This is the first election cycle I can recall where I have been as anxious as I am right now. It’s been almost a week since my last post, and that wasn’t even about politics, but pets (I still have the big reveal coming, too). It’s not that the Republican trick of trying to disgust people so much they become uninvolved has working, because I am still checking in on the news and when I don’t I have umpteen people messaging me or my parents calling me, all appalled, and usually with a message that says “Did you see what he said/did now?’ And I groan, and sigh, and then usually blurt out “God I fucking hate him.”
He’s just so fucking awful. And I know I should not be writing this here because this is somewhat of an oasis of calm for many of you and here I am shitting all over the bed, but god damn I want this all to be over. As far as the election goes, I feel positive about the results- there’s always Republican fuckery afoot, but I honestly think enough people have just had enough. But just thinking about it for a little bit gets me in the downward spiral of “I can not take four more years of this shit.” And I’m white, straight, and male.
So that is why I have not been posting as much. It’s just too much. I need a god damned break. Not to mention, the thing I hate most in this world is stupid people, and with Trump and the covid deniers it’s just overwhelming. The good news is that I appear to be in the minority. People are working their asses off, doing the hard work to make sure this election goes as we hope, and that includes folks like this FUCKING GODDESS:
Super-prepared Texas voter becomes social media sensation after showing off her fully stocked chair for waiting out long polling lines. pic.twitter.com/x0go9uhA7W
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) October 20, 2020
You get off on your bad self, ma’am, and I salute you. I am really hoping that the harder the Republicans try to disfranchise people the more pissed off and determined it makes them to vote.
Speaking of, an alert reader asked me if I know of any organizations that are helping to make sure votes are counted and assisting with it. Legal groups, etc. Does anyone know? DougJ has been doing yeoman’s work on the fundraising, but if there are any groups specifically focused on getting votes counted and doing the legwork, let’s raise some funds for them.
I want 2021 to be boring as fuck again. Make the Presidency Boring 2020. Like an entire week at a time without that rancid orange fuck or Biden on tv. No more turning on the news and seeing that putrid piece of shit, but Biden and Harris calmly talking in full sentences about the next piece of legislation the newly elected Democratic House and Senate are going to pass and why it will be good for America. No more race baiting. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Live Feed: OSIRIS-REx Scooping a Sample from Asteroid Bennu
craigie
I get you, but maybe this will help.
chopper
yeah my bp is def high as balls these days.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
IANAL but from what I gather Marc Elias is a pretty impressive election lawyer, and he recommends this group
MomSense
Man I feel this post. I’m trying to keep busy with my text banking and I have my second voter protection training tomorrow. At work I’m so busy I can manage the anxiety, but sleep is impossible.
I’m voting for sleepy joe so sane America can sleep through the fucking night again.
Elizabelle
You speak for all of us, John.
Blue tsunami; go medieval on Trump’s enablers’ asses. (Vote them out. Investigate their actions. Lock them up, where warranted.)
I wonder if we can pull back a president’s pardon power. Should never be able to pardon him/herself and associates as the orange menace envisions. So many policies and practices that have to be put into writing, with teeth, so we can make it way harder for the next authoritarian.
Enact a solid voting rights acts, and I don’t think the GOP gets another presidency. Certainly not as they are structured now. They have to do all this cheating and criming because they are not popular.
zhena gogolia
I’m with you on all of this.
schrodingers_cat
I have been in this state since the fall of 2016. The number of people I can discuss politics with has become vanishingly small. The nation of immigrants has become no country for immigrants and Hindutva fanatics rule India.
I am not sure about my place in the world anymore. So welcome to my world.
satby
Yes he does.
bluefoot
I hear you, John. As a non-white, non-male, non-Christian, I can barely hold it together enough to get through the day. Plus my brother-in-law is now a COVID long-hauler (despite taking all precautions he got COVID, presumably from going to campus in Wisconsin to meet with his new grad students). And my sister is a public school teacher required to teach in person in a Trumpist town. If Trump gets re-elected (by hook or by crook), I don’t expect to be alive at the end of his second term.
I’ve been trying to find ways to help out on election day. I did apply to be a poll worker, but none were needed in less than a 4 hr drive from me. So I might be driving people to the polls, even with the dangers of COVID. At minimum, I plan to hand out snacks and bottled water if the lines are long. So far it hasn’t been bad where I am. But even in 2008, I waited 2 hrs in line to vote, and that was just outside Boston.
NotMax
Non-politics posts are a balm. Taking a break doesn’t equate to ignoring what’s transpiring.
Breathing the air outside of (metaphorical) smoke-filled rooms is good for you.
Chat Noir
@Elizabelle: Yeah. Adam Schiff was on Rachel last week or a couple weeks ago and he said he and other chairpersons in the Dem caucus are working on reforms, similar to post-Watergate stuff. I’m with John and others here that I can’t take four more years of this garbage.
satby
WHOA!
Omnes Omnibus
Vote, donate what you can, encourage decent people to do the same, volunteer where ever you can, and that’s it. We are winning, and, if we all just continue, it will be too big a win for the GOP to cheat.
Then we celebrate.
And then we get to work.
Paul W.
I’ve been feeling alternating moments of euphoria at the amazing turnout numbers and continued polling of Biden at double digits… and then only able to read about how much is going to be undone with the Barret nomination (if Dems don’t act to rebalance and expand the courts).
I’ve been donating way too much, and now am volunteering with calls to NC and TX (homestate which I never though would flip in a presidential). Texas is especially insane and with 53% of 2016 votes already banked I don’t get as nervous about election day shenanigans.
Nothing is a given, but here in NY we have a number of very progressive candidates who I plan to help move the needle towards as progressive and aggressive legislation as possible.
RepubAnon
I’m tired of King Stork. Bring back King Log!
prostratedragon
Soon as my stamps show up (should be today) I’m going to do a furious last-minute flurry of postcardstovoters to take up some of the nervous energy. Trying to avoid doom scenarios that I can’t do anything about, and that in many cases are longshots anyway. And light distractions:
Nazcat?
WaterGirl
There are a bunch of links in the What We Can Do list in the sidebar under Election Action!
Seriously, there are 125 links. Check it out.
geg6
@satby:
Wow. I’m about speechless. Should be very interesting.
Mary G
Watch out for Protect the Vote. I’ve seen people on Twitter claiming to be liberals recommending it, and it’s a total Republican scam. Their website starts out with a statement from Corona Romney Whatever bragging about all they’re doing to fight that crazed socialist, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. It’s just another scam to fleece the grifters, because there isn’t a chance in hell of Twitler getting within 25 points of Biden. No link, obv.
Poptartacus
Chillax chiller
a couple weeks To enjoy the mango Mussolini melting down
A Ghost to Most
Make something. Focus the mind on something.
I’ve been making shit at an absurd rate this year, even for me.
TaMara (HFG)
I’m so glad you posted her video. Belinda gives me life!
If you need a break – I’m doing my best to post positive stuff at least once a day or every other day. Should I alert you, LOL, since you don’t read your own blog? ??
p.a.
Right there too. Worst part is, Atrios is correct: losing, they’ll burn the place down, even more than currently, to cut the incoming admin off at the knees. The election will be the ‘EASY’ part.
Bupalos
[Narrator] it was too much to ask.
Tim C.
Right with you. We all know the stakes and we all have responsibilities to others no matter what comes to pass. You are normal and healthy for being this freaked out. It’s okay.
hueyplong
Just voted in person with the spousal unit, and we cast votes to chase the pig and Tillis from swing state NC. It felt exceedingly good.
Because of COVID, we get to keep the pens we were issued to fill in the ovals. Will put that pen on the mantle if things work out.
The percentage of melanin-enriched North Carolinians in our line easily exceeded their percentage of the local population, and I choose to draw happy inferences from this extremely small slice of a sample size.
There is no reason to go all Cole about this on such a happy occasion.
HumboldtBlue
@satby:
Good.
Kent
Thought experiment. What would this election look like in a pre-Covid world, with the economy cooking along like it was last February and us all living a pre-covid life of sports, school, recreation, and fall?
It would probably be a fucking nail biter right now, literally. With the two neck in neck in the national polls and a lot more apathy on the part of Dems
The Russians fucked with the last election. The Chinese fucked with this one, albeit unintentionally.
Mary G
More fuckery: Dems in FLA getting threatening emails from someone claiming to be the Proud Boys (read past the rose):
Matt McIrvin
I just keep fretting about how wild swings can happen in these late days, when really uninformed/uninvolved people finally start paying attention to politics again. But in terms of poll results, this hasn’t been a very swingy year. There are very few undecided, very different from years when there was no incumbent, especially from 2016.
Still, I do expect the race to start tightening a bit and I think we may be seeing the beginnings of it in today’s batch of polls. The question is just if whatever further idiocies and dirty tricks Trump’s administration has planned can sabotage it all. I can invent a million horrifying scenarios.
HumboldtBlue
@WaterGirl:
About a week ago may be 10 days I posted a link to the ACLU and another org that have all the info you need to protect yourself and your vote at the polls, I wonder if it’s in that list.
aliasofwestgate
I voted today, here in Kenosha, WI. Yes i put it over in teh I Voted! thread. *grins* Barely a line, in and out in 10 minutes. A first for me since they never allowed this in Michigan, my prior home. Glad to see the organization well setup for social distancing, masking, etc. They’re ready for bigger crowds, in the latter parts of the afternoon. Also closer to the election deadline.
I’m happy to have voted for Biden and Harris, and dems all down the line. It was awesome to see Dems running for all the little offices as well.
This helped me feel a bit better, but the anxiety will likely set in again later. So back to the old coping measures. But i like knowing i’m a drop in a blue Tsunami coming for Lord Dampnut’s admin and all the grifters in the family and outside it. Two weeks, and then we knuckle down to get to work putting things back together.
schrodingers_cat
Just this morning I found out that the Orange One is phasing out B-1 business visas for people who are otherwise eligible for H (more long term visas). People who typically come on these visas are well off and here for a short time. Most of them work for multinational corporations who also have operations in the United States
This doesn’t even make political sense, this in no way helps the Rs. Only makes sense if you ask what would Putin do.
Legal immigration has fallen by 90% in the last year.
debbie
@satby:
Good. Catch that lying AG lying!
NotMax
Seems like as good a place as any for a reminder of a MAD cover from 1971.
We’ve waded through parlous times before, we shall again.
:)
Almost Retired
My dream for 2021 is to not have the MSNBC schedule memorized and have no strong opinions on the hosts or the regular contributors. Because hopefully I will have something fucking else to do.
debbie
@Mary G:
I got a mailing from Voter Participation Project last week, telling me it knew I was a Democrat and had voted in many previous elections. It also told me I hadn’t voted in the 2020 election (I had earlier in the day) and asked me to be sure to do so.
Googling told me it was a benign 501c3 organization; still, I don’t appreciate the intrusiveness.
LuciaMia
Sounds like he had a mini one (re: CNN) at the Wh Today. Cut short an interview with 60 mins.
Kent
I’m nervous as hell every election. I was nervous as hell during both Obama elections. In 2008 because I couldn’t quite believe a black man would actually win when push came to shove. And in 2012 after the mid-terms disaster and tea party and Romney being a not-crazy candidate from central casting. I couldn’t believe it when Clinton won in 1992 either, after all the endless bimbo eruptions and other ancillary shit during that election. I thought Hillary was going to win, but my wife was smarter and thought not.
But the stakes just seem so much higher this time.
JoyceH
I had to google “jush”. I KIND of get it? I guess?
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s doing the same thing with the census. Cutting it short and trying to exclude immigrants sure won’t help the red/reddish states (like TX) with significant immigration populations.
I’m beginning to think the GOP may end up hating Trump a whole lot more than we do.
debbie
@LuciaMia:
I hope they run it anyway!
Aleta
It’s been bad, nearly impossible here lately. Thanks John for putting words to it. The dread doesn’t feel so boundless after your words somehow. A gift with words.
Mary G
Big brouhaha in California over NFL football:
Bit of good cop/bad cop going on, methinks.
JPL
@hueyplong: Very cool!
raven
I waited about 90 minutes to vote yesterday and there was a nice lady pushing a cart around offering free snacks and water. Athens has been off the hook as has Atlanta and it should be good for us but who the fuck knows?
Mary G
LOL, Preznit Drama Queen isn’t going to change a thing no matter how much his lickspittles beg him to:
Kent
It doesn’t help Texas in terms of representation in the House, but it helps the Texas GOP keep ahold of the TX state house and control redistricting.
From the point of view of the Texas GOP, undercounting minorities in Houston and Dallas is a big plus because it will help them maintain their gerrymander.
They would rather have a gerrymandered Congressional delegation of 30 that is 20 GOP and 10 Dem than one that is 31 distributed 16 GOP and 15 Dem.
And they would rather keep their supermajority in the state legislature. If it means less federal social programs in Houston, who gives a fuck? You didn’t think the Texas GOP actually cared about federal funding formulas for social welfare programs in Houston did you?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
you know who else seems kinda anxious, though he’d never use that word?
of course, it could just be that he’s uncomfortable with that much attention
geg6
It’s seems weird to say say this, but I’ve been reading Tim Alberta over at Tiger Beat on the Potomac. He’s one of the “savviest” of the Church of the Savvy in the Village. I have found his “funny feelings” posts calming. I hate his outlet and usually won’t touch his stuff, but to see a National Journal alumna writing this stuff is encouraging.
HumboldtBlue
Charles Pierce.
debbie
@Kent:
Theoretically, TX will lose out on funding, too.
raven
@HumboldtBlue: “He is a wounded animal, and he’s chewing off his own leg to get out of the trap.”
Mary G
Young women activated and angry!
I feel like cheering.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: any medical peeps in the house? I’m really curious to what extent we’re seeing some effect from that steroid course. Either they’re wearing off, or he got someone to get him more than the protocol prescribes, more than is healthy?
@geg6: it’s the same reason I follow some never-trump types on twitter, I like seeing how people I disagree with view The Beast. Though I can’t forgive Politico for treating Alberta like a straight reporter instead of the right-leaning pundit he is, or Alberta for promoting the ludicrous notion– one dear to Willard Romney and his immediate and political families– that Romney is owed an apology for 2012.
Kent
They don’t care about that if it means keeping power. Most of that funding flows to Dem cities anyway. A GOP State Senator from a ranch in bumfuck West Texas doesn’t give a shit about some federal public health initiative in Houston, for example. Or federal education funding that mostly flows to brown and black schools in the big cities and border regions
He cares more about keeping his district borders drawn just so to keep him and his buddies in power. So they can grift on the billions of state dollars that they do control.
danielx
Oasis, yes. “Oasis of calm” for jackals? Maybe not so much. But I totally appreciate and agree with the statement as a whole. My anxiety level is through the roof, and my budget will only cover so much Black Bush – which is probably fortunate.
MisterForkbeard
@Mary G: Apparently he’s also posting pics of the interviewer without a mask and yelling some more. I’m guessing his interview did not go well.
Wapiti
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Lesley Stahl should end his segment with, “Doesn’t he look tired?”
WaterGirl
@Mary G: I just verified that Protect the Vote is not on the What We Can Do list, and it was not.
I hate them scam artists.
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue: Do you know the name of the organization? If so, it will be easy for us to check.
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Lol. He must really be losing it to relinquish air time. Or else has Covid fatigue. And/or the drugs were wearing off.
Dan B
@satby: Fantastic news about the Breanna Taylor Grand Jury. I hope it gives the KY creeps nightmares, and justice.
Butter Emails
@Kent:
Do you believe the above is factual or are you just channeling a dumbfuck Texas state Senator from Bumbfuck?
rp
@chopper: I went to the doctor yesterday, and my initial BP reading was 157 over something. I’ve never had high BP and the doctor was a little alarmed. “Are you a little stressed?” [falsetto]”MAYBE!”[/falsetto] She checked again 10 minutes later and it was normal.
raven
@danielx: Yea, that was real stretch.
Another Scott
@debbie: Maybe 15-20 years ago I got a postcard claiming to be from MIT saying (something like) that my neighbors at 123 Oak Street, 127 Oak Street, and 288 Maple Lane had voted in the last election and they thought I should know that.
No urge to action or anything.
It seemed creepy, but it’s public information.
(I figured it was part of some sort of academic investigation to see if subtle pressure affected turnout in the next election, or something.)
Cheers,
Scott.
cckids
@schrodingers_cat: Holy sh*t. The visa change sounds stupid and bad for businesses. The 90% immigration drop? That seems catastrophic.
MisterForkbeard
@rp: I’ve got my first doc appointment in a couple years…. tomorrow.
I think the BP measurement is not going to go well :)
MisterForkbeard
@cckids: To be fair, a large part of that 90% drop is COVID related. But not nearly all of it.
raven
The Institute for the Very Very Nervous
Well it’s the high anxiety, victim of society
High anxiety, victim of society
High anxiety, it’s my
It’s my high anxiety getting to the best of me
Sometimes I feel like I’m gonna explode
When I’m approaching total overload
I know that when I’m having a panic attack
To duck and cover ’cause I can feel it coming
debbie
@Another Scott:
Being pubic information doesn’t make it any less creepy. At least provide something positive, like the steps to registering to vote or something similar. As it is, it’s nothing more than, “I see you and I am watching you.”
Ick.
JanieM
@HumboldtBlue: I don’t know which resource you were thinking of, but I found this one from the Georgetown Law Center about militias enlightening.
I’m hoping not to find it useful, TBH. Or, well, I already voted. But I’m hoping no one anywhere has to use it.
Omnes Omnibus
It @cckids: The only upside to this is that these are easy fixes for a Biden admin.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Man everyone was lookin for you Sunday!
WaterGirl
@Aleta: Did you see BG’s Medium Cool thread on Sunday? A really great thread.
Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Places!
330 great comments where people talked about places that mean something special to them, where they instantly feel like they belong or feel like home.
I choose which threads to read based on where I’m at mentally and emotionally.
Some days I read the COVID threads, some days I just can’t. I find the fundraising threads to be upbeat, as are the political action threads, because people are talking about what they are doing rather than what they are worried about. On The Road threads are good for fighting that sense of dread, too.
It was such a nice thread on Sunday night that I added it to the sidebar under “Special Threads”, which includes some music threads, great netflix recommendations, etc.
Just some thoughts for ways to interrupt that “oh my god, what if we lose” feeling when it pops up.
schrodingers_cat
@cckids: It is stupid and it will be litigated. Orange Covita will likely lose but every time they pull stunt like this our reputation as a serious country takes a nosedive.
He loses a lot in the courts over these braind dead schemes that DHS which is now seeded with people from FAIR and other anti-immigrants groups push.
As for easy fixes, there are no easy fixes for asylum seekers who had their children even infants snatched from them and the people dead in immigration detention
At the less desparate end of the scale people who have been separated from their families due to the onerous sand in the gears approach to immigration bureacracy by this regime. Not everyone who lives in the United States has their entire family here.
raven
@WaterGirl: And no Omnes!
eta, oops, he made an appearance at O dark hundred.
syphonblue
Yes! I work for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which runs the Election Protection hotline (866-OUR-VOTE, or 866ourvote.org) – I’m sure you’ve seen our signs around, especially at polling places. We specifically help people who are having issues or experiencing suppression or disenfranchisement. We can always use more help. Just go to our website and you may be able to volunteer, or just donate a bit of money!
HumboldtBlue
@JanieM:
Almost positive that was the one, I wasn’t the only one who linked it either. The ACLU also has great resources.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: I do have a life outside of this blog.
kindness
About 2 months ago I hit the wall. I had to pull back and limit my political/news/blogging reading. I was so stressed and not dealing with it well at all. So I put the brakes on my blog reading and commenting during the day and it has made my job much better. I’m not as behind in my work as I had been and I’m less distraught and damaged by the onslaught of Republicans who clearly don’t give a shit about anyone but their paid betters and themselves. Now I mostly wait till I get home to read the stuff I had been looking at all day. I don’t know if I’m better but I’m not as depressed and stressed out as I had been and it was me doing it to me. That hurt the most.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought it was nice people were missing you for that thread.
raven
@kindness: 85% of people don’t . . . oops, don’t want to start that again.
HumboldtBlue
@WaterGirl:
Janie M just linked to the Georgetown Law which was one link and the other was with the ACLU so I think we’re covered.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: To the extent that was aimed at me, I didn’t say that there was an easy fix to those crimes.
VOR
@Mary G: Just don’t think he can control himself anymore. The pressure must be incredible, the campaign is broke, the polls are bad (for Trump), and his big October Surprise isn’t working. He’s probably still on the steroid, Dexamethasone, which has all sorts of side effects. And this is even if you don’t subscribe to the growing dementia theory or the mini-strokes theory. Plus a woman is daring to question him!
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: I actually got home Sunday night and responded when there were about 300 comments.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: A 90% drop in immigration is terrible for the US and for immigrants who are here. Our neighborhood is at least 50% first and second generation. I hope they are okay. That anxiety plus our concerns for our gay and trans friends makes for too many emotionally rough moments. Then add Covid and the economy. We’re going to need years to right the ship.
Hang in there!
Another Scott
@syphonblue: Thanks for the pointer. You’ve got a huge team of great partners – https://866ourvote.org/partners/
Donated.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tony Jay
@HumboldtBlue:
That’s the bit that brought me up short, and the bit that made me think that, however badly the Infotainers want to make a scandal out of it, they won’t be able to sustain the kind of malicious enthusiasm they employed in their mission to smear Clinton.
New York Post ‘reporters’ turned their noses up at this. Murdoch’s people FFS. The kind of people who would happily put their by-line on articles about Nancy Pelosi’s lesbian trysts with AOC didn’t want to be associated with it at all. What does that tell you about the story’s legs?
The fact that Halberman and the Usual Suspects even tried to flog some kind of scandal out of The Ghoul’s nonsense-dump tells us everything anyone ever needs to know about their credibility, but that’s a whole different kettle of rotten fish-heads.
jl
Lemme tell ya, John, no joke, swear to God. This ain’t your grandparents election. But you know what? The American people don’t panic, and so you don’t need to panic. That reminds me of what my grandma use to say to me as a small tyke: plan your work and work your plan, and you won’t need to panic about stuff. If we all get out and vote, this will be wrapped up election night and we’ll have a fresh start. Swear to God. And God bless our troops and John G. Cole.
Lemme give you a hug, man…. Oh, wait. After the vaccine.
hueyplong
@VOR: Ha ha, wait until the Dex wears off.
The cocktail (unless renewed) will be tapering off later this week.
He’s going to hell on earth until it’s to hell elsewhere and I’m here for it.
Emma from FL
@rp: I had the same problem when I went for tests. The nurse looked at me severely (you know, the nurse look) and said “no reading the news while waiting!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Dan B: I do wonder what the international travel and immigration numbers are worldwide for 2020. How much is Trump and how much is Covid?
Booger
Hey man. We love you.
Baud
@jl:
Word.
jl
The mic control rule for the next debate really seems to bothering the Trump camp, along with their bogus charges against the moderator. I thought the Trump handlers might like because it would discipline Trump, and he’d make a better impression. But occurred to me that nothing can discipline Trump.
I wonder how much worse an impression Trump would make if he was just heard yelling incomprehensible stuff in the background when his mic was cut off?
Or, maybe Trump is so outraged he’s forcing his staff to make a huge fuss in a futile hope that will change anything.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: @Dan B: Some of it is due to COVID-19 but this administration has pushed a lot of their anti-immigrant agenda under the guise of fighting COVID from student visas to work visas and business visas.
Also even if Biden changes the rules back, the immense damage to the actual lives of many immigrants and to our international reputation won’t be easily undone.
Citizen Alan
At this point, I’m not afraid of Biden losing (although it is still on the spectrum of things that might happen in this, the worst of all possible timelines). I’m afraid of what happens during the 3 month gap where Shitgibbon and the GOP try to burn the whole country to the ground. And I am afraid there is not sufficient will among the Dems for increasing the size of the judiciary.
We survived 4 years of Donald Trump. We will not survive 4 years of SCOTUS decisions in which Neil Gorsuch is the swing vote.
Winston
If all the dems who have already voted, changed their registrations to Rep in the next week, it would surely fuck up how the GOP sees things shaking out.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Libelslander! No evidence that Tricky Dick was the Kremlin’s bitch too.
p.a.
Damn damn damn. I just can’t take most DC movies…
jl
@Citizen Alan: If things get too wild, Turmp could impeach Trump and several other cabinet level people to distract them.
Same in early Jan with New Congress.
cckids
@MisterForkbeard: No, not all of it. I’m in Belleve, WA; my FT job is as a very minor cog in a tech company. We’ve lost a number of employees, all immigrants, who are just not having it with the current maladministration’s BS about immigrants. Dating back to 2017. They’re tired of the tone, tired of having to worry every time they go home (or anywhere out of the US) for a visit that they’ll have a difficult time getting back.
These are super intelligent, talented people, who chose to come here & wanted to stay. Driven away. It is such a loss to us all.
Aleta
@WaterGirl: I missed that. Thanks !!!
tom
OT but this pretty cool – Tom Lehrer is putting all his songs in the public domain.
Mary G
@schrodingers_cat:
@Dan B:
This, plus not letting students come in on visas is incredibly damaging. One of the Covid doctors I follow on Twitter was all excited about a new study – I glanced at it, it was way over my head, but I looked at the long list of authors. It was a cooperative effort between universities in the UK, Australia, Finland, Switzerland, Estonia & Hungary that I recall; I think there were eight countries. What I did notice was that none of them were American. We are losing the best talent and carrying dead weight like Jared Kushner and all the know-nothings in the administration that went to Harvard.
I hope Biden just decides to double the numbers of every class of immigrant so we can hopefully start to catch up.
schrodingers_cat
@cckids: USCIS is messing with F-1 visas and H-1B visas and now B-1 visas using COVID-19 as a cover.
Some changes in the works:
They want F-1 (student) visas to be only issued for 4 years ( that rules out anyone doing a PhD)
H-1B (work visas) to be issued every year instead of every 3 years
Getting rid of business visas (B) for certain categories of business travelers
and so on.
EmanG
So, the fam and a I have moved away from a sun burnt hellscape to somewhere much more lush and beginning to trend towards a purpleish hue politically. I own my own company and my biz is corporate communication tilted so, new town, few contacts, pandemic. We’re doing ok financially but I figured I’d sign up to be poll worker, catch some paid hours, do my civic duty, etc. Was given the chance to expand my temp earning powers by working on absentee ballots at the bureau of elections so went for it. The last few days have been spent in some of the most mind numbing work I’ve done since I was a teen (and there’s a time clock! I haven’t punched a clock in decades!). Also, our supervisor is someone who is a) already disgusted at the voting public for not being able to follow simple rules (though truth be told, she is on the chopping block at all times, I can understand) and b) not big on training but ready to treat questions as though you should have the institutional knowledge she already has. Fuck me. And yet, envelopes come in, votes go out and only a week and a half and 2 days to go. I’ma stick with it as long as I can but damn, there’s some boring ass trench work that goes into a well run election. Also, we’ve only gotten one write in for Kanye, so I don’t that distraction is much of a problem…
Ruckus
John, I understand exactly how you feel, because it’s exactly how I feel.
I want my damn country back, I want all of us to have our damn country back……
I want shitforbrains at least fucking gone, better yet locked up.
I want bitch mcconell fucking gone, I want him to have no access to a dime for the next ten years, because it’s felt like ten years since January 2020.
Fuck rethuglicans. Fuck their feelings, fuck them with a lightning bolt.
I want a bit of adulthood as well, not this constant 3rd grade bullshit of the biggest asshole in class, who can’t even talk in complete sentences yet, strutting around and making like he owns the place.
Princess
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wondered if Trump had a health episode of some kind. Covid related or something else.
currants
I’m late, but this org is also working on vote protection–I don’t know much about them although one person I know who works for them used to work for the MA AG, so I’m guessing they’re good folks.
https://voterprotectionprogram.org/about/
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
What I fear is that even if Biden wins, it will still end up being Shadow President Trump every day. The media has fattened itself on an endless buffet of Trump antics. They can fill every hour of every day just playing clips of his latest outrageous thing, and having umpteen panel discussions about that thing. By comparison, Biden is boring. Working government is boring. The absence of the daily “oh god what did he do now?” is boring.
Meanwhile,post-presidency Trump will still be out there, tweeting and whining on Fox News every day, saying whatever even more outrageous thing he can think of now that he doesn’t even have any semblance of an office to uphold.
Whatever speech Biden gives, whatever law Congress passes, the media’s default will be to immediately see what Trump has to say, because now there’s something to discuss!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mary G: I lived in a small city in Iowa where John Deere, University of Northern Iowa, and the regional hospital were the major employers. l can’t imagine where they’re going to get engineers, doctors, and PhDs in the sciences.
Mary G
Uh oh. Tantrum incoming:
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
cckids
So, so much this. The infants and children will haunt me always. I guess I identify a bit with the kids – my mother died when I was a year old, and my dad moved with my sisters & I across the country to be with his family. We lived with an aunt & uncle for 2.5 years while Dad got out of the Air Force, finished a training course, then married my stepmom. When we moved from my aunt’s house in full-time with Dad & Mom, it was wrenching. I was 3, and every day I’d lock myself in the bathroom, or hide under the bed and just cry from wanting to be “home”. And this was family, all people I knew, who loved us and had been a part of our lives! And still, my strongest memories are of loss, sadness and despondency. The stolen children will never, never be over it. Never.
It will forever be a blight on this country, and may very well come back to haunt us.
Ohio Mom
Skipping to the end — I will read all the comments next — to say, I don’t know anyone who isn’t beyond anxious right now.
Everyone I know is barely managing. The slightest thing goes wrong and we have no slack. Some of it is discouragement about Covid’s trajectory but most of it is dear-in-the-headlight-what-if-we-lose?
I wake up too early every morning, confused about the nightmare I just had.
oatler.
@raven:
I was hoping we’d get the Mel Brooks lyrics.
Kent
I’m explaining why the Texas GOP actually favors census fuckery that could hurt the state. Not that I agree with any of it. They don’t care if it hurts the state if it allows them to keep power. And they don’t believe they and their rural white constituency are helped by census-based Federal funding anyway.
Just because census fuckery will hurt Texas, doesn’t mean the Texas GOP will oppose it. In fact they will cheer it. I’m just explaining why that is the case.
Dan B
@Omnes Omnibus: I wish we’d hear from our local tech behemoths, medical institutions, agriculture, and universities. Trump / Miller is adding to the Covid economic nightmare because what happens after a vaccine? Do these talented and hard working immigrants stay home or go elsewhere? They are a boon to the economy and the cultural vibrancy of America.
I remember on a trip to Italy that it would be nice to get Thai or Indian food but that wasn’t happening until we were back home. And that was just the food part of diversity.
Baud
Realignment.
MisterForkbeard
@p.a.: Imagine being such a dickwad that you feel the need to give $21 million to elect Trump.
Dan B
@cckids: This is one reason I want to hear from Satya Nadal and other organizations. Stories like yours are chilling.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@p.a.: Those fuckers man. They’re throwing all their money into those super PACs because they know the Trump campaign has been ripping them off…which still makes them suckers. Maybe try no longer supporting THE GUY WHO RIPPED YOU OFF! Like, stop giving money to him and stop giving to the PACs supporting him.
MisterForkbeard
@cckids: Yeah. I had a couple of employees from the Philippines I wanted to bring over earlier this year – couldn’t do it because of the new restrictions. I have an excellent Indian employee who’s already here and whom I really worry about – she has to deal with a lot, and her status here just keeps getting jerked around.
I’m really glad our company has super expensive immigration lawyers, because I can’t see small companies jumping through all these hoops.
MisterForkbeard
@Kent: The classical construction of this is “better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”, which is pretty much the entire Republican ethos these days.
They’ll burn the entire country down if they get to rule it. And if they lose then they’ve still done a ton of damage.
NotMax
@Ohio Mom
Personally, I strive for equanimity and, no matter how insistently it knocks and pounds on the door, not let anxiety into the same room unless it involves something over which I hold direct and immediate control. Even so, once it has gained ingress I never offer it a chair.
raven
@oatler.: Isn’t that what it is?
Dan B
@Mary G: If Biden gets in and then the GOP is back in 2024 why would immigrants want to consider the US. They hear horror stories about attacks on POC and immigrants. Why move to AmeriKKKa? Are any Koch or Mercer Think Tanks concerned about America’s standing in the world?
And I do realize they don’t actually “think”, just propagandize.
Nora Lenderbee
I’ve never seen so many GOPers say publicly that they are voting for the Dem candidate. Never. This gives me some confidence that ti won’t be another 2016.
CaseyL
@Dan B: @Omnes Omnibus:
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s been bad for over a year. I was one of dozens laid off from Edmonds College last November because international student registrations had fallen more than 30%, and there went a huge piece of the college’s revenue.
Cheryl Rofer
The Biden campaign has literally hundreds of lawyers working for them and on call for dealing with election problems. Bob Bauer is great in this interview. Try to ignore Heilemann.
Butter Emails
@Cheryl Rofer:
Counterpoint. The actual law and precedent don’t matter anymore when it applies to decisions of partisan interest. What matters is the partisan composition of the court deciding the issue.
Uncle Cosmo
@p.a.: Serves your miserable arse right for letting yourself get addicted to stupidhero flicks. Try reading a book for a change, whydoncha?
CaseyL
@Cheryl Rofer: This makes me happy. Thanks for sharing it.
NotMax
@Cheyl Rofer
Not that preparations ought not be made but I feel that while Dolt 45 may make a few weak and impotent swipes, primarily it’s an empty threat, as with his extended history of bellowing ominously about bringing lawsuits (which never come to pass).
Shorter take: he lies about everything else, why accept this from him as a certitude? Don’t dismiss it but do take into account the probability it’s a toothless attempt at roiling the waters.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
Just to add, I’m beyond help at this point. I’m hanging on by my fingernails to get thru this election. It helped somewhat to drop off my ballot yesterday. Just got notice that they received it and now I’m waiting for signature verification. Waiting with bated breath….
Omnes Omnibus
@Butter Emails: Well gosh, I guess they’re wasting their time and money. I hope they are read this bold so that they know their efforts was wasted.
TomatoQueen
I post this pair whenever the shit gets more than ankle deep. We are in this. It will, for some of us, never ever stop. Now bite that bullet. Get your hand on the plow. Hold on.
https://youtu.be/lHukQPyohB8
and
https://youtu.be/7-qQsW6pdVM
and as a bonus, a January day:
https://youtu.be/HE4H0k8TDgw
BruceFromOhio
BOE COUNTED MY ABSENTEE VOTE TODAY.
HAHAHA YOU REPUBLICAN ASSHOLES HAVE ***FAILED*** AGAIN
ETA: OK, moment of gloat has now concluded. Whose deal is it?
Starfish
There is an effort called “Black the Vote” that the NAACP is involved in. There are going to be attorneys on the phone line 1-800-our-vote to address any shady shenanigans going on on election day. Here is a website on their upcoming stuff.
mali muso
Doing something concrete seems to help me keep the soul-crushing anxiety at bay. Currently finishing up my quota of postcards to voters for the Jaime Harrison campaign. I think I’ll donate some $ to Gary Peters and Mike Espy later this evening. Take it day by day.
debbie
@Mary G:
Does Trump even care about engagment? He seems to be all about the number of followers.
Nelle
Just an word about what encouraged me today. The Democratic party is having voter registration and also official collection of absentee ballots at the mosque this Friday, the mosque largely or only frequented by Bosnians. There are about 10,000 Bosnian refugees in my suburb, ten to twelve families in my neighborhood. They know chaos and disruption first hand…and they seem to be sick of it. As are we all, as are we all. I’ll be so happy to have a boring president, but I don’t know if the media can be cured of their hyped drama addiction.
Elizabelle
Watching Abigail Spanberger eviscerate Nick Freitas in their debate. Robert Costa is moderating. https://vpm.org/articles/17302/candidates-vie-for-virginias-7th-district-seat-in-nationally-watched-race
I love how she will answer a question succinctly and … stop. She’s made her point. Roe v. Wade is settled law. Period.
Freitas is a lesser Herbert Hoover, without Hoover’s many accomplishments and strengths. The wrong man for the challenging times we find ourselves in. To his credit, he hasn’t said “Nancy Pelosi” 23 times — as did David Brat, now private citizen and a Dean at Liberty U. Women got up in his grill.
They’re really good questions. Citizens submitted them, collected in weeks before the debate.
Suzanne
This is where I am, too. So unbelievably exhausted. I feel like I could sleep and stay in my house for a year. I want a whole lot of progress on policy, I really do. But in the immediate future, I just want fucking peace and quiet.
Cheryl Rofer
@NotMax: I tend to agree with you, but I’m glad that the campaign has so many capable and enthusiastic lawyers ready to tear any attempts apart.
Kent
Folks,
Today is one more day that passed without a major change in the election. Every day that passes like today without anything dramatic is a good one in my book. Another couple million votes are in the book and the fundamentals of the race aren’t changing. I’m like the prisoner counting down the days with hash marks on the wall.
In fact, Covid is getting worse all across the swing states so maybe all those GOP voters waiting until election day could be in difficulty. Especially older voters who might have second thoughts about entering into a raging pandemic to cast a seemingly futile vote.
Who knows. We are completely off the map here.
Butter Emails
@Omnes Omnibus:
Here. Let me give you a couple of examples.
So yeah. It would be political malpractice for the Biden campaign not to load up on election lawyers, but let’s not ignore what a 6-3 “conservative” (5-4 reactionary) Supreme Court portends.
frosty
Let’s think positive here: This will last up until Trump’s lack of vocabulary and repetitive airing of grievances makes him uninteresting and boring and the ratings drop.
Kathleen
Outside help with elections is on the way:
The state of American democracy in 2020: Foreigner observers are coming to monitor our election. Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/October 20, 2020
The link is to an article in the Robert Costa tweet Rucker embedded:
https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/president-takes-the-states-to-a-dangerous-place-39634479.html
Omnes Omnibus
@Butter Emails: Oddly enough, I am aware of the composition of our courts.
Brachiator
I hear you. I absolutely hear you. But it is great to see a pretty good get out the vote effort, and an awareness by most people as to what is at stake. And even though the vile GOP is throwing every kind of voter suppression at us, the counter-reaction has been strong. Again, people know the score and are fighting back.
Also, I note that Biden and Harris have waged a smart campaign, and have easily brushed aside Trump’s attacks.
Trump’s tricks, however, look old and tired. They still play for the rubes, but no one else is impressed.
I still haven’t voted yet. I got work assignments up the yin yang. And I still have to read up on some local California measures. But I look forward to casting my ballot. Coming from California, it won’t have a huge electoral vote impact, but I want to see the popular vote totals as strong as possible.
His base knows what Trump is, and they want him anyway. It’s no longer a matter of people voting against their own interests, it is cult level loyalty. These people are not just willing to die for Trump. They don’t give a shit if he kills them for sport. And the people who used to pretend to be conservative intellectuals, moderate Republicans, “common sense” and “principled” conservatives are at best sullen hypocrites and at worst gutless fools with their heads up Trump’s ass.
So, all in all, my anxiety level is pretty low. I’m ready to get to election day and to see where we stand.
seaboogie
I’m finally phone-banking and it turns out that I really enjoy it! Feels empowering to help others, meet folks over the phone, and take some action! I was nervous at first, but finally got some great training through a local organization and I’m starting to get the hang of it. Every day I meet at least one very cool, motivated person and it turns out that these conversations are SUCH an antidote to general (election) anxiety and watching the news. Going to be doing it every day through the 3rd.
Mike in NC
Pissed off people went to vote in 2018 and we got Speaker Pelosi and a bloodbath in the GOP House. People are even more pissed off now.
jnfr
Don’t be sorry for posting this. I think we all feel it right now.
patrick Il
@debbie:
They hill still be better off personally. They’ll just cut back on Medicare and SNAP
PaulWartenberg
Speaking of anxiety, my public library is opening to the public. We’re going to have to start wiping down computers, enforcing masks at the door, praying to God that our community doesn’t become a COVID hot spot.
At least I voted early FOR Biden and praying I get to see trump lose by 6 points in Florida. CMON PINELLAS COUNTY, FLIP BLUE THIS YEAR… I live in Polk but Gods help us it’s trump country here :(
schrodingers_cat
@cckids: {{{ }}} to you. Thanks for sharing your story. I can only imagine what you must have gone through.
Gvg
@PaulWartenberg: My county libraries sort of opened. They have drive by pick up for on line orders for months now. This month they opened for browsing but you have to have an appointment. They also kept WiFi going so poor kids could do homework in the parking lot….it’s weird. The next generation is going to be really tech savvy even if they didn’t want to be.
Aleta
My foreboding is because the country won’t move far from this horror and its crimes. The work to keep it from falling back in can’t stop. Election, and then one mile at a time.
Captain C
@Gvg: Our libraries here in NYC are starting to open up again for grab ‘n’ go service. Mine was one of them, until the COVID clusters popped up, and as we were smack in the middle of one of them, we closed down again, so I’m back to working from home.
Gretchen
@schrodingers_cat: We love you. You are a valued member of this world. Let’s hope a regime change unites the country again.
Beth
I am a bundle of anxiety and anger, myself.
My guess is it’s from already having a history of PTSD, and then this freaking 4 year long unescapable re-triggering event for things that I had firmly put behind me. Feeling the helpless captive of a narcissist is not something that I ever expected to experience again beyond the age of 20, when I took control of my life.
Maybe tmi for some. And for what it’s worth, I am so grateful for the haven of care and understanding here. Thank you all.
Ian
@Kent: Pre-covid polling had Biden up about 7. His average is between 9-10 currently.
And for the blaming the Chinese, intentional or not, it is about as accurate as to say bats are responsible for the corona virus outbreak.
VFX Lurker
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
I hope you’re right. George W. Bush completely vanished from the public eye after January 2009, and white voters forgot how awful Republican Presidents could be.
A daily dose of Trump in the news could bury the GOP for good.