↓
 
Home » Election Day

Election Day

The New Neo Posted on by

And here we are. A thread for discussing it. Hoping for the best but very nervous.

I think I’ll wait for later today and/or tonight to post more. Going out now – to vote!

Comments

Election Day — 76 Comments

  2. Lines fairly short at the polling place, 09:30 this morning – I would guess the wait is about 15 minutes (where I stood for 45 minutes a few days ago).

  4. I would be comfortable–except Pennsylvania.

    On another note, to repeat my mantra, I am discouraged about the future of the country that this seems to be as close as it is at this point. Or maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

  5. I am preparing to be humbled and gratified when the people of this country chart our course toward a better future, despite being inundated with propaganda that is sophisticated and pervasive beyond anything seen in history! We have been clearly shown who the enemy of freedom is: the corporate media and the high-tech giants! Now we have to tame them, and luckily we have a leader up to the job!

  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VR3Av9qfZc

    Que Malcom Reynolds. He was trying too hard as an actor, since the role was a bit too hard core for the human acting, but he did well. As a telempath, reading his angst was interesting, since he converted his acting difficulties into Malcom’s losing the war angst.

  9. Can’t stop the signal, Yammer.

    In other news, I see that the shenanigans were off to an early start all across Pennsylvania today. AG Shapiro put the word out yesterday that “Trump is going to lose” and the Left’s foot soldier got the message.

    I don’t think it will be enough but Biden won’t be able to blame the PA AG for the loss.

  10. “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”

    Novus ordo seclorum

    Some one will say: And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end? To him I may fairly answer: There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong—acting the part of a good man or of a bad.

    [Section omitted: Socrates goes on to illustrate this point by referencing Achilles’ slaying of Hector in The Iliad and recalling his past experiences facing death while on military duty.]

    For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. Is there not here conceit of knowledge, which is a disgraceful sort of ignorance? And this is the point in which, as I think, I am superior to men in general, and in which I might perhaps fancy myself wiser than other men, – that whereas I know but little of the world below, I do not suppose that I know: but I do know that injustice and disobedience to a better, whether God or man, is evil and dishonorable, and I will never fear or avoid a possible good rather than a certain evil. And therefore if you let me go now, and reject the counsels of Anytus, who said that if I were not put to death I ought not to have been prosecuted, and that if I escape now, your sons will all be utterly ruined by listening to my words – if you say to me, Socrates, this time we will not mind Anytus, and will let you off, but upon one condition, that are to inquire and speculate in this way any more, and that if you are caught doing this again you shall die; – if this was the condition on which you let me go, I should reply: Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy, exhorting anyone whom I meet after my manner, and convincing him, saying: O my friend, why do you who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? Are you not ashamed of this? And if the person with whom I am arguing says: Yes, but I do care; I do not depart or let him go at once; I interrogate and examine and cross-examine him, and if I think that he has no virtue, but only says that he has, I reproach him with undervaluing the greater, and overvaluing the less. And this I should say to everyone whom I meet, young and old, citizen and alien, but especially to the citizens, inasmuch as they are my brethren. For this is the command of God, as I would have you know; and I believe that to this day no greater good has ever happened in the state than my service to the God. For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue come money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous indeed. But if anyone says that this is not my teaching, he is speaking an untruth. Wherefore, O men of Athens, I say to you, do as Anytus bids or not as Anytus bids, and either acquit me or not; but whatever you do, know that I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times.-trial records

    http://www.philosophyforbeginners.com/2017/01/23/socrates-death-virtue-short-reading-apology-plato/

    Not much time will be gained, O Athenians, in return for the evil name which you will get from the detractors of the city, who will say that you killed Socrates, a wise man; for they will call me wise, even although I am not wise, when they want to reproach you. If you had waited a little while, your desire would have been fulfilled in the course of nature. For I am far advanced in years, as you may perceive, and not far from death. I am speaking now not to all of you, but only to those who have condemned me to death. And I have another thing to say to them: you think that I was convicted because I had no words of the sort which would have procured my acquittal—I mean, if I had thought fit to leave nothing undone or unsaid. Not so; the deficiency which led to my conviction was not of words— certainly not. But I had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you would have liked me to do, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and saying and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear from others, and which, as I maintain, are unworthy of me. I thought at the time that I ought not to do anything common or mean when in danger: nor do I now repent of the style of my defence; I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live. For neither in war nor yet at law ought I or any man to use every way of escaping death. Often in battle there can be no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways of escaping death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly, and the slower runner has overtaken me, and my accusers are keen and quick, and the faster runner, who is unrighteousness, has overtaken them. And now I depart hence condemned by you to suffer the penalty of death,—they too go their ways condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of villainy and wrong; and I must abide by my award—let them abide by theirs. I suppose that these things may be regarded as fated,—and I think that they are well.

    “Cause pain before you injure. Injure before you maim. Maim before you kill. And if you must kill, make it a clean kill. Squeeze every drop of life from the opponent. Because life is so precious, it cannot be wasted, even in death.”

    “Let him cut your skin, and you cut his flesh. Let him cut your flesh, and you cut his bones. Let him cut your bones, and you cut off his life.”

    “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

    “‘He either fears his fate too much,
    Or his desert is small,
    Who fears to put it to the touch,
    And win or lose it all.’

  11. Fractal Rabbit on November 3, 2020 at 2:35 pm said:
    Can’t stop the signal, Yammer.

    Ymar has been jammed before though.

  12. I am a pessimist by nature but I am praying big time for a victory as if our lives depend upon it – and they do!

  13. In 2016 I was pretty sure Hillary was going to win.
    This year I’m somewhat less sure Biden will win.

    I hope I’ll be wrong twice.

    We voted proudly for President Trump.

  15. I voted late this morning, almost no one was there. As I was waiting to put my ballot in the voting machine the woman in front of me accidentally exposed her ballot. It was for Trump! I nearly fainted. What are the odds here in the heart of ultra-liberal MA? it’s not supposed to happen!

  16. My liberal cafe friends are guardedly optimistic. They believe Biden will win but they remember 2016.

    I listened to yesterday’s Scott Adams podcast. He is guardedly optimistic for Trump but admits anything can happen.

    His take on the polls is that it’s not the shy Trumpers who are the problem, but the prank Trumpers who tell the polls they are voting for Biden just for the pleasure of screwing with the polls. If it works, Adams says, it will be the greatest prank in history and will be remembered for centuries.

    I don’t know about centuries but it would be a damn fine joke I will remember for decades if I have any choice about it.

    And it doesn’t seem that unlikely, given that it’s supposed to be white men who have flipped against Trump according to the 10/9 Pew Poll analysis.

  18. I was at my polling place in Omaha at 7:11 a.m. and I was 9th in line. When I left, it looked to me that over 200 people were in line.

    I’ve never seen anything like that. That I can tell you!

    Trump landslide; 39-40 states. Even with Dem cheating. Trump wins MN, WI, MI, OH, NC, FL, AZ and PA; the key big EC states. And he gets big numbers even in states like NY, OR and CA.

  19. I’m a pessimist by nature, so much so that I can’t reasonably analyze political trends without reliable data. Needless to say, reliable data have been hard to come by.

    For now, I’ll pin my hopes on people like Cornhead, who picked Trump last time, against all odds. Just to feel like a completely different person, let me be the second to predict a Trump landslide. Ah, that felt good.

  22. Voted in person early on Thursday. I had been looking around in a kind of desultory way for “early voting” signs to appear at the local precinct location. None were obvious.

    Got online early last week and found there was only one location and that that was the municipal clerk’s office. I called and she said the procedure was that you filled out a form, presented it with your ID, received in return a mail-in ballot, and then either filled it out there, or took it home and mailed it in.

    I asked about turn out, and she said she had never seen anything like it; but, that they had 4 clerks at windows handling the line, and it was moving.

    When I got there there were about 20 people already in line, and others were flowing hurriedly in from the parking lot in a steady stream. As I took my place at the end of the line, it was me, a couple of young males, and the rest were women of various ages and ethnicites. It reminded me a bit of the turnout I witnessed for Obama. It also had very intense vibe. And I think we all know that as politics gets more and more personal and unlimited, this is inevitably the case.

    My brother sent me an image of the line his son encountered in Indiana a few days ago. It was at a one story building located on what looked like a school property, or at least to be a public building area with large lawns and walk ways. People were lined up outside for a 100 yards or more. This, was again, for early voting.

    I talked to my “clueless cousin” by happenstance today. He mentioned that his girlfriend was working the polling place and expected to be in for a long day.

    “What is she doing there?” I asked. “Isn’t she English? Oh man, an English socialist …”

    “She is a citizen now, and a Republican” he said. ” A big Trump supporter”

    Well, set me straight and send me to my room without dinner. That conflict avoidant woman who seemed so desperate that everyone just get along, is for Trump.

    Will wonders never cease? Let us hope not ….

  23. I voted by absentee ballot and in OK, I can check the website to see if it was received. They got it on 10/8. The state doesn’t count until today and then they post if the ballot was accepted or rejected by tomorrow. I should be ok since I had the ballot notarized which is the usual requirement. You could photocopy your ID or voter registration card because of C19, but I wanted to be sure it was counted.

    I found some statistics on the site. As of today, about 20% of the registered voters had voted by absentee or during the 3-day early voting period. The results were 46% R, 41% D and 12% Ind.

    I compared the voter registrations between 2016 and 2020 – more stats which were on the website. In 2016, the split was 44% Rs, 42% Ds and 13% Ind. Now, in 2020, there was a 14% increase in people registered. But, there are fewer registered Ds (832,059 to 750,669). The split is now 50% Rs, 33% Ds, and 16% Inds.

    I’m pretty confident that Trump will win the state, but there is one Senate position (older white man – Inhofe vs a pretty, young female). And one of the districts switched to D in 2018, so we are hoping that it switches back.

  24. It would be great if Trump were to win both the electoral and popular votes since a lot of states like Colorado want to make a change so their electoral vote goes to the popular vote. Could there be enough conservative Trump votes this year in the always left states for him to win the popular vote?

  25. I’m optimistic. I don’t know if it’s because I’m burned out on feeling terrified every four years because it’s the Ultimate Election that we must not lose or because I just can’t reconcile the polls for Biden with the reality I see.

    Biden is such a weak (including literally) candidate and the Democrats have said and done so many atrocious, foolish things that I can’t believe Americans will throw out Trump because he is icky and Democrats say so.

  26. Paul In Boston on November 3, 2020 at 2:52 pm said:
    I voted late this morning, almost no one was there. As I was waiting to put my ballot in the voting machine the woman in front of me accidentally exposed her ballot. It was for Trump! I nearly fainted. What are the odds here in the heart of ultra-liberal MA? it’s not supposed to happen!
    ————-

    Not that surprising. Who else would vote in person in Boston but the few Trump supporters?

  27. Humanity must move beyond fear. Fear has served its purpose and does not need to be magnified any more.

  28. I’d like to hear more about what’s happening in the deep blue states. Townhall has up some tweets from around Florida showing up to a 3/1 turnout R vs D. I’ve never seen in my town so many Trump signs and a VERY heavy turnout. But the town went Trump in 2016 as did most of rural Connecticut. I haven’t heard anything about Hartford, New Haven etc, but assume they will be solidly D.

    Paul in Boston’s comment is intriguing. Was the turnout light as the D voters staying home?? I thought they couldn’t wait to burn Trump to the ground.

  29. I tried to do early voting three times and got fed up with the lines. Finally realized regular voting was likely to be easier and quicker. It was, but I was still filled with dread that if some glitch occurred there would be no time to fix it. What a feeling of relief to get that vote in!. And I’m praying that my usually meaningless New York vote may help change the outcome. If he can swing NY red, that should shut them up for a long while. Meanwhile, my lefty Facebook friends were ranting about the Grand Rapids MI incident in which headstones at a Jewish cemetery were spray painted with “Trump” and “MAGA”. They are shaming all Jewish Trump voters for encouraging this action by his racist “base”. It sure looks like a false flag operation to me. I don’t play the Facebook game anymore, but I was tempted to ask them if it made sense for an antisemitic Trump fan to pull this on election day if they really wanted him to win. In other words, between hypothetical racist Trump fan and devious leftist Trump hater, who benefits more from this?

  30. I drove by my polling place at noon. No line, but the parking lot was full.

    There was also space inside to wait.

  31. “Meanwhile, my lefty Facebook friends were ranting about the Grand Rapids MI incident in which headstones at a Jewish cemetery were spray painted with “Trump” and “MAGA”. They are shaming all Jewish Trump voters for encouraging this action by his racist “base”. It sure looks like a false flag operation to me.”

    I saw this making the rounds, too. Has there ever been an incident of this sort that did not turn out to be done by a lefty? They continue to project that conservatives are just like them, except with opposite political beliefs … forgetting that the only side that has elements in any numbers who vandalize stuff, or even think about vandalizing stuff, is theirs.

  32. Gothamite, for what it’s worth (from JNS):
    “…too soon to deem vandalism Anti-Semitic…”
    It could be A-S, but it was also Hallowe’en. (On the other hand, in what way could Trump possibly be responsible for it? Because he has Jewish grandchildren??… It’s the usual knee-jerk garbage…coming from people who really ought to know better, but they’re probably too far down the rabbit hole at this point, unfortunately….)
    https://www.jns.org/political-graffiti-turns-up-on-headstones-in-michigan-jewish-cemetery/

    Changing tack a bit, here’s something absolutely priceless:
    https://twitter.com/LeeSmithDC/status/1323724781057941504

    And a bonus:
    Taking a (healthy?) break from the election hysteria, some fascinating discoveries of Yiddish-singing Black Cantors from the 20s (with recording):
    https://www.timesofisrael.com/yiddisher-black-cantors-from-100-years-ago-rediscovered-thanks-to-rare-recording/

  33. I’m sort of shocked. Here in my Dem enclave in NY State there were more poll watchers in my polling place than voters. It was also quite cheerful actually. That was not the case in nearby areas— based on many of them sharing stern pronouncements, angry denunciations and photos of snaking lines on Facebook.

    But, I might be the only Trump voter in my district though. Shhh. Maybe I should have worn gloves in case they test the ballot for dna looking for the culprit…

  34. Barry Meislin: I did enjoy that Brennan tweet. He’s really squirming. Too far gone is definitely the problem for my lefty pals. The same post highlighting the cemetery graffiti also had to bring up the “mocked a disabled reporter” trope. It’s so frustrating because as long as no one challenges them, the libels live on. But I have zero interest in getting into Facebook wars. I tried it with one guy in private messages and he went nuts! Rapid fire retorts before I could even respond to the last one. Finally, he dropped the “Fox News watcher” bomb. I told him I never resorted to ad hominems with him, keeping my arguments to the issues at hand. I actually got an apology from him on that one, but the insanity just picked right up!

  36. Well it must be incredibly frustrating and unpleasant. I don’t know how people can take that kind of abuse, frankly, let alone dish it out.

    Moreover, I’m pretty certain that social media, if it keeps up like it’s been going, may well cause the demise of civilization as we know it. (Perhaps, the only way the trend can be turned around is if FB, Twitter et al. find a way to send electrical shocks to the keyboards of those keying in nasty, brutish and short, or not so short, messages, with the shocks getting stronger and stronger with each nasty message….until the behavior stops and better behavior is “learned”…. But, no doubt, that’s just my inner B.F. Skinner desperately trying to get out….)

    Well, good luck to you! (And to us all….)
    – – – – –
    Yeah that Brennan. ALWAYS reliable…

  37. I miss the “old days” in Virginia, which was actually only about 10 years ago. Sure, it was a Republican County, but the polling place was a happy place.

    I passed out GOP sample ballots just across the sidewalk from the Democrat people doing the same. Every now and then, we would trade barbs when someone went to one side or another. Like, “congratulations Democrats, you got one”. Usually, the Democrat would laugh and dig me back. Some were serious.

    But, the voters were glad to be there to cast their votes in person. Of course, with only 75k people in the whole County, there was never much of a line. The County has grown dramatically as the DC sprawl spreads ever wider. I am sure it has been transformed just as has the whole state. I am sort of glad I am not there to see it. Then again, I am in California.

    The day drags by. Should have gone fishing.

  38. “Meanwhile, my lefty Facebook friends were ranting about the Grand Rapids MI incident in which headstones at a Jewish cemetery were spray painted with “Trump” and “MAGA”. They are shaming all Jewish Trump voters for encouraging this action by his racist “base”. It sure looks like a false flag operation to me. “

    Yeah, it sure “makes sense” that rabid supporters of a guy who moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, is hailed by Israel, and who has a Jewish son-in-law to whom he has successfully, publicly, and to great effect, delegated important responsibilities, would be out desecrating Jewish cemeteries in order to make known their support for him.

  39. Hello. I got myself out in a light rain before dawn to get to the firehouse. Got there at 6 sharp (a.m. for future reference), and was 15th-20th in line. I’ve never voted at the crack of dawn before around here, but I take it this was not normal. Very little chatting in line; one lady two spots behind me commented that this election was probably going to set all kinds of records; I indicated with my eyes and head that I agreed.

    My county’s ballot was relatively simple this year: Pres, US Rep, state Senate, state assembly and DA. This may be why the line seemed to be moving along reasonably well once things got going. I voted straight-ticket except for DA, as there were no non-left candidates on offer in that column. Was on my way back home at 6:20.

  40. It took me more time to walk to my precinct than I spent waiting in line. In fact, I spent NO time waiting in line. Apparently most of the voters in my precinct voted early.

    Election night 2016 was really “a dark and stormy night.” I decided to not watch any election night returns, and find out when I woke up in the morning. I woke up earlier than I anticipated, at 3 a.m., and decided that was time enough to peruse the election returns. I found myself to be pleasantly surprised.

    I’ll do the same tonight: wait until morning. I have no idea how it will go. If Biden wins, my response is that is the ruin of the country, but as I am old, I won’t see much of the ruin.

  41. “I saw this making the rounds, too. Has there ever been an incident of this sort that did not turn out to be done by a lefty?

    Occasionally the FBI will entice and then orchestrate a small group of vacant eyed low grade morons with “Dumb and Dumber” haircuts into “plotting” something. No doubt a pair of teenage versions of the same celebrating the latest Satanic rock album they have acquired, might do the likewise in a grave yard.

  42. Finally…. (we’ve certainly waited long enough)…

    …the “decent” candidate is declaring his decency-personified administration’s official policy goals for the next four years should he win the elections (which of course he will, since it has been fore-ordained and broadcast by all the polls and media experts, but more importantly because the month prior to the elections saw TWO blue moons, and also because Mercury aligns with Mars, or something like that).
    And, here they are:
    https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1323409554567094272
    H/T Margot Cleveland twitter feed

  43. Biked through my Florida town of 2,500 people the other day and counted 47 Trump signs and 47 Biden signs. Trump was in the lead until the first debate, then a few more Biden signs went up (mainly at old folks’ houses). A couple more Trumps were added after the last debate. But I have seen MANY car and boat parades for Trump and zero for Biden in this region of Florida (south central coast). There are new American flags waving in the neighborhood, without lawn signs, and I’m guessing those are probably Trump voters too.

  44. Don Surber is brimming with confidence. Republicans take the whole enchilada.
    ___________________________________________________

    Republicans keep the White House and the Senate, and take back the House.

    Democrats will try to steal the election.

    –Don Surber,
    https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/11/highlights-of-news_3.html
    ___________________________________________________

    I have my doubts about Congress, but none about the steal.

  45. Here’s my blog post about voting Trump:
    https://tomgrey.wordpress.com/about/
    Dear family & friends,
    I just voted for Trump. Trump is a sinner. So am I, so are you, so is Biden. Both Trump and Biden have personal flaws. A country’s policies are more important than the flaws of its leaders. …     [more at link]

    And what to do if my guy loses: (HT Insty)
    https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/11/03/election-2020-results-react-appropriately-without-hysteria-column/3755088001/

    80% Trump wins.

  46. I’m not expecting the Republicans to do well today. They should, but I do not see it happening. And I’m not optimistic about the future. The young in particular seem to have an approach to civic life that consists of figurative and often literal vandalism.

  47. Dan McLaughlin at NRO has an astonishingly long and muddled piece on his voting choice. 8360 words! But he doesn’t do the big reveal until the end.

    Unsurprising hint: He won’t vote for Trump.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/11/i-was-never-trump-in-2016-im-still-a-conservative-heres-how-im-voting/

    Makes me want to give up my argument with neo last night. This guy is definitely virtue signaling about what a great and thoughtful guy he is.

    I’d say there are some iron rice bowls at NRO that need breaking.
    _________________________________________

    “Iron rice bowl” is a Chinese term used to refer to an occupation with guaranteed job security, as well as steady income and benefits.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_rice_bowl

  48. No time to give up. It’s a roller coaster for sure and I envy (yes, I know it’s one of the seven deadlies, but still) those who are supremely confident, though I hope that they’re confident in spite of the fact that Trump is up against the grand masters of deception, deceit, dishonesty and lawlessness.

    Anyway, let’s try to stay optimistic here…
    P.S. It looks like Trump has carried Nigeria.
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1323680963310866435
    https://twitter.com/SidneyPowell1

  49. This guy is definitely virtue signaling about what a great and thoughtful guy he is.

    I’d say there are some iron rice bowls at NRO that need breaking.
    _________________________________________

    “Iron rice bowl” is a Chinese term used to refer to an occupation with guaranteed job security, as well as steady income and benefits.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_rice_bowl”

    Well, though I used the term “rice bowl” years ago, as a kind of more contemptuous near-synonym for “sinecure”, the “iron” part is new to me.

    I suppose those desperately clinging to their rice-bowls, actually do some kind of work, more or less, however incompetently and ultimately destructively, sometimes.

    Anyone who saw “The Sand Pebbles” as a kid knows not only the term rice bowl, but recognizes the kind of corrupt and entropic symbiosis that existed on the ship and was exemplified by the term.

    I of course have no idea if that kind of pseudo-altruistic degeneracy actually existed on the American China gunboats of the time. But the culture-mix depicted in the movie, and probably contrary to Robert Wise’s intention, left you hating and despising everyone, except McQueen and oddly enough, Richard Crenna.

  50. “very nervous”

    Me, too. In 2016 I spent most of the night until about midnight watching the charts on realclearpolitics update every few seconds, with Trump eventually showing as the clear winner. This time around, I’m too nervous. I may just wait till I get up tomorrow and be either shocked or relieved all at once.

  51. I’ve seen articles and heard people disparaging the Electoral College system and want a “popular” voting system.

    Sports analogies would be the difference between the World Series and the Super Bowl. The WS requires multiple game wins, disregarding the total runs scored by each team versus the highest points scored in the single game of the SB.

    There are a few WS won without scoring the most runs, but the largest disparity was the 1960 one. The Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the New York Yankees despite scoring 28 fewer runs in the series (27 – 55). The Yankees won three blowouts (16–3, 10–0, and 12–0) while the Pirates won the four close games.

    Yes, the Electoral College lets all of the states have a voice in the election and forces (or should) the politicians to listen to each of the varied areas and different issues and interests in each.

    It also helps (or should) temper the majority to listen to other areas as well. Majority rule can definitely lead to tyranny without this tempering.

  52. Dan McLaughlin at NRO has an astonishingly long and muddled piece on his voting choice. 8360 words! But he doesn’t do the big reveal until the end.
    Unsurprising hint: He won’t vote for Trump.

    NB, FWIW, Gallup surveys have Trump’s approval rating among self-identified Republicans at 94%. That’s comparable at this stage of his term in office to that of George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon. It’s rather better than the observed proportion for Gerald Ford and George Bush the Elder, which was just north of 75%. There’s always a segment of self-identified Republicans dissatisfied with the Republican president for a miscellany of reasons. I suppose if you unpacked the numbers with further data and analyses you’d discover something, but right now your best guess is that there is no popular NeverTrump dispensation; there is merely some residue of discontent any Republican president experiences.

    In McLaughlin, you’re looking at the chattering class NeverTrump residue. You wouldn’t notice them except they’re all drawing salaries and commissions from (1) liberal media outlets, (2) liberal patrons like Pierre Omidyar, or (3) the donation and endowment income of legacy institutions who keep them on staff for old time’s sake. McLaughlin is a category 3, though his primary employment is in law practice. All the people promoting them make them the modal strand of Republican you seen on your small screen except on the commentary programs at Fox and disproportionately common at venues like National Review. Lawyer McLaughlin and lawyer French have had four years to contemplate the gross behavior of the Hawaiian judges, the security state cretins like Peter Sztrok, the sorosphere prosecutors, and the worthless blue city mayors. Given all that data, they’re offering twee rubbish which reduces to a defense of things they uttered four years ago which proved to be wrong. These people can take their bruised egos and get stuffed.

  53. Ymar has the right of it in this, even should Trump win; “As sure as I know anything, I know this: They will try again. …. A year from now, 10, they’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold with that. So no more runnin. (from the reality of what really confronts us) I aim to misbehave.

    Barry M,

    The projection is either a depraved cynicism or pathological. Or perhaps both.

    Tom Grey,

    The USA Today article is either utter BS or willfully blind to what the dems intend for our country. I vote for the former.

  54. From the National Review opinion piece: “It is uniquely the burden of conservatives and Republicans that we value character and competence to the point where we debate whether we could support a candidate who might advance our policy agenda. ”

    Hilarious. This type of clown apparently figures that despite the many areas of competence and achievement actually shown by the Administration, and which McLaughlin himself enumerates, that if we just have the courage to lose today, why then everything will be wunnerful wunnerful after just 4 or 8 years “in the wilderness”. That would be 4 to 8 years at the least of pissed away life and opportunity, spent under a regime of economic regression, bureaucratic oppression, constitutional subversion, sabotage of the rule of law, and every other conceivable attempt made by fair means or foul to ensure that the Deep State rules unchallenged over a compliant populace – a replacement one if possible – forever more.

    There is something deeply queer about the mindset of these “conservatives” who never manage to conserve anything, never effectively defend anything, never protect, much less enhance, anything. All they have are their cycle mantras and their self-congratulatory expressions of ineffectual purity: oblivious apparently to the determination of the modern left to reshape the population and the fundamental law itself in a way that leaves them politically subjugated forever more.

  55. “These people can take their bruised egos and get stuffed.”

    If I could have read what someone else had just posted concerning the NRO Never Trumper, as I was typing my comment. I could have saved myself the effort.

  56. AMAZING! Spend 1.6 minutes and view this amazing tweeted video of a Donald Trump March in Nigeria!

    https://twitter.com/Berean16031989/status/1320699062010716160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1320699062010716160%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dpj-instapunditt_i%3D1-411504t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fpjmedia.com2Finstapundit2F4115042Ft_e%3DKARMAE28099S20AE280A620YOU20KNOW3A20Will20DemsE2809920COVID20Fearmongering20Suppress20Their20Own20Voters3FE280A6t_d%3DInstapundit20C2BB20Blog20Archive20C2BB20KARMAE28099S20AE280A620YOU20KNOW3A20Will20DemsE2809920COVID20Fearmongering20Suppress20Their20Own20Voters3FE280A6t_t%3DKARMAE28099S20AE280A620YOU20KNOW3A20Will20DemsE2809920COVID20Fearmongering20Suppress20Their20Own20Voters3FE280A6s_o%3Ddefaultl%3Dversion%3Dbd842504fff78deb6bbfae133cd0bed9

    Apparently organised by the Baptist Church pastor, there. Why? My guess, security for Christians against ISIS in Africa. Maybe.

    They march, hold some signs, wave US flags, a few French flags (the colours are red white and blue!), a lot of women sway to and fro, and drums sound with…wait for it, Mariachi horns playing!

    EXTRAORDINARY!

  57. I will train the new generations into shape. It just requires that certain “institutions” get out of my way.

  58. “There is something deeply queer about the mindset of these “conservatives” who never manage to conserve anything, never effectively defend anything, never protect, much less enhance, anything.” DNW

    Achieving and maintaining their status, money and a decision to collaborate pretty much sums it up.

    Collaborators ye shall always have with you. Like poverty, its part of the human condition. When threatened, fight or flight are the choices. Moral cowardice lies at the heart of collaboration.

  59. The progressives—no matter who wins today— are destined to look ugly. If they win they are going to treat the outgoing administration with vindictiveness and malice for 79 days, at least, and then we are presented with the unworkable face of socialism for four years. If they lose they are going to Portlandize as much of the country as they can, for as long as they can. Rinse and repeat for four more years. Either way, we are destined to see naked progressives.

    The public will not like what it sees.

  60. Powerline includes a Trump tweet of Trump dancing to the gay anthem “YMCA” before a crowd.

    PL also includes the fantastic Ricky Rebel parody version that appeared then disappeared due to some copyright spoiler. It’s back and it’s wonderful. Just the thing to get pumped while waiting for returns:
    _____________________________________

    Young man
    Walk away from the hate
    We’re all human
    And we don’t segregate

    Just like women
    Help make america great
    We are all
    In this
    Together

    Colours
    Are red, white and blue
    And they stand for
    Every one of you

    And together
    Here’s what we’re gonna do
    We’re gonna make
    America great

    Everybody sing
    M A G A
    M A G A-AY

    –Ricky Rebel, “YMCA – MAGA Parody”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnzPEyTpByU

  61. In a moment of weakness I turned on Fox, Florida too close to call. So much for the massive Trump victory there and does not portend well for other states. Too depressing to watch. Back to Netflix and I’ll find out in the morning.

  62. I enjoy Oldflyer’s status updates, observations, and stories. Tonight, I’m voting for more Oldflyer.

    Anyone else with me? He’s thoughtful and interesting.

    physicsguy It is a 0.7% Trump lead in FL. Panhandle pro-Trump areas to report later.

    Thus, it is FL for Trump by OVER 1%.

  63. One outlet already called FL for Trump. He’ll win by more than he won in 2016. Currently up 2% wtih 90% of vote counted. He won by 1.2% in 2016.

  64. I refuse to watch Fox, much less any other TV outfit.

    Watching returns roll in at the Epoch Times, the election blog at PJ Media, and here. And early to bed. We gave what we could, hope for the best, and there it is.

  66. One outlet already called FL for Trump.

    Jimmy: That may be Decision Desk HQ. They are based in Canada. Apparently just a team of experts. I’m not aware if they have any particular bias.

    Stephen Green at PJM: “But at the moment I like the way things are shaking out.”

    I’ll go with that.

  69. I’m also listening to Scott Adams’ live coverage. He called 2016, so I listen.

    He says he’s heard from hundreds of people that they lie to pollsters and he feels strongly that’s the magic behind Biden’s big poll numbers — which are wrong.

    He just signed off for a while. He expects it’s going to be a long night.

  72. It’s much closer than we were led to believe — again! Trucker Carlson was an interviewee on Fox 15 or 20 minutes ago. He lamented that the “smart people” misled Americans again.

    Likewise, VDH on FoxBusiness says the failure and uselessness of the establishment is unofficially on the ballot, being yet again, the hidden Truth revealed by the election.

    I think this, too, is my early headline.

    I’m watching SkyNews Australia? They are a bit morose. But isn’t that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s role? Hmmm.

    Meanwhile, RT is amazingly balanced and interesting. The Russia Today coverage sports people with American accents, too.

    Sure — they recycle the old Marxist poofter Chris Hedges who cites Barbara Ehrenreich from 25 years ago on the working poor (eg, life of “permanent crisis”). to prove that Trump is bad. But I grew up among the working poor…blah blah blah ain’t impressive.

    So, is RT now fair and balanced? Maybe.

  73. @Huxley:

    In-play Betfair betting market has flipped.

    Trump: 1.3
    Biden: 4.0

    Speaking as a human this makes me happy.

    Speaking as a rootless cosmopolitan grifter, if Biden blows out much past 10 will be sorely tempted to buy a little insurance against vote counting foul play.

    In other news, someone in the UK wagered GBP1M on Biden on Betfair today. Let’s hope he wins Stupid Person ™ of 2020.

  76. DNW: “But the culture-mix depicted in the movie, and probably contrary to Robert Wise’s intention, left you hating and despising everyone, except McQueen and oddly enough, Richard Crenna.”

    Richard Attenborough’s character–“Frenchy”–was decent. Tragic, but decent.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

↑