#//runs with a ballot full of toilet paper

[miutonium]

Ah yes, my annual "showing my face once per year so people know that I am a human and not a cat running this account" post. My finger is purple stained because this was taken after I fingered Thanos' ass thank you for your concern now I will kiss Utonium's flat face 100 times mwa mwa

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 236-238

November 2-4  Well, it's been a hell of a few days but I have to write the journal entry sometime, I suppose. Monday night I went to bed super early and last night I was exhausted and heartsore, and today I've got a nervous stomachache that just won't quit, but if I'm journaling this year, this is going to be a pretty important inflection point.  Monday was a day where not a lot happened, or not a lot I can remember at this point anyway. I made my butternut squash soup in the evening so I could take it to the precinct in the morning and put myself to bed at 10pm, several hours earlier than normal because I had to wake up at four. I didn't sleep great, but I used the Boring Books for Bedtime podcast to get me to sleep and I was able to get some rest. I also laid out my clothes ahead of time so I wouldn't have to wake my husband up at that hour just so I could get dressed.  Tuesday morning I woke up, showered, dressed and packed up my bag for the precinct, all in less than an hour. I wound up cutting it a little close at the end, so when I got to the car and realized I'd forgotten my piping hot travel mug of pumpkin spice coffee with pumpkin spice creamer, I reluctantly went on without it. There was coffee from a machine at the precinct, but it definitely was not as good. But I did arrive on time, so that was good. There is a lot to do in the hour between 5am and 6am when the polls open. 

My position this election was procedural specialist, which basically meant that whenever a situation cropped up that required a procedure, I was the one who went and did it. This was things like "voter with absentee ballot wants to trade it in for a regular ballot," "voter with absentee ballot does not have their ballot and will have to vote provisionally," "voter is not on the pollbook and is not 100% sure whether they are registered, but wants to vote provisionally just in case they are," "something about voter has changed, usually married name or address, and they need to fill out a new voter registration form while they are voting" and "voter has no ID/ voter wants to give us a hard time about ID and needs to fill out the confirmation of identity form before voting." There's a lot of stuff to remember, and I crammed pretty hard in the days before the election, as well as stuffing my manual with post-it flags for important topics. 

During a busy election, being a procedural specialist could be pretty daunting, even overwhelming. Every unusual voter has to be handled carefully, to give their vote the best possible chance of being counted. Lucky for me, our precinct had very heavy early-voting representation. Out of 2200 registered voters, more than 1300 had voted early in person or gotten absentee ballots in the mail. We only had 398 voters all day long, which is primary-light turnout. It was a little funny because we'd staffed for a contentious and complex presidential election and had nearly double the usual staff load for an election, and all of us sat around almost all day. I wound up with only six provisional votes all day, plus four ID forms, four or five voter registration updates, and three absentee-for-regular ballot switches. Unfortunately situations seemed to crop up everytime I went to the bathroom for awhile in the morning, but I had a lot of downtime.  We did have some extra staff positions that needed filled, so it was good we had some extra people. There was an outside team of four people, keeping an eye out for any trouble, handling curbside voting, and directing people to the correct door for voting or vote dropoff. We had one position for "drop box guard" because every precinct in Virginia was also an authorized drop-off location for absentee ballots on Election Day. The election board was quite concerned about the possibility that somebody might abscond with a whole damn ballot box, even though it's the size of a school-age child, so somebody had to sit next to it all day long despite the fact that we only got three dropoff ballots. And of course there were the sanitizers, people whose job was to follow every voter leaving a station and sanitize that station with disinfectant before the next voter arrived. Other than that, though, we had a lot of extra people and mainly used the day as an opportunity to train the newbies. I spent four hours in the afternoon not even working the pollbook, but watching other people work the pollbook to make sure nobody made any mistakes. It was incredibly boring.  The last hour of the night, after the polls close, is even busier than the first hour of the morning. Everybody really wants to go home, and of course the registrar is chomping at the bit to get the vote totals, but everything has to be done exactly right or we all get in trouble. In Virginia, there are a dozen boxes and envelopes that need to be filled, accounted for, sealed and returned to the office at the end of the night. Each envelope needs specific paperwork, and each paper requires the right signatures. The actual used paper ballots go in their own box, marked on the top, sealed with tape, and then further sealed with three security labels signed by every officer of election. Normally with 12 officials this is not a big deal, but getting 22 names onto those labels this time was an exercise in writing very small. We were in good shape at the end of the night because we'd had no discrepancies and only one incident all day (Laptop 3 crapped out around 3pm, leaving us with two pollbooks for the rest of the day but it didn't matter because turnout was so light that we never had any lines), but it was still a lot of work.  My particular job was to shepherd the provisional ballots and the provisional ballot log and make sure they got where they needed to go. I had to have a second officer of the opposing political party ("Hey, I need a Republican who isn't doing anything!") count the six ballots with me, affirm that there were six ballots on the voting log, and then sign and seal them into their envelope. After that I helped get documents into the correct envelopes and make sure that everything got sealed according to the extremely arcane rules. It was honestly the most exciting and fast paced part of the entire day, and we broke down and packed up the entire precinct in only ninety minutes.  I went home exhausted to watch results, and of course it wasn't what we'd been hoping for. I can't believe so very many people are still totally ready for more of Trump's bullshit and incompetence. It honestly boggles my mind how such a hateful man gets so many otherwise reasonable people to vote for him. Even though I understood in principle the idea of a red mirage with early ballots being counted late, I was heartsick when I went to sleep and despite being exhausted, I slept very poorly.  This morning the news was better, though not great. A close race means litigation, and of course Trump claimed victory overnight despite huge numbers of uncounted ballots. He is human garbage. Our Democratic congresswoman held her seat, and her opponent made a gracious concession speech that was actually eloquent and nice. It's bizarre how quickly something like that becomes an oddity. But most of the mail-in ballots were for Democrats, as predicted, and the outcome is better, though still far from certain. After all these failures of prediction, I'm afraid to believe in anything at this point. But maybe tonight I will at least get some sleep.  Despite everything, life went on today. The kiddo had a day off for teacher workday because it's the end of the first quarter already. Jesus. I cleaned up the kitten room enough that my husband can now use it as the office it actually is supposed to be, so he worked in there today and I got my bedroom back. That was a high point of the day, definitely. I got my period, so that sucked, but at least I could lay in bed for awhile and not be on camera for a bunch of college students. In the morning I drove down and transported a cat to the recovery room for spaying tomorrow, which closed up another TNR site. We're picking away at our list, slow but sure, but it just keeps getting longer. There are  so many cats!  Later in the day, I noted that the kiddo had been using a lot of screen time and we had a discussion about whether he'd done the chores to actually earn those points. He cleaned out the dishwasher and went to clean his bathroom, and I was just about to start dinner when I heard the terrifying dual noises of running water and "MOM! THE TOILET IS FLOODING!" And it sure was, with gusto! I ripped the tank lid off and grabbed the float to stop the water running, and made the guys grab every towel in the house to get water off the floor before we gave the downstairs neighbors a bath. The flood lasted only about 30 seconds, but it put quite a bit of water on the floor. I was able to get the flapper back in place and determine nothing in the tank was actually broken, the flapper had just gotten stuck when the overflow began and it had cascaded from there.   But what had caused the backup? There was no waste in the water, one small blessing, just lots and lots of disintegrating toilet paper bits. The kiddo admitted that he'd had an inspiration while cleaning the toilet. There was a lot of gunk under the rim, he had explained, and he thought that if he could get the water high enough in the bowl, it would wash away the gunk with no need to scrub. So he'd taken a bunch of toilet paper and shoved it in the toilet to block it up, gotten the bowl nice and full, and then immediately realized he'd created a situation he couldn't stop. (He seemed to have been planning to use the plunger to remove the blockage, not realizing quite how much toilet paper he was using.) He was extremely contrite about the whole thing and promised to run future brilliant cleaning ideas past a parent for review. The clog proved highly resistant to plunging, and after an hour I was almost ready to throw in the towel and call maintenance to snake the damn thing. As a last ditch effort, I completely emptied the bowl, then filled it with a bucket of the hottest water I could coax from the bathtub, and used that to plunge. It worked, and the toilet finally flushed. Whew.  And then I had to make supper! I put together a nice meatloaf and preheated the oven, only for smoke to come pouring out of the damn thing. See, yesterday while I was working the polls, my husband cooked something, chili I think, in the oven, and realized that the pot he was using was much too full. He put a pan under it, but apparently the pot was much-much too full, because it overran that and the pan and got all over the oven and set off the smoke alarm. He'd wiped out the oven, but I think he missed the broiler and that's why it smoked right up again. At this point I just sighed and started looking for microwave meatloaf recipes. I did find one, and though it was not as good as oven meatloaf, it was edible, and I was really very done with household tasks for the day.  Now it is getting late and I'm beat, but the nerves won't go away. It is so hard to be in the same position as four years ago, disappointed in your country, terrified to hope for anything, but clinging to the possibility that things will be okay. It hurt so badly before, even worse than now I think, because it was so shocking. I guess it's like the first time your home gets ruined by a flood versus the second time, both times your house is ruined, but the second time at least you weren't surprised that something like this could happen. I wish I knew how to get off this flood plain. On the other hand, my Tumblr post of kittens has really taken off and has over a thousand notes. Apparently I was not the only one in need of high-octane cuteness to give my brain a few seconds of peace and happiness. I'm going to try and get some sleep now, here's hoping for better dreams and better tomorrow. Please, please, please. 

[keywestlou]

MORNING STEW #46

Good morning!

There is no consistency to today’s topics. Which means it’s a Morning Stew day!

Heard from my Seattle friend Cathy again. Washington is in lock down. Supermarket shelves running bare.

Cathy went to another supermarket yesterday. Shelves not full, however better than the previous one. Notably not in stock toilet paper. Not one package left.

I recall earlier in the year when coroanvirus hit Key West with some significance and some stores were without certain items. The #1 item missing from the shelves was toilet paper.

I don’t understand what the relationship between the virus and toilet paper is. I understand the need and value of the product. Not to be without! However there are other items that would seem to be equal to or more in need.

Trump has done an excellent job in combating the coronavirus. Consider the number dead, the increasing numbers each day, etc. Donald can take credit for bringing two of the Four Horsemen upon us. Death and plague.

Trump’s interest in the virus significant. In 5 months, he has not attended one Coronavirus Task Force meeting.

Cable news carried an interesting item last night. We know Trump tweets. Has to be in the thousands.

It was announced that Trump has his tweets printed. For his review and whatever further use.

No question the man is an egomaniac. Only such a person would have his tweets printed.

Could Trump’s printed tweets ultimately be used against Trump as the tapes were against Nixon?

Lindsay Graham is a strange duck.

He has been a Senator for 17 years. Too long! Too long for him and all other Congressional persons who make a career out of governing. Graham is a walking example of the need for terms limits.

He screwed up yesterday. The South Carolina Senator got his nose in Georgia politics.

One observation before proceeding further. Lindsay was once the close friend of John McCain. McCain died and Lindsay became the close friend of the President. Some kind of inconsistency there!

There was a telephone call involving Lindsay and Georgia election officials. A conference call. Several on the line.

Georgia undergoing a Presidential recount. Trump has no way of winning. He is 14,000 votes behind Biden.

Lindsay stepped over the line when he asked if there was some way of tossing some of the ballots. Ballots that favored Biden. Lindsay was looking for a way to legally dispose of a number of Biden’s ballots.

None of Lindsay’s business! The inquiry has the tinge of wrongdoing. Corruption.

There are others on the line who can corroborate Lindsay’s inquiry. One already has.

We learned at the end of last week that Trump had retained Giuliani to head his legal teal re the election.

Understandable. Trump’s win/loss record in election court cases 1-24. Trump a definite loser in the courtroom.

His cross country attorneys seem to be withdrawing in mass. Ergo, Trump brought his friend Giuliani into the fold as his new head election attorney.

Two observations.

Giuliani announced he was being paid $20,000 a day. Excellent money! I know of no attorney who has ever been paid that much. Even the top guys in Washington and New York.

Giuliani is not worth that kind of money. His days as a court room lawyer are behind him. He seems to be inept in recent years every time he gets involved with a legal issue.

Trump later disputed the amount. Giuliani apparently had a talk with Trump. Giuliani reported his fee would be determined at the end of the case.

Doubt Giuliani will be paid $20,000 a day or any money for that matter. Trump’s reputation for paying his lawyers is well known. He does not.

Another observation involves Giuliani’s appearance in a Philadelphia court room this week. The judge handed him his head.

Giuliani got up to address the court. His words were to the effect that the case was one involving national fraud.

The judge inquired of Giuliani regarding the factual proof and whether there was any fraud at all. Giuliani finally agreed with the judge there was none.

Go Giuliani!

On this day in 1626, St. Peter’s Basilica was consecrated. Then and now it is the world’s largest Christian Church.

Its size enormous. I have visited several times.

One way to appreciate St. Peter’s size is to recognize that St. Patrick’s in New York City would easily fit into St. Peter’s with tons of room left over.

Street flooding is common place in Key West. Heavy rains, ocean surfaced land, and an inadequate drainage system means flooding on occasion. Some times intersections deep enough to swim in.

It has always been so.

I came across a couple of observations re Key West flooding. Don’t recall which storm. Do recall it was at least 20 years ago.

Comments made by observers at the time.

“My German Shepard had to swim on his walk.”

“The water was above the urinals at the Monster. But we kept partying.”

“Sloppy Joe’s stayed open. People rowed boats to get there.”

Key West’s coronavirus numbers continue to go up. We have the largest numbers in the Keys. No other Keys community near us.

There are generally two sides to a story. So it is in Key West. Pitted against each other are bar, restaurant owners and their employees. Some other business operations. As well as the Chamber of Commerce and City Commission. The politicians seem to always capitulate to the bars, restaurants, and Chamber of Commerce.

On the other side, locals. People who reside in Key West all year long. The locals continue to take a beating. Key Westers continue getting the virus. Fortunately, no deaths yet. Key West’s positivity rate is 16.9 percent.

Simply stated, the problem is the virus is driven down to Key West from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and other parts north. They party and leave the coronavirus behind.

The Citizens’ Voice seems to carry more and more complaints by locals. Almost every day now.

Today’s comments as follows.

“Stop the tourists. Put the roadblock back up.”

“I walked Duval last night to see how the business owners who promised the Commission they would help with safety instead of a curfew were doing. Not a mask in sight. Bars packed to the gills. Mask-free restaurant staffs.”

“As a service industry worker, please bring back the city-wide mask mandate. It would ease some of the anxiety about these plague tourists who seem to have very little regard for our local health.”

“I’m appalled at some in our business community who would rather cater to tourists that don’t care about their fellow human beings and would pack their places with little to no distancing or masks than do the right thing. Locals will remember.”

“Does this make any sense? When disease threatened the Key deer population we set up an animal screening road block. Now disease threatens our human population and we say ‘come on down.'”

Enjoy your day!

        MORNING STEW #46 was originally published on Key West Lou

[progressiveparty]

Not Him, Them

Bernie Sanders will never be president. He won’t be Joe Biden’s pick for vice president. He’s not joining the Cabinet. He’s run his last race — he’ll be 82 when his current Senate term is up in 2024, and people close to him feel sure that will be it for him. Getty Images Who will be on the ballot in 2024, trying to continue the movement he sparked? Who will take Sanders’s place in progressives’ hearts and on their T-shirts? Who could connect as viscerally, as widely, with such a force of personality? Look at the people who supported Sanders’s campaign. Could anyone else in American politics have been embraced by Evo Morales and Jack Nicholson; Jesse Jackson and the 37-year-old mayor of Jackson, Mississippi; hipster progressives and blue-collar workers; Ben & Jerry and Cardi B? Progressive Party - Home of the Progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (note: endorsed), the New York congresswoman and political sensation, gets named the most. Other members of “the squad”—Representatives Ilhan Omar (note: endorsed), Rashida Tlaib (note: endorsed), and Ayanna Pressley (note: endorsed) —also come up, as do more establishment-adjacent figures like Pramila Jayapal (note: endorsed) and Mark Pocan, the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. RoseAnn DeMoro, the former nurses’ union head and one of Sanders’s longest-term and most loyal supporters, told me that she considers California Governor Gavin Newsom, a lifelong elected official, to be Sanders’s heir apparent: “They won’t be able to portray Gavin as an outsider in the way they try to do other progressives.” Other people have mentioned Stacey Abrams, the losing candidate in Georgia’s most recent gubernatorial race. Yesterday afternoon, once Sanders made his exit official, I texted Larry Cohen, Sanders’s friend and the president of the political group the senator founded, Our Revolution, to ask whom he saw as the next leader of the movement. “Too hard!” Cohen wrote back. He said he’s optimistic about grassroots groups mobilizing to advance Sanders’s agenda. But isn’t the lack of a clear successor a problem? His response: “Not yet.” This is an odd moment for Sanders-style progressivism. Without the coronavirus pandemic, the past month would have been politically humiliating for the senator. For all the boasting that he did in his exit speech about how many people agreed with him on the issues, he didn’t get the votes. His theory of the race, and of Democratic primary voters, was wrong. He managed to do worse in this campaign, which he came into as a front-runner with huge support and name recognition, than he did as a much lesser-known candidate in 2016. He spent significantly more money than Biden, who’s now the presumptive Democratic nominee. In fact, he spent more money losing the presidential nomination than anyone in history other than Michael Bloomberg. But you don’t have to be out of a job, or be trying to homeschool your kids, or be thanking minimum-wage workers in face masks for driving the trucks and stocking the grocery shelves while billionaires hole up at their beach compounds with maid service, to know that the world is going to be different now. It is already. Nationalized health care, a Green New Deal, and student-loan forgiveness used to be as hard to imagine happening as the stockpiling of toilet paper. Congress recently passed the biggest relief package in history, and it’s clearly going to do more, soon. Unemployment is headed toward Great Depression levels. Ideas that the supposedly smartest people in Washington, in both major parties, wrote off as too expensive or impractical are getting pulled into the mainstream. (“When we talk about essential people, we’re not talking about hedge-fund managers,” Sanders put it in an interview with the late-night host Stephen Colbert yesterday evening.) This Piece Originally Appeared in www.theatlantic.com Read the full article