Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

So many bastards, so little time.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

The words do not have to be perfect.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

He really is that stupid.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Night Postcard Writing & Music Thread

Tuesday Night Postcard Writing & Music Thread

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It’s postcard writing and music sharing time.

Music peeps, please share your links in the comments!

If anyone else has postcard photos they want to share, please send me your pics.

Here are some great postcards from BlueGuitarist!

Tuesday Night Postcard Writing & Music Thread 2

Want to help with postcards but your writing is illegible or you don’t have time?  

We have an Indivisible group that’s located in SD-8, that wants to write 500 postcards, but some of the writers can’t afford the stamps.  It would be a big help to them if we could supply maybe half the stamps, which would be $120.  Send me email if you’re willing to help cover the cost of stamps.

Want to help with postcards but you have been holding off because the cost of postcards and stamps isn’t in your budget right now?

Send me email, and I’ll bet we can hook you up with another BJ peep who has money but no time!

Want to write postcards in Spanish?  We have Latino households you can write to, too!

Tuesday Night Postcard Writing & Music Thread 3

Postcard information here.  If you don’t see an answer to your question in that file, chime in and let me know so I can answer and then add the info the file, so everyone has it.

Postcards + Instructions for Wisconsin

Note: if you click on Balloon Juice in the box, it takes you to the front page.  If you click on “Postcards + Instructions for Wisconsin”, it will take you straight to the page with all the info.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    Mousebumples

    I’m here. My klutzy self took a tumble this morning and my left arm is sore. Hopefully will be better tomorrow, but I’m moving slow tonight. I did drop off my 150 postcards at the post office yesterday, and got a new batch of stamps as well.

  5. 5.

    BlueGuitarist

    Thanks WaterGirl and Mousebumples!

    the beautiful card WG posted from delphinium Saturday gave me the idea to use lines to separate the sections of text.

    i wouldn’t have tried writing cards in Spanish if not for WaterGirl making it easy, plus ceci n est pas mon nym asking questions about it, and Brendancalling’s playlist including Jailhouse Rock in Spanish.

  10. 10.

    H.E.Wolf

    Thank you to WaterGirl and Mousebumples for keeping the postcard threads active, and for keeping WI in the forefront of our attention this month!

    I’m writing offline tonight, so that I can do a Zoom catch-up with one of my next-generation relatives who is also a postcard-er.

    In lieu of music, here’s a link to a story from Rep. John Lewis’s memoir Walking With the Wind. It has some similarities to what we’re doing here at Balloon Juice.

    static1.squarespace.com/static/5eed7c4d7c961932b8a1acbf/t/5ffa2c7987b5d06563bd38b6/1610230906232/A+S…

  11. 11.

    SpaceUnit

    Hey WaterGirl.

    I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d be willing to pitch in for stamps and supplies, so I’m in.  How do we do this?  I don’t know your email address.  Is it listed here on the site?

  12. 12.

    smith

    Watergirl — I’d like to help fund the stamps, but I guess I’m a little dense — where do I find your email address?

  14. 14.

    Mousebumples

    WaterGirl’s email is –

    WaterGirl AT balloon-juice

    Thanks to SpaceUnit & smith for being willing to help out! 🤩

  19. 19.

    BlueGuitarist

    In 2019, the D candidate for WI Supreme Court got 600 thousand voted, and lost by 6 thousand votes. In the presidential election each party got over 1.6 million votes. So each party turned out about 3/8 of their voters.
    Conclusion: GOTV postcards!

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @smith:   Thank you!

    It’s watergirl at balloon-juice.com – of course, you use the @ symbol and no spaces.

    edit: I see that Mousebumples answered first.  Go Mousebumples.

  25. 25.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Thought I knew all the great Nick Drake songs already, but recently discovered At The Chime of A City Clock.  Drake was one hell of a songwriter and just about the only old-school folk singer I can listen to because he also gets jazzy and groovy.

  29. 29.

    Dan B

    @prostratedragon: There’s a big performance hall next to where my partner went to High School donated by Quincy Jones. It’s a beautiful facility.  We drive past when we visit our friends on Capitol Hill.  Jones also attended school there and was part of a very busy jazz, R&B, and early Rock and Roll scene with Charlie Parker and Ray Charles, plus many others remarkably for a very white city at a far corner of the country.

  32. 32.

    prostratedragon

    @band gap: ​Don’t remember where, but I’ve seen him before — you can’t forget that harp guitar. Like this piece, and how it let’s him display the instrument and his playing.

  33. 33.

    Sure Lurkalot

    WG, I was all set to participate but as the worm often turns, things went wacky. Would it be too late to do say 20 ? I could get them in the mail by Saturday.

  35. 35.

    UncleEbeneezer

    One other Alt-folk, Irish band that I really loved about a decade ago was The Villagers.  Check out their song Home.  Love his voice and lyrics.  They opened for Neil Young for a bit but never really got big.  Their first album was incredible, but after that they kinda floundered, imo.

  36. 36.

    Mousebumples

    @WaterGirl: Not last time, but, yes, I’m 2019 when the Dem lost it was by about 1 vote per precinct.

    I’ll go double check the last few elections. But I know postcards may have helped to flip a seat in 2020. (Bernie staying in the primary until after the Wisconsin primary may have helped GOTV too.)

  38. 38.

    Mousebumples

    @Sure Lurkalot: That’s plenty of time! We probably have through next weekend, even. Thanks for joining in!

    We’ll have another postcarding thread on Saturday (745pm eastern/blog time) and next Tuesday, too.

  41. 41.

    Mousebumples

    Wikipedia

    2018 – Open seat flip, Rebecca Dallet (liberal) won

    2019 – Open seat flip, Brian Hagedorn (conservative) won (though he’s less radical than other conservatives on the court)

    2020 – Jill Karofsky (liberal) beat the incumbent… Dan Kelly, who had been appointed by Scott Walker… And who is running again this year.

  42. 42.

    Trivia Man

    Tonight I did my training to be a poll observer, I am looking forward to it. They kept stressing that mostly, nothing happens. And that is good! We don’t want wild excitement – just orderly voting that moves quickly.

    Thanks everybody for helping drive that turnout.

  44. 44.

    BlueGuitarist

    @WaterGirl:

    that was 2019 half a percentage point.

    in 2020 the Dem won by 10 points, against Dan Kelly the R this time. Turn out was higher because presidential election year, so I thought the last odd number year would be the appropriate comparison. And it was so close.

  45. 45.

    Dan B

    @prostratedragon: Yes, Seattle. His family moved from Bremerton, naval base on the west side of Puget Sound. He was at Garfield High School which was 50% black.  Jimi Hendrix went there.  Garfield has a jazz group that frequently wins national competitions.  Much music there.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @Trivia Man: I have been a poll observer when a Republican was in office, in charge of elections.  The bullshit made my blood boil.  But other than that, it was a great experience.

    Good for you for doing it.

  51. 51.

    Trivia Man

    @BlueGuitarist: College ID is a tricky document. It must have an effective date, expiration date, and there must be less than 2 years between them.

    Also learned that while any eligible voter can challenge another (think they are not old enough, not a citizen, otherwise not eligible…) the challenged voter simply affirms they meet that qualification and they are allowed to vote.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    Looks like the thread might be winding down.

    Big thanks to everyone who offered funds for postcard stamps for the Indivisible group.  Not surprising for Balloon Juice – we have offers for more than the amount that is needed!

    As soon as we have figured out the details for how to get the funds to them, I will be in touch with each of the 7 people who volunteered.

  54. 54.

    Mousebumples

    Thanks to everyone who’s in this thread tonight! I’m turning in early to rest up my arm, and hope to be back to writing at closer to full speed tomorrow.

  57. 57.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Trivia Man:

    I remember reading that Wisconsin republicans came up with the idea of driving down the student vote and imposing extra costs on 4year colleges by adding a 2 year expiration date requirement for IDs. Maybe other state do that too, although some like Texas decided not to count student ID as valid for voting.

  62. 62.

    kalakal

    A couple of numbers from Horslips , the “founding fathers of Celtic Rock” both are from The Tain (1973) an electrified collection of Irish traditional tunes retelling the epic Cattle raid of Cooley*

    Dearg Doom

    Faster then the Hound

    *sorry for the lecture but I’ve no idea if Horslips ever made it in the US

  63. 63.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @BlueGuitarist: Do you know any Spanish? Technically you could just copy the message out without knowing it, but I think I would have been a little nervous about making more mistakes if I wasn’t familiar with it enough to know the right endings of words. I was just struggling with stuff like the salutations, as I haven’t done anything formal with business in Spanish.

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