Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The lights are all blinking red.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Twenty More Days

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Twenty More Days

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159Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    The “somehow” is white power. It’s exceedingly unlikely, but that is the “somehow.”

    I’m against undue pessimism that isn’t justified by the data. But I also don’t like “let’s start counting chickens” sentiments either.

  3. 3.

    PsiFighter37

    Seems like the NY Post is reporting some garbage about Ukraine (that is basically inconclusive) from some hard drive that Giuliani gave them. Keep fucking that chicken, you dumbshits.

  6. 6.

    Nelle

    I feel like a sitting duck here in Des Moines. I won’t be going, of course, but the rally will be our own little Sturgis. As if we had the hospital capacity. We’re hoping it is not near the National Guard hanger; the plane my husband flies for Cuvil Air Patrol is there.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Here’s some data you might like. The BOE here reports that early in-person voting to date is three times what it was in 2016.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    from Ghislaine Maxwell lawyers attempt to keep deposition details secret

    The judge had a further question.

    “Is it fair to say your client did not deny knowledge of any activity involving underage minors? Or did she? What’s your view of this?” Cabranes asked. “Did she or did she not deny knowledge of any activity involving underage minors?”

    Mueller responded: “Your honor, I’m hesitant to answer the question, because at the moment the deposition is sealed. I’m not trying to avoid answering the question, I’m hesitant to offer answers.”

    I’ll bet he said that with a straight face too. Only a lawyer.

  12. 12.

    Mustang Bobby

    Early voting here in Miami-Dade starts October 19.  I early-voted in the last four presidential elections because Florida was the first state where I could.  I think I’ll take my folding chair and make a day of it.

  15. 15.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    Just heard that on MJ. Also saying that Fauci & his group have supposedly tested trump & they say he is not contagious. (I don’t understand what is the testing they are doing – it doesn’t seem to be the standard test most people get).

    They are not saying he has tested negative. I don’t believe any of them.

  16. 16.

    greenergood

    These are hypothetical questions that someone over at Kos said should be asked of Judge Amy Covid. I can’t access my email account today; could someone send these to appropriate Judicial Committee members, if you think they might ask them?

    “So. I think some Democratic Senator could do well by asking:

    Q. Ms. Barrett you have some impressive academic credentials. But you recognize that you have a pretty thin resume for the job you are seeking, right?

    Q. No? Well let me ask you a few questions.

    Q. Elena Kagan was a Solicitor General. Have you served in that capacity?

    No.

    Q. Justice Kagan argued 6 cases before the Supreme Court. Justice Roberts argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court. Justice Alito argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court. How many have you argued?

    None.

    Q. Before being appointed to the Supreme Court, J. Sotomayor served 5 years a a federal district judge and then about 10 years as a 2d Cir appellate court judge. Justice Alito served about 15 years as a federal appellate judge. Justice Gorsuch was a federal appellate judge for 11 years. RBG was a federal appellate judge for 13 years. David Souter had had seven years of judicial experience at the appellate level, four years at the trial court level, and ten years with the Attorney General’s office. How many years have you served as a judge?

    Less than 3 years.

    Q. I understand you have been a law professor. Elena Kagan was the Dean of Harvard Law School. Have you ever been the head of a law school?

    No.

    Q. Justice Steven Breyer was a Harvard Law School professor. While there he wrote the leading textbook on Administrative Law. Have you ever authored a textbook?

    No.

    Q. Justice Breyer also previously worked as a senior counsel in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division and as special assistant to the Assistant Attorney General, and as chief counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, among other appointments. Have you ever served in any such government positions?

    No.

    Q. Brett Kavanuagh worked as a counsel to a Special Prosecutor and as an assistant counsel to President Bush. John Roberts was a special assistant to the US Attorney General and later an associate White House Counsel and later a Deputy Solicitor General. Justice Gorsuch was the Principal Deputy to the Associate Attorney General. Have you ever served in such or similar capacities?

    No.

    Q. Brett Kavanaugh was a partner at the international law firm Kirkland Ellis. John Roberts was a partner and head of the Supreme Court practice at the prestigious firm Hogan & Hartson. Have you ever been a partner at a law firm?

    No.

    Q. Sonia Sotomayor was an assistant district attorney in NYC.

    Samuel Alito was an Assistant US Attorney for NJ. Have you ever been a prosecutor?

    No.

    Q. David Souter served as a state Supreme Court justice. Sandra Day O’Connor served on a state Court of Appeals, and was also Majority Leader in the Arizona State Senate. Do you have any state Supreme Court or State legislative experience?

    No.

    Q. Thurgood Marshall founded the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and personally argued Brown v. Board of Education (!) Both he and RBG innovated sepate civil rights litigation strategies that changed the face of American law and society. Ever done anything like that?

    No.”

  17. 17.

    MazeDancer

    Last week, got curious about what we could see on Election Night. Turns out, possibly, a lot.

    These states start counting their absentees ahead of the game:

    • Arizona
    • Colorado
    • Delaware
    • Iowa (can start 11/2)
    • Maryland
    • Montana
    • Nebraska
    • New Jersey
    • North Carolina
    • Vermont

    If Trump loses Florida, no good path to 270. If he loses AZ, NC, and FL, really no path.

    And if AZ, CO, MT, NC, and Iowa Senate seats go Dem, we’re golden.

    (Knocking wood for all.)

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @MazeDancer:

    In Ohio, they can prepare ballots for counting (taking them out of envelops, laying them flat, etc.), but can’t start the count until Nov. 3.

  26. 26.

    cmorenc

    @matt:

    12 hour lines to vote, created by Republicans.

    True, that’s inexcusable vote suppression.

    However, the upside is what a high % of voters are determined to wait through several-hour lines to insure Trump gets voted out of office.   We have the motivation this time to turn out and do whatever it takes to win, and there there are more of us than there are MAGAs.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Wildlife photographer of the year 2020 winners – in pictures

    Winner – Animals in their Environment and Garand Title Winner: The embrace by Sergey Gorshkov, Russia Winner 2020

    With an expression of sheer ecstasy, a tigress hugs an ancient Manchurian fir, rubbing her cheek against bark to leave secretions from her scent glands. She is an Amur, or Siberian, tiger, here in the Land of the Leopard National Park. Gorshkov installed his first proper camera trap in January 2019, opposite this grand fir. But it was not until November that he achieved the picture he had planned for, of a magnificent tigress in her Siberian forest environment.

    And what a winner it is.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    @greenergood:

    She won’t answer just “no” though- you’ll get a meaningless, mushy paragraph on each.

    I was thinking about that yesterday- I bet people would love a nominee who honestly answered the questions, just 100% engage, not angrily and defensively like Kavanaugh but like a confident person who likes to argue and let the chips fall. One of them should try it.

    Also- do no personal biography at all. “I of course have a family – obviously I came from somewhere- but it’s none of your business”.

    These hearings could be a LOT better.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    Remember “Obama wasn’t vettred”? It’s back.

    Joe Biden is the luckiest, least scrutinized frontrunner (Axios)

  31. 31.

    Bruuuuce

    @greenergood: The question I want her to answer (if she hasn’t evaded it already; I can’t take watching the dog and pony show) is whether refusing to give Judge Garland so much as a hearing, and whether the justification that it was because it was in an election year, was legitimate. It shouldn’t be too hard to make the point of Yertle’s hypocrisy, loud and clear, on national TV.

  32. 32.

    Gvg

    @MazeDancer: Florida can start counting mail ballots 22 days before the election which by my count was last Monday. My ballot does not show counted yet, I am checking the site daily.

  35. 35.

    TS (the original)

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yeah, there was too much of that in 2016, we don’t want to make that same mistake again.

    I cannot imagine anything having the impact  that was felt because of Comey & those emails in 2016. It killed the democratic enthusiasm a week out from the election. It cost way more votes than what trump won by.

    I also cannot think of anything that  trump/his administration/republicans could say that  would make an iota of a difference this year. Most democrats simply would not believe them.

    I don’t see anyone counting chickens (the media would never allow it) but being quietly confident is certainly a good place to be.

    My only concern are the health risks involved for both Biden and Harris while they are campaigning, and with Harris, while fulfilling her Senate obligations.

  36. 36.

    MJS

    The poll that jumps out at me is North Carolina, where Cunningham is 10 points up on Tillis, in a poll that (I believe) was conducted a number of days after news of Cunningham’s texts came out. If that poll is to be believed, and those numbers hold, then I think that’s a sign that all minds have pretty much been made up. Not counting chickens, but I think that poll bodes really, really well for Democrats, because I think it means people are tuning out the bullshit.

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @TS (the original):

    The info coming out of the White House re Trump’s Covid-19 status has been vague and confusing. I for one am not inclined to trust it, nor — were I in America — would I attend any gathering where Trump was going to be present.

  38. 38.

    Nelle

    By Iowa law, counting absentee votes must cease at 10 pm on Election Day.  That’s insane, especially in a pandemic.  But the are allowed to take them out of sealed outer envelopes, starting October 31, then starting to tally votes on Nov 2.  My county, Polk, is the most populous.  They designed a secrecy sleeve, which will speed up removing the actual ballots once they start counting on Nov 2.

  39. 39.

    MJS

    @Bruuuuce: The question can be more pointed than that, because there’s video of her saying that the most conservative Justice (Scalia) shouldn’t be replaced with a liberal nominee, because it would upset the “balance” of the SC. That quote should be read to her by every single Dem Senator, and she should be asked, “What’s different now?”

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    Knowing Trump’s extraordinary degree of narcissism, my first thought when he tested positive was he wouldn’t rest as instructed.

    Which will always make any virus much worse. People with colds who push too hard can do heart damage.

  42. 42.

    John S.

    @Mustang Bobby: My wife and I already filled in our mail in ballots. We’re just waiting for the early voting to open on 10/19 in Broward so we can drop them off at the library.

  43. 43.

    Anya

    I am a bit fatelistic about the Supreme Court. I feel like it will balance itself out very soon. Not to say that I am not enraged over the fact that the worst possible president and a horrible human has nominated 3 Justices.

    Anyway, am I delusional in thinking that Gorsuch might be the new Kennedy (awful rulings but some surprisingly good rulings as well), and Roberts will work very hard to not make the court a wingnut paradise?

  49. 49.

    Anya

    @Baud: We know everything about him. What kind of a garbage take is that? They act like he’s some rando who stumbled into the nomination.

  50. 50.

    Nicole

    @NotMax: I knew exactly what video you were posting. ? Tommy Smothers’ ability to appear as though he is spilling out word salad, when you know each stutter, half syllable and pause has been timed out to comedic perfection, never fails to amaze me.

  51. 51.

    John S.

    @NotMax: Have you seen the strange Trump ad with the Indian-American woman sitting on the bed and holding up signs saying how she is afraid of Biden and scared to speak?

    Creepy stuff.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    Miramar, FL, site of Biden’s drive-in campaign rally in the top-most clip, is where we acquired Badger. He’s the most cold-natured dog we’ve ever had — he shivers when temperatures plunge below 75 degrees — so we call him a “Miramar terrier” rather than a “Boston.” :)

    “We win Florida, and it’s all over,” Biden observes in the clip. It’s true, and I’ve never so fervently hoped for a statewide election result this much in my life, including past campaigns for candidates about whom I was much more personally enthusiastic. “It’s all over” — I’ll have that, please!

    It would be great for America, for all the obvious reasons. It would also be redemptive for Florida, and there’s the added bonus that it would repudiate a certain orange asshole who now calls Florida his “home state.” Just 20 days — and only five before the mister and I present ourselves at city hall to vote early. The county is more than 90% white, so I’m confident we’ll be in and out in a jiff.

  54. 54.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Amir Khalid: RT-PCR testing, the best we’ve got at the moment other than in-cell cultivation of the virus itself, replicates pieces of RNA carried by viruses such as SARS-COV-2 to the point where there’s enough genetic material that it can be measured and quantified.

     

    Someone who has COVID-19 symptoms AND has SARS-COV-2 RNA in samples taken from their throat or nasal cavity is probably expressing viable virus particles i.e. they’re infectious to a high level of certainty. Someone who had symptoms and positive tests but is no longer showing symptoms may still have detectable RNA fragments in samples taken but they may not be emitting viable virus particles i.e. they’re not infectious any more. The worst case, the “Typhoid Mary” situation which is not confirmed anywhere as far as I know would be someone who doesn’t show symptoms any more but is persistently infectious to those around them, for months or even years.

     

    It’s complicated.

  56. 56.

    Anya

    The demented YouTube comment we call POTUS tweeted a meme mocking Biden as elderly and disabled. The meme endorsed Biden for “resident” of a nursing home. This fucking guy…

    I am confused by the choice to go with “Biden is old” when he’s not much younger. WTF kinda of a strategy is this. I hope the olds who get sensitive over everything will get mad at him about this.

  57. 57.

    A Ghost to Most

    “We win Florida, and it’s all over ”

    People who believe that are in for a helluva shock.

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I chatted about the election with two sheriff’s deputies yesterday and both of them think there will be unrest in the period between when it’s called and January. I took the other side- I’m not afraid of Trump supporters, I’m only afraid of state actor Trump supporters- Barr or DHS or people like the sheriff in Michigan who defended the militia members. But they’re both convinced the rank and file Trumpsters will stir up shit – they think it’s going to be ugly.

  59. 59.

    Nicole

     

    Knowing Trump’s extraordinary degree of narcissism, my first thought when he tested positive was he wouldn’t rest as instructed.

    Which will always make any virus muchworse. People with colds who push too hard can do heart damage.

    It is what it is.

  60. 60.

    Nelle

    @Baud: I’ve read that at least three places but now I’m googling and trying to check it out more.  I’ll try to clarify that yet today.  Thanks for raising the question.  I’m sort of nimbly accepting one more outrage these days.

  62. 62.

    Anya

    Why haven’t we heard from or seen Bill Barr since the super spreader event? Did he just vanish because his nothing burger probe came to an end and he didn’t want to be questioned about it?

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    @Baud: it looks like trump is trying out a more jovial, ingratiating line of patter. But it won’t last; we’ll be seeing the nasty, scary personality he showed at his debate with Biden. The debate was an opportunity to stop the bleeding, maybe start to turn his fortunes around. But trump clinched the election for Biden that night.

  65. 65.

    trnc

    Sen Durbin asked why a felon should be allowed a gun but denied a right to vote.

    Barrett responded that the Constitution lets states deprive felons of the right to vote.

    “It’s expressed in the constitutional text,” she said. “But I expressed no view on whether that was a good idea, whether states should do that. And I didn’t explore in that opinion because it was completely irrelevant to it what limits if any there might be on a state’s ability to curtail felon voting rights.”

    Is she referring to section 2 of the 14th amendment? If so, has it been established that “crime” refers only to felonies and not misdemeanors?

    Regarding the gun rights ruling Durbin asked her about, she ruled that non-violent felons shouldn’t lose their gun rights. I don’t disagree with that concept, but where is the distinction in the constitution between violent and non-violent felons? Seems to me that a state is not bound by the constitution to make that distinction.

    IANACL

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    Night has fallen, but voting lines continue in Marietta, Georgia. The @WCKitchen team just finished serving dinner

    The most surprising thing about that? That Brian Kemp hasn’t yet called out the GA National Guard to prevent the WCKitchen team from serving dinner “due to public health concerns” and Board of Health “violations.” [Normally, I’d be worried that I’d be giving him ideas, but I’m pretty sure he’s already thought of it.]
    Although he’s not (technically) in the Fascist-in-Chief’s maladministration, I want Kemp brought before the Truth and Retribution Commission. [He’s not the only non-federal one I want there, of course, but I’d never get to my job if I typed out all the names.]

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @A Ghost to Most:

    I think the uncertainty as far as ballots and counting is being overplayed. They’ll have numbers going in- they know how many registered, they know how many voted, they’ll have fewer eday votes to count with more absentees and even in the more restrictive states they have 12 hours to count absentees.

    They make calls on election night not from pulling it out of their ass but because they have X counted and Y uncounted and they know the total number and they know which areas are heavily D and which are heavily R. The campaigns themselves know exactly the margins they need in each and every swing state county, including the rural counties which will have more eday votes and have fewer votes to count. All of this doesn’t get thrown out the window just because it’s Donald Trump. He has to come really close to throw it into chaos.

  72. 72.

    TS (the original)

    @Anya:

    The media reports said he was going into quarantine because of being a close contact of those at the super spreader white house event – but that was c. 4-5 October. Supposedly it wasn’t going to be for very long.

  73. 73.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Nelle: Is that law relatively new, Nelle? I know the R legislature made a lot of changes when they took over. I think that when I early voted in Iowa, they didn’t start counting them until the same day votes were in.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    This is work. Let’s treat it like that.

    I agree and I love kids. I enjoy having them around, but they don’t belong in court and they don’t belong at that hearing. We could have a good legal debate! Let’s have one. I mean, Jesus Christ, the world isn’t going to end if we tell the truth about what we think.

  75. 75.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    So wonder what the balance of Indian Americans to Cuban Americans is in Florida?

  76. 76.

    hueyplong

    @A Ghost to Most: I hope he says that to each crowd he addresses, in each state he visits.  If we win [your state], it’s over.

    I don’t understand your point, but it’s early and I haven’t consumed much caffeine yet.

  78. 78.

    Nelle

    At the time of the superpreader event in Des Moines tonight, the steady windspeed, out of the WNW is forecast to be 18, gusting to 28.  I want to view clips of his tie battering his mug and what isn’t glued to his scalp flying off and the rest flailing and revealing his pale skull.  I would watch that.  Cold front is sweeping down the Plains today and may it chill his bones.

    Some group put up a billboard across from the airport entrance where the event will be.  It says Trump Superspreader Event with an arrow pointing the way.  Meanwhile, our feckless,  syncophantic governor is urging her Covid ridden citizens to snap up those free tickets.  Hospitalizations from Covid on Iowa hit a high yesterday.  What flavor of Koolaid will they be serving at their rally?

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @Anya:

    I am confused by the choice to go with “Biden is old” when he’s not much younger. WTF kinda of a strategy is this.

    OK, I’ll try to MAGA-splain to you*:

    Although (calendar-wise) Trump is only a few years younger, he is in MUCH MUCH better shape — the BEST of any president EVER! He got infected, and was so strong that COVID-19 was kicked to the curb because Trump is so strong. Trump’s BMI is something like 25, and he hides all his outstanding musculature under one of those Hollywood (spit) “fat suits.” That picture of Dear Leader, posing like Rocky Balboa, was taken recently, libtard. All of Biden’s appearances are Photoshopped to make it look as if he is not obese. If “Sleepy Joe” were to challenge Dear Leader to a push-up contest (or sit ups, or weightlifting, or any other athletic endeavor, Dear Leader would kick his butt.

    And so forth.

    I hope this helps

    *ETA: I had considered adding the words “little lady,” but I thought that was pushing things a little too far — even though that’s something a true MAGAt would say.

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Interesting that the deputies expect trouble. I have no idea what will happen, but one reason I’m hoping for a landslide and an election night call is because maybe that’ll deflate state and non-state actors who would otherwise cause trouble. No guarantees since we’re dealing with irrational people, so we’ll see.

  81. 81.

    Gin & Tonic

    I look at the pictures of lines and am grateful beyond measure that I live in a small, sane town in a blue state with an effective, competent Secretary of State. Starting today, I can vote in-person at Town Hall, where the council chambers will be set up with an optical-scan machine just like a polling place – and the town clerk, whom I spoke with yesterday, says I can make an appointment, so as to avoid standing in line.

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t understand why her kids are at all these proceedings either.

    Because being mean to a mother in front of her children violates the 1st, 2nd 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th… Aw hell, it is an offense against all that is holy.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @A Ghost to Most:

    To a certain extent I think the punditry “we don’t know what will HAPPEN!” theme is giving in to the lying douchebag who has no fucking idea what he’s talking about. We know a lot about presidential elections and maps. We already have real numbers and we’ll have a lot more. There is uncertainty. That is true. But maps and numbers still stay the same and Donald Trump can’t make them go away.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I thought it was interesting too. I wouldn’t have given it much weight because I know them and the older of the two is a bit of a drama king, but the younger is very level headed and he was nodding along sadly.

    They would see more local incidents than I would- disputes.

  86. 86.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Trump is going to do a town hall tomorrow.  That should be a disaster.

    I hope you’re right, but I’m guessing he’ll have an unfettered bout of lying, and the (moronic) fence-sitters won’t know any better. Whether that would make a difference, I don’t know, but I get a little paranoid about stuff like that.

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Uncertainty keeps the eyes focused on the page, so they highlight the uncertainties while burying the certainties.

  92. 92.

    Nelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Because the number of absentee votes is so high, the Sec of State issued a ruling that absentee ballots can be counted starting Nov. 2, and prepped for counting , starting on Oct. 31.

    As of Oct 12, in my “turf” of about 70-some voters my friend and I are responsible for getting to vote, 47 have requested and received Absentee ballots.  Of those, 20 ballots are registered as received and verified.  It shows me where to focus my energies next.  We have a number for them to call for same day ballot pick up and delivery by trained Democrats, who were identification, issue receipts, put the ballots in a lock box, and deliver to the Election office the same day.

  93. 93.

    Skepticat

    @greenergood:  These are brilliant and intensely relevant questions. My intelligent senator (not Collins) isn’t on the committee, but I do hope someone will pass these along to a member.

    Grateful to be able to vote online (which I did weeks ago), I’m also very grateful to and in awe of those willing to wait in line for up to 12 hours. Funny, somehow I doubt few if any of them are Rethuglican.

  94. 94.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Lawrence Block, apparently also tired of the unchanging short story pay scale, wrote a story called “One Thousand Dollars a Word” about one writer’s solution.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @John S.: My ex used my sons as her own personal Get out of Jail Free card for years. No matter what she did, she was always reminding anyone within earshot to “think of the little chillun’s”. It worked for a while too, but eventually she ran into a couple of prosecutors who replied, “I am.”

    I despise people who pull that bullshit.

  98. 98.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    We prohibit children from attending family court hearings regarding their parents. Parents are also STRONGLY discouraged from bringing them to criminal and civil cases that aren’t family related.

    There’s good reason for that. We see it as manipulative.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: In every election I ever tried that they always reminded me that voting again is against the law. Spoil sports.

  100. 100.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Gentle smile time, because it’s therapeutic. 57 years later, still the best bit incorporating pumas as a humorous device.

     

    Thanks.

    A) I thought it was going to be something along the lines of “you gotta plant cabbage to keep away the pumas” “There are no pumas around here” “You see? It works”

    B) I was also hoping you had linked to Creature Comforts (Nick Park), although I guess that was not a puma. [“I need SPACE”]

  103. 103.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I know what they’re worrying about and their intentions are good, IMO, they don’t want Trump to be able to declare victory on eday votes alone. But he can’t. If a third of the votes are in we don’t call states like Florida or Wisconsin and that is not going to change because of the mighty persuasion power of Donald Trump. On the flip side, if 80% of the votes are counted and we know enough to call it, just call it. Behave as you would normally. Don’t let this bullshitter create chaos. Just do it right and don’t try to out-bullshit him.

  104. 104.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @MazeDancer: In New Mexico, those counties that sent out over 10,000 absentee (mail-in) ballots can start counting 14 days before election day. The results are tabulated but not released until after voting closes at 7 PM on November 3rd. Our three most populous counties – which typically decide the outcome of statewide elections – have met that mark.

  105. 105.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Baud: He’s just gotta push harder with that “I’ll make every suburb a sundown town” message to win them back.

    /GOP strategist

  108. 108.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay:

    IMO, they don’t want Trump to be able to declare victory on eday votes alone. But he can’t.

    Yes, he can, and he will! Even if he’s behind in Election Day votes, he’ll declare victory. The question is just who listens.

  109. 109.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    So true. No one goes in for a very important private sector job interview with her husband and 7 kids in tow, gets more oohing and aahing from the interviewer(s) about her motherly qualities and more time questioning all the details of her children lives than how prepared she would be for the position. Ludicrous.

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Makes me want to spend 20 days watching their reruns.

    Excellent idea. Although I hope the general sentiment (for me, at least) would be “something enjoyable to relax with,” rather than “I need something to distract me from the shitshow the RWMFs are pushing to prevent Biden etc etc”

  112. 112.

    Soprano2

    @TS (the original): I cannot imagine anything having the impact  that was felt because of Comey & those emails in 2016. It killed the democratic enthusiasm a week out from the election. It cost way more votes than what trump won by.

    I distinctly remember that when I heard about this story breaking my heart sank, because I knew it meant the bullshit e-mails thing would be at the top of the news again. At this point in the campaign the e-mails story was fading away, and voters were thinking about substantive things. I think some voters thought (wrongly, as it turned out) “If I vote for her it will be 4 years of this bullshit, I can’t take it so I’m a) not voting at all or b) voting for Trump instead, surely he can’t be that bad”.

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I have read the networks are going to add what % of ballots the e-day number represents.  That will give the talking heads plenty to bloviate about all night.  And make better informed citizens.

  115. 115.

    Baud

    @Soprano2:

    I mistakenly thought our voters would be pissed rather than discouraged.  I learned a lesson about what we could expect from whom, and that I cannot relate to the average voter.

  117. 117.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Kay:  Toxic positivity prevents people from anticipating and preparing for possible, if unlikely, events.

    The fascists have already shown their hands. If people refuse to look, that’s on them. Don’t act surprised if it isn’t all sparkle ponies.

    Groupthink was never my thing.

  119. 119.

    Humanities Prof

    @Kay: This, 100 times.

    I’m a bit fuzzy on this, but I think one of the reasons for Karl Rove’s hilarious freak-out in 2012 was that Fox News called Ohio for Obama at a time when Mitt Romney was still ahead in the count.  It was around maybe a 50,000 vote lead for Romney when the call for Obama was made.

    People who don’t follow polling closely look at something like that and go “WTF?”  But the data people at Fox (and elsewhere) were looking at what parts of the state hadn’t yet reported.  And what they saw was that the remaining vote was in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Lucas County (Toledo), and a handful of very red outlying counties with tiny populations.

    Since they knew roughly how many votes were going to come out of Cuyahoga and Lucas, and since they knew Obama was going to pile up massive margins in those counties, the data people felt very comfortable with the call that he’d be able to make up a 50,000-vote deficit with room to spare (and they were right, since Obama won the state by, I believe, about 125,000 votes).

  120. 120.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    Thanks for the link to Chefs to the Polls. As a Canadian citizen and resident, I’m not legally allowed to donate to American political campaigns. This allows me to make a charitable donation to do my part to help out with your election.

  121. 121.

    bnatebuckeye

    @PsiFighter37: Every right leaning Twitter user/bot is all over this bullshit today. Wasn’t Guiliani’s presence in the Ukraine suspicious? I can’t keep up with this nonsense…

  122. 122.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I’ll give them credit – they understand the average suburban/exurban/rural white middle aged woman’s exploitable fears/desires too damned well.

    There’s a dusky man around every corner waiting to steal from them or sex them up.

  124. 124.

    SFAW

    And because this is an Open Thread, and because I’m an insufferable Jets fan: the NY Jets have released running back Le’Veon Bell, apparently because he’s unhappy with “coach” Adam Gase* or the way the “team” is being run or something else.
    *Whose crazy eyes make Michelle Bachmann’s eyes look coldly rational, by the way. [Yes, that picture is pretty damn close to his normal eyes.]

  125. 125.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SFAW: And here I thought I was the most pathetic sports fan on this blog because of the Knicks; now you come along and I can breathe more easily.

  126. 126.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  Something way wrong here. Try try again:

    In my experience those are the average suburban/exurban/rural white middle aged man’s exploitable fears/desires.

    ETA I really have no idea what happened there. I hit the reply button and your nym came up surrounded by a bunch of < and p and >. I erased them, wrote my comment and hit post. My comment disappeared and the p’s and arrows returned. Weird shit.

  127. 127.

    Gin & Tonic

    @bnatebuckeye: Not “the” Ukraine, please. But, yes, Giuliani’s trips there have been to meet with some of the sleaziest players in Kyiv. Add in the fact that he speaks no Russian or Ukrainian, and doesn’t have a fucking clue, so they not only launder Russian disinformation through him, they empty his pockets in the process. He’s a classic mark.

  128. 128.

    geg6

    @Baud: 

    That is fucking absurd. The guy has been a senator since the early 70s, run for president three times and been the vice president for eight years. How the fuck much scrutiny does he need?
    Jesus. As Charlie Pierce says, these people really are the mole people.

  129. 129.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    And here I thought I was the most pathetic sports fan on this blog because of the Knicks; now you come along and I can breathe more easily.

    You got nothing to worry about: “my” teams are the Mets, Jets, Knicks, and Giants. (Also the Islanders, Rangers, and Nets.) The first three are a trifecta of terrible owners. I am hopeful that the Wilpons-to-Steve Cohen [GN represent!] sale goes through, and that the Mets can return to a semblance of sanity. Now if only Dolan (who also owns the Rangers) and Woody Johnson would sell their teams …

    But I’m kinda hurt by the “now you come along” line — I’ve been an “out and (not so) proud” Mets and Jets fan, on this here blog, for a long time.

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I know, but I needed that wording for the bit. Work with me.

    Ah, got it. Sorry for messing up your “action,” so to speak.

    And belated conDolances on your Knicks fanitude.

  135. 135.

    JAFD

    @Baud: Delaware is not a big place.  You can drive from Claymont to Fenwick Island in about three hours, with stops to shake a few hands in Glasgow, New Castle, Odessa, Smyrna, Leipsic and Dover.  Mr. Biden went to high school at Archmere Academy, which is to Delaware’s ‘governing class’ what MIT is to American science.  (I almost went there myself)  He won his frst election in the 70’s.

    Perhaps the GOP has not sent gumshoes to look under every rock in New Castle and Kent Counties.  But methinks Axios is only telling ‘There ain’t nothin there’

  138. 138.

    tarragon

    Just lost a good friend to a stroke. He shared my birthday but was a year ahead. This year was the first time in decades we didn’t celebrate together because of the shithole that 2020 has become.

    For other health problems the ACA was life and death for him and he was fighting hard to keep it right up to the last day.

    Among the brazillian things he taught me was to appreciate good gin and that bad gin was only useful as bar cleaner.  Also taught me how to arrange the bar so that people who couldn’t tell the difference would drink the bar cleaner leaving the good gin for those of us who cared.

    If you’re so inclined raise a glass to Bob.  And kick a republican right in the ballot box, he’d like that too.

  140. 140.

    SFAW

    @tarragon:

    Sorry to read of your friend’s passing. Let’s hope he somehow “sees” a Biden landslide, so that he can have some good gin Up There.

  141. 141.

    Anya

    @SFAW: MAGA logic is insane but also this whole thing shows how easily suggestive people are. You can literally make a large group of people to believe anything.

  142. 142.

    MazeDancer

    @O. Felix Culpa: Did not know that – and apparently neither did Ballotpedia in their initial line-up – and I lived in Santa Fe for many years.

    That would make me chose absentee. Probably did many others.

    So, more good news.

  143. 143.

    PST

    @TS (the original):

    I don’t see anyone counting chickens (the media would never allow it) but being quietly confident is certainly a good place to be.

    Being thought to be way ahead or way behind are both vote killers, but there is a twist this year. Democrats are worried about the election being literally stolen, leading to a widespread belief that a landslide is essential. Even if we think a Biden-Harris victory is almost sure, I doubt that many will think it’s safe to stay home. “Why bother,” is likely to be more tempting for Trump voters. I presume the hard core will vote, but “maybe if we get him close he can cheat his way to an electoral college win” isn’t going to do it for a lot of marginal voters. So I expect the effect of the widespread impression that Trump is going down to be asymmetrical to our advantage. By the way, I have already voted. Of course I grant the point that overconfidence is a bad thing, but I think it may be less bad this year than usual.

  144. 144.

    bnatebuckeye

    @greenergood: Man if only there was a Senator with the stones to ask these questions. Wouldn’t change the outcome though but would be fun to watch Covid Barrett squirm

  145. 145.

    Llelldorin

    @Baud:

    But I also don’t like “let’s start counting chickens” sentiments either.

    Particularly because Democrats generally don’t count chickens so much as coup against our internal rivals. This would be a very bad time to decide that since we’ve got this in the bag we can start Bernie vs. Clinton Round ∞.

  147. 147.

    WaterGirl

    @greenergood: Someone who tweets should send these questions to the Pod Save America guys. They have connections.

    In fact, maybe everyone here who tweets should send these questions to the Pod Save America guys.

  148. 148.

    cain

    @NotMax: Deep down you just know the original proposed headline was Harris Curries Favor Among Indian-Americans.

    I see what you did there.

  149. 149.

    cain

    @Betty Cracker:

    In a state controlled by Repubicans – a lot of ratfucking will be happening. How many times has Florida Republicans denied us victory? In any case, at least that asshole DeSantis is not in Secretary of State.

  150. 150.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @bemused: I have questions.  How long has she been married?  She had 5 (born) children.  If she doesn’t believe in birth control why doesn’t she have more?

  151. 151.

    StringOnAStick

    @tarragon:  I’m sorry you’ve lost a good friend. Friends are one of life’s great pleasures. I’m dropping off our ballots for the two of us today, straight D, and I hope your friend senses that in some way.

  153. 153.

    Kathleen

    @Humanities Prof: Rove was claiming that the votes from Warren County, a very red area here in SW Ohio, hadn’t been counted yet and those votes would give Romney the victory in Ohio. Alot of us in Ohio saw it as Rove thought the fix was in but evidently someone didn’t get the memo.

  156. 156.

    Bill Arnold

    @danielx:

    Nothing like suddenly hearing one of THESE in front of your house.

    Just had a pair of (what looked like) CH-47F Chinooks fly over my house at about 150 meters. Never had that happen before.

  157. 157.

    ballerat

    @greenergood: 
    Sounds like Barrett is an academic’s version of Harriet Meyers.

    I also note that the more recent of the conservative judges, the less the judicial experience and more overt the political connections. Ex: Kavanaugh and his counsel to Kenneth Star and Bush.

  158. 158.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Baud: Atrios can go fuck himself with a COVID-smeared rusty chainsaw. Biden has a 45-year record of service as U.S. Senator and VPOTUS. Anyone who can’t “vet” a candidate with that long a record needs to be involuntarily committed to the Republican Hospice for the Morbidly Obtuse.

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