretty amazing for being a single-celled organism.
Much higher up on the intelligence scale than your common RWNJ.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secret-mind-of-slime/
Cheers,
Scott.
Patricia Kayden
@Bill Arnold: I can’t watch Trump. Way too annoying. It’s the lies more than the rambling which gets to me.
HumboldtBlue
@rikyrah:
I remember when he was referred to as a “denture-sucking old fart” cuz I’m pretty sure I typed that.
I then walked into a phone booth (c’mon, pretend they still exist) and came out in a Kamala cape with a Biden yard sign and a yearning to hear Jill talk that Philly area Erse.
TaMara (HFG)
different-church-lady
It’s certainly more than Trump has paid in taxes.
CaseyL
One small thing I read that has gotten, SFAIK, no attention whatsoever is that Crazy Eyes II believes in something called the “virtuous citizen,” and only virtuous citizens should be allowed to vote.
I would have liked this to get more attention, have someone ask her to define what constitutes a virtuous citizen, how you test for it, and what happens to people who fail the test.
Calouste
@Kay: They really think they are the new aristocracy, and that the serfs should bend their heads to them. And they even think they “earned” it, where really it is because their parents had enough money and connections to get them in the “right” schools, starting with kindergarten.
oldgold
I wasted a considerable amount of time studying and teaching constitutional law. Then, Bush v. Gore happened. As a consequence, I turned off the lights on that part of my life.
different-church-lady
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I wouldn’t be so sure about it.
Jinchi
The funny thing is it’s hardly a slam-dunk that NBC will get good ratings for a Trump town hall. His last one got 4 million viewers and came in 3rd for it’s time slot.
He might beat Biden in the ratings. He’ll probably only split viewers between them. The two town halls together will probably only get a small fraction of the views that a true debate would have.
jonas
@Kay: That was basically Kavanaugh’s line as well: “I am *owed* this seat you sonsuvbitches! And now I have to sit up here and answer questions? About my past? From the likes of *you*, you measly Senator? Go fuck yourselves!”
Bill Arnold
@Poe Larity:
Exactly 5 quarters per ounce. So a pound is 80 quarters (20 dollars, which is also a pound of dimes.)
(This is useful if you have or improvise a simple balance.)
Jager
@Tim C.: Good for you, my wife is on her 2nd Volt, she’s has purchased 8 gallons of gas since January and she commutes every day. Costs us about 30 a month to charge.
jonas
trollhattan
@Tim C.:
Nice, I hope you love it!
We can insta-rent them here through Gig Car and I have to say they’re a blast to drive and absurdly fast from a dead stop (do not ask how I know).
Data are showing while e-cars have a higher buy-in than traditional there comes a point where the cost per mile plunges compared to a traditional IC car and because there’s relatively little to wear out, one can look forward to a long service life presuming they don’t get bored and want something new.
Charging infrastructure will be in place sooner than folks think and the choice will be much easier.
Nelle
@HumboldtBlue: I got to talk with Katie Porter for about 15 minutes at a small fundraiser in Iowa about a year ago. We were talking about the cooperative pattern among the freshmen women in Congress, how they and their staff worked together to develop lines of questioning. If one ran out of time, the next would pick up from that. And she is funny. My credit card fell in love with her and swoons at the mention of her name.
James E Powell
@Kent:
I can’t seem to find anything that says one way or the other. Her district is the parts of Orange County that don’t touch the Ocean. She’s the first D to win there. We very much want to keep her there.
I’d also like to keep Harley Rouda, whose district is the coastal parts of Orange County, even though he looks and acts like he’s a Republican. I think he even used to be one. But he beat the political disease known as Dana Rohrabacher, so I want him to hang around. It might be one of those district where a blue dog is the best we can do.
jonas
@Patricia Kayden: And they’re not even lies he even understands or believes — they’re clearly just soundbites fed to him by Stephen Miller or another aide that he’s told to memorize and repeat. And most of the time, he even fucks that up. What did he call it at his his most recent rally? “Burisisma?”
James E Powell
@Kay:
Republicans have learned that the way to excite and hold onto their base is to show contempt and disdain toward liberals, democratic process, the press/media, and anyone who isn’t a devoted follower.
sdhays
I hate that this fun and kind video made me think of Dump calling Adelson and bitching at him for not giving to his campaign even though Adelson already raised tens of millions of dollars for him. But it did and now I hope Adelson sees it too and thinks about that call with the President and it pisses him off all over again.
I’m really, really looking forward to going back to a life where Donald Fucking Trump doesn’t insert himself into everything anymore.
sdhays
@Cheryl Rofer: I’m on tenterhooks to find this out too.
NotMax
As it’s late night B-J you could have gotten away with –
And the Chesterfield remains erect.
:)
trollhattan
@Bill Arnold:
IMHO the “snorts Adderall” rumors are accurate and he’s been doing so a good long while. His COVID-triggered steroid use surely took him to new
heightsplaces. I’ve had prednisone a couple of times and even that left me grumpy when I finished each course. My brother was on large doses of it for an extended time and I barely recognized the guy–he even scared my daughter.Don’t think the Hitler comparisons are out of the ballpark. He’s able to get what he wants, when he wants.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
In the drawing room, with a candlestick.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
That seems like…seven years ago. Hope I’m not aging as fast as this year has.
NotMax
@Wyatt Salamanca
It’s sweet that you think NBC decided the choice of date.
Mary G
Records smashed in CA absentee voting:
I think the Republicans may have shot themselves in the foot with putting DeJoy in charge of the post office. People are motivated.
RaflW
At this point, any small, last donations I make are to state legislative races, and the occasional nod to an Espy or Peters. We’re under three weeks out.
Next phase is funding groups that do voter access and election integrity. I think that’d be a great thread for the days ahead, oh masterful blog FPers.
TS (the original)
@trollhattan:
Which may be another reason he is rather concerned about losing the election – although I guess he will easily find a doctor willing to lose his reputation by working for trump.
NotMax
@trollhattan
It’s a given it sure as hell wasn’t Colonel Mustard!
:)
Jay
@Ken:
@Kent:
you can buy “ unsecured bad debt” for pennies on the hundreds of dollars.
It’s called “zombie debt”. They use boiler rooms to constantly harass the debtor. If they make even one payment on the debt, you have recovered your costs, two, a profit.
And it resets the clock. Ignore completely zombie debt for two years, it’s gone, but shows on your credit record for 6 years.
some progressive groups have been using the lawfare around this to retire medical debts, student debts, mortgage debts, through Go Fund Me’s, since Occupy.
jl
Graham seems to be losing it. Can’t open his mouth anywhere without begging for money, whining that he has to do some work to get re-elected, and how unfair it all is. That’s a good sign.
I don’t know what the best tactical strategy is for getting a big win for Democrats all around the country and in every state, and persaude as many people as possible to make the right decision. But the truth is that Trump and Trumpism is, in essence, fascism. Hard core Trumpsters have fascist attitudes. I resist saying that, but I keep thinking it, so might as well say it. It all needs to be stopped, period. So, gonna go visit Act Blue and see what looks like promising races to help.
I heard an interview with the director of the Election Project today and he had what I think is good news. There are three states that I am particularly worried about Trumpsters stealing the election: MI, PA and WI, because they don’t do anything with the ballots until election day. This guy said that they have improved their validation and counting process so that they should get done in 2 or 3 days. That, plus all the swing states that start counting early, should make plans to swipe the election much harder. Let’s hope for the best.
jl
Graham using comments on SCOTUS hearing while in capitol building to beg for money. And, observe that the SC senate race “has taken on sort of a national profile.” Has he even been paying attention?
@ShaneGoldmacher
Most members leave the Capitol complex to make fundraising calls but this happened today
https://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher/status/1316573238458232833
FlyingToaster
@Jackie:
Nope.
According to NBC News, Trump is airing across their networks, pre-empting Rachel’s show.
RaflW
I rented a 2021 Ford Escape (conventional, eco-turbo) for my recent trip to CO. It was a really nice vehicle, and I managed 33 mpg overall, including 36 mpg the final two days, all at basically 75-78 mph.
There is a plug-in hybrid version. I’m actually fairly interested. I’ve rented Ford fusion hybrids a couple times, they were decent. Anyone know if the new Escape has a better driver feel than the Fusions of a couple years ago? (The second Fusion I rented also had an electrical problem involving the traditional battery for the gas motor. Did some reading and at the time, that was not uncommon).
I think we’re not quite ready for all-electric (our CO location doesn’t have power in the parking area, and for as ‘green’ as Summit County likes to imagine itself, I haven’t noticed that many charging points around Dillon). Plug-in hybrid seems the thing for us for this next round of auto buying.
Will do plenty of research (and very open to BJ-tariat recs) before we make a move. If Joe wins, that is. If things go awry, we’ll keep the 21 year old Corolla.
Josie (also)
@Poe Larity: Thank you for your help. The stores have signs asking for credit/debit card payments due to “change shortage”. I have left a purchase at the counter when they said they had no change.
Steeplejack
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I don’t have a plug at home either. But when I was Googling the Chevy Bolt I found that there is a fast Level 3 charging station about a quarter mile from me—the same distance as my usual gas station.
SFAW
@NotMax:
… with the Dijon-encrusted mop. In the Subaru (which is in the ditch).
Mary G
@James E Powell: From my vantage point south of their districts, Harley Rouda is probably in more trouble than Katie P. Republicans are throwing money at all the districts, but it’s running like water off a duck’s back in Katie’s case and my rep Mike Levin’s.
Harley is a millionaire who ran for yucks, not a natural politician, and it shows. The state GOP is refusing to take down their do-it-yourself ballot boxes partly because he’s doing the same thing. They said an “overzealous volunteer” printed up the signs saying that they’re official, which have been removed, and they’ve moved them indoors where they are tended and can be signed by the person accepting them for delivery as required by law.
RaflW
@jl: Graham has been so far up Trump & FOXs backsides, he may really not have paid much attention till recently. He’s gotten used to the GOP being able to shake down big dollar donors, and the South being reliably Republican (aka white).
I’m not sure when Cook Rpt moved SC to tossup. That even caught my eye. And the thing about Jamie raising his haul from nearly a million donors who averaged less than 60 bucks is, if needed, there’s room for more. GOP donors are few and max out. Sad!
NotMax
@RaflW
FWIW I regularly got 33 mpg (or better) with the first car I bought new from a dealership, a 1971 Mercury Capri. V-6, standard shift.
;)
The Moar You Know
@trollhattan: once. DID NOT LIKE. Had to shave three times a day; I normally have to shave about once every three days. And it does fuck with your mind; it was very minor in my case but it left me with a real healthy desire to not take it again unless absolutely needed.
I think Trump’s been hitting the Adderal hard. I know speed junkies and he’s showing literally every sign of being on the tiger. And I still don’t think he ever had COVID.
Jay
@Another Scott:
I was trying to think of a lower life form, as a “spirit animal”, for ReThugs.
so far, only comes back to other ReThugs.
Splitting Image
@Yutsano:
It’s still too early to count chickens, but I’m thinking that a few states might be closer than people are expecting. Idaho, Wyoming, and South Dakota have apparently never been polled this cycle, and a few others only once or twice. Granted they will likely all vote GOP, but the way they’ve screwed things up in SD, I wouldn’t be at all shocked if there is a backlash there.
Mind you, Biden would be better off staying out of some of these states for health reasons, but otherwise I agree with your comment.
I’m not even sure the Democrats should be writing off Utah. Trump is up 50-40 as of the last poll, but Bush and Romney won it with over 70%. The GOP is bleeding voters like mad there. Even if those voters are not enough to win the state, the Democrats need to make sure they have a home.
HumboldtBlue
@Nelle:
Desus and Mero agree with you. What an interview.
RaflW
Well I got curious, and there’s a Supercharger location down in Silverthorne, CO. Is that Tesla-only? It’s 1.8 miles from our place. Whole Foods has some other brand of charger, that’s 4.5 miles one way.
Kind of amazing that Keystone ski resort (Vail touts their ‘green’ efforts) doesn’t have charging. That’d be 7 miles from us, but easy to be parked there for several hours while snowboarding. Town of Breckenridge (14 miles) has several options, but heavier on Tesla.
RaflW
@Splitting Image: I’m not sure Bullock would want a Biden visit. There have been two polls of MT in the past few days. One had Bullock ahead by two, the other by one. So both are inside the m.o.e.
Neither had Biden within five. The state is kind of swing-y, but in their own special way that I think doesn’t want attention from the national Dems. I could be wrong, dunno if there are Montanans who stop by this here blog with any regularity??
Kent
The GOP isn’t bleeding voters in Utah. Trump is. Utah will remain ruby red outside of SLC for a long long time.
Calouste
@Splitting Image: Arkansas IIRC hasn’t been polled since June, and at that point Biden was only a few points down.
Kent
No, I guarantee they don’t want Biden there. MT Dems basically run like independents.
Kent
@Calouste: Biden won’t win Arkansas. My daughter just graduated from college there and I have family in AR. It’s as red as Alabama or Mississippi. It’s a race thing like in much of the south.
Most recent polls added to 538 yesterday show Trump +18
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/arkansas/
Calouste
@Kent: 50 in Utah is an improvement for the shitgibbon, last time he only got 45, with a chunk going third party. Still, no Democrat has hit 40 there in a long time, or maybe ever.
RaflW
@NotMax: My dad could coax 32 mpg out of our 1977 Buick LeSabre with the 302 V8. But he locked the cruise control at 57mph and man, were Indiana and Illinois boring.
So. Much. Corn. (But not in the gas back then. On the occasions I can buy ethanol-free gas in the midwest, I think it gets me 1 or 2 mpg improved fuel burn. The oxygenate can be good against urban smog, but at an energy density cost.)
Jay
@RaflW:
got charging stations all over BC. “Private”, ( enter an account #, use somebody else’s), public, ($0.08 kwh), Corporate compted.
We have 24 on each of the 3 floors of our buildings parking.
Safeway has 6, Save On has 9, the LCBC ( Provincial Liquor Store) has 9, my dentist’s has 3.
Calouste
@Kent: Ok. Still, 4 years ago Clinton lost by 27, so 18 is a significant improvement. And I’d take it if Biden does 9 points better in every state.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@James E Powell: Adam Schiff was pretty blue doggie when we first elected him.
Splitting Image
@Kent:
The GOP is Trump’s personal cult at this point. I agree that Utah Republicans will go running back to daddy if the party regains its sanity, but the party isn’t going to. The question is what anti-Trumpers will do when they realize that. The only options are to knuckle under or to leave.
No One of Consequence
Good evening you treacherous lot,
Past few days have been nuts on nearly every level imaginable for me. My parents are Republican, though I have suspicions about my mother once the voting curtain is closed.
She was remarking to me how pleasant and forthright the judge was, and how compelling her story. I told her that I was glad she found the judge to be so, but that these processes were staged theatre. In this particular case triply so: the judge would not answer any questions that could later be used as ammunition for calls for recusal of any potential case that may come before them, two: representatives of our government refused to (publicly) receive tests that may come back positive and require them to quarantine and not have enough senators to move from committee, and three that her rulings would be impartial.
But beyond these things mother, I asked her kindly, please consider: what will be the practical ramifications of this nomination, her quite predictable and demonstrable bent towards the repeal of Roe v. Wade? Let’s say she is confirmed. She is going to be. Let’s say some bleeding red state wants to make another crack at getting it overturned. Let’s say she votes as we expect and it *is* overturned. Where the rubber meets the road, what will be the outcome?
The outcome will not be cessation of abortions. The outcome will be the driving underground of the less-than-wealthy Americans with the money and connections to either get things done off the books, or to travel to somewhere this can be done readily. The underprivileged will not have the same recourse as the rich. And the sad truth is, for any number of reasons, humans will human, and pregnancies will result, and some of them may be unwanted. In some situations, no other recourse will appear accessible to desperate young women, who seeking to avoid pregnancy will either attempt the rectify themselves, potentially denying themselves the ability to have children in the future, or worse and creating a wound they cannot treat and bleeding out or acquiring serious infection. Back alley facilitators will begin again to ply their trade to the detriment of such women, and our society as a whole. We cannot legislate morality, it has been tried. Never once worked.
Personally, I said, I never successfully fought a wave. I’ve surfed a few though. Mightn’t it be worth trying to work *with* human nature as to opposed to it? Or in denial of it’s existence?
Another matter may be the repeal of the ACA. Now Republicans may want to desperately repeal this law, but they lack the political will to get it done through congress and the Doofus in Residence. They would love to have the Supremes handle that for them. Let’s assume she is in fact, a Scalia-like jurist. It would appear to be reasonable to assume their decisions would be similar, if we extrapolate what we know of her creation, to her brief record, with a through-line to anticipation of decisions forthcoming. Let’s say ACA is struck down. Mother, I said, we are talking about millions of Americans losing coverage. That is unnecessary suffering and death as a result. Guaranteed. By definition. For the crime of getting sick, without the means of getting well. Pre-existing conditions like more than half of each of your grandchildren have? Will no longer be protected. If they can get coverage at all, they will pay through the nose for it.
Lastly, mom, I said, let’s say she is who we have demonstrable proof she believes herself to be. Let’s say she doesn’t believe that gay marriage is a right. That it too is wrongly decided. What will the practical implications of that be? Will such a decision forcibly, legally divorce those couples who have tied that knot? What is the extension of that decision, mother? Your son, who is white mutt of various backgrounds, married a Taiwanese lady. Your grandson is half-mutt, half Taiwanese. There was a time, before the Loving v Virginia case, where that marriage would not have been legally permissible. Your son has a dog in that hunt, and the grandson you love so very dearly, is the product of that. Would this nice lady you have such high regard for be an instrument for those very things coming to pass?
Because that is what the Republicans are hoping for. Desperately working for, for more than 40 years mother. The numbers are against them. They are trying to retain power at any price, as opposed to winning the arguments at the ballot boxes. Demographics is destiny and look at the polling for those Americans under 35.
I asked her, with all due respect, I believe having that voice present and a part of guiding this democracy from a philosophical perspective is dangerous at worst. Certainly isn’t reflective of the majority of Americans. And her ‘testimony’ to be disingenuous at best.
And I told her that I predicted, that because of the hypocrisy of how the Pubs are playing this whole thing since Merrick Garland, the end result would be the de-politicization of the Highest Court in the Land, by the diluting of it’s power through the increase of the number of justices. Furthermore, I predicted that this may not happen under Biden. But it will happen, because RBG’s passing has laid bare the ridiculous situation that the death of a single jurist (glorious though she was) has placed upon the nation. It is unnecessary. I told mom that I thought the Supreme court should be reworked, the caseload has increased steadily over the decades and the decisions have decreased steadily. Lower courts have many more judges, and form 3 judge panels by lot. The same model could be done at the Supremes level, and the mass could meet and decide en banc for important cases, or problematic cases, or situations of en banc are called for.
I think I surprised her with my off-the-cuff response. She asked me if I had prepared that. I told her no, I was just paying attention, and have been since about Reagan.
I know my mom, and she is considering what I told her, knowing that I would not lie to her and would tell her my utmost honest, and typically well-considered thoughts on the matter. I don’t think she is reachable, and my dad is surely not. But I know they are well aware of their son’s cognitive abilities, and as such, calm reasoned responses like that leave them unsettled. Which is a shame, because that is not my intent. But I want them both to be aware, that I for one, believe that their judgement in this matter is flawed, ill-considered and short-sighted.
For what it’s worth, and sorry for the length. I felt loquacious and reflective. It was a small victory I thought I would share, though no ground was gained.
Peace, and struggle on,
NOoC
NotMax
@RaflW
As had nothing else on my plate at the time, offered to share the wheel with a friend driving from northeastern Pennsylvania to Des Moines. In his ’68 MGB convertible.
All well and good tooling along the highway. Then we pulled into a station to refuel. The attendant (remember them?) came out to ask what we needed and was visibly stunned by the subsequent loud scream to fill ‘er up.
Both of us had not given a second thought that because the top was down we’d been shouting at each other for miles and miles; it had become the new normal volume.
:)
Ruckus
@Kent:
They may eat losses but they will have any and all assets first. Now that may add up to right around zero or so, considering as how good a business moron he is. Wonder what the kids will do when they find out daddies worth shit, without the shinola.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: Even with fast charging it take a bit longer than filling up with gas. I’ll probably never buy another car.
smike
@RaflW:
We have a couple of Priuses (Priusi?) and though we depend on gas, they are a nice transition. No plug-in, over 40 mpg hwy, quiet and plenty of power, especially in power mode. I’d love to have all electric, but the usual convenience issues arise.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Well it seems they may have shot themselves a bit higher up than the foot running on trump. That’s like running on empty but a lot less delightful.
Jay
Day 6, I think, here.
Reading a lot.
Bored, lonely.
Found better contactless delivery fud.
the delivery guys/gals like me. Masks, gloves, cash tip in a ziplock with tons of sanitizer.
8, maybe 9 more days to go.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
No plug here either. But there are 4 chargers less than a mile away, all near work, only ever seen one car charging at any of them. More expensive than home charging of course but still not bad. Now if I only hadn’t had to purchase a car 4 yrs ago because the 19 yr old one decided it needed a quick 5 grand or so invested in it’s continued existence. I’d get an electric in a heartbeat if I could. But it does somewhat depend on the miles you spend behind the wheel and as BillinGlendale stated if there is any charging reasonably near.
VeniceRiley
@No One of Consequence: Keep hope alive!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: I also have the problem of photo trips, long charging time would really make them much more difficult. They’re usually also out in the middle of nowhere.
Jay
@No One of Consequence:
peace, and struggle on.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Isn’t that why extension cords were invented?
:)
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I was thinking of that when you said it wouldn’t work for you. Many people, myself included, could easily use an electric car, with almost no issues whatsoever. There will always be some that will have some issues. Your work would be a major one. However. There are a bunch of new electric cars that have a 300 mile range and I’m wondering if that would make it doable for you, cost aside?
frosty
That’s the whole election for me, right there. And lots of my friends and family too.
frosty
@NotMax: In the mid-70s I drove my Triumph TR-3 across the country (and back) twice. I stuffed cotton in my ears to kill the wind noise.
I suspect the TR-3 was the cause of my tinnitus. But loads of fun (when it was running!)
Mormo
We bought a used ’16 Leaf about 6 months ago (range about 85 miles, depending, with current battery degradation). Obviously it’s all about charger availability on longer/more rural trips. We’ve recently had two scary-almost-stranded experiences; it looks like the battery is finicky and maybe doesn’t have the capacity it thinks it does sometimes. Charges slower when battery is hot (and doesn’t have any way of cooling it besides waiting). We charge at home using a regular outlet-about 4 mph charging. Maximum DC charger speed maybe 180mph. It’s been inconvenient occasionally, is what I’m saying (we knew about these generic issues when we chose it, most other EVs are better in every one of these respects! But the price…).
And there is no way we’re going back to internal combustion, not even a hybrid. Maybe for a road trip rental if absolutely necessary (due to lacking charging infrastructure). No oxygen sensors. No spark plugs. No oil changes. No head gasket. No transmission rebuild (okay, there’s a single-speed transfer case). No burned valves. No timing belt. No vacuum leaks. No fuel pump. No engine shake ruining engine mounts over time. No serpentine belt. No clogged fuel injectors. No gassy exhaust when you start the thing cold. Near-instant heat & A/C (or pre-heat/cool by semi-functional Nissan app). Fueling costs far lower. And it turns out the 25-minute charging stop is kind of nice for leg stretching or a snack. Basically we got one of the least-capable EVs, especially by American get-on-the-road-and-drive-forever ideals, & it’s absolutely convincing for us.