Election Day Countdown: 3 Days, 3 Things
*cough-cough*
More on that later. It’s very late on Day 3, need to get through these pronto.
~ 3 ~
The tangerine hellbeast will have a total of four rallies in Michigan between Saturday morning and Election Day. I wish I had sufficient lack of self-preservation to go to one of these events and shout at him, “Get out of my state, you diseased cretin!!!” but no.
A pity the Trump campaign hasn’t taken the conservative Detroit News’ hint — both its endorsement of Biden and its front page today:
With three days left, two headlines on one front page, illustrating perhaps the most dominant story of this election. pic.twitter.com/vkw5W3NnBx
— Matt Viser (@mviser) October 31, 2020
A key reason Trump may be in Michigan so often — since his polling has been consistently behind Biden between 5-7% for a couple months — is that Trumpist senate candidate John James is within MOE of incumbent Democrat Gary Peters.
DeVos family and Mitch McConnell’s PAC have dumped more than $10 million combined into this race because it’s closer than some of the incumbent Republicans’ races.
Trump doesn’t sound like he’s convinced he can win. He’s tired; he cut down his Friday night rally in Minnesota to 21 minutes, blaming the governor’s COVID crowd limitations.
Maybe it’s the small crowd. Maybe it’s the cold. But this is the lowest energy I’ve ever seen the President be at a rally. He’s blowing through his applause lines, just checking the boxes on his usual speech, like he’s got somewhere to be. pic.twitter.com/iZyj6YSlLp
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) October 30, 2020
He was phoning it in. Have to wonder how that will affect James’ chances if Trump can’t produce higher energy for his base in Michigan.
~ 2 ~
Another key reason Trump is making four trips to Michigan sure looks like attempted mass murder by COVID.
New @Stanford study estimates that 18 Trump rallies have led to 30,000 COVID cases and 700 deaths
(via @AaronBelkin) https://t.co/zcR4yKwnEl pic.twitter.com/1yaPivbYFS
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) October 31, 2020
You know Team Trump knows about this trend of increased confirmed cases and deaths. You know they’re aware Michigan has had record case numbers since his 9/11 rally here.
Sure looks like malice aforethought. Add that to the damage to high volume sorting in Detroit’s U.S. Postal office and it’s a deliberate and deadly combination of voter suppression in this swing state he won by a mere ten thousand votes in 2016.
~ 1 ~
And one more key reason for showing up so often in Michigan is his incitement to violence. It’s already spawned at least one seditious conspiracy against Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer, a.k.a. “that woman in Michigan.” He trash talked about her during the last visits he’s made to this state.
Today he tweeted implicit support for an attack by Trump supporters on a Biden-Harris campaign bus in Texas. The attack showed up on a number of videos posted on Twitter:
These tactics have no place in Texas, my home state, and no place in America.
Please vote. Please volunteer this weekend. The future of our democracy is at stake. pic.twitter.com/G0O4yg2vnJ
— Dr. Eric Cervini (@ericcervini) October 31, 2020
This attack was encouraged by Donnie Jr. with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge, according to the Daily Beast:
“Hey Laredo, Don Jr. here. I heard you had an awesome turnout for the Trump Train,” Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump, said in a video tweeted by Daily Caller contributor Kambree Kawahine Koa. “It would be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome… let’s show them how strong Texas still is as Trump country.”
The FBI is looking into this. Not holding my breath that they’ll get right on this.
~ 0 ~
One last adder to the above three things given today’s terroristic attack on the Biden-Harris bus and Biden: this country is on the verge of systemic violence. This tweet thread notes how coverage of the violence we’ve been seeing incited by Trump and his supporters is not accurately described to the public:
The way that part of the American media are generically talking about the prospects for “post-elxn violence” evacuates all agency & responsibility from the architects of this climate of fear. It reminds me of the “ancient ethnic hatreds” myth from the Bosnian War.
— Jasmin Mujanović (@JasminMuj) October 31, 2020
The media is playing it safe using the same techniques it used when describing torture by the Bush administration — as “enhanced interrogation” — and not attributing it to the inciter or perpetrators.
Even when it’s state-sanctioned violence against the media, it’s not described as bluntly as it should be. This tweet about police in Graham, NC launching an unprovoked attack with pepper spray on a GOTV march which had a permit is as blunt as it gets and it still doesn’t quite convey the level of threat:
Graham NC, where police pepper-spray children and arrest journalists.https://t.co/ASQUKDSG8E
— Steve Brown (@WGRZ_SteveBrown) October 31, 2020
We should expect U.S. media to report both incitement and attacks using the same terms they employ when this kind of violence happens in other countries.
If you’ve already voted, thank you. Please help others get to the polls.
And prepare for anything over the next four to five days.
And that’s it for Halloween tricks and treats. Completely forgot to mention the holiday.
We had a record low number of kids at the door — only four arriving in two pairs. Bought about four pounds of candy too much. Weather was clear if windy and cold, and it was a Saturday with an extra hour of time tomorrow. Should have been swamped with kids but COVID certainly did a number on turnout.
Quiet night here. No kids out at all. I was hoping for someone in a Grim Reaper outfit with a MAGA cap.
All four kids including a two-year-old wore such all-encompassing masks I don’t know how they could see to walk. In fact one of the kids was wearing a full-body skeleton leotard which even covered his entire face — he couldn’t see to take the candy I set out for him. But he was the closest thing to a grim reaper. LOL
I saw a photo elseweb of a classroom skeleton wearing a skeleton costume.
Damn, that’s funny.
It mebbe might coulda used a MAGA or even just a 2020 cap.
GOP terrorists trying to firebomb 117,000 ballots in Texas suing Federal court after rejected in state courts.. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/texas-drive-through-voting-throw-out-ballots.html
Decent turnout this year, low for the neighborhood, most masked. My dream of ordering a bunch of unfamiliar Canadian candy brands and putting those out has gone another year unrealized…
I’m so sorry that the human aerosolised covid epicenter is holding so many hate rallies in your state, especially given that it has impacted you personally.
There will probably be weirdness, and I hope the FBI gets the idiots shown in this video.
But the financial press that I read seems to be saying that Trump has lost so much support in the business community that they’ll let him twist in the wind. Fingers crossed.
Gosh, I hope your cliffhanging opener resolves benignly. Meantime, this is a fun costume thread (QT’s from Japan with translations). Enjoyable titles (“a part timer who showed up to work after a wedding”):
parker @ PIumeriaComic: “people are still doing the halloween event where u dress up as random everyday people in mundane situations it’s called #地味ハロウィン”
https://twitter.com/TAGASAING/status/1322410354161246215
Meant to add this the other day, just a great piece (for the reading, and the files):
The ‘very, very bad look’ of remdesivir, the first FDA-approved COVID-19 drug
By Jon Cohen, Kai Kupferschmidt Oct. 28, 2020 , 7:05 PM
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/very-very-bad-look-remdesivir-first-fda-approved-covid-19-drug
“first aid dummy at a driving school” hahahaha
Totemo omoshiroi!
Twitter has silenced Stephen J. Caruso, an important PA gov watchdog reporter (Penn Capital-Star): ‘account restricted due to unusual activity’ — I wonder if that’s because he was last reporting on a PA US Rep taking $1k from a GA Qanoner pol. He covers all sorts of crucial election matters (including topics harpie just linked here, for e.g.), of the type national media has and will rely on. Even if you get to his prior work by clicking through a barrier, all of his threads are broken (like in a ~20-tweet thread ending in, “The sort of graph that helps you follow the money:”, none of them but that last one displays: twitter says they are “unavailable” (https://twitter.com/StephenJ_Caruso/status/1321798769965473793).
—
Justin Sweitzer: “I have to say it’s a bit concerning that @StephenJ_Caruso, an intrepid watchdog reporter covering Pennsylvania government, has been locked out of his account just days before a pivotal presidential election. Any way this can get fixed, @Twitter? [screenshot]”
https://twitter.com/justin_sweitzer/status/1322383728379912192
Even way down here there are victims of the Trump religion.
And they’re still believing that Trump is assured of winning the election.
Which will make it child’s play to have them believe that the election was fraudulent if/when Biden wins.
Is the same delusion of Trump’s chances being fed to his state-side base?
Here’s a writer, though NOT MSM, who’s not mincing his words [I added numbers]:
https://twitter.com/charlesjaco1/status/1322401327801077760
12:53 AM · Oct 31, 2020
Thank you for linking to that tweet thread by Jasmin Mujanović:
There are armed gangs roaming and plotting in the UNITED States right now who are HOPING/AGITATING for another civil war.
MAGABomber…just before 2018 midterm elections:
https://twitter.com/johnson_carrie/status/1055875398834311173
10:34 AM – 26 Oct 2018
Here’s a Julia Davis thread from OCTOBER 2018 about Russia pushing the “civil war” theme in AUGUST 2017:
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1053390067065073664
4:58 PM · Oct 19, 2018
A thread by RVA Wonk on those same DOJ charges:
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1056442327122829313
3:07 AM · Oct 28, 2018
The interviewer asks Stone whether he’s predicting “some sort of civil war” if the President is impeached and he answers “Yes”
More about Stone’s incitement to violence and Civil War:
Roger Stone Threatened Political Violence and Civil War Prior to Instagram Post Aimed at Judge
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/roger-stone-threatened-political-violence-and-civil-war-prior-to-instagram-aimed-at-judge-amy-berman-jackson-11093425
FEBRUARY 21, 2019
From the Miami Herald article:
Sorry about my obsession here, Rayne. I’ll stop now.
I made a recent trip to Academy sports in Jefferson Parish, LA (before the latest hurricane) for some fishing gear and spoke to the salesgirl for a little while. She brought up her concerns about the nutcases who line up every morning waiting for the delivery of ammunition. They buy up everything that they are allowed to buy according to the law and then hurry over to other stores hoping to get some more. She said it happens every day at every store and that it is the same bunch of people every time.
Some day I will sleep again, but not anytime soon. My nightmare is already unfolding – I’ve long believed TrumpCo will disrupt the normal vote counts all over the country by targeting the buildings where the vote counts are happening, targeting the election personnel at their homes, and creating an unsafe environment that force the counts to a halt. And then I see a tweet from @OlgaNYC1211 citing WAPO:
“Trump’s camp sought highly sensitive ballot security information from a county in Pennsylvania. They wanted names of people who transport the ballots and precise info on where ballots are stored. Thanks to an alarmed commissioner we know this. Were they planning to share w Putin?”
No, not Putin. Their armed hordes. To do what they’ve been training for. Storm a Michigan statehouse: Legislators stop their business for the day. Ambush a Biden Bus: Biden campagin event cancelled. They know they can achieve their result because they’ve been doing it over and over. And I don’t think the Dems or the Press are anywhere prepared for what is about to unfold, or have any plans to pre-empt it.
Yesterday afternoon I heard a bunch of car horns honking and looked out my window to see a Trump caravan blasting down the 2-lane road flags flying. One after another, an unending stream that went on for prolly 10 minutes. My small-ish town is liberal, with MAGAts in surrounding towns that like to do these stunts. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized why I was so unnerved by the procession. The fact it never stopped meant they were blowing through the stoplight up around the bend. Our road became their road. Our citizens hostage until they had their way. And not one police officer in sight.
JJ MacNab is doing a twitter thread about the people who say they organized the Biden Bus harassment campaign:
https://twitter.com/jjmacnab/status/1322911768260337664
9:41 AM · Nov 1, 2020
Lock em up.
And put the LEOs that refused to do anything in the cells opposite. Plus the TX GOP-T party “leaders” that are excusing it.
I am very curious whether the Secret Service will knock on some of those doors. Biden wasn’t on that bus, but the people involved would have no way of being sure someone with Secret Service protection wasn’t there.
Wendy Davis was on the bus.
But I don’t think it matters who was on it – they were after the bus, because Biden/Harris.
Some of the locals are unhappy, because the message it sends is that this part of Texas is hostile to tourists, too, and they depend on tourists (New Braunfels, especially).
It matters for jurisdictional purposes.
Yes
Interstate highway – does that make it federal?
Remdesivir does NOT benefit Covid19 patients, according to a new large-scale international WHO study. No benefit was found for length of hospital stay, ventilator need or mortality. There was a suggestion of kidney damage.
Knowing the results, Gilead pushed through a deal with the EU to purchase $1.2 billion of a worthless drug, signed literally the day before the new study was publicly reported.
First hydroxycloroquine, then convalescent plasma and now this. By pushing through three unproven treatments for Covid19 without clear evidence of benefit, the Trump administration has severely damaged the credibility of our FDA.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/very-very-bad-look-remdesivir-first-fda-approved-covid-19-drug
I haven’t figured out the angle with convalescent plasma but the link between HCQ and remdesivir is access by Trump donors or club members. Although in the case of remdesivir, there was the role of Joe Grogan, former Gilead lobbyist who worked for the Trump administration as director of domestic policy. He left not long after it was noted Gilead bypassed the FDA’s approval process when it shipped remdesivir to China for a study. (I wrote at least a couple posts discussing the Gilead bit.)
Breaking News!!!!!
ConPlasma is also all about $$$$$ and who knows whom, featuring the irrepressible Rick Santorum plus a cast of new shady characters.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/trump-admin-funds-plasma-company-based-owners-condo-73954807
Ugh. There’s always, always a grift; it just hadn’t been sussed until now in the case of the plasma. I am repulsed by the hypocrisy of Rick Santorum’s involvement — probably encouraged to keep him from getting sanctimonious on Trump’s ass.
Damn it. I had a partially written post about the plasma I didn’t finish and publish because something just seemed so off at the time Trump was pushing it. This is likely the rot I could smell but couldn’t see.
Thanks, graham.
1] https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1322914905247436800
9:54 AM · Nov 1, 2020
2] https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1322926241633259520
10:39 AM · Nov 1, 2020 [VIDEO]
They’re trying to convince people that the votes COUNTED after election night don’t count…that the Electoral College is determined by the vote count at the end of Election day.
BUT THEY KNOW the Electoral College is not finalized…DOES NOT MEET until December 14.
3] And, this is how we know THEY know that:
[Shane Goldmacher link in next comment]
6:51 PM · Oct 31, 2020
3] https://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher/status/1322672487235260417 6:51 PM · Oct 31, 2020
“You know Team Trump knows about this trend of increased confirmed cases and deaths. You know they’re aware Michigan has had record case numbers since his 9/11 rally here.
Sure looks like malice aforethought.”
They simply don’t care about anything except money and power. There is nothing else to these creatures in the White House.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled against the GOP in their bid to DQ the Harris County drive through votes.
Which in a sane system should be the last word, but there is no certainty that the right wing federal judge who inserted himself and is holding a hearing tomorrow will go along.
At least now the federal district court cannot legitimately base its judgment on an interpretation of state law. It will have to make-up a new constitutional explanation to affirmatively override state law. If it does decide based on state law, the state Supreme Court would be justified in telling the feds to pound salt: it has the last word on the meaning of state law.
We’re in the middle of a rolling coup. The MSM and others with a cultural platform need to start explaining things that way, and declaring such a coup inherently illegitimate.
What do you think of this?:
https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1322992307923243010
3:02 PM · Nov 1, 2020
Dangerously, with ACB’s accession, it is now five S.Ct. justices. One of many unimpeachable reasons Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi need to unite behind serious federal court reform.
That’s been an argument since the unprecedented decision twenty years ago in Bush v. Gore. It fundamentally violates the Constitution, but it will take concerted opposition from several state supreme courts to assert that right.
Frankly, I think it comes down to many things, including our willingness to peaceably take it to the streets. Strategic general strikes in DC and major cities across the country would be important. The quote attributed to Ben Franklin was never more apt: nice republic you have there, “if you can keep it.”
TRUMP THUGS in NEW JERSEY
Trump supporters block major New Jersey highway ahead of 2020 election
‘We shut it down, baby! We shut it down!’ man shouts in video of vehicle blockade
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-garden-state-parkway-new-jersey-2020-maga-trucks-b1509844.html
This is the tweet/video embedded in the above article:
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1322957092412686343
12:42 PM · Nov 1, 2020
That YWN timestamp is earlier:
https://twitter.com/YWN/status/1322954288675606528
12:30 PM · Nov 1, 2020
And this tweet/video is a little earlier that:
https://twitter.com/YWN/status/1322944476218855425
11:51 AM · Nov 1, 2020
For those curious why the Yeshiva World News would be reporting this, Lakewood is home to a very large Orthodox Jewish Community with one of the largest yeshivas in the world. They reliably vote Republican. Lakewood is also in Ocean County, one of the most conservative counties in the state.
Proof of concept for obstruction of traffic on Election Day, I wonder?
It may be “in the middle of the state”, but it’s not far from Staten Island. (Maybe eight miles from the east edge of Perth Amboy, by road.)
I have to admit, I keep hoping for wind to come up and blow all those flag-bearing vehicles over on their sides. (They have more flags on their pickups than ISIS.)
Trump declaring victory on election night – because he thinks he’s ahead, based on the votes cast and counted as of, say, 8.00pm – is Mr. Bonespurs declaring victory by moving the “finish line” to wherever he happens to be. The MSM really needs to call bullshit on that fast and often. They should not cover it live, and should use a truth sandwich whenever they do cover it.
Regarding the TX drive-through voting challenge, what couldn’t the founding fathers been a bit more president about the evolution of modes of transportation?
« Texas Supreme Court rejects Republican-led effort to throw out nearly 127,000 Harris County votes
…The Republican plaintiffs, however, are pursuing a similar lawsuit in federal court, hoping to get the votes thrown out by arguing that drive-thru voting violates the U.S. constitution. »
Last I checked, the Constitution doesn’t say anything about voting methods (or even secret ballots).
Can someone check their grades to see if they passed history and civics?
On the rumor that Trump will act out viciously if he wins, I think that’s undoubtedly true. He will spend four years doing little else, and then demand another term, with the intention of remaining president for life.
But a slight acquaintance with Trump’s personality would tell you that he will act out much more viciously if loses. He will have nearly three months to decapitate bureaucratic leadership, install even less qualified judges, and otherwise pour concrete into the gearworks of American government, the economy, and America’s Covid response.
Trump will also work 24/7 and without restraint to overturn that loss before and after January 20th. I hope Team Biden, the press, and state governors are preparing for that.
OT to election, but of interest I hope. This is now two weeks old but still relevant. I read about halfway through it back then, and had to stop b/c I got so angry. I’m back at it. Trying to make to the end. My neighbor is an epidemiologist at CDC, been there for at least 26 years. I could ask her for more info, but I don’t want to burden her. She’s pretty stressed.
All the best to Rayne and everyone.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-fall-of-the-cdc
Rayne, are you OK? I ask because of the *cough-cough* with which you introduced the post, as well as what’s going on in your household.
RIP Robert Fisk, journalist and foreign correspondent, in Ireland, at 74. His beat included the UK, Ireland and Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Russia, and the US.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/veteran-journalist-and-author-robert-fisk-dies-aged-74-1.4397069
Trump today to reporters in North Carolina:
“We’re going in the night of – as soon as the election is over – we’re going in with our lawyers….”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-election-victory-declare-lawyers-b1517485.html