Greetings from the heartland.
Okay, I’m actually back, safe at home, but I bring you news from the heartland. And it’s interesting. Traveling east through Nebraska I observed a few election trends that stood out.
- Very few Trump yard signs, flags or bumper stickers. I actually saw more campaign signs in eastern Colorado (probably oil and gas/ranch properties).
- Biden seems to have so much money there are TWO (2!) huge billboards in my parents’ small (35k folks) town. Not a Trump billboard to be seen. Lots of Loser Stench, I believe. If you wonder why they’d waste money in NE – I believe it’s because NE electoral votes are split*. So every vote really does count.
- An absence of Trump hats – much different than just a year ago. That doesn’t mean they won’t vote for him, I believe they will – or maybe they’ll stay home – but again Loser Stench.
- Ben Sasse is still an ass with very little going in the area of intellect.
And finally – I wish I could have gotten a photo of this, but I was going 80 mph down the interstate, it took a minute for it to register what I was seeing and if I had stopped abruptly I would have disturbed the dogs. Not to mention, I had a box of rocks in the car (long story) that I wouldn’t want to turn into projectiles.
At the end of a long driveway, there was an orange dumpster filled with dirt. And stuck in that dirt? A large Trump 2020 MAGA banner.
Was it a work of satire, too hip for those of us speeding by? Or an actual Trump supporter who was completely clueless to the image they had constructed? Who can tell any more…
But I laughed.
Bonus puppies. They are so over this whole travel thing:
They are exhausted.
Open thread
*The winner of the popular vote gets two electoral votes, while one is assigned to the winner of each of the state’s three congressional districts. This approach was established beginning with the 1992 election.
japa21
Hard to say on the dumpster. A Trump supporter wouldn’t have a clue of the irony if you hit them over the head with it.
However, what would have been a sure tell is the way the sign was displayed. If it was upright and supported by two posts, it probably was a Trump supporter. If it was half buried in the dirt, well then you would know.
NotMax
Nah, they’re just in quarantine, “Biden their time.”
;)
pat
Uh Wisconsin…???
did I dream that?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Glad you’re home, TaMara. And the dogs do looked worn out.
Geoduck
In my blue-ish city in a blue state (Olympia, WA) I’ve seen exactly one Shiatgibbon sign, a homemade thing. There are GOPers around, but they’re all playing cute and only putting up signs for the GOP candidate for governor. Who is a protoShiatgibbon, an utterly unqualified mask-denying goober. Out in the sticks it’s wall-to-wall MAGA.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
So, what’s the deal with Newsom letting those unofficial ballot boxes stay in California? Aren’t they illegal? Is the CA GOP going to face any legal consequences?
NotMax
You absconded with Pence’s brain?
//
Keith P.
I’m in a very red neighborhood (some of my neighbors caravanned to Austin for the boat fiasco), and while I’ve seen a few trucks with huge Trump flags on the back, I’ve actually seen more Biden yard signs driving around than Trump signs. Last cycle, I didn’t see any Clinton signs and plenty of Trump signs….and have been a few threads popping up on NextDoor.com complaining about stolen Trump signs. Take that for what it’s worth.
debbie
Two of three Trump-signed homes in my neighborhood lack the courage of their convictions, what with hiding their signs in the bushes, moving the sign indoors and then back outside again. One of them removed their yard sign and hoisted a large Trump/Biden banner across part of the front of the house. I’ve seen a couple similar banners for Biden, but this Trump banner seemed flimsy and almost gossamer. When I walked by this afternoon, it had visibly faded in just a day or two. My hope is that the dark blue of the banner stains the tan stucco underneath. Trump = Cheap Shit.
dexwood
@NotMax: Nice.
NotMax
On Netflix beginning today, looks intriguing enough to sample – Someone Has to Die.
Sebastian
@japa21:
Are orange dumpsters common around there? Because that has to be deliberate.
FlyingToaster (Tablet)
@Keith P.: take those Nextdoor posts with a grain of salt. We had a guy in the news put barbed wire around his Trump sign, claiming it kept getting stolen. Unfortunately, his across-the-street neighbor’s doorbell cam had recorded the MAGAt removing his own sign at 2am. Cops were not amused.
Mary G
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): They are trying to claim a loophole which IMHO isn’t there. When we have someone else return our California ballot, you have to print their name and relationship to the voter on the outside of the envelope, and they have to sign it. This used to be limited to specific categories of people – family, etc., but now it can be anyone.
So their position is that they can collect ballots and have whoever’s taking them to the election officials fill that out part out.
They did claim that an overzealous volunteer put a sign on some of them saying that that they were official and agreed to not say that, and to bring them inside instead of letting them sit out on the street where anyone could steal the ballots, because they used flimsy Office Depot cabinets for them.
The state is still making noise about it, but I’m guessing has decided that’s good enough because there isn’t enough time for a legal battle, and also they are morons. They were trying to show how Democrats “harvest” ballots fraudulently by doing it themselves. So either they admit committing fraud if they don’t deliver them, or that it works just fine and doesn’t need to be changed.
CarolPW
@Geoduck: In the Tri-Cities (eastern red Washington State) I was surprised going the couple of miles to the feed store to see no Trump signs and three Biden/Harris signs. People had signs for Republicans for state and federal representative but no Trump.
Because I went to the closest drop box to deposit my ballot today after going to the farmers market I ended up going down George Washington (the main drag) for the first time since February. Three or four gigantic Trump signs, with some of the gigantic signs accompanied by five or six smaller signs. I particularly appreciated the multitude plastered on the closed buisnesses also sporting for sale signs. Two Biden/Harris signs, and one of them was in a yard that also had a sign for every single one of the democrats running in the election down to County Commissioner.
I put my I Voted pin on my fleece (it’s cold here) before I went to the market and will leave it on until election day.
Yutsano
I see many more signs for the Republican running for governor here than I do Dolt45 signs. That’s how I know who the assholes are. Oh BTW he has no chance. His only experience is running a small sheriff’s department in Republic, Washington.
VOR
Puppies are always good.
bluehill
Early voting numbers are encouraging. I wonder if one of the knock on effects of the pandemic is people have more time and flexibility in their schedules to wait in line to vote.
I wouldn’t be surprise to see these numbers growth significantly over the weekend and into next week. These things seem to generate their own momentum.
That could lead to an acceleration of damaging inside leaks as well as slow-walking or out right defiance of actions that the administration is trying to take to improve their reelection odds.
Josh at TPM believes that insiders in the administration are starting to turn against Trump as the likelihood of Trump’s loss grows. I think this is contributing to confidence that the pharma co’s have in explicitly stating that they will not have a vaccine before the election.
People are beginning to consider the possible consequences of their actions under a dem administration, so their self-preservation instinct may be finally kicking in. Could result in some interesting revelations in the next few weeks.
LuciaMia
You stole the moon rocks?!?
Amir Khalid
@Mary G:
I seem to recall that a few Republicans, here and there, have done this before: commit election fraud in specific ways to show how Democrats do it, or “could” — only to find themselves on the wrong side of the law, with no evidence that Democrats have ever actually done any such thing.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Can’t be. He’s not even that smart.
Charluckles
Lawn sign anecdata: Not unusual to see a lot of Democratic support in my town but I noticed the other day that our lifelong-retired marine neighbor with a yard cut as tight as his hair has a Biden sign out front between two American flags.
Kent
Had to drive diagonally across Vancouver today to take my daughter to a Kaiser clinic for some labs and a prescription (she’s fine, it’s just for Accutane).
Saw about 100 political signs along the way, but zero for Trump or Biden. There are Biden signs in our little neighborhood, but no big ones along the highways. It’s a lot of local and state stuff. Lots of signs for Loren Culp, who is the 2nd Amendment small town sheriff freak running for governor against Inslee. Culp seems to be the surrogate for Trump for all the MAGA wingers who are too ashamed to put up a Trump sign.
We also got our WA ballots today. I let the woke 17 year old fill it out. She spent over an hour carefully researching all the endless county charter review positions and found that most of the candidates actually don’t really tell you anything about their beliefs in the voters pamphlet so you have to do independent research. We are going to drop it off at one of the 28 drop boxes that are set up around our county.
Libby Spencer
Doesn’t everyone come home from a road trip with a box of rocks? You are clearly of my tribe.
mvr
Biden will very likely win District 2 (Omaha) and possibly also my district, the First (Lincoln). I’m hoping Kate Bolz beats Fortenberry here as well. And it looks like Eastman will beat and increasingly desperate sounding Don Bacon in Omaha. No Trump signs in my neighborhood, but that might be social pressure to a small extent as there are one or two Fortenberry signs. He gained fame under another name a couple years back but I’m not seeing any Fartenberry signs either.
https://www.thefire.org/congressmans-office-pressures-u-of-nebraska-to-punish-professor-who-liked-fartenberry-facebook-photo/
Yutsano
@CarolPW: I know about the cluster of signs that’s on Aaron as it turns into the road that turns into Winco. It greatly amuses me that there’s a big Doug McKinley sign there too, How much I wish he could take out Newhouse but probably not gonna happen. Voting for him anyway. We can at least make it tight.
Wag
Welcome home. How bad was the smoke coming down 76? The Cameron fire has really blown up thanks to 80 mph winds.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
At least 23 million people have voted in the 2020 general election
14 million votes cast in past 5 days (with hours still left in Friday)
(link)
p.a.
@Libby Spencer: There’s a rock-collector a few blocks away who may be an item in an On the Road submission when I get the chance to photo his house. Have to wait ’till he’s gone since he’s clearly ’round the bend.
Teaser: I call his house The Citadel, or Little Troy ?
UncleEbeneezer
A FB friend who has a Biden sign in their yard got an anonymous note from a Trumper neighbor whining about how if they put up a Trump sign it wouldn’t be safe and people would call them racist and it’s so unfair…
Today my wife’s periodontist walked in with a MAGA hat and complained about how unfair the debate moderator was to Trump and how Bill Barr is the greatest AG ever. My wife was really pissed because she’s been going to him for 20 years but will need to find a new doc.
The Pasadena GOP hq doesnt have a single Trump sign.
I definitely think the loser stench is a thing.
zhena gogolia
@debbie:
Trump/Biden?
dmsilev
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Nearly five million votes recorded just today. Wow.
jl
@pat:
” Uh Wisconsin…???
did I dream that? ”
Unless I’ve missed an update on it, WI starts their early ‘in-person absentee’ voting next Tuesday. Maybe it’s saved for opening day.
I think FL starts sometime next week. NH doesn’t have any.
All the other swing states have already started some kind of early voting or other. So, maybe a good time to contribute to campaigns where they need GOTV cash? Anyone have any suggestions? I’m wondering where money can be best used, so I’m interested.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
CinderellaTampa Bay Rays turning into a pumpkinschrodingers_cat
There is one Covita fan at the end of my street. He has a huge T flag and an American flag. I have 2 Harris Biden signs in my front yard.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Bipartisanship!
zhena gogolia
@UncleEbeneezer:
What is it with the tooth guys?
jl
@debbie: Sounds like a political nervous breakdown. Trump/Biden? Wonder if that household is split, and trying to hold its shit together.
wenchacha
Hey, let me tell you about my grandson…
Our son and daughter-law just welcomed their first child, and our first grandchild on 10/13. I have been waiting for this little boy since February. It was welcome news after losing both my folks over the holidays. His name is Gio, the Japanese characters loosely meaning “sprouting seeds and sounds of nature.”
We are over the moon, hoping to the Multiverse that we put Biden in the White House and end our long national nightmare. We ought to try to make this planet a better place for this child and his children and generations beyond. I hope it is still possible.
CarolPW
@Yutsano: How could you vote for anyone else? I was shocked and overjoyed that for the first time since Washington went to a top two primary that I got to vote for a democrat in both the state and federal legislatures.
NotMax
@p.a.
A rock collector’s favorite flick?
:)
Baud
@wenchacha: Congrats!
Butter Emails
Out of curiosity who had “the RNC filing an FEC complaint against Twitter for blocking a Russian misinformation campaign” on their BINGO card?
I’d also like to point out that in filing this, the RNC is basically acknowledging that the Russian misinformation and the Post publishing it is in fact an in kind contribution to the RNC and Trump campaign.
Kathleen
TaMara I didn’t know you had cornhusker roots! I was born in Omaha and lived there until I was 6 (1949 to 1955). I mention the dates because that was the height of McCarthyism and Republicans ruled. My dad’s daily ritual was to hurl the Omaha World Herald across the living room as he cursed the editorial page content. He the only Democrat at KOWH where he worked as an announcer, so when then VP Richard Nixon came to Omaha, Dad was picked to interview him (my Grandma O’Neill had pictures of him interviewing Nixon, Bob Crosby, and other celebrities hanging in her den) . The Dem party asked him if he would run for Congress he didn’t aspire to sacrificial lambhood. Good times. Sounds like a lot has changed, thank God.
LuciaMia
Funny how everyone’s SO mean to Trump: moderators, the media, the IRS…
sdhays
@Baud: The ghost of David Broder haunts there.
Mathguy
My neighborhood in Omaha has Biden signs outnumbering shitgibbon signs 10 to 1. The trouble is that the ratio would change substantially if you head to west Omaha.
Kathleen
@wenchacha: Congratulations! Grandkids are the best!
ColoradoGuy
Stay safe, TaMara. The air quality in Boulder is now the worst in the nation, and it’s drifting towards Longmont. Erie is up to 387 as I type this. Double-masking does help, though.
Steeplejack
I’m watching a little bit of the Astros-Rays game, mainly because I’m too lazy to look for anything else that’s on, and one of the announcers sounds exactly like the RWNJ actor James Woods. Freaking me out. Oh, well, Rachel at 9:00.
Kathleen
@Mathguy: So happy to see that Omaha has evolved politically. “When I was a girl”…(head drops into bowl of gruel).
raven
@Steeplejack: and the Braves at 9:08
Marcopolo
@dmsilev: A few hours ago one of the early vote tracking folks said we could possibly see 90 million votes cast before Nov. 3. That would be 60% of an estimated 150 million total turnout. To put that in perspective, 138 million folks voted in 2016.
That would be pretty awesome and the more votes that are cast early, the less likely E-day ratfucking will have a big impact.
Kent
Back from voting in WA. Took 17 minutes total, round trip to drive down to our local post office in downtown Camas, drop the ballots of in the big red collection box next to the blue mailboxes in the drive-through (no other cars there so no line), stop at the Thai place next door for take-out, and then drive back home.
Now I’m prepared to be enraged when I see news coverage of all the 10 hour lines in places like Houston and Saint Louis. People need to be shot or jailed in this country. We treat voter suppression like some sort of act of nature, like it is a hurricane or forest fire. But it is always deliberate fuckery. And needs to be squelched out with extreme prejudice.
raven
@Kent: ‘”Shot or killed”? Rooster Cogburn
WaterGirl
@jl: There are some suggestions in the next thread.
zhena gogolia
I contributed so I could watch the Hamilton fundraiser for Biden tonight, but you have to give them your phone number and agree to receive calls and texts. I guess it’s safe if I give them my landline. They can send texts to it until the cows come home, and I won’t be any the wiser.
MagdaInBlack
@Libby Spencer: Mine too =-)
Kent
Shoot their balls off is good enough.
Steeplejack
@raven:
Yeah, I’ll be looking in on that. My team. Although the virus has almost killed sports for me. Everything seems too weird and fakey. Short seasons, shifted seasons, stops and starts. And it all looks like exhibition games with no crowds and fake noise.
Mike in NCsinglemi
raven
@Steeplejack: Yea, that stuff doesn’t matter to me. Tomorrow night in Tuscaloosa looms!
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Looks promising. Thanks.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Drilling down into PA, I see my county has had only 1.5% of requested ballots returned, and similarly for the other big Philly suburb, Montgomery County.
I have to believe that’s due to mail delays. It took a week for our ballot to get to us from the election office 5 miles away.
Steeplejack
@raven:
That will be a big game. I’m ridin’ high after Mizzou knocked off LSU last week. See you November 14.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I find this acceptable
TaMara (HFG)
@Wag: It was okay until I turned onto HWY 52, then thick all the way home. And my car was covered with ash by the time we got home. I have many friends impacted by the actual fire, so I’ll catch up with them tomorrow to see what they need.
Mike in NCsinglemi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Millions of us would be happy to chip in a dollar to buy Fat Bastard a one-way ticket to Vladivostok.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
as I drove by the one house in my larger neighborhood with a trump sign today, I fantasized about sneaking over there at night to put up a sign that says “PROUD RACISTS LIVE HERE!” in their yard.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s cool. You just sit tight in Mar-A-Lago South where we know where to find you, and then once the indictments are in and the arrest warrants signed, we can arrange a little extraordinary rendition.
TaMara (HFG)
@wenchacha: Congrats! We may need pictures. My youngest niece is turning 14 and she’s pissed. She’s been pissed since Trump was elected. But now she’s back at in-person classes, so she’s really pissed.
I promised her we’d work hard to fix this before she became an adult! It’s the least I can do.
raven
@Steeplejack: Maybe, they just moved the Kentucky game.
TaMara (HFG)
@Kathleen: Born at Offutt and launched from there to a world of travel/schools/homes as an Air Force brat. But my folks retired in NE and I continue my wanderlust.
Steeplejack
@raven:
See, that’s what I’m talking about. Hard to keep up.
TS (the original)
@wenchacha:
Late to the thread but wishing you every best thing in the world for your grandson. October 13 is a magical date in my family. All good things happen to those with that birth date.
NotMax
@Mike in NCsinglemi
Vladivostock? Better, luxury digs on the shores of peaceful Lake Karachay.
:)
ballerat
@FlyingToaster (Tablet):
It’s just amazing how badly trumpsters crave victimhood.
TaMara (HFG)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Steeplejack
@TaMara (HFG):
Air Force memories! Bro’ Man, the squire of Sighthound Hall, graduated from high school there (Bellevue?) when our dad ended up at SAC headquarters at Offutt. I visited only a few times, but it seemed okay. Better than some other places we lived.
Nutmeg again
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: oh yeah– a food fight broke out on a dog rescue list I’m on. For Newfoundlands! Tempers are running high. Some idiot said she likes My Little Pillow or whatever those things are called, for her dogs, or her dog(s) like them etc. She got pig-piled for supporting a Trump guy; Trump supporters called foul, and whined a lot, as they do. “It wasn’t me–I didn’t start it! It’s all her”. Pfffft. These people are always on the lookout to be hurt. But you know, “Fuck your Feelings”. Gah.
Steeplejack
@wenchacha:
Congratulations on the new member of the family!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@FlyingToaster (Tablet): We’ve 2 reports on the Ring app here of two women stealing Trump signs(only one when they had like 8 in the yard). One comment suggested they build a big beautiful wall around them.
laura
@wenchacha: congratulations! Best wished for this young promise to the future and all those who love him.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Well played.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@zhena gogolia: Obviously someone who doesn’t know the 12th amendment was ratified.
ballerat
Ms. b and I put our ballots in a ballot drop box on Monday. BallotTrax emailed us the other day that both have been accepted. That felt so good!
mrmoshpotato
Yup. Took only 5 years to figure out what a shitstain Dump is, but then, the Rethuglican party has been a shitstain for 40+ years.
Burn Sasse’s lifeboat.
(Hatless) Bixby is tired of the bullshit; Scout is all “Don’t get me started, but bring me a margarita bowl.”
Btw, who tends to the quackers and the kitty when you’re away?
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Promises, promises!
edit: I thought it was wrong to bribe people to vote a certain way. :-)
susanna
@wenchacha: Congratulations, new Grandfather! Enjoy all those new good times coming your way….
Ken
“Your honor, defendant is an admitted flight risk…”
Ruckus
I haven’t seen any shitforbrains or Biden signs around my socal small town.
NotMax
@Ken
Convince his foreign sugar daddies to pony up enough for him to buy Greenland so he can anoint himself emperor.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
//
J R in WV
SO! Have been seeing “Farmer’s Dog” DF commercials for a long time now. Little active apartment dogs.
So, I decided to go to FarmersDog.com to see what it would cost to feed Farmer’s Dog to our 3 big farm dogs. Complicated web site, many items to complete. In the end, Dog A and Dog B were $169.00 a week. Dog C, the biggest big farm dog was $21o.oo a week. That’s WAY more than we spend on OUR FOOD a week!!!
What a rip-off Farmer’s Dog is !!!
Mathguy
@mrmoshpotato:
Sasse really isn’t stupid, rather he’s smarmy Christianist fanatic that hides it well. See also: Cotton, Hawley. They are all smart and extremely scary.
NotMax
@J R in WV
Gee, is Devin Nunes the farmer?
//
TaMara (HFG)
@mrmoshpotato: OMG I have the best sitters, when my dad had his stroke, my regular duck sitter was unavailable. A woman and her husband that I know from my business volunteered to watch them. They were so awesome, they love the ducks and the cats, so they’ve had duck duty for every trip. (And I do pay them my regular duck-sitting fee, LOL). She did tik-tok videos today and I’ll try and share them this weekend.
Bill Arnold
@Ken:
He has an escape jet parked near me (unless it’s been moved recently). Pretty sure I’m directly under what would be his flight path. I’ll keep an eye out; it has a gaudy paint job. :-) Haven’t ever seen it fly; maybe it won’t start or the tires are flat.
mrmoshpotato
@Mathguy: Yes, I know. I just enjoy calling them idiots.
mrmoshpotato
@TaMara (HFG):
Quacktastic!
Aleta
@TaMara (HFG): Duck tic toks? Might be the best weekend in 7 months. (But rest instead as you need.) Hope you are doing OK. Take care.
Tim C.
@mrmoshpotato:
Fun story: In my English class, the curriculum we adopted has some essay units, one of which contains an essay by Ben Sasse. The kids, not knowing (or caring) who he was, ripped it apart and called it dumb and insulting.
It’s behind the NY Times paywall, under the title, “What to do with the kids this summer? Put em to work.” It’s the kind of clueless drivel written by a rich man who doesn’t understand that not everyone can provide their kids with a structured work experience to help them build character. It’s just.. sigh.
Tim C.
@Kent: I’ll wave at you from just across the river!
Gvg
@jl: Florida starts early in person voting Monday. Actually, it varies by county, a few don’t start that early, but my county does. For some reason we do it at libraries. I never questioned it before reading this site the last few weeks, but some states use regular precincts. We use our libraries.
I’ve already mail voted and dropped in the ballot box.
SFAW
@NotMax:
I was going to suggest the Marianas Trench, but he’d probably pollute that entire area, so I like your idea better.
Geo Wilcox
Here in Trump central, Franklin County IN, I have seen twice as many Biden signs as Trump. In 2016, Trump signs were 20 to 1 Clinton signs. Make of that what you will.