Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Let there be snark.

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60Comments

  2. 2.

    Mousebumples

    @WaterGirl: Haha, it happens! Thanks for getting it all fixed up.

    I’ve got another 22 postcards to address tonight.

    If you’re up for writing in Spanish, there’s some additional language you can add to the Judge Janet postcards to support the Democratic mayor in Green Bay. I’m just sooo much slower in Spanish that I am probably going to do English language postcards for the next week or so.

  3. 3.

    H.E.Wolf

    Thanks for keeping the postcard signal going! I just put 5 more in the mail yesterday for Janet Protasiewicz, via PostcardsToVoters.org .

    Plugging along….

  5. 5.

    BlueGuitarist

    Thanks for posting!

    I’m writing some more postcards for

    Judge Janet Protasiewicz to flip the Wisconsin state Supreme Court
    & Eric Genrich for Green Bay mayor

    and for  Judge Janet for Justice & Jodi Habush Sinykin for WI state senate district 8 to prevent Republicans from getting a 2/3 majority in the state senate and removing people from office for doing their jobs.

    In a 50-50 state like Wisconsin, how are Republicans able to get 2/3 of the seats? The state Supreme Court lets Republicans gerrymander.

    Listening to Reina del Cid covering When I Paint My Masterpiece for encouragement to improve my handwriting:


    https://youtu.be/TfCAXV2QbGE

  6. 6.

    Scout211

    In honor of the possible hush money indictment coming soon to a courthouse in NYC and also for the day we’ve had here in California, here’s and oldie but goodie by the Classics IV:

    Stormy

  7. 7.

    H.E.Wolf

    As a really slooow writer, my music offering tonight is Arlo Guthrie singing “The Garden Song” (“Inch by Inch…”) from his live-concert collaboration with Pete Seeger: Precious Friend.

    [Note: minutes 3 through 5 can be skipped if Arlo Guthrie humor is not your thing]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2obPs5R4-ss

    My favorite lines from the introduction:

    “I know everyone likes singin’ with Pete, but I learnt this song from Pete and it’ll be almost the same thing.”

    “Pete does sumpin’ I can’t do – he sings the song twice at the same time.”

  9. 9.

    schrodingers_cat

    What kind of pen do you guys use when writing these postcards. I have a stack of GOTV postcards for the Wisconsin election that the chair of the Dem committee just dropped by, I usually write in ink or gel pen but those can get smeared hence the question.

  10. 10.

    Mousebumples

    @BlueGuitarist: Awesome! Thanks for efforts. 🤩

    We’re rewatching Ted Lasso (onto season 2) to refresh our memories about what happened before we jump into the new season 3 episodes.

  12. 12.

    Mousebumples

    @schrodingers_cat: A lot probably depends on your preferences, but I mostly have Pilot G2s. I also use superfine Sharpies for accent color.

    But these can blur on more glossy cardstock, so they may not be right for all types of postcards.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    I’m still getting requests for addresses, so it’s not too late to start writing if you’re so inclined!  Just send an email to watergirl at balloon-juice.com

  18. 18.

    Mousebumples

    @schrodingers_cat: I mostly stocked up on Pilots when I was a Walgreens pharmacist and didn’t like the cheapo pens the pharmacy had, so I would keep my own in my jacket pockets.

    They write really nice, but almost 5 years out of that job, and I still have a bunch of pens left!

  19. 19.

    BlueGuitarist

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’m using various colors of pentel gel pens, and because you posed this question it has belatedly occurred to me that I should have different thickness instead of all .7 so that I could be writing the candidate’s name not only in a different color but bold. So thanks for asking! Hope your carandache (iirc) experience is going well.

  22. 22.

    schrodingers_cat

    @BlueGuitarist: I like 0.5 thickness. Pentel’s 0.5 needle tip and Pilot G2s are my favorites. I also like Uniball Signo 207.

    Caran’dache are gorgeous.  I also got some pastels that are pearlescent. I love them, subtlety  shiny and shimmery.

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    Now I’m listening to the Circle song sung by Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and it’s making me think of the Harry Chapin concert where we all sang it.

  29. 29.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I finished up my postcards and drove to the post office. I’m an impatient sort and the line was 3x the number of staff so I went to the self serve to see if it printed postcard stamps. The screen had a choice for alternative amount stamps and a postcard choice so I picked that for 20. I thought I would get 2 sheets of 10 printed but it printed 20 separate stickers, probably 3” x 1”, like you would put on a package. How anyone thought that would work on a postcard I just don’t know. So, impatient me had to go back home and trim them so they would fit without covering what was written and even then it obscured the “Valued Voter” I wrote on a couple of cards.

    Lesson learned for next postcard drive.

  31. 31.

    H.E.Wolf

    @schrodingers_cat:”What kind of pen do you guys use when writing these postcards…. I usually write in ink or gel pen but those can get smeared hence the question.”

     I use ballpoint pen and fountain pen.

    However…

    I’m left-handed, and ever since elementary school, I’ve been writing with a small piece of paper placed between my writing hand and the actual document I’m working on.

    That takes care of most of the smears; I use White-Out on the rest of them. Using an ink eraser is too laborious. :)

  35. 35.

    Mousebumples

    Postcard things – questions for WaterGirl and the music/postcarding crowd:

    1. WaterGirl, can Voces get us English Green Bay addresses between now and next week’s mailing date?
    2. Postcarders – if yes, anyone interested in adding some language to support Eric Genrich for Mayor on English language postcards? (or Spanish is great, too!)
    3. WaterGirl, with the last day to mail next Tuesday, could we move next week’s postcard/music post to Monday night for one last postcarding push?
    4. Everyone – I think we’re also planning on the usual post this Saturday, and on Tuesday, April 4 (Election Day), maybe? I’m not sure if there are more postcard campaigns after this one, but even if it’s just music and election returns, that could be a nice distraction from refreshing pages looking for voting tallies.
  36. 36.

    H.E.Wolf

    @WaterGirl:”I love Arlo Guthrie’s voice. I had forgotten how much.

    edit: the drawing on the cover TOTALLY catches Pete Seeger and his energy.”

     I agree about the cover drawing! I chose the YouTube clip (there were several) for just that reason.

  39. 39.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Sure Lurkalot:[postcard stamp woes]
     I’m impressed with your workaround!

    This won’t help with long lines, but if postcard stamps are in short supply, currently (until prices change) 2 “extra ounce” stamps = 1 postcard stamp.

    My mom is no longer able to write easily, so she mailed me a few pages of extra-ounce stamps as her contribution to the cause. I maintain that those postcards have extra Good Karma and will *definitely* influence the recipients to vote!

  40. 40.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Songs in memory of Bobbi Ercoline

    Woodstock – Joni Mitchell

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEBmKi2xmoU

    Going up the Country – Canned Heat

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0Dm-OaTNk

    Bobbi Kelly Ercoline, who, along with her boyfriend (and later husband) Nick became an iconic, if unwitting, symbol of the Woodstock generation when their bedraggled, blanketed and poignant image was featured on the music festival’s 1970 soundtrack album… Her death was announced by husband of 54 years, Nick Ercoline.

    Nick Ercoline and Bobbi Kelly were both 20 years old and had been dating less than two months when they decided on a whim to drive the 40 miles from their New York State hometown to the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

    It wasn’t until the following year with the release of the soundtrack album featuring the photograph on its soon-to-be famous cover that Ercoline and Kelly even realized their photo had been taken. Fifty years later, Nick Ercoline told AARP Magazine that he and Bobbi, who married in 1971, had first recognized an orange and yellow butterfly flag shown in the photo. “Then we saw the blanket,” he said, adding, “Oh my lord, that’s us!”

    h/t https://deadline.com/2023/03/bobbi-ercoline-dead-woodstock-album-cover-obituary-1235304881/

  43. 43.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I had a couple of 7mm Flairs that I liked best on the card stock I used to print the cards. They didn’t run or smear (I’m a lefty). After I finished my cards, I looked on Amazon to buy a color assortment for the next drive and put a set on my wish list.

    On the way to the post office, I popped into an Office Depot and they had the same set 5 bucks cheaper, 12 assorted colors for $10.

  44. 44.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @H.E.Wolf: I buy stamps on the USPS site so I plan on purchasing some soon to be ready for the next push.

    I enjoyed this more than I thought I would!

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @Mousebumples:

    Green Bay is in Brown County, and that’s where the mayoral race is – at this point, we have only Latino addresses for that county, and those need to be written in Spanish.

    But Voces can get me AA addresses for Green Bay on Thursday, and those of course will be in English.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @Mousebumples:

    WaterGirl, with the last day to mail next Tuesday, could we move next week’s postcard/music post to Monday night for one last postcarding push?

    Yes, we can do the Tuesday postcard thread on Monday next week, for one last push before postcards have to be in the mail on Tuesday.

  50. 50.

    Mousebumples

    @WaterGirl: Works for me. I just asked for more addresses, and I always do addresses last. I’ll hold on writing the mayoral messaging in case there are any hiccups, but I’ll hopefully get those in the mail Thursday or Friday. 🤩

  52. 52.

    WaterGirl

    Postcard / Election Post Schedule:

    This Saturday 3/25 –  we will have the music and postcards thread.

    Next Monday 3/27 – we will have another postcard thread (instead of Tuesday).

    Tuesday, April 4 – we’ll have a music and election results thread.

  56. 56.

    Mousebumples

    @WaterGirl: I think that covers it. Thanks for sharing the pic. I’m going for speed/quantity and not changing colors much mid postcard, but I thought the star sticker might catch the eye towards Judge Janet’s name. 🤞

  60. 60.

    Trivia Man

    I received a postcard today in the mail from San Francisco. Thanks! (But I am lready planning to vote)

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