Just read this post on FB and also Rebecca Solnit’s comment (she is another hero of mine). Thanks HCR: you have been a quiet but driving voice of sense and context in the middle of this insane hellscape. I very much hope you are right and those of us who are doing our best to prevent the destruction of ourselves, our families, and our ethical sensibilities are going to prevail. But this is a real nail biter. And we are heavily dependent on people taking that final step, doing the right thing, and voting for freedom for all. Fingers crossed!!
This was a well written work. You should be in the administration of soon to be, President Kamala Harris.
Often during politics, runs for office, one side often says the opposite to what the other side says and supports. It matters not the issue only how it can be used to corral votes. This is the nasty underbelly side to politics. I know that Biden’s lack of border enforcement was going to be used successfully as a political issue. It has come to that. So the question remains to be asked: Was allowing hundreds of thousands and millions to run across hot sands worth losing our nation to despots and those who would destroy everything that is good in this nation? I have had my answer for a few years. I’m afraid many here disagree. I’m in favor of keeping our government free of thugs and criminals.
I cannot agree that Biden had a "lack of border enforcement," since more illegal border crossers have been arrested during his term than in times past. Yes, immigration is still a contentious issue, and the right wing is constantly pushing it as the sole issue of interest in current politics.
Where can I find this post - I haven't been able to find it on Rebecca Solnit's FB page -- I especially want to find the poem -- I'd like to have a copy of it and also to share it on FB -- it is so heart-stirring. And yes, brought tears to my eyes.
President Harris by five-to-seven percentage points in the popular vote and well over three hundred votes in the Electoral College. 🤞
People say I am too optimistic. Inasmuch that sentiment may be true, I am optimistic not because I choose to be; not because I want to be; but, because l have to be. 🥳
The MSM has been operating under the “anything for ratings” philosophy exemplified by the 1976 movie "Network". In 2024 the thinking American public recognized the gaslighting and has reached the point of Howard Beale (played brilliantly by Peter Finch) of "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"
Instead of going to Beale's personal extreme, we are taking our collective voices to the voting booths and let the republicans know we are not going to stand for their chaos and evil. May the power of the people bring Kamala Harris a landslide victory!
Well said, Janet! And let me add another message to go along with “Mad As Hell:” The MAGA faithful have promised a Civil War if Trump loses. We can resist that effort! The Law is on our side. But we can also promise our own Civilized War. We can use our Purchasing Power to keep the MAGA RICH in check. In fact, we are already seeing evidence of that Civilized War in the loss of subscriptions to WAPO! The two richest people on the planet - Musk and Bezos - stand to gain mightily if Trump wins, but lose mightily if Harris wins. We, the People can not only VOTE, we can also spend our dollars WISELY (and in a Civilized Manner). Glory Hallelujah!!
Paul, I not only applaud your suggestion but have already divested myself of my Tesla, never visited nor subscribed to X, will not resubscribe to the Washington Post BUT find it nearly impossible to reject and avoid Amazon's prodigiously useful and ubiquitous services even despite their likely harm to the planet's atmosphere and resources. It has become nearly a way of life for my spouse who does the bulk of our shopping, including bulk foods, through Amazon. The often subtle and certainly ubiquitous ways Amazon has infiltrated our lives is truly extraordinary!
Yup, Amazon is EVERYWHERE, and my wife is desperately trying to move her shopping to other venues. There ARE other choices, fortunately! It looks like my wife is targeting Target lately, and that seems to be working out! We shall see.
Yes, Paul! The minority has been electing U.S. presidents (thank you, electoral college), and members of the U.S. House (due to gerrymandering), so even the power of voting requires us to Over perform. Our Economic power is not subject to either the EC or to Gerrymandering! Even if Kamala wins (all my fingers crossed!) we still need to exercise our economic power to move the needle back to democratic rule.
Greg Olear used a word that fits. banalize. They are banalizers. So many of them make the “unf**kingbelievable” seem commonplace. Like it’s business as usual when it’s a 30-alarm fire. And it may be if chump has the power.
But that is exactly the proper role of news organizations. To NOT create hysteria or alarm. The tabloids do that, not the news. In this country it is up to the people to come together to make the vital decisions that will mean we either go forward on a proper course or fall apart at the seams. I honestly don't know which way it will go. Unlike Ned I am much more of a pessimist. But I also see great hope in what has happened and I am keeping myself both hopeful but also alert in case the worst happens. This country has seen its share of tough times. My father told me of the time he realized he had to go to war in 1941. He had always been a peaceful man but he also knew that the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and Tojo meant there was no real choice if we were to survive. I guess i feel like this is our WW2 moment. We will either triumph or we will be forced to fight. The latter doesn't feel good, but I understand we may have no alternative. This blog at least gives me faith that there will be plenty of us ready to fight on the side of right and justice.
The US government with the major media cooperating, is warming us up to go the war with Iran. Just like they did with Iraq. It will be another disaster.
Dwight warned us against the Military Industrial Complex, our $800+ billion a year business. This is for Israel, so they can be big kahuna in that region. It will fail. More money down the drain that could be for the benefit of the "people": medical, education. BRICS countries are watching and waiting.
I get my "news" and opinions via Youtube and Substacks. The NYTimes whitewashes Trump and Israel...even publishing downright bullsh*t. Rapes that didn't happen to enflame the pitiful IDF to bomb away and sharpshoot kids. While citizens of that country (Israel or Palestine??) die and starve due to lies about and the targeting of humanitarian workers, BiBi fiddles and schemes.
No matter who wins this election, I get the feeling that the USA will be losing.
Ha! I’ve been saying the same thing for months. Blue Wave. My friends think I’m drunk or not paying attention. I told them that I’m a student of history and have faith in the American people. I turned off the TV, cancelled my subscriptions to the NYT and WAPO, and read HCR everyday to maintain my sanity. When I see the enthusiastic grassroots mobilization supporting Kamala (thanks Jessica, Robert, Simon, Joyce, and all the other SubStack heroes that have directed our efforts) I am confident in our future. Let’s get this done so we can finally say “Madam President”.
Thanks, Pete. I have been coping the same way - cancelling subscriptions, fast forwarding through any election related parts of national and local news, avoiding conversations with friends who want to vent their fears, and relying primarily on Heather's sane posts for information. And, like you, I feel in my bones that despite all the noise of polls and media, there's a strong possibility of a blue wave - a powerful thing that's been staying out of sight and underground - like locusts gathering and preparing to emerge up into the light at just the right time in history.
I’m so with you, Pete, and on your same track. Dr. Richardson, Robert Hubbell, Jessica Craven and the others named have been my daily routine with coffee through this whole mess. I refuse to cave to the drama, noise and chaos that MSM and other sources have created. I’ve also been visualizing “Harris Landslide” several times a day for over two weeks, believing that intention can contribute to the focus. Let’s GO!!
I have not anticipated a blue wave but have had this gut-feel for some time, too, Pete, though not for months like you. Fine strategic intuition there, Pete; thank you. G-D only knows how much I hope that we are accurate.
Ned I think you may be right. I hope so. My favorite yard sign has been a Trump sign with the T and P cut out...it said Rum, make America Great Again. It's the Capt Jack for Harris sign....
Thank you, all, for a lively discussion that has managed to pry "me wretched little mind a wee-bit more open." Much has been said about the main-stream media in this thread. While there are evident micro-incentives more sane-washing and gas-lighting, I do not believe that the media are guilty of doing that for the following reasons. 🤔
1st, candidate Trump has normalized his odious behavior by repeating it, to the pleasure of the a significant portion of the electorate. 😡
2nd, what the main-stream media reflects to me is being used to hearing and seeing candidate Trump for who he is and what he says. 🤢
3rd, please keep in mind that I am not sure who or what the main-stream media is. Is Fox News, M.S.N.B.C.; the Moonie-owned 'Washington Times' part of that main-stream? I do not know. 😳
4th, if any media are gaslighting us, the social media are with the insularity of exposure they focus on users through content-filtering algorithms creating echo-chambers. They do not educate but they exacerbate. 🤬
5th [edit / insert], my gut and constrained optimism has nothing to do with the media but bases itself on the thought (or wish) that M.A.G.A. blow-hards are jamming the polls and call-in shows for two reasons: they are existentially engaged and they are seeking to create an appearance of momentum. The latter will not work. 👻
The term mentioned, by Kathy Hughes (I believe, if my shrinking grey matter proves to be correct), of 'banalizing' impresses me as more perspicacious in explaining candidate Trump's trivializing our democratic norms. It also recalls Hannah Arendt's arresting insight into the banality of evil. 💔
Nope, you're right. People are waking up and don't want the same old thing. Many of the converts and supporters fortunately are widely supported on social media (thanks Taylor and Bruce) and that reaches EVERYONE.
LM wrote “Thanks HCR: you have been a quiet but driving voice of sense and context in the middle of this insane hellscape.”
I think that thought contains an extremely important word, context.
Just as the great British biologist JBS Haldane observed, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution”, I would by analogy add to HCR’s observation that ‘nothing in current events makes sense except in light of history.’
I find HCR’s exceptional ability to embed current events into a larger historical context an extremely illuminating approach, executed with incisive skill and power.
America is better for her lighthouse like contribution in these dark and stormy times.
Another of Haldane’s irreverent quips came in response to a question about what his study of biology revealed to him about the mind of God.
He is reputed to have answered “God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles.”
[context from AI Overview: “There are approximately 350,000–400,000 described species of beetles, making them the most species-rich order of insects on Earth. This is more than a quarter of all known animal species.”]
I find it humbling in many ways that the ones who are at the forefront of our fight to regain and preserve our democracy are Black females, the very last ones to get their voting rights in this country when Pres. Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I agree, and we Democrats should give Black women credit for believing in Democratic principles. All too often Black women’s support for the Democratic party is taken for granted, and it should not be.
It is very, very humbling, Doreen. I can't even begin to imagine what they've been through, where they found the hope and the courage to keep going.
I have a Canada story for you. When I was a grad student at Harvard in the late 1960's, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau came to Harvard to give a talk and afterwards met with some of us grad students. One student asked this: "Prime Minister, Trudeau, does Canada pay much attention to what goes on in the United States?" To which Trudeau replied: "When you sleep next to an elephant, every grunt that it makes is a matter of concern."
Linda, here is a hopeful discussion of the early votes that reinforces what Heather is saying about us coming together to say "We Won't Go Back!" It is called Trump's Turnout Trouble.
Linda, from your (and YouTube's) mouth to the goddess's ear, as it were! I think the strategy of CFDT to try to appeal to young men who are unlikely to make the effort to vote is one that his handlers mis-thought. Of course, they're not planning on winning, they're planning on contesting the results. And the fact that on Sunday the Pumpkin-Faced Candidate proclaimed a desire to return to "singe day voting" and "paper ballots" (because, y'know, he really wants us to return to 1890 as his favorite year) suggests that the actual turnout is worrying him.
TL just remember that corporate media's money making formula is keeping you on the edge of your seats so you will want more. I say skip the bad news, focus on the good news if it makes sense like this does.
This race is not close. It appears that way due to skewing of the polls by those financed by the GOP. In reality, the Democrats will win by a large margin.
Women are angry! Men, even those who care and support us, don’t get the full import of the Dobbs decision. The suffering and deaths caused by the abortion ban can happen to all states if tfg is back in office. Every report of a failure to save a woman or her fertility adds more determination to each of us to vote out those who are trying to destroy us and make us owned by men. The patriarchy will lose, and women will regain their agency.
Abraham Lincoln made this comment to John Hay in 1961:
"We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves" (as quoted in "The Demon of Unrest" by Erik Larson, frontmatter).
As Heather pointed out so well, we are here again. We prevailed once, we will prevail again. We absolutely must.
Speaking to your hell-scape, here is a compelling essay by those who know and know better why candidate Trump is psychologically unfit for office in addition to being morally absent and legally out-of-bounds. https://bandyxlee.substack.com/p/open-letter-to-the-american-people
He could never take tfg’s place in the party. He has absolutely no charisma, and he is so socially awkward that he will only alienate people. There is no real leadership in the entire GOP.
Senator Vance impresses me a very effective public speaker. And he does have the Horatio Alger schtick down cold. Let us hope he gets flowers for Horatio Algernon.
Well said! One distinction - "quiet" is not how I would ever describe Heather. Rather, I see her as calm and measured, steady. Had she been too "quiet" folks like me might never have discovered her and thus could have headed in the wrong direction entirely, succumbing to the numbing (fear and anger). THANK YOU Heather for steadying the ship and setting it on the better path.
Pat, I use quiet to mean a lot of things: HCR and I share a profession (historian) and I think we would agree that the bombastic approach to teaching is not as effective as one that might be impassioned but is not loud. Quiet can mean aa lot of things. It doesn't mean passive.
"Americans always do the right thing after exhausting every other possibility." —Winston Churchill. Thank God Americans are exhausted (by a wannabe dictator)!
I still fear that despite this, he has the capacity for causing all sorts of trublr, and for stirring his followers to violence. He and thread people who helped to plan and finance the whole thing have never faced criminal sanction. Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman have been disbarred, but disbarment is not a criminal sanction, it’s an action against their professional licensure for the protection of the public.
"In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces judicial decisions." —Abraham Lincoln.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Without public sentiment, the law is useless. We need to learn how to talk to each other, but we have to start by unlearning how to talk at each other.
Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but the winner of the popular vote by millions vs the winner of the EC becoming president belies Lincoln’s statement about public sentiment carrying the day.
I think America would be better off electing the president with a popular vote, but, with respect, that does not belie Lincoln's sentiment. The EC exacerbates the problem, but it is not the problem. The EC does not make 47% of the electorate think it's a good idea to make a wannabe dictator the most powerful human on the planet. Public sentiment comes from talking to each other instead of talking at each other. Do that, and wannabe dictators are in Nowhere Land making nowhere plans for nobody.
I think we (AMERICA) will have more respect as a nation, and as a team player. No more world leaders laughing at us. No more empty seats because our leader doesn't believe in climate change or environmental destruction. Europeans, Asians, Africans, South Americans have had women prime ministers. I believe that there is something like 15 women in power right now. The list is even longer if you look back to the 1990's.
So what if we pay a little more to NATO. We are so much bigger than most European countries. We have a bigger gross national product. I have read that even in TN , one of the poorest states in the union, the people make more than most Europeans. I hear the argument " We have American citizens to take care of. America first." Well, we always have had people in need of social services, new infrastructure products, better schools, and what have we done with our money in the past? A divided Congress and Senate who are basically paralyzed. Congress couldn't even pass a border bill. Granted we have had wars to finance, but still more attention could've been paid attention to our people.
This just hit my inbox, so excited to be first! And so happy you decided to write every night this week-end, thank you for what you do. “Fellow-citizens,” Lincoln reminded his colleagues, “we cannot escape history. We…will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”
We need to make sure West Coast voters don't decide to not go vote Tuesday evening because they hear Trump claiming he won. Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
How can we get out the word to not repeat 1980?
Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
1980: Jimmy Carter conceded at about 5 pm PST. Too many Democrats who had planned to vote after 5 PM decided to not bother and stayed home. Republicans did go to the polls, excited to vote for the winner. Democratic House members lost tight races because of knowing Carter had lost: including Al Ullman Ways & Means Chair from Oregon.
We need to protect West Coast races in the House and the Senate by making sure that voters ignore Trumps claims of winning and go vote up and down their ballot. . And not lose winning the House and Senate because of false claims of winning before the real results are in, convinces some voters to cancel their plans to vote.
West coast here, Wayne, completed my ballot over a week ago and drove it to my county’s election headquarters to drop off. Hopefully we will have all learned the lessons of the past & not be snookered again!
Brian, a few elections ago I signed up for BallotTrax (https://ballottrax.com/) and they notify me when my ballot is logged & processed. I have also signed up with my county’s elections office to be notified of election results, both preliminary and final. So far it’s kept me in the loop and confident that my oversight, via their services, is spot-on. 🗽Edit: I must say I do miss the local polling place on Election Day in my tiny town of 1200—it was a time of community gathering (regardless of party affiliation) and participation in our democracy as “a happening”…..sure “mail-in” (or delivered) ballots are, in a way simpler, but I do miss the camaraderie of gathering together and getting a “I Voted” sticker!
That's the way it still is in Australia - election day is a Saturday, you go, you queue, you give your name, the returning officer asks you if you've voted anywhere else today, they put a line through your name on the roll, you go into the curtained booth and mark the ballot paper, then drop it, folded, into a guarded box, and then you go outside and share a "Democracy Sausage" being barbecued by volunteers.
Australia makes voting mandatory, while the Republicans try to disenfranchise as many people as possible. We have never recognized voting as a fundamental right, and it should have been recognized as a fundamental right long ago. The majority on the Supreme Court treats gutting the Voting Rights Act, allowing unlimited campaign funding, gerrymandering, voter ID, voter suppression, felon disenfranchisement and other restrictions on voting rights as acceptable practices. I don’t think any of these practices are acceptable in the least, and permitting them is undermining the Constitution.
Kathy, I find your post illuminating, every word of it. Never recognised voting as a fundamental right! But this is cardinal! So where's "of the people, by the people"? It's going to be a hot day here, today, 5 November, blazing blue sky, perfect for the Melbourne Cup Day holiday, and as we all party this afternoon wearing funny hats and drinking champagne as we watch the races on TV and bet on the winner, my thoughts will be firmly fixed on what's happening in the land of the free. Another image comes into my mind: remember those little Swiss cottages with two doors? when the weather was going to be fine, a little person dressed for sunny weather emerged from one door, and if bad weather was coming, a little person with an umbrella came out of the other door. In today's American cottage, one little person is dark, and the other one is orange. Sending a virtual hug to all of you.
I had a similar experience. For years, when my kids were little, we lived in a town of about 1800 souls. There was one polling place, the town hall, and people would come and vote, catch-up, watch the kids while the parents voted, etc. One time, I emerged from the voting booth to find the sitting governor (she lived in the town - my state has no governor's mansion) of my state reading a story to a group of children - mine among them!
I now live in a city of about 40K, but my polling place, a church hall, while busier, is still a place that feels normal and safe. My kids vote in the same place, and sometimes we go together. I will vote on Nov 5th. It is a right. It is a duty. It should not be a privilege or an empty gesture. Vote Harris/Walz.
I went and voted at the county offices in downtown Dayton, OH last weekend, and there was quite a turnout with lots of people coming to vote.of course, I voted Harris/Walz, which was rather a no brainer.
I will not vote in any church. As I prefer early voting anyway, I'm able to find a community hall or civic center in which to cast my vote, not always easy in rural NC.
I hear you Barbara 🇺🇸. My email confirmations came from the California Secretary of State.
I did receive an "I Voted" sticker which I am saving for my Granddaughters when Madam President is inaugurated.
There was a heavy Voter turn out in slender MOLDOVA on Ukraine's eastern border. The Pro-Euro, President, MAIA SANDU won with 55.33% of the total Moldovan national vote!
'Bout time for Lenny Kravetz to take the stage ....
🎶 Love transcends both space & time 🎶 ... 🎶 Sisters & brothers we got to join hands 🎶 ... 🎶 & Let -- Love -- Rule 🎶 ... 🎶 We got to - got to Let Love Rule 🎶🎶 Got to Let Love Rule 🎶
Here on the east coast, on vacation, returning back to my west coast to wait out the election and hoping that we have for the first time a woman as the president elect. I have done my part, I have voted and I have placed my hope for a better future in the hands of the only candidate in this cycle qualified to lead this great nation forward to a more prosperous future and a restoration of rights stripped away by extremist courts and legislators. In Kamala rest the hope of the nation to move forward to a period unlike the Camelot of JFK!
If you're not on a mobile device, those three dots at the end of the "like reply share" line allow you to edit your comment. I often go back to the laptop when I notice an error, since I cannot (most of the time, sometimes it does work) fix it from my phone.
Everyone registered voter in California has received a mail-in ballot. According to new figures from the California Secretary of State’s office released Thursday, over 6 million early votes have already been cast, with the number expected to grow to at least 12 million by election day.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, roughly 600,000 more votes have been sent in by mail, increasing from 5.4 million to 6 million. In addition, a registration report last month found that over 22 million Californians once again are registered to vote, meaning that, with new people registering up to the October 21st deadline, there could be close to 23 registered this year.
In Southern California, more than 100 early voting centers were already open this past week in L.A. County and more than 500 others opened Saturday. In my circle of friends everyone has already voted. I can't speak for all of the West Coast (Oregon and Washington) but California likes to vote and votes proactively.
Five days ago 21% of California's registered voters had already cast mail-in ballots. On this final weekend before Election Day, 30% of California voters have returned their ballots, according to Political Data Inc. (PDI), which tracks turnout.
We can track our ballots here in Washington. I signed onto the website, enter the requisite information and see that my ballot was received and accepted. It is good to be back home after a visit to Florida.
Don’t worry Wayne, most of us far West coast voters have already voted by mail weeks ago and we hate bullies. And it’s too late for Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The Murdoch’s dumbed them down over 25 years ago with the assistance of that “Saint” Ronnie Reagan, who managed to hoodwink voters across the nation with the only exceptions being Minnesota and Washington DC. Watch the documentary “Bad Faith” if you haven’t figured out yet what a monster he was….just a slicker Trump with a great speech writer.
He was an actor, not schooled in the law, and like T well known for a tv personna. You’d think we have learned to stop electing on personality instead of principles.
Or worse, concocted media persona, not even authentic personality nor character. Trump is all fake, though he is such a bad actor some seem to mistake his lack of polish for authenticity, but it's just fake and clumsy.
People voted for Trump based on his fictitious character from “The Apprentice,” and it was a con job. Trump’s office furniture was so shabby the producers bought new furniture for him, and they shot and heavily edited the video to make him look like a decisive and competent businessman. Trump, unlike his father Fred, has never been a competent or successful businessman. Fred was as racist and sociopathic as Donald, but was more successful as a developer. He and Donald first barred Black tenants, then steered them to predominantly Black residential housing. They got smacked for that twice back in the 1970s, and that is when Donald started following Roy Cohn.
Donny boy was pretty much a classic playboy. He cosplayed dabbling any number of professions (including chief executive of the country), and could so so because he had the cash and no scruples. Reagan said that democracy was a pathetic joke and that cash rules, and the nation fell for it. I first heard of Trump when he was taking credit for fixing the Wollman skating rink in NY's Central Park. He conned others into actually doing the work, then screwed them over by neither paying for it nor acknowledging the pro bono work they had done. At the time, I only heard the part of how Trump was the hero. He got breaks from the Mob and then claimed he has no way to know they were mobsters. His family bragged about getting seemingly unlimited funding from Russia.
Yeah John, and let me help out with what "AI" really has amounted to these past 10 years: Auto Insult - To our intelligence. Every single day. Harder and harder to tell which way is up in this "alternative" reality we've so kindly endured. Hopefully we'll see the last of that POS and his 757, but the 'wake-turblence' will linger dangerously until the winds blow it away. Which they will.
YES!, Sandy. We must stop electing personalities and basically anyone who has not had governing experience on some elective level before. We repeatedly make choices of people who have had NO EXPERIENCE in elective governance whatever to lead the most powerful and most complex government in the world! How does this make any sense whatever??? Kamala & Tim fit this requirement perfectly!
When did voting for a hollywood personality become a thing? It definitely hasn't turned out well. They have proven they know nothing about our government and how it is run and then they get lead by their nose rings into doing terrible things to our country by people who just want power and money. Think people!! Do we really want Trump as a dictator - a hateful, revenge seeking dictator. Or a president who is working for all of our citizens, regardless of their skin color. My choice is HARRIS/WALZ 2024!! Vote Trump GUILTY! Justice Matters!
Ii don't know about you but I don't think anywhere NEAR "most west coast voters" have already voted let alone weeks ago. From what I have read it's still much less than 40%. EVERYONE PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU VOTE! If you already did, awesome. If you didn't, vote of Tuesday. But VOTE!
Only within a state. Once a state has closed its polls its results can be reported. Otherwise we couldn't get results until Hawaii closed its polls which doesn't happen until well after midnight California time (3 AM New York time. ) I hope that makes sense.
That's all true Nancy. I'll look for that documentary. That was the one time I got fooled. Mr Carter is a great American. But I was young and didn't know much about economics had trouble finding work and blamed him. Kamala wiped the floor with Trump but I thought Carter looked weak in the only 1980 debate. As I recall unemployment and inflation were much worse then than now. Yes, Wayne has nothing to worry about unless it comes down to Arizona and Nevada. Then again I don't know what their election laws look like.
And also it is completely untrue that the entire west coast votes by mail. California does NOT vote solely by mail in fact almost 60% week vote in person at an election booth. We ALL get mail in ballots now that is true but the majority still votes in person. I personally do not vote early because I want to make sure I am voting based on the most recent info available to me. So I go to the polls in my neighborhood like I always have and vote in person. I think Oregon may only vote by mail but not California and I don't know for sure about Washington.
PLEASE please stop saying most west coast voters have voted. It isn't even CLOSE to the truth. As of today the estimate of early turnout by mail or drop box is just under 30%. That's a LOT for sure but it is hardly even a majority let alone "most".
He’s correct about that. Trump will use this as an excuse for a premature declaration he won, and claim yet again he was cheated. He lost the last election and claimed he was cheated. He always claims he was cheated if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, and he is just like the little boy who cried wolf.
A lot of us here have already voted, mailed (or used a drop box), ballots received and counted. Besides, there are a ton of other races and issues on the ballot besides this one.
"A lot" have already voted is correct. I am glad that you didn't do what other have done which is to suggest that MOST have. It is quite clear that most have not. There is still almost 70% of the expected turnout in California to be on Tuesday.
I was driving home from work in Sacramento, when the Carter concession came on the radio in 1980. I was shocked. My wife and I had voted before going to work that morning but I'm not sure we would have if we had waited until after work.
I was truly shocked when I heard it because I thought about all of the people that would have stayed home after that. And back then, there was only absentee voting and no early in person voting.
Thank you, Wayne. I hear you about the issues with the races being called early.
I think that our mail in voting (in place since 1996) has helped alleviate that issue; I have lived in Oregon (except for about 18 months when I lived in the SF bay area) my entire voting life, and cast several votes for president after the elections were called; in each case I voted a straight Democratic ticket except for casting a vote for an independent candidate.
😤😤Fingers crossed 🤞 the corporate media will not descend on tRump's "organization" to hear his bombast, gaslighting about having won; "stop the counting"😖GRRR!🤮
Petaluma, California weighing in, here. My husband and I voted as soon as we got our absentee ballots, and we cheered when we got our emails that they were counted 4 days later. Everyone I know is galvanized to vote, write letters, make phone calls, walk precincts. My husband, Jack, passed away a few days ago, but he was proud that one of his last acts was to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Not bad for a former Republican :) Watching the Democratic Convention was like a transfusion of energy for him. Onward! We won't go back!
💔💔💔 Profound condolences, Marian. I can only imagine Jack’s profound satisfaction in doing his part to “keep our republic” as it stands as a democracy as one of his final civic acts. With tears brimming, I am sending you loving, healing, hugs. ☮️
I have pervasive bone cancer and a short expiration date. I voted. I really hope to see President Harris inaugurated. I live in Washington DC and was at the DC rally sitting in the disability section. Many of us, who'd also attended the 2017 Women's March really thought attendance exceeded the 75,000 reported. We thought it was more like 100,000. 40 000 of us were inside the Ellipse. The crowd also filled the entire area surrounding the Washington Monument and down the mall. I was sitting next to a physical therapist who'd had a different kind of bone cancer from which she was in remission. Mamala took care of the huge crowd. There was water and snacks (pop tarts and fruit gummies). If I'm still alive, I'll go to her inauguration. I really want to see a woman president in my lifetime. It's been more than 100 years since women gained the right to vote.
Christina, you're a hero--hang in there. I've been on the "Fun with Advanced Cancer" train for the last 4 years or so, and with a dramatically shortened sell-by date (Do people find your gallows humor bizarre when you refer to yourself as having an "expiration date"? I get a lot of OMG style comments when I use my particular preferred reference to my exit). I have outlasted most people who are in my situation and I hope to be around a few more years but also worry about what my final time will be like if we DON'T succeed.
I have SLL/CLL, but my expiration date hasn’t come yet. I am relatively healthy, but overweight, have arthritis in my knees, and need orthotics, and I work.
I am shamed by your stamina in attending the Women’s Rally, Christina. Thank you!! I feel too exhausted by the last few years to do much beyond writing postcards and comments on Substack. You have my deep admiration and also gratitude for reporting on your experience at the rally, which seemed to me, grossly under reported, especially since everything coming out of Trump’s mouth seems to be front page news.
Christina, you’re a guiding star to me now. I make excuses for not participating when I could. Not you. I’m watching myself carefully as the hours peel off or roll in towards this election. Now I have you in my heart and mind I’ll see if what stuff I’m made of. More than thank you; much much more. May you get your wish to see a President Kamala. 🌞
Pray make it so. In previous days, I've commented about my own Trump experiences, as well as in 2000, he made fun by mimicking my daughter's Cerebral Palsy limp.
Oh my, Marian. My heart goes out to you 💔 Such a bittersweet post. May you be comforted by an outpouring of love and admiration for your strength. And for keeping hope. Wrapping you in gentle hugs.
Marian, so sorry for your loss--and I am glad he got the chance to exercise his right as a citizen one last time (like Jimmy Carter). Yes: it is up to us to keep the good fight going no matter the outcome.
My father and mother voted absentee, Mom just died Saturday, but I could not imagine her voting for Trump. My whole family can’t stand Trump. We think he’s simply vile, and I am embarrassed that Vance is one of my senators, a rank misogynist and impenitent liar. Peter Thiel bought him for us, but I’d prefer a refund if that it were possible. We are also at risk of losing our decent Senator Sherrod Brown to Porsche salesman Bernie Moreno, whom Trump endorsed. Moreno fired a woman for being a single mother and cheated his employees out of overtime pay. The employees took him to court and won their lost pay.
Our outgoing Ohio Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, managed to put a misleading description of Issue 1 on the ballot with the help of our Republican-dominated Supreme Court. Voting yes on issue 1 would allow a citizen-led commission to take redistricting power from the General Assembly and Senate and end the long standing Republican gerrymandering of the state. I am concerned the Yes vote might lose because of LaRose’s dishonesty. I think LaRose is still smarting over coming third in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, which Bernie Moreno won.
Well, LaRose is also sore about losing last year's Issue 1 (abortion rights) despite the deliberately misleading language he and the state supreme court put on the ballots for it. Hopefully, like last year, the misleading language won't keep this year's Issue 1 from passing.
My deepest condolences, Marian. I’m also in Petaluma. I’m guessing many Petalumans read HCR; maybe we can come together in celebration somehow once the results are confirmed!
So beautifully written that Lincoln himself would nod at its eloquence, professor. Like Moses, Lincoln didn't live long enough to get to the Promised Land. But both set their cultures on the road that led there, and there those people now live.
I just landed in SC to distribute “VOTE-you make the difference” stickers that are free to download at www.2millionStickers.com in the 2 remaining swing states NC and GA. These are beautifully designed by Maine artist Mark Wethli and have been very popular. AOC even has one.
This race will come down to young women turning out. Let’s encourage them! I have been to 5 campuses already. The mood is electrifying. Please help!
On Thursday, I was in a Utah coffee shop when another customer came in and surveyed the staff and the clientele. Turned out one of the baristas was not registered, and this man, from nearby Colorado, managed to get her registered. I did not even realize this was possible so late in the race, but it is possible to register in Utah until tomorrow, and I thanked him. It also shook me out of my complacency. Every vote counts until the polls close.
You were on the road for 13 months? Poor Buddy. When you got home did you throw your hat in the door to see if it was safe for you to enter? You have kept us sane all that time and we appreciate it so much
Heather you are so due a rest However you took the time once again to give us a history lesson of hope So helpful for this moment in this historic moment To democracy winning out again to you for your leadership knowledge and generosity To Harris Walz riding a powerful blue wave of we the people may democracy not perish in our people s nation and world💙💙💙🥁🥁🥁🗳️🗳️🗳️🌊🌊🌊🌊
Hundreds of 1,000s of young northern men (along with former southern slaves) would fight and die.
These are the great, articulate, energized numbers of women of all ages today who have joined the fight -- like Heather, near tirelessly, picking up energy from each other and the men who love them.
A deeply corrupt court that ruled the Dred Scott case would become the more fantastically corrupt Clarence court of today -- as if illiterate, nihilist today brazenly ignoring Article 14, section three (no insurrectionist can hold public office) -- as if additionally, cynically nihilist today declaring their favorite convicted criminal immune to the law, today and tomorrow above the law.
As Abe Lincoln out of nowhere then would become Kamala, also more or less out of nowhere today.
Yes. I recommend Pam Houston's Without Exception, Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom, in which several chapters end with a portion of the dissent to Dobbs, something I had not read in its entirety. Thank you, Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor.
There are so many passages in this short book I could quote, but I take her opinion that James Baldwin put it best: "I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly, is because they sense, once the hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain."
One of the reasons standardized testing goes so heavily in for neutered, homogenized language is precisely that it lets people stay in a stupefied, zombie, semi-conscious state.
This lets people more listlessly, unquestioningly, docilely serve the master classes -- the nihilist rich.
Diane Ravitch presents this well in her book, "The Language Police" (2003). It's still alone in its class -- and 100% pertinent today -- for how being specific about life's complications risks opening us to our pains, as well as those of "others."
Schools under the billionaires' master plans just package all, turn all into robots.
So well stated, Phil! I believe that creating robots out of our children is a terrible mistake! Being able to think for themselves by assessing information and using critical thinking skills is most important!
Phil, I just read Anthony's reply regarding "creating robots out of our children". It reminds me that the entire "standardized testing" programs really caught fire after the college protests around the Vietnam War. Makes me wonder if there wasn't an additional motivator from the "establishment" to prevent the "free thinkers" from future activities such as the war protests.
Here's mine for Heather's today (assuming hers today aptly applies):
Ally House (Oregon) wrote in here yesterday just after she “read Anthony's reply regarding ‘creating robots out of our children.’”
This reminded her “that the entire ‘standardized testing’ programs really caught fire after the college protests around the Vietnam War.” She wondered “if there wasn't an additional motivator from the ‘establishment’ to prevent the ‘free thinkers’ from future activities such as the war protests.”
Spot-on, Ally.
The Powell memo of 1971 – and all the far-right foundations implementing it – aimed first to rid humanities from schools (all levels).
Anyone who reads Diane Ravitch’s "The Language Police" (2003) can see how all the testing that ensued stressed schools voiding all that was individually generous, humanly patient, and nuance-attentive personal. All would instead key to group units, the abstracted categorical, and a repetitive linear. As if life had no persons, no individuals, just units in packages.
Nihilist, neutered elites would rule. They who became the Clarence court. They who would rule what is now the party of MAGA. They who would staff Fox News and set social media algorithms to moneyed fascism.
None of this could have happened had American schools stayed in the hands of teachers – had the human and humanities centered them.
During the Bush One administration, I had a phone conversation with Diane Ravitch in which I lost my temper and raised my voice over her contention (and Lynn Cheney's) that students didn't need Civics classes. American history teachers, they claimed, could cover such material; the fact that American history teachers rarely "finished the book" was ignored, and in the elite prep school attended by Ravich's offspring perhaps such instruction was dealt with at home. Fast forward to today, and although we haven't heard from Lynn Cheney, Ravitch and Liz and Dick Cheney are clearly on the side of the Constitution. Another curiosity is that former AG Bill Barr is the son of the aforementioned prep school's former head. The lesson I take from this is that an "elite" education does not necessarily qualify people to determine what public education should include.
I love Lincoln's quote Professor - 'a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall long endure."
After watching "The Apprentice" movie last night we are reminded of what a terrible influence Roy Cohn was on Trump. If Trump had written that speech - "of the Trump, by the Trump and for the Trump."
Thank God it's almost all over but the counting. Anyone else not sleeping?
As someone who lives in a blue bubble, I am encouraged to hear Heather's evaluation of the people she has met in her travels and to take some cautious optimism from it. Let us hope that her analysis proves true, and that we, the people, win in this election. And then let us hope that our goals continue to unite us so that, as Harris urges us, we can turn the page and move forward together.
I was exhibiting at an art fair yesterday in Minneapolis. I generally don’t talk politics in my booth but just couldn’t help myself yesterday, asking whether people had voted yet and if not, did they have a plan to do so. As I would have hoped, lots had already voted, some were wearing the “gear” as in t-shirts, pearls, chucks, and camouflage hats and happy to chat, and of those that hadn’t voted yet, only one person said she just wasn’t ready to decide. I asked if she needed to see a sample ballot - probably shouldn’t have done that as she walked away….
My booth neighbor, an artist that I don’t know very well, suggested during a slow time, that talking politics in an art booth is bad for business and that I should stop. Kinda made me chuckle because that is actually wise advice.
But I honestly just can’t help it. The most important election in my lifetime is at hand. If I can’t canvas in my booth at an art fair in one of the bluest voting districts in the country, where the hell can I? Did I lose sales? Do I care?
I have one more official canvassing shift tomorrow. Hoping to work off the anxiety a little more….
You go, Sheila !! During Neighbor2Neighbor canvas on Sat. in my MAGA Fl county, a voter mentioned she had noticed our numerous Harris/Walz signs…and then told me Walz’s press secretary was her cousin. A retired lawyer in my yoga class this week noticed my Vote Kamala bracelets. She told me when Walz’s candidacy was announced, she called her best friend from law school…born,raised and still living in Minnesota.Her friend told her Walz was her cousin. Apparently he has lots of cousins !!!
Thank you for the reminder, I need to dust off my pearls and find a blue dress for tomorrow.
For the anxiety, I feel you there. I have an appointment tomorrow and almost wish they wouldn't take my blood pressure because I bet it's much higher than it ought to be!
I wish you good rest and enduring strength - we are going to need it for the shenanigans no doubt coming, but in the end, we will walk from this darkness to a place much brighter.
Thank you for being brave enough to bring up The Vote at your art fair - it's never easy to do in public, even if you're fairly sure of your reception.
Love the idea of wearing pearls. I am going to borrow your idea, wear the pearls for good luck. and solidarity. And Wednesday, I will put on my Madame President T-shirt with Harris's portrait that I got at the Waldo County (ME) Dem's office and wear it with JOY.
TJB, I have a blood pressure and cholesterol check this Thursday. Makes me chuckle - I have eaten better than ever recently and get plenty of exercise but I’m not certain any of that will help. So I will put on the pearls and chucks and at least be stylish no matter the outcome, lol.
Just read this post on FB and also Rebecca Solnit’s comment (she is another hero of mine). Thanks HCR: you have been a quiet but driving voice of sense and context in the middle of this insane hellscape. I very much hope you are right and those of us who are doing our best to prevent the destruction of ourselves, our families, and our ethical sensibilities are going to prevail. But this is a real nail biter. And we are heavily dependent on people taking that final step, doing the right thing, and voting for freedom for all. Fingers crossed!!
Rebecca Solnit’s post for those who are not on Facebook:
“ Heather Richardson, I thought of you with this one: The America I Know Could Use a Good Cry
by Marcus Amaker
He offered me a shot of rum and I reminded him
that Captain Morgan was a slave owner,
so the bartender awkwardly slipped another
liquid lie down my throat. I ordered another drink
and was channeled by dark spirits. The courage of
black ghosts who haunt American dreams.
I told him I loved him and I wanted him to sleep well.
“But I know I’ve been in your nightmares,”
I said. “I want to be your friend, but only if it’s a deep
relationship. Only if you show me that you are not scared
of your baggage. Bring your whole history to the table.”
America cracked open another beer as a tear
ran down his face. He said,
“I was born in a house not my own, and my fathers demanded
that their portraits hang on every wall. White paint covers each
brown brick and our backyard is a museum of unmarked graves.”
“Despite this, a garden grows,” I said. “And every home
can be torn down and rebuilt again.”
“But I’ve been told I shouldn’t completely let you in,” he said.
“Some people in my family stand in the doorway,
blocking the entrance.”
He left before I could tell him that my people have a history
of finding ways inside broken spaces and making them whole again.”
Thank you for posting what Rebecca Solnit wrote!
Friendly correction; Rebecca posted the prose poem by Marcus Amaker.
The prose is an eloquent description of what it is like for African Americans, yet despite this, too few understand it.
This is a powerful poem, but the meaning is not completely clear to this reader. Perhaps the original context would be of assistance.
To Heather (I rarely address her directly):
This was a well written work. You should be in the administration of soon to be, President Kamala Harris.
Often during politics, runs for office, one side often says the opposite to what the other side says and supports. It matters not the issue only how it can be used to corral votes. This is the nasty underbelly side to politics. I know that Biden’s lack of border enforcement was going to be used successfully as a political issue. It has come to that. So the question remains to be asked: Was allowing hundreds of thousands and millions to run across hot sands worth losing our nation to despots and those who would destroy everything that is good in this nation? I have had my answer for a few years. I’m afraid many here disagree. I’m in favor of keeping our government free of thugs and criminals.
The response is that we can’t have it both ways.
Harris/Walz 2024
See you on the other side.
I cannot agree that Biden had a "lack of border enforcement," since more illegal border crossers have been arrested during his term than in times past. Yes, immigration is still a contentious issue, and the right wing is constantly pushing it as the sole issue of interest in current politics.
Where can I find this post - I haven't been able to find it on Rebecca Solnit's FB page -- I especially want to find the poem -- I'd like to have a copy of it and also to share it on FB -- it is so heart-stirring. And yes, brought tears to my eyes.
Here you go, https://marcusamaker.com/the-america-i-know-could-use-a-good-cry/.
Thank you!
I found the poem on Rebecca Solnit's FB page and shared it! What a beautiful poem.
Look him up on Google. He's awesome.
Just wow. (Missing the first line tho: “I met America at a neighborhood bar.”)
Yes, I felt something was missing. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing this 💜
Stunningly beautiful. Thank you for sharing, Mary.
Love it, wow ...
President Harris by five-to-seven percentage points in the popular vote and well over three hundred votes in the Electoral College. 🤞
People say I am too optimistic. Inasmuch that sentiment may be true, I am optimistic not because I choose to be; not because I want to be; but, because l have to be. 🥳
Absolutely. If the media stopped gaslighting us for a minute and looked out into the country, they'd see she is going to win and win big.
The MSM has been operating under the “anything for ratings” philosophy exemplified by the 1976 movie "Network". In 2024 the thinking American public recognized the gaslighting and has reached the point of Howard Beale (played brilliantly by Peter Finch) of "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"
Instead of going to Beale's personal extreme, we are taking our collective voices to the voting booths and let the republicans know we are not going to stand for their chaos and evil. May the power of the people bring Kamala Harris a landslide victory!
Well said, Janet! And let me add another message to go along with “Mad As Hell:” The MAGA faithful have promised a Civil War if Trump loses. We can resist that effort! The Law is on our side. But we can also promise our own Civilized War. We can use our Purchasing Power to keep the MAGA RICH in check. In fact, we are already seeing evidence of that Civilized War in the loss of subscriptions to WAPO! The two richest people on the planet - Musk and Bezos - stand to gain mightily if Trump wins, but lose mightily if Harris wins. We, the People can not only VOTE, we can also spend our dollars WISELY (and in a Civilized Manner). Glory Hallelujah!!
Paul, I not only applaud your suggestion but have already divested myself of my Tesla, never visited nor subscribed to X, will not resubscribe to the Washington Post BUT find it nearly impossible to reject and avoid Amazon's prodigiously useful and ubiquitous services even despite their likely harm to the planet's atmosphere and resources. It has become nearly a way of life for my spouse who does the bulk of our shopping, including bulk foods, through Amazon. The often subtle and certainly ubiquitous ways Amazon has infiltrated our lives is truly extraordinary!
Yup, Amazon is EVERYWHERE, and my wife is desperately trying to move her shopping to other venues. There ARE other choices, fortunately! It looks like my wife is targeting Target lately, and that seems to be working out! We shall see.
Trump underperformed in 19 of 20 state primaries. If only 3% of his 2020 voters flip in blue wall and swing states, we should have a tsunami.
That's why you should be on FB repeating "not suckers or losers" as your mantra.
https://rvat.org/
Yes, Paul! The minority has been electing U.S. presidents (thank you, electoral college), and members of the U.S. House (due to gerrymandering), so even the power of voting requires us to Over perform. Our Economic power is not subject to either the EC or to Gerrymandering! Even if Kamala wins (all my fingers crossed!) we still need to exercise our economic power to move the needle back to democratic rule.
hell I'll take a win "on the margins" ....
Me too, good man.
Alleluia, sister.
Here's my take on MSM and FoxNews (and economics) from 2023:
''Rupert Murdoch and Fox News: Taking a Lesson from the 1976 Movie ''Network''''
https://www.resourceism.com/2023/04/rupert-murdoch-and-fox-news-taking.html
Not all of the media gaslights us.
The major parts of it do.
Greg Olear used a word that fits. banalize. They are banalizers. So many of them make the “unf**kingbelievable” seem commonplace. Like it’s business as usual when it’s a 30-alarm fire. And it may be if chump has the power.
Exactly! Biden’s reuse of “garbage” did not equal tffg’s threat to Liz Cheney, yet only the Biden story made the front page of our local paper.
But that is exactly the proper role of news organizations. To NOT create hysteria or alarm. The tabloids do that, not the news. In this country it is up to the people to come together to make the vital decisions that will mean we either go forward on a proper course or fall apart at the seams. I honestly don't know which way it will go. Unlike Ned I am much more of a pessimist. But I also see great hope in what has happened and I am keeping myself both hopeful but also alert in case the worst happens. This country has seen its share of tough times. My father told me of the time he realized he had to go to war in 1941. He had always been a peaceful man but he also knew that the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and Tojo meant there was no real choice if we were to survive. I guess i feel like this is our WW2 moment. We will either triumph or we will be forced to fight. The latter doesn't feel good, but I understand we may have no alternative. This blog at least gives me faith that there will be plenty of us ready to fight on the side of right and justice.
Greg Olear puts it very well. The mainstream press is banalizing Trump’s despicable and toxic behavior, none of this remotely normal.
Not all men, then?
I blame much of Trump election in 2016 to the mass media.
It was Hillary's emails. wasnt it?
i was thinking more of the endless new media coverage he got in the primaries leading up to him securing the GOP nomination.
The US government with the major media cooperating, is warming us up to go the war with Iran. Just like they did with Iraq. It will be another disaster.
Dwight warned us against the Military Industrial Complex, our $800+ billion a year business. This is for Israel, so they can be big kahuna in that region. It will fail. More money down the drain that could be for the benefit of the "people": medical, education. BRICS countries are watching and waiting.
I get my "news" and opinions via Youtube and Substacks. The NYTimes whitewashes Trump and Israel...even publishing downright bullsh*t. Rapes that didn't happen to enflame the pitiful IDF to bomb away and sharpshoot kids. While citizens of that country (Israel or Palestine??) die and starve due to lies about and the targeting of humanitarian workers, BiBi fiddles and schemes.
No matter who wins this election, I get the feeling that the USA will be losing.
Good thing you have 5 fingers in one hand to count...
Sorry, to much to ask to "evenly balanced on objective" people in the media.
I won't hold your toes to the fire on that, but happy to share in your hope.
Not sure if happy days are here again, but I do think hopeful ones are returning.
Ha! I’ve been saying the same thing for months. Blue Wave. My friends think I’m drunk or not paying attention. I told them that I’m a student of history and have faith in the American people. I turned off the TV, cancelled my subscriptions to the NYT and WAPO, and read HCR everyday to maintain my sanity. When I see the enthusiastic grassroots mobilization supporting Kamala (thanks Jessica, Robert, Simon, Joyce, and all the other SubStack heroes that have directed our efforts) I am confident in our future. Let’s get this done so we can finally say “Madam President”.
Thanks, Pete. I have been coping the same way - cancelling subscriptions, fast forwarding through any election related parts of national and local news, avoiding conversations with friends who want to vent their fears, and relying primarily on Heather's sane posts for information. And, like you, I feel in my bones that despite all the noise of polls and media, there's a strong possibility of a blue wave - a powerful thing that's been staying out of sight and underground - like locusts gathering and preparing to emerge up into the light at just the right time in history.
I have used these six words many, many times over the last few months: "Well, we all get to vote."
I’m so with you, Pete, and on your same track. Dr. Richardson, Robert Hubbell, Jessica Craven and the others named have been my daily routine with coffee through this whole mess. I refuse to cave to the drama, noise and chaos that MSM and other sources have created. I’ve also been visualizing “Harris Landslide” several times a day for over two weeks, believing that intention can contribute to the focus. Let’s GO!!
Visualization, yes!!
I have not anticipated a blue wave but have had this gut-feel for some time, too, Pete, though not for months like you. Fine strategic intuition there, Pete; thank you. G-D only knows how much I hope that we are accurate.
Ned I think you may be right. I hope so. My favorite yard sign has been a Trump sign with the T and P cut out...it said Rum, make America Great Again. It's the Capt Jack for Harris sign....
Good one, Mike! Thank you for making this oldster (i.e., me) giggle like a child. 🤝😇🥳
😆
I’m with you, Ned.
Thank you, all, for a lively discussion that has managed to pry "me wretched little mind a wee-bit more open." Much has been said about the main-stream media in this thread. While there are evident micro-incentives more sane-washing and gas-lighting, I do not believe that the media are guilty of doing that for the following reasons. 🤔
1st, candidate Trump has normalized his odious behavior by repeating it, to the pleasure of the a significant portion of the electorate. 😡
2nd, what the main-stream media reflects to me is being used to hearing and seeing candidate Trump for who he is and what he says. 🤢
3rd, please keep in mind that I am not sure who or what the main-stream media is. Is Fox News, M.S.N.B.C.; the Moonie-owned 'Washington Times' part of that main-stream? I do not know. 😳
4th, if any media are gaslighting us, the social media are with the insularity of exposure they focus on users through content-filtering algorithms creating echo-chambers. They do not educate but they exacerbate. 🤬
5th [edit / insert], my gut and constrained optimism has nothing to do with the media but bases itself on the thought (or wish) that M.A.G.A. blow-hards are jamming the polls and call-in shows for two reasons: they are existentially engaged and they are seeking to create an appearance of momentum. The latter will not work. 👻
The term mentioned, by Kathy Hughes (I believe, if my shrinking grey matter proves to be correct), of 'banalizing' impresses me as more perspicacious in explaining candidate Trump's trivializing our democratic norms. It also recalls Hannah Arendt's arresting insight into the banality of evil. 💔
Nope, you're right. People are waking up and don't want the same old thing. Many of the converts and supporters fortunately are widely supported on social media (thanks Taylor and Bruce) and that reaches EVERYONE.
Amen, Ned! AMEN
I'm with you 💯 ☑️🗳💙🌊🇺🇲
LM wrote “Thanks HCR: you have been a quiet but driving voice of sense and context in the middle of this insane hellscape.”
I think that thought contains an extremely important word, context.
Just as the great British biologist JBS Haldane observed, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution”, I would by analogy add to HCR’s observation that ‘nothing in current events makes sense except in light of history.’
I find HCR’s exceptional ability to embed current events into a larger historical context an extremely illuminating approach, executed with incisive skill and power.
America is better for her lighthouse like contribution in these dark and stormy times.
Beautiful writing Ed. Thank you .
Thank you.
Hear, here!
Haldane was also quite a wit, and once opined “I would give my life for two brothers or eight cousins.”
Same genetic overlap. I needed biologist at breakfast table to explain
Another of Haldane’s irreverent quips came in response to a question about what his study of biology revealed to him about the mind of God.
He is reputed to have answered “God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles.”
[context from AI Overview: “There are approximately 350,000–400,000 described species of beetles, making them the most species-rich order of insects on Earth. This is more than a quarter of all known animal species.”]
Thank you.
Thank you Ed! BTW, you used "lighthouse". Stevie Nicks's song "The Lighthouse" is a powerful call to young women to vote for their bodily autonomy!
I find it humbling in many ways that the ones who are at the forefront of our fight to regain and preserve our democracy are Black females, the very last ones to get their voting rights in this country when Pres. Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I agree, and we Democrats should give Black women credit for believing in Democratic principles. All too often Black women’s support for the Democratic party is taken for granted, and it should not be.
they are the geartbestvif the Dem party. Been fighting for quality since the founding days of your country
It is very, very humbling, Doreen. I can't even begin to imagine what they've been through, where they found the hope and the courage to keep going.
I have a Canada story for you. When I was a grad student at Harvard in the late 1960's, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau came to Harvard to give a talk and afterwards met with some of us grad students. One student asked this: "Prime Minister, Trudeau, does Canada pay much attention to what goes on in the United States?" To which Trudeau replied: "When you sleep next to an elephant, every grunt that it makes is a matter of concern."
I really hope that we are all saying in two weeks, “boy, that was a close one, let’s now try and heal this nation with a woman at her helm.”
Linda, here is a hopeful discussion of the early votes that reinforces what Heather is saying about us coming together to say "We Won't Go Back!" It is called Trump's Turnout Trouble.
https://youtu.be/EZvQCIsu8Zs?si=NMM2KMBzYmJb98Xi
Linda, from your (and YouTube's) mouth to the goddess's ear, as it were! I think the strategy of CFDT to try to appeal to young men who are unlikely to make the effort to vote is one that his handlers mis-thought. Of course, they're not planning on winning, they're planning on contesting the results. And the fact that on Sunday the Pumpkin-Faced Candidate proclaimed a desire to return to "singe day voting" and "paper ballots" (because, y'know, he really wants us to return to 1890 as his favorite year) suggests that the actual turnout is worrying him.
Thank You, Linda!!!
Thank you for that link--I finally got a chance to watch the whole thing and it is very cheering. Unlike this morning's newcast on NBC (grrrrrrr)
TL just remember that corporate media's money making formula is keeping you on the edge of your seats so you will want more. I say skip the bad news, focus on the good news if it makes sense like this does.
This race is not close. It appears that way due to skewing of the polls by those financed by the GOP. In reality, the Democrats will win by a large margin.
Women are angry! Men, even those who care and support us, don’t get the full import of the Dobbs decision. The suffering and deaths caused by the abortion ban can happen to all states if tfg is back in office. Every report of a failure to save a woman or her fertility adds more determination to each of us to vote out those who are trying to destroy us and make us owned by men. The patriarchy will lose, and women will regain their agency.
Let's hope so. I think one reason it is emphasized that it's a "very close" election is to get people to the polls. One both sides.
Abraham Lincoln made this comment to John Hay in 1961:
"We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves" (as quoted in "The Demon of Unrest" by Erik Larson, frontmatter).
As Heather pointed out so well, we are here again. We prevailed once, we will prevail again. We absolutely must.
1861. sorry about the typo.
Speaking to your hell-scape, here is a compelling essay by those who know and know better why candidate Trump is psychologically unfit for office in addition to being morally absent and legally out-of-bounds. https://bandyxlee.substack.com/p/open-letter-to-the-american-people
Everyone knows that. The GOP knows that.
Trump is a crumbling wreck. But, they have JD Vance.
He frightens me more.
He could never take tfg’s place in the party. He has absolutely no charisma, and he is so socially awkward that he will only alienate people. There is no real leadership in the entire GOP.
Right. But, this is what we get if Trump croaks. Buckle up.
Senator Vance impresses me a very effective public speaker. And he does have the Horatio Alger schtick down cold. Let us hope he gets flowers for Horatio Algernon.
Well said! One distinction - "quiet" is not how I would ever describe Heather. Rather, I see her as calm and measured, steady. Had she been too "quiet" folks like me might never have discovered her and thus could have headed in the wrong direction entirely, succumbing to the numbing (fear and anger). THANK YOU Heather for steadying the ship and setting it on the better path.
Pat, I use quiet to mean a lot of things: HCR and I share a profession (historian) and I think we would agree that the bombastic approach to teaching is not as effective as one that might be impassioned but is not loud. Quiet can mean aa lot of things. It doesn't mean passive.
Certainly never implied passive - very happy she's not!
History elevates the truth over the messiness that we cannot help but repeat.
With all appreciation and respect, Professor Richardson. Love and Light to you and being home.
Thank you.
Salud!
🗽💜
Linda Mitchell -- Nail biting is a very important (and useful) tool for the 21st century! Thanks for pointing that out!
Nicely put. Its midaftn Election Day
& currrnt reports indicate we don’t have numbers until Friday or Saturday. Let’s hope Everyone keeps their cool.. even if T starts mouthing off.
Fine poem.
"Americans always do the right thing after exhausting every other possibility." —Winston Churchill. Thank God Americans are exhausted (by a wannabe dictator)!
I still fear that despite this, he has the capacity for causing all sorts of trublr, and for stirring his followers to violence. He and thread people who helped to plan and finance the whole thing have never faced criminal sanction. Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman have been disbarred, but disbarment is not a criminal sanction, it’s an action against their professional licensure for the protection of the public.
"In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces judicial decisions." —Abraham Lincoln.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Without public sentiment, the law is useless. We need to learn how to talk to each other, but we have to start by unlearning how to talk at each other.
Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but the winner of the popular vote by millions vs the winner of the EC becoming president belies Lincoln’s statement about public sentiment carrying the day.
I think America would be better off electing the president with a popular vote, but, with respect, that does not belie Lincoln's sentiment. The EC exacerbates the problem, but it is not the problem. The EC does not make 47% of the electorate think it's a good idea to make a wannabe dictator the most powerful human on the planet. Public sentiment comes from talking to each other instead of talking at each other. Do that, and wannabe dictators are in Nowhere Land making nowhere plans for nobody.
Disbarment is a very powerful statement by bar associations and courts against corrupt lawyers, and I think it has great effect.
I sure hope Churchill and you are right!
Today's newsletter convinced me that Churchill was right.
You might want to watch "Churchill's Secret," now streaming on PBS: what commitment to democracy looked like in him.
I just added it to my list. Thanks for the heads up.
Love this! Thank you!
Wonderful! My first out loud laugh in many hours!
From your keyboard to God’s eyes
I think we (AMERICA) will have more respect as a nation, and as a team player. No more world leaders laughing at us. No more empty seats because our leader doesn't believe in climate change or environmental destruction. Europeans, Asians, Africans, South Americans have had women prime ministers. I believe that there is something like 15 women in power right now. The list is even longer if you look back to the 1990's.
So what if we pay a little more to NATO. We are so much bigger than most European countries. We have a bigger gross national product. I have read that even in TN , one of the poorest states in the union, the people make more than most Europeans. I hear the argument " We have American citizens to take care of. America first." Well, we always have had people in need of social services, new infrastructure products, better schools, and what have we done with our money in the past? A divided Congress and Senate who are basically paralyzed. Congress couldn't even pass a border bill. Granted we have had wars to finance, but still more attention could've been paid attention to our people.
This just hit my inbox, so excited to be first! And so happy you decided to write every night this week-end, thank you for what you do. “Fellow-citizens,” Lincoln reminded his colleagues, “we cannot escape history. We…will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”
Don't Repeat 1980
Hi Heather,
We need to make sure West Coast voters don't decide to not go vote Tuesday evening because they hear Trump claiming he won. Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
How can we get out the word to not repeat 1980?
Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
1980: Jimmy Carter conceded at about 5 pm PST. Too many Democrats who had planned to vote after 5 PM decided to not bother and stayed home. Republicans did go to the polls, excited to vote for the winner. Democratic House members lost tight races because of knowing Carter had lost: including Al Ullman Ways & Means Chair from Oregon.
We need to protect West Coast races in the House and the Senate by making sure that voters ignore Trumps claims of winning and go vote up and down their ballot. . And not lose winning the House and Senate because of false claims of winning before the real results are in, convinces some voters to cancel their plans to vote.
West coast here, Wayne, completed my ballot over a week ago and drove it to my county’s election headquarters to drop off. Hopefully we will have all learned the lessons of the past & not be snookered again!
Also, West Coast, Ballot mailed, received & counted. The total who have already voted is over 75 Million & going higher.
"Now it's our turn"
Another west coast here, my ballot has been in for a couple weeks already.
Brian, a few elections ago I signed up for BallotTrax (https://ballottrax.com/) and they notify me when my ballot is logged & processed. I have also signed up with my county’s elections office to be notified of election results, both preliminary and final. So far it’s kept me in the loop and confident that my oversight, via their services, is spot-on. 🗽Edit: I must say I do miss the local polling place on Election Day in my tiny town of 1200—it was a time of community gathering (regardless of party affiliation) and participation in our democracy as “a happening”…..sure “mail-in” (or delivered) ballots are, in a way simpler, but I do miss the camaraderie of gathering together and getting a “I Voted” sticker!
That's the way it still is in Australia - election day is a Saturday, you go, you queue, you give your name, the returning officer asks you if you've voted anywhere else today, they put a line through your name on the roll, you go into the curtained booth and mark the ballot paper, then drop it, folded, into a guarded box, and then you go outside and share a "Democracy Sausage" being barbecued by volunteers.
Australia makes voting mandatory, while the Republicans try to disenfranchise as many people as possible. We have never recognized voting as a fundamental right, and it should have been recognized as a fundamental right long ago. The majority on the Supreme Court treats gutting the Voting Rights Act, allowing unlimited campaign funding, gerrymandering, voter ID, voter suppression, felon disenfranchisement and other restrictions on voting rights as acceptable practices. I don’t think any of these practices are acceptable in the least, and permitting them is undermining the Constitution.
Kathy, I find your post illuminating, every word of it. Never recognised voting as a fundamental right! But this is cardinal! So where's "of the people, by the people"? It's going to be a hot day here, today, 5 November, blazing blue sky, perfect for the Melbourne Cup Day holiday, and as we all party this afternoon wearing funny hats and drinking champagne as we watch the races on TV and bet on the winner, my thoughts will be firmly fixed on what's happening in the land of the free. Another image comes into my mind: remember those little Swiss cottages with two doors? when the weather was going to be fine, a little person dressed for sunny weather emerged from one door, and if bad weather was coming, a little person with an umbrella came out of the other door. In today's American cottage, one little person is dark, and the other one is orange. Sending a virtual hug to all of you.
I had a similar experience. For years, when my kids were little, we lived in a town of about 1800 souls. There was one polling place, the town hall, and people would come and vote, catch-up, watch the kids while the parents voted, etc. One time, I emerged from the voting booth to find the sitting governor (she lived in the town - my state has no governor's mansion) of my state reading a story to a group of children - mine among them!
I now live in a city of about 40K, but my polling place, a church hall, while busier, is still a place that feels normal and safe. My kids vote in the same place, and sometimes we go together. I will vote on Nov 5th. It is a right. It is a duty. It should not be a privilege or an empty gesture. Vote Harris/Walz.
I went and voted at the county offices in downtown Dayton, OH last weekend, and there was quite a turnout with lots of people coming to vote.of course, I voted Harris/Walz, which was rather a no brainer.
I will not vote in any church. As I prefer early voting anyway, I'm able to find a community hall or civic center in which to cast my vote, not always easy in rural NC.
In free Australia, where voting is compulsory, election day is a Saturday so the local State school is turned into a polling place.
I hear you Barbara 🇺🇸. My email confirmations came from the California Secretary of State.
I did receive an "I Voted" sticker which I am saving for my Granddaughters when Madam President is inaugurated.
There was a heavy Voter turn out in slender MOLDOVA on Ukraine's eastern border. The Pro-Euro, President, MAIA SANDU won with 55.33% of the total Moldovan national vote!
'Bout time for Lenny Kravetz to take the stage ....
🎶 Love transcends both space & time 🎶 ... 🎶 Sisters & brothers we got to join hands 🎶 ... 🎶 & Let -- Love -- Rule 🎶 ... 🎶 We got to - got to Let Love Rule 🎶🎶 Got to Let Love Rule 🎶
'We are Not going Back!'
Here on the east coast, on vacation, returning back to my west coast to wait out the election and hoping that we have for the first time a woman as the president elect. I have done my part, I have voted and I have placed my hope for a better future in the hands of the only candidate in this cycle qualified to lead this great nation forward to a more prosperous future and a restoration of rights stripped away by extremist courts and legislators. In Kamala rest the hope of the nation to move forward to a period unlike the Camelot of JFK!
Correction a period NOT UNLIKE THE CAMELOT of JFK.
If you're not on a mobile device, those three dots at the end of the "like reply share" line allow you to edit your comment. I often go back to the laptop when I notice an error, since I cannot (most of the time, sometimes it does work) fix it from my phone.
I was just about to ask you that question! You should go back and edit and fix it too!
Would love to correct but can’t figure out how to do that. When I select the ellipse, Edit is not one of my options… sadly.
Ellipse? I'm using my laptop, and there's no ellipse, but three dots on the right hand margin, one of which is "edit".
Thank you.
Also west coast here. Our ballots have been received for over a week and are ready for counting.
Me, too
Hi Barbara. We WILL prevail!
Everyone registered voter in California has received a mail-in ballot. According to new figures from the California Secretary of State’s office released Thursday, over 6 million early votes have already been cast, with the number expected to grow to at least 12 million by election day.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, roughly 600,000 more votes have been sent in by mail, increasing from 5.4 million to 6 million. In addition, a registration report last month found that over 22 million Californians once again are registered to vote, meaning that, with new people registering up to the October 21st deadline, there could be close to 23 registered this year.
In Southern California, more than 100 early voting centers were already open this past week in L.A. County and more than 500 others opened Saturday. In my circle of friends everyone has already voted. I can't speak for all of the West Coast (Oregon and Washington) but California likes to vote and votes proactively.
Five days ago 21% of California's registered voters had already cast mail-in ballots. On this final weekend before Election Day, 30% of California voters have returned their ballots, according to Political Data Inc. (PDI), which tracks turnout.
I love that the CA Secretary of State has the software to track our ballots. It's so nice to get the notice that the ballot has been processed.
We can track our ballots here in Washington. I signed onto the website, enter the requisite information and see that my ballot was received and accepted. It is good to be back home after a visit to Florida.
Our ballots went in last week, and all were received. Yay for Oregon mail in voting.
Don’t worry Wayne, most of us far West coast voters have already voted by mail weeks ago and we hate bullies. And it’s too late for Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The Murdoch’s dumbed them down over 25 years ago with the assistance of that “Saint” Ronnie Reagan, who managed to hoodwink voters across the nation with the only exceptions being Minnesota and Washington DC. Watch the documentary “Bad Faith” if you haven’t figured out yet what a monster he was….just a slicker Trump with a great speech writer.
He was an actor, not schooled in the law, and like T well known for a tv personna. You’d think we have learned to stop electing on personality instead of principles.
Or worse, concocted media persona, not even authentic personality nor character. Trump is all fake, though he is such a bad actor some seem to mistake his lack of polish for authenticity, but it's just fake and clumsy.
People voted for Trump based on his fictitious character from “The Apprentice,” and it was a con job. Trump’s office furniture was so shabby the producers bought new furniture for him, and they shot and heavily edited the video to make him look like a decisive and competent businessman. Trump, unlike his father Fred, has never been a competent or successful businessman. Fred was as racist and sociopathic as Donald, but was more successful as a developer. He and Donald first barred Black tenants, then steered them to predominantly Black residential housing. They got smacked for that twice back in the 1970s, and that is when Donald started following Roy Cohn.
Donny boy was pretty much a classic playboy. He cosplayed dabbling any number of professions (including chief executive of the country), and could so so because he had the cash and no scruples. Reagan said that democracy was a pathetic joke and that cash rules, and the nation fell for it. I first heard of Trump when he was taking credit for fixing the Wollman skating rink in NY's Central Park. He conned others into actually doing the work, then screwed them over by neither paying for it nor acknowledging the pro bono work they had done. At the time, I only heard the part of how Trump was the hero. He got breaks from the Mob and then claimed he has no way to know they were mobsters. His family bragged about getting seemingly unlimited funding from Russia.
Yes J L, even tRump's "business" and his "company" are fake!
Yeah John, and let me help out with what "AI" really has amounted to these past 10 years: Auto Insult - To our intelligence. Every single day. Harder and harder to tell which way is up in this "alternative" reality we've so kindly endured. Hopefully we'll see the last of that POS and his 757, but the 'wake-turblence' will linger dangerously until the winds blow it away. Which they will.
Follow the money.
YES!, Sandy. We must stop electing personalities and basically anyone who has not had governing experience on some elective level before. We repeatedly make choices of people who have had NO EXPERIENCE in elective governance whatever to lead the most powerful and most complex government in the world! How does this make any sense whatever??? Kamala & Tim fit this requirement perfectly!
Demonstrated expertise, ability and the content of their character.
When did voting for a hollywood personality become a thing? It definitely hasn't turned out well. They have proven they know nothing about our government and how it is run and then they get lead by their nose rings into doing terrible things to our country by people who just want power and money. Think people!! Do we really want Trump as a dictator - a hateful, revenge seeking dictator. Or a president who is working for all of our citizens, regardless of their skin color. My choice is HARRIS/WALZ 2024!! Vote Trump GUILTY! Justice Matters!
Lock him up..., pulllease!
Do you want a chance at a satisfying, meaningful life or do you want to be eaten alive by piranhas? I gotta think about that one.
I would certainly never vote for Trump on the basis of personality.
I liked him on Death Valley Days, in movies, and other fantasies but that's where he belonged. Fortunately for us, Arnold is smarter.
Ii don't know about you but I don't think anywhere NEAR "most west coast voters" have already voted let alone weeks ago. From what I have read it's still much less than 40%. EVERYONE PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU VOTE! If you already did, awesome. If you didn't, vote of Tuesday. But VOTE!
I thought it was a law that media could not report east coast results until west coast voted.
Only within a state. Once a state has closed its polls its results can be reported. Otherwise we couldn't get results until Hawaii closed its polls which doesn't happen until well after midnight California time (3 AM New York time. ) I hope that makes sense.
Not so great compared to many other presidents; but "made for TV".
Sad, but true of we inter mountain states. Gotta keep with the good fight though!
That's all true Nancy. I'll look for that documentary. That was the one time I got fooled. Mr Carter is a great American. But I was young and didn't know much about economics had trouble finding work and blamed him. Kamala wiped the floor with Trump but I thought Carter looked weak in the only 1980 debate. As I recall unemployment and inflation were much worse then than now. Yes, Wayne has nothing to worry about unless it comes down to Arizona and Nevada. Then again I don't know what their election laws look like.
The entire west coast now votes by mail; most of us have already voted.
We remember those years when elections were called by TV before our polls were closed, and we found a remedy.
And also it is completely untrue that the entire west coast votes by mail. California does NOT vote solely by mail in fact almost 60% week vote in person at an election booth. We ALL get mail in ballots now that is true but the majority still votes in person. I personally do not vote early because I want to make sure I am voting based on the most recent info available to me. So I go to the polls in my neighborhood like I always have and vote in person. I think Oregon may only vote by mail but not California and I don't know for sure about Washington.
Washington votes by mail and in person like California but after Covid mail became the norm.
PLEASE please stop saying most west coast voters have voted. It isn't even CLOSE to the truth. As of today the estimate of early turnout by mail or drop box is just under 30%. That's a LOT for sure but it is hardly even a majority let alone "most".
Ok Jon, you’ve made a really good argument and I will truly stop.❤️
Washington state here.....my husband hand delivered out ballots a week ago. I look forward to saying....Madame President!
Me too, and I voted in person last weekend. I don’t take a Democratic victory for granted though.
From Palo Alto, California, I voted over a week ago. I received confirmation and my ballot is ready to be counted. My family did as well.
Well said!
Absolutely nothing should ever be assumed or announced until well after the last polls close!!!!!
Leftist Coaster here. I voted a week ago. Many have. Robert Reich is screaming about the Red Mirage for the same reason.
He’s correct about that. Trump will use this as an excuse for a premature declaration he won, and claim yet again he was cheated. He lost the last election and claimed he was cheated. He always claims he was cheated if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, and he is just like the little boy who cried wolf.
A lot of us here have already voted, mailed (or used a drop box), ballots received and counted. Besides, there are a ton of other races and issues on the ballot besides this one.
"A lot" have already voted is correct. I am glad that you didn't do what other have done which is to suggest that MOST have. It is quite clear that most have not. There is still almost 70% of the expected turnout in California to be on Tuesday.
I was driving home from work in Sacramento, when the Carter concession came on the radio in 1980. I was shocked. My wife and I had voted before going to work that morning but I'm not sure we would have if we had waited until after work.
I was truly shocked when I heard it because I thought about all of the people that would have stayed home after that. And back then, there was only absentee voting and no early in person voting.
Spread this on Facebk & other social media. Please.
Oregon voter here. Ballot signed sealed and delivered last week! Vote til the last minute west coast voters! Every vote counts.
Thank you, Wayne. I hear you about the issues with the races being called early.
I think that our mail in voting (in place since 1996) has helped alleviate that issue; I have lived in Oregon (except for about 18 months when I lived in the SF bay area) my entire voting life, and cast several votes for president after the elections were called; in each case I voted a straight Democratic ticket except for casting a vote for an independent candidate.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me
Well, if smart disgusted Democrats don't know that every time he opens his mouth , ITS A LIE, the never will He is incapable of telling the truth.
😤😤Fingers crossed 🤞 the corporate media will not descend on tRump's "organization" to hear his bombast, gaslighting about having won; "stop the counting"😖GRRR!🤮
Petaluma, California weighing in, here. My husband and I voted as soon as we got our absentee ballots, and we cheered when we got our emails that they were counted 4 days later. Everyone I know is galvanized to vote, write letters, make phone calls, walk precincts. My husband, Jack, passed away a few days ago, but he was proud that one of his last acts was to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Not bad for a former Republican :) Watching the Democratic Convention was like a transfusion of energy for him. Onward! We won't go back!
💔💔💔 Profound condolences, Marian. I can only imagine Jack’s profound satisfaction in doing his part to “keep our republic” as it stands as a democracy as one of his final civic acts. With tears brimming, I am sending you loving, healing, hugs. ☮️
I have pervasive bone cancer and a short expiration date. I voted. I really hope to see President Harris inaugurated. I live in Washington DC and was at the DC rally sitting in the disability section. Many of us, who'd also attended the 2017 Women's March really thought attendance exceeded the 75,000 reported. We thought it was more like 100,000. 40 000 of us were inside the Ellipse. The crowd also filled the entire area surrounding the Washington Monument and down the mall. I was sitting next to a physical therapist who'd had a different kind of bone cancer from which she was in remission. Mamala took care of the huge crowd. There was water and snacks (pop tarts and fruit gummies). If I'm still alive, I'll go to her inauguration. I really want to see a woman president in my lifetime. It's been more than 100 years since women gained the right to vote.
Thank you for your dedication to our democracy in spite of your own ill health. You are an inspiration. Your life has made a difference.
Christina, you're a hero--hang in there. I've been on the "Fun with Advanced Cancer" train for the last 4 years or so, and with a dramatically shortened sell-by date (Do people find your gallows humor bizarre when you refer to yourself as having an "expiration date"? I get a lot of OMG style comments when I use my particular preferred reference to my exit). I have outlasted most people who are in my situation and I hope to be around a few more years but also worry about what my final time will be like if we DON'T succeed.
I have SLL/CLL, but my expiration date hasn’t come yet. I am relatively healthy, but overweight, have arthritis in my knees, and need orthotics, and I work.
I am shamed by your stamina in attending the Women’s Rally, Christina. Thank you!! I feel too exhausted by the last few years to do much beyond writing postcards and comments on Substack. You have my deep admiration and also gratitude for reporting on your experience at the rally, which seemed to me, grossly under reported, especially since everything coming out of Trump’s mouth seems to be front page news.
IMHO, Maureen, it ALL counts….even if the most one can do is to be and emanate a “good vibration” in this effort.
You’re right, of course, Barbara. We all do what we can.
Bless you....I hope your health holds for this most historic moment in our history. ♥️♥️
Christina, you’re a guiding star to me now. I make excuses for not participating when I could. Not you. I’m watching myself carefully as the hours peel off or roll in towards this election. Now I have you in my heart and mind I’ll see if what stuff I’m made of. More than thank you; much much more. May you get your wish to see a President Kamala. 🌞
Wishing you a warm, sunny, comfortable, great view seat at Madam President Kamala Harris’s inauguration, Christina!
Hopefully someone with the power will make this wish come true for you! Any high ranking Democrats reading this? Please get it done!
Pray make it so. In previous days, I've commented about my own Trump experiences, as well as in 2000, he made fun by mimicking my daughter's Cerebral Palsy limp.
Christina, I too will hope with all my heart that you are sitting in that disability section once again to see history being made. Bless you!!
Thank you for your determination and persistence, Christina.
Oh, Christina, I fervently hope this for you as well, what an amazing occasion it would be to witness. May your journey be a peaceful one🫶🏻
You’re one of the best Barbara.
I’m so sorry for your loss. What a way to leave this world—voting for his president!
How bittersweet, Marian. Cheers to you.
Thank you, Marian, for this reminder that what we do matters, even on our last day. My condolences you and your family. What a legacy!
Omg Marian...
Oh my, Marian. My heart goes out to you 💔 Such a bittersweet post. May you be comforted by an outpouring of love and admiration for your strength. And for keeping hope. Wrapping you in gentle hugs.
Marian, so sorry for your loss--and I am glad he got the chance to exercise his right as a citizen one last time (like Jimmy Carter). Yes: it is up to us to keep the good fight going no matter the outcome.
My father and mother voted absentee, Mom just died Saturday, but I could not imagine her voting for Trump. My whole family can’t stand Trump. We think he’s simply vile, and I am embarrassed that Vance is one of my senators, a rank misogynist and impenitent liar. Peter Thiel bought him for us, but I’d prefer a refund if that it were possible. We are also at risk of losing our decent Senator Sherrod Brown to Porsche salesman Bernie Moreno, whom Trump endorsed. Moreno fired a woman for being a single mother and cheated his employees out of overtime pay. The employees took him to court and won their lost pay.
Our outgoing Ohio Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, managed to put a misleading description of Issue 1 on the ballot with the help of our Republican-dominated Supreme Court. Voting yes on issue 1 would allow a citizen-led commission to take redistricting power from the General Assembly and Senate and end the long standing Republican gerrymandering of the state. I am concerned the Yes vote might lose because of LaRose’s dishonesty. I think LaRose is still smarting over coming third in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, which Bernie Moreno won.
Kathy, I am so sorry for your loss. My Mom has been gone for 30 years and I still miss her every day. May you be wrapped in comforting memories.
Well, LaRose is also sore about losing last year's Issue 1 (abortion rights) despite the deliberately misleading language he and the state supreme court put on the ballots for it. Hopefully, like last year, the misleading language won't keep this year's Issue 1 from passing.
I am sorry to hear of the loss of your husband, Marian.
My deepest condolences, Marian. I’m also in Petaluma. I’m guessing many Petalumans read HCR; maybe we can come together in celebration somehow once the results are confirmed!
🤞🌊🤞
What an incredible journey you have been on all these months. Thank you so much for being a voice of strength for democracy.
We are certainly living in an interesting time.
When it comes to defending democracy, you are the definition of “above and beyond “. Thank you and thanks to everyone here for all their efforts.
"In spite of ourselves..."
Its Our Turn—
Let's take the tools that we have
Put them to work
in the field and factory
boardroom and church house
to move the nation forward
like our ancestors did in the past.
Its Our Turn
"We... will be remembered
in spite of ourselves."
So beautifully written that Lincoln himself would nod at its eloquence, professor. Like Moses, Lincoln didn't live long enough to get to the Promised Land. But both set their cultures on the road that led there, and there those people now live.
Lately, I've been thinking of Lincoln and hoping the Secret Service is getting its act together. We need all hands on deck.
We sure do. I am quite positive someone is going try to take Harris out in revenge for her beating Trump.
Someone posted this: "It is like the entire country is waiting on biopsy results."
That orange malignant tumor will be cut out Tuesday and will be in the incinerator soon.
👏🏼🎉🥳🙏🏼. Brilliant, Ted!!
May it be so!
Thanks! Laughed out loud in my winter closed- in house… broke out w almost a hee-haw
Ain’t that the best description ever…. But some wishing for a terminal condition is insane, but humans often do things that defy logic.
Tis now't so strange as people!
Self-destructive behavior is not uncommon in my realm, earthlings have a bad case at times
Wow. Strikes home because two friends are indeed in that queue.
Thank you Ellen; I love that !
I just landed in SC to distribute “VOTE-you make the difference” stickers that are free to download at www.2millionStickers.com in the 2 remaining swing states NC and GA. These are beautifully designed by Maine artist Mark Wethli and have been very popular. AOC even has one.
This race will come down to young women turning out. Let’s encourage them! I have been to 5 campuses already. The mood is electrifying. Please help!
On Thursday, I was in a Utah coffee shop when another customer came in and surveyed the staff and the clientele. Turned out one of the baristas was not registered, and this man, from nearby Colorado, managed to get her registered. I did not even realize this was possible so late in the race, but it is possible to register in Utah until tomorrow, and I thanked him. It also shook me out of my complacency. Every vote counts until the polls close.
Young women, and us old women, who remember the pre-Roe v. Wade days, as reflected in the most recent Iowa poll by Anne Selzer!
You were on the road for 13 months? Poor Buddy. When you got home did you throw your hat in the door to see if it was safe for you to enter? You have kept us sane all that time and we appreciate it so much
I think Buddy was on the road with her for part of those months and came back for lobster season! He’s probably ready for her Spy apple pie though!
Heather you are so due a rest However you took the time once again to give us a history lesson of hope So helpful for this moment in this historic moment To democracy winning out again to you for your leadership knowledge and generosity To Harris Walz riding a powerful blue wave of we the people may democracy not perish in our people s nation and world💙💙💙🥁🥁🥁🗳️🗳️🗳️🌊🌊🌊🌊
Thank you again for sharing your insights.
It helped.
May we all discover that the will to continue our experiment in self-government remains vital as election results manifest.
It’s our turn.
yes it is, I’m so thankful to the many women who helped me see current events more clearly
from today forward, for Trump supporters…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScI52si3atw
Hundreds of 1,000s of young northern men (along with former southern slaves) would fight and die.
These are the great, articulate, energized numbers of women of all ages today who have joined the fight -- like Heather, near tirelessly, picking up energy from each other and the men who love them.
A deeply corrupt court that ruled the Dred Scott case would become the more fantastically corrupt Clarence court of today -- as if illiterate, nihilist today brazenly ignoring Article 14, section three (no insurrectionist can hold public office) -- as if additionally, cynically nihilist today declaring their favorite convicted criminal immune to the law, today and tomorrow above the law.
As Abe Lincoln out of nowhere then would become Kamala, also more or less out of nowhere today.
Yes. I recommend Pam Houston's Without Exception, Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom, in which several chapters end with a portion of the dissent to Dobbs, something I had not read in its entirety. Thank you, Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor.
There are so many passages in this short book I could quote, but I take her opinion that James Baldwin put it best: "I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly, is because they sense, once the hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain."
Great, the Baldwin here, progwoman.
One of the reasons standardized testing goes so heavily in for neutered, homogenized language is precisely that it lets people stay in a stupefied, zombie, semi-conscious state.
This lets people more listlessly, unquestioningly, docilely serve the master classes -- the nihilist rich.
Diane Ravitch presents this well in her book, "The Language Police" (2003). It's still alone in its class -- and 100% pertinent today -- for how being specific about life's complications risks opening us to our pains, as well as those of "others."
Schools under the billionaires' master plans just package all, turn all into robots.
So well stated, Phil! I believe that creating robots out of our children is a terrible mistake! Being able to think for themselves by assessing information and using critical thinking skills is most important!
So many people fail to understand that critical thinking is essential to our continued ability to innovate and progress as a nation.
Exactly! It’s the foundation of democracy!
Phil, I just read Anthony's reply regarding "creating robots out of our children". It reminds me that the entire "standardized testing" programs really caught fire after the college protests around the Vietnam War. Makes me wonder if there wasn't an additional motivator from the "establishment" to prevent the "free thinkers" from future activities such as the war protests.
Here's mine for Heather's today (assuming hers today aptly applies):
Ally House (Oregon) wrote in here yesterday just after she “read Anthony's reply regarding ‘creating robots out of our children.’”
This reminded her “that the entire ‘standardized testing’ programs really caught fire after the college protests around the Vietnam War.” She wondered “if there wasn't an additional motivator from the ‘establishment’ to prevent the ‘free thinkers’ from future activities such as the war protests.”
Spot-on, Ally.
The Powell memo of 1971 – and all the far-right foundations implementing it – aimed first to rid humanities from schools (all levels).
Anyone who reads Diane Ravitch’s "The Language Police" (2003) can see how all the testing that ensued stressed schools voiding all that was individually generous, humanly patient, and nuance-attentive personal. All would instead key to group units, the abstracted categorical, and a repetitive linear. As if life had no persons, no individuals, just units in packages.
Nihilist, neutered elites would rule. They who became the Clarence court. They who would rule what is now the party of MAGA. They who would staff Fox News and set social media algorithms to moneyed fascism.
None of this could have happened had American schools stayed in the hands of teachers – had the human and humanities centered them.
During the Bush One administration, I had a phone conversation with Diane Ravitch in which I lost my temper and raised my voice over her contention (and Lynn Cheney's) that students didn't need Civics classes. American history teachers, they claimed, could cover such material; the fact that American history teachers rarely "finished the book" was ignored, and in the elite prep school attended by Ravich's offspring perhaps such instruction was dealt with at home. Fast forward to today, and although we haven't heard from Lynn Cheney, Ravitch and Liz and Dick Cheney are clearly on the side of the Constitution. Another curiosity is that former AG Bill Barr is the son of the aforementioned prep school's former head. The lesson I take from this is that an "elite" education does not necessarily qualify people to determine what public education should include.
I love Lincoln's quote Professor - 'a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall long endure."
After watching "The Apprentice" movie last night we are reminded of what a terrible influence Roy Cohn was on Trump. If Trump had written that speech - "of the Trump, by the Trump and for the Trump."
Thank God it's almost all over but the counting. Anyone else not sleeping?
Xanax is my new best friend, otherwise I wouldn’t be sleeping at all.
My like button has long since ceased to function…this is a beautifully crafted emotionally charged true comment 🐈⬛
Alito, Thomas, and Roberts should be impeached for corruption.
As someone who lives in a blue bubble, I am encouraged to hear Heather's evaluation of the people she has met in her travels and to take some cautious optimism from it. Let us hope that her analysis proves true, and that we, the people, win in this election. And then let us hope that our goals continue to unite us so that, as Harris urges us, we can turn the page and move forward together.
I was exhibiting at an art fair yesterday in Minneapolis. I generally don’t talk politics in my booth but just couldn’t help myself yesterday, asking whether people had voted yet and if not, did they have a plan to do so. As I would have hoped, lots had already voted, some were wearing the “gear” as in t-shirts, pearls, chucks, and camouflage hats and happy to chat, and of those that hadn’t voted yet, only one person said she just wasn’t ready to decide. I asked if she needed to see a sample ballot - probably shouldn’t have done that as she walked away….
My booth neighbor, an artist that I don’t know very well, suggested during a slow time, that talking politics in an art booth is bad for business and that I should stop. Kinda made me chuckle because that is actually wise advice.
But I honestly just can’t help it. The most important election in my lifetime is at hand. If I can’t canvas in my booth at an art fair in one of the bluest voting districts in the country, where the hell can I? Did I lose sales? Do I care?
I have one more official canvassing shift tomorrow. Hoping to work off the anxiety a little more….
You go, Sheila !! During Neighbor2Neighbor canvas on Sat. in my MAGA Fl county, a voter mentioned she had noticed our numerous Harris/Walz signs…and then told me Walz’s press secretary was her cousin. A retired lawyer in my yoga class this week noticed my Vote Kamala bracelets. She told me when Walz’s candidacy was announced, she called her best friend from law school…born,raised and still living in Minnesota.Her friend told her Walz was her cousin. Apparently he has lots of cousins !!!
We’ve got this !!! See you on the other side….💙
Thank you for the reminder, I need to dust off my pearls and find a blue dress for tomorrow.
For the anxiety, I feel you there. I have an appointment tomorrow and almost wish they wouldn't take my blood pressure because I bet it's much higher than it ought to be!
I wish you good rest and enduring strength - we are going to need it for the shenanigans no doubt coming, but in the end, we will walk from this darkness to a place much brighter.
Thank you for being brave enough to bring up The Vote at your art fair - it's never easy to do in public, even if you're fairly sure of your reception.
Love the idea of wearing pearls. I am going to borrow your idea, wear the pearls for good luck. and solidarity. And Wednesday, I will put on my Madame President T-shirt with Harris's portrait that I got at the Waldo County (ME) Dem's office and wear it with JOY.
TJB, I have a blood pressure and cholesterol check this Thursday. Makes me chuckle - I have eaten better than ever recently and get plenty of exercise but I’m not certain any of that will help. So I will put on the pearls and chucks and at least be stylish no matter the outcome, lol.
Bless you.