Robert, Thank you for your sanity and positivity during these trying years.
I have been working the Democratic greeting tables for early voting in Sarasota, Fl. We have had a number of Republican voters come up to us to say they voted for Kamala. My point is even though X number of Republicans voted it doesn't mean they all voted for tRump. I have hope.
Truly loved the nano-Scaramucci bit! Robert, you do such a wonderful job, I'm sure all your readers forgive these small errors, even those of us from flyover country who may feel a little raw that people can't tell the difference between our various mostly rectangular states.
Robert's point taken, and I loved the nano-Scaramucci bit as well. I stumbled over the error, and thought to offer a correction, but figured I'd be too late (I'm on the east coast, so I'm in mega-Scaramucci territory).
Considering the volume of info Robert processes for us, his error rate is incredibly low, and his judgment and advice is virtually unassailable. So, for me, no forgiveness is necessary; rather, I offer my sincere appreciation.
p.s. I missed the comet. I'll have to catch it next time.
I would agree that Robert's error rate is incredibly low, and I second the rest of what you've said about what he does for us.
I also missed the comet, but Robert gave us a great photo of Comet T.-Atlas. I did see what was, and will probably remain the best comet of my lifetime--Comet Bennett, in March 1970. It was magnitude zero. My recollection was that the head was around a third the size of the moon, and the tail was at least 15 moon diameters long, maybe 20. I'd gotten dressed at 3AM to drive on my nearly new license, to a good vantage point. I opened the front door, and there it was, splashed across the sky. I got up a second time a day or two later, and saw it again, and that was probably when I woke up my father to see it.
I'd be surprised if there's another comet that good while I'm still dwelling on this Earth.
MA is Massachusetts. IA is Iowa. IL is Illinois. IN is Indiana.
MT is Montana. MT can stand for all the mountains, or it can stand for Montana's being a relatively MT state when it comes to development.
Maine is ME, but people in Maine are not selfish. Stephen King is definitely not selfish.
Robert McCloskey was also not selfish (the noted author of some terrific children's books, including One Morning in Maine, which has absolutely fabulous pictures that McCloskey drew, where something is always moving, and something is off balance.)
I think the state is Confusion, abbreviated "CN," so as not to be confused with Colorado. It's a state totally owned by trump, and it has one way in and apparently no way out, at least until some time between November 5 and January 20.
I know where all the states are located. That's because by the time I'd been 8 for two months, I'd been on three x-country car trips. Those trips made me care about American geography. Arkansas, South of Missouri, north of Louisiana, east of Oklahoma and a little bit of Texas, and west of Mississippi and Tennessee.
I'm not sure whether the proper abbreviation is AR, or ARK. Well, my computer is telling me it's ARK. I'm still not certain.
One candidate works to reclaim the ground desecrated by the former president, while said former president tries to reclaim the venue defiled by American nazis.
Sorry about your Dodgers last night, but sweeping the mighty Yankees was never a likely prospect. Speaking of sweeping, Kamala Harris is on the cusp of sweeping Donald Trump into the dustbin of history where he so clearly belongs. The contrast between his hate filled racist and misogynistic rally in Madison Square Garden and her address rendered presidential by a beautifully lit White House behind her was stunning. With our hard work over this week, we will soon be able to address her as Madam President and move together into a brighter day unmarred by Trump’s dark and dystopian vision of America. Thanks as always for your invaluable help in keeping us hopeful and focused. I am knocking on doors for Kamala and Tim in Gettysburg over the weekend. Let’s sprint through the tape!
I’m so hopeful for a Kamala victory, but I don’t think that the dystopian vision of many Americans will abate for many years to come because the next generation of MAGAts, such as Vance and trump sons, will continue to espouse their beliefs.
We will need to remain involved and diligent for decades.
Yes. No more complacent sitting on the sidelines. It was a big wake-up call for me. Being a citizen now is reminding me of driving a car: it needs constant attention and correction.
The Trump off spring ride his coattails. They have zero curb appeal, and they know it. They will fade into the ether with him. It's the JDV's of the world that we will need to keep beating back unless the republicans take a long hard look at their house.
Karen, I think that they'll win tonight! But, your guru could be correct that they're waiting for a return to LA!⚾️⚾️⚾️ Not really a Dodgers fan. A baseball fan and Freddie Freeman fan.
I did another shift of poll observing yesterday. It was relatively quiet -- except for the number of first time voters! (The poll workers always call out "First time voter" and everybody claps and cheers! This polling place had 6 check-in stations and at one point we had first time voters at 4 of them at the same time - all Gen Z! So I suspect a group of friends that went out to vote together 😊!
At the end of the shift, they total up how many registration forms, mail in ballots, etc. that were collected that day. There were 25 (!!) same-day registrations at a not-so-busy polling place (they processed less that 800 votes yesterday).
It finally dawned on me - yesterday had been designated as Vote Early Day (https://voteearlyday.org/). At least at this particular polling place it worked!
That is assuming that pollsters even care about accurate polling... there is little evidence to suggest that they do. They are largely partisan and we should be totally ignoring them.
another significant factor as to why the polls and their baselines and mapping or whatever the terms are, are OFF! We can not believe the polls. Let's just keep working.
I didn't bother to worry about the mis-naming of the state. Anything I can do to flip the Senate & discompose ol' Turtleface was worth doing as soon as could be....so I checked my bank balance, decided I was good for one more donation and sent it off. I so hope we flip the House AND keep the Senate (hopefully with a slighter larger margin than before...?) AND elect our first Madame President!!! Cheers to Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and yes, most especially cheers to President Biden who has done an amazing job these past four years! He has made THIS moment possible and for that we are all forever grateful.
Thank you for including President Biden in your comment. I hear echoes of Joe Biden’s words in many of Vice President Harris’s strong speeches. I love that fact and it strengthens my resolve to stay engaged for the rest of my days.
Speaking for myself, these last 4 years have taught me ways I can do my part. I say, “4 years,” because the 4 years prior I was in such a state of despair that it was only the election of Biden/Harris and the love of my very good dog that kept me from toppling.
But what I really want to say is that, yes, the grass roots secret superpower has been and continues to be astonishing to say the least. What we’ve also done is build “muscle memory” and now know so many ways to do the everyday work of preserving and strengthening our democracy. One Zoom at a time. One postcard at a time. One donation. One phone bank. One vote. One cured ballot. Certainly one magnificent essay from a treasured and trusted Substack writer at a time.
I completely tuned out from 2016-2020. I could not bear to pay the slightest attention to anything going on with the nation. I still cannot bear to see Agent Orange's face or hear his voice. I put my computer on mute and my hand in front of the screen while he's performing. But that was a mistake. True, I don't need to watch him or listen to him (I can read whatever I need to). But I do need to be involved. Even if it's focused at the local level, on writing scathing letters to mealy-mouthed journalists, or working virtually on issues, I will stay involved. For example, we need to eliminate the electoral college and impeach several justices on the supreme court. Each effort may take ten years. Getting corporate (=dirty) money out of campaigns...Robert gives the list in the newsletter above, and it's not all something the president can do. We citizens need to do it. No more sitting back and saying "they" should do something about it. They is us.
Amen and exactly! I think we each did what we had to do to preserve our own selves during those years, so I don’t think your choice was a “mistake.” I’m grateful that there are so many of us, each with our own gifts and talents, and that there were plenty of folks who had the vision and vigor (JFK word!) to bring into being substack letters, VoPro Pros, Indivisible, Markers for Change, Red Wine and Blue, Swing Left, … omg there are so many I’m fretting because I can’t name them all. I’m at a life stage when I just need to be plugged in to a place/team where I can do what I’m good at. My time of dreaming and scheming came as a middle school language arts teacher. What a time 🎉!
I agree that Biden can also be credited with "reclaim[ing] the White House as the “people’s house.” We will reclaim the Oval Office and the Resolute Desk as the seat of the leader of the free world. We will reclaim the presidency as an office of trust charged to “take care that the laws are faithfully executed.” He has been an honorable and incredibly effective president, and if the media hadn't been such faithless, self-serving, feckless troglodytes, he would be widely be perceived as doing such. I am incredibly excited about a Harris presidency but Biden totally made this moment possible. I, along with you, will be forever grateful to him.
The only reason we are not talking more about Biden's wonderful and astonishing job of turning this country around and restoring it to its zenith, is that in the alternative reality that tens of millions of Americans are living in at the moment, that praise and acknowledgment would backfire and make our chances of reclaiming the country worse. History will validate him. I read Heather Cox Richardson the other day on how FDR snatched a faltering America from the jaws of willfully ignorant Republican corporation-worshipers and led it forward to the grandeur and world-wide leadership it achieved in the 20th century. In four short years, Pres. Biden has already done the same, and Pres. Harris will take it forward and improve it more, using everything he has so brilliantly taught her about running the US and adding her own magic. May Mr Biden have the most fun, long, and purely enjoyable retirement that anyone has ever had!
Yes! I think Biden served us well as a transitional leader and thank him for stepping aside, no matter how hard it must have been. He has paved the way for new leadership up and down the ballot.
John D. Cooper, I believe you understate Pres. Biden. He has been more than just a transitional leader. He has assembled quiet teams of effective experts and directed them with vision and brilliance about how to put back the pieces of a shattered post-Trump America. And he accomplished that. Except for factors beyond his control like a rogue and corrupt Supreme Court and the do-nothing, 100% obstructionist 118th Congress that we American voters saddled him with. Not to mention the fat-cat complacent incumbent Democratic senators like Durbin and Schumer who are pretty completely do-nothing themselves.
Adding to your comment: he was doing all this while a self-appointed shadow "government" was operating down in Mar a Lago, undermining his efforts and communicating directly with enemies of this country. That's like steering a ship into headwinds with powerful undercurrents, trying to stay on course, not upset those on board in order to safely reach the destination.
As a South Carolina poll worker, I really need Robert’s daily uplifting message. We put in 10+-hour days for two weeks and are encountering a record number of voters; many people my age (66) voting for the first time. I know I live in a red, red gerrymandered district, but the ignorance and rudeness displayed by some is simply beyond. Thank you, Robert, for showing me it’s not like this everywhere. Vote blue, y’all up and down. Bring back the joy.
Thank you for continuing to do the hard hard work of doing the right thing in the face of such “ignorance and rudeness.” Right now, you are on the frontlines and I hope that you have ways to protect yourself (body and spirit) and then recover from this disgraceful assault. 💙
Sorry that there have been obnoxious people during your poll working shifts. The first day of early voting in Wilmington, NC was quiet and uneventful. It was a beautiful, pleasant sunny day. I waited about an hour and a half to vote. I had a lovely conversation with the lady ahead of me in line. I have waited in line to vote before, but I figured it was a pleasant day, I’d just wait my turn.
Just want to thank you, Robert, for providing the link to VP Harris' Closing Argument at the Ellipse. For some reason, I was not able to find it on my own. I also listened and was heartened by some of the speeches of the "ordinary Americans" who spoke in the run-up to Kamala's speech. Thanks, again!
I've seen reports that the crowd size was estimated at 75,000!
Kamala Harris gave a great closing argument and looked voters in the eye something the other guy never does. The real number of people in attendance were really at a love feast and it’s a shame we could not do a side by side comparison of the two speeches. As I was listening to the speech I was thinking if the speech registered or was even listened to not by people like me but the family with both parents working just getting by or the single mother with two kids or the widows living on only social security. All of these folks would be hurt badly if Trump is elected president yet they are a majority of his base. Harris looked confident and in charge and hopefully many folks who have not voted watched and said we need to move forward. We can’t go back.
Good news story! Yesterday I was on a shift with the NV Dems Voter Protection hotline. A gentleman called to say that he was a NV resident but was working out of state through the rest of the year. He said he was not planning on voting, but he was so angry at the comments about Puerto Ricans that he wanted to vote. His ballot had been sent to a different address and he said that if he couldn't get it in time, he was going to fly to Las Vegas from San Diego just to vote!
Lovely news from Texas. My morning walk yesterday was blessed with FIVE new Harris/Walz yard signs!!!! Talk about “surging”!!! That makes the current Arlington neighborhood total 9 for Harris, 2 for Trump. Go team!!! We may not win, but we seem to be turning the nose of the ship toward safe harbor.
Breathtaking comet photo! Quite far from us at 137 million miles, puts into perspective a "nano-Scaramucci" and whatever other errors we may commit, grammatical or geographical or otherwise. A question one should ask for perspective is whether the error will matter in a day, a week, or a year, and then move forward. We have done what we can, given when we can, and while the work may never end, we can take some pride in having made our best effort, and that's all anyone can ask. You have been our inspiration and a source of mental support.
Thank you for being here with us, for this space, this community, that you have created. We're all in this together, to borrow Joyce's closing phrase.
Love the link to early voting by state, very up to date and interesting by categories. One correction I want to make to news stories is on the topic of the vandalism of drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Only 3 ballots were destroyed in Portland, with voters readily identified. Security has been strengthened as a result. More significantly, hundreds of ballots were destroyed at the Vancouver location, where there is a tightly contested Congressional seat.
The best thing about Kamala Harris' speech last night was the total lack of Confederate Flags and Swastikas, as well as planned military style clothing. I did wonder if folks were not allowed to bring in homemade signs supporting the Vice President and Tim Walz, but the little American flags brought back a simpler time when the biggest flags weren't needed to show one's patriotism and support. Patriotism isn't at the end of a pole, it's in the heart and mind.
"There are credible reports that the decision by the Republican National Committee—controlled by the Trump family— to “outsource” most of the work traditionally done by volunteers and paid campaign staffers has resulted in chaos."-----------A look forward to our future government if Trump is elected.
Robert, Thank you for your sanity and positivity during these trying years.
I have been working the Democratic greeting tables for early voting in Sarasota, Fl. We have had a number of Republican voters come up to us to say they voted for Kamala. My point is even though X number of Republicans voted it doesn't mean they all voted for tRump. I have hope.
Truly loved the nano-Scaramucci bit! Robert, you do such a wonderful job, I'm sure all your readers forgive these small errors, even those of us from flyover country who may feel a little raw that people can't tell the difference between our various mostly rectangular states.
Robert's point taken, and I loved the nano-Scaramucci bit as well. I stumbled over the error, and thought to offer a correction, but figured I'd be too late (I'm on the east coast, so I'm in mega-Scaramucci territory).
Considering the volume of info Robert processes for us, his error rate is incredibly low, and his judgment and advice is virtually unassailable. So, for me, no forgiveness is necessary; rather, I offer my sincere appreciation.
p.s. I missed the comet. I'll have to catch it next time.
I would agree that Robert's error rate is incredibly low, and I second the rest of what you've said about what he does for us.
I also missed the comet, but Robert gave us a great photo of Comet T.-Atlas. I did see what was, and will probably remain the best comet of my lifetime--Comet Bennett, in March 1970. It was magnitude zero. My recollection was that the head was around a third the size of the moon, and the tail was at least 15 moon diameters long, maybe 20. I'd gotten dressed at 3AM to drive on my nearly new license, to a good vantage point. I opened the front door, and there it was, splashed across the sky. I got up a second time a day or two later, and saw it again, and that was probably when I woke up my father to see it.
I'd be surprised if there's another comet that good while I'm still dwelling on this Earth.
Stick around, Bob!
Thanks, Mim!
LOL Me, too!
Let me share that many people use an incorrect state abbreviation for Arkansas let alone know where it’s located.
I also find there is a lot of confusion about the "I" states and the "M" states.
MA is Massachusetts. IA is Iowa. IL is Illinois. IN is Indiana.
MT is Montana. MT can stand for all the mountains, or it can stand for Montana's being a relatively MT state when it comes to development.
Maine is ME, but people in Maine are not selfish. Stephen King is definitely not selfish.
Robert McCloskey was also not selfish (the noted author of some terrific children's books, including One Morning in Maine, which has absolutely fabulous pictures that McCloskey drew, where something is always moving, and something is off balance.)
In O!-H! I!-O! it’s
*ichigan
Sorry wolverines 🤪
LOL. Is it a state or something?
BWAHAHAHA
I think the state is Confusion, abbreviated "CN," so as not to be confused with Colorado. It's a state totally owned by trump, and it has one way in and apparently no way out, at least until some time between November 5 and January 20.
I know where all the states are located. That's because by the time I'd been 8 for two months, I'd been on three x-country car trips. Those trips made me care about American geography. Arkansas, South of Missouri, north of Louisiana, east of Oklahoma and a little bit of Texas, and west of Mississippi and Tennessee.
I'm not sure whether the proper abbreviation is AR, or ARK. Well, my computer is telling me it's ARK. I'm still not certain.
Thanks Mr Hubbell! Great newsletter today for sure!
One candidate works to reclaim the ground desecrated by the former president, while said former president tries to reclaim the venue defiled by American nazis.
The choice could not be clearer.
I missed that comparison. Wish I had thought of it!
A perfect contrast, David.
Sorry about your Dodgers last night, but sweeping the mighty Yankees was never a likely prospect. Speaking of sweeping, Kamala Harris is on the cusp of sweeping Donald Trump into the dustbin of history where he so clearly belongs. The contrast between his hate filled racist and misogynistic rally in Madison Square Garden and her address rendered presidential by a beautifully lit White House behind her was stunning. With our hard work over this week, we will soon be able to address her as Madam President and move together into a brighter day unmarred by Trump’s dark and dystopian vision of America. Thanks as always for your invaluable help in keeping us hopeful and focused. I am knocking on doors for Kamala and Tim in Gettysburg over the weekend. Let’s sprint through the tape!
I’m so hopeful for a Kamala victory, but I don’t think that the dystopian vision of many Americans will abate for many years to come because the next generation of MAGAts, such as Vance and trump sons, will continue to espouse their beliefs.
We will need to remain involved and diligent for decades.
Yes. No more complacent sitting on the sidelines. It was a big wake-up call for me. Being a citizen now is reminding me of driving a car: it needs constant attention and correction.
The Trump off spring ride his coattails. They have zero curb appeal, and they know it. They will fade into the ether with him. It's the JDV's of the world that we will need to keep beating back unless the republicans take a long hard look at their house.
I am afraid you re right, Kathy. This will require a generation to wipe out, and if MAGA wins next week, we are in for more than that
My downstairs sports guru says the Dodgers are waiting to win at home, definitely did not make their best pitching effort last night,
Karen, I think that they'll win tonight! But, your guru could be correct that they're waiting for a return to LA!⚾️⚾️⚾️ Not really a Dodgers fan. A baseball fan and Freddie Freeman fan.
I did another shift of poll observing yesterday. It was relatively quiet -- except for the number of first time voters! (The poll workers always call out "First time voter" and everybody claps and cheers! This polling place had 6 check-in stations and at one point we had first time voters at 4 of them at the same time - all Gen Z! So I suspect a group of friends that went out to vote together 😊!
At the end of the shift, they total up how many registration forms, mail in ballots, etc. that were collected that day. There were 25 (!!) same-day registrations at a not-so-busy polling place (they processed less that 800 votes yesterday).
It finally dawned on me - yesterday had been designated as Vote Early Day (https://voteearlyday.org/). At least at this particular polling place it worked!
New voters are not easily tracked by pollsters.
That is assuming that pollsters even care about accurate polling... there is little evidence to suggest that they do. They are largely partisan and we should be totally ignoring them.
Amen! Especially the pollsters who The NY Times has pushed in our face just about every week or more on their front pages.
another significant factor as to why the polls and their baselines and mapping or whatever the terms are, are OFF! We can not believe the polls. Let's just keep working.
I didn't bother to worry about the mis-naming of the state. Anything I can do to flip the Senate & discompose ol' Turtleface was worth doing as soon as could be....so I checked my bank balance, decided I was good for one more donation and sent it off. I so hope we flip the House AND keep the Senate (hopefully with a slighter larger margin than before...?) AND elect our first Madame President!!! Cheers to Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and yes, most especially cheers to President Biden who has done an amazing job these past four years! He has made THIS moment possible and for that we are all forever grateful.
Thank you for including President Biden in your comment. I hear echoes of Joe Biden’s words in many of Vice President Harris’s strong speeches. I love that fact and it strengthens my resolve to stay engaged for the rest of my days.
Speaking for myself, these last 4 years have taught me ways I can do my part. I say, “4 years,” because the 4 years prior I was in such a state of despair that it was only the election of Biden/Harris and the love of my very good dog that kept me from toppling.
But what I really want to say is that, yes, the grass roots secret superpower has been and continues to be astonishing to say the least. What we’ve also done is build “muscle memory” and now know so many ways to do the everyday work of preserving and strengthening our democracy. One Zoom at a time. One postcard at a time. One donation. One phone bank. One vote. One cured ballot. Certainly one magnificent essay from a treasured and trusted Substack writer at a time.
I completely tuned out from 2016-2020. I could not bear to pay the slightest attention to anything going on with the nation. I still cannot bear to see Agent Orange's face or hear his voice. I put my computer on mute and my hand in front of the screen while he's performing. But that was a mistake. True, I don't need to watch him or listen to him (I can read whatever I need to). But I do need to be involved. Even if it's focused at the local level, on writing scathing letters to mealy-mouthed journalists, or working virtually on issues, I will stay involved. For example, we need to eliminate the electoral college and impeach several justices on the supreme court. Each effort may take ten years. Getting corporate (=dirty) money out of campaigns...Robert gives the list in the newsletter above, and it's not all something the president can do. We citizens need to do it. No more sitting back and saying "they" should do something about it. They is us.
Amen and exactly! I think we each did what we had to do to preserve our own selves during those years, so I don’t think your choice was a “mistake.” I’m grateful that there are so many of us, each with our own gifts and talents, and that there were plenty of folks who had the vision and vigor (JFK word!) to bring into being substack letters, VoPro Pros, Indivisible, Markers for Change, Red Wine and Blue, Swing Left, … omg there are so many I’m fretting because I can’t name them all. I’m at a life stage when I just need to be plugged in to a place/team where I can do what I’m good at. My time of dreaming and scheming came as a middle school language arts teacher. What a time 🎉!
And one reach out to someone who might have opted out. In my case, that someone pulled five other voters in with her. You never know!
you never know how many you are going to draw in
Blue wave November 5.
Send to your Republican friends and relatives,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy0zq8YzY9w
I don't watch Jimmy Kimmel, but my attention was drawn to this clip earlier, and it's a gem.
Thanks. I am blessed to only know one Republican couple and I passed it on to them – for whatever it's worth.
You betcha !!!! (to steal a phrase that Caribou Barbie made famous).
I agree that Biden can also be credited with "reclaim[ing] the White House as the “people’s house.” We will reclaim the Oval Office and the Resolute Desk as the seat of the leader of the free world. We will reclaim the presidency as an office of trust charged to “take care that the laws are faithfully executed.” He has been an honorable and incredibly effective president, and if the media hadn't been such faithless, self-serving, feckless troglodytes, he would be widely be perceived as doing such. I am incredibly excited about a Harris presidency but Biden totally made this moment possible. I, along with you, will be forever grateful to him.
The only reason we are not talking more about Biden's wonderful and astonishing job of turning this country around and restoring it to its zenith, is that in the alternative reality that tens of millions of Americans are living in at the moment, that praise and acknowledgment would backfire and make our chances of reclaiming the country worse. History will validate him. I read Heather Cox Richardson the other day on how FDR snatched a faltering America from the jaws of willfully ignorant Republican corporation-worshipers and led it forward to the grandeur and world-wide leadership it achieved in the 20th century. In four short years, Pres. Biden has already done the same, and Pres. Harris will take it forward and improve it more, using everything he has so brilliantly taught her about running the US and adding her own magic. May Mr Biden have the most fun, long, and purely enjoyable retirement that anyone has ever had!
Yes! I think Biden served us well as a transitional leader and thank him for stepping aside, no matter how hard it must have been. He has paved the way for new leadership up and down the ballot.
John D. Cooper, I believe you understate Pres. Biden. He has been more than just a transitional leader. He has assembled quiet teams of effective experts and directed them with vision and brilliance about how to put back the pieces of a shattered post-Trump America. And he accomplished that. Except for factors beyond his control like a rogue and corrupt Supreme Court and the do-nothing, 100% obstructionist 118th Congress that we American voters saddled him with. Not to mention the fat-cat complacent incumbent Democratic senators like Durbin and Schumer who are pretty completely do-nothing themselves.
Adding to your comment: he was doing all this while a self-appointed shadow "government" was operating down in Mar a Lago, undermining his efforts and communicating directly with enemies of this country. That's like steering a ship into headwinds with powerful undercurrents, trying to stay on course, not upset those on board in order to safely reach the destination.
Totally!
⭐️ Thank you.
Well said, Christina.
🏆
As a South Carolina poll worker, I really need Robert’s daily uplifting message. We put in 10+-hour days for two weeks and are encountering a record number of voters; many people my age (66) voting for the first time. I know I live in a red, red gerrymandered district, but the ignorance and rudeness displayed by some is simply beyond. Thank you, Robert, for showing me it’s not like this everywhere. Vote blue, y’all up and down. Bring back the joy.
Thank you for continuing to do the hard hard work of doing the right thing in the face of such “ignorance and rudeness.” Right now, you are on the frontlines and I hope that you have ways to protect yourself (body and spirit) and then recover from this disgraceful assault. 💙
Sorry that there have been obnoxious people during your poll working shifts. The first day of early voting in Wilmington, NC was quiet and uneventful. It was a beautiful, pleasant sunny day. I waited about an hour and a half to vote. I had a lovely conversation with the lady ahead of me in line. I have waited in line to vote before, but I figured it was a pleasant day, I’d just wait my turn.
Just want to thank you, Robert, for providing the link to VP Harris' Closing Argument at the Ellipse. For some reason, I was not able to find it on my own. I also listened and was heartened by some of the speeches of the "ordinary Americans" who spoke in the run-up to Kamala's speech. Thanks, again!
I've seen reports that the crowd size was estimated at 75,000!
Kamala Harris gave a great closing argument and looked voters in the eye something the other guy never does. The real number of people in attendance were really at a love feast and it’s a shame we could not do a side by side comparison of the two speeches. As I was listening to the speech I was thinking if the speech registered or was even listened to not by people like me but the family with both parents working just getting by or the single mother with two kids or the widows living on only social security. All of these folks would be hurt badly if Trump is elected president yet they are a majority of his base. Harris looked confident and in charge and hopefully many folks who have not voted watched and said we need to move forward. We can’t go back.
Dear Robert...
The Comet is fabulous!
Your mistakes are few.
Your sense of humor valuable.
Your contribution to our mental stability invaluable.
Your meeting of original members conflicts with the 5th game, as I am sure you know... and I am certain you have already figured out a solution.
I salute you with gratitude.
You deserve a day off.
One of these days.!!
Peace and Love
Thanks again.
Good news story! Yesterday I was on a shift with the NV Dems Voter Protection hotline. A gentleman called to say that he was a NV resident but was working out of state through the rest of the year. He said he was not planning on voting, but he was so angry at the comments about Puerto Ricans that he wanted to vote. His ballot had been sent to a different address and he said that if he couldn't get it in time, he was going to fly to Las Vegas from San Diego just to vote!
wow, what a great voter story!
Lovely news from Texas. My morning walk yesterday was blessed with FIVE new Harris/Walz yard signs!!!! Talk about “surging”!!! That makes the current Arlington neighborhood total 9 for Harris, 2 for Trump. Go team!!! We may not win, but we seem to be turning the nose of the ship toward safe harbor.
Breathtaking comet photo! Quite far from us at 137 million miles, puts into perspective a "nano-Scaramucci" and whatever other errors we may commit, grammatical or geographical or otherwise. A question one should ask for perspective is whether the error will matter in a day, a week, or a year, and then move forward. We have done what we can, given when we can, and while the work may never end, we can take some pride in having made our best effort, and that's all anyone can ask. You have been our inspiration and a source of mental support.
Thank you for being here with us, for this space, this community, that you have created. We're all in this together, to borrow Joyce's closing phrase.
Yes, JustRaven, Robert definitely deserves our deep gratitude.
Love the link to early voting by state, very up to date and interesting by categories. One correction I want to make to news stories is on the topic of the vandalism of drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Only 3 ballots were destroyed in Portland, with voters readily identified. Security has been strengthened as a result. More significantly, hundreds of ballots were destroyed at the Vancouver location, where there is a tightly contested Congressional seat.
Thank you. More to come, I’m sure
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The best thing about Kamala Harris' speech last night was the total lack of Confederate Flags and Swastikas, as well as planned military style clothing. I did wonder if folks were not allowed to bring in homemade signs supporting the Vice President and Tim Walz, but the little American flags brought back a simpler time when the biggest flags weren't needed to show one's patriotism and support. Patriotism isn't at the end of a pole, it's in the heart and mind.
"There are credible reports that the decision by the Republican National Committee—controlled by the Trump family— to “outsource” most of the work traditionally done by volunteers and paid campaign staffers has resulted in chaos."-----------A look forward to our future government if Trump is elected.