What To Watch For Tonight: Hour By Hour

Five Thirty-Eight has an invaluable guide to poll closing times, and what to watch for in terms of patterns and results. The earliest polls close in parts of Indiana and Kentucky by 6 p.m. Eastern. In that hour, watch for Dem Amy McGrath's contest in Kentucky against Rethug incumbent Andy Barr to see if a blue wave is building. Polls close at 7 p.m. in most of Florida (Eastern time) and Georgia, which promises to come down to the wire for Andrew Gillum and Stacy Abrams. At 8 p.m., polls close in 21 states, giving us a good idea about the control of the Senate (Tennessee and Missouri are key). They're saying that by 9 p.m. Eastern, we should know if the Dems have flipped the House, whether Dem Krysten Sinema's Senate run in Arizona is successful, and whether Tony Evers is able to defeat corporate slug Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin. So much more at the link, check it out.

Get the popcorn ready.

Election Day Message: Listen To Michael Moore

The normally astute House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stepped in it last Wednesday on Stephen Colbert's Late Show, declaring that the Dems will win the mid-terms:

“Up until today, I would say, if the election were held today, we would win,” she said. “Now what I’m saying is we will win."

Hard to believe Pelosi would be so tone deaf after hundreds of thousands of people stayed home in 2016 because they thought Hillary Clinton was a sure winner and their vote for her wasn't needed.

Here's Michael Moore's response, on Seth Meyer's show the day after:

“A Democrat who just automatically announced, ‘We’re gonna win.’ And it’s like, my God that’s what happened in 2016. Everybody was throwing the party for Hillary [Clinton] before the election, and I think some people stayed home…You gotta quit this kind of predicting nonsense and just do your job as a citizen. Everybody’s gotta get off the bench this time. We may not get another time." (our emphasis)

Today's the day. No more overconfidence. No more slacking and no more assuming. This one counts more than any other mid-term. VOTE.

BONUS:  From Not- Michael- Moore --

Oh, I voted all right. I moved on that ballot like a bitch. I got there, w/ blood coming out of my wherever! I’m auto attracted to polling stations—I just start filling in ovals. It’s like a magnet. And when ur registered, they let u do it. U can do anything.#Grabthembytheballot

— Dee2🌈🌊 (@deedeeflagg) November 1, 2018

Tweet Of The Day -- Ready For Election Day

Me voting in 2016 vs me voting in 2018 pic.twitter.com/wM8l1uGvLe

— Jennifer Reitman (@JenniferReitman) November 5, 2018

Many more 2016/ 2018 memes here.

(h/t Balloon Juice)

Complaint: Money Laundering Tied To Giuliani

Craven loon and Trump's unhinged TV lawyer Rudy "Ghouliani" Giuliani, apparently on hiatus from his bungling, batshit crazy tour of the media ("truth isn't truth"), could be in hot water with authorities in the Netherlands. The gist, according to David Cay Johnston's keen reporting, is that Ghouliani facilitated the laundering of billions of dollars of embezzled money from former Soviet republic Kazakhstan through Dutch banks and on to real estate purchases in the U.S.

Johnston cites a complaint by Avaaz, a human rights organization based in Washington, DC filed with the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service in Amsterdam. According to Johnston's article:

Netherlands banks and other firms play a significant role in illicit flows of cash around the world through sophisticated techniques to hide income and corporate profits. Many of these techniques appear to push the envelope on legal tax avoidance. When money laundering is involved these aggressive techniques could cross a line into aiding and abetting criminal tax evasion. (our emphasis)

Giuliani and his old law firm, Bracewell and Giuliani, allegedly assisted in the money laundering scheme, according to the complaint. Until 2016, Giuliani was a partner in the 470-lawyer firm:

"The complaint is aimed at uncovering the full details of Russian money flowing to various Trump projects using so-called anonymous wealth companies. Those are shell companies created to hide the identities of the owners. Trump and his family are known to have received vast sums from shell companies and have bragged about how much of it came from people in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet empire. Trump contends the deals were all lawful and he has no knowledge of any money laundering." (our emphasis)

Giuliani has been cashing in on his role as an unapologetic spear carrier for corrupt sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump, conducting personal business while serving Rump. We sincerely hope that, once the wheels of justice are finished turning, we'll be able to shout "lock him up" at Rump's TV lawyer.

(photo: Our apologies to those about to sit down to dinner.)

Tools For Voters

If you haven't already early voted, Laura Clawson/ Daily Kos has some Election Day resources to keep handy.

If you need to check where you go to vote, go to:

https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/

If you encounter any problems voting, use these hotlines for help:

o English 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) 

o Spanish 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) 

o Arabic 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287) 

o Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Tagalog 888-API-VOTE (888- 274-8683) 

o American Sign Language video call number: 301-818-VOTE (301-818-8683) 

o SMS (text message) hotline (English): text OUR VOTE to 97779

"Trump is on the ballot. Vote accordingly."

The Wacko / Fringe Party Factor Tomorrow

While most of the elections tomorrow will be contests between Democratic and Republican candidates, there are a few choice ones that may be influenced by third party or fringe candidates running separately.

In Nevada's race for governor, wingnut deadbeat Ryan Bundy, son of the infamous scofflaw and sagebrush moocher Cliven "Hoof" Bundy, is running as an independent, and may siphon off right-wing votes from Rethuglican Adam Laxalt (whose own family has denounced him). Dem Steve Sisolak is running even with Laxalt, while Bundy is polling in the low single digits.

In Indiana's Senate race between ConservaDem Sen. Joe Donnelly and Rethug candidate Mike Braun is also tight, with voters for Libertarian candidate Lucy Brenton potentially tipping the race to Donnelly. In a clever move, Donnelly has been running Facebook ads touting Brenton as the true conservative, and painting Braun as a tax-hiking fraud.

In Arizona, Dem Senate candidate Rep. Kyrsten Sinema may benefit from the decision of the state's Green Party candidate, whose name is ironically Angela Green, to drop out of the race and to throw her support behind Sinema. Green's name will remain on the ballot, so Rethugs are encouraging Green Party voters to still vote for Green.

We'll see tomorrow how these fringe candidates, and others, might have affected the outcome in close races.

Monday Pre-Election Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds (and, if you haven't already, VOTE tomorrow!).

Francis Wilkinson writes about the pervasive racism in the Republican Party, and offers poll after poll illuminating how their base has shifted ever further into the dark recesses of racial resentment and ignorance.  Here's his conclusion:

Preservation of a racial hierarchy is the glue that holds much of the GOP’s rickety planks together. It’s the basis of Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship. [snip] 

The broader electorate may be ready to reject GOP control of at least the House on Tuesday. Perhaps that will deter Republicans from advancing their race war. But it’s possible that they’ve steeped in their resentments for too long, and traveled with Trump too far. They may not want to go back, or even know how to.  (our emphasis)

Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., puts it bluntly:

... Tuesday is about what we do for ourselves, for our country. It is about whether those of us who see this madness for what it is acquiesce to it or whether, like the guy in Rockwell’s painting, we stand up and speak out. It shouldn’t be a hard choice. 

If you find this calamity unacceptable, make your case. 

If you think we should be better than this, raise your voice. 

If you are disgusted and appalled, make yourself heard. 

Because we could absolutely lose America. Or, we could save it. 

What do you say?

We say, Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

"Trump is on the ballot.  Vote accordingly."  ABC News:

President Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for inciting violence in American communities, dismissing critics who have pointed to his rhetoric as a potential source of inspiration for some citizens acting on bigoted beliefs. [snip] 

But a nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 17 criminal cases where Trump's name was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. 

Nearly all -- 16 of 17 -- cases identified by ABC News are striking in that court documents and direct evidence reflect someone echoing presidential rhetoric, not protesting it. ABC News was unable to find any such case echoing presidential rhetoric when Barack Obama or George W. Bush were in the White House.  (our emphasis)

Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

Meanwhile, here's more on the vote- suppressing, racist über- Trumper running for governor of Georgia while simultaneously running the election there, Georgia Secretary of State Brian "No Show" Kemp, and his banana Republican last- minute effort to smear Democrats for his fraud- friendly voting system:

But the latest appalling move by Kemp to publicly accuse the Democrats of hacking without evidence is even worse than that: Kemp has been one of the few state election officials to refuse help from the federal Department of Homeland Security to deter foreign and domestic hacking of voter registration databases. After computer scientists demonstrated the insecurity of the state’s voting system, he was sued for having perhaps the most vulnerable election system in the country. His office has been plausibly accused of destroying evidence, which would have helped to prove the vulnerabilities of the state election system.  [snip]

 ... [The latest episode] shows Democrats, like many others, pointing out the glaring security flaws in Georgia’s voting system. To turn this around and blame Democrats is an act of political chutzpah by an election official on par with nothing else I’ve seen. 

It is bad enough there is a partisan election official running Georgia’s elections. It is also bad enough that this partisan election official is in charge of his very own election, an election where he is running in a very tight race against Democrat Stacey Abrams, and that he has engaged in acts of voters suppression aimed to decrease the turnout for the candidate who would be this nation’s first black woman to win a governor’s mansion. It is still worse that we have an election official who, according to audio leaked to Rolling Stone, expressed concern about the state’s citizens exercising their rights to vote via absentee ballot: “[Democrats] have just an unprecedented number of [absentee ballot applications],” he said, “which is something that continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote—which they absolutely can—and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to offset that.” 

But what Kemp has done now goes beyond the pale. He’s accused his opponents of election tampering without evidence on the eve of the election, and plastered the incendiary charge on an official state website in the days before his office will administer that election. This is some banana republic stuff.  (our emphasis)

This speaks for us:

There are few more disgracefully corrupt figures in American public life than Kemp. He should be nowhere in the vicinity of a position of public trust. Enabler of Russian interference in our elections, racist scoundrel.

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) November 4, 2018

Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, especially this shitbag Kemp.

As always, we close with a recommendation to check out Infidel 753's link round- up for a great assortment of interesting political, social, universal, etc., topics.  A fine way to start the week.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon: Is The Word Lies?

(click to enlarge)

Across The Universe, Cont. -- Bat Shadow

(click on image to enlarge)



From NASA/ESA, October 31, 2018:  This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the Serpens Nebula, a stellar nursery about 1300 light-years away. Within the nebula, in the upper right of the image, a shadow is created by the protoplanetary disc surrounding the star HBC 672. While the disc of debris is too tiny to be seen even by Hubble, its shadow is projected upon the cloud in which it was born. In this view, the feature — nicknamed the Bat Shadow — spans approximately 200 times the diameter of our own Solar System.

A similar looking shadow phenomenon can be seen emanating from another young star, in the upper left of the image.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and STScI

Here's a close up:

Russian Puppet Says What?

Exhibit A of why Trump's legal team won't let him be interviewed by Special Counsel Mueller:

Rumor has it that Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana is paying for Facebook ads for his so-called opponent on the libertarian ticket. Donnelly is trying to steal the election? Isn’t that what Russia did!?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2018

Looks like someone just admitted Russia stole the election after all....by colluding with him, of course. Some reactions to Kremlin Donny's admission:

"Isn't that what Russia did!?"
Wait, What? Are you admitting that the Russians stole the election for you? Cause that's what it sounds like. I gotta put this up in the top 10 of dumbest things Trump has said, and for Trump that's saying something.

— George Riley (@donkeykong3king) November 4, 2018

You would know.

— 🎼🎤🎵Purple Hayes🎵🎤🎼 (@RutherfordRocks) November 4, 2018

Hey @FBI as @TheJusticeDept I think Donald trump here just tweeted confirmation that Russia stole the election and he knew about it.

— Tiny Dancer (@ReelDancing) November 4, 2018

Donald Trump screws up and admits Russia rigged the 2016 election for him https://t.co/F0FkK0Ps2N

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 3, 2018

Yes...that is how you ended up squatting in our White House.

— BrotherMatthew 🌊🇺🇸🌊 (@STPFreak) November 4, 2018

So, there WAS collusion then, you imbeccile

— Juan Alvarado (@turambar11) November 4, 2018

Vote Suppressor Brian Kemp's Desperate Ploy

Following his Jim- Crow- style efforts to suppress the votes of Democratic- leaning constituencies, the ethically compromised Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brian "No Show" Kemp is making desperate claims about unspecified "cyber crimes" by Democrats:

The office of Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state's Republican gubernatorial nominee, said Sunday it has opened an investigation into the state's Democratic Party for possible unspecified cybercrimes after an attempted hack of the state's voter registration system. 

"While we cannot comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation, I can confirm that the Democratic Party of Georgia is under investigation for possible cyber crimes," Candice Broce, press secretary for Kemp's office, said in a statement. 

"We can also confirm that no personal data was breached and our system remains secure," she added. 

The announcement comes two days before Election Day, when Kemp faces Democrat Stacey Abrams in the governor's race. Kemp has rebuffed calls to resign his position as secretary of State while he campaigns, with critics citing conflicts of interest. 

Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Rebecca DeHart in a statement described the investigation as “yet another example of abuse of power by an unethical Secretary of State.”

This cracker clown is running the election in which he's a candidate for the highest office in the state of Georgia.  That seems right.

If you've been following this race, you know the momentum is moving toward Democratic nominee Stacy Abrams;  it's also a race that is statistically tied (though we suspect there are a lot of first time Democratic voters who aren't being captured by the polling).  If neither Kemp nor Abrams wins 50% of the vote on Tuesday, they will have a runoff election on December 4.

There are a number of likely, non-exclusive motives for Kemp to be introducing this red herring, including sheer desperation to counter the surge by Democrats in the past week or so (thank you, Oprah Winfrey!).  Another likelihood is Kemp, who as Secretary of State would have to certify the results of the election, is beginning to establish a pretext for asserting "voter fraud" or vote- rigging should he lose the election (or a runoff).  Desperate to hold onto power in a state that is inexorably changing demographically, Kemp and his fellow slimeball Republicans will resort to any means necessary, whether it's leveling ludicrous, last minute charges against Democrats, suppressing their right to vote or denying them legitimacy should they win.

Georgians, you know what to do with this banana Republican!

BONUS:  Here's Stacy Abrams' rebuttal --

Stacey Abrams on Georgia Secretary of State’s office opening an investigation into the Democratic party of Georgia for possible alleged cyber crimes: “This is a desperate attempt on the part of my opponent to distract people” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/CzVrwqTKkB

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 4, 2018

Armed Wingnuts Descend On Border

Heeding the racist bullhorn from their cult leader, neo-fascist demagogue and liar Donald "Rump" Trump, vigilante groups and white supremacist militia types are heading to the border with Mexico ostensibly to block immigrants from entering. Self-appointed guardians of the border like the right-wing Texas Minutemen, whose president is a clown by the name of Shannon McGauley, say they'll be assisting the Border Patrol and U.S. military, but you know they're itching to shoot some Latinos:

The Texas Minutemen, according to McGauley, have 100 volunteers en route to the Rio Grande who want to help stop the migrants, with more likely on the way.

“I can’t put a number on it,” McGauley said. “My phone’s been ringing nonstop for the last seven days. You got other militias, and husbands and wives, people coming from Oregon, Indiana. We’ve even got two from Canada.”

Asked whether his group planned to deploy with weapons, McGauley laughed. “This is Texas, man,” he said. (our emphasis)

Hyuk hyuk. As you might imagine, the U.S. military isn't thrilled with having some belligerent, racist yahoos running around in camo pretending to be "patriots," who are more likely shoot themselves than any drug mule / rapist coming across the border:

According to military planning documents obtained by Newsweek, the military is concerned about the arrival of “unregulated militia members self-deploying to the border in alleged support” of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The assessment estimates that 200 militia members could show up. “They operate under the guise of citizen patrols,” the report said, while warning of “incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments.”  (our emphasis)

So there are some criminal elements among the migrants militias? Do tell. We'd suggest that the U.S. military sponsor live fire exercises among the various vigilante groups before their "deployment". That should make the military's job easier.

BONUS:  Perhaps they could call the "militia" "deployment" Operation Eagle With A Tiny Dong.

(photo: Later, the boys are gonna cuddle up 'round the campfire and talk about their problems with wimmen.)

"Operation Eagle With A Huge Dong"

The cold open on Saturday Night Live hammers Fox "News" racist fear- mongering about the "vicious caravan of dozens, maybe millions of illegal immigrants" descending on its fearful, gullible viewers. Kate McKinnon (Laura Ingraham), Cecily Strong ("Judge" Jeanine Pirro), and Kenan Thompson (David Clarke) handle the evisceration.

"FU45"

Flying into Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport today for another Nuremberg campaign rally, racist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump had a message waiting for him, cut into a field by Kevin Crawford of Bozeman and Curtis Roe of Belgrade, MT.  Well played, sirs!

(click on image to enlarge)

North Korea's Kim Playing Trump Again

The charade of North Korea's nuclear "disarmament" peddled for political effect by ignorant and easily manipulated buffoon Donald "Rump" Trump seems to be unraveling. North Korea is apparently threatening to re-start its nuclear weapons program (some say it never stopped) if the Trump regime doesn't lift sanctions against it.

The [North Korean] Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies said it could revive its policy of economic construction and nuclear development if sanctions continue. The U.S. “had better stop the self-destructive act of putting pressure” on the North, the Korean Central News Agency cited director Kwon Jong Gun as saying.

After his theatrical and bellicose threats last year against North Korea ("fire and fury") and its despotic leader Kim Jong Un ("little rocket man"), Rump quickly melted after a North Korean flattery and charm offensive, giving Kim his moment on the world stage in Singapore as a co-equal to Rump without giving up anything in return. The North Koreans were obviously studying other regimes (Sawdi Arabia, China, etc.) that rolled out the red carpet for narcissist Rump and had their way with him as a result. Recently, Rump announced that he and Kim had been exchanging flowery letters, causing the nitwit to say "we fell in love."

Rump's volatile and defective personality will have him on a bipolar-like mood swing with the North Korean dictator, whom he admires for his "strength." The North Koreans have the upper hand with this child-like buffoon, who seeks praise -- albeit false -- from dictators worldwide.

(photo: Hard to tell the difference)