We haven’t done one of these for a good long while, have we?
Apologies for not making it in for a third post last week. I’ve been preoccupied. We’ve all been preoccupied. And I think this will be the last post until after Tuesday, because I’m out of things to say about our current situation and I have to organize and pack supplies for the longest possible shift Tuesday. Instruction guides, fully charged extra cell-phone battery, snacks – you know the drill. I’m slated to be at the same precinct I worked in August, on the east side of Detroit. The action will be downtown, at the TCF Center, where the absentee ballots will be counted. But I’m content to do my part in the field.
If anything noteworthy happens at the polling place Tuesday, I’ll tweet. But I’m hoping for a nice, quiet-but-busy, anticlimactic E-day.
In the meantime, I’m going to do a thing that doesn’t exactly calm me down, but helps dissipate some of the anxiety: Cleaning and laundry. Any bloggage? Eh…how about this elegantly written but ultimately lightweight essay titled “How Don Junior became the future of Trumpism:”
After four years in power, Trump is, characteristically and axiomatically, unchanged. He is what he has always been—a creature made merciless by his inherited privilege and stupid appetites, a slave to vanity shoved haphazardly into an expensive suit, a dim country club gossip who watches too much TV and wants to be famous. Trump’s most ambitious son shares that curdled understanding of who he is and what he deserves, and is just as relentless and just as hungry.
They are telling the rest of us, everywhere and every day, what they want and how they intend to take it. At bottom, this is nothing more than the plump, pink privilege of all the people at Mar-a-Lago getting righteously wasted off toast after fulsome toast, because those seething and freshly liberated burghers are what Trumpism is and whom it is for. Trump is an aspirational figure in the sense that he promises his acolytes the right to be as brutally free and unaccountable as he is. That is all his movement is. For all the talk about making America great again, his project has transparently always been about keeping this tenuous and untenable moment from tipping into any kind of future; it is about maintaining control, whatever that means and at whatever cost; it is about every dying and unworkable thing remaining exactly as it is.
Donald Trump can only be himself, and he just so happens to be the perfect avatar of every rancid revanchist American impulse that made his celebrity and ultimately his presidency possible. The combination of Trump’s sincere desire to have and keep and control everything in the world, and a nation too confused and too weak to tell him no, has been catastrophic. His brutal legacy is secure in all the worst ways, and the mere fact of his presidency will make any number of treasured old falsehoods about this country impossible to believe in the future. His most ambitious son clearly wants some of what his father has, but it’s unclear whether he is more than just another follower—one of the many faces in the burgeoning crowd of Americans who no longer feel compelled to honor anything but their own appetites.
Elegant writing has been one of the few consolations of the past four years. Not that it’s done much for us.
I leave you with one more picture from this morning. Love that Portrait mode on the iPhone:
Good luck to all of us. See you on the other side.
LAMary said on October 31, 2020 at 12:33 pm
Great photos. Love the sprouts.
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jcburns said on October 31, 2020 at 1:30 pm
Those are lovely pictures indeed, Nancy. Good luck upholding our democracy. See you on the other side.
I was in the mood to glean through your database for a few (not all) more Saturday Morning Market posts: July 2016, July 2017, October 2014, September 2016, May 2013, November 2012.
The search box at the right gives you even more.
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Brian stouder said on October 31, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Don’t miss the end of the comments at the last post; excellent stuff! At the risk of repeating myself (over the past few decades, here at nn.c), here’s one little election day story I’ll share, from several decades ago. Back then, my mom was what we might today call a ‘community organizer’; she was in the pre-internet, door-knocking, volunteer, shoe-leather, friend-of-a friend, retail politics era. She was a precinct committee person (as opposed to her title as Precinct Comitteeman), and got me in as an election-day worker (repeatedly!). At various election days, I was a clerk, sheriff, and inspector (boss, more-or-less). One of the official jobs of the Inspector – at least in those days – was to go outside of the polling place at 6 am and declare “Hear ye! Hear ye! The polls are now open!”; and at 6 pm to go outside and declare “Hear ye! Hear ye! The polls are now closed!” And, importantly, everyone already in the chute gets to vote!
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Brian stouder said on October 31, 2020 at 1:57 pm
….so anyway, this was Southeast Fort Wayne, which was then in the middle of white-flight, wherein the mostly plain, ranch-style tract housing would be sold by (mostly white) folks who worked at Harvester or Magnavox or Fruehauf (etc) – who then moved to newly built southwest suburbs; and were replaced by (mostly) Black families, and Hispanic families, and Asian families. Anyway, the clock was approaching 6 – and I went out to make sure folks coming to the building to vote got into the chute before 6 pm……and this prompted our (white) neighbor from across the street – a successful store owner who always drove new Chrysler Imperials (which he beat the crap out of, but we digress) to come out and demand to know what the %÷$€ hell I was doing! Didn’t I realize these ______s were all Democrats? I cannot report that I had any eloquent verbal response for him, but I can report that several folks got into the chute and got to vote….and Hopefully the same will be true in our current election
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Heather said on October 31, 2020 at 2:13 pm
Based on how coked up Jr. has appeared in recent interviews, I don’t think he has the nerves for a political career, even one where the red carpet has been rolled out for him.
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susan said on October 31, 2020 at 4:02 pm
Brian s. (continuing from the previous set of comments) — A sublime evening I had yoncks ago was at a”town hall” program in Seattle, with two of my heroes, seated on stage together, talking with each other: Molly Ivins and Al Franken. Ohmygosh, that was so much fun. We were in the cheap seats, but I brought binoculars. I would love to have a recording of that tête.-à-tête
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LAMary said on October 31, 2020 at 4:13 pm
A bunch if trump flag bedecked pickup trucks swarmed the Biden Harris bus on the highway in Texas, blocking it from getting to the next event. They did eventually move after the cops showed up. Coked up favorite son,Jr. is encouraging this sort of behavior.
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David C said on October 31, 2020 at 6:39 pm
I just saw a video of President Obama effortlessly sinking a three pointer and I want to cry.
https://twitter.com/OliviaRaisner/status/1322664700052705283
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LAMary said on October 31, 2020 at 7:29 pm
trump jr. believes he is genetically destined to rule. This is from the LA Times in 2015:
Trump has handed down his sense of entitlement to the next generation. His son Donald Jr. told me: “Like him, I’m a big believer in race-horse theory. He’s an incredibly accomplished guy, my mother’s incredibly accomplished, she’s an Olympian, so I’d like to believe genetically I’m predisposed to [be] better than average.”
The notion that Donald Jr.’s mother, Ivana Trump, was an Olympic skier in 1972 persists even though her country, Czechoslovakia, fielded no team. Her son not only believes the tall tale, he’s convinced that it affirms his own superiority. “I’m in the high percentile on the bell curve,” he said. He then added that his father’s abilities are even greater. “That’s what separates him from everyone I know.”
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Julie Robinson said on October 31, 2020 at 7:31 pm
A coda to the saga of newspaper subscriptions from the last thread: both NYT and WaPo raised their prices to $100 or more per year. But it seems they’re both a bit like the cable companies; if you complain or cancel, the prices come down. NYT offered me $4/month right away, WaPo let me cancel. But today they offered me $29/year, so I snapped it up immediately. Happy ending!
No trick or treaters here at the senior apartments, and I didn’t even buy candy, but I’m still feeling full from an amazing carrot cake my husband baked for me. Damn, it was good.
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LAMary said on October 31, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Julie, that’s how I got my five dollar New Yorker deal. I complained, they immediately countered with a forty percent discount.
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Dave said on October 31, 2020 at 7:53 pm
One thing that I’ve missed yearly by living in a 55+ community is trick or treaters. Last year, we were able to go with our Virginia grandsons on their trick or treating adventures but this year it’s a quiet evening at home. Our son did send us videos of our daughter’s two trick or treating. The two year old got very upset when they put his costume on him (who knows why?) so he went without.
My WaPo subscription runs out on the 21st of November and I’m not going to pay $100 for a year. I know that it is a business but we have to think about what we spend where. I’m subscribed to four online papers now, including the Tampa Bay Times, to keep it local. Oh, and I see Netflix is raising their rate, again.
If that Orange Clown wins, it’ll be a minority vote and I’ll be very upset at the thought of four more years of him and the rest of that vile family, not to mention the Grahams, McConnells, and Pauls of the world. Oh, and Scott and Rubio, all the apologists. Does anyone think that in a second term, they might dare to break away, even a little bit, from cowering to his deranged governing.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2020 at 8:07 pm
LAMary, given your post, I would add this in honor of Don Jr. May his self-assessment be comprehensively accurate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wondermonkey/2011/11/bred-to-destruction.shtml
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2020 at 8:17 pm
I am also sitting here typing inobtrusively as we watch the Ohio State game and I try to keep messaging moral support to my wife as we are listening to her father go on at length about how racism is over and Black people need to stop talking about being Black and being Americans. After watching eight years of concerted effort to enlighten a big group of 80 & 90 years olds get washed away like a sandcastle by a modest ripple of Trump tide, I am ready to spend no time with anyone in that demographic for another twenty years. And yes, I know there are exceptions, but I just so rarely get to spend time with them, and feel surrounded by my elders who believe George Wallace and Joe McCarthy had a point. And my point, such as there is one left in my mouth as I grind my teeth, is that once in that bracket, I have come to the conclusion that there’s just no changing core racial assumptions once a certain level of aging and weariness and frustration settles in. My wife says very sadly, “let it go.”
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Julie Robinson said on October 31, 2020 at 9:49 pm
Jeff, my mom is 88 and is a legacy Republican. Her grandfather held office, her mom was a precinct chair, and she supported Goldwater. Somehow (modestly, I’d like to think it’s partly my influence) she has become a flaming liberal who didn’t vote for a single Republican this time around. It is possible.
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Mark P said on October 31, 2020 at 11:31 pm
My path to groceries and fast food takes me though a predominantly Hispanic community. There are several houses that always do extravagant holiday decorations, including Halloween. I had to drive extra slowly and carefully Saturday night to avoid all the cars and people who were apparently gathering for Halloween parties. I hope I don’t hear about a sudden increase in Covid infections in a few days.
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Dexter Friend said on November 1, 2020 at 1:17 am
I watched my computer clock switch from 1:59 to 1:00. I watched Ohio State beat Penn State in an empty Happy Valley Stadium, and earlier, shuddered as Sparty carried the Paul Bunyan trophy back to East Lansing. I don’t know if more old couches get burned in the streets if Sparty wins or loses, or more rocks get thrown into East Lansing businesses.
I am dreading driving 640 miles Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday and hoping I can get my wife transferred from car to wheelchair as she sees a doctor then, back into the car and a twenty mile drive to see her surgeon, then back in and back to Commercial Point, then straight back for me to tend the cat. Too much for an old man.
Trunk-or-treat here, across the street, lots of kiddies out, done by sunset. Coronavirus running rampant in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Trump keeps saying it ain’t shit, “hardly anything” said Donnie, who thinks he’s heir apparent.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2020 at 7:42 am
All day today I’ll be looking at the time and thinking that it’s really an hour later. I dread the darkness at 5pm.
When I see videos of Jr I’m astounded by how fast he talks, a super motormouth. Last night we watched the old Hepburn/Tracy film “State of the Union” and could hardly keep up with the dialogue because it went roaring by at such a fast clip. Did everyone talk that fast back then?
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David C said on November 1, 2020 at 7:58 am
I think the under 30s at work are the ones who speak too fast. It’s like they’ve all gone to auctioneer school. I come from a family of rather slow talkers so that might skew things a bit for me, but damn slow down kids.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2020 at 9:51 am
My husband said that directors like Frank Capra and Howard Hawkes made their actors talk very fast on purpose, they wanted to create rhythm and movement through their films by cross cutting and speeding up dialogue. After silent movies, emphasis was on talking and they wanted lots of it.
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nancy said on November 1, 2020 at 10:04 am
You’re ignoring the fact Junior is extremely likely to be coked to the gills, a drug that makes even the most laconic user into a fast talker. One of the lesser-spoken-of joys of Twitter this fall is substance-abuse counselors weighing in with their expert opinions on his demeanor. Often their comments contain the jargon of their field, which I love unreservedly. My fave so far: “Jaw dancing.”
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LAMary said on November 1, 2020 at 10:20 am
Remember this? Remember when the occupants of the White House were not philistines?
https://tinyurl.com/y3457xxl
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Heather said on November 1, 2020 at 10:41 am
Sat out last night to pass out candy to the kids (safely and distantly) and it was a dose of much-needed semi-normalcy. My favorite costume: the kid dressed as a postal drop box.
It was especially cruel this year that the weather in Chicago was really lovely–a nice sunny day in the 50s, and a Saturday too! 9 years out of 10 the weather is really grim on Halloween–cold, overcast, and damp. Last year we had a blizzard.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2020 at 11:04 am
I don’t remember Jr being coked up earlier in Trump’s presidency or during the 2016 campaign. It would be interesting to see clips of him talking back then, I’m going to try to find some.
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susan said on November 1, 2020 at 11:22 am
Of course I’ll put this here.
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Jakash said on November 1, 2020 at 11:32 am
Brian @ 4,
If that took place back in the days when you were a “Morning in America” backer, yourself, it makes your efforts on behalf of the new folks in the neighborhood even more laudable.
Julie @ 10,
I guess I’ve been misinformed, in that I didn’t realize that a $29/year WaPo subscription is what a “happy ending” refers to, but good for you! 😉
Dave @ 12,
“Does anyone think that in a second term, they might dare to break away, even a little bit, from cowering to his deranged governing.” Not as long as his base continues to constitute the majority of *their* voters, too, no.
A day late, but here’s a hard-rocking electric pumpkin:
https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1322693414111059968
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Dorothy said on November 1, 2020 at 11:58 am
I cannot help it – I’m a fast talker. Always have been. My sister Janet is, too. My dear friend Toni’s husband said (about his mother-in-law) years ago that Mary talked at rates of 100 words a minute, with gusts up to 150. That always makes me smile. It’s just the way I’m wired – I really cannot help it! I get pissed when people feel it necessary to say to me ‘God, you talk fast!’ when they’ve never spoken to me before. As if I didn’t already know that I do this!
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LAMary said on November 1, 2020 at 12:11 pm
Susan, that is one of my favorite Bob and Ray routines. I remember seeing them do it live on the Dick Cavett Show. It must be my day for being reminded of things I liked. I read an article this morning in Vanity Fair about the 8 best Sean Connery movies and The Man Who Would Be King was on that list. I love that movie. So old school.
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David C said on November 1, 2020 at 1:16 pm
They stuck me in speech therapy when I was in Kindergarten or first grade because I talked slow. Luckily, my grandfather was on the school board so my family trait was well known. When the principal saw my name on the list she asked why I was there and was told I talked too slow. She told my teacher and the therapist the whole family talks like that. So I got a reprieve. I got lots of unwanted comments on my slow talking too. The problem with being a slow talker though is people think you’re stupid.
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Mark P said on November 1, 2020 at 2:05 pm
David C — Same with speaking with a Southern accent. People think you’re stupid, or ignorant, most likely both.
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JodiP said on November 1, 2020 at 5:02 pm
One of the best features on my former desk phone was the ability to speed up VM playback speeds or slow down ones that were so fast, especially when they left telephone numbers! I always be sure to leave mine pretty slowly.
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LAMary said on November 1, 2020 at 5:41 pm
I’m often accused of speaking too quietly. I have my kindergarten report card and there’s a note “Mary has so many interesting things to say but she should use a bigger voice.”
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Suzanne said on November 1, 2020 at 5:58 pm
I talk to softly, too, apparently although I don’t think I do, I think often people simply aren’t paying attention. I work with someone that talks really loudly; it especially annoying when I am on the phone and she is talking to someone nearby me.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2020 at 6:02 pm
I’ve watched the first 3 episodes of The Queens Gambit and I’m hooked. It’s a pretty good period piece. Beth would be about 5 years older than me so I can relate to the times in the show.
I’m a slow taker too, and I hesitate a lot when I speak, people often want to finish sentences for me, which is frustrating for me and for them.
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Jeff Borden said on November 1, 2020 at 6:50 pm
My voice cuts glass. Useful in the classroom, but not particularly in other venues.
So, after scores of Texas yahoos surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus traveling to a rally (it contained staff, not either candidate), slowing speeds to 20 mph on a major interstate and nearly causing wrecks, our beloved Dear Leader tweeted how much he loves Texas. Earlier today, tRumpanzees blocked the Garden State Parkway and the Mario Cuomo Bridge with their flag-laden trucks and SUVs, bringing traffic in the nation’s largest metropolitan area to a standstill.
And these are the folks who claim to love “law and order.” Fuck tRump. Fuck his kids. Fuck his party. Fuck his cult.
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Julie Robinson said on November 1, 2020 at 6:56 pm
No one has ever accused me of speaking too softly and my kids are even louder. Singers and actors are trained to project, and *sometimes* we forget it’s not necessary. Lol.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2020 at 7:24 pm
I’m a slow talker not taker.
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LAMary said on November 1, 2020 at 7:43 pm
One of the cars on the Biden Harris group was sideswiped by one of the MAGA asshats. I don’t recall any election when the public was told to harass and injure the candidates or supporters. Dirty tricks, yes. Blocking traffic, sideswiping cars, screaming and honking horns near an event, no. It’s not funny and it is dangerous. I am really concerned about what is going to happen Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. This is so fucked up.
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A. Riley said on November 1, 2020 at 11:52 pm
Some friends posted pics of their candy chutes for the little goblins & ghoulies — brilliant idea.
If you haven’t seen one, it’s a pvc pipe or some such, set up over the front steps so that mom & dad up on the porch can drop a candy bar into the higher end and it slides down the pipe into a ghoulie’s bag at the lower end. The fun part is the decoration. One friend set up a big papier-mache spider at the lower end so the candy bars came out of the spider’s mouth. Cute, huh?
If we’re still distancing next year (heaven forbid), I’ll set up one of those myself.
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Dexter Friend said on November 2, 2020 at 2:44 am
Jaw dancing. When I was in the army 50 years ago the amount and variety of drugs was amazing to this (sorta) Indiana farm boy. In Kentucky, a few Detroiters had plenty of weed in the pipeline that kept the Fort Knox trainees high in the evenings. Next, the trainees in San Antonio could buy hashish , mailed to some draftees by their friends and brothers stationed in Germany. But in California a few months later, holy shit, man. Weed was easy to buy, shipped up from Mexico. Then Paraquat happened, when the Mexican government sprayed the weed and poisoned so much that the price went up. Actually, Mendocino County weed began appearing. Heroin was trucked up by dudes from LA who’d drive down and back on weekend passes. I was mildly shocked the first time I witnessed a guy named Bob tie off and his buddy shot him up. That wasn’t all that common, to see a guy do that out in the open. But pills…I remember reds and whites. Reds were Seconal and whites were amphetamines.
One night I walked back to the barracks from a long hospital shift as a medic. This guy I barely knew was finishing out his time, just back from the war. He had scored some whites and was speeding balls and needed a listener. This was midnight and I listened to his ratchet jaw until stirring in the barracks about 6:AM. I hated heroin, never tried it, and I drank Mateus and Coors mostly, but I was not a total red-neck when the joints were passed around either. I couldn’t stand amphetamines and those Seconals would damn-nearly kill ya if you drank just a little bit. Danger, Will Robinson!
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4dbirds said on November 2, 2020 at 10:03 am
I must be missing something, is there any reason other than his weird behavior to say Trump Jr. is using? Trust me, I’m not throwing him a bone, I hate his father and his family and probably 70 percent of his supporters but I don’t want to become like them, hurling slurs with no basis.
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LAMary said on November 2, 2020 at 10:12 am
Jr. could be like a few coworkers I’ve had. Red Bull, double shot lattes and not enough sleep.
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Deborah said on November 2, 2020 at 10:18 am
As Steve Bannon advised there will be a lot of shit thrown in the zone today and tomorrow. Lots of lies, outrageous statements for effect, probably intimidating violence, it will be exhausting. Buck up out there, everyone.
I looked up the way Don Jr spoke back in 2016 and it seems the same as he speaks now, motormouth. So he was either high then too, or that’s just the way he talks.
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LAMary said on November 2, 2020 at 11:09 am
Deborah, that’s the way three card monte guys talk.They set up card tables on the streets of Manhattan and get people to keep upping their bets, as they are allowed to win, then to lose big at the end. That’s a definite career possibility for Jr. if he doesn’t go to prison.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 2, 2020 at 1:33 pm
Today, 100 years ago, this was Election Day, and the presidential contest would be between two newspaper publishers from Ohio. Warren Harding’s call for “A Return to Normalcy” would prevail, after Wilson’s chaotic endgame (and to be fair to the philandering fool, a fair amount of pushback on the overt official racism of that administration), but he wouldn’t live three full years past the date. His losing opponent would retreat into his wealth and build up his burgeoning communications empire, making quiet detente with racism and the Klan in the Buckeye State and elsewhere, soon moving his center of operations from the Dayton area to Atlanta, where his heir and daughter died not that long ago, and the Cox Media Group only recently got mostly snaffled up by venture capital. It still exists, somewhat.
The parallels and echoes from 1920 are many and worrisome, not the least because what so many hoped was being ended was in fact just beginning. The good news is that democracy survived the 1920s, but just barely. And for anyone who’s heard that Harding’s infidelities are historical over-reaction or fabrication, one mistress’s child has been DNA proven, and the other holds the distinction of being the only (known) mistress of a political leader to get a party organization — in this case, the GOP — to pay her off to keep quiet and mostly out of the country, with a large annual cash payment from 1920 to her death in 1960. Plus she seems to have been an agent of German governments during both world wars, just to keep things interesting, parallel-wise.
The key, though, is to see if we can keep Ohio & the Midwest of the next decade from repeating the sins of the 1920s. We’re blessed, at least, with the fact that none of the entourage around the Grifter-in-Chief has the organizational skills of a D.C. Stephenson or Hiram Evans.
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Jakash said on November 2, 2020 at 2:23 pm
I was thinking about this, when it comes to Republicans who can’t bring themselves to disembark from the Trump train.
The guy they voted for in 2012, Romney, was convinced by the evidence presented in the impeachment trial to vote to convict the guy they continue to support this year. In a country that didn’t function like a banana republic, their favorite demagogue would have already been sent packing — quite possibly having fled to a more traditional banana republic, though anywhere without an extradition treaty would probably do in a pinch.
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alex said on November 2, 2020 at 3:27 pm
COVID outbreak in my office.
Since middle of last week, I’m told, but they didn’t see fit to announce it until just an hour ago. I came home. Going back for my things later and will work from home for the next 14 days that they’ve begrudgingly given us away from that den of pestilence.
On top of that, my tapwater turned extremely dark and rusty all of a sudden. Changed the whole house filter and the water was still the same. Then I figured out it’s only the hot water which means it’s the water heater going kaput, so gonna spring for a new one. We had wanted to do on-demand hot water but the devices are pricey and I keep reading that DIYers like us are advised never to try installing one.
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Deborah said on November 2, 2020 at 4:30 pm
Our wifi and cable are down, which is rare for our place in Chicago, though happens all the time in Santa Fe. I’m so paranoid now I immediately thought the Trumpsters broke the internet for nefarious purposes. But I can still get online on my phone so I guess not. It’ll be irritating if it continues to be down this evening when I’ll want to watch MSNBC.
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David C said on November 2, 2020 at 4:39 pm
On-demand hot water heaters have a bad habit of scaling up too Alex. We looked into one when our water heater died. The plumber told us they’re a maintenance nightmare and with city water it’s nice to get a warm shower even if the power is out.
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Julie Robinson said on November 2, 2020 at 5:20 pm
We looked at on-demand water heaters for our addition and the price was ridiculous. Instead we got (are getting) one that is a heat pump. It’s super high efficiency and gets a hefty rebate from the Orlando utility company, and the extra cost will pay for itself in a year.
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Sherri said on November 2, 2020 at 6:52 pm
This is beautiful.
https://twitter.com/leslieodomjr/status/1323359068870877191
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susan said on November 2, 2020 at 7:25 pm
Heat pump water-heaters are NOT efficient in cold climates. They also add more things to maintain and go hinky. They might be OK for Floriduh. My plumber did not recommend that or the on-demand water heater, which is very expensive. And when I bought a new electric furnace, the three contractors I got bids on did not recommend heat pump heating systems, either. Same reasons: not efficient in cold climates and more things to go wrong. Oddly, the PUD is really pushing them with rebates. Strange. There would never be a pay-back where I live, anyway, which area has the cheapest electrical power in the country. Public utility owned and operated hydro-dams, dontcha know. I live between two of them.
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Icarus said on November 2, 2020 at 8:41 pm
I hope there will be a special Election Day thread/post, but if there isn’t, let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
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susan said on November 2, 2020 at 9:23 pm
I’m going to hang out with the On the Media people. They are smart and grounded.
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Julie Robinson said on November 2, 2020 at 10:12 pm
Pretty much everyone we know in Orlando has heat pumps for AC/heat because you only need one system. Still wish we could get gas there instead of electric everything. But that’s where the solar panels and clothesline help out.
I’m trying to be zen about tomorrow and however long it takes for the results. We’ll see how well I do.
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LAMary said on November 2, 2020 at 11:33 pm
My son brought me a nice bottle of CBD drops to get me through this.
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Mark P said on November 3, 2020 at 12:23 am
Our new house has a pretty long run from water heater to kitchen, so I installed a small on-demand heater in the basement below the kitchen sink. I adjusted the thermostat to a lukewarm temperature so we can comfortably wash our hands without waiting for the hot water to reach the sink. Once the hot water is there, the on-demand heater shuts off. I installed the heater and plumbed it, and let an electrician wire it. Three years with no problems.
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Dexter Friend said on November 3, 2020 at 3:08 am
Alex, Walter White (Breaking Bad) installed an instant-on hot water system, looked pretty easy. 🙂
Don’t worry, James Carville , on with Brian Williams, said we’ll have a declared Biden win by 10:00 P.M.
Goddam neighbor is out prowling around, coming and going all night in his mama’s SUV. What in the hell could he be doing, but delivering something or as the ad says, “doin’ a bit of nabbin'”. It’s after 3:00 AM fer crissakes.
Plywood stock is up; did you see NYC from Midtown to Lower Manhattan? All boarded up. And the White House now has an unclimbable wall or something by the fence.
Waasup? Is the revolution here?
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David C said on November 3, 2020 at 5:41 am
Considering the behavior of Vanilla Isis over the weekend, I’m a bit afraid of what they’re going to do today. I’m more afraid of the police sitting around with their thumbs up their asses at best, or assisting at worse.
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alex said on November 3, 2020 at 8:27 am
Went out and bought another 40-gallon gas water heater at a big box store. Cheapest, simplest fix and maybe we’ll consider something different in the future. We’re on a well, and despite whole house filtration and a softener and a powered anode, we are resigned to the fact that water heaters are pretty disposable in this setting.
Trying to motivate this morning and go to the office to retrieve my computer and bring it home and set up my home office all over again. And of course I’m concerned that I’ve been working in an office with COVID-positive people for the last few weeks and that management didn’t sound the alarm a week ago when it was first known. Fucking Republicans.
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Jeff Borden said on November 3, 2020 at 10:42 am
tRumpistas have installed an “unscalable” fence around the White House. Has that ever happened on an Election Day before?
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Peter said on November 3, 2020 at 12:35 pm
My son is an election judge in a Republican stronghold in Illinois, and, while it’s Illinois, if Trump is counting on a big turnout here he’s going to be disappointed – 27% cast early votes, and he’s had 200 voters so far today – but that’s out of 1800 eligible.
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Julie Robinson said on November 3, 2020 at 2:00 pm
My kids are both working the polls and they had 65% vote early, but they also combined two precincts. Haven’t heard yet about busyness.
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Dave said on November 3, 2020 at 3:58 pm
I’ve driven by two polling locations today here and the parking lots were not that full in either location. Something like 67% of all eligible voters have already voted in Florida, so I wasn’t surprised.
Meanwhile, I was looking through nn.c history and saw where I misspelled or misused a word nine years ago. My first urge was to correct it. I’m always pleasantly surprised at some of the history and see that on that particular day, our late friend, caliban/prospero, must have been drinking a wee bit.
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basset said on November 3, 2020 at 4:34 pm
I enjoy looking at the historical posts and try to get to them every day. I’ve been surprised at how often I sound frustrated, angry, resentful, or some combination of the three. Need to work on that.
Went to our local gun store yesterday and they had barriers blocking the parking lot around the front door… told me, while I was buying deer rifle ammunition at a premium price, that they were taking precautions in the event of “civil unrest.” Just drove by our neighborhood polling place and didn’t see any armed “patriots,” so there’s that.
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Deborah said on November 3, 2020 at 5:04 pm
We walked by our regular polling place today, it looked empty. Early voting was the ticket I guess. My friend who now lives in Paris has been messaging me today, he’s biting his nails, I’m not as stressed as I thought I’d be (yet).
We had a beautiful day in Chicago, sunny with a high of 70.
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ROGirl said on November 3, 2020 at 5:25 pm
My workplace is in deepest Macomb County. This afternoon a convoy of pick-up trucks and cars sporting Trump flags and banners went driving down the street honking their horns.
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Sherri said on November 3, 2020 at 5:41 pm
My plan of dealing with anxiety today by binge watching old episodes of ER has been derailed by a power outage.
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LAMary said on November 3, 2020 at 5:58 pm
ER was filmed in the studio next to the hospital where I used to work. There was a lot of technical coaching for the ER set coming out of that hospital. The nurses and techs had a proud proprietary sort of attitude about it. George Clooney and friends used to go the Smokehouse, bar/restaurant, down the road from the studio and the nurses from the hospital would go there to try to spot them. That hospital, Providence Saint Joseph, was surrounded by NBC, ABC, Disney and Warner Brothers. We had filming going on frequently. It was one of the main sources of income for the hospital. Same staff that loved the ER bunch thought House was stupid. They spotted the ridiculous stuff the doctors were doing.
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Deborah said on November 3, 2020 at 7:14 pm
Early ER was one of my faves. I thought it was extremely well done. A Greek friend of ours had parents who owned a restaurant across the street from the hospital in Chicago that they used for the ER filmed credits and the restaurant that her parents owned showed up every week when the credits rolled.
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Dorothy said on November 3, 2020 at 8:23 pm
I’ve been watching The Queen’s Gambit and started The West Wing over again last week. Avoiding the news talk most of the time, but of course I need to check in occasionally. After a nightmare last night when I dreamt someone was torturing Nestle and she was bleeding from her eyes, I hope to sleep a little better tonight. I’m closing my eyes in about an hour and expect I’ll wake around 1 or 2 and check headlines.
I heard sad news about two friends today who both lost a parent. A good friend from Knox County lost her dad today (cancer) and a co-worker’s mother died on Saturday, we are pretty sure it was Covid. We don’t have all the details yet but we knew several family members had it. I’m trying to be positive about Biden but this news about death is necessarily shifting my focus. I’m so sad for my friends.
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Suzanne said on November 3, 2020 at 9:43 pm
Totally disheartened by the results coming in. I feel like it’s a repeat of 2016. Trump is doing much better than I expected.
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Heather said on November 3, 2020 at 9:55 pm
I’m not feeling great either but people are pointing out that in most states, early votes are counted last. Going to log off Twitter and watch that octopus doc on Netflix to calm down.
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susan said on November 3, 2020 at 11:57 pm
It’s looking a lot like 2016. Have the people in this stupid country not learned anything the last four years? Jeebus. This place deserves to die on the vine. At least we know without a doubt what makes up this country, no denying it anymore. Black folks and brown folks have always known.
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Deborah said on November 4, 2020 at 12:59 am
I’m not giving up hope, because counting mail-ins and all, but Lordy we have a lot more assholes in this country than I thought. How can that be after all of the Covid death and children in cages etc? The fact that it’s even close is astounding.
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Icarus said on November 4, 2020 at 6:51 am
Even if Biden does win the presidency, far too many of our fellow citizens stared fascism straight in the face and said, “more, please.”
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David C said on November 4, 2020 at 7:19 am
I’m glad I shut everything down at 7:30 last night so I could sleep through the night (sort of). I hoped Biden would get Florida early and it would all be over quickly. But it’s going like most predicted and we may not know until the weekend. From what I read this morning Biden still has an easier path to winning so let’s hope. But whatever way it goes we live in a country where almost half of us can look at a shit sandwich and say it’s delicious. This country cannot long endure half Fox and half free.
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Mark P said on November 4, 2020 at 8:26 am
When Alabama Republicans almost elected a pedophile to the Senate we saw what they were. They haven’t changed. This country is done. The experiment failed. Even if Biden wins it looks like the Republicans will keep the Senate. Even if Biden wins, I think it’s time for secession.
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