Listen to Stacey Abrams. I mean that literally. Lsten to Stacey Abrams in her 15-minute interview on Pod Save America last night. Her interview starts at the 52-minute mark.
Stacey believes that can win both seats in Georgia. I believe her. Do you? We can win both seats, but only if we believe we can and we donate and work our collective behinds off to make it happen.
Here’s my challenge: Listen to the interview with Stacey Abrams and then come to the Georgia thread I’ll put up on Monday, and then let’s talk about what she said. Is anyone game for that?
In the meantime, opportunities to help Georgia are rolling in so fast I can’t get them all organized and in one place.
Donate!
Balloon Juice for Fair Fight
Jon Ossoff, Georgia Senate Runoff! (starting at 311,771, hoping DougJ can do a new BJ thermometer for the recount) and YES, this includes the 2018 race.
Raphael Warnock, Georgia Senate Runoff! (starting at 27,997, hoping DougJ can do a new BJ thermometer for the runoff)
America Votes – Georgia
If you donate to America Votes – Georgia, they are making sure they get distributed directly as needed to groups that are having the biggest impact on the ground.
AMERICA VOTES – Georgia
Organizations include:
- Asian American Advocacy Fund
- Black Male Voter Project
- Black Voters Matter
- BlackPAC
- Care in Action
- Collective PAC
- Color of Change
- Georgia Alliance for Progress
- Georgia Conservation Voters
- Georgia Equality
- Mijente
- New Georgia Project Action Fund
- Poder Latinx
- UNITE HERE
Make a Difference in the Georgia Runoff Elections
Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight are distributing some of their donations to organizations on the ground that need help. So donating to Fair Fight is a great choice if you really want to make a difference.
Donate to GASenate.com (donations split evenly between Ossoff, Warnock, and Fair Fight)
Fair Fight Georgia Volunteer request form.
Phone bank into Georgia with Fair Fight.
Stacey Abrams thanked these organizations for the win on Nov 3.
- New Georgia Project
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta (AAAJ – Atlanta)
- Black Voters Matter
- Georgia Democrats
- GALEO
*You can learn about these organizations below.
The New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan effort to register and civically engage Georgians. It was founded by Stacey Abrams in 2010.
Georgia’s population is growing and becoming increasingly diverse. Over the past decade, the population of Georgia increased 18%. The New American Majority – people of color, those 18 to 29 years of age, and unmarried women – is a significant part of that growth. The New American Majority makes up 62% of the voting age population in Georgia, but they are only 53% of registered voters.
Phone bank into Georgia with the New Georgia Project.
Learn more about The New Georgia Project.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta (AAAJ – Atlanta)
Protecting the civil and human rights of Asian Americans in Georgia and the Southeast. We defend, protect, and advance the rights of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians and other immigrants at all levels of government.
Learn more about AAAJ – Atlanta.
Our goal is to increase power in our communities. Effective voting allows a community to determine its own destiny.
Donate and text bank for Georgia with Black Voters Matter.
Learn more about Black Voters Matter.
Georgia Democrats
Learn more about the Georgia Democrats.
GALEO’s mission is to increase civic engagement and leadership of the Latino/Hispanic community across Georgia.
Take Action. Get Involved!
Warnock Volunteer request form.
GA Runoff Interest Form – fill this out if you want to help with the runoff
Jon Ossoff Campaign – get started here
Ossoff Upcoming Virtual Field Training
Volunteer for Georgia with Vote Save America.
Write postcards for Georgia with the Georgia Postcard Project.
Write postcards for Georgia with Postcards to Voters.
Write postcards for Georgia with Postcard Patriots.
Write letters to Georgia with VoteFWD.
Some Great Resources
How to help in Georgia (from Sam Wang)
Georgia Runoff Information Sheet (crowd sourced)
Toolkit for BIPOC & Civic Engagement GOTV for GA Runoff Election
Mobilize Events for the Georgia Runoff
Please let me know if you guys come across any great resources.
evap
The link to the Stacy Abrams interview doesn’t work for me.
I live in GA and I am somewhat pessimistic about the special elections, but this post cheered me up! I’m already signed up with Postcards to Voters, so I will do some of those.
cope
We will be sending contributions to Georgia through your other link, thanks.
I have been waiting for a Stacey Abrams reference in an open post so I can ask a question. Have any of you read any of her works of fiction under the name Selena Montgomery? My wife is always looking for new authors to read and when I discovered that this was a hidden side of Abrams, my interest, it was piqued. Thanks in advance for any input.
rikyrah
All these left wing performance artists ( looking at you, Yang)..
STAY IN YOUR PHUCKING LANE.
Leave Georgia to those who have been doing the work there FOR YEARS.
Send THEM the money they need to continue the work to get those Senate seats.
The contrast in candidates could not be clearer.
Made my donations yesterday. Will do a weekly one for the Rev.
rikyrah
@cope:
I just bought two of her books yesterday. They were reviewed very highly by fans.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
That doesn’t seem to be a link. Here’s the podcast. Now listening to it to figure out when Stacey’s segment begins.
Edit: Segment begins at 52:30
RedDirtGirl
Thank you WaterGirl. I have to believe. If I’m not mistaken, VoteFWD will also be running a letter writing campaign for Georgia.
germy
WaterGirl
@evap:
I didn’t link to the podcast – I’m not sure how I would do that. If one of you guys knows how to do that, and have it set to the 52-minute mark, that would be awesome.Link has been added up top, thank you, Ceci!
Another Scott
Thank you WG. Runoff elections are tough – they were implemented in Georgia to prevent non-RWNJ men from winning. But the wind is at our backs there. We can do this.
In other news:
(via Popehat)
Cheers,
Scott.
Starfish
David Tennant did a podcast with Stacey Abrams some months ago, and it was lovely. However, it may be on the various platforms that you pay for.
http://www.david-tennant.co.uk/2020/08/david-tennant-does-podcast-with-stacey.html
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@WaterGirl: I provided a link at #5. I found the interview beginning at 52:30.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I have no idea what you are talking about. What did I miss? Is Andrew Wang trying to tell Georgia how to do this?
germy
@Another Scott:
It’s still early. The march is supposed to start at noon.
By 12:30, there’ll be several million marchers.
Or not.
evap
@WaterGirl: Andrew Yang is going to establish residency in GA, along with some followers I’m guessing, register to vote in GA and vote in the runoffs. It’s an obnoxious stunt as far as I can tell, since it’s not going to make much difference. Furthermore, it gives the GOP a chance to scream “fraud”. Stacey Abrams has told everyone (not a GA resident) to stay home and do volunteer work.
zhena gogolia
I set up a monthly donation to Fair Fight that is to be shared with Ossoff and Warnock. I followed a link that was in an article about Stacey Abrams, so I assumed it was what she was advising.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
I do not trust Yang or any of the rest of the left wing performance artists.
Not one bit.
germy
@WaterGirl:
This is what Yang said:
I’ve always seen him as more of an egotistical libertarian than a member of the left, though. A tech bro.
germy
@rikyrah:
I don’t trust him or his motives. Seems like a nice guy; he got along with the other primary candidates, but I don’t like his ideas at all.
WaterGirl
@RedDirtGirl: Thanks, I added that up top.
WaterGirl
@Starfish: That was a lovely interview – Stacey’s interview with David Tennant – I watched it free recently on Stitcher.
WaterGirl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Thank you! I added the link up top, and changed the references from 58 minutes to 52.
WaterGirl
@evap:
Yes, Stacey says this in the Pod Save America (PSA) podcast i talked about above. If I recall correctly, she says that very early in this interview, too.
Do not go to Georgia; that’s not what they need.
RandyG
I wrote a lot of postcards through Flip the West for several Senate candidates. I won’t do that again — YMMV — although I think that postcard writing can be very valuable. I’ve done that over the years for many candidates, where I think it made a difference. FTW postcard scripts were total pablum, and when I inquired further was told that their mailing lists were “flippable independents” and in certain cases, even included Republicans. (Some instructions pages even included warnings that anything we write should be “inclusive, neutral, benign, safe.”) I questioned these tactics with the leaders and did not find their arguments terribly convincing, but in giving them the benefit of any doubt relatively late in the game, I wrote the cards nevertheless. Surely, they meant well, but getting Democrats to vote is a much better bet coming from Democratic voices. Might be time to check out the other groups… btw, from their site, the Georgia postcard project is not ready to go yet, stay tuned.
P.S. Since I already have the personal contacts, I may inquire with FTW about their approach on the runoffs.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: That’s the GASenate.com link I have up top, where donations are split between Ossoff, Warnock and Fair Fight.
I have asked DougJ to make a BJ thermometer for that, but I don’t know yet if he will.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: That will do more harm than good, I imagine. Some arrogant males from out of state acting like they can come in and rescue GA.
WaterGirl
@germy: I hear that as “You guys in GA are too stupid to figure it out on your own; I’m on my way to rescue you.”
ugh!
WaterGirl
@RandyG: Let me know what you find out about Flip the West – in the meantime, I just removed them from the list of volunteer opportunities up top.
germy
@WaterGirl:
that’s how i heard it.
RandyG
@WaterGirl: I’m not necessarily suggesting that (just yet). We should be interested in the experiences that other folks here have had with FTW. I’ll follow-up with my inquiry and report back what I hear.
germy
Trump is on his way to play golf today; he passed the MAGA march:
WaterGirl
@RandyG: I’ll put it back up if you get a response that is reassuring. We don’t need to be promoting them if there are reservations. I can easily add it again if desired.
cope
@rikyrah: Thanks for the input. We only have a couple to choose from at our library, I reckon I should just check them all out.
Happy reading.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Hey, the upside, from my point of view, is that at least this time it isn’t a white dude.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I had actually started to write “arrogant, white male” but remember that he isn’t white. :-)
But double the arrogance, so maybe that makes up for it!
gkoutnik
@germy: Good lord, I guess I never really understood what a shitload of taxpayer money it cost to get Trump to the golf course.
Ivan X
Gave yesterday. Let’s win this!
Reposting tip that if you have unused or partially used Visa/MasterCard/Amex gift cards lying around, political donations are a perfect use for them since you can donate exactly what their current value is and then you can toss them. (If you’re not sure of their value, there’s a URL printed on the back that lets you check.)
mali muso
Just ordered another stack of postcards. Once they get here, I will check in with postcardstovoters for my list, since I’m already signed up to write for them.
WaterGirl
So is anyone interested in listening to the Stacey Abrams interview and discussing it on Monday?
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Does that make it Yangsplainin’?
Mike in NC
Local rags are running Letters to the Editor complaining that people didn’t vote for Joe Biden; they voted against Fat Bastard. Hey, whatever wingnuts. We’ll drink your bitter tears on the rocks with a twist of lemon.
Baud
@Mike in NC:
Shame on the papers for publishing fraud.
laura
@germy: that may not be the natural propensity in Georgia
The sheer gall of that jumped up performance artist. The racism and condescension are running neck and neck and giving carpetbagging a fresh new veneer is the last thing the Georgia Candidates and Voters need. Just so so wrong.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Yes!
trollhattan
@Mike in NC:
Losing to Trump is the only crime. I’ll take the win, happily, and ponder 2024 when it’s time. 2022 planning needs to begin next January–we need the damn senate and to pad the house majority.
Elizabelle
@germy:
I was wondering why he was out at 10:00 am. Three-fer; applaud the deplorables, irritate the libtards and others, and golf. All at taxpayer expense!
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Maybe. I will give Stacey Abrams a listen.
Not a podcast listener yet. I should learn.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy:
that’s been my impression, a tech bro with one idea that gives Left Twitter a case of the happy fantods
Mousebumples
@WaterGirl: i already listened to it, but depending on timing, sure. (work keeps me busy from 9-6 {central} on Mondays)
I loved the part where she got to tell the Obama Bros “i told you so” since she called Georgia flipping blue.
Mousebumples
@RandyG: I totally get where you’re coming from. I’ve really enjoyed my experience with #PostcardsToVoters, and “Tony the Democrat” (who is behind it) is from Georgia and even has a whole Twitter thread up for this runoff about how we DO NOT want to contact flippables. Turnout is the game, so Dems are the way to go.
He’s working with he campaigns, and he even mentioned that he checks the usps change of address list to remove any voters who have moved.
I can’t speak to the other postcarding groups but I’ll be writing with #PostcardsToVoters this weekend and beyond.
Cheryl from Maryland
Donated last week to each candidate and to Fair Fight. Not planning to write postcards for Georgia — the group for which I write focuses on local candidates — to the extent of having enough lead time to mail out the postcards from the appropriate district.
Florida Frog
@Mousebumples: Me too. My group has been using Tony the Democrat’s lists for several congressional campaigns. I’m all geared up for Warnoff and Ossof.
Mousebumples
@Elizabelle: if you want to give it a try, I recommend a podcasting app on your phone. That’ll find each new podcast for you to listen to, whenever they are released.
MisterForkbeard
@Another Scott: Oh, neat! Do we think Trump will show up to address his adoring fan?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mousebumples: that was funny
I also already listened, and I don’t know what I’ll be doing Monday, but I think Abrams and people who have experience actually expanding the party are worth listening to
Evap
@WaterGirl: I am interested
marcopolo
Well, I still say that if one’s intention is to go to GA, rent a place for a month or two on the downlow, use that as a way to register to vote by Dec. 7th, then use that new enfranchisement to vote in January, then I think it’s fine if you want to go to GA. Just don’t get in the way of the local organizers.
Aside from that, full bore elections have been going on in GA pretty much this entire year. Aside from providing aid & support to the groups that have already been doing the work for months & months, I’m a little skeptical how persuasive new out of state texts & phone calls can be to a population that is already pretty tired of it. At least with postcards, they just show up & folks can ignore them if they so desire. If I were a GA voter I’d also be absofuckinglutely exhausted by political ads on the TV.
I’m guessing what on-the-ground organizers are doing is looking at the voting record from two weeks ago, putting a GoTV target on every likely D who turned out then, and then scouring the voter files for likely D voters who for some reason did not vote and figuring out how to get them motivated to go vote in the special. From what I’ve read, on election day in GA only 2% of Georgians who were eligible to vote were still unregistered so there’s a pool of potential voters there but not a big one (and if they’ve managed to stay unregistered through what was probably a tsunami of voter registration in 2020 they must be pretty talented at it). Last, there are supposedly ~20,000 to 30,000 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by Jan 3rd & they’d be the final group I’d be targeting.
Elizabelle
@Mousebumples: Great suggestion. Is there a particular app you (and other jackals) would suggest for an iPhone??
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: With the link that Ceci supplied, you can just click it and listen in your web browser!
I really hope you will.
PsiFighter37
@evap: Andrew Yang is a fucking idiot who is high on his own supply at this point. Never been impressed with the dude and never will be – and I’m (half) Asian as well. Very fucking unimpressed with him, and anyone who bothers to research his biography will find it…less than impressive.
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: She didn’t say “I told you so” but I can’t recall the phrase she did repeat (over and over). I thought that was fun. :-)
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: It was “I informed you thusly” I believe :) Which she said she got from someone else whose name I didn’t catch.
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: Different people have different experiences with organizations.
PostcardsToVoters got a very poor recommendation from one of the jackals who had previously worked with them, to the point that I was hesitant to even include them as an option a year or so ago.
Who knows, but enough people here worked with them this year that I went ahead and included them.
WaterGirl
@Evap: Seems like maybe early evening might be best, to include folks who work 8-5ish.
I’ll aim for 7pm blog time on Monday.
Kent
Quoting Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.
Mousebumples
@Elizabelle: I’m an android user so not much help. I’ve had the podkicker app for years, but the developer hasn’t updated it in forever, so there’s probably something new and better out there too.
Mousebumples
@WaterGirl: yeah, I can’t speak to other’s experience (and i see some griping on social media) but I’ve had a positive experience at least. I like that I can use my own postcards/stamps and they just tell me what to write. 😁
Jim, Foolish Literalist
listening to Rick Wilson and Molly Jong-Fast’s podcast, and he has some interesting GA numbers: 750K veterans, 250K African-American, 40K African-American women, “one of the highest concentrations of female vets in the country”
no numbers on voter registration/participation
Fair Economist
@RandyG: Yeah, I was writing postcards from Flip the West for Bollier and one of the points was about the Republican all-time winning streak in KS Senate elections. That seemed the wrong kind of point to make, saying your opponent was part of an all time winning team. I agree postcards should be mostly about encouragement, not persuasion. *I* certainly would never change my vote based on an anonymous postcard, but it is cheering to get a supportive one.
Alison Rose
@Kent: Ah, well, I dislike that show/character, but the phrase is still a good one :)
WaterGirl
@marcopolo:
Stacey Abrams has been very clear that they do not want people moving to Georgia to vote, thinking they are helping. They do not want on-the-ground volunteers from out of state, so I hope everyone who wants to help Georgia listens to Stacey and works from afar.
I suspect it’s like the Obama campaign in 2007-2008, after the orange hat experience with volunteers in Iowa in 2004. For the Obama campaign, they assigned two people to each precinct in Iowa for the last two weeks. All they saw was the same people traipsing around in the snow, every day, for that 10 days to 2 weeks.
My partner and I got to know them, they got to know us. The explicitly felt that the orange hat outsiders had hurt Dean in Iowa, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of the concern in Georgia.
A bunch of white outsiders coming in to help rescue Georgia. ugh.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Phone, tablet or computer… they all tell you when there are new episodes of podcasts you have added.
I end up using 3 differentiations ones because not every podcast is available on all of them. So I mostly use Stitcher and Spotify.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: That was it, thank you! It was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t quite capture it.
Well-deserved, since the Pod Save America wouldn’t add Georgia to their “Adopt a State” program. But they sure have “Adopt Georgia” now!
trollhattan
@PsiFighter37:
I think Yang has articulated a couple important concepts that while they aren’t his innovations, he put them in front of the cameras: positive impacts of guaranteed minimum income and the negative impacts of the continuously increased automation of work tasks on employment. Tech smart but politically he’s not well versed, and I don’t think he understands by how much.
WaterGirl
Stacey Abrams and Pete Buttigieg are the people that it’s always a pleasure to listen to. They are different, obviously, but so smart and thoughtful, and interesting. Not canned answers, and you can tell they are thinking and formulating their answers on the fly.
Barack Obama was another person who could do that. We are lucky to have them.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
It’s a silly notion. Plus, who the hell can afford such a stunt (not just the dollars but disrupting one’s life for two months)? And in a state as large as Georgia, it’s hard to imagine making a difference.
Now, had a bunch of libs flocked to Maine to unseat Collins, I can see how that might work.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: I will! Have some work to do around the house tonight, and will listen up then. Thank you.
WaterGirl
I’m going to link this post under Election Action! so it’s easy to find the Donation and Volunteering links. Doing it now.
(done!)
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
I’m a Warren fanboy for the same reason, while some hear a tiresome school teacher I find her deep and prepared and endlessly fascinating. Plus, Bailey.
marcopolo
@WaterGirl: Did you read my entire comment or just respond to the first few sentences? Nowhere do I say anyone should go to GA to do GoTV. I said if you want to go, establish residence, & vote (on the down low means just acting like a regular person, maybe finding a temp job for a month & not inserting yourself into the election aside from voting) that there is nothing currently in GA law saying you need to be a resident for X amount of time prior to the election. The rest of my comment was about how election-tired I imagine the average Georgian is & that aside from financial support to the folks who’ve been working on the ground all along, I’m skeptical of the efficacy of any form of outside GoTV for these special elections.
marcopolo
@trollhattan: You might be surprised during a pandemic how many folks lives are already pretty disrupted. I’m actually willing to bet there will be some folks (maybe retired) who will do this (not necessarily Ds). Also, the final margin for the Presidential result in GA is currently ~14,000 votes out of about 5,000,000 cast. I guarantee you that very vote will matter in Jan.
WaterGirl
@marcopolo: I’m sorry that came off as if it was directed at you!
It was really just a jumping off point to help amplify Stacey Abrams message for peoples to stay home and not do that.
MazeDancer
At PostCard Patriots, we are still waiting on Georgia to finish recounting so they can send our voter lists.
You can sign up for names at PostCardPatriots.com, and the number you request will show up in your inbox just as soon as we have them. And thank you to the many of you who have already.
Want to note our strategy: We are writing to Dems in red districts. (One went 80% for Trump.) Thanking them. We choose counties unlikely to otherwise be reached. And every vote cast everywhere in GA counts equally for Senate.
Also wanted to avoid carpetbagger Yankee problem in Blue districts.
Apparently, people in KY got 10 PostCards. All hand written “Vote! Vote!”. Each one felt like an insult. Like they weren’t aware of the election and weren’t intending to vote.
So, we’re sticking with the gratitude strategy.
SFAW
Unrelated, and perhaps already noted on dis blog: heart-warming news item: Tom Metzger has died. Unfortunately, he lived to age 82; the world/USA would be better off if he had died 50 years sooner.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: The link for Postcard Patriots is also up top. When I didn’t hear from you this morning, I found the site and added the link.
Do you have some sort of thumbnail logo I could use? The only thing I could find on your site that was square is what i used up top as a placeholder. :-)
WaterGirl
@SFAW: I couldn’t figure out why someone dying would be heartwarming, so I had to look him up. Notorious white supremacist. Now I understand your sentiment.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MOAR VOTER FRAUD IN PA!
Alison Rose
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Donning sunglasses to hide his identity”
Thank God these assholes are also incredibly stupid.
Mike in NC
MSNBC just can’t quit showing the hate rallies. Somebody asked what the point is. They’re waiting for Fat Bastard to finish up his golf and address the worshippers.
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:
Will email. Thanks.
Another Scott
@MisterForkbeard: As others noted, he had to get his rally fix, so he drove by.
Also…
WTOP says there were counter-protesters at the SCOTUS.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
on air?
surfk9
@SFAW: Him and his followers were an unpleasant fact of life when I lived in Escondido and he lived just up the road in Fallbrook.
Yutsano
I’mma ley y’all finish, but I’m gonna interrupt your Georgia organising to note that Champ is the goodest boy and don’t even at me about it.
SiubhanDuinne
@MazeDancer:
So glad to hear this. I have requested 300 names/addresses from Post Card Patriots, and I already know the postcard designs I’m going to download and print. Can’t wait to get started!
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
That was utterly charming. But what the actual fuck is Charlie Rose doing there? I thought they fired his sorry ass a couple of years ago. What’s going OOOONNNNNN??
pamelabrown53
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes…on air. I accidentally caught a glimpse because the spouse has it on mute in the great room. Some young female reporter was breathlessly touting the high turnout.
Funny, I thought it was a Million MAGAt March. I’d be surprised if they got more than a tenth of their goal.
Still, chaps my hide that MSNBC and other networks allows the LOSERS to continue sucking out all the oxygen. Will our MSM ever be able to quit Trump and his MAGAts?
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: I was staring at the screen as he was talking.
“I know that voice…”
Sure enough it was him. Why can’t these old codgers slink into obscurity? Maybe NBC has a shock collar on his genitalia.
glc
Here’s a Google docs link Sam Wang posted:
How to help in Georgia
randy khan
@Another Scott:
I work (well, when I went into the office, I worked) in that neighborhood. Even if you fill Freedom Plaza, it’s really not that impressive a crowd, and they didn’t fill it.
It warms the cockles of my heart.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“The election was fraudulent!”
“Where’s your proof?”
“Here’s my signed confession.”
SiubhanDuinne
Also, and I’m only going to say this once, Alter Eco Burnt Caramel organic dark chocolate is the Bomb. I mean to say, it’s really good.
(I’ve had it before and loved it, but had forgotten the brand; someone here reminded me of the Alter Eco line of chocolates the other day, so I put my Amazon cart through its paces. And I’m NOT SORRY.)
Suzanne
Did any of y’all see this anti-Cletus Safari in the FTFNYT? It’s kind of funny.
danielx
PSA – please, please, please be careful out there, jackals. Spousal unit just got a text from sis in law the radiologist who is working today and seeing case after case after case of Covid, much worse than April/May/June. Used the word “overwhelming”, which is not a word she uses lightly. This is in central Indiana.
pamelabrown53
@glc:
Excellent link. Hope WaterGirl adds this link. Easy to read bullet points.
ETA: A helpful reminder that new voters can register until Dec. 7.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
CBS, I think, but yeah. Tiresome old perv.
Alison Rose
@SiubhanDuinne: The video is from 2015
mad citizen
@danielx: I’m in central Indiana as well. Yes, it seems not just here but a lot of us will be, if not locked down entirely except for grocery shopping/doctor’s appts, will be strongly encouraged to STAY THE F HOME. This morning I cancelled our Southwest tickets and our Cali-T-giving trip. America couldn’t deal with this virus. We’re #1!?
From out numbers the other night, I figured 1 in 24 Hoosiers has had the virus.
Frankensteinbeck
@pamelabrown53:
I am very interested in how big this March is, because it will be a measure of how fast Trump’s influence over the base is ebbing. From what I’ve seen they maybe beat a thousand people? I haven’t found official numbers.
Cheryl Rofer
@Frankensteinbeck: From what I’ve seen on Twitter, they’ve filled up Freedom Plaza, which the National Park Service says is something over 13,000. They’re spaced fairly generously, so maybe 10,000.
randy khan
@Another Scott:
The Stanley Cup celebration was at least 10 times bigger. Seriously.
danielx
@mad citizen:
She’s at St. Vincent Carmel and they are at their wits end.
CaseyL
@danielx: I’ve been watching with horror as the surge swamps even the states that had their act together, like mine (Washington).
I’m supposed to go to my neighbors’ house for T-day. There’s only one of me, and two of them, and we’ve had our own bubble for months. But they’ve also invited another neighbor, who is not part of our bubble (Thanksgiving orphan). Young guy, and they say he’s been super careful, but I’m not sure what to to do.
pamelabrown53
@Frankensteinbeck:
Just with a fairly quick glance, I’d say it’s upwards 10k. Not good at estimating crowd sizes but 1 mil.: not even close.
randy khan
I am convinced that it’s possible to win both seats in Georgia. Ossoff plus the #2 Dem added up to more than 50%. Warnock and the other Dems did not do as well, but we have momentum, and Black turnout ought to be really good. Also, Republicans will not be as motivated without Trump on the ticket. Not to mention that we have a huge core of activists in Georgia who already did what a lot of people thought was impossible, which is a pretty important factor.
Frankensteinbeck
@Cheryl Rofer:
For a Republican march, those are serious numbers. Isn’t that sad to say? A huge Republican demonstration is dwarfed by average Democratic demonstrations. Still, it’s clear that a week after losing, Republicans still feel actively whiny.
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison Rose:
Thank you. That explains a lot.
Martin
@danielx: Yeah, we’re pretty fucked. We need the tightest lockdown the nation has seen going into the holidays when the public has no appetite for it. We squandered our time and destroyed the public trust. I’m not sure a Biden admin can claw it back.
I hate to say it, but I think we need to hit a death toll/hospital extraordinary measures point that shocks the public. I think the only way we get people to step up is for it to get much worse. In a sense, we should hope it happens ASAP.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
He hates his own supporters, from Congress down to the Hate rallies
He was watching TeeVee
Yutsano
Medias Touch is getting in on the game.
Martin
@Cheryl Rofer: That must have been quite the technicals parade heading into the city.
Kattails
@MazeDancer: I did that in 2018 based on your recommendation. At the time, there was a choice of several postcard images to choose among, and then you did your own note on the back. There was an opportunity to play around with colors and lettering, which was fun and I think would make them more appealing. I definitely felt better about it than the letters I did this year, which just felt like they might not even get opened. I will check it out for the runoffs.
H.E.Wolf
Best-selling writer Courtney Milan (a biracial romance author and a former Supreme Court clerk) has a Twitter thread on the lack of usefulness of moving to GA to cast a vote, and suggests helpful alternatives:
https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/status/1325119881923031044
Kattails
@Martin: If the equivalent of three and a half 747’s crashing every day of the week hasn’t shocked the public, I am not sure what will. The level of self-centered stupidity this country is displaying is just heartbreaking.
Maybe someone with video skills, not me, could do a mockup of that idea– three planes a day every day hitting random US cities and towns. Pick names out of a hat, different parts of the country (focussing on those parts that are still non-compliant). Run it as an ad. The thing is, it’s “just people” and they’re so quiet, not like fire and explosions and sirens.
West of the Cascades
I’m hoping that the two campaigns, and grass-roots organizers like Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight, are dictating the efforts by out-of-state groups (especially the DNC and PACs wanting to dump money on the state). This runoff feels all about (1) making sure that the issues Georgians care about are front and center (not sure that focusing on McConnell, as evil as he is, is a good strategy), (2) registering as many new voters as possible by December 7th, and (3) getting as may people to vote by mail or vote early as possible. The folks in Georgia know how to do that — what worries me are volunteers helicoptering in, or well-meaning people making phone calls that, after the 87th one, just piss/turn voters off.
Postcards seem to be a nice non-intrusive way to reach voters – it’s nice to get mail! and if it’s not of interest can be tossed in the bin right away.
Benw
@randy khan: winning both seats in GA is totally possible, agreed!
No Trump to vote for, plus Dems know that getting both means getting our entire freaking agenda and Repubs are basically only voting for McConnell to keep everything fucked. It’s possible D turnout remains historically high and R drops a notch!
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: I had exactly the same reaction. His body language said that he didn’t like being there as part of a Joe-Biden-Is-A-Likable-Human-Being story, either.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Quck! Claim your money!
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Cascades:
I agr
WaterGirl
@Baud: I laughed out loud. Literally. The real literally.
persistentillusion
@WaterGirl: “I informed you thusly”, I believe
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
Yup. Even if it was from 2015, I took a scunner to his crossed-arms body language. He just oozes hostility.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Yeah, no.
WaterGirl
@pamelabrown53: @glc:
I added that link under Resources in the Georgia resources link in the sidebar. I’ll check later to see if there’s a better way to highlight it, but at least it’s there for now.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: On Wednesday, the CDC updated their guidelines for Holidays and Small Gatherings.
Personally, I wouldn’t go if I knew nothing about the other person’s behavior, first-hand. But I am on the cautious side when it comes to COVID>
pamelabrown53
@WaterGirl:
Thanks. You’re the best.
Geminid
Raphael Warnock has good political communications chops. At the Georgia Senate special election debate, Republicans Loeffler and Collins spent most of their time trashing each other, but at one point Collins challenged Warnock about mayhem that Collins falsely attributed to the Black Lives Matter movement. Warnock’s response: “I will oppose violence anywhere, anytime, no matter who shows up.”
WaterGirl
@Kattails: @Martin:
What will shock people, i think, is when the hospitals start turning people away, and people are dying in hospital hallways like we saw in Italy toward the beginning of the pandemic.
When they can’t get help with other health issues because hospitals are overrun.
We are nearly there, and we will surely be there after the holidays.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Yup.
We need to remember that how much we wish it were otherwise, liberals are a genuine minority in the USA. We can help, but we need large groups of others even more.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Hey, Jackals!! Been a while since I could post on this almost top 10,000 type blog.
First, GO GEORGIA!! You can do it, screw the haters and doubters!
Second, a rant… anyone who keeps floating the idea of shipping all the deplorables to Alabama b/c “Alabama, amirite, hur duh hur” – on behalf of me, my family, my friends and loved ones, and my ancestors (as well as other Alabamians on the blog)…all of whom are fighting the good fight to make things better here by pursuing Democratic people/policies…
FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF.
We have more than enough assholes here, and are in an ongoing and existential fight against them. We have no need of more of them. Yes, this state is sending someone to the Senate who will INSTANTLY become the stupidest person there. Not my fault, Purgatorian’s fault, (sorry the other nyms aren’t coming to mind right now) – we got outvoted.
Enough with walling off our state, and enough of Bugs sawing off Florida too. That shit is tiresome and well beneath (or SHOULD BE) anyone purporting to be a Dem.
End transmission.
CaseyL
I’ll do postcards. I really don’t think phonebanking and textbanking work.
I’m very politically dialed in and aware, and even I automatically delete any text that starts out with “Hi, Cynthia!” – my formal name, which I never use except when I need to, such as when making political donations.
Steve in the ATL
@Another Scott: #Proud6%er
WaterGirl
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Applause.
We live in one huge nation, and there is no non-peeing end of the pool. Like it or not, we are all in this together.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Right on, Captain! That divisive shit is beneath us. United we stand.
Yutsano
@CaseyL: I’m with you. I worked in call centres for years. Phone calls are not my thing. I know when I get a strange text from someone I just delete it, so I really don’t see the effectiveness there.
But I can do postcards. Heck I should have done some this last time around. I’m gonna do a push to get back into my apartment and fix that so I can get some cards in the mail. And hope no one in Georgia can read the postmark.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
People are debating the dumbest Senator and the twitter ghost of Dick Nixon has an opinion
My own vote: Tuberville will narrowly edge out Marsha Blackburn, who only recent snatched a disputed crown from Ron Johnson and John Cornyn
Aleta
@SiubhanDuinne: del
Deleted my misguided comment about C Rose on that show (I’d heard he was making overtures to get back to work in the business) b/c I noticed the video was posted in 2015. Scusi.
different-church-lady
Okay, I have a little problem: I cannot get enough reliable news about Trump’s hair turning white overnight. I crave more, more, more reports of Trump’s using his very hair as a flag of surrender…
eclare
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): As a Tennessean from the Fightin’ Ninth, I approve this message.
Aleta
@Yutsano: Are you out of your apartment now? Work travel? Not the hospital I hope.
Haroldo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I dunno, my fierce Wisconsin chauvinism still has me putting my money down on Ron Johnson.
mad citizen
@danielx: Hope I’m not a patient! That’s my care system. My wife has a two niece who is at one of the Community hospitals. My wife texted her last spring to ask her take on it, so my wife could maybe get some knowledge to her RWNJ sisters. Still didn’t work–they are in the cult.
mad citizen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think our Hoosier Senator Mike Braun would give any of these others a run for their money. He’s just not as well known, but yes he is quite stupid.
pamelabrown53
@Haroldo:
Agree. Though it appears that Tuberville is a worthy challenger!
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s got a real hate for Rubio. Not sure why, but jeez.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Haroldo:
@mad citizen:
You guys don’t know Tubberville. This isn’t even going to be close.
Geminid
@Another Scott: I wonder about that 6% number for white liberals. The November ’19 Wason Center poll of Virginia registered voters had self-identification as 7% very liberal, 13% liberal, and 23% moderate, leaning liberal. With a 20% African American population distributed across these and the more conservative groupings, there are still many more than 6% white liberal. Georgia is different than Virginia, especially in that the African American population is greater than 30%. I would guess, though, that white liberals are greater than 6%. But to your point, they probably are still a fairly small minority, as they are everywhere, excepting maybe some college towns.
Haroldo
@pamelabrown53:
Without a doubt – and TT is unctuous and oily (from what I remember of him in his coaching days, so take this with a grain of salt)
jeffreyw
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Someone called him Tatertown and that is his name now.
Haroldo
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
I don’t think I’ll be glad to be proven wrong – let’s just say that I won’t be surprised and will allow for a peaceful transfer of doltitude.
trollhattan
Trump’s gang of thieves isn’t done.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mad citizen: wasn’t he the one who said if you don’t count California, the election was a tie?
@debbie: I don’t know why either, but I am, as the youths say, here for it.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
I’m fascinated by that too. It looks much better.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: someone showed a clip of him in the hospital recently, without make up, and he looked much better than he usually does
just think, in three months, we won’t have to look at him when we watch the news!
Steve in the ATL
@Yutsano: FYI I always check the postmark on the cards I receive. I think it’s awesome that someone in New York or Oregon or New Mexico is encouraging me!
Geminid
@Geminid: 2020 was definitely a high turnout year for Georgia. In 2016, trump beat Clinton by a little over 200,000 votes, 2,089,000 to 1,877,000. This election trump added ~370,000 votes to finish at 2,454,000. Biden finished with 2,472,000, nearly 600,000 more than Clinton’s 2016 total. Stacey Abrams and company weren’t fooling around.
Misterpuff
@germy: So Trump is royalty – Drama Queen.
But you already knew that.
Felanius Kootea
@Mousebumples: “I informed you thusly” – she didn’t want to say “I told you so.”
WaterGirl thanks for putting up the link to the Stacey Abrams podcast. The most important thing I took away from it is that she thinks the runoff is winnable. I’m already contributing monthly to both GA senate candidates and Fair Fight; will see what else I can do.
mad citizen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes, Mike Braun said that out loud the other day. I posted about it here. Well I may be too hard on Braun, he did run some sort of trucking company. He’s from southern Indiana, so I don’t know a whole lot about him, only that he parroted trumpism all the way through to his election two years ago.
WaterGirl
@Aleta: Last I hear Yutsano was recuperating at his mom’s house.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Haroldo:
That’s quality – stealing it!
Josie
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
Amen, brother.
Baud
@Geminid: Those are amazing numbers.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The dead bastard’s ghost is pretty funny.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Biden and Harris are definitely easier on the eyes.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The American Nuremberg trials won’t be televised? :(
But I wanna see these Soviet shitpiles get repeatedly punched in their fucking fascist faces by Lady Justice!
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@mrmoshpotato: I just wanted to say, your commitment to the bit is amazing.
UncleEbeneezer
Hillary also had a great interview with Abrams:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gR4KrjSbxQJgqmbZT3fCb?si=5VYHPUOhS0K8Ycbw4_6PZw
mrmoshpotato
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): It’s not a bit when they are Soviet shitpile mobster con artists. :)
(Yes, also “con queso” you silly suggestive (Oh baby!) text.)
mrmoshpotato
Naturally. LOL!
Oh, and someone should slap Dan Patrick.
mrmoshpotato
@UncleEbeneezer: Thanks for posting this.
Another Scott
@Geminid:
Thanks.
Ben doesn’t say where he got the number, so I looked around. Pew numbers for Georgia:
2014 – Conservative 42%, Moderate 32%, Liberal 20%, Don’t Know 6%, Sample Size 968
Liberal: 48% White, 27% Black, 16% Latino, 9% Asian and Other/Mixed.
So 0.20 x 0.48 = 9.6% White Liberal.
That was a more than 2 election cycles ago, so things have probably moved some. Ben’s number may be on the low side, but it’s in the ballpark.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: This is correct. I will probably not get out today (there are things that need to be done before I can move in) and next weekend I’ll be in Seattle. So unless I do a power move the Wednesday before Turkey Day I’m pretty much stuck here until December. Which is fine. The folks don’t seem to be in any hurry with pushing me out the door.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Sometimes it’s nice to have a safety net. I’m glad you still have your parents.
Llelldorin
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Amen. We all rise, or we all fall. The former sounds like a better idea.
Elizabelle
@UncleEbeneezer: Thank you for this! Have a lot of house stuff to do this week (since finally have the energy), and please keep these great interviews coming.
RandyG
For those still following this thread…. regarding Flip the West, I notified WaterGirl directly after I heard back from my contact. FTW is already overloaded with postcard requests, and they don’t have the new script ready to go yet — also, no word on whether they planned to up their game, re messages and targets — so WG dropping them from the list was the smart move. If I hear anything new, I’ll let WG know.