Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

We won’t go back.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The willow is too close to the house.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

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

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

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Let there be snark.

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

Let me file that under fuck it.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: Elon, When the Wheels Fell Off

Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: Elon, When the Wheels Fell Off

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It is a fact universally acknowledged that what Musk craves most from the world is attention — more than health, comfort, family, friends, or even the wealth that serves to draw attention and to mark its worth. His new BFF Donald Trump seems to be another attention addict, albeit one molded by an earlier and less social-media intensive era. If we are fortunate, we may be about to witness the political equivalent of every physicist’s fantasies: Two black holes of toxic neediness colliding, with presumably catastrophic results…

Per NBC News, “‘All hell has broken loose’: Inside Elon Musk’s high-stakes pro-Trump door-knocking effort”:

Nine Republican operatives and canvassers connected to the Elon Musk-backed America PAC told NBC News that they’re worried the high-profile grassroots operation on behalf of Donald Trump’s presidential bid may hamper his chances in states decided by slim margins.

America PAC has been tasked with much of the pro-Trump canvassing operation as his campaign focuses its efforts on a more limited effort targeting so-called low-propensity voters. In turn, the Musk-backed organization is going door to door in all of the major swing states to help turn out Trump supporters and have them fill out surveys about their voting intentions.

But the people who spoke to NBC News, many of whom have years of experience in GOP field operations, said the operation may not be the well-oiled machine many in the party might hope it is, especially considering how much money is behind the effort.

In particular, they raised concerns about canvassers’ submitting an inordinate amount of suspect data. That data, some of which NBC News has reviewed, includes entries submitted far from the home or while canvassers are logged into Wi-Fi networks — telltale signs that a door was not knocked on, sources said. In addition, a video explaining how to “spoof” one’s location while submitting data drew attention in Nevada and Arizona, raising further concerns.

“I know it’s been flagged for America PAC that this has been transpiring,” an operative formerly on the effort said.

As some of that data spilled into public view last month, an operative close to the effort said: “All hell has broken loose” inside the PAC…

This goes beyond what the GOP might once have dismissed as uppity Black hirelings complaining about working conditions. It suggests that some portion of the Permanent GOP Party has told the Very Serious News Media that Musk’s cack-handed efforts to become Trump’s ‘shadow president’ / puppetmaster will be blamed if (when) Trump loses the popular vote again. A newly installed Harris / Walz administration has little reason to accommodate Musk as he’s become accustomed to being accommodated; the image of having an angry mob of pitchfork & torch laden Republicans gunning for him can’t be helping his fragile mental state.


 
More in sorrow than anger…, says the GOP.

Next week’s presidential election isn’t just a referendum on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. It’s also a measure of the influence the world’s richest man wields over American democracy.

Elon Musk, the South African-born tech and business titan, has spent at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. His social media platform, X, has become a firehose of pro-Trump propaganda. And he’s playing a starring role in Trump-style rallies in critical battleground states.

All the while, he’s coming under growing scrutiny. He skipped a hearing on Thursday in a lawsuit over his effort to dole out millions of dollars to registered voters, giveaways legal experts liken to vote buying. He’s being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Musk regularly communicates with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a potential national security risk because SpaceX, his aerospace company, holds billions of dollars worth of contracts with NASA and the Department of Defense.

Musk is hardly the only person whose megawealth places him at the nexus of politics, business and foreign policy. But few are working so publicly for a single candidate as Musk, whose expansive business ties and growing bravado pose a vexing test of one unelected person’s political power. His stature is perhaps one of the most tangible consequences of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which eliminated many limits on political giving.

“This is definitely an election brought to you by Citizens United,” said Daniel I. Weiner, the director of elections and government at the Brennan Center for Justice, who added that the phenomenon was bigger that just Musk. “What this is really about is a transformation of our campaign finance system to one in which the wealthiest donors are playing a central role.”

Musk did not respond to a request for comment made through his attorney. Tesla, his electric car company, and X did not respond to inquiries. SpaceX disputed parts of The Journal’s reporting in a statement and said it continues to work in “close partnership with the U.S. Government.”…

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    If Trump loses tomorrow (please FSM), I’ll be celebrating a stinging repudiation of Musk as much as Trump’s latest defeat. The cherry on top of the sundae would be a public blame-fest between those two odious kleptocrats.

  4. 4.

    sab

    The one thing Replicans used to be very very good at was GOTV. But that of course relied heavily on Republican women. Oops.

  6. 6.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Poor Lone Mucks.
    Might have to sell some of his holdings, and own fewer homes and vehicles. Awwww.

    But bloody hell how dare he set out to promise to “deliver” an election. Whatever loopholes let it be possible or legal to try to pour this much money into one candidate, I’d like those loopholes closed.

    outrage

  7. 7.

    sab

    @Gloria DryGarden: I normally approve of immigration. I have immigrant inlaws I think improve our country. But what the fuck were we thinking when we let Peter Thiel and the Musks in?

  8. 8.

    sab

    It is still very scary how much of our Defense infrastructure we bought from him. Can we get it back without destroying it? Hopefully his employees are more loyal to their own security clearances than to him.

  10. 10.

    opiejeanne

    @sab: There are a few in my area and when we spot one it’s hard not to point and laugh. They are so, so very ugly.

  11. 11.

    opiejeanne

    And one I saw recently looked like it was completely rusted. I’m told that’s a finish or wrap that has been added.

  12. 12.

    Debbie(Aussie)

    Sorry to interrupt your pre dawn thread. I just needed to say, being so far behind I just saw the Lincoln Project’s latest ad.  I cried, not even a US citizen (obviously) it was wonderful.

    stay optimistic, let a little hope in. For what it’s worth (absolutely nothing) Kamala and the Democrats have this!

  13. 13.

    sab

    @opiejeanne: First one I saw at a BestBuy parking lot I was so excited I wanted to take photos. My husband said no and, unusually, I gave in. I didn’t really need a photo of one.

    Almost as exciting as the time I saw a Maserati at Costco.  Who drives that to buy groceries? Just a travesty.

  16. 16.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Betty Cracker: you know if Harris wins Elon will backtrack on TFG and call him the worst most incompetent laziest candidate ever etc etc. I hope Elon faces some real legal consequences for all the garbage he’s been pulling. Talking to Putin, the Starlink stuff found on Russian equipment by the Ukrainians, treatment of employees and the environmental stuff around the landing pads of Starlink.

  18. 18.

    opiejeanne

    It’s just past 2am, I’m wide awake, and my face hurts. I had surgery on my drooping eyelids on Hallowe’en and while the swelling and bruising is improving, I’m still really sore and currently look like the evil emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. As the bruising drains my face has undergone several interesting patterns, including looking like a panda and a member of KISS, except in red instead of black makeup, and some of it is now turning yellow. I wonder if it will also turn green or if we’re skipping that phase of draining.

    I need to SLEEP!

  19. 19.

    sab

    OT: Echo, one of the rescue cats I got from satby, is currently asleep on the pillow next to me. My pitbull is also asleep snoring at the foot of the same bed.

    Echo used to be terrified of the pitbull. Now she just thinks the dog is annoying. She has seen the other cats reacting with the dog.

    I wish her brother would come to the same conclusion. He rules the basement now, but he won’t come upstairs while the dog is awake.

  22. 22.

    opiejeanne

    @Baud: I keep forgetting that it’s Monday now.

    Maybe Tuesday is why I’m sleepless just outside Seattle tonight.

  25. 25.

    opiejeanne

    @Baud: I had the best Hallowe’en face by the time kids would have come around that evening, if any had. I mean, when I caught sight of my own face I didn’t recognize me and the swollen purple and black eyes were pretty scary. I kind of feel like the surgeon was standing on my face while he worked on me. I know he didn’t because I was awake through the whole thing, even though I was assured that I would probably fall asleep during the procedure.

    It’s really weird, but I think he cut my eyelashes. I don’t seem to have any on my upper lids now but the edges are so swollen that maybe they’re still there.

  30. 30.

    Rose Judson

    @opiejeanne: Healing thoughts! My mom had the same procedure you said you’d had, and after everything had settled down post-op she was very happy with the result. Made her feel much more confident when driving.

  32. 32.

    JoyceH

    @sab: Traditionally GOTV is a party function. But in this instance, Trump turned the RNC over to his daughter in law and she assisted him in looting the treasury to pay his battalion of lawyers. The only advantage to Trump of this current fuster-cluck of an operation is that someone else is paying for it.

  33. 33.

    TBone

    Things to do today:

    Drop off ballots at County office

    Pay the monthly bills

    Go to liquor store before they run out of champagne

    Bake a 🎂

  36. 36.

    lowtechcyclist

    @sab: ​
     

    I normally approve of immigration. I have immigrant inlaws I think improve our country. But what the fuck were we thinking when we let Peter Thiel and the Musks in?

    They really were from a ‘shithole country’ – the South Africa of the Apartheid era.

    It does seem like an unusual number of our ‘problem’ billionaires grew up white in South Africa, doesn’t it?

    Still, the underlying problem is that we aren’t taxing the fuck out of these people. Economic might always wants to turn itself into political power. Citizens United made it a lot easier for that to happen, and Lord knows one of the things we need is a Supreme Court that will reverse that decision, but money finds ways.

    The real problem is that there are people in America worth tens and hundreds of billions of dollars, and that for them, throwing $100M at an election is like you or me giving a few thousand dollars. They’ll find a way to spend that money to influence our political process, one way or another.

  37. 37.

    👻David 🎃Booooooo🎃 Koch💀

    I’m watching a group of undecided republicans in swing states being interviewed on The Bulwark’s youtube channel and most of them have decided to vote for Kamala, but one said he was going to vote for Dump because he doesn’t like “pronouns” discussions he comes across on social media. Oy vey. Nothing about the economy or foreign affairs or abortion or even the border. He’s mad about pronouns on some internet site that isn’t real life. I know the common clay are morons, but still when you come across it… the stoopid burns.​​

  40. 40.

    lowtechcyclist

    @👻David 🎃Booooooo🎃 Koch💀: ​
     

    one said he was going to vote for Dump because he doesn’t like “pronouns” discussions he comes across on social media. Oy vey. Nothing about the economy or foreign affairs or abortion or even the border. He’s mad about pronouns on some internet site that isn’t real life.

    And what this really comes down to is that he wants to be rude to people he disapproves of, because the whole pronouns bit is simply about being polite to trans and nonbinary persons. That’s all it is, and not being an asshole is just too hard a climb for some people.

  42. 42.

    p.a.

    A.L., nice TNG reference to an episode (Darmok) that can stand up (IMHO) with Mirror Mirror & The Trouble with Tribbles from TOS as a classic.  (Yeah, yeah… City on the Edge of Forever is the best…)  Big fail: not bringing the Tamarians back for recurring contacts in the series.

     

    How the system works, not even “behind the curtain”: we’ll deport people for stealing a car, but Elmo & Ruppie can buzz around undermining the Constitution and it’s like, “oh well what can we do?”  Too Big To Treason!

  43. 43.

    sab

    @Spc: Point taken. Why did we let his parents in? Once they were in they were in.

    So he is sort of a Dreamer but with better paperwork.

    That makes me even more angry.

  44. 44.

    Dan B

    @Spc: I don’t get Thiel.  He’s gay – has a husband and kids.  Most right wing gays seem focused on money, power, and racism but don’t recognize the far right would round them up and take their money.  The blind spots are immense.

  45. 45.

    Suzanne

    @👻David 🎃Booooooo🎃 Koch💀: I listened to that interview on Sarah Longwell’s Focus Group podcast. I really enjoy that podcast and I think it’s critical to understand why people believe and why…. But fuck, that made me so frustrated.

    I intellectually can grasp why people object to changing language codes of behavior — fear of change, fear of being seen as backward, etc — but ultimately…. It just feels so mean and I don’t genuinely know why anybody wants to be mean. “Call people what they want to be called” is such a simple way to live your life.

  46. 46.

    opiejeanne

    @Rose Judson: Thanks. I look forward to that, and getting rid of the Frankenstein stitches in my eyelids.

    Both eyelids were drooping so much that it was interfering with my ability to drive, not just my confidence. The left one started drooping a few years ago, but the right one almost caught up in the last few months.

  47. 47.

    TBone

    VP Harris will appear on the famous steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art tonight.

    https://www.phillyvoice.com/kamala-harris-philadelphia-museum-art-campaign-event-oprah-lady-gaga-roots/

    Meanwhile, inside the building, the Huntress stands in the Great Stair Hall:

    Diana is arguably the best-known work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who was recognized at the turn of the century as the country’s finest sculptor. When installed in 1893 on the tower of New York’s Madison Square Garden to serve as a weather vane, Diana ruled the highest point in Manhattan. The sculpture’s gilded form caught the sun during the day and was illuminated at night by the city’s first electric floodlights.

    Madison Square Garden was demolished in 1925 and the Philadelphia Museum of Art adopted the sculpture in 1932 with support for conservation and shipping from the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art). Diana has reigned as the goddess of the Museum’s Great Stair Hall ever since.

  50. 50.

    Suzanne

    @Dan B: Thiel has been soaking in rich white guy privilege so long that it has blinded him to the nature of his supposed allies.

    Some women are racist. Some men of every race are sexist. Some racial minorities are homophobic. Some gay men are sexist. Etc etc etc. 

    I would love if various marginalized people recognized it and developed the basic empathy and awareness to stand in solidarity with others. But a lot of people are essentially shitty, and the only problem they have with wealthy white patriarchy is that they don’t get to operate within it from their preferred position.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    Judging from ad type investment, Trump and down-ticket GOP assholes think anti-trans messaging is a winner. I’m old enough to remember when anti-gay messaging benefited Repubs like W Bush.

    It took a while for a sufficient plurality of Americans to acknowledge the humanity and equality of gay people. It may take longer for trans acceptance because it’s a smaller population, so fewer people have direct connections in their family and friend groups.

    It’s maddening to have to wait for people to catch the fuck up, but that seems to be how it works. Society shouldn’t require courage of folks who are just trying to be who they are — if everyone would mind their own goddamn business, the world would be a better place!

    But here we are. Hopefully the hysterical scaremongering won’t work this year, and its rejection will be a grievous blow to Trump, Musk and the rest of the troglodytes.

  57. 57.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone:good luck w the champagne and cake. I assume it’s for your Tuesday festivities?

    My things to do:

    Research /read up on 7 more local ballot issues, call friend to discuss 3 statewide ballot issues to be more clear that I’m about to vote right. Fill out these remaining 10 ballot issues, sign, seal, drive to drop box.

    Beat the rain or snow. Finish 3 other errands and a few mini tasks. Reset car clock.

    Watch more skating videos, start reading a book. Send out positive alignments, visualize winning.

  59. 59.

    TBone

    Phila D.A. Larry Krasner has put his toe up the crack of fElon’s ass, and Senator Fetterman was hilarious on CNN.  “Biden wrecked his shit.”

    I love my Commonwealth so much.

    “It’s the same, sad story that he had in ’20, and I would like to remind everybody that [Joe] Biden wrecked his sh-t by 80,000 votes,” Fetterman said. “He will try to lie and claim these baseless things but now we’re going to have a new team leading America and that’s going to be Harris…

  60. 60.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Although it is true that there are assholish people in every demographic. They are not equally responsible for a human void  like Trump winning the Presidency. The onus of that lies on the default demographic.

    As for Thiel, his rich white maleness insulates him to a large extent from being marginalized as a gay person.

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    @The Thin Black Duke: I have memory of that, too. Blows my mind. I remember the f-word and the r-word used in basic, everyday conversation in middle school.

    Honestly, I think lots of people are just really fucken dumb and learning new things is really hard for them. These are the same people who never read a book after high school.

  66. 66.

    Trollhattan

    Getting set to depart the laboratory of democracy that is North Carolina, the most battley of battlegrounds. Holy mother of God, the ads.

    Shuttling between Raleigh and Winston Salem Harris wins the sign game. Sample bias?  [shrug]

    Donny was here Saturday and returns today. Happy to sleep three time zones away from him, tonight.

  67. 67.

    TBone

    @Gloria DryGarden: yes and so I can spend Election Day getting high and making little trays of yummy, easy appetizers and snacks.  Brie baked in puff pastry, prosciutto-wrapped shrimp, marinated fresh mozzarella balls stuck on toothpicks with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves, tiny swedish meatballs in sauce, and fresh cut fruit, cheese, soppressata, and veggie tray.  Not charcuterie 🤣

  69. 69.

    Shalimar

    I saw an article in my feed about how Elon is brilliantly changing city transportation forever, so i clicked on it to see if he was actually doing anything positive again.  It was a glowing article about how innovative The Boring Company is.

    The Boring Company has become infamous for blocking public transportation projects by negotiating contracts for tunnels that it has no hope of ever completing.  It ceased to be innovative when Musk’s attempt to work out the technical problems with Hyperloops failed.  Their one project they have actually finished is in Las Vegas and instead of being high-speed travel it is just a tunnel where you can ride in Tesla taxis from the airport to the strip without being able to see any of the scenery.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    Reminded of whatever that “state of the art” election tracking computer program was the Rs crowed about that crashed and burned

  71. 71.

    TBone

    @Baud: 💚🖤

    Robert DeNiro was here tailgating with the Eagles fans 😍 like Silver Linings Playbook, my favorite DelCo movie so far!

  73. 73.

    Princess

    @TBone: I used to mark Election Day with snack foods but in 2016, well, you know what happened, and all the food made me feel sick. I tried again in 2020 but I could not eat one single bite. So not this year.

  74. 74.

    p.a.

    @schrodingers_cat: There are demographics where the message is “your troubles, your failures, are YOUR fault.”  There is ONE demographic where the message is “your failures are EVERYONE ELSE’S FAULT.”  There are some in that last demo that have come to reject both messages.  Aaaannnnddddd they get derided as “woke”, or, the previous smear: “liberal guilt.”  Wash, rinse, repeat…

  76. 76.

    TBone

    @Princess: oh, sorry for that.  Healthy foods will be following every day this week to make up for my celebratory gluttony.  Stick to what you can eat with gusto!  There are lots of healthier snacks to gorge on ☺️ and that’s just as much fun!

  78. 78.

    Suzanne

    @Princess: On past Election Days, I have made fun drinks. Like a cocktail for the adults and a fancy soda for the kids. But this year, I am just fraught with dread and the idea of anything but water is freaking me out.

    ETA: Actually, the idea of watching the returns come in at all is deeply freaky. I am planning to go to yoga class tomorrow evening. If it could be four hours long, that would be ideal.

  79. 79.

    Betty

    One of the striking things about the money in this race is the number if multimillionaires parachuted in to various states to take on sitting Democratic Senators. The amount of money going into races against Brown, Casey, Baldwin, Tester and Warren is phenomenal.

  80. 80.

    Dave

    @Dan B: There are always offbeat weirdos (many of them are harmless or even quite charming) with their own esoteric obsessions and wealth really gives you the opportunity to embrace whatever set of impulses and weird interests in your brain decide to coalesce into a personal philosophy with the bonus that you’ll find plenty of people who will help provide a formal framework for those impulses. Then take the reality that the person who becomes a billionaire is almost always some form of asshole or another and you end with people like Thiel.

    His world is so different (somewhat exaggerated look at Musk he clearly mainlines the sewers of the Internet his is a difference in degree versus kind from a 4-chan troll) than ours that the inputs and outputs and day to day concerns are just radically different.

    Reason 5,236 why we really should limit the political power and wealth accumulation of these folks.

  83. 83.

    TBone

    @NotMax: 😆 exactly right! I’m not missing any boats, when my ship comes in, I will not be at the airport!

    I am a champagne snob and only drink Veuve Clicqot, because I don’t really drink any longer and if I AM going to do it, it had better be worth my good trouble!

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    @TBone: Making fiddly hors d’oeuvres is an excellent way to distract yourself and alleviate stress.

    I’m employing a different strategy this year: low and slow BBQing on a charcoal kettle grill, which will require attention to coals, temperature, etc., to pull off successfully, while allowing plenty of time for beer, naughty cigs, etc. Whatever it takes!

  87. 87.

    Dave

    @Betty Cracker: It is frustrating but there is at least some evidence that a lot of people who may not be exactly comfortable with trans issues (aka hey they are people that should be treated and given respect as people) have been turned off by the meanness of the campaign against a group that pretty clearly has very little power.

    I’m more surprised that they seem to have lost at least some focus on demonizing immigration and immigrants which seemed to be more effective since it exploits a classic flaw in the old social primate brain. As depressing as that is.

  88. 88.

    TBone

    @Betty Cracker: yum!!! 🤤😋 I like yer style too very much!  Maybe we can also do something on the grill here in solidarity (tiny lamb chops?) because we’re still getting Indian Summer afternoons just as I wished for.  The mornings are below freezing but the afternoons are golden, just like YOU!

    Are you gonna make an ATK charcoal snake?

  92. 92.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Princess: ​
     

    I used to mark Election Day with snack foods but in 2016, well, you know what happened, and all the food made me feel sick. I tried again in 2020 but I could not eat one single bite. So not this year.

    Yeah, I figure I can wait ’til Wednesday to celebrate if things go our way. Until I’m sure that that’s the case, that tiny chance that we still might be sent down the wrong timeline (I swear, it does feel like SF) would kinda spoil things.

    But if we wake up on Wednesday and things are in the bag, then it’s Jesse Jay’s for lunch.

  94. 94.

    Betty Cracker

    @NotMax: No, we’re still in town, but our refuge is equipped with a big Weber. Bill visited our house by boat over the weekend. The water is receding, but it’ll probably be two or three weeks before we can go home.

  95. 95.

    Dan B

    @Suzanne: It seems to me that people like Thiel believe that empathy is weakness and empathy makes marginalized people “less tough” ie. weaker.  It allows all manners of “isms”, of discrimination.  What is not recognized is that a society without empathy risks devolving into a dog eat dog world.  Minority groups suffer the most and there are few exceptions.  The Nazi history of the gay brownshirts is a cautionary tale.

  96. 96.

    Rose Judson

    @lowtechcyclist: I’m going to a Dems Abroad thing tomorrow from 8-10 p.m. (3-5 p.m. Eastern). Then I am going home, taking 50mg of diphenhydramine, and entering hypersleep until at least 5 a.m. my time.

    Worked in 2020.

  98. 98.

    TBone

    @lowtechcyclist: dang am jealous now!  Isn’t it still crab season also too?

    Now that reminds me to add my crab stuffed mushrooms to my menu! Oh, this Election Day is gonna be delish and I’ma hafta leave room in the fridge for leftovers!

    I miss being so close to Maryland…

  99. 99.

    Baud

    @Dan B:

    TBH, I don’t think that’s totally wrong. Empathy is good and I’m glad we have it, but I think an excess amount of it can a source of indecisiveness.  Of course, the solution isn’t to jettison it completely, but to learn to manage it well.

  100. 100.

    TBone

    @Betty Cracker: I hope where you are is surrounded by good neighbors instead of rumpy people, so you can all puff, puff, pass and show off and share your gnosh.  Woo hoo!  I am always hopeful and today I add in a big glug of confidence because love is always greater than hate.

  102. 102.

    TBone

    @NotMax: Old Bay is only for sticking to Bloody Mary glass rims.  It doesn’t get anywhere near crabcakes or mushrooms.

    Lump crab, Worcestershire, fresh lemon, dash of hot sauce, mayo, crushed Ritz crackers, and butter-sauteed minced onion, celery, and red pepper all bound with an egg.  No coating necessary for cakes.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    @TBone: November having an “R,” it’s oyster season too. Chesapeake Bay oysters are doing better these days, and a lot more people are growing them in cages. Oysters are pricey now but I’ll probably buy a pint for Thanksgiving.

  104. 104.

    Dan B

    @Dave: Sixty Minutes piece on Novo Nordisk having a greater valuation than the country of Denmark was interesting.  The woman who headed the team that developed Wegovy and Ozempic was that more money wouldn’t give her the things that mattered for a better life, plus the Danish attitude that you should not flaunt your wealth, was interesting.  Time for the Danes to run re-education centers for our super wealthy!  Seattle has some great ones so it is possible.

  106. 106.

    TBone

    @Geminid: YUM oh dear, I’m gonna cry now, missing my drive home from work every day, stopping off and eating big trays of raw oysters on a beach in a palapa bar in Galveston. Every day!  In the before Deepwater Horizon times…

    I’m so glad Chesapeake is resurging, we have big signs about it here because the Susquehanna River where I live now is part of that watershed.

  107. 107.

    Kosh III

    “the image of having an angry mob of pitchfork & torch laden Republicans gunning for him ”

    Please post the location and time. This should be a bi-partisan event.  I have a shovel with a sharp edge.

  108. 108.

    PIGL

    @sab: The real question is what we are thinking in letting them stay.  Are they provably guilty of downright crimes that would result in the revocation of their citizenship and deportation to South Africa?

  110. 110.

    Dan B

    @Baud: True that empathy without boundaries is not ideal or healthy.  I remember a big wig I was ferrying around gave cash to everyone who was begging or looking down and out.  I’m sure much of it went into hypodermics.  A local group gets unhoused people into selling their paper about homeless issues and stories by unhoused people, many of them good.  The human contact and accountability are a vital bookend to empathy.

  111. 111.

    Kosh III

    @Dan B: Most right wing gays seem focused on money, power, and racism but don’t recognize the far right would round them up

    See: Ernst Rohm

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    @TBone: We generally just bank the coals on one side. In regards to celebrating if (when!) things go our way Tuesday, we are still in the same county that went for Trump by 70% in 2020, just a drier part of it. So huzzahs will have to be muted to avoid riling up the disappointed (and armed) MAGA dopes.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    @PIGL

    Wish people would stop talking about revocation of citizenship. Never gonna happen. Not no way, not no how.

  114. 114.

    Dan B

    @Kosh III: Yep.  The pitchforks and torches are more likely to come from Christian Nationalists.  Or, in the case of Herr Rohm, a bullet or three.

  115. 115.

    PIGL

    @p.a.: bingo. Western nations need to start taking white collar crime, with deadly seriosity.

    I’ll be watching for President Harris’s appointments with concern.

  116. 116.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: I wonder if you have heard of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. They are textbanking for Eugene Vindman, and judging from their home page they seem like a serious outfit active in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.

  117. 117.

    Anyway

    @Suzanne: I used to get together with friends at a bar and watch the election returns  — in the innocent days. Ah 2016. No more.

    Now I am a poll worker and expect to get home around midnight after the results are certified and booths broken down and put away. I’ll probably stay up all night biting my finger nails….Today is a busy work day no time to dwell on what-ifs.

    I agree with others that Harris-Walz ran a great campaign and I am proud to be a D.

  118. 118.

    PIGL

    @Baud: Their grievances are inconsolable and perpetually renewed.

    although the most retrograde hateful Republican toddler could learn a lot from Alberta in that regard.

  120. 120.

    PIGL

    @Suzanne: arrival hypothesis would be 1/4 of the population is both dumb and mean. Our challenge is to make that something to be ashamed of rather than a source of pride.

  121. 121.

    Dave

    @Dan B: My perspective is that it isn’t about punishing the wealthy either. Not to be paternalistic, but to totally be paternalistic, that level of wealth accumulation and the obsession with it and the status it represents is not healthy for many of our billionaire betters. 

    Concern for their well-being is by no means the driving force, that would be the corrosive impact extreme wealth inequality has on our civic society and the nation as a whole, but I genuinely believe that effective constraints on their accumulation would genuinely benefit a lot of these guys.

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @TBone: The Susquehanna is the greater part of the Cheapeake Bay watershed, I think. That river makes the Potomac and James Rivers look like creeks.

    The James is coming back, at least when it comes to fish. Dam removal has helped the shad population start to recover, and people are seeing sturgeon near Richmond now.

  126. 126.

    TBone

    @Betty Cracker:  on the charcoal, that’s a better plan, the snake thingie is too fussy.

    On the neighbors:  crap!  I’d be so tempted to rile them anyway, but I remember being cautious at this time in 2020 for the same reason.  This year, however, Gritty is standing tall out on the front lawn like a thumb in their collective eye.

  128. 128.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone:

    dang am jealous now! Isn’t it still crab season also too?

    Can’t say I even know when crab season is!

    Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when I was still living at home, my dad did a lot of sailing.  And we’d pull into the Crab Claw at St. Michael’s on the Eastern Shore, and an order of crab cakes cost about the same as a hamburger, and I’d usually go with the crab cakes.

    I move back here in 1998, go to a seafood restaurant, and crab cakes are “Market Price.”  And I’m going, “WTF happened?” And “I liked crab cakes, but not that much!”  And the work of extracting crab meat from the shell just ain’t worth the hassle to me.

    I should also mention that the local seafood places have a heavy hand with the Old Bay seasoning, and it’s the sort of thing where (at least for my wife and me) a sprinkling might be nice, but it’s way past a sprinkling.

    So while I enjoy living here in Maryland (and I’ve finally started thinking of myself as a Marylander, rather than a Virginia expat), crabs aren’t one of the reasons.

  129. 129.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone: ​
     

    I’m so glad Chesapeake is resurging, we have big signs about it here because the Susquehanna River where I live now is part of that watershed.

    Yeah, during the last Ice Age, when sea levels were a few hundred feet lower, what’s now the Chesapeake Bay was just a continuation of the Susquehanna Valley.

  130. 130.

    Geminid

    @TBone: Now I’m wondering if a day will come when farmed oysters become so plentiful that the regular oysters people just tong off the Bay bottom are advertised as “Cage Free.;” maybe even as “Free Range Oysters.”

  131. 131.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: They are not a majority. They just have a lot of influence.  They dominate the media, politics and almost every sphere of life.

    Fun fact: The creation of Pakistan can also be attributed to Muslim uppercaste elites as they did not want to play a second fiddle to the Brahminical elite. Many Muslims in British India were not in favor of the partition

    If interested you can find out what happened to the Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan also known as Frontier Gandhi after independence.

  132. 132.

    TBone

    @lowtechcyclist: I totally get where you’re coming from.  I learned to love crabs at Walt’s in Philly as a child, my parents would take us to what appeared to be a lived in Philly rowhouse (even the front door was still a typical Italian rowhome door with the wrought iron scroll across a dirty storm window) and inside was an old linoleum floor and lots of tables covered in newspaper and maybe we even sat in lawn chairs it was so casual.  They’d bring big trays of cheap, freshly steamed crabs and dump them on your table and then a pitcher of beer.  My parents were just starting out back then so the affordable was key.  I was a little taken aback at the “ambiance” but one I tasted crabs I was not the least bit concerned about my surroundings any longer 😂

  135. 135.

    Ken

    Nine Republican operatives and canvassers connected to the Elon Musk-backed America PAC told NBC News that they’re worried the high-profile grassroots operation on behalf of Donald Trump’s presidential bid may hamper his chances in states decided by slim margins.

    Dear NBC News, we invented the word “underbussing” so you don’t have to write these long sentences. You’re welcome.

  136. 136.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Anyway: ​
     

    Agreed. And the casual talk of nationalization of Space X, Starlink etc makes me roll my eyes like I ‘m a teenager

    I agree that revocation of citizenship ain’t happening – and really shouldn’t: it’s a weapon we don’t want wielded casually, which is what they’d do with it if they get back in power.

    But nationalization of SpaceX and Starlink? I don’t see how that’s anything less than a necessity from a national security standpoint. Having a private entity of any sort being able to determine (a) whether or not we have a space program for the next decade, and (b) whose country does or doesn’t get access to these communication resources (sorry, Taiwan, it just sucks to be you!) is a very bad place to be in.

    Sure, it’s not going to just happen overnight; this sort of thing is a very big fucking deal. But casual talk is the first step in changing the politics of doing so.

  137. 137.

    NotMax

    #TBone

    So old can remember when Nathan’s served deep fried soft shell crabs on a bun. With the claws sticking out one side.

  138. 138.

    Anyway

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Sure, it’s not going to just happen overnight; this sort of thing is a very big fucking deal. But casual talk is the first step in changing the politics of doing so.

    Yes, I’ll be happy with baby steps in the direction – color me cynical (trying to be less so)

  139. 139.

    Ken

    @JoyceH: Trump turned the RNC over to his daughter in law and she assisted him in looting the treasury to pay his battalion of lawyers.

    It occurs to me that if he loses, what happens at the RNC — and especially those legal payments — will be one of the earliest signs of whether the party is going to try to dump him.

  140. 140.

    Another Scott

    @lowtechcyclist: I moved to NoVA in 1989.  I was always hearing ads on the radio for various restaurants for buckets of blue crabs for $10 or something.  I would shake my head and say to myself – “there’s no way that’s sustainable…”

    Sure enough, the blue crab population crashed.

    CBF.org says the population is still lower than it should be.

    I recall reading various stories about there once being so many sturgeon in the Potomac that one could almost walk across the river on their backs. Stories of a 15-foot long sturgeon being caught there. Now, they’re extremely rare and endangered.

    Something something Jeremiah 2:7.

    There’s always more to do. We know what needs to be done, we know how to do it. We have to vote the monsters out as part of the process.

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    Quinerly

    @NotMax:

    One of my favorite eats at NOLA Jazz and Heritage Fest through 2007 (my last year after a 20 year run) were soft shell crab po boys. THREE large, lightly battered, deep friend, whole soft shell crabs on a large bun “dressed.” Those little legs hanging out. Love those little legs hanging out of the bun!!! Second runner up was “Crawfish Monica.” I have a great recipe for that. Can be made with shrimp. I think the soft shell crab po boy was $12.50 and it was one of the pricier food stands. Soft shell crabs might be my absolute favorite food after steamed oysters…. My mother when she was 93 and I together could easily devour over a peck of steamed (medium cooked temp) oysters at Wimpie’s Oyster Bar in tiny Winterville, NC when I was home for visits. We are small chicks…under 125 lbs. When my dad was alive, he would watch in amazement. (Joe was not an oyster lover). Miss those days.

    (A peck is 80-85 oysters). Love the raw ones too but haven’t had any in many, many years.

  145. 145.

    evodevo

    @Shalimar: ​
      LOL the Strip is a little over a mile from the airport, and the interstate is right there. Been over it several times. Takes a couple minutes. Why would you need an overpriced shuttle?

  147. 147.

    TBone

    @Geminid: you just made me remember doing oyster shooters shots when the Ballmer Inner Harbor renovations were still new!  YUM oysters and a titch of Old Bay in vodka Bloody Mary shots!

  148. 148.

    wjca

    @Suzanne: I intellectually can grasp why people object to changing language codes of behavior — fear of change, fear of being seen as backward, etc — but ultimately…. It just feels so mean and I don’t genuinely know why anybody wants to be mean. “Call people what they want to be called” is such a simple way to live your life.

    I think you may be overlooking the importance of sloth:  It’s a real hassle trying to figure out guess what pronouns someone wants used.  Especially on first acquaintance.  And knowing that you will get denounced if you guess wrong isn’t a joy either.

    In short, it isn’t seen as simpler.

  149. 149.

    Suzanne

    @wjca: You can ask someone what pronouns they want, or be observant about what other people call them, or you can use they/them for everyone as a default unless you know otherwise. And, in my experience, if you get it wrong in good faith and then endeavor to do better the next time, it’s okay.

    It’s really not as difficult as you make it out to be, unless, yes, you’re slothful. Being slothful is not really okay!

  150. 150.

    wjca

    @Suzanne:

    But what I’m saying is it doesn’t look that simple to them.  Yeah, the culture will probably evolve over the next couple of decades.  But at the moment, it hasn’t yet.

  152. 152.

    Suzanne

    @wjca: I get that people tell themselves that it’s difficult to change. I don’t think that’s a particularly laudable attitude and I’m not going to accommodate it.

  153. 153.

    Geminid

    @Gloria DryGarden: I have not looked to see how Vindman is doing in polls. I’m not very anxious though. Abigail Spanberger won the district by over 4% last cycle. She’s a formidable politician with a lot of name recognition, but it was also a midterm election and I think Vindman will do at least as well this time.

    Vindman has a ton of money because he is so well-networked nationally. At first I wasn’t sure about his retail campaigning skills, but judging from his social media accounts he’s getting around the district and presents well. I like how they never show Vindman talking; he’s always listening intently to various district residents giving their point of view. There’s this implicit theme of, “Eugene Vindman. He listens to us.”

  154. 154.

    kmax

    @opiejeanne: my wife had that surgery at end of September.

    Her surgeon uses goggles to control swelling and bruising.   She wore them for 3 days.

    She had very little swelling and bruising.

    Hope it gets better soon.  The surgery made a big difference for her.

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